All posts tagged: Christianity

Paxton, Talarico tap contrary versions of God and Christianity in appeal to Texas voters

Paxton, Talarico tap contrary versions of God and Christianity in appeal to Texas voters

Published by Sam Flores

AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) — Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico portray their U.S. Senate campaigns in Texas as fights for the soul of America — one in which God plays an active yet vastly different role. Talarico, believing God is on the side of the oppressed and the marginalized, focuses his message to voters on equity and protecting personal freedom. Paxton sees God as on his side — a force safeguarding his ability to protect Texas and the nation from disaster at the hands of the “radical left.” “I truly believe that God just delivered me, not because I am a great person, because God is sovereign and he does what he wants to do,” Paxton said on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s podcast, referring to tribulations that included an unsuccessful 2023 impeachment effort on corruption charges. “I don’t take credit for it, it’s really by the grace of God.”  In Texas — where two-thirds of the adult population identifies as Christian and 45% say religion is “very important” in their life — the …

The church fathers of early Christianity are showing their swag – on TikTok

The church fathers of early Christianity are showing their swag – on TikTok

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — It begins with the music: a late 1990s rap song. Then someone appears on screen, moving slowly into a pose that can only be called deeply, theatrically serious. Then comes the reveal: The video fades from the person into a medieval painting of a haloed man doing almost the exact same pose. Videos imitating “church fathers,” bishops and theologians who helped shape early Christianity have been popping up across social media since late 2025. Several versions have drawn hundreds of thousands of views. In part, they’re funny because of the incongruity: hoodies, bedrooms and phone cameras, suddenly paired with the solemn authority of saints. As an art historian who studies Christian images, I know that these types of paintings were carefully made to communicate holiness through visual cues like books, clothing, gestures and posture. But the humor also comes from how current they feel. These paintings may be centuries old, but the visual language is timeless. The raised hand, the open book, the severe gaze – they all communicate power. On TikTok …

Draft RE syllabus marks progress, but still risks keeping Christianity at the centre – Humanists UK

Draft RE syllabus marks progress, but still risks keeping Christianity at the centre – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Northern Ireland Humanists has welcomed the publication of the draft Religious Education (RE) Core Syllabus for public consultation, noting it as progress towards a broader religion and worldviews approach, but warns that the proposals centre Christianity and education regarding religions over equal learning about non-religious worldviews. The review followed the Supreme Court ruling JR87 that the exclusively Christian teaching of RE and collective worship in Northern Ireland schools amounted to indoctrination and breached the rights of a non-religious child and her father. The four largest denominational Churches drafted the current RE syllabus. Humanism is absent from it, and pupils are taught exclusively Christian RE until Key Stage 3. The new draft, which will be put to public consultation, marks a clear shift in language, stating that RE should include religious and non-religious worldviews and be objective, critical, and pluralistic. The draft syllabus was developed as part of the Northern Ireland Review of Religious Education, led by Professor Noel Purdy OBE of Stranmillis University College.  However, Northern Ireland Humanists said the draft still gives Christianity a …

‘Yesteryear,’ a tradwife satire, understands Christianity better than most Americans

‘Yesteryear,’ a tradwife satire, understands Christianity better than most Americans

Published by Sam Flores

“Yesteryear,” one of the bestselling novels in America right now, combines caustic humor with cultural commentary to ruminate on religion and the tradwife movement. It’s a gripping read, which is particularly impressive since author Caro Claire Burke is a first-time novelist. In what follows, I’m not going to give you any plot points that aren’t in the jacket copy or the opening pages of the novel. No spoilers here. As the story opens, Natalie is on top of the world. Her rural Idaho farm, “Yesteryear,” is booming, and her family is about to grow from five children to six. The kids, clad in prairie garb in “a rainbow of neutrals,” help out on the farm, their efforts chronicled endlessly for Natalie’s millions of social media followers. Her husband, Caleb, the son of an ultra-wealthy U.S. Senator who has bankrolled their farm, has embraced the cowboy dream. So far, the novel’s stage set sounds like a riff on Ballerina Farm, the famous Utah ranch where a former Juilliard-trained ballerina now lives with her husband, who is …

Pope Leo XIV Exalts First American Saint Cabrini as a Model for Christians for Her Care of Migrants

Pope Leo XIV Exalts First American Saint Cabrini as a Model for Christians for Her Care of Migrants

Published by Sam Flores

SANT’ANGELO LODIGIANO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday exalted the first American saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, as a model for Christians today to care for migrants in need, as he visited her birthplace during a day trip to northern Italy. Leo, who has clashed with the Trump administration over its migrant crackdown, urged young people in particular to learn about Cabrini’s life and service, once again confirming history’s first U.S. pope as the heir to Pope Francis in prioritizing the plight of migrants. Leo prayed before Cabrini’s tomb in a basilica named for her in her birthplace in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, near Milan, and presided over an evening prayer service. The visit to northern Italy is part of Leo’s summertime grand tour of Italy to visit key cities to get to know his flock. Cabrini, the patron saint of migrants, is well known to many Americans for her work caring for Italian immigrants in the United States at the turn of the last century. Her work went beyond the U.S., however, as she crisscrossed …

Which Bible passages are in Texas’ proposed student reading list?

