Faith & Culture

(RNS) — After this week’s astonishing total solar eclipse, an image showing the sun’s rays forming a cross in the darkened sky made the rounds on social media.

Pope Francis addressed again the "lamentable situation" of migrants and refugees, calling global Christians to commit to concrete action "at every stage of the migratory experience."

(RNS) Throughout history, eclipses have been viewed as bad omens or harbingers of doom, according to John Dvorak, a trained lunar scientist and author of “Mask of the Sun: The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses.” But they also have been understood as powerful manifestations of God’s greatness.

(RNS) — It’s a scene familiar from movies and even some modern translations of the Bible: As Jesus Christ hangs on the cross, an eclipse blots out the sun.

But did a total solar eclipse actually darken the skies during the Crucifixion?

WASHINGTON (RNS) — More than 4,000 religious leaders have signed a letter urging Congress to maintain the Johnson Amendment, a law barring pulpit politicking that President Trump has vowed to gut.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- According to a study released this week, two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) say they are sinners. And most people apparently aren't too happy about it -- only 5 percent say they have no desire to mend their ways.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- There was a time when the thought of international missions conjured up images of a complete and irrevocable break with the familiar world: a hut on the savannah, a shack in a Chinese village, a boat on the open ocean. But as the twenty-first century dawned, we found ourselves at sea on stranger tides.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Kurt Warner's faith in Jesus Christ is more than a personal, off-the-field commitment that had little impact on his success as an NFL quarterback.

(RNS) It’s been a roller-coaster year for Christian author and speaker Jen Hatmaker.

She toured the country last fall, speaking on the Belong Tour to arenas packed with Christian women. Then this year’s tour was canceled.

(RNS) — News that scientists for the first time successfully edited genes in human embryos created a stir this week.

In the experiment, outlined in a paper in the journal Nature published Aug. 2, scientists essentially snipped a mutant gene known to cause a heart condition that can lead to sudden death.

But it raises a host of ethical questions with religious ramifications.