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11/25/2025

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11/25/2025

Many writers have been credited with the authorship of the Bible. Some Biblical books list their writers explicitly, others are more ambiguous. But is writing the same as narrating?

Many writers have been credited with the authorship of the Bible. Some Biblical books list their writers explicitly, others are more ambiguous. But is writin...

11/25/2025

In a small Santa Clara classroom at Mission City Church in Northern California, a group of students huddle together, their voices rising in harmony. Leading them stands Makayla Hannah, their vocal coach for Youth Utilizing Power and Praise.

Hannah is teaching more than pitch and breath control. She’s helping students discover their voice both literally and spiritually. Her work, she says, goes beyond music. It’s ministry.

She said she believes hope is not lost in a generation often dismissed. Instead, she sees a new generation of leaders, rising up and standing up for their faith.

While surveys often show Gen Z and Gen Alpha moving away from organized religion, this ministry leader sees a desire for spiritual truth over tradition. Today’s youth want to encounter God in a real way.

11/25/2025

In Laos, the tiny Communist country tucked between Thailand and Vietnam, Christians have been increasingly facing religious persecution in large numbers. Despite guaranteeing religious freedom on paper, the Communist authorities heavily monitor the religious activities of Christians.

(ANALYSIS) In Laos, Christian burials are barred from cemeteries, churches have to find improvised worship spaces, and Christians are often pressured to engage in activities that go against their religion. And with neighboring China's new influence, it may get even worse.

11/24/2025

At a Delhi temple, Afghan Sikhs gather in prayer, their voices rising in unison, yet their hearts weighed down with longing for a homeland they were forced to leave. Among them is Daya Singh. He fled Afghanistan twice — first in 1992 when the Taliban seized control, and again in 2006 after facing persecution for being Sikh.

A delegation of Sikhs met at the Afghan Embassy in Delhi. The dialogue was historic — a rare, direct conversation between Afghan officials and members of a religious minority displaced by decades of conflict.

11/24/2025

The U.S. designation of Nigeria as an egregious violator of religious freedoms has not gone far enough to stem violence there, top persecution watchdogs said amid an intense uptick in attacks on Christians in the African nation.

The comments came after a string of murderous attacks, including one during a livestreamed worship service Nov. 18 at Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara, a state in Nigeria’s middle belt but with significant ties to the north. Terrorists killed three and kidnapped at least 30 including the pastor, it was widely reported, capping three days of intense violence.

The U.S. designation of Nigeria as an egregious violator of religious freedoms has not gone far enough to stem violence there, top persecution watchdogs said amid an intense uptick in attacks on Christians in the African nation.

11/22/2025

Nine in 10 Americans gather around a table to share food on Thanksgiving. At this polarizing moment, anything that promises to bring Americans together warrants our attention.

But as a historian of religion, I feel obliged to recount how popular interpretations of Thanksgiving also have pulled us apart.

Communal rituals of giving thanks have a longer history in North America, and it was only around the turn of the 20th century that most people in the U.S. came to associate Thanksgiving with Plymouth “Pilgrims” and generic “Indians” sharing a historic meal.

(ANALYSIS) Nine in 10 Americans gather around a table to share food on Thanksgiving. At this polarizing moment, anything that promises to bring Americans together warrants our attention. The emphasis on the Pilgrims’ 1620 landing and 1621 feast erased a great deal of religious history and narrowed...

11/21/2025

Jennifer Arul, an Indian journalist and a board member at The Media Project, interviews Kinley Tshering, who is the world’s first — and so far only — Bhutanese Catholic priest. He currently serves in Bhutan, a kingdom nestled in the Himalayas between India and China.

Jennifer Arul, an Indian journalist and a board member at The Media Project, interviews Kinley Tshering, who is the world’s first — and so far only — Bhutane...

11/21/2025

Holocaust movies have long had a firm place in American cinema. It’s no wonder since they naturally lead to stories with clear lines of good and evil — giving strong moral lessons that reinforce values Americans hold dear such as freedom and equality.

From “Schindler’s List” (1993) to “Life Is Beautiful” (1997), “The Pianist” (2002), “Son of Saul” (2015) and “The Zone of Interest” (2023), the genre has remained constant. The past couple of years have been no different, with films ranging from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s “White Bird” to Angel Studios’ “Bonhoeffer” and “Truth & Treason,” to Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut “Eleanor the Great,” and smaller indie faith-based films like “Triumph of the Heart.” Even many movies not directly about the Holocaust — such as “The Brutalist” and “Guns & Moses” — deal with its legacy.

“Nuremberg” tries to claim a spot in this lineup, with an impressive cast, stoic moral gravity, and strong lessons for the present day. But while the pieces are there, the sloppiness of the ex*****on betrays the increasing fragility of the secular religion it tries to reinforce.

(REVIEW) This makes film’s presentation feel extremely — for lack of a better word — basic. The movie, however, never figures out exactly which of these threads it wants to follow. Is it about the trials? The nature of evil and whether the N***s were unique or not? Is it trying to educate view...

11/20/2025

Evangelical leaders in Italy are calling for a full repeal of curbs on religious freedom as the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the fascist-era law, which outlawed Pentecostals as contrary to “the physical and psychological integrity of the race.”

Recently, Italian evangelical leaders said that while Buffarini Guidi’s circular had officially been repealed, they were still facing draconian restrictions, because the Catholic Church continued to exercise undue influence over Italian state policy towards Protestants.

The pastors, who are planting new churches in the predominantly Catholic country, have been paying attention to Pope Leo XIV’s recent remarks on religious freedom, which might help loosen the stringent Mussolini-era restrictions facing them.

Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that an evangelical worship space, which is located in a former shop a short distance from the Vatican, does not qualify as a religious edifice due to its non-traditional appearance.

11/19/2025

On a warm October afternoon, the usually bustling Sheetla Mata Cloth Market at Indore in Central India’s Madhya Pradesh carries an uneasy silence. Stretches of shops line the alleys, where business once thrived with the festive season approaching.

Behind the locked doors lies a story of coercion, fear, and livelihoods cut short, not because of poor trade or mismanagement, but because of a religion.

For more than a decade, Hindu businessman Balwant Rathore and his Muslim partner Mohammad Harun have run their shop together. They invested jointly, worked shoulder-to-shoulder, and built not just a business but also a bond that Rathore describes as brotherhood. Then, without warning, they were told to vacate their shop. The reason? The order that Muslims should no longer be part of the market’s fabric, allegedly justified on the grounds of “love jihad.”

For more than a decade, Hindu businessman Balwant Rathore and his Muslim partner Mohammad Harun have run their shop together. Then, without warning, they were told to vacate their shop. Blaming “Love Jihad”, a Hindu nationalist leader’s son ordered Muslims to leave the market.

11/18/2025

Pope Francis was undeniably controversial in Catholic and non-Catholic circles alike. So far, his successor has been less polarizing, but are the two popes really as different as they appear? Joseph Holmes interviews reporter and writer Christopher White about his recent book, “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.”

Pope Francis was undeniably controversial in Catholic and non-Catholic circles alike. So far, his predecessor has been less polarizing, but are the two popes...

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