“Why should non-believers really pay attention to this downward trend? How are they going to be impacted by the closure of a local Methodist or Baptist church?”
Why Arbaeen – the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage of mourning – has a deep significance that brings millions to Iraq each year
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.
Michigan’s Senate race has become a referendum on Israel — and the future of the Democratic Party
Tuesday’s primary contest for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan has become a proxy fight over the Gaza war and a referendum on Israel supporters’ influence in Democratic politics. Democratic voters will decide whether to nominate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed,…
The liturgy wars are back. Spoiler: They never left.
Pope Leo XIV returned to Rome in late July from his summer vacation just as one of the Catholic Church’s longest-running internal conflicts came back into the spotlight.
Maine rabbis call for peace, urge politicians to stop calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’
Every congregational rabbi in Maine has signed onto a statement calling for peace and urging the state’s political leaders to stop using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza, following a Democratic primary in which several candidates used…
How an 1876 massacre of Black men in South Carolina turned racial terror into political power
As the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary, its citizens commemorate a democracy more diverse, free and inclusive than it’s ever been. The path to this milestone was imperfect and paved in blood and suffering. Still, few of the revelers will likely pay…
Catholic groups urge EPA to halt actions that devalue human life, God’s creation
Along Constitution Avenue in Washington, roughly two dozen Catholics gathered a week ago for a prayer service outside the headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Chinese Families Seek Christian Education in Southeast Asia
In the past seven years, Chinese house church leaders Owen Jiao and Ella Jiang have sought to provide their children with a Christian education, a difficult journey that caused them to run afoul of the Chinese government, ostracized them from their…
Phoenix campus of Mexican megachurch building $1.13M ‘clergy home’
The Phoenix campus of Mexico’s largest Evangelical church, La Luz Del Mundo (The Light Of The World), is building a massive “clergy home” worth more than $1 million as its embattled global leader, Naason Joaquin Garcia, continues to lead the…
Netanyahu drags Mamdani into his reelection campaign as face of antisemitism
For nearly two years, Zohran Mamdani has made Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a central political target. Now Netanyahu is making Mamdani part of his own reelection campaign.
The House vote that split Jewish Democrats and is reshaping alliances
When the House of Representatives voted earlier this month on whether to strip military aid to Israel, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland approached the moment carefully. As a supporter of defensive weapons for Israel, Raskin, who is Jewish, has also…
The Summer of Taking Christian Nationalism Seriously
At denominational gatherings across the country this summer, one topic of conversation has been a near constant: Christian nationalism.