(ANALYSIS) Despite some major differences, newspapers and religion share notable similarities in their societal roles, including defining norms, creating a sense of a shared community, while maintaining rituals. These parallels are often rooted in the human need to make sense of a complex world. Over the years, Hollywood has immortalized their importance with a series of movies.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In Washington, D.C., recent events have pushed some Christian leaders to become vocal against the Trump administration. As clergy argue that federal law enforcement agencies increasingly encroach upon church property and community spaces, the result has been a growing movement of men and women who argue that enough is enough.
Read More(ANALYSIS) “Murderbot” has options, but only a few. Kill all the stupid humans and flee, which likely means another SecUnit would stop him and then the company would melt him down as scrap. Or play along, pretending to do the job you’ve always done but hope no one notices when you’re not all there because — you’re bingeing thousands of hours of “content” — human/bot/AI entertainment.
Read More(ANALYSIS) History was made on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Leo XIV declared Carlo Acutis — the 15-year-old tech prodigy known as “God’s Influencer” — the first Millennial saint. Before 80,000 pilgrims, many of them young families and digital natives, this wasn’t just a canonization. It was a prophetic moment for the Catholic Church as it grapples with its place in the 21st century.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Is there a more loaded word in American discourse right now than “diversity”?
Read MoreThe Catholic justice said what motivated her to write a book is to shed a light on the Supreme Court’s inner workings and give a behind-the-scenes look at what the justices do. She added that while the Supreme Court may not always “get it right” in every case, she does “think Americans should trust that the court is trying to get it right.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) It’s hard to take Jell-O salad to the after-church brunch a few hours after your husband of 33 years runs off with a younger woman. But the old-fashioned church Leanne Morgan attends in her summer Netflix sitcom does have a Philippians 4:13 poster in the fellowship hall proclaiming: “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) To me, there’s always been a pretty big blind spot when it comes to the study of non-religion in the United States. There are plenty of survey questions that ask about religious attendance and belief in God.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Psychedelics, broadly defined, are a class of psychoactive substances that alter perception, cognition and mood through their interaction with neurotransmitters such as serotonin. As a medical anthropologist I have spent the past 25 years studying the rise of alternative approaches to mental health treatments and have specifically focused in the past four years on the impact of psychedelics on consciousness and spirituality.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As summer winds down and Americans gather with family and friends for barbecues and beach trips, the first Monday of September offers more than just a long weekend. Labor Day, often treated as the unofficial end of summer, has deeper roots. It’s a holiday born out of struggle — of marches, strikes and a nationwide push to recognize the dignity of workers.
Read MoreAfter each and every school shooting, the usual suspects in public life produce their familiar soundbites that draw cheers from the faithful in their various choirs in blue America and red America.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the things that we often hear when we tell folks that we are working on a project that is studying the growing number of nones in the United States is something along the lines of, “Oh, I’m not that religious, but I consider myself highly spiritual.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) With two dramatic actions, the “Religious Right” is suddenly prodding the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its historic 2015 Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Such a radical and unpopular switch after only 10 years might seem implausible — but a close parallel already happened in the 2022 Dobbs decision.
Read MoreThe Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse are helping Christians persecuted for their faith in the United Kingdom through a legal defense fund of more than $1.2 million.
Read MoreWhen it comes to morality, Americans don’t see much wrong with using birth control or getting a divorce, but few support extramarital affairs or human cloning. The latest poll results from Gallup spell out what activities U.S. adults view as morally acceptable and which ones are seen as immoral.
Read MoreBlasphemy laws in Pakistan are a set of legislative provisions that forbid statements or actions that are considered offensive to Islam or its sacred figures. These rules inflict severe punishments, including life imprisonment and the death penalty under Section 295-C for defaming the Prophet Muhammad. These laws were expanded during General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization of the country.
Read MoreAt a time when more than three billion people worldwide live without access to a local church, International Cooperating Ministries is inviting Christians to help bridge that gap. The Virginia-based missions organization, which has helped construct more than 13,600 permanent church buildings in 110 countries, recently launched its new Community Impact Partners program.
Read More(ANALYSIS) For decades, one name was ubiquitous in American evangelical homes: Focus on the Family. A media empire with millions of listeners and readers, its messages about parenting, marriage and politics seemed to reach every conservative Christian church and school. And one man’s name was nearly synonymous with Focus on the Family: James Dobson.
Read More(REVIEW) With no meaningful character arc and no coherent theme, “Honey Don’t!” leaves viewers adrift. It’s a detective story with no one to root for and nothing to say. Instead of delivering clarity in a chaotic world, it adds to the noise. In the words of Macbeth — adapted by Ethan Coen’s brother Joel in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” — the film is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Read MorePastors have a lot of thoughts about discipleship, but they aren’t sure it’s happening in their churches. In the first part of the State of Discipleship study from Lifeway Research, U.S. Protestant pastors shared their understanding of what discipleship means and how it best occurs. The full State of Discipleship will be released over the next year, providing the perspectives of both pastors and churchgoers.
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