Matthew Peterson speaks with reporter Joseph Maina about how African AI developers are using their skills to in church services and how pastors view the rise of artificial intelligence.
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(ANALYSIS) It seemed inevitable that the first encyclical from the first American pope, the forward-looking and worldly-wise Leo XIV, would focus on the growing furor over artificial intelligence. The pope’s encyclical comes as the culmination of various articles during recent weeks about the implications of AI on faith, ethics and morals.
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A court in central China, issued verdicts on May 22 against 31 members of a house church fellowship in one of the largest coordinated prosecutions of Christians in recent years.
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In the heart of Budapest lies a theater unlike any other. Founded 20 years ago, Gólem Theater stands as the only professional Jewish theater in Hungary. By blending humor with questions of identity, the theater seeks to engage audiences with a different side of Jewish culture.
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(OPINION) An international investigator will visit Nigeria to assess the religious persecution occurring across the country, and there are so many issues that it’s hard to know where she should begin. Will she detail the mass kidnappings that have occurred regularly over the past decade? The religious and tribal fighting? The terrorist organizations wreaking havoc on the country?
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(ANALYSIS) The United States is prepared to provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 13. But there’s a catch.
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Soccer’s global reach and emotional intensity have long invited comparisons to religion. Both scholars and fans testify that the analogy is more than just a metaphor. From local club loyalties to the sweeping unity of the World Cup, the game functions in ways that closely resemble systems of shared belief, ritual and identity.
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Online sports gambling is sweeping the nation, luring Americans with promises of harmless fun, easy money, and community. And Christians are not immune — many have embraced it as morally acceptable. But as addiction rates climb, few ministries or churches appear to be stepping in to help.
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Guns to Gardens has been turning unwanted firearms into garden tools and art for over a decade. Since 2013, this faith-based safe disposal movement has destroyed and repurposed an estimated 13,000-plus guns across the country. The guns are clamped to a table, cut apart and transformed into a pick mattock — a hand tool for loosening soil.
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(ANALYSIS) In the data from 2024, 57% of white evangelicals were weekly attenders compared to 25% of white Catholics. So not controlling for attendance gives us a much different sample when analyzing evangelicals and Catholics.
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In this week’s episode, we tackle Pope Leo’s first encyclical and what it means for AI, politics and, more importantly, Catholic doctrine.
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At the 40th anniversary of his 1986 high school graduation, our Weekend Plug-in columnist reflects on the journalism lessons he learned as a student — and which still resonate with him four decades later.
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(REVIEW) “Is God Is” follows twin sisters on a quest to kill their father, who disfigured them as children. Unfortunately, the movie does more than simply offer fictional frontier-style justice to typically underrepresented audiences. It goes so far as to renounce the virtue of forgiveness altogether.
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(REVIEW) How did Christianity shape North Korea? A new 745-page book argues the regime built by Kim Il Sung resembles a national religion that borrows some ideas from Christianity — complete with myths, rituals and a central, quasi-divine figure — rather than a typical authoritarian state.
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(ANALYSIS) The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando will be buzzing when 20,000 Southern Baptists gather for their annual national meeting, rushing between forums, worship, reunions, business sessions and politicking about their elections and resolutions.
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(ANALYSIS) The way Hollywood portrays faith is changing because American culture is changing. The growing divide in these portrayals reflects the same growing divide in America. Next year may be when this clash gets its biggest arena — and we will all be watching, popcorn in hand.
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(ANALYSIS) With the release of his encyclical letter “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 25, Pope Leo XIV has signaled that he wants the church to respond to artificial intelligence much as a predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, responded to upheavals during the Industrial Revolution over a century ago.
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Relax with a beer at a cathedral? From beer festivals to bespoke brands, beer and cathedrals are becoming an increasingly popular pairing in the United Kingdom. Cathedrals have always had links with brewing. Most of English cathedrals, such as St. Edmundsbury in Suffolk, owe their origins to monastic orders, who used to brew their own beer.
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A new Pew Research survey shows that at least some political messages emerge during sermons or formal teaching from clergy — but most churchgoers aren’t aware of their pastor’s political leanings.
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The NBA playoffs are not usually the place where one finds Catholic nuns. But that’s exactly what happened after a group of Salesian Sisters from San Antonio were spotted courtside in Spurs jerseys. In an era when viral moments are often manufactured, the sisters’ online popularity has resonated because of its sincerity. Videos circulating across social media captured their enthusiasm.
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