Muslims are helping their Christian brothers and sisters escape ISIS militants in the southern Philippines city of Marawi. About 1,000 residents are said to remain trapped in the besieged city. Fighting continues around them between the Philippine Army and Islamist rebels. Escape stories are emerging. “Some of the stories that stuck were Muslims helping protect Read more
Faith leaders in Canada, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Baha’i faith leaders are asking for help to tackle the famines causing death, suffering and displacement in the world today. They have named four countries that need urgent help. Read more
A Dominican priest and a great imam have been held up as models “to the entire African continent for interreligious harmony active in daily work”. The African branch of United Religions Initiative (URI) presented Father James Channan and Abdul Khabir Azad, the great Imam of the royal mosque in Lahore, with the “Award for Interreligious Read more
Throw your political affiliation out the window! But you’re a loyal Democrat. Or perhaps instead, you’re a loyal Republican. Never mind that. Your political affiliation is not that important. What’s crucially important is your affiliation with Jesus, and your commitment to his campaign – to his divine plan. Are you voting for Jesus Christ? Oh, Read more
Dating is not easy. Dating as an overweight woman can be more difficult. Dating as an overweight conservative Christian woman seems impossible. Whether we admit it or not, physical attraction plays a large role in paving the way for love. We don’t like to look closely at this fact, especially inside the walls of the church Read more
If you read the breathless coverage earlier this week from the mainstream press over the Pew Research Center’s newest Religious Landscape Study, you might believe that religion in America is in deep trouble – specifically Christianity, from which we’re told millennials are fleeing en masse: “Millennials leaving the church in droves, study finds,” CNN splashed Read more
The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic Read more
The coastal city of Wenzhou is sometimes called China’s Jerusalem. Ringed by mountains and far from the capital, Beijing, it has long been a haven for a religion that China’s Communist leaders view with deep unease: Christianity. Most cities of its size, with about 9m people, have no more than a dozen or so visibly Read more
I’ve got a soft spot for the Pope. I don’t know why; I’m about as religious as a satsuma. But given that Mum’s an Anglican preacher, my Dad’s an atheist, my brother a Catholic, and my Aunt and Uncle devout Jews, I’ve probably picked up second-hand religious interest somewhere. Anyway, I like him. He seems Read more
A few years ago, I was caught up in a big research project about contemporary hymns (or “hymnody,” as they say in the trade). I listened to hundreds of hymns on Spotify; I interviewed a bunch of hymn experts. What, I asked them, was the most successful contemporary hymn—the modern successor to “Morning Has Broken” Read more