Not until the COVID-19 outbreak did I learn about the global influenza pandemic of 1918 — known colloquially as the Spanish flu — and my family’s connection to it.
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(OPINION) There are plenty of baseball players who openly practice Christianity, but Billy Sunday is unique in that he exchanged his bat for a Bible and embarked on a career as a preacher, capitalizing on his time as a ballplayer to generate interest in his revivals.
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(REVIEW) At a time when the planet is gripped by a pandemic, science and faith have again come into conflict. That nagging age-old question about good versus evil and the role of God and Satan in our lives is the focus of a new book about an Italian priest who went on to become the world’s best-known exorcist.
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On the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, our “Weekend Plug-in” columnist catches up with a victim’s mother he last interviewed in April 1995.
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(OPINION) A year later, there remain so many unanswered questions about the cathedral’s future, how and when it will be rebuilt and what hurdles remain. The pandemic has shifted attention and journalistic resources away from a story like the status and future of Notre Dame. Journalists are limited in their ability to travel and France remains on lockdown.
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The 27-year-old San Antonio Express-News reporter hopes her dedication to her profession didn’t expose her to the coronavirus.
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(OPINION) Who’s to blame for the coronavirus pandemic? It’s not really a difficult whodunit to figure out. Just look to a system that rejects God and freedom: China’s Communist Party for the culprit.
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Civil rights activist and Baptist minister Al Sharpton talked to Religion Unplugged about the support for Donald Trump among some black evangelicals. With Trump's opposition to abortion and support for traditional family values, some black evangelicals say they have no choice but to vote for Republicans while others like Sharpton question how a majority of white evangelicals can support Trump. About 80 percent of African Americans have voted Democrat since the 1960s.
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(TRAVEL) With most of the world’s population stuck at home in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, travel has come to a standstill. Springtime, and the approaching summer, are typically a time to take a flight and explore another part of the world.
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As Christians around the world embark on Holy Week and prepare for Easter, here are five movies about Jesus, both featured in theaters and on TV through the decades, that rise above the rest.
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Amid the COVID-19 crisis, there’s a gap between the news media and Bible-believing Christians. Our Weekend Plug-In columnist explores that and the top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) While Italy’s newspapers have always covered news through a partisan lens, COVID-19 has led to lots of strong journalism as well as coverage of plenty of religious angles. Newsrooms across Italy have closed — with editors working from home — while reporters in the field have reported on the national lockdown’s disruption of daily life and how the contagion has ravaged communities and families.
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(OPINION) American Catholicism lost one of its giants following the death of 89-year-old Joseph O’Hare, a Jesuit priest who served as president of Fordham University for nearly two decades as well as the editor of America magazine.
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(OPINION) During this pandemic, people will have to learn to do without rights that once seemed inherently given. Those include the right to assemble as millions of Americans are asked to shelter in place. What does that mean for freedom of religion?
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In the news these days — including religion headlines — it’s all coronavirus all the time. Our Weekend Plug-In columnist explores some of the COVID-19-related big ideas and questions emerging in the world of faith.
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Catholics have called for the intercession of a great number of saints (such as Saint Pope Gregory the Great) throughout history to help defeat widespread illness, plagues and epidemics. There are scores of saints that can be called upon in a time of crisis. While the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Catholics are looking for the intercession of these five saints to battle COVID-19.
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In an interview with Poynter.org, NBC’s Lester Holt — whom I respect — said: “I always thought 9/11 would be the biggest story I would ever cover. But this (the coronavirus pandemic) is the biggest story we have ever seen.” Wow. That’s an amazing statement from a journalist of Holt’s status.
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The main duties of a priest are to administer the church’s sacraments — which include baptism, confession and holy communion — while also visiting the sick and providing pastoral care to parishioners. How does all that work during the COVID-19 pandemic when most priests are in the high-risk age category for contracting the deadly virus?
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(ANALYSIS) We are living in surreal times. The world as we knew it just over a week ago has been brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the virus devastated China’s Wuhan province, it spread to Europe and now the rest of the world. Our daily lives have been disrupted in a way never seen in our lifetimes.
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Heartbreak and hope. It’s a combination our Weekend Plug-In columnist has witnessed repeatedly when covering catastrophes, from the Oklahoma City bombing to Hurricane Katrina to, most recently, the March 3 Tennessee tornadoes that killed 25 people and injured hundreds.
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