This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the top religion news of 2023, as voted by the Religion News Association. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(ANALYSIS) Among high income folks, the ones who are the most generous are those living in two places — the South and the Mountain West. Arkansas has the highest rate of charitable giving at 6.7% of adjusted gross income. Utah is right behind at 5.8%. There are several other states that are north of 3%, though. They include: Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington state and Washington, D.C.
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India’s Christian community has emerged as a proactive force in the battle against mental health challenges. Through initiatives such as national helplines, counselor training programs and pastoral support, they are working towards building a more mentally resilient society.
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(OPINION) For decades, TV producer Norman Lear described himself as a cultural Jew who didn't practice any traditional form of faith. Over the years, however, the television icon became more and more intrigued with religious faith, both as a force in American life and as a topic ignored by Hollywood.
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Norwegian writer Jon Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Dec. 10, an honor universally praised as much-deserved for a writer who has been one of Europe’s greatest for quite some time. Fosse, a playwright, novelist and poet, hasn’t always been happy, but he’s been prolific. He’s also a Catholic convert.
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A web search for “Hanukkah decorations” yields a trove of whimsical items like menorah-and-dreidel-adorned straws, pillows, mugs, candy and napkins. These widespread choices have one thing in common — they are blue and white.
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Initially, a symbolic gesture against racism, taking the knee evolved into a collective action. Orlando Magic’s power forward Jonathan Isaac chose a different path. Throughout 2020, he made a choice not to take a knee or wear a BLM shirt. This placed him among the few athletes who opted to stand during the national anthem.
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Some 9 million Americans can’t afford to buy the medications they have been prescribed. Meanwhile, nearly $11 billion worth of prescription drugs are disposed of every year in the U.S., according to KFF Health News. A ministry in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is trying to use some of that surplus to serve people in need.
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(REVIEW) “Freud’s Last Session” wastes its fantastic premise of pitting C.S. Lewis against Sigmund Freud with boring execution — and a bafflingly underwhelming portrayal that fits an odd pattern by people who often negatively characterize the famed Christian author.
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Cientos de miles de católicos en toda España y en algunas partes del mundo hispanohablante aprovecharon la Fiesta de la Inmaculada Concepción del viernes para rezar el rosario en las calles en protesta por la represión del gobierno contra las expresiones de fe en público.
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(ANALYSIS) Another month, another scandal. That seems to be the case these days with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. It’s also the case when we talk about Vatican life in the tense era of Pope Francis. The most-recent drama in Rome involves Luca Casarini, who recently took part in the Synod on Synodality as a special nominee of Pope Francis.
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(OPINION) By now, I’m sure most people have heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion. Not only because of her fascinating reflection on it, but also because of the countless responses from many different sides.
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A church in the West Bank city of Bethlehem has politicized its annual nativity scene, laying a figure of baby Jesus amid the rubble of a destroyed masonry building to represent the Gaza Strip this Christmas season.
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(ANALYSIS) Dec. 12 is a special day for millions of Catholics around the world, especially those of Mexican descent. Known as el Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe, it is a popular feast day that celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe: a brown-skinned, Indigenous vision of Mary that Catholics believe appeared to a peasant in 1531.
Read MoreNearly 70% of U.S. adults call themselves "spiritual," or say they are "spiritual but not religious" or that "spirituality is very important in their lives," according to a new Pew Research study of spirituality. However, as vast as that tally sounds, no one knows if it signifies that spirituality is soaring – or simply being counted differently, and what people mean when they choose that label.
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The Holocaust may have long passed, but amid the Israeli-Hamas fighting in Gaza, there is a creeping anti-Semitic bias going on in countries where Jews and Jewish communities are situated. For Israeli Ambassador to to the Philippines Ilan Fluss, and others Jewish officials, this is very concerning.
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(OPINION) In many ways the Palestinians are victims, and my strong support for Israel does not stop me from grieving over the suffering of the Palestinian people. They have been victims of decades of bad leadership. Victims of lifelong anti-Israel propaganda. Victims of the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It was 31 years ago that a mob of nearly 150,000 Hindu extremists descended on the Babri Masjid, a 500-year old mosque in India’s Ayodhya city. Leading The mob were politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who rallied members of notorious Hindu nationalist paramilitary groups to participate in the violence and later replace the mosque with a Hindu temple.
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(ANALYSIS) Hanukkah is a minor festival in the Jewish liturgical year, whose major holidays come in the fall and spring — the High Holidays and Passover, respectively. Because of its proximity to Christmas, however, Hanukkah has been culturally elevated into a major celebration.
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(REVIEW) “The Mission” is a courageous and well-meaning attempt to wrestle with an important topic, held back by “not knowing what they don’t know” about their own biases much like some of the missionaries in ages past. Hopefully, the filmmakers and audience will use this film as a conversation starter rather than an ender. If they do, the world will be better for it.
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