Religion Unplugged

Religion Unplugged We are an award-winning, non-profit magazine on the topic of religion in public life.

Christians have many terms for those who came before them. They are called saints, heroes of the faith and church father...
12/23/2025

Christians have many terms for those who came before them. They are called saints, heroes of the faith and church fathers. But rarely are they referred to simply as ancestors.

Christians have many terms for those who came before them. They are called saints, heroes of the faith, and church fathers. But rarely are they referred to s...

Near the border with Mozambique lies Mount Darwin, a rural community 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital Har...
12/23/2025

Near the border with Mozambique lies Mount Darwin, a rural community 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital Harare. The countryside doesn’t have much besides agriculture, but it is known as home to one of the famous hospitals in the country.

Karanda Mission Hospital, operated by the Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe, has emerged as a beacon of hope in a country where the public healthcare system is collapsing due to underpaid personnel and chronic shortages of essential medication.

Karanda Mission Hospital has emerged as a beacon of hope in a country where the public healthcare system is collapsing due to underpaid personnel and chronic shortages of essential medication.

Nestled among the calm and modest apartment blocks of the small district of Strašnice in the Czech capital is an equally...
12/22/2025

Nestled among the calm and modest apartment blocks of the small district of Strašnice in the Czech capital is an equally modest site of worship. From the outside, it looks like just another construction complex decorating the ordinary streets of Strašnice. However, closer inspection reveals that there is something more than meets the eye.

Established by a small group of Turkish immigrants originally coming from Germany, the Süleymaniye Mosque has been part of Prague’s predominantly atheistic community for more than 30 years.

While the number of Muslims in Czechia is quite small — some studies say it’s around 5,000 people, and other estimates say it’s closer to 20,000 in a country of almost 11 million — the Süleymaniye Mosque has been steadfast in its commitment to provide the Islamic community much-needed prayer services and a sense of community, united by faith.

PRAGUE — Nestled among the calm and modest apartment blocks of the small district of Strašnice in Prague, Czechia, is an equally modest site of worship. From the outside, it looks like just another construction complex decorating the ordinary streets of Strašnice. However, closer inspection reve...

In a few days we’ll arrive again at Christmas. Christmases come around faster now than they used to. When I was young it...
12/22/2025

In a few days we’ll arrive again at Christmas. Christmases come around faster now than they used to. When I was young it seemed as if the next one would never get here, and now they zoom past at such warp speed I have to set an alarm to even notice them.

I’ve been trying to pay attention to this Christmas, though, given that earlier in the year I wasn’t altogether certain I’d be around to see it. But here I am.

(ANALYSIS) In a few days we’ll arrive again at Christmas. Christmases come around faster now than they used to. When I was young it seemed as if the next one would never get here, and now they zoom past at such warp speed I have to set an alarm to even notice them.

Manger scenes displayed around Christmastime usually feature an ox and an ass beside the infant Jesus. According to the ...
12/21/2025

Manger scenes displayed around Christmastime usually feature an ox and an ass beside the infant Jesus. According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary placed her child in a manger — an animal feeding bin — “because there was no room for them in the inn.”

No mere babysitters, the ox and ass harken back to the Book of Isaiah 1:3, a verse early Christians interpreted as a prophecy of the birth of Christ. In some early artwork, these beasts of burden kneel to show their reverence — recognizing this swaddled babe, who entered the world in humble circumstances, as lordly.

(ANALYSIS) Manger scenes displayed at Christmas usually feature an ox and an ass beside the infant Jesus. According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary placed her child in a manger “because there was no room for them in the inn.” No mere babysitters, the ox and ass harken back to the Book of Isaiah 1:3,...

It’s time for my favorite Weekend Plug-in column of the year!For this special year-end edition, I asked some of the nati...
12/19/2025

It’s time for my favorite Weekend Plug-in column of the year!

For this special year-end edition, I asked some of the nation’s top religion journalists to share their best or most important story from 2025.

It’s the holiday season, so I didn’t catch up with everybody. But once again this year, I sure appreciate my Godbeat colleagues who responded — more than 60 in all.

In some cases, writers chose multiple links and invited me to pick my favorite, which I was happy to do.

