Posts in Politics
COVID-19 Is Fueling A New Jesus Movement

After touring the country for months holding worship events, charismatic Christian worship leader Sean Feucht is hosting prayer and revival events in Washington, D.C. this weekend that are expected to draw 15,000 people. Many charismatic groups believe this year of hardships is creating an opportunity for ministry, to bring healing and peace, and are rallying against what they see as unfair restrictions during the pandemic.

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Armenia, Artsakh and Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Dream

(OPINION) Now, more than 25 years after the rather unclear resolution of a 1994 conflict—and emerging in the notoriously painful year 2020—the Armenia/Artsakh vs. Azerbaijan conflict has flared up again. And this time—tragically—Turkey’s Islamist President Tayyip Erdogan has powerfully entered the fray.

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Catholic Leaders React To Francis' Support For Same-Sex Unions

(ANALYSIS) The disoriented juxtaposition of Catholic Church teaching on marriage with the comments of Pope Francis on civil unions of same-sex couples was not lost on Catholic leaders worldwide, who expressed concern, confusion and anger in response.

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Why Chilean Protesters Set Fire To Churches

(ANALYSIS) "The only church that illuminates is a burning church,” one protester said, pictured with an altar in flames on a social media account. The recent arson on two Catholic churches in Santiago was not random but as much a referendum on the Catholic Church, where sexual abuse cases in Latin America are topped by only Mexico, as on the country’s constitution that sparked the protests against economic inequality.

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Will U.S. Catholics split their vote this year?

(OPINION) Trying to gauge voter enthusiasm is difficult. While Trump voters do seem generally more energized — especially among evangelicals and church-going Catholics — compared to Biden supporters, the events of the past few weeks in Washington may have shifted priorities.

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Religious Freedom Lately: Chilean churches set on fire, Native American petition denied and more

Why a federal court has denied petitions from a Native American tribe to stop construction on land they claim their ancestors are buried, how two Chilean churches were set ablaze during protests against inequality and the latest world leader to demand a UN investigation of China’s abuses against Uighurs.

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The Third Party Fishing For Dissatisfied Christians

American third parties like the American Solidarity Party are enjoying a wave of interest this election as voters become more frustrated by the two-party system and choosing between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. In a political climate where Christians often find it impossible to cast a vote without compromising at least a few of their religious convictions, the ASP hopes to convince them that they can be the answer.

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Ensuring An Equal Future For Girls Around The World

(OPINION) The United Nation’s International Day of the Girl Child uplifts young girls in countries where they are historically oppressed, many of them as religious minorities, to rise above gender-based violence, harmful practices and HIV and AIDS. This turns them away from harmful practices like child marriage.

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No anti-Catholic sequel: Democrats avoid the dogma at Barrett's hearings

At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Democrats steered clear of Barrett’s religion, even as Republicans focused on it. This week’s Weekend Plug-in has that news, plus all the top headlines and best reads from the world of faith.

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Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Inside the religious fight for Nagorno-Karabakh

(ANALYSIS) What was a nominally a little-known conflict regarding the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region — also known as Artsakh — claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan has erupted into a full-scale war with an estimated thousands of soldiers on both sides killed in intense fighting.

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What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About the News Media

(OPINION) Sure, we make mistakes. We have blind spots and faulty assumptions. But many of the criticisms are off the mark: they misunderstand what journalism is about; they feed a growing sense that there is no agreed upon reality and set of facts to which we can all refer; and, as a Christian I fear they reflect poorly on people who say they love the truth.

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New Super PAC Begs Christians Not To Vote For Trump

Dubbed Not Our Faith, the PAC’s leaders include Billy Graham’s granddaughter Jerushah Duford and former aides and advisors from both sides of the aisle. The leaders of the PAC argued Thursday that Trump has denigrated the Christian faith and harmed migrants and refugees.

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Kamala Harris and Mike Pence spar in VP debate: 'Joe Biden and I are both people of faith'

Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris had a brief spat Wednesday over attacks against Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholic faith. Pence brought up Harris’s past remarks about “extreme” beliefs of the Catholic group Knights of Columbus while Harris assured listeners that as people of faith Biden and her would not knock anyone else for their faith.

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Executive Order Fuels USAID To Advance International Religious Freedom

(OPINION) A 2020 Executive Order prioritizes international religious freedom and promotes USAID and the U.S. State Department to infuse religious freedom with foreign policy. What will these organizations continue to do to advance the United States’s notion of religious freedom in and out of its borders?

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Are Democrats Influenced by Religion as Much as Republicans?

Is religion a force in American life that pushes people to be more politically conservative or liberal? Do certain types of political partisans place a great emphasis on their spiritual life? Or do other competing identities seem to shape people more? The Democracy Fund made public a huge dataset of over 300,000 respondents and they asked them how important a number of identities were to them. When those are broken down by party affiliation, the results are fascinating.

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Journalists’ Neglect Religious Coverage Related to Black Lives Matter

(OPINION) As Black Lives Matter persists as one of the hot topics in the media, mainstream news associations often neglect the religious angle — isolating entire groups of stakeholders within the community. This leaves us asking the question, how are people within religious communities responding to Black Lives Matter?

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Trump's daughter-in-law joins pastors in 'call to prayer' for president's recovery

On Sunday, President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump and his closest faith advisors hosted a prayer service on Facebook Live, praying for Trump, the First Lady and several White House, campaign officials and Senators who’ve recently tested positive with COVID-19. One pastor who attended last weekend’s Supreme Court nomination event that spread the virus says he was one of the few wearing a mask.

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