With Joe Biden replacing Donald Trump as president, and with vaccines eventually expected to ease the threat of COVID-19, the challenges for faith leaders in 2021 will shift. Here’s a look at some important storylines to keep an eye on in the coming year for
In this terrible moment, the vaccines that have been developed are nothing less than a modern miracle. America’s diverse faith communities can play a central role in facilitating the distribution and administration of the vaccines.
The Palestinian prime minister on Thursday (Dec. 17) announced a two-week lockdown in the West Bank that appears certain to curtail Christmas celebrations in the town of Jesus’s birth.
As a COVID-19 vaccine gets closer to a public rollout, public health experts and policymakers in the United States are likely to encounter a big cultural barrier: Christian Nationalism. Read full piece
The coronavirus shutdown is affecting giving to Catholic parishes around the country in dramatically different ways, data shows, with some expected to see their offertory — parishioners’ donations, typically given at weekly services — down 50 percent, while others have had an increase. A study
On Nov. 25, vandals attacked Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, a historic Black Baptist church in rural Callaway County, Missouri. On Dec. 6, Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor met Mount Vernon’s pastor, Gordon Coleman, at the church to talk about its legacy and the damage.
As Christmas celebration goes into full swing, an organization of 34 religions said here Friday that it wanted “all communities of faith and conscience” to exercise great caution to stay safe and protect others from the coronavirus. Read full piece
Concerned someone from his own congregation could pass him the coronavirus, Southern Baptist pastor Steve Bezner sneaks in a back door of his church to protect himself from his flock. Read full piece
International cooperation is a Christian value. It can beat COVID-19. Read full piece
Coronavirus has canceled many Christmas pageants, but some churches turned to a new virtual format for the old classic. And with kids and the internet involved, virtual pageants, it turns out, are just as delightfully unpredictable as more traditional performances at churches.