Religion Unplugged

08/19/2024

It’s no secret that the American economy is making people uneasy right now. High rates of inflation and a recent stock market scare, where the Dow dropped over 1,000 points to hit its lowest point in two years, are more signs of it. This is an America that is over $30 trillion in debt. In such times, it’s no surprise when people start looking at alternative forms of currency to hedge their bets.

One of the most popular recent alternate forms of currency is “cryptocurrency” — and the most popular version of that is Bitcoin, a digital currency you can use to pay for anything you wantwithout the need for middlemen like a bank or a treasury that prints paper money.

This has been huge among tech bros and finance entrepreneurs who claim it is the currency of the future and that it will free people from having their money controlled by governments or large financial institutions.

(REVIEW) Cryptocurrency is a really fascinating topic worth talking about. It’s gratifying to see it being talked about in the context of faith. If it had only trusted the audience more to inform them rather than advertise to them, it would have added something even more valuable to the conversati...

08/16/2024

The Baltimore Orioles have joined the trend of MLB teams hosting faith nights.

I share the details in my latest Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged.

The Baltimore Orioles hosted the team's first Faith Night promotion this week. The Orioles joined a trend of MLB franchises doing so.

08/16/2024

Several recent stories suggest that Japan is becoming more hostile to tourists. But most of these reports concern only particular popular tourist sites, especially those with a view of magnificent Mt. Fuji, where jostling crowds have failed to respect the mores of this famously polite society.

My experience has been the opposite. In visiting less foreigner-traveled areas this year, I found gracious hosts. I was welcomed and fell in love with the place and the people.

But, in one theme of this summer's travels, the history of Japanese Christianity, I found a different issue. This is the ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution.

In one theme of this summer's travels, the history of Japanese Christianity, I found a different issue. This is the ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution. Some of this, especially the dire persecutions

08/16/2024

Precognition, the purported ability to foresee future events, has long captivated and divided opinions within academia and beyond. This phenomenon is deeply rooted in religious experiences, where glimpses of the future are often intertwined with divine revelation and prophecy.

In many religious traditions, precognitive experiences are considered gifts from higher powers. Prophets like Isaiah and Daniel in the Bible received visions directly from God, guiding communities with forewarnings and words of wisdom. Similarly, Islam attributes precognitive elements to the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad in the Quran, offering insights into future events and moral lessons.

Eastern religions also embrace precognition. In Hinduism, sages foresee future events through meditation and spiritual insight, while Buddhism acknowledges intuitive glimpses of future occurrences as part of interconnected existence.

(ANALYSIS) In many religious traditions, precognitive experiences are considered gifts from higher powers. Prophets like Isaiah and Daniel in the Bible received visions directly from God, guiding communities with forewarnings and words of wisdom. Similarly, Islam attributes precognitive elements to

08/15/2024

As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, Father Stephen Noll felt a sense of loss when he learned he would need a smartphone app to attend baseball games.

Noll calls himself a “digital dinosaur, perhaps from the Jurassic period.”

What he didn't expect, after 50 years of priesthood, was for this digital divide to affect his ministry.

“I am fundamentally app-horrent,” he wrote in “Millennial People, Boomer Priest,” a book of lessons from his year as a young parish's interim pastor. The big problem was staying in contact with members of Redeemer Anglican Church, in north Pittsburgh.

It was even harder to reach potential converts who kept walking through the doors.

(ANALYSIS) As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, Father Stephen Noll felt a sense of loss when he learned he would need a smartphone app to attend baseball games. Noll calls himself a “digital dinosaur, perhaps from the Jurassic period.” What he didn't expect, after 50 years of priesthood, was for this d...

08/14/2024

Pundits were puzzled when, just in time for next week’s Democratic convention, nominee Kamala Harris chose folksy Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

Her runner-up, popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, seemed the more obvious pick since his closely fought and must-win state claims 19 Electoral College votes, while Minnesota’s 10 should be winnable with or without Walz. Plus, Shapiro had appeal for moderates.

Harris would have weighed numerous factors in deciding, some presumably unknown, and don’t forget she’d be the first president with a Jewish spouse. But when introducing the new Harris/Walz ticket in Philadelphia, Shapiro declared, “I lean on my family, and I lean on my faith which calls me to serve. And I am proud of my faith!”

(ANALYSIS) This extraordinary political year displays an increasingly multicultural America. Starting with Harris, she'd be the first Asian American to be president, the first with Hindu roots as signified by her name, the first female and first female African American. Despite Donald Trump’s feig...

