(ANALYSIS) Keir Starmer's ascent as the U.K.'s first openly atheist leader marks a significant milestone in British political history. This development prompts the question: Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Unsurprisingly, the answer is rather complicated. Today's U.K. is vastly different from the country of Starmer's childhood.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Two-thirds of college students do not hold views toward Israel or Jews “likely to threaten their relationship with their Jewish peers,” a new study from Brandeis University found. But what about the remaining third? Researchers found that group split roughly equally between those who expressed hostility toward Israel (but not Jews) and those who thought poorly of Jews, not Israel.
Read MoreReports showing sustained increases in food and home prices alongside a cooling labor market highlight a continuing challenge for churches.
Read MoreOne of the world’s most important newsrooms just offered a finely detailed profile of Catholic convert J.D. Vance and, imagine this, the feature focused on the emotions and ideas that led him to swim the Tiber. This included his intellectual and spiritual attraction to the work of St. Augustine, one of the most important minds in Western culture.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Exorcism movies are making a comeback — and the reasons are more interesting than you might think. The likely reasons actually say a lot about the present and the future of religion in America and its intersection with the future of mass media. Here's a deeper look at why Hollywood is going all in on the genre.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court refused Sept. 3 to restore a $4.5 million family planning grant to Oklahoma while the state’s challenge to the termination of the grant works its way through the lower courts.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, women and girls have been banned from playing sports or participating in any form of physical activity. However, Afghan women have been defying the Taliban and competed at the 2024 Olympics and 2024 Paralympic, while flying the flag of the Refugee Olympic and Paralympic teams.
Read MoreOverwhelmingly, Americans think the moral values of the country are worsening. Around four in five U.S. adults (81 percent) say the state of moral values is getting worse, and only 14 percent say it’s getting better. That gives the future outlook a minus 67 score — down 24 points from 2002.
Read MoreIllegal bans on nonvegetarian food are increasingly being introduced in towns that attract Hindu pilgrims, like Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Haridwar in Uttarakhand. Since it is perceived as a manifestation of tradition and culture, it is difficult to challenge it in a court of law.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When the second installment in the blockbuster “Dune” franchise came out, it was hard not to see it as a not-very-subtle metaphor for the Israel-Hamas war. It was starnge to watch scenes of guerilla warriors in headscarves when I saw the same images on the news. Lately, people have been finding those same parallels in other movies or TV series about conflict.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I am going to completely sidestep the whole discussion of the conflict in the Middle East in this post and just focus on a narrow question: How many Muslim votes are there in the state of Michigan, and could they actually cost the Democrats the state?
Read MoreA new Taliban law restricting the rights of women even further has led to calls for prayer from Arabic church leaders as well as Afghans who have fled in recent years.
Read MoreMany people around the world are more likely to say it is important to have a nation's leader stand up for those who share their religious beliefs. The survey, conducted by Pew Research Center, found that in countries where faith is “perceived as very important” that citizens are overall “more likely to value each of these qualities in a leader.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Aug. 21, 2024, the Taliban published its new law to “promote virtue and eliminate vice” that sets up rules for everyday life and adds to the litany of restrictions on women. Over the last three years, the Taliban introduced tens and tens of decrees barring women and girls from all activities and engagements outside their homes.
Read MoreThe Illinois General Assembly continues to find new ways to further enshrine abortion into law. Within the last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed one bill requiring insurance companies to provide full coverage for abortions and another making abortions a protected human rights issue.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Extraordinary. That’s the word for “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality,” a 2024 book-of-the-year candidate written by Colorado State University historian Matthew L. Harris. He analyzes the restrictions that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints imposed upon members of Black African ancestry between 1852 and 1978, an issue that extended into the 21st century.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In early August 2024, thousands of women and women’s rights campaigners took to the streets across Iraq to protest proposed legal changes that effectively would legalize child marriage. The proposed change is to allow citizens to choose between religious authorities or civil judiciary to decide on family matters.
Read More(OPINION) How do we reconcile a desire to elect people of good character with our support for Trump (and I write this as a two-time voter for Mr. Trump)? Does he, “although imperfect, demonstrate consistent honesty, moral purity and the highest character”? Hardly. How, then, can we justify our vote for him?
Read MoreDuring one of the presidential elections during my decade teaching in Washington, D.C., there was more than the usual chatter about the importance of the so-called “Catholic vote” and its impact in swing states.
Read MoreIn the midst of a conflict on three fronts — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran — Israeli troops congregate on street corners, in cafes and around government buildings. Many are between 18 and 20 years old, recent draftees of the mandatory military service required of Israeli citizens.
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