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Religion News

2023-07-25T22:35:02-04:00

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.

Question: “If God is Good, Why Do Animals Suffer?”

Last updated on: July 25, 2023 at 10:35 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The question above was the sub-headline for a recent cover story in Christianity Today magazine by Calvin University theologian John R. Schneider. It’s a twist on the age-old problem defined as follows by the eminent Christian intellectual C.S. Lewis in his best-selling classic “The Problem of Pain”: “If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

2023-07-06T08:26:45-04:00

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.

Question: Where is biblical Mount Sinai located?

Last updated on: July 6, 2023 at 8:26 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Why would anyone wonder about the sacred spot where God through Moses revealed the Ten Commandments and other biblical laws? Just look at the name. Doesn’t everybody know that Mount Sinai must of course be on the Sinai Peninsula and, specifically, at a long-venerated location there? And yet a New York Times feature on June 25 reported that since Saudi Arabia opened up to tourists in 2019, some U.S. Christians have regularly traveled to the nation’s... Read more

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History and Religion

2023-06-22T15:27:08-04:00

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.

Question: “Did Jesus Have Brothers & Sisters?”

Last updated on: June 22, 2023 at 3:27 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER The quote above is the headline for an article this month by Ginny Baxter, the “Woman to Woman” blogger on patheos.com. She figures “the answer is a definite ‘maybe’.” See www.patheos.com/blogs/womantowoman/2023/06/did-jesus-have-brothers-sisters/. On this age-old but ever-debated topic, The Guy would answer that it depends on what church is fielding the question. From ancient times, Catholicism and Orthodoxy have said no. They believe in Mary’s “perpetual virginity,” meaning that she and husband Joseph never had sexual relations... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

2023-06-06T14:55:45-04:00

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.

Question: Is California’s anti-“caste” effort unfair to Hindus?

Last updated on: June 6, 2023 at 2:55 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: A bill sponsored by a Muslim legislator and passed by California’s Senate May 11 would make this the first U,S. state to add “caste” to the categories of illegal discrimination under civil rights laws. The bill defines caste as “a system of social stratification on the basis of inherited status” that involves “socially enforced restrictions on marriage, private and public segregation” and “social exclusion on the basis of perceived status.” Action on the bill by California’s... Read more

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History and Religion

2023-06-01T09:43:53-04:00

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.

Question: “Is Premarital Sex Always Sinful?”

Last updated on: June 1, 2023 at 9:43 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The question above was the headline with an April article by Talley Cross, a “gender and sexuality” blogger with patheos.com. She responded with a cautious no. A yes answer is the contrary and familiar tradition in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other faiths, and as we’ll see below has lately gotten a degree of backing from surprising places. That age-old teaching is terribly counter-cultural and also subject to critique from within religions. The Gallup Poll says in... Read more

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2023-05-10T16:08:53-04:00

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.

Question: Should Christians Use Tarot Cards?

Last updated on: May 10, 2023 at 4:08 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: If you think this topic is off the wall, at least it’s not off the news. Tarot for Christians is promoted by the May cover story in The Christian Century, a venerable independent magazine that helps define what’s trendy and acceptable for “Mainline” and liberal Protestant readers. See www.christiancentury.org/article/features/woman-behind-tarot-s-strange-beauty/ The article’s author is the monthly’s own Associate Editor Jessica Mesman, who also co-founded the Sick Pilgrim blog aimed at “people who