(OPINION) Is Christianity in the United States becoming two different religions? The scenario is explored at book length in "One Faith No Longer" (New York University Press) by Baylor University sociologist George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk, a visiting scholar of religion at the University of Georgia.
Read More(OPINION) On Nov. 30, a court in Frankfurt, Germany, delivered a life sentence to a former Islamic State group fighter for genocide against the Yazidi minority — the first genocide conviction of an Islamic State group fighter in the world.
Read MoreKashmiri Hindus have longed to return and remain in their Himalayan homeland since fleeing violence by separatist militants in the 1990s. The Indian government has repeatedly promised to help them move back to Kashmir. But now thousands are again fleeing India’s only Muslim-majority region after a series of targeted civilian killings.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments in the (potentially) most significant abortion case in decades. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The current crisis in Ethiopia — displacing 2.1 million people with another 7 million in need of humanitarian aid — is an ethnic-political conflict, not a religious one. However, strengthening Ethiopia’s interfaith collaboration among religious groups can bring about much-needed national reconciliation and healing.
Read More(REVIEW) The latest Hollywood blockbuster “Dune,” a space opera based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name, is essentially a philosophical thought experiment that asks, How would Islam adapt and change thousands of years into the future on a distant desert planet? By projecting into the future, the film highlights our present reality.
Read More(OPINION) Queen Elizabeth’s recent message to the Church of England’s General Synod — in her first absence from the gathering — was strong and personal. She was most concerned with matters of doctrine and spiritual life — not the church’s role in politics and various cultural disputes.
Read More(OPINION) The question of what boundaries should exist for state aid to students who attend religious schools will be in the spotlight Dec. 8, when the court hears arguments in a case from Maine: Carson v. Makin. The case has drawn intense interest from educators and religious-liberty advocates across the country.
(OPINION) Prayer apps are not new. Silicon Valley startups popularized mindfulness and meditation apps as early as 2010, although many have criticized those apps for being spiritually shallow. The young founders of Hallow are among those who felt that mindfulness apps did not meet their religious needs and set out to create their own.
Read MorePublisher Gökhan Talas used his training as a graphic artist, knowledge he gained from Kurtulus churches in Ankara and training at the Filipus theological school to found Miras Publishing Ministries with his wife in 2011. Miras is the only Turkish-language Christian magazine in an increasingly hostile climate and marks its 10th anniversary this month.
Read More(REVIEW) “Carlo Acutis: God’s Computer Genius” makes for a perfect present for your child or preteen this Christmas. Catholic children are no strangers to books featuring saints, but Acutis is special because he speaks to the current generation. That is why his life is worth re-examination and why this is a book worth stuffing into a Christmas stocking.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The famed Notre Dame Cathedral was again catapulted into the news cycle after The Telegraph reported a scoop under the headline “Notre Dame interior faces ‘woke’ Disney revamp.” What followed was an amazing lack of mainstream news coverage.
Read MoreThe Baptist General Convention of Texas, one of few Southern Baptist groups that has not specifically excluded women from church leadership roles, passed a resolution at its 2021 General Convention earlier this month to “affirm and celebrate” the contributions of women in “advancing God’s kingdom.”
Read More(REVIEW) Terry Scott Taylor's new double album "This Beautiful Mystery," is a culmination of nearly 50 years laboring in the vineyard of Christian music with a quality and reach far beyond that much-maligned artistic ghetto.
Read More(OPINION) By count of the Death with Dignity organization — which devised Oregon’s pioneering 1997 law under which 1,905 lives have been ended as of Jan. 22 — 10 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized euthanasia. And assignment editor’s note: 14 more states are currently debating such proposals.
Read More(TRAVEL) Today, 150 miles east of Los Angeles in an otherwise undeveloped desert, the first Coptic monastery in the United States — and second in the world outside Egypt — offers the monastic tradition of Egypt to America.
Read More(OPINION) Race, religion and politics are intimately connected in the United States. Beliefs that America is exceptional have inspired views across the political spectrum, and many congregations that emphasize social justice say Americans must create opportunity and inclusion for all — because all people are equally valued by God.
Read More(OPINION) This month, voters in Hamtramck, Michigan, elected a Muslim mayor and city council — a first for the state and possibly the country. It is worth reflecting on what this event signifies for the health of the polity, and indeed, the very nature of the American constitutional order.
Read More(REVIEW) On the very first page of Karl Ove Knausgård’s new novel, “The Morning Star,” you will find a quotation from Revelation 9:6, giving the reader a key to understanding the separate life stories that make up the book: “During that time these men will seek death, but they will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
Read More(OPINION) In “The Most Reluctant Convert,” the famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis first explains how he became an atheist after the shallow Christianity of his childhood. But later in life, the move back to Christianity was aided by a circle of Oxford friends, including the famous scholar and novelist J.R.R. Tolkien.
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