North America
On hills just east of Ramallah is the village of Taybeh. Its population has fallen to 1,200 today, while more than 80% of the town's sons and daughters now live abroad. What sets Taybeh apart from every other village in the West Bank is that all of its residents remain Christian — Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Latin — making it a symbol of a presence that is fading but refusing to disappear.
(ANALYSIS) After a pastor died rescuing his children from a river, his congregation responded with remarkable compassion — supporting his family, maintaining his salary and caring for their practical needs. Their witness transformed grief into ministry, drawing others to the church and demonstrating how faithful love can become a powerful testimony.
The Russian Orthodox Church has expanded with striking speed. It is more than just a turf battle over the hearts and minds of local Orthodox priests and laypeople. To some observers, it’s part of a growing, concerning trend of Russia deepening geopolitical ties throughout Africa, and leveraging soft power to remake the continent in its own image.
(ANALYSIS) From polluted rivers to disappearing forests, the modern world bears the scars of human greed. Christians cannot simply point fingers at secular culture or blame industrialization while ignoring our own failures. If we believe the world is God's creation, then neglecting it goes beyond environmental policies.
For Charli Turner and Julie Montgomery, the idea of starting a school that could serve as a Christian mission started years ago. “We had this funny vision that we were going to take in all the lost, hurting kids,” Turner said. Finally, they’re realizing their dream in rural North Idaho.
The political time machine has now landed in similar journalism terrain. During this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, we discussed several important news reports, including this Religion News Service feature: “‘They’re not real pastors’: As clergy run as Democrats, Republicans question their faith.”
Pope Leo, who spent two decades serving the Catholic church in Latin America, is expected to visit the diocese he led before his election in Chiclayo, a city in northwest Peru. Other stops on the 11-day trip include several cities in Uruguay and Argentina, with a full itinerary to be announced closer to the trip.
El papa León XIV realizará en noviembre una gira por Perú, Uruguay y Argentina, donde se espera un cálido recibimiento. Su larga labor pastoral en Perú y los altos niveles de aprobación entre los católicos latinoamericanos reflejan la fuerte conexión que mantiene con la región.
(ANALYSIS) For Christians working in sports, the challenge becomes even greater. Faith calls believers to engage culture without allowing society to define them. Identity comes not from applause, criticism or trending hashtags, but from Christ.
(ANALYSIS) In her student days, Ann Widdecombe's first Oxford Union presentation was an attack on censorship, even if practicing free speech turned out to be risky or painful. A half-century later, the former Conservative MP and outspoken Catholic returned to the legendary debate club to address the same subject, at one point explaining why she once agreed to share a speaker's platform with an Irish Republican Army activist.
(ANALYSIS) Disestablishment was not just a cornerstone of American democracy. It was also an engine for the extraordinary growth of philanthropy, which played an important role in fueling American churches’ growth and innovation.
In a country with a deep history of ritual and respect for the dead, it is becoming increasingly impossible for everyday families to properly bury their loved ones. The wealthy are able to purchase premium amenities, while working class residents are unable to afford basic services at all. “Where am I supposed to take the body?” one man asked.
(ANALYSIS) Kashmir remains one of the world’s most contentious geopolitical flash points. What is overlooked in this coverage is Kashmir’s immense artistic, intellectual and spiritual heritage, one shaped by centuries of interreligious and intercultural exchange.
(ANALYSIS) Every year, millions of pilgrims walk from the deserts of southern Iraq to the holy city of Karbala for Arbaeen, one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world. In 2026, pilgrims will converge on Karbala on Aug. 5.
(ANALYSIS) Fewer marriages, fewer believing mothers and fewer traditions carried forward add up to a generation raised inside a custom-built crisis of meaning. America needs religious men. To endure and thrive as a civilization, it may need religious women even more. The reasons aren’t mysterious.
The Visual Commentary on Scripture is an online resource from King’s College London, which combines theology, art history and Biblical scholarship to pair artwork from all across the stylistic and historical map with Judeo-Christian texts.
(Review) Pagans and Christians alike long for an Orpheus who can sing a song that brings Hades and Persephone back together and rescue Eurydice from the underworld. But Christians know that song already exists. And if we want our lives and world restored, we don’t have to look to a “sad song” or a fantasy future — but to the happy song of a real past and present.
(REVIEW) Are humans really all that different than primates? Harvard primatologist Christine Webb blends science, philosophy and legal developments to challenge humanity’s presumed supremacy over nature. Drawing on evolution, animal cognition research and Indigenous worldviews, she argues that consciousness extends beyond humans.
(REVIEW) The Jewish Museum’s exhibition “Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte” highlights the pivotal role Jewish women played in Vienna’s influential design collective. Featuring nearly 200 works, the show explores how artists and patrons transformed modern art, fashion and women’s professional opportunities in the early 20th century.
(ANALYSIS) Back in November, I wrote a post that I knew was going to cause a stir because it answered one of the most burning questions in my mind: “How Big is the Political Divide Between Mainline Clergy and Laity?”
It’s a life-changing religious pilgrimage. The Camino De Santiago trail has attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists to Spain and surrounding countries each year. But scorching heatwaves, caused by climate change, are threatening the ancient tradition and forcing hikers to rethink their plans.
(ANALYSIS) Instead of just focusing on a single question and making a bunch of graphs that try to figure out that causal puzzle, I am going to share a few things that I’ve learned after doing this kind of work for the last 10 years.
A few years before Oklahoma became the 46th state in 1907, a church split occurred over using an organ in worship. Those who objected to the instrumental music left the Christian Church and formed a Church of Christ. After meeting in a smaller building, the Church of Christ erected a larger one at Seventh and Beech in 1917, said Jane Roberts Lewis, whose late grandmother was a niece of Cal Maddux.
The bottom line: If reporters are going to cover moral and religious issues in a state like Utah, at some point they need to talk to experts on the religious element that, for many people, remain at the heart of these questions.
(REVIEW) Nick is on an adventure to secure an original manuscript of the famous poem. Unfortunately, the film’s engagement with the “Divine Comedy’s” ideas and themes turns out to be depressingly trivial.
(ANALYSIS) The document tells clergy: “Medical Assistance in Dying evokes strong and opposing views amongst some persons and communities, including amongst health care providers and amongst Anglican Christians. Some Christians, including clergy, find that MAiD violates their understanding of the ethical values to which Christians are called.”
Cathedrals are now increasingly seen as multi-dimensional organizations: Community hubs, centers of civic life, cultural venues and as a center of spiritual life. Their role has become far wider than any church building. In 2025, approximately 10 million people entered English cathedrals — far in excess of the numbers visiting sporting events like Wembley Stadium.
A Florida woman who impersonated the father of a Camp Mystic flood victim to solicit donations through GoFundMe has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to online fraud.
Christian Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping, who represented persecuted religious believers and other victims of government repression before fleeing China, was released on bond July 24. He had spent nine days in federal immigration custody despite having been granted asylum in the U.S.
(ESSAY) At Christian colleges across the nation, a “ring by spring” is a polarizing cultural phenomenon that comes with quirky rituals. There’s the “freshman frenzy,” the “senior scramble” — and on my campus, one infamous ice breaker known as “Awk Walk.” Underneath these traditions is an inescapable anxiety: Will you meet your spouse or graduate single?