The number of migrants being held in U.S. civil immigration detention centers has stabilized after many weeks of growth and remains well below pre-pandemic and Trump administration levels, according to researchers at Syracuse University. “The most recent numbers show that…
Broad support for helping Afghan refugees does not uniformly extend to all refugees
Nearly 70% of Americans favor allowing certain categories of Afghan refugees, including those who worked for coalition forces in Afghanistan, into the United States because “we owe them,” according to a survey released this month. That support includes 64% of…
Want to help slow immigration to the U.S.? Address global hunger
Policies promoting global economic and food security will do far more to stem the tide of immigration than efforts to tighten borders and expel migrants, the world’s top anti-hunger official said during a Sept. 10 conference at Baylor University. “People…
9/11 was a day of dark despair but also multicultural unity
Serving amid the chaos and anguish of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks was more about ministers and congregations living into callings than it was about summoning great courage, said David Waugh, who was pastor of Metro Baptist Church in…
Pandemic is putting the nail in the decline of church construction
Decades-long declines in faith affiliation coupled with the pandemic-inspired evolution of online church services are contributing to a huge downturn in religious facility construction in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total spending on the construction of…
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by tragic world events, but faith demands action, speakers say
Bewilderment and apathy are predicable responses to the news of one global disaster after another, but they are no excuse for inaction on the part of Christians and church communities, a series of speakers said during a call to action…
Gallup documents a 34-point gap between Republicans and Democrats on trusting science
A new Gallup survey documents a significant decline in the trust of science among Republicans over the past four decades, a downward trend matched by religious conservatives’ embrace of creationism and rejection of climate change. And all this has been…
Supporting the influx of Afghan refugees is bringing divided Americans together
American religious groups, civic associations, businesses and even neighborhoods are enthusiastically responding to pleas to aid tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in need of rapid resettlement across the nation. Officials who oversee refugee resettlement agencies and the leaders of…
Reading good literature can develop skills in empathy and compassion, professor says
Reading literature can help Christians develop the Christ-like empathy needed to bring more compassion and healing to a divided world, according to author and scholar Karen Swallow Prior. The Southern Baptist seminary professor spoke during a Sept. 1 webinar examining…