Faith & Culture

Under new guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, employers are allowed to adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies. But what happens if an employee refuses to take the shot, citing their religious beliefs?

Two scholars found higher levels of belief predicted less trust, while higher levels of belonging predicted more trust. They also found that those who belong to religious groups or attend services have a lower level of misanthropy, or dislike of other people.

It’s clearer than ever that Christian Nationalism is a threat to both faith and democracy, Christian leaders agreed Wednesday at a virtual event addressing the topic. But the question remains: What can Christians do about it?

According to a new Pew Research survey of 14 countries, the coronavirus pandemic has not significantly boosted people’s faith. Of the countries surveyed — all advanced economies with significant secular populations — Americans were most likely to say the pandemic made their faith stronger.

A new study from Nashville-based Lifeway Research finds 49 percent of U.S. Protestant pastors say they frequently hear members of their congregation repeating conspiracy theories they have heard about why something is happening in the country.

These days, nearly every school is offering online programs, but Duke has decided to offer a version of its flagship degree, the Master of Divinity, online even after the coronavirus pandemic is over. In doing so, it joins many other seminaries in remaking the degree.

The death spiral of evangelicalism has long been written about in both the religious and mainstream press. Scholar and pastor Ryan Burge thinks there is a bigger and possibly more important story in the data.

“We are hearing, just across the nation, of pastors and churches both struggling,” said Joe Wright, executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network. “We’re seeing just the stress of trying to do ministry in this kind of environment is taking a toll on pastors and church leaders.”

It is unlikely that former Western slave-trading countries will engage in reparative measures in the near future. But there remains a strong case for why the fight for reparations shouldn’t be abandoned.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office on Wednesday using Bibles that are laden with personal meaning, writing new chapters in a long-running American tradition — and one that appears nowhere in the law.