Posts in Religion News
✏️ Teaching The Gospel During Public School Hours? It's Totally Constitutional 🔌

While religion in public schools keeps making national headlines, “released time” Bible classes are less well known. But they, too, have gained legislative attention in several states recently.

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⛪︎ 5 Takeaways From Indy: Putting the SBC’s Annual Meeting Into Perspective 🔌

The 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.

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Keeping The Faith: Is The Rise Of Religious ‘Nones’ Stalling?

(ANALYSIS) In religion, what goes down can always come up again. American religions continue to face persistent skepticism from elite culture, education and entertainment along with long-term internal damage from sexual abuse scandals and disputes over sexual morality and Trumpism that are not disappearing. Also, stated identity in polls does not make up for sagging in-person attendance and donations that erode organized religion.

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🙏 Slain Missionaries Mourned: Praying ‘God Will Make A Way’ In Haiti 🔌

Jason and Jennifer Carroll pray for Haiti as the poor, developing nation deals with unrelenting gang violence. Two American missionaries and a Haitian national were killed in an ambush last week.

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📰 Politics, Sex, War: Old Religion Headlines Are New Again 🔌

Twenty years ago, I worked as a Dallas-based religion reporter for The Associated Press. Many of the stories that dominated the headlines then remain relevant today.

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🎤 Preach It, Jelly Roll: Emotional Singer Celebrates Another Big Award 🔌

Jelly Roll is on a roll. The “Son of a Sinner” artist — whose songs feature raw, religious  lyrics that wrestle with his troubled past — won another big award on Thursday night.

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🌪️ Symbol Of Hope: Church’s Stained-Glass Windows Survive Monster Tornado 🔌

When a monster tornado struck a small Oklahoma town, numerous businesses and houses were destroyed. But a church’s stained-glass windows escaped with just minor damage.

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⛪︎ 5 Questions As Long-Awaited Methodist General Conference Starts Next Week 🔌

This week’s Weekend Plug-in tackles five questions related to the United Methodist Church’s long-awaited General Conference, which starts next week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

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🇺🇸 The Complexity Of Defining and Measuring Christian Nationalism: 5 Takeaways 🔌

This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights five takeaways when attempting to define and measure Christian nationalism. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

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On Religion: 36 Years Later, Why Journalism Continues To Struggle With Religion News

(ANALYSIS) In the late 1970s, researchers began asking why journalists often struggle when covering religion stories or avoid religious news altogether. I wrote my 1982 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate project on this topic, and some of that work was published by Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists. This week marks the start of my 36th year writing this “On Religion” column.

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Crossroads Podcast: Looking For A Religion Story In Why Military Recruiting Is Down

Try to imagine an America in which families that have, for generations, urged their children to serve in the armed services stopped doing precisely that. Here is a question about the religion data in that equation: Can Episcopal and liberal mainline Protestant churches in the Northeast produce as many future soldiers as Baptists, Pentecostals and nondenominational evangelicals in the Bible Belt?

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📊 Is America Losing Its Religion? 4 Intriguing Stats From A New National Survey 🔌

This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights four takeaways from a new national survey on religion in public life. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

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🏆 Hello, Adelle: Longtime RNS Journalist To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award 🔌

This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights Adelle M. Banks’ selection as the Religion News Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

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🤷🏻‍♀️ Are The Feds Still Investigating Southern Baptist Sex Abuse? That's A Good Question 🔌

This week’s Weekend Plug-in delves into reports the U.S. Justice Department has ended its investigation of Southern Baptist sex abuse. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.

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