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The CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute makes the case that there is simply no evidence to suggest Americans are becoming more religious, either in their affiliation with a particular faith tradition or in terms of attending religious services more regularly.

The encounter between Christianity’s two most famous religious figures would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, given the divisions between their two churches over women’s ordination.

A court of appeals ruling just overturned Supreme Court precedent on posting the Ten Commandments in public schools — and the majority opinion conscripted a legendary colonial Baptist figure who fought for church-state separation to justify their actions.

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Church

‘We are honest about the conditions that we're facing, but we are not hopeless about what we're facing,' said Bishop W. Darin Moore of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

A group of prominent SBC leaders say the denomination's public policy arm still matters.

The fire severely damaged Clayborn Temple, which served as the headquarters for the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike that brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city.

Nation

One of the removed panels featured images of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones. Both born as enslaved persons, they were instrumental in starting their churches.

On Monday, the top federal judge in Minnesota issued a blistering critique of three Trump administration officials for repeatedly violating court orders. One of the three is David Easterwood, the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. Easterwood is also a pastor at Cities Churches in St. Paul.

Many faith leaders were dismayed when the government announced last January that federal immigration agencies can make arrests in churches, schools, and hospitals, ending the protection of people in sensitive spaces.

World

Rev. Hkalam Samson, a human rights advocate from Myanmar’s Kachin ethnic minority, was first arrested in December 2022.

The letter comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the U.S., where he is expected to address Congress on Wednesday and meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday.

'It is a wakeup call for the churches,' said an Anglican priest. 'The churches should remain independent, and I think the youth are angry that this is not the case.'

Editorials

Around significant anniversaries, churches will often produce a write-up of their history. But what if we’ve left out some important details? Does your church need to reconsider the ugly parts of our history we may have left out?

We are a nation led by people crossing by on the other side of the road.

To experience the Bahamas -- where this year's Baptist World Alliance annual meeting was held -- means more than just hanging out on the beach. This is a country, after all, where income inequality means most citizens can’t afford to spend a week at one of the lush resorts on

Word&Way Voices

Kicking off this week's theme — Advent in a time of political anxieties — Rev. Dr. Kristel Clayville contemplates how changes in our political leadership trickle down to our everyday decisions.

Despite the horrors of ancient and current tyrannies, genocidal regimes, profit-driven greed, religious charlatans, social bigots, and political hypocrites, the heart of Advent is that God will not give up on humanity and the world.

Rev. Lauren Bennett reflects on her experience with a state execution this year and how faith requires us to bring softness to hard places while opening ourselves to meet Jesus in unlikely faces.

E-Newsletter

A congregational pastor who also serves as the UCC’s Minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice, Sarah Griffith Lund has long been a voice helping Christians gently and wisely wrestle with neurodiversity.

This issue of A Public Witness explores an intra-Catholic Easter weekend as well as multiple Easter sermons from progressive ministers around the United States.

This issue of A Public Witness offers short highlights from four reflections by Catholic writers on Pope Francis and his papacy.

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Recent Episodes

Books

In "Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner," author Ralph H. Craig III illuminates the often overlooked spiritual dimensions of the Queen of Rock and Roll's life.

As part of a series on "Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in Religion and Theology," author José Francisco Morales Torres makes the case that wonder is not something we produce or seek but rather something that captivates and takes hold of

"Worship and Power: Liturgical Authority in Free Church Traditions" examines how Baptist, Pentecostal, Mennonite, and Disciples of Christ churches can effectively worship amid decentralized guidance.

Sociologist Wendy Cadge's "Spiritual Care: The Everyday Work of Chaplains" is an in-depth study that fills a gaping hole in understanding how religious care is provided within the United States.