Science
Thirty years ago, a woman was found dead by the side of the road in Arizona. Today, her body has still not been identified. To find out the strange reason why, I spoke to Hannah Feuer, a reporter at Forward.
(ANALYSIS) From Enheduanna to Plato and Aristotle, ancient thinkers viewed writing as a deeply human act that expresses experience and transforms audiences. AI may generate convincing text, but lacking thought, emotion and lived experience, it may produce something closer to “generwriting” than true writing.
(ANALYSIS) For centuries, stargazers of many kinds have debated the meaning of unidentified objects in the heavens and encounters with mysterious beings on earth. “Each new discovery, even every new theory, is held at first to have the most wide-reaching theological and philosophical consequences.
A retired Baptist pastor is the latest Christian convicted for religious activity in an abortion buffer zone in the United Kingdom, this time for holding a church service on the outskirts of a zone.
(ANALYSIS) Mother’s Day seems like a strange time to celebrate birth control, which, on its most basic level, is about helping people to not become mothers — or not become mothers again.
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals nationwide ban on mail-order abortion pills, the main mode of pregnancy termination in the U.S.
A massive amount of research confirms what your grandma has always told you: Go to church. It’s good for you. And if a church isn’t your scene, a temple, mosque, synagogue or gurdwara would also do. In fact, religious involvement is strongly associated with better mental, physical and social health outcomes, according to a new study.
Two friends and brothers in Christ — Brent Hankins and Tracy Lamm — flew to Florida this week to witness the launch of humanity’s first lunar voyage in 53 years. Both had special reasons for doing so. Hankins serves as an elder of the Southeast Church of Christ in Texas, the congregation about six miles from NASA’s Space Center Houston that Artemis II pilot Victor Glover and his wife, Dionna, call home.
(ANALYSIS) When Rational Sheep opened for business two-plus years ago, there was a huge signpost just ahead for people interested in debates about technology, smartphones, social media and screens-culture issues in general. We were getting close to the release of Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”
(ANALYSIS) Modern culture claims to have outgrown religion, yet quietly rebuilds it through astrology, crystals and spiritual wellness. These practices offer meaning without authority and comfort without discipline. Paganism hasn’t vanished; it has adapted, trading temples for timelines and gods for vibes, while preserving the same ancient hunger for order.
Coverage of a Supreme Court decision blocking a California policy on student gender identity reveals starkly different media frames. Some outlets emphasize protecting transgender students from being “outed,” while others stress parental rights and religious liberty. The contrasting headlines highlight how newsrooms shape public understanding of contentious legal and cultural debates.
(ANALYSIS) An intriguing religious issue is raised by an odd space-age colloquy in mid-February between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Out of the blue, political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen asked Obama, “Are aliens real?” He immediately replied, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them” and he knows of no proof that extraterrestrials exist.
(ANALYSIS) Imagine a world where crimes are stopped before they even take place. Science fiction has imagined this world, most famously in the 2002 film “Minority Report,” where society can predict criminal acts and allow authorities to intervene in advance. Thanks to AI, this dystopian reality could be coming to your neighborhood in the not-so-distant future.
Lewis’s 1945 novel “That Hideous Strength” was marketed as fiction, but it read like more like a prophecy. Lewis’ warning at the time cuts deep for modern-day readers. The danger is not artificial intelligence itself. The danger, Lewis argues, is what happens when humans regard tech tools as oracles. It’s about what happens when humanity stops kneeling before God and starts bowing to its own tools.
(ANALYSIS) Former Irish President Mary McAleese argues that infant baptism violates children’s human rights by imposing church membership without consent. Critics respond that parents possess religious freedom in child-rearing, note historical and biblical defenses of infant baptism, and compare similar birth rituals across Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
An upstate New Yorker developed a deep emotional attachment to ChatGPT, spending $900 trying to “free” it, before realizing it was a delusion. Experts warn AI relationships exploit loneliness, potentially harming mental health and spirituality. Churches and counselors are now addressing unhealthy AI attachments, helping people reconnect with real relationships and God.
(ANALYSIS) Religious traditions across cultures have often treated menstruation and childbirth as sources of ritual impurity. In Chinese Buddhism, the “Blood Bowl Scripture” condemned women to “Blood Pond Hell.” Today, women reinterpret these beliefs, emphasizing maternal sacrifice, agency and alternative understandings of female bodies.
(ANALYSIS) Two in five Americans have fought with a family member about politics, according to a 2024 study by the American Psychiatric Association. One in five have become estranged over controversial issues, and the same percentage has “blocked a family member on social media or skipped a family event” due to disagreements.
Pope Leo XIV cautioned against “overly affectionate” AI chatbots, warning they can manipulate emotions and blur lines between humans and machines. The discussion, covered by CNN and explored in the “Crossroads” podcast this week, raises broader questions about AI as quasi-divine. A “Harry Potter” quote underscores the perils of trust and unseen entities.
When the Pew Research Center asked Mainers what religions they followed, the most common answer wasn’t Catholicism or Evangelical Protestantism. It was “nothing in particular.” But there’s more to the story.
(ANALYSIS) William James is remembered as the father of American psychology. But for many believers, he holds a different place altogether. He stands as one of the rare modern thinkers who refused to mock faith. He didn’t preach religion, and he certainly didn’t try to dress it up in academic jargon. Instead, he studied it with care, reverence and genuine respect.
(ANALYSIS) Let’s start with a question: Have you heard leaders in your congregation discuss any of this information in a setting that will reach active members, as opposed to special events that draw the “usual suspects” in the flock (maybe 10-20% of members) that attend just about everything?
(OPINION) Christians understand what science reveals: masculinity and femininity are fixed moral categories that God has made and declared to be good. When societies reject God’s moral law, anarchy results. God’s people must boldly declare to the world what is true. At the same time, we must communicate the good news of the Gospel to those who disagree.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with the Trump Administration in allowing the defunding of abortion providers to continue while lawsuits are ongoing. Multiple states and abortion providers filed lawsuits in the wake of Congress’ “Big Beautiful Bill,” which President Trump signed last July 4.
(ANALYSIS) Regular mindfulness practice has been linked to many positive health benefits, including reduced stress and anxiety, better sleep and quicker healing after injury and illness. Mindfulness can help us to be present in a distracted world, especially as we start a new year, and to feel more at home in our bodies and in our lives.
(ANALYSIS) Has there been a noticeable decline in the share of 18–22-year-olds who identify as transgender over the last couple of years? The answer is unequivocal: Yes.
Research carried out by the Bat Conservation Trust has revealed that over 8,000 churches provide bats with a home. They are messy houseguests, and churchgoers must coexist with them. At the same time, a U.K. law prohibits removing or disturbing the winged creatures that have scared people for centuries.
India’s Catholic educational institutions have become unlikely climate champions. Now, they are teaming up with other faith leaders in the “Green Revolution.” In fact, across India’s sprawling landscapes, Christian organizations are stepping up with urgency and creativity to confront the mounting challenges posed by climate change.
(REVIEW) “The Exorcist” has always stuck out to me as a movie because of its universality, its appeal to both the religious and secular. “Exorcistic” is a byproduct of the movie’s lasting influence in media that certainly leaves a wild impression of its own. It’s worth seeing if you want something to put you into the Halloween spirit.
(ANALYSIS) When addressing the 2026 graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, country music star Eric Church used words rarely heard in secular campus rites, such as “faith,” “family,” “grace” and “soul.”