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American Christianity Is Changing Fast: Five Stories to Watch in 2016

By Richard Flory

…ncis effect” that will draw Catholic church dropouts back, or even attract new converts. I have my doubts that a newly resurgent Catholic Church will result from the Pope’s influence. There is just too much institutional inertia in how the Church is organized and a charismatic Pope, however inspiring his message may be, is unlikely to change that. Will there be a larger “Francis effect” that results in bringing religion into the public conversatio…

55% of Utah Mormons Believe LGBT People can “Change”

By Joanna Brooks

A new poll released today by the Salt Lake Tribune shows that among Utah Mormons surveyed, 55% believe it is possible for people who are attracted to members of the same sex to change their sexual orientation. Twenty-five percent of Utah Mormons reported being “unsure,” and 15% believed gay people could not voluntarily “change” their own sexual orientation. Among non-Mormon Utahns surveyed, 66% believed it was not possible for gay people to “chan…

An Unholy Holy Week: Is the All-Male Rule of the Roman Catholic Church Self-Destructing?

By Anne Eggebroten

…rch history,” declares the National Catholic Reporter in an editorial. The New York Times, which broke the story of abuse at the deaf school in Wisconsin, quotes a priest in Berlin as saying the crisis is “the worst in 100 years or more.” They Act Like They Don’t Believe in God It’s not that the faithful are leaving the Church—for the most part, they aren’t. It’s that the hierarchy itself is cracking. “What I would like to see is actually Christia…

What Do ‘The Christians’ Believe? Easter Reflections from a Non-Christian

By Gary Laderman

…s. Just take a quick glance at conservative responses to Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity to get a feeling for the way this debate takes place in real time. And beyond the sorts of theological, political, and institutional differences among Christians of various stripes is the simple but complicating fact of globalilzation. Christianity is unquestionably the dominant religious presence in America, though the contours and composition of…

8: The Mormon Proposition Gets It Right

By Joanna Brooks

…have dismissed the film as blatantly false. But what I’m hearing from a number of Mormons deeply familiar with the Proposition 8 campaign is that the film gets it mostly right. [See also Holly Welker’s review here. – Eds] Some take exception to editing choices that sequence events out of context for dramatic effect; others wish that the filmmakers had not been so cartoonish in their depictions of anti-gay-marriage standpoints, using only notori…

Debate Heats Up Over “Francis Effect”

By Patricia Miller

…aniel Burke at CNN.com in a lengthy, mostly anecdotal piece, “there’s more way than one to measure the pontiff’s influence” than, say, actual metrics like the number of people going to mass or returning to the church. According to Burke, you just have to “ask around” Boston to find folks who know someone who’s thinking about returning to the church or who feels less horrible about the church than in the darkest days of the U.S. clerical sex abuse…

Dear White Evangelicals: A Black Square Ain’t Gonna Cut It

By Jhas Williams

…fully, no Black person should ever be expected to describe in totality the ways in which they wish to be treated fairly. It’s exhausting to explain and tiring to unpack. After all, we don’t exactly have a racism-free America to compare it to since, sadly, such a nation has never existed. Besides, how does one person teach another to treat human beings like human beings? But I can tell you without a doubt that a start would have been not being able…

My Business, Myself: Piercing the Corporate Veil

By Howard M. Friedman

…al products of high quality and good value, while conducting business in a way that is pleasing to God and is faithful to Biblical principles and values. We will accomplish this mission from a Christian perspective that respects others who believe differently while sharing the joy we have received from Jesus Christ. A Corporation as Alter Ego of its Owners Whether a corporation can be seen as having non-economic rights—whether it is to be consider…

Holy Father, You’re Not Helping: The Problem with the Pope’s Plan to Consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

By Katherine Kelaidis

…hief among them contention over the pope’s claim to universal authority. A number of violent incidents over two hundred years, from both sides of Christianity’s two halves, helped solidify the separation. These included the Byzantine massacre of Catholics living in Constantinople in 1182, the sacking of Thessaloniki by Catholics in 1185, and their pillage of Constantinople in 1204. Finally, the establishment of Rome-allied episcopacies in traditio…

More Than Big Hair and Money: Jim, Tammy Faye and the Media “Holy Wars” of the 80s

By John Wigger

…hard to forget Tammy’s makeup streaming down her face as she cried or the way the Bakkers flaunted their wealth. Bakker raised about $158 million between 1984 and 1987 from his “lifetime partners,” but still managed to leave the ministry teetering on the edge of bankruptcy when the scandal broke. But there was more to it than just big hair and money. Before PTL could become a front-page scandal it had to have an outsized presence in American cult…