Every decade or so, perhaps during a global pandemic, it’s common to see news reports about pastors leaving pulpits in search of less stressful work.
Mamdani Reflects on Life After 9/11 as a Muslim in New York City
It was the second day of classes at the Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan when the planes hit the World Trade Center. Zohran Mamdani can recall his father picking him up early to walk him home, the streets…
Don’t Erase Augustine’s Africanness
Here is an intriguing question. For several centuries, the study of early Christianity has attracted the interest of multiple thousands of scholars, most of whom have applied the highest critical standards. Given the overwhelming mass of books that resulted from…
Sacred texts and ‘little bells’: The building blocks of Arvo Pärt’s musical masterpieces
The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who turns 90 on Sept. 11, 2025, is one of the most frequently performed contemporary classical composers in the world. Beyond the concert stage and cathedral choir, Pärt’s music features heavily in film and television soundtracks: “There Will…
Pope tells 1 million Catholic youths they are ‘the sign a different world is possible’
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday told more than a million Catholic youths at a closing Mass for a weeklong encounter with the next generation of faithful that they are “the sign that a different world is possible” where conflicts can…
Antichrist or Armageddon? Peter Thiel rethinks apocalypse from Silicon Valley.
If you grew up Pentecostal or evangelical Christian — as I did — you probably remember the prophecy sermons and apocalyptic charts about the Last Days. Preachers warned about the Great Tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist and the “mark…
A Different Kind of Darwinism Is Winning
A hundred years ago in Dayton, Tennessee, high school teacher John Scopes was put on trial for violating the state’s law against teaching evolution in public schools. The widely publicized state trial—the first to be nationally broadcast via radio in…
The Council of Nicaea forbade kneeling during the Sunday Eucharist
In the United States, Catholics kneel during the Eucharistic prayer while Catholics in the rest of the world stand. Many European churches, especially the older ones, do not even have kneelers.
A third of American Christians don’t believe they’re sinners
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” So says Paul in his letter to the Romans, and yet recent research has suggested that many professing Christians do not believe this to be true. Or at…
Carlo Acutis Named First Millennial Saint: An ‘Influencer’ For The Modern Church
History was made on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Leo XIV declared Carlo Acutis — the 15-year-old tech prodigy known as “God’s Influencer” — the first Millennial saint. Before 80,000 pilgrims, many of them young families and digital natives,…
Chicago churches urge calm resistance ahead of expected federal intervention
The Rev. Marshall Hatch urged congregants of a prominent Black church on Chicago’s West Side to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest as the city readied for an expected federal intervention.
Astrology’s appeal in uncertain times
Scroll through TikTok, browse dating profiles or sit at a cafe, and you’ll often hear people reference their astrological sign. Someone might proudly claim their Leo energy; others joke that they would never date a Scorpio.