08/12/2024

During the Cold War, an oft overlooked battle for minds unfolded on the vast stage of Africa. As colonial powers withdrew and new African nations emerged, both the United States and the Soviet Union scrambled for alliances.

Author Phil Dow’s new book, “Accidental Diplomats,” catalogs the forgotten and fortuitous influence of American evangelical missionaries in Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Cold War.

While these missionaries had arrived with spiritual goals, the deep engagement with local cultures they developed at times led them to unexpected roles of significance within the unfolding political drama.

During the Cold War, an oft overlooked battle for minds unfolded on the vast stage of Africa. As colonial powers withdrew and new African nations emerged, both the United States and the Soviet Union scrambled for alliances.  Author Phil Dow’s new book, “Accidental Diplomats,” catalogs the...

08/10/2024

Crowdsourcing request: For a Religion Unplugged column, I'm looking to talk to leaders of houses of worship that have a problem with people putting political signs on their property, or on the other hand, encourage it.

Please email a few details and contact info to [email protected].

08/09/2024

My Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged explores three questions related to the wrangling over religion in public schools:

1. What do politicians such as Oklahoma education chief Ryan Walters mean when they talk about “putting the Bible back in our schools?”

2. Why is the push for placing the Ten Commandments and the Bible in public school classrooms happening now?

3. How can the Bible — viewed as sacred by Christians — be incorporated into the academic curriculum in a secular, neutral way? And should it be?

Like it or not, fights over religion in public schools seem unlikely to vanish any time soon. Look for such controversies to remain prominent in the news.

08/09/2024

In a move that is widely seen as a major blow to religious freedom, the government of Rwanda has closed more than 4,000 houses of worship over the past month for various infractions that include operating in substandard structures, “unhygienic conditions,” not meeting noise pollution standards and not having formally trained preachers.

The 4,200 churches and mosques have been closed on orders from President Paul Kagame’s government in a resumption of the crackdown on religious groups that started in 2018.

According to Usta Kayitesi, the chief executive officer of the Rwanda Governance Board — the public regulator of the civil society sector — the nationwide exercise is targeting churches and other faith-based institutions that do not meet the country’s set standards.

In a move widely seen as a major blow to religious freedom, the government of Rwanda has closed more than 4,000 houses of worship over the past month for various infractions that include operating in substandard structures, “unhygienic conditions,” not meeting noise pollution standards and not h...

08/08/2024

The Catholic bishops of France admired the "marvelous display of beauty and joy" in the 2024 Olympics opening rites, but also slammed the blending of Christian sacred art, Greek mythology and the sexual revolution.

“This ceremony unfortunately included scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” said the bishops. “We are thinking of all the Christians on every continent who have been hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes."

That was soon followed by an appeal to the International Olympic Committee from a global circle of cardinals and bishops protesting "a grotesque and blasphemous depiction of the Last Supper. ... It is hard to understand how the faith of over two billion people can be so casually and intentionally blasphemed.”

But the Vatican remained silent for more than a week while online combat raged between clergy, entertainers, academics, diplomats and armies of social-media warriors.

(ANALYSIS) These debates raged on and on because few combatants could agree on what took place, in part because that scene in the opening ceremonies were quickly removed from the official Olympics YouTube and NBC Universal accounts.

08/07/2024

In her bid to be the nation’s first female president, Kamala Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, thrusting the outspoken Minnesota Lutheran into the national spotlight.

Walz, 60, brings political experience as well as suburban-and-rural appeal to the presidential race. He also represents a Midwestern state with a growing Middle Eastern population that Harris needs to win come November.

In a Tuesday morning post on X, Walz called joining the ticket alongside Harris “the honor of a lifetime.”

In her bid to be the nation’s first female president, Kamala Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, thrusting the outspoken Minnesota Lutheran into the national spotlight. Walz, 60, brings political experience as well as suburban-and-rural appeal to the presidential ...

08/07/2024

In the violence-afflicted state of Manipur in India’s northeast, the Assam Rifles, a key central force, finds itself under intense scrutiny.

It’s at the center of a vocal campaign that accuses it of taking sides in the ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribal groups. However, this claim might just be a smokescreen to divert attention from what could be the real issue:

The Assam Rifle’s clampdown on rampant smuggling activities in the region, according to reliable sources in the security establishment Newsreel Asia has spoken with.

With roughly 6,000 personnel deployed in Manipur’s hinterland, which has been scene of ethnic violence for over a year, and another 6,000 along the India-Myanmar border, the Assam Rifles is a small part of the much larger Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) presence in the state.

