This week, Religion Unplugged’s culture writers Joseph Holmes and Jillian Cheney sat down before Halloween to explore how Gen Z thinking is changing the horror genre.
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(REVIEW) “Brotherhood” is a new film that seems to agree with the second viewpoint. It’s a Christian musical focused on the American immigration debate. Its constant sermonizing in nearly every line of dialogue and song lyric is a good reminder that preachiness undermines good filmmaking, regardless of the message.
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(ANALYSIS) Movie studios have struggled through the pandemic and the streaming era, both of which have tanked box office receipts, leaving the field open for movies from offbeat production studios. In addition to The Daily Wire, there has been a whole ream of Christian movies attempting to shift the stereotype of bible movies to something more prestigious — or at least profitable.
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(REVIEW) Filmed on location across the country, it holds grief and vitality side by side: the final service at Belding United Methodist Church in Michigan; a Minnesota farm-country Lutheran congregation; growing Hispanic, Korean-American and historic Black churches; house churches; new church plants; and even worship in virtual reality.
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(ANALYSIS) Let’s actually dig into the widely held belief that American Orthodox Christianity is experiencing a huge surge in converts post-pandemic. The short answer: That’s a really hard claim to test with survey data, for a simple reason. There just aren’t that many Orthodox Christians in the U.S. to begin with.
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(REVIEW) Gabe Bullard’s new book “Against Convenience” addresses some of these problems and argues “not against an easier path, but against the idea that the paths in front of us are truly any easier.”
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(ANALYSIS) Military service is mandatory for most groups in Israel, although Muslim and Christian Arab citizens are exempted. Jewish Israelis see conscription as a unifying experience and a demonstration of commitment to the state. Starting at 18, most women serve two years and men serve almost three. For decades, however, Haredi men received de facto exemptions.
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(REVIEW) Manga has always been a medium in which the ordinary and the extraordinary coexist. A playground can become a site of spiritual encounter, a forest can conceal ancient powers and a familiar creature can reveal a universe of supernatural possibilities.
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Christians make up roughly 1% of Japan’s population, and churches are increasingly multicultural, welcoming immigrants from neighboring countries. However, national politics have taken a decidedly nationalistic turn in recent years — worrying Christians that they will once again be ostracized and even face persecution.
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Within a decade of hitting the religion beat, around 1980, it was obvious to me that the demographic collapse of the “seven sisters” of liberal Protestantism was going to create a giant hole in American life. We are talking about these flocks — American Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.
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If there was something off about the logo the Atlanta Falcons unveiled on social media this week, whoever runs their accounts did, uh, not see it.
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After reading a recent piece this week at Religion Unplugged — headlined “AI might be conscious. If so, God help us” — I was curious: “Does AI have a soul?”
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As the economy strains the U.S. public, pastors report increasing pressures and giving lagging behind inflation. Lifeway Research’s annual tracking survey reveals most U.S. Protestant pastors (54%) report the economy is negatively impacting their congregation. Slightly more than a third (36%) say it’s having no impact, while 8% see a positive economic effect.
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(ANALYSIS) Where do you go to vote on Election Day? I am assuming that all you readers are actually voting. If you don’t, it’s my solemn duty as a classically trained political scientist to tell you that your vote matters and all that. I’ve voted in a bunch of different places in my life, especially when I was in college and graduate school.
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(ANALYSIS) The planned execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan sparked renewed debate among Christians over capital punishment. Catholic leaders cited church teaching opposing the death penalty, while some evangelical leaders defended it biblically. Disagreement also centered on whether televising executions promotes justice or glorifies violence.
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(ANALYSIS) As some religious studies scholars argue, the charge that Hindus worship false gods and idols took hold in American national culture nearly two centuries ago. Nineteenth-century American schoolbooks, shaped by Protestant beliefs, sorted religions into “true and false,” treating Hindu “idolatry” as proof of moral degradation.
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Sharia, often called Islamic law, is a system of religious guidelines that inform how Muslims understand their responsibilities to God, themselves, their families and society. The Arabic word — sharia — is commonly translated as “the way” or “the path.” It refers to a way of life rooted in Islamic teachings rather than simply a collection of laws enforced by a government.
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(ANALYSIS) From the Yazidis to the Rohingya, from the Uyghurs to other communities facing growing threats around the world, the use and abuse of AI, technology and social media must not go unpunished. Ignoring these new methods of persecution means that responses to such atrocities will never be adequate.
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The latest grant round drew 466 applicants and includes the program’s first recipient in Arkansas, as historic houses of worship seek funding to preserve their buildings and community services.
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Day after day, the senator-judges begin proceedings by asking God for the same things — truth, wisdom, justice and freedom from bias. As they prepare to decide Vice President Sara Duterte’s fate, those prayers have become an implicit measure of the responsibility they have assumed: To turn appeals for divine guidance into a verdict determined by evidence, law and conscience.
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