October 6, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — About a decade ago, the conservative commentator and radio show host Glenn Beck told listeners to “look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can.” In essence, Beck was telling his followers to reject a
Photo by Надя Кисільова/Unsplash/Creative Commons August 18, 2022 By Yonat Shimron (RNS) — For years, spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation have been criticized as therapeutic self-help regimens that draw people inward and away from any kind of social, civic or political action. But two new academic studies are challenging that view. The studies
Politics, social justice and faith come together each week in many religious leaders’ sermons. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) August 3, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — One of the most important and difficult questions among those who study religion and politics is just how important a pastor, rabbi, imam or other religious leader is when it
Anti-abortion protesters celebrate following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the federally protected right to abortion, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the
People arrive at the Anaheim Convention Center for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, June 14, 2022, in Anaheim, California. Photo by Justin L. Stewart/Religion News Service June 16, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — On Tuesday (June 14), thousands of messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, cast their ballots
People demonstrate outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on May 3, 2022, in Washington. A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare
Photo by Florian Schmetz/Unsplash/Creative Commons April 13, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — Possibly the most oft-repeated statistic in American religion is the rise of the religiously unaffiliated from just 5% of the population in the early 1970s to about 30% of adults in 2022. In a field where shifts typically move at a glacial pace, that
Food is prepared for the community kitchen at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings, Oregon, in October 2021. Photo courtesy of St. Timothy’s February 15, 2022 By Ryan Burge (RNS) — One of the most consequential legal terms in the 21st century may be “religious freedom.” As my colleague University of Cincinnati political scientist
People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) January 28, 2022 By Samuel L. Perry (RNS) — As the nation remembered the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 earlier this month, a deluge of articles highlighted
Photo by Edward Cisneros/Unsplash/Creative Commons January 13, 2022 By Jack Jenkins WASHINGTON (RNS) — A religion scholar believes major trends in religion and politics can be traced back to the rise of the religious right in the 1990s, a sea change moment that set in motion an array of phenomena ranging from an uptick