Which Bible passages are in Texas’ proposed student reading list?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The Texas State Board of Education is preparing to vote next week on requiring schoolchildren in the state to read about a dozen Bible passages and religious stories, stepping into the long-running debate over religion’s — and specifically Christianity’s — place in the public school classroom. A detailed look at the religious excerpts, part of about 200 passages that could become required reading in kindergarten through high school, shows a reliance on Christian perspectives without clear guidance on how to place the stories in historical or devotional context. The new curriculum would have students as young as 6 interact with biblical stories titled “Noah’s Ark,” “David and Goliath” — meant to be read aloud from picture books — and “Daniel and the Lion’s Den” in their English classes. Daniel’s story is to be supplied by the Christian Broadcasting Network, a media company founded by televangelist Pat Robertson in the 1960s.  In fourth grade, students would encounter Luke 14:7-11, a New Testament passage where Jesus says: “All those who lift themselves up will be …

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In “Disclosure Day,” out Friday, Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg is hardly the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What was once considered fringe or conspiratorial has in recent months popped up everywhere from the White House to the Catholic Church, as public fascination with unidentified anomalous phenomena — or UAPs, as the government calls them — becomes more mainstream. The Pentagon in May made public large swaths of UFO files with very little context, leaving curious sleuths to piece together their own interpretations. The dump came just weeks after former President Barack Obama set off a media frenzy for stating unambiguously in an interview that aliens are real, though he later tempered that take. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” the former president, who made a surprise visit to …

Tent Collapses During Virginia Church’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, Killing 1 and Injuring 22

Tent Collapses During Virginia Church’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, Killing 1 and Injuring 22

Published by Sam Flores

A large tent collapsed during a Virginia church’s 20th anniversary celebration on Friday evening, killing one person and injuring nearly two dozen others, officials said. Heavy rain, lightning and strong winds tore through Moneta, a small community about 124 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Richmond, as the EastLake Community Church was holding an outdoor service, Shelley Basinger, a spokesperson for Bedford County, said in a statement. The group was in the process of leaving the event tent when it collapsed, according to Abbey Johnston, acting chief of Bedford County Fire and Rescue Eleven people were taken to the hospital and 11 others had minor injuries and were treated at the scene, Basinger said. “Initially, I’m told it was a very chaotic scene, trying to account for the individuals,” Johnston told reporters. Officials rushed to rescue everyone inside the tent behind the church and move them to safety as the strong thunderstorm raged on, she said. Troy Keaton, the non-denominational church’s senior pastor, said he had just walked up to the stage to tell the group …

Southern Baptists Vote to Advance a Formal Ban on Churches With Women Pastors

Southern Baptists Vote to Advance a Formal Ban on Churches With Women Pastors

Published by Sam Flores

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Thousands of Southern Baptists overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to advance a formal ban on women pastors in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, sending a clear message that men alone should preach to these conservative evangelical congregations. The amendment would tighten existing restrictions in the Southern Baptist Convention, which already has a faith statement opposing women pastors. The vote was 6,028 to 2,026 — a 3-to-1 margin — which easily exceeded the required two-thirds majority. It will require a similar two-thirds vote at next year’s meeting to become part of the constitution. The two-day meeting concluded Wednesday after bringing more than 11,000 delegates, or messengers, to a cavernous convention center in Orlando, Florida. Typical of the SBC’s annual meetings, the gathering carries the feel of a town hall with a cast of thousands. It mixes worship and sermons with numerous motions and resolutions governed by parliamentary procedure, where the sacred and the arcane are debated with equal fervor. A debate Wednesday over the location of a future SBC annual meeting took longer than …

A Pentagon List Overhaul Puts Mormon Church’s Christian Identity Back in the Spotlight

A Pentagon List Overhaul Puts Mormon Church’s Christian Identity Back in the Spotlight

Published by Sam Flores

The Pentagon’s revision to its list of Christian religions this week has reignited a nearly 200-year-old debate: Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a Christian denomination? Most Latter-day Saints do see themselves as Christians. But there are many prominent Christian clergy and scholars who disagree, citing core differences in how they view God and the Trinity and revere a scripture that is not part of the two-testament Christian Bible. Utah U.S. Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, both Republicans and Latter-day Saints, challenged the Pentagon’s exclusion of their faith from its list of Christian religions. It was part of the Department of Defense’s recent effort to significantly pare down a list of more than 200 religious affiliations that troops could choose from, deleting categories such as atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans. “Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country,” Curtis posted on X in defense of his faith. “They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church.” He also …