Like all Muslims, Islam and its teachings is for the Molbog a way of life. But for them, crocodiles are considered sacred and their ancestors. In fact, the Molbog word for crocodile — “opo” — is the same one used to refer to grandparents.
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The Muslim community in Uganda entered 2024 with three rival muftis each heading his own faction. The fraternity has been split into factions as a result of endless wrangling caused by, among other things, the mismanagement of Muslim-owned properties.
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(ANALYSIS) Jan. 5 marked 336 years since the death of an extraordinary woman you have probably never heard of: Catarina de San Juan. Her life reads like an epic. Born in South Asia during the early 17th century, she was captured by the Portuguese at age eight and sold to Spaniards in the Philippines.
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Water scarcity is a big problem in many communities around the world due to a combination of factors. Some of them have exacerbated the problem, including population growth, urbanization, increase in demand of water and climate change. A Catholic group in Nigeria is working to change that.
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(OPINION) As I get older, I find my resolution for each new year is the same. I don’t need to make a list of resolutions. I just want one thing: Peace.
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In order to build the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, critics said TotalEnergies is moving over 2,000 graves in Uganda and Tanzania, without adhering to cultural and religious burial customs. GreenFaith — a multi-faith climate justice organization — recently released a report titled “As If Nothing Is Scared” to shed light on the issue.
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This year’s Golden Globes — the first in a series of awards that will set the stage for the Oscars — took place on Sunday evening at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Among the top film nominees coming into the night were Greta Gerwig's blockbuster “Barbie,” Christopher Nolan's “Oppenheimer” and Martin Scorsese's “Killers of the Flower Moon.” See which movies and TV shows won awards this year.
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As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to run for a third term, the country remains on the brink. Activists, journalists and civil society groups have continued in recent months to raise alarms at the rise in religious persecution of minorities throughout the country.
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The first Weekend Plug-in of 2024 looks ahead to the year’s expected big news. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Religion is likely to play a big role in voters’ choices in the 2024 presidential election — much as it did in previous years. Despite an overall shift away from participation in organized religion in the U.S. populace, religious rhetoric in the political arena has intensified.
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In Italy, a country that exudes centuries-old traditions rooted in Christianity, there exists a holiday that captures the imagination of both young and old alike every Jan. 6. The holiday — known as La Befana — is a unique blend of religion and folklore that marks the end of the Christmas season.
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Three weeks after announcing that priests could bless individuals in same-sex relationships, the Vatican published a clarification on Thursday following backlash — and even some confusion — from Catholic prelates around the world.
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There’s a pile of other recent books and articles that bemoan the sprawling U.S. evangelical movement over the militant politicization of a Trump-Era growth sector. Some of this literature reminds one of outside anthropologist Margaret Mead scrutinizing teens in American Samoa.
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Houses of worship with predominantly Black congregations suffered the most in terms of attendance and donations. At the same time, they did more to promote COVID-19 testing and vaccinations throughout the pandemic.
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(OPINION) Last year, I wrote about the troubling findings from American Bible Society’s annual “State of the Bible” report. Every study since 2011 has shown that Bible users accounted for around 50% of American adults. However, in 2022, things changed. There was a sudden 10% decrease in Bible users, indicating that “nearly 26 million Americans reduced or stopped their interaction with Scripture in the past year.”
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(ANALYSIS) In the midst of Israel’s fierce war against Hamas in Gaza, the country’s highest court on New Year’s Day drew attention back to a previous conflict within the country. In a narrowly divided decision, the justices struck down a significant part of the contentious judicial reform passed in July 2023 by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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(ANALYSIS) I swear I don’t try to write about abortion so much, but I always end up there. I just think it’s this issue that is like no other when it comes to social issues. What really spurred this post, was a previous one that I put together called, “Liberals Have Won the Cultural War.”
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Some South African pastors are among a group who have risked their lives by preaching the gospel in places where gang violence and murder seems to be an unending cycle. These brave pastors continue to preach even though their friends, family and church members live under the threat of violence every day.
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(OPINION) A few years ago, a friend shared a Bible verse with me that has become my annual new year’s resolution. But it comes with a caveat.
Read More(REVIEW) Both rightly-named football matches and their American cousins have halftimes. The kind of “football” dominant in the United States is poorly-named because in it only one person on the field, a kicker, uses his feet, and that only at specialized times. In both varieties, though, players at halftime get a short rest and coaches offer rallying words. Books that try to answer why we exist should not have halftimes. Authors should offer a consistent vision.
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