A short anecdote from a podcast I was listening to recently keeps replaying in my mind: a man was walking with his friend and his friend said, “I’m hungry. I’d like to get a salad.” And the man immediately responded,…
Pastors Wonder About Church Members Who Never Came Back Post-Pandemic
After a few hard pandemic years, Paul Seay is happy to see more people coming to the two Methodist churches he pastors in Abingdon, Virginia.
Meeting between Jewish leaders and Benjamin Netanyahu broaches judicial overhaul — and gets personal
As they prepared to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, leaders of U.S. Jewish organizations expected to ask him about his contentious effort to weaken the Israeli judiciary.
West Side Story: Diverse NY Church Represents 5 Continents
A rap song by Eminem played in the lobby of a hostel where guests from around the world stay while visiting this city of 8.5 million.
National Cathedral windows shift from themes of Confederacy to racial justice
New stained-glass windows depicting racial justice protests by African Americans have replaced the panes honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at the Washington National Cathedral.
Culture War Is Not Spiritual Warfare
Someone who grew up in a more liberal religious tradition than mine once told me the sermons in his church were always boring, especially on Easter Sunday.
AI won’t be replacing your priest, minister, rabbi or imam any time soon
Early in the summer of 2023, robots projected on a screen delivered sermons to about 300 congregants at St. Paul’s Church in Bavaria, Germany. Created by ChatGPT and Jonas Simmerlein, a theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna, the experimental church…
Who is Siggy Flicker, the ‘Real Housewife’ behind Trump’s Rosh Hashanah message condemning ‘liberal Jews’?
Siggy Flicker, a former Real Housewife of New Jersey, says she often finds herself apologizing when she hangs out with her friend Donald Trump, a fellow reality TV star turned Republican activist.
Ideological rifts among U.S. bishops are in the spotlight ahead of momentous Vatican meeting
Early next month, the Vatican will open an unprecedented gathering of Catholic clergy and laypeople from around the world. The synod is intended to be a collegial, collaborative event, though the agenda includes divisive issues such as the role of women in the church…