(OPINION) Was this the equivalent of hearing Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville’s impressions of America in the 19th century, except we are hearing from a Nigerian man about his impressions in 21st-century America? And does it offer any lessons for retaining rule of law and good governance even as we rethink policing and racial inequality in America?
Read MoreIn the latest “Weekend Plug-in,” columnist Bobby Ross Jr. interviews an all-star panel of religion journalists about the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on LGBT employment rights.
Read MoreIn this Friday’s Weekend Plug-in, a tie-in between the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 and a Houston teen who stood up for a friend called the N-word. The teen is the great-grandson of the Arkansas mayor who asked President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send federal troops to allow the school’s desegregation.
Read More(OPINION) Journalists needed to give readers both sides of a debate so that they had some chance to fully understood and assess what is happening. Otherwise, they’re only telling half the story. Right?
Read MoreLocked and loaded parishioners acting like John Wayne of the church pews may be a new chapter in church history. Historically, Christians were hesitant to deploy violence for self-protection. While the Bible and church history illustrate tension around violence, armed resistance isn’t completely foreign to Christendom.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in includes a pop quiz on President Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church and other top headlines in a busy week of religion-related protest and pandemic news.
Read MoreScores of African-American players have called the Israeli Basketball Premier League home, drawn there for a chance to play professionally and earn decent money. In the process, these players have become ambassadors for the Jewish state — some marrying Israeli women, serving in the country’s army and converting to Judaism.
Read More(OPINION) Black Lives Matter is a departure from past social justice movements. It is not attached to any religious institution, and it is anonymous with no defined leadership. Unlike past civil rights movements spearheaded by ministers and laypeople, in the Black Lives Matter movement, the church has been relegated to the back seat.
Read MoreWeekend Plug-in looks at the faith of George Floyd, houses of worship reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic and other top headlines from the religious world.
Read More(OPINION) Like secular news outlets, Catholic media also face financial hardships created by the pandemic. This is a trend that has, of course, affected all news media and across many other industries, such as hospitality and tourism to name just two.
Read MoreLike everything else that involves large gatherings, the global pandemic has forced many schools to either hold their ceremonies online or postpone them to a future date. For the colleges and universities that did decide to hold ceremonies this month, the topic of God wasn’t far from the minds of commencement speakers like actor Tom Hanks.
Read MoreA new book looks at a variety of female personalities who exerted influence over the centuries. The Vatican may be a male-dominated system, but Lynda Telford’s account has enough history and sleaze in it to make for a gripping Netflix series. What this book does very well is shift the spotlight away from men and places it on the women and their oft-ignored influence on the papacy and Christianity as a whole throughout Europe.
Read MoreIn the nation’s latest religious freedom battle, church leaders in many states from New York to Oregon are clashing with governors over how and when to resume in-person gatherings.
Read MoreThe “love feast” was regularly practiced by early American Methodists who were scattered across the frontier and had to wait for a quarterly visit from traveling ministers to have communion. In the absence of their minister, communities would gather to share stories of how God was working in their lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Methodists who had never or rarely held love feasts before are now hosting them online.
Read MoreA China-based Christian ministry hosts hacker events for Christians with backgrounds in the CIA, military and related intelligence fields. They use advanced technology to create and use devices ranging from drones, Bibles the size of credit cards and a pocket-sized WiFi device called the Gospel Cloud, inventions that 007 would be proud of if he were a man of God.
Read MoreMonday marks the centennial birth of Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint following his death. John Paul II was one of the longest-serving pontiffs in church history, the first non-Italian elected pope in 455 years and spent much of the 1980s ending communism in Eastern Europe.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 locks people in their homes and has put others out of work, more people than ever are relying on charities, many faith-based, to fill basic needs. Tree of Life, based in Virginia, has seen a rise in demand from undocumented persons.
Read MoreIn the Weekend Plug-in column, Bobby Ross Jr. reports on positive news concerning Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll, who is battling brain cancer.
Read More(OPINION) Toss in decades of liberal media bias, the growing influence of conservative talk radio, advocacy social media and tweet-storms from President Donald Trump and it combines for a lethal cocktail of mistrust. It has gotten more difficult to differentiate between trustworthy news sources on Facebook and Twitter — with coverage of Pope Francis not immune to the problem.
Read MoreThe arrests of several Muslim activists amid the coronavirus lockdown is seen by critics of the Modi government as a way to blame Muslims for the Delhi riots that killed more than 50 people in February and squash protests of a citizenship law passed in December seen as discriminatory against Muslims.
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