(ANALYSIS) One of the crucial services the Rev. Tony Marr provides as the leader of the Higher Ministries consulting firm is to connect young pastors — fresh out of seminaries and Bible colleges — with churches that need new leaders. There's a problem. Most of these churches seeking pastors have fewer than 150 members and are considered “small churches” in the Protestant marketplace.
Read MoreIn a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 18 that a Tennessee law banning gender transition medical treatments for minors is constitutional. The case involved a suit brought by three transgender teenagers and the Biden Administration against Tennessee officials seeking to bar the state from enforcing its ban on gender transition interventions or so-called “gender affirming care” for minors.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Details are still emerging about Vance Boelter, the 57-year-old man accused of killing a Minnesota state politician and her husband and grievously injuring another state senator and his wife. But the more we learn about Boelter, the more likely it seems that Christian nationalism may have played a role in motivating the attack.
Read MoreThe 500 Christians had already fled terrorism at home and found temporary shelter in storefronts transformed into living quarters in downtown Yelewata. But as they slept overnight on June 13, men identified as militant Fulani attacked from multiple sides.
Read MoreLike father, like son — or in the case of Kenneth Copeland, like grandfather, like grandson. Which may be why Jeremy Pearsons, Copeland’s grandson, is “believing God” — and his Legacy Church congregation in a tiny Colorado mountain town — for a $2 million private jet.
Read MoreNondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for child sex abuse victims are no longer allowed in Missouri, thanks to a piece of new legislation known as Trey’s Law. It is in memory of Trey Carlock, a victim of abuse at Kanakuk Kamps in southwest Missouri, who took his own life in 2019 at the age of 28.
Read More(ANALYSIS) If we agree that on-screen depictions of Jesus that add things to Scripture aren’t automatically evil, then “The Chosen” actually comes out seeming like something of a miracle. It sticks pretty darn close to Scripture when it comes to Jesus’ own words and actions, mostly developing other characters. And what it does add to Jesus’ words is within the realm of typical Christian orthodoxy.
Read More(REVIEW) When it comes to U2, perhaps the only thing harder to find than a nuanced opinion of them is an accurate portrayal of their faith. It was a shock to some that the Dublin-based band — who became big in the 1980s — refused to be pigeonholed as apologists for Irish nationalism. Anyone who looks at their religious makeup shouldn’t have been surprised.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The central government’s gazette notification for India’s upcoming 2027 census omits the word “caste.” This, despite earlier public assurances that caste data would be collected. The absence of explicit mention has triggered accusations of deliberate evasion. Is the reluctance tied to the disruptive potential of a full caste enumeration—one that could unsettle the ideological foundations of Hindu nationalist politics?
Read MoreIn the year 2000, artist Sabrina Siga said she believed that her God-given talent needed to serve the Lord. That began her foray into biblical art. Her deep spirituality and knowledge of the Bible has been a blessing as she struggles to popularize Christian religious art in this predominantly Hindu country.
Read More(OPINION) It’s all untelling, this God thing. The whole weekend I had an inexpressible sense of God’s realness, God’s omnipresence, God’s utter majesty. God is a mystery. If you think you’ve got the answers … well, no, you don’t.
Read More(ANALYSIS) All that and more underscores the significance of a long-awaited and definitive new biography, out now: “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet” (Yale University Press) by historian John G. Turner of George Mason University. It is the first biography to benefit from official publication of the 27-volume Joseph Smith Papers.
Read MoreFinding chaplains on-site at a National Trust heritage property is not something visitors usually expect. But at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, in the north of England, it has become a regular occurrence. The Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII marked the end of Fountains Abbey as a Cistercian monastery.
Read MoreWhile only 20% of U.S. adults currently identify as Catholic by religion, millions more hold cultural, familial or historical ties to the church. Among those who identify as Catholic by religion, levels of observance differ. Only 13% reported never or rarely engaging in any of the faith’s core practices. The vast majority — 74% — fall somewhere in between, the report said.
Read MoreAfter a half-decade marked by upheaval, many Christian communities across the United States are showing signs not only of recovery but of renewed vitality, a new study released on Monday revealed. The report looks at a large and diverse sample of American churchgoers say their faith is stronger, their churches more vibrant and their involvement more consistent than at any point.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Compared to Europe, where many sainthood causes benefit from institutional support, funding and access to the Vatican, Africa faces unique challenges. Canonization is a complex and costly process. It requires documentation, verification of miracles and years of advocacy. Local dioceses may lack the resources to keep these causes moving forward. In the end, many African Catholics feel like their voices and stories have been left on the margins.
Read More(ANALYSIS) This is not about rejecting technology. This is about resisting moral drift. It’s about remembering that not every innovation is an acceptable invitation. The church should be discerning enough to see that just because crypto is legal doesn’t make it righteous. If God’s messengers hope to offer moral clarity, they can’t do so while pocketing digital currencies that may be soaked in sin.
Read More(OPINION) As a historian of Christianity, I have studied how religion has been manipulated to bless empires. In the year 325, Constantine declared himself Christian and forged the Christian Empire. In 800, the Pope crowned Charlemagne, merging the power of church and state. During colonial expansion, Christianity was exported alongside conquest and commerce.
Read More(ANALYSIS) To this day, there are no national memorials for the victims. Instead, triumphalist military monuments, many of them built in Tamil-majority areas, celebrate a victory in a war whose collateral damage amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Maybe what stands out here is that no matter how much the country has changed socially, religiously and politically, none of that has really shifted the overall relationship between Jews and the Democratic Party.
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