Enjoy!

It’s the best of the Godbeat, 2025 version. Many of the nation’s top religion journalists pick their top piece of the year.

More than 1.4 billion people live in India — and each person has a story to tell. Zaffar Iqbal has made it his journalis...
12/19/2025

More than 1.4 billion people live in India — and each person has a story to tell.

Zaffar Iqbal has made it his journalistic mission to find those stories, interviewing experts and everyday people, and writing compelling Religion Unplugged articles.

“When a shell slammed into an Islamic school housing over 1,200 children, its caretaker didn’t dial the army or the police. He didn’t call emergency services. He called Pradeep Sharma, a Hindu and his best friend since ninth grade.”

Someone recently shared an Instagram post of someone reading the “Red Words” (the words in the Gospels spoken by Jesus h...
12/18/2025

Someone recently shared an Instagram post of someone reading the “Red Words” (the words in the Gospels spoken by Jesus himself), specifically, sections of Matthew 25, which include the passage:

“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”

(ANALYSIS) Let us strive to spend more time caring for others in the truest sense and less time feeding the devil’s divisiveness, chastising those we think we disagree with.

There are moments in our national life when a legal controversy reveals something deeper than a dispute over statutes or...
12/18/2025

There are moments in our national life when a legal controversy reveals something deeper than a dispute over statutes or precedent. It exposes a fracture in our shared moral imagination — a failure to recognize what is sacred to communities whose ways of life do not mirror our own. The struggle for Oak Flat in Arizona's Tonto National Forest is one of those moments.

(ANALYSIS) The story of Oak Flat in Arizona reveals what happens when the government refuses to see land as essential to the religious life of a people. Yet, there are communities choosing a different way. One such example emerged recently in northern Wisconsin.

As the architect of MAGA’s rise, Steve Bannon turned populist anger into a kind of liturgy, complete with crowds, chants...
12/17/2025

As the architect of MAGA’s rise, Steve Bannon turned populist anger into a kind of liturgy, complete with crowds, chants, and a chosen savior. He built an altar from the wreckage of globalization and told America to kneel — preferably in a red cap.

His genius lies in turning grievance into Gospel, finding in every cultural crack the makings of a holy rebellion. For Catholics like myself, he remains both magnetic and mildly heretical — a zealot who fights for God’s kingdom but occasionally forgets the King’s humility.

(ANALYSIS) As the architect of MAGA’s rise, Bannon turned populist anger into a kind of liturgy, complete with crowds, chants, and a chosen savior. He built an altar from the wreckage of globalization and told America to kneel — preferably in a red cap. For Catholics like writer John McGhie, he ...

Few Christians will deny that Jesus and his disciples did miracles 2000 years ago. But does supernatural healing still o...
12/16/2025

Few Christians will deny that Jesus and his disciples did miracles 2000 years ago. But does supernatural healing still occur in 2025? On this issue, there is much more debate. But, for New York Times bestselling author Lee Strobel, the answer is clear. Culture Critic Joseph Holmes interviews Strobel about his new documentary “The Case for Miracles."

Few Christians will deny that Jesus and his disciples did miracles 2000 years ago. But does supernatural healing still occur in 2025? On this issue, there is...

Every Friday afternoon, Franciscan monks lead a procession zigzagging along the photogenic Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s O...
12/16/2025

Every Friday afternoon, Franciscan monks lead a procession zigzagging along the photogenic Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City to Golgotha (Skull Hill). According to tradition, the route comprises the path of sorrows along which Jesus dragged a cross to the Roman ex*****on grounds. There he was gruesomely crucified.

Today’s route begins at the site of the Antonia Fortress, where Jesus was supposedly tried before the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate. It ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where he was nailed to the cross, died, and had his remains ritually washed in accordance with Judaism’s burial practices.

He was then interred in a never-used rock-hewn tomb belonging to his follower Joseph of Arimathea. Christians believe Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, three days after his ex*****on.

(REVIEW) A new book traces the footsteps of Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem for nearly a millennium before the Crusades, and the path differs significantly from the path tour guides take travelers on today. “But do the walk as you wish, and commemorate each station however you choose. From revisit...

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