(ANALYSIS) Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites on Sept. 19, 2023. The eight mound complexes that received this designation are spread across central and southern Ohio and were built between the beginning of the common era and the 12th century.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The growing use of AI may prompt more churches to debut AI-generated worship services. A church in Austin, Texas, for example, has put a banner out advertising a service with an AI-generated sermon. The church worship will also include an AI-generated call to worship and pastoral prayer. Yet this use of AI has prompted concerns, as these technologies are believed to disrupt authentic human presence and leadership in religious life.
Read MoreWorld Vision, the $1.4 billion Christian relief ministry, has told U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley that it denies claims it aided terrorists in Gaza. In August, the senator from Iowa sent a series of questions to the ministry, a major beneficiary of federal funding that has long denied its work in Gaza supports terrorists
Read More(EXPLAINER) The next phase in the high-anticipated Vatican gathering of bishops known as the Synod of Synodality starts on Oct. 4. The first phase of this global gathering is the culmination of two years of preparation. Over the past two years, much has been said about synodality and what it aims to do for Catholicism.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in previews the Catholic Church’s upcoming synod on synodality in Rome. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The religious group that is the most likely to be straight is Muslims at 85%, followed closely by a whole bunch of other groups such as Protestants, Catholics, “just Christians” and Hindus. But here’s a really big surprise to me — only 78% of Latter-day Saints in college say that they are straight.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In a troubled country where violence and rigging win elections and the resultant political leadership promotes lawlessness, corruption and general misrule, a compromised church leadership stands accused of siding with the oppressors, a charge that these “men of God” deny.
Read More(OPINION) Kids do say the darndest things, and with decades of pulpit experience, the Rev. Joe McKeever has learned that these revelatory remarks often happen just after church. In one case, a parent shared a question from a perplexed child who struggled with a complex McKeever sermon. Thus, the 7-year-old asked: “Why does Pastor Joe think we need this information?”
Read MoreThe damage from the earthquake that struck Morocco on Sept. 8, 2023, is still being assessed. Moroccans are grappling not just with the loss of thousands of lives, but also with the widespread destruction of their cultural heritage and historical sites. Among them is a 12th-century mosque in the village of Tinmel, about 4 miles from the epicenter of the quake that flattened many of the villages in the Atlas Mountains.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It was an attack that not only exposed Kenya’s lackluster security in public places — but changed the way Kenya’s churches handled worship services. For the first time ever, churchgoers were subjected to metal detectors, sniffer dogs and armed policemen camped outside buildings while services went on.
Read More(OPINION) My father, who recently died at age 92, often said, “The older we get, the better we were.” This expression is a succinct, if folksy, way of describing the common practice of historical revisionism. But Christians tend to engage in revisionism, too. If progressives denigrate the past, many Christians and conservatives sentimentalize the past.
Read MoreOnly 35% of Israelis, a new report found, think “a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully.” The latest Pew Research Center survey, which was conducted in March and April of this year, represents a decline of nine percentage points since 2017 and 15 points since 2013.
Read MoreA Christian group that has called the seaside town of Ocean Grove in New Jersey home for over 150 years is in a battle with state officials over beach access on Sundays. The town has kept its beach closed on Sundays from 9 a.m to noon — a total of 45 hours a year — each summer so that residents can attend church services. But New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection has issued a violation letter stating the town is disobeying the law by cutting off access to the ocean.
Read More(OPINION) Distress and hopelessness are typically met not with plans of action or offers of assistance, but with a pat on the head and 15 different versions of ‘You can do it” or “You’ll survive.” But not everyone can do it, and people die. There are horrors beyond our control. No amount of cute and sweet clichés will save the heartbroken and the hopeless. Such phrases may, however, make them feel isolated and even more vulnerable.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Often panned both by secular and Christian film critics, faith-based films have been criticized for many things, whether it’s for the writing, acting or for perceived problematic messages. And yet, with all of the criticism, much of it valid (including much of it by me), it can get lost what good things there are in what we call “faith-based films” — movies made by people of faith for people of faith — that cause them to resonate so strongly with so many people.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The small Armenian Christian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh — locally known as Artsakh — has long been part of historical Armenia. Since December 2022, Artsakh has been under siege by neighboring Azerbaijan, and the world has largely ignored a prolonged assault on that peaceful community of 120,000 souls.
Read MoreThe Upper West Manhattan Church of Christ worships God in rented space at Hostelling International’s Victorian-style building at the corner of West 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The 25-year-old congregation began meeting in a small karate studio in 1998 — in the community that, four decades earlier, inspired the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical “West Side Story.”
Read MoreChicago, like many American urban centers, has a troubled jail. Inmates and advocates have drawn attention to violence, overcrowding, a lack of access to hygiene products, a lack of medical services and other issues beleaguering Chicago's Cook County Jail. These circumstances make it difficult for inmates to maintain their physical and mental health, let alone nourish their spiritual needs.
Read More(OPINION) As one who’s prone to be anxious about — well, about nearly everything — I’ve spent a good deal of my life looking for ways to de-stress. So allow me to offer a few reminders about dealing with presidential indictments, global warming, nightmarish customer service, artificial intelligence, road rage, grouchy spouses and troublesome offspring — without imploding.
Read More“Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE,” an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explores the influences and growth of early Buddhism through artifacts found largely in southern India. Highlights of the exhibit include relics taken from the Buddha’s remains.
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