(ANALYSIS) As 2021 comes to a close, everyone is looking toward 2022. The news cycle over the last two years has been dominated by COVID-19, and that doesn’t seem to be subsiding given the rash of recent omicron infections. The Catholic world, meanwhile, had in 2021 one of its busiest years. Expect 2022 to be just as busy.
Read MoreIt was another tough year for many people around the planet. The pandemic, just as it seemed to be subsiding this fall, rages on thanks to the omicron variant. Aside from COVID-19, issues such as climate change and the plight of migrants continues to plague nations, and international conflicts continue to rattle millions around the globe.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the growing focus on religious exemptions amid pressure to vaccinate more Americans to slow the spread of COVID-19. Plus, check out the week’s best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read MoreMillions of cicadas, of a type called ‘Brood X’, are emerging from underground this summer from New Jersey to Indiana and Pennsylvania to Virginia. They’re known for casting off their shells and the humming music they create by rubbing their wings. But they also have a long history as symbols of death and rebirth in faith traditions from indigenous practices to Christianity that feels especially relevant as American life emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read More(ANALYSIS) German bishops have brought what they call reforms back to the forefront over the past few weeks with a series of moves that could forever change Roman Catholicism.
Read More(OPINION) What does the phrase “follow the science” mean for journalism and particularly the impact of Catholic voices in news stories? That Catholics, and traditional religious believers in general, are seen as anti-science puts them in direct contradiction with what these politicians say and want.
Read More(OPINION) That Pope Francis would put his name on a book — written by a British author — criticizing the United States, its media and politics without understanding the First Amendment is a major shortfall of the project. There is also more to this book that the mainstream secular press did not highlight — like the pope’s staunch opposition to abortion.
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 MoreDr. Syra Madad, the senior director for the System Wide Special Pathogens Program for New York City Health and Hospitals, has been on the front line preparing for pandemics before the novel coronavirus hit. Now she's a leader in the response to COVID-19 in New York. Religion Unplugged sat down on Zoom with Dr. Madad to talk about the role her Muslim faith and religion overall plays in her medical mission to fight the spread of disease.
Read More(OPINION) A Nigerian Christian recounts her experiences struggling with mental illness and letting go of the idea that if she had enough faith, God would heal her.
Read MoreThe geneticist and physician is a leading voice in the conversation about faith and science, and has been a steady voice urging religious communities to have faith in science. His agency is hard at work in the global race to find treatments for COVID-19.
Read More(OPINION) The ever-evolving coronavirus pandemic has upended our world in ways no one could have ever expected. Journalists still don’t know where this story is going. One thing is clear. While death tolls climb and fall depending on which countries are effectively flattening the curve, the vast majority of those of us who are healthy and staying at home still have to deal with loneliness.
Read MoreWhile white evangelicals are the least likely religious group to view global warming as a crisis, there is a growing movement of evangelicals like Michelle Frazer who not only care about the impacts of climate change, but perhaps more significantly, are appealing to conservative Christians in ways that the secular, left-leaning environmental movement hasn’t.
Read MoreDr. Mohammed Elgazzar has served in medical missions to war-torn Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria and more, saving lives without regard to the beliefs of the wounded. His faith inspires him. “The Quran is not coming from Allah just to be read,” he said. “It is not enough to see pain and feel sad. You have to do something about it,” he said. “That is my religion.”
Read More(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.
Read More(OPINION) The Bible and the CDC both impose isolation on us, requiring us to use a higher power to overcome our human instincts to comfort each other with touch.
Read MoreThe 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?
Read MorePlant-based products have unleashed a meaty debate in church pews and on message boards over whether products like the Impossible Burger can or can’t be eaten during Lent and if doing so is ultimately a sin.
Read MoreA group of high school students from the Bronx represented a version of pro-life philosophy that takes the term beyond abortion and leftward on the political spectrum.
Read MoreThe Raelians believe in intelligent design for atheists— that aliens created all life on earth and that there is no god but only those who come from the sky, the Elohim. We attended their recent North American conference to learn more about their beliefs and practices.
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