Jews are a tiny minority in Mexico’s population of 130 million: 60,000, according to the latest national census. Those connected to the tight-knit Jewish community clustered in suburbs around Mexico City are estimated to be around 45,000. On the face of it, those small numbers make it remarkable that a Jewish woman, Claudia Sheinbaum, won the recent presidential election in a landslide.
Read MoreJoe Mazzulla woke up on Tuesday morning an NBA champion. It has been a very long and unlikely success story rooted in faith. Mazzulla — whose only head coaching experience before taking over the Boston Celtics in the fall of 2022 was at the NCAA Division II level — guided the team to a record 18th NBA championship after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Live seasonally. Inhabit the rhythms and cycles of nature. Find the Sacred in the shifts of the year. These themes have become prominent across sacred traditions and spiritual paths in the last few years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Louisiana is not a stranger to controversy over religion in schools. In 2023, it joined almost 20 states that require or allow officials in public schools to post the national motto, “In God We Trust.” Now, the Bayou State could become the first in the nation to require the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms in public schools, colleges and universities.
Read More(OPINION) This week I want to talk about a pair of concepts that are typically used side-by-side in Christian circles, and which also strike me as among the more misunderstood and egregiously misused principles in the church lexicon. Understood rightly, they’d benefit everybody. Those two words are “sin” and “repentance.” Taken together, they suggest the idea that we’re all sinners who need to repent.
Read MoreThe Southern Baptist Convention conducted its annual meeting in Indianapolis this week. The denomination’s sex abuse scandal — while perhaps overshadowed by a vote on women pastors and a resolution opposing in vitro fertilization — remained a key topic of discussion.
Read MoreThe big news was politics, of course, as in a convention speech by Vice President Mike Pence. The journalism establishment was not amused, as illustrated in this CNN headline: “Pence accused of ‘hijacking’ evangelical meeting.” Various types of Southern Baptist conservatives welcomed him.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In May 2024, United Nations member states voted to declare July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, an annual day of remembrance for victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Read More(ANALYSIS) After the 1966 fire, St. Michael's was rebuilt with concrete, steel and other fire-resistant materials, using 1961 drawings from the Historic American Buildings Survey for reference. Today, there are leaks along joints in the church's domes, and the wooden floors squeak from water damage.
Read MoreSalem Media Group, the largest U.S. radio company providing Christian and conservative programming, is removing the book and film “2,000 Mules” from all its platforms. The group also apologized to a Georgia man who filed a defamation suit, claiming the film falsely accused him of ballot fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Educated people are more likely to attend religious services weekly than those with a lower level of education. I wrote a long piece about that a while ago. But someone (I can’t recall now, it was maybe in a Twitter reply) asked if that same relationship held for both men and women.
Read More(ANALYSIS) According to a recent Pew study, the vast molarity of U.S. adults agree that religion’s influence is shrinking, yet they continue to hold a positive view of it. This disparity highlights the challenge facing the church today: How can people of faith navigate a world that is increasingly losing faith? With the looming election cycle ahead and the opportunity for a little summer reading, now is an ideal time to consider a few insightful books on the church’s role in society.
Read MoreThe Israeli government and the Biden administration on Sunday lost a key moderating and unifying figure with the resignation of senior war cabinet minister Benny Gantz. This development could complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a possible hostage-and-ceasefire deal, and might also lead to early elections in Israel later this year.
Read More(OPINION) Working with the AI bot Claude is, in no particular order, amazing, frustrating, and hilarious. On the one hand, when “he” gets things right, the knowledge base is beyond staggering. (Yes, I know I’m dealing with an “it,” but Claude has so much personality that I’ll stay with “he”). I asked Claude some questions from my wife Nancy about types of soil, and Claude responded in massive accurate detail, as confirmed by Nancy, who is quite expert in landscaping related issues.
Read MoreThe Epoch Times, a once obscure Chinese-American newspaper that rose to prominence as a promoter of Donald Trump and conservative causes, is distancing itself from a top executive arrested for allegedly laundering at least $67 million. On June 3, CFO Weidong “Bill” Guan pleaded not guilty in a New York federal court in response to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud.
Read MorePersonal history, memory and imagination are key to the work of London-based painter Matthew Krishanu, whose atmospheric, pared-back compositions explore childhood, religion and the legacies of colonialism. Many of his paintings are informed by his upbringing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where his father worked as a priest with the Anglican missionary agency United Society Partners in the Gospel.
Read MoreOver the last decade, under the Modi government (which has retained power following the recent elections), Hindu nationalism has become the dominant political ideology in India. Proponents of Hindu nationalism argue that being Indian should be synonymous with being Hindu, which has led to increased religious and political tensions in the Indian diaspora — including in South Africa.
Read More(OPINION) An Arkansas reader says that when faced with some proposed controversial change to church’s tenets, he asks himself what would exemplify the two rules that Jesus calls the commandments from which all others originate and to which all others must bow. Namely, what would a loving, compassionate God expect of us?
Read More(ANALYSIS) The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have sparked a discussion about whether female Muslim athletes who wear a headscarf should be allowed to compete. While the International Olympic Committee announced that athletes participating in the Paris Games can wear a hijab without any restriction, French athletes will be barred from wearing a hijab.
Read MoreNo one was surprised when the embattled United Methodist Church — after decades of fighting about the Bible, salvation and sexuality — boldly steered onto a progressive course after the exit of 7,659 congregations in America's biggest church split since the Civil War. At least, no one should have been surprised.
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