(ANALYSIS) Forty years after a nationwide “satanic panic” that stoked fears of ritual child abuse, conspiracy theories are latching onto fears of the devil — from the false belief that tracking devices are in COVID-19 vaccines to theories that the Astroworld tragedy was a satanic sacrifice.
Read More(OPINION) As religion writers and historians know, the 1611 King James Version of the Bible begat the 1952 Revised Standard Version, which begat the 1989 New Revised Standard Version which now begets the new "Updated Edition" of the NRSV, the “NRSVue” — a surefire news topic — available in e-book format by Christmas and print around May.
Read More(OPINION) When Michael Metzger was nine, his father read a bit of poetry to him. He showed scant interest. But he can still recall the opening lines of both because of their enchanting phrasing and rhythm. Today, Metzger has a love for poetry. Here’s why.
Trustees of Ohio Valley University in Vienna, West Virginia, have voted to close the 63-year-old Christian university after not meeting payroll for months and facing mounting debts.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Supreme Court will hear a potentially landmark case for religious schools on Dec. 8, Carson v. Makin. Up for discussion is whether Maine’s law, which excludes religious schools from the diversity of schooling options that families have access to in a public student aid program, infringes on First Amendment constitutional protections.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It’s now clear that the Biden administration wants to oust Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. This is extraordinary and would exacerbate many of the region’s challenges, including religious extremism. While Ahmed has made mistakes, they are incomparable to the persecution, repression and suffering caused by past regimes.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On the surface, Hanukkah is a story of male heroism. A ragtag rebel force led by a rural priest and his five sons, called the Maccabees, freed the Jews from oppressive rulers. But seeing Hanukkah this way misses the inspiring women who were prominent in the earliest tellings of the story.
Read MoreOn Oct. 23, hundreds gathered in Franklin, Tennessee, to witness the erection of a Civil War statue featuring a U.S. Colored Troops soldier. Chris Williamson, the senior pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church reflected for the ReligionUnplugged.com podcast on what the moment meant and the role the church must play in such debates.
Read More(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.
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