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Religion News

2020-11-06T12:15:35-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What role does religion play in Supreme Court justices’ nominations and decisions?

Last updated on: November 6, 2020 at 12:15 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: What role does religion play in Supreme Court justices’ nominations and decisions? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: By a thin margin, Amy Coney Barrett won confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court without the quizzing about her devout Catholicism like Senate Democrats Diane Feinstein raised with Barrett’s lower-court nomination and Kamala Harris (now apparent vice president-elect) with another judicial nominee. But the media pushed this theme, including her involvement with People of Praise, a close-knit community of “charismatic” Catholic families.... Read more

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2020-10-23T12:32:27-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why are U.S. voters so wary about electing atheists? (with an evangelical note)

Last updated on: October 23, 2020 at 12:32 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: Why are U.S. voters so wary about electing atheists? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Political firsts are piling up! Joe Biden was America’s first Catholic vice president elected alongside the first Black president, Barack Obama, and hopes to be its second Catholic president. Running mate Kamala Harris would be the first female, first African-American, and first Asian-American as vice president. Jimmy Carter was not the first evangelical president but the first whose faith got such scrutiny. (See note below... Read more

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2020-10-09T11:11:40-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Where does the Catholic Church stand on the death penalty and war?

Last updated on: October 9, 2020 at 11:11 am By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: Where does the Catholic Church stand on the death penalty and war? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti (“Brothers All”), issued October 3, reinforces his profile as a socio-political liberal and idealist. Employing this the highest vehicle for authoritative papal teaching, he addresses racism and rampant nationalism (which some say especially targets the current U.S. situation), and yokes concern for the poor with a semi-socialistic view of private property. His views perhaps reflect the... Read more

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2020-09-25T11:04:28-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Whatever happened to U.S. “Mainline” Protestantism?

Last updated on: September 25, 2020 at 11:04 am By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: Whatever happened to U.S. “Mainline” Protestantism over the past half-century? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: What’s known as “Mainline” Protestantism was pretty much America’s culture-defining faith till well after World War Two. Fifty years ago, these church groups still maintained high morale and together boasted at least 28 million members. But by the latest available statistics they’ve shrunk 45%, to 15.5 million. During those same decades, the U.S. population increased 61%. Across U.S. religious history, nothing like this has... Read more

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2020-09-10T16:38:10-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Would America Be Better Off Without Religion?”

Last updated on: September 10, 2020 at 4:38 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: “Would America Be Better Off Without Religion?” THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: That provocative big-picture question is the title of an article by grad student Casey Chalk, which we’ll turn to after some ground-clearing. Atheism (or its cousin, agnosticism) isn’t what it used to be. Folks who didn’t believe in God used to mostly downplay it while polite public debate engaged certain thinkers like Bertrand Russell (“Why I Am Not a Christian,” 1927) or J. L. Mackie (“The Miracle... Read more

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2020-08-28T14:08:49-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What is “biblicism”?

Last updated on: August 28, 2020 at 2:08 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: What is “biblicism”? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: This question is the title of an article this month on patheos.com by Michael Bird, an Anglican priest who teaches theology at Australia’s Ridley College and is also a visiting professor at Houston Baptist University. See www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2020/08/what-is-biblicism. More on Bird in a bit, but first let’s lay some ground. The dictionary definition of biblicism is adherence to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of this... Read more

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2020-08-26T12:52:35-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What does Islam teach about seizing Christian churches to become mosques?

Last updated on: August 26, 2020 at 12:52 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: What does Islam teach about seizing Christian churches to become mosques? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The bitterly contested Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) in Constantinople (the city now named Istanbul) was the grandest church in Christendom across nine centuries. Then Muslim conquerors under Mehmed II confiscated the church in 1453 and converted it into the Aya Sofia Mosque. In 1935, Turkey’s government secularized it to be an interfaith museum, but three weeks ago turned it into a working mosque... Read more

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2020-07-30T19:42:08-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Do we have a Mother in Heaven as well as a Father?

Last updated on: July 30, 2020 at 7:42 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: Do we have a Mother in Heaven as well as a Father? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The answer is yes, according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (long and universally nicknamed “Mormon” though church authorities now seek to erase that label). Feminists continually criticize this religion for limiting all of its governing posts to men except for women’s and educational auxiliaries, yet church defenders can argue that this doctrine ennobles the female gender. Belief in... Read more

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2020-07-17T10:14:35-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Was Jesus white (and should art indicating He was be scrapped)?

Last updated on: July 17, 2020 at 10:14 am By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTION: Was Jesus white? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: No. But in these racially anxious times for America, there’s more to be said. In a biblical dream-vision, presumably not meant to be taken literally in racial terms (Revelation 1:15), the feet of the triumphal Jesus Christ are bronze in color. In terms of actual 1st Century history, it makes the most sense to think that Jesus was neither north European white nor African black. As a man of the Mideast,... Read more

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2020-07-03T12:19:46-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What was the “Bible Code”?

Last updated on: July 3, 2020 at 12:19 pm By Richard Ostling

THE QUESTIONS: What was “The Bible Code”? Was it valid? Did it prove anything about God, or the Scriptures, or world events? THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Time for a nostalgic look back at “The Bible Code” sensation upon the death last month of journalist Michael Drosnin, who scored big with his 1997 best-seller of that title and two sequels that inspired imitators, though Hollywood’s film version never got off the ground. Drosnin’s titillating claim was that the Hebrew Bible’s text... Read more

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