Frank Schaeffer is angry about abortion and evangelicals, and he's getting louder

The pro-life movement’s “traitorous prince’” is frustrated by his progressive comrades and fed up with his former cohorts on the religious right.

Read More
How the SBC sex abuse scandal turned a city hall reporter into a full-time religion writer

(OPINION) Come April, Downen’s work on the “Abuse of Faith” project could earn him and his colleagues a Pulitzer Prize. For now, it has resulted in a new gig for the former City Hall reporter. (“Weekend Plug-In” is a column by veteran religion writer Bobby Ross Jr. Look every Friday for analysis, insights and top headlines from the world of faith.)

Read More
Pro-life activism extends to issues beyond abortion

(OPINION) Human trafficking, immigration and poverty are all linked to unplanned pregnancy. Sermons are necessary methods of communication to explain what those links are and how members of the church can help.

Read More
New technology helps archeologists identify Bible scribes

Tel Aviv University researchers used an algorithm of image processing and newly-developed machine learning techniques to establish that two scribes wrote the Samaria ostraca some 2,700 years ago.

Read More
Protests in India's holy Hindu city show rising interfaith solidarity

Arrests of Hindu activists protesting India’s new citizenship bill that excludes Muslims has energized Muslims and Christians who support a pluralism over what they see as attempts to make India a Hindu nation.

Read More
Examining Rudy Giuliani's complicated Catholicism

(OPINION) President Donald Trump’s impeachment is underway in the U.S. Senate, something that has dominated news coverage in recent days and will continue to do so. While Trump is at the center of the Senate trial, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a key figure in all of this as well.

Read More
Among society's exiled Christians are leaders of the next revivals

(OPINION) To bring Christianity out of exile in American culture, we should look for innovators among the small percentage of Evangelical Protestants who are both active and influential. Only a few are needed to launch fresh movements that can energize the faith.

Read More
HBO's 'The New Pope' serves up plenty of sin, but no substance

(REVIEW) There is a Hollywood fascination with all that’s morbid about religion. It has traditionally had a profane approach when it comes to the Catholic church. That it loves to dramatize reality into what can sometimes be an ugly trope, this is exactly what we get with HBO’s new TV mini-series.

Read More
Pachamama debate a lingering point of contention

(OPINION) Arguments got heated and continued at a slow burn. One commentator even wrote to the Vatican requesting information about a ceremonial plant in a bowl.

Read More
(Who is Alex Trebek?) Game show host with cancer touts prayer, but faith story is complicated

(OPINION) “Weekend Plug-In” is a column by veteran religion writer Bobby Ross Jr. Look every Friday for analysis, insights and top headlines from the world of faith. This week: Longtime “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek has touted the value of prayer in his cancer fight, but details about his specific faith are complicated.

Read More
Open Doors report: The 4 biggest trends in Christian persecution globally

Government surveillance programs, extremist Islamic ideology and wartime murder and displacement of Christian minorities are growing threats to Christian communities across three continents, according to the annual watch list.

Read More
Nonprofit journalism on the rise: What about religion news?

(OPINION) News organizations are increasingly turning to non-profit models and partnerships in the quest for sustainability. Several recent developments have implications for religion coverage.

Read More
New film explores how trauma of anti-semitism drives ongoing conflict

Afterward is a Jewish woman’s personal quest to understand Holocaust perpetrators and her own position in trauma’s legacy in her native Israel.

Read More
Increased anxiety and sale of anti-depressants in Kashmir as lockdown continues

More Kashmiris are turning to anti-depressants to ease increasing signs of anxiety, according to health experts and hospitals, as arrests of thousands and the world’s longest-running ban on internet access in a democracy continues.

Read More
What the clergy celibacy feud means for Catholicism

Retired Pope Benedict XVI issued a strongly-worded defense for priestly celibacy — countering his successor Pope Francis who’s been considering allowing married men to be ordained in the Amazon to deal with a shortage in that part of the world.

Read More
The Naked Truth About Raelians And Their UFO Religion

The 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.

Read More