Eighteen pastors and church workers, including Senior Pastor Ezra Jin, remain in detention. In an interview with The Free Press published May 11, Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, also disclosed previously unreported details of a 2021 incident in which she alleges her father was drugged.
Read MoreOn Jan. 18, a cell of anti-ICE demonstrators crashed a Sunday service at the Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in St. Paul, Minnesota. Debates about the legality of this protest have been defined by the Red vs. Blue divide in American politics, which has dominated the Donald Trump era. On the cultural right, this protest was seen as a violation of the First Amendment religious-liberty rights of the worshippers. On the left, efforts to prosecute the activists were seen as a violation of their First Amendment free-speech rights.
Read MoreA court in central China, issued verdicts on May 22 against 31 members of a house church fellowship in one of the largest coordinated prosecutions of Christians in recent years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The United States is prepared to provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 13. But there’s a catch.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In the data from 2024, 57% of white evangelicals were weekly attenders compared to 25% of white Catholics. So not controlling for attendance gives us a much different sample when analyzing evangelicals and Catholics.
Read MoreIn this week’s episode, we tackle Pope Leo’s first encyclical and what it means for AI, politics and, more importantly, Catholic doctrine.
Read More(REVIEW) How did Christianity shape North Korea? A new 745-page book argues the regime built by Kim Il Sung resembles a national religion that borrows some ideas from Christianity — complete with myths, rituals and a central, quasi-divine figure — rather than a typical authoritarian state.
Read More(ANALYSIS) With the release of his encyclical letter “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 25, Pope Leo XIV has signaled that he wants the church to respond to artificial intelligence much as a predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, responded to upheavals during the Industrial Revolution over a century ago.
Read More(REVIEW) Sid Klein has finally found his subject. More than half a century after he scrambled to pick a topic for his senior art project at Brooklyn College in New York — and settled on exploring the porcelain curves of a toilet bowl in a 20-painting series — he’s discovered a purpose.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV warned that artificial intelligence poses a profound threat to human dignity, labor and global stability if left unchecked. Calling for strong regulation and ethical oversight, he condemned AI-driven warfare, corporate concentration of power and profit-first development, framing AI as this century’s Industrial Revolution.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Thousands of Americans prayed on the National Mall on May 17, during “Rededicate 250”: a day-long rally to “come together in prayer and worship ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday,” as organizers described it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, one of many Republican politicians and conservative Christian leaders to speak, led a prayer to “rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God.”
Read MoreNo one who has followed trends in the powerful world of podcasting was surprised by the headlines following Alex Cooper’s announcement that, after raising eyebrows by getting married to a stud Hollywood producer, she is now happily pregnant. Consider the following background information from the buzzy New York Times story that served as the hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast.
Read MoreAfter yet another deadly attack, the focus turns — once again — to protecting houses of worship. The shooting at a San Diego mosque hit close to home for a Jewish engineer more than 1,300 miles away.
Read MoreOnly days after U.S. President Donald Trump left a Beijing summit with CCP Chairman Xi Jinping where religious freedom and jailed religious leaders were discussed, authorities in eastern China have demolished a prominent church, razing the building with large excavators.
Read MoreWith the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder fighting to return to the NBA Finals, one bold writer dug deep for an analogy: The Thunder, he wrote, is like the state of Israel — a former underdog now despised for its success. The Oklahoman, a daily newspaper, published the opinion column on its website Monday morning, hours before the Thunder began their semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs. The story was accompanied by an image of a basketball with the Israeli flag on it.
Read More(ANALYSIS) If one were to ask 100 informed voters about the types of issues at the center of the Culture War debate, I think that 20 years ago two would clearly be the front runners: Gay marriage and abortion.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Many Muslim Americans are fearful following a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that left three worshipers dead. Investigators reportedly found hate speech and anti-Islamic writing inside the vehicle of the suspected shooters, who killed themselves soon after the attack.
Read MoreThe killing of three people at San Diego’s largest mosque highlighted the rise in Islamophobia that has spread across the United States over the last few years. There had been no specific threat made against the Islamic Center of San Diego, but police officials found evidence that the suspects — two teenage boys — had engaged in “generalized hate rhetoric.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) “Rededicate 250” was billed as a prayer rally celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. But the event on the National Mall also became a revealing snapshot of how faith, politics and national identity are increasingly intertwined during the Trump era.
Read MoreThree Kuki-Zo Christian pastors were shot dead on May 13 after armed gunmen ambushed two vehicles travelling through Kangpokpi district in Manipur. The murders led Kuki-Zo organizations to suspect that a Naga militant faction may have carried out the attack in coordination with valley-based Meitei insurgent groups.
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