In the violence-afflicted state of Manipur in India’s northeast, the Assam Rifles, a key central force, finds itself under intense scrutiny. It’s at the center of a campaign that accuses it of taking sides in the ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribal groups...

08/05/2024

Splinter Catholic movements within Kenya have gradually found their voice in the country’s religious scene and have maintained a steady following despite strong opposition from conservative voices in the local Catholic church.

The rise of the breakaway Catholic churches traces its roots to the May 2006 wedding of ex-Catholic priest, Godfrey Shiundu, to ex-nun Stella Nangila. Shiundu was later ordained a bishop of what’s come to be known as the Reformed Catholic Church.

Since then, the country has seen more groups splintering from the Roman church and creating their own niches.

Splinter Catholic movements within Kenya have gradually found their voice in the country’s religious scene and have maintained a steady following despite strong opposition from conservative voices in the local Catholic church. The rise of the breakaway Catholic churches traces its roots to the May...

08/05/2024

Equatorial Guinea, a country under a totalitarian regime, has a history of infringing on religious freedom dating back to the 1950s. The country is at it again using new legislation to forcefully close numerous churches and deny thousands the freedom to worship.

Six Pentecostal and evangelical churches were shut down by the government in September 2023 alone due to their failure to abide by registration regulations. During the legislation debate, the country’s senate said it was an effort to “protect the people” by opposing the “bad practices of cults and religious confessions.”

The small African country’s evangelical and Pentecostal churches were called to a meeting by the Ministry of Justice, Religious Affairs and Penitentiary Institutions on May 2, with instructions to establish an association akin to that of the nation's Catholic and Presbyterian churches.

Equatorial Guinea has a history of infringing on religious freedom dating back to the 1950s. The country is at it again using legislation to forcefully close numerous churches and deny thousands the freedom to worship. Six Pentecostal and evangelical churches were shut down by the government last ye

08/05/2024

You saw it. I saw it (well, later, after a nap) and — truth be told — many of us just saw a still frame, captured and shared on social media along with the painting of “The Last Supper" and “How Dare They?” reactions.

The shot shared ‘round the world following last Friday’s Olympic Opening ceremonies was actually a brief matter of seconds in a four-hour live presentation. Whether it was — in fact — a shot at Christ and his followers using Leonardo da Vinci's iconography or just a misunderstood tableau for the feast of Dionysus, as the show producers claim (rather dubiously, then sort of apologized for, dubiously), the moment is better understood in motion, as video shows better than stills.

As a television producer of newscasts and other live events and a teacher of those who go on to direct productions of their own — I can say this much is clear: No shot happens by accident.

(ANALYSIS) The shot shared round the world following last Friday’s Olympic Opening ceremonies was actually a brief matter of seconds in a four-hour live presentation. Whether it was — in fact — a shot at Christ and his followers using Leonardo da Vinci's iconography or just a misunderstood tab...

08/02/2024

🚨🚨🚨 WEEKEND PLUG-IN 🔌🔌🔌

☀️ Hot news: From Ryan Burge’s church closing to Trump rally prayers to American exorcisms 🔌

My Religion Unplugged column

In the summer heat, here are a few notes of interest from the world of religion news.

08/02/2024

Over the past few months, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been locked in a court battle with Annunciation House, a network of shelters in the El Paso area that assists migrants with basic needs and legal aid.

On July 2, district court Judge Francisco Dominguez issued a ruling denying Paxton’s attempt to shut down Annunciation House. Paxton appealed two weeks later.

In his original suit, Paxton sought to rescind Annunciation House’s ability to operate as a nonprofit in Texas, alleging that its efforts to assist migrants amount to “human smuggling."

(ANALYSIS) Over the past few months, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been locked in a court battle with Annunciation House, a network of shelters in the El Paso area that assists migrants with basic needs and legal aid. On July 2, district court Judge Francisco Dominguez issued a ruling denyin

08/01/2024

The vague 22-word prayer from the New York Board of Regents was totally nondenominational: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.”

A few parents protested, saying any kind of prayer — even voluntary — violated the rights of students from homes led by atheists, agnostics or believers from other faiths. In other words, the pivotal 1962 Engel v. Vitale school-prayer decision was a parental rights case. Schools had to change.

Two years ago, the Montgomery County Board of Education created a policy requiring pre-K and elementary students to read texts about LGBTQ+ life. A Maryland network of Muslim, Christian and Jewish parents protested, saying this violated their parental rights by exposing their children to beliefs that clashed with beliefs in their own homes.

