As the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary next year, another significant U.S. institution hits that milestone this week. The Army Chaplains Corps formed on July 29, 1775, at the behest of the Second Continental Congress and the request…
Pope marks 50th anniversary of Cold War-era deal on security and human rights
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for a renewed commitment to diplomacy to resolve conflicts as he marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, the landmark Cold War-era agreement that ushered in a new era of security and human…
How a YouTube Atheist Helped Me Out of Cynicism
When a Christian friend texted me an interview with Alex O’Connor, I expected my reaction to be an eye-rolling “Can you believe this guy?”
DHS’s ‘Homeland Heritage’ Campaign Highlights Danger of Innocence Myths of a White Christian America
As a habit I don’t follow the social media of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It’s a scroll of nationalistic propaganda and exaggerated warnings about criminal aliens, a set of lies that attempt to drown us in fear by…
The Anti-Greed Gospel
When Brian Kaylor and I set out to write Baptizing America, I feared the book wouldn’t find an audience. Not only did we lambast Christians on the far right for their fusing of religious and national identities, but we focused on…
Religious Challenges to Abortion Bans are Winning in Unlikely Places
Almost immediately after Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health overturned the federal right to an abortion, more than a dozen states passed legislation effectively banning abortion. Soon thereafter, Jewish individuals and groups working in coalition with other religious groups began to challenge these…
Judaism Is a Map, Not a GPS
Myths are born, they serve a purpose, and they die. When we reside inside them, we swear by them, we invest in them, we think they precede us, and we think they will survive us. They define us, and they…
Trump’s religious rhetoric clashes with Canada’s secular politics
Throughout his new term, starting with his inaugural address, President Donald Trump has said he was “saved by God” to make America great again. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney rarely evokes religion in public; his victory speech in April never…
Venezuelan Churches Divided Over March for Jesus Rescheduling
It was never about politics. Aristóteles López just wanted Venezuela’s evangelicals to have a public presence. And for years, he provided the space for that.
A group of observant Jews set out to reclaim their tradition’s focus on justice, mercy amid Gaza war
In a conference room of an Upper West Side synagogue, a group of traditionally observant young Jews gathered last week to engage in an age-old form of rabbinic inquiry to address what they see as the moral crisis in Judaism…
Federal employees can pray and preach in the workplace under new Trump rules
Federal employees can preach in the workplace under new guidelines issued Monday by the Trump administration that have alarmed advocates for the separation of church and state.
Pope Leo faces first charisma test at Jubilee youth event
“Todos, todos, todos.” With those three unscripted words, Pope Francis distilled a decade of his pontificate into a single moment and delivered a rallying cry for its final 20 months. The church, he told thousands of young people gathered in Portugal for…