Former President Trump headlined the New York Archdiocese’s annual Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday night, trading a few jabs with Vice President Kamala Harris while also using the event as an opportunity to connect with Catholic voters. Harris did not attend the event in person and instead appeared in a pre-recorded video.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It was the rare Trump quote that caused groans as it rocketed through conservative media. But this soundbite came from an upcoming memoir from former first lady Melania Trump: “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman's fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) At University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, we decided to bring together our collective research on evangelicalism to develop a broader template to understand the dynamics of American evangelicalism.
Read MoreThe nonpartisan groups reported the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers the U.S. has accepted in recent decades, including Christians and others fleeing religious persecution, and explored how U.S. presidential platform policies will impact the ability of those persecuted for their faith to find refuge here after the November elections.
Read MoreOver the past few months, Republicans have been crisscrossing rural parts of Pennsylvania with one mission: Turn this reluctant and reclusive religious group into MAGA voters. This untapped pool of 80,000 voters — the same number by which Trump lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 — could result in the former president winning the crucial battleground state.
Read More(OPINION) I am neither a political pundit nor a pollster. And I am simply raising questions rather than making assertions, let alone dogmatic assertions. What if Trump wins the national election and taking Pennsylvania was a key to that victory? (Again, this is not a prediction; these are questions). What if choosing Gov. Shapiro for Vice President would have secured Pennsylvania for Harris? And what if he was not chosen because of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish sentiments?
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Oct. 4, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that gender and nationality alone are sufficient for a country to grant asylum to Afghan women. The case concerned Afghan women who were seeking international protection in Austria, and their asylum applications were rejected in 2015 and 2020.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene during this session in a dispute over whether the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires doctors in the anti-abortion state of Texas to perform abortions to stabilize patients seeking emergency room care.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I don’t know if you have heard or not, but there’s an election coming up. And it may be “the most important election in the history of the cosmos.” Or it may just be like every other presidential election we’ve had in the last 50 years. This election also gives me the opportunity to do something that I have always wanted to do, but just never had a great reason.
Read MoreFew pastors endorse political candidates outside their role at church. Even fewer endorse during a church service. Most Americans like it that way, but they’re growing more supportive of churches jumping into the political fray. Lifeway Research studies of U.S. Protestant pastors and Americans found little practice or support for political endorsements from clergy and churches.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Many Black leaders are swinging into action for the Harris-Walz campaign — and clergy are no exception. On Aug. 5, The Black Church PAC hosted a “Win With the Black Church” webinar to register voters, sign up volunteers and raise funds for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Read More(ANALYSIS) ”Women are much more supportive of the LGBT population than men.” That came up in a Q&A session that I did after a talk. The person asked if women were leaving conservative churches more quickly because of their views of same-sex marriage and gender identity. OK, so let me just figure out if that’s true or not.
Read MoreThe Israel-Hamas war has dominated public debate, influenced elections and seeped into every aspect of life for a year. And people have learned to succinctly display their position through various visual cues, whether on T-shirts or placards held at marches. Not all of these are new. The keffiyeh and Palestinian flag have long been mainstays in protests, as have the Star of David and Israel’s colors. Over the past year, however, new symbols have also emerged to show solidarity.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Afghanistan’s new “vice and viture” law seeks to completely silence women in public. They are prohibited from speaking, singing or praying aloud. The law also attempts to literally erase them from view, ordering women to cover every part of their body and face in public.
Read MoreIsrael’s plan to rebuild is focused on returning residents to the Gaza border region, so one group has been trying to fundraise $25 million for the move together to a new location, a plan that relies on American Jewish donors who have so far been wary of funding an unconventional project that some other Nir Oz residents have denounced as a betrayal.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I am not young, but I too have turned to Anglicanism. In fact, I did so many years ago. For me, it was a much longer journey than it has been for many of the young people Sarah Carter describes. It is a journey that, with your permission, I will describe here.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I have studied the complex and ever-evolving role of religion in American politics. I argue that this election year, while the Christian character of each candidate is discussed everywhere, religious freedom, one of the core freedoms of American democracy, is not.
Read More(OPINION) When I moved to Israel, I couldn’t have foreseen the horror that would unfold less than two months later, when Hamas terrorists stormed the southern border, massacred 1,200 citizens, and took 251 others hostage on Oct. 7. In all the years I spent dreaming of my aliyah — the return to the homeland described in Jewish texts — I never accounted for the country being thrust into national disarray.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A seasoned ministry colleague wrote to me last week asking for assistance. “I need some help with exegesis of Luke 13:31-32,” he said. “I spoke at a conference last week with many pastors who used that passage where Jesus calls Herod a fox as their rationale for using coarse language about Harris/Walz and the other political side.”
Read More(REVIEW) Many of us might be acquainted with conventional narratives that combine 19th century colonialism and Christianity with cultural suppression and forced conversion in Asian territories where local inhabitants fought back intruders and crushed evangelical missions. Thailand, however, has a different history.
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