(ANALYSIS) In another parental rights case that may reach the Supreme Court, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation banning policies that require public educators to tell parents if their children take steps, at school, to change their gender identities. The state wants to protect

07/30/2024

His Instagram account proclaims “GOD FIRST!” and U.S. Olympic swimmer Hunter Armstrong tries to be faithful to that description whether he’s winning gold medals or not.

“That’s the first thing I want people to see and know about me,” Armstrong said. “As we grow, we have to make sure we have our priorities in line. I keep God as a priority. I can’t really live without Him. I can live without swimming or being an Olympian or any of that stuff."

Armstrong captured one gold medal in the Paris Olympics as part of the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay team with Caeleb Dressel, Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano that held off Australia to win the title on Saturday. In individual competition on Sunday, Armstrong failed to advance to the finals in the 100-meter backstroke.

Armstrong’s walk with the Lord has grown considerably over the past several months, he says. While he has professed to be a Christian for a long time, his faith was more peripheral than central to his life.

“I feel like in past years I’ve been sort of on the edge of it,” he said. “When I’m in competition, I’ll pray, and that will last for a little bit. Church camp, same kind of thing. But as soon as I didn’t need him anymore, it would fade."

His Instagram account proclaims “GOD FIRST!” and U.S. Olympic swimmer Hunter Armstrong tries to be faithful to that description whether he’s winning gold medals or not in Paris this summer. “That’s the first thing I want people to see and know about me,” he said. “As we grow, we have t...

07/30/2024

Artemisia Gentileschi was a highly distinguished painter of the Italian Baroque and the most famous female artist in Europe in the first half of the 17th century. Yet, like many artists of the period, she was soon forgotten and only in recent years have feminist art historians written her back into the art history books.

Artemisia initially trained in the studio of her father, the celebrated Italian painter Orazio Gentileschi, one of Caravaggio’s earliest followers. She was sent for further tuition to the painter Agostino Tassi, who in May 1611 r***d the young artist. A graphic account of the attack is preserved in documents relating to the seven-month trial that followed, in which Artemisia was tortured to ensure the veracity of her testimony. Tassi was eventually convicted and incarcerated.

These traumas resound throughout Artemisia’s work, detected in works such as “Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria” (about 1615-17), a life-size painting in which she depicts herself as the early Christian martyr, who was tortured for her beliefs and condemned to death on a spiked wheel that miraculously shattered and left her unharmed.

(REVIEW) In the darkened Birmingham gallery, the painting is spotlit and seems to glow amid the gloom. Here, it forms the centerpiece of "Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon,” an immersive exhibition by the Dublin-based contemporary artist Jesse Jones, which responds directly to Artemisia’s work with fil

07/29/2024

BibleDojo, an interactive online platform, merges faith and technology in an effort to increase biblical literacy and fluency among Christians.

Launched this past January, the program features click-through, dojo-themed lessons that aim to strengthen Christians’ reading skills for different genres of the Bible.

Each section helps participants advance from white belt to black belt while offering prompts on how to “examine closely” and “wrestle hard” with successively more challenging Bible passages.

BibleDojo, an interactive online platform, merges faith and technology in an effort to increase biblical literacy and fluency among Christians. Launched this past January, the program features click-through, dojo-themed lessons that aim to strengthen Christians’ reading skills for different genres...

07/27/2024

A dance troupe performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics drew the ire of Christians around the world after they appeared to mock Jesus and the Last Supper.

The ceremony, held on Friday along the Seine River in the French capital, featured the traditional parade of nations. It was the first time in Olympic history the ceremony was held outside a stadium.

But the festivities, which featured singers Celine Dion and Lady Gaga, drew controversy when a group of 18 performers — including three “Drag Race France” queens — struck poses behind what looked like a long table with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

A dance troupe performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics drew the ire of Christians around the world after they appeared to mock Jesus and the Last Supper. The festivities drew controversy when a group of performers — including three “Drag Race France” queens — struck poses be...

07/26/2024

News doesn’t happen on a 9-to-5 schedule.

Particularly during the 24/7 era of social media, journalists find themselves on the clock pretty much all the time.

That includes religion reporters such as Christianity Today’s Kate Minnicks, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana and The Tennessean’s Liam Adams.

Plus: a big honor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Frank Lockwood — honored with Arkansas SPJ's Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Public Service Award.

Read about all of the above in my Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged.

News doesn’t happen on a 9-to-5 schedule. Particularly during the 24/7 era of social media, journalists find themselves on the clock pretty much all the time.

07/26/2024

Sadly, France has barred its athletes from wearing a hijab while taking part in the Paris-based Olympic and Para-Olympic games. In so doing it continues its radical campaign to ban religion from anything other than the most private matters.

This ban does not apply to athletes from other countries, and many women participants from the Muslim world will have still their heads covered, even though their own country, unlike France, might not require it.

But France in an authoritarian manner still regards its athletes as necessarily surrogates of the state who must, therefore, abide by the country's highly restrictive version of secularism, laïcité.

(ANALYSIS) Sadly, France has barred its athletes from wearing a hijab while taking part in the Paris-based Olympic and Para-Olympic games. In so doing it continues its radical campaign to ban religion from anything other than the most private matters. This ban does not apply to athletes from other c

07/25/2024

The young J.D. Vance was used to the melodramas surrounding his mother, Beverly Vance, with her addictions to painkillers, he**in and alcohol, as well as the chaos caused by her five marriages and countless live-in boyfriends.

But his mother was trying to steer a car during one pivotal clash with Bonnie Blanton Vance, the matriarch known to all as "Mamaw."

“There was a lot of screaming, some punching and driving, and then a stopped car on the side of the road,” wrote Vance in his bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” from 2016. “It's a miracle we didn't crash and die: Mom driving and slapping the kids in the backseat; Mamaw on the passenger side, slapping and screaming at Mom. ... We drove home in silence after Mamaw explained that if Mom lost her temper again, Mamaw would shoot her in the face.”

Once he was safely home — to his grandmother's house — Vance approached her on the battered couch where she napped, watched TV and read her Bible. He asked one question: “Mamaw, does God love us?”

She hugged him and began weeping.

(ANALYSIS) Mamaw was a lifelong Democrat who distrusted organized religion, including “holy rollers” and snake handlers, cursed like a sailor and, when she died, her house contained 19 loaded handguns. But the soft heart and steel spine of the family's "hillbilly terminator" provided stabi

07/24/2024

It’s become an old cliche to say that we live in a polarized world. At first glance, the cartoon “God’s Gang,” made in the Holy Land and aimed at young people, might seem like a tool of conservative Christian evangelism — possibly with an American tinge — enough to make both parents and children run a mile.

Yet look closely and you’ll see it’s leading a quiet counter-culture on YouTube. Creator Nimrod-Avraham May, who grew up in Israel, insists the show is not a statement about religion, or about the fraught politics of his homeland.

“It’s all about love,” he said.

“God’s Gang,” which follows a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim and a Hindu in their efforts to, as the show’s publicists put it, “unite the world through peace and adventure,” has a global team behind it. Its creators are spread across 15 countries, and its audience boasts an even bigger reach. The first episode, which dropped last November, attracted over 10 million views. It’s available in digestible chunks, well-suited to a viewership weaned on social media; the first episode clocks in at around 13 minutes and the second one, which aired last week, at close to five minutes.

“God’s Gang,” which follows a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim and a Hindu in their efforts to, as the show’s publicists put it, “unite the world through peace and adventure,” has a global team behind it. Its creators are spread across 15 countries, and its audience boasts an even bigger reach...

07/23/2024

As Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the Bhartiya Janta Party ordered names of owners on Kanwar Yatra stalls in the country’s largest province of Uttar Pradesh in Kashmir, Muslims are feeding Hindu pilgrims during the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.

Kanvar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Lord Shiva — known as Kanvarias — to Hindu pilgrimage places of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri. The Uttar Pradesh government's new rule for the Kanvar Yatra route, however, has sparked widespread debate. According to the new directive, food shops are required to display the owners' names, leading to a variety of reactions.

Indian actor Sonu Sood weighed in on social media, stating, “There should be only one nameplate on every shop: ‘HUMANITY.’” Meanwhile, BJP member of Parliament and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut responded: “Agree, Halal should be replaced with ‘HUMANITY.’”

Indian screenwriter Javed Akhtar criticized the directive, comparing it to practices in N**i Germany. The UP government has defended the rule, claiming it’s about respecting Hindu pilgrims’ faith during the Kanwar Yatra. The government has announced plans to crack down on shops selling Halal-certified products.

The order was paused this past Monday, but the move — to ensure no that pilgrims buy from Muslim-owned shops — has cast a pall on what is otherwise a wonderful event.

The Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage gives a major push for reconciliation between Hindus from the rest of India and Muslims in Kashmir, acting as a catalyst for bringing together communities divided by violence. The holy cave was discovered by a Muslim devoted to Lord Shiva, a deity in the Hindu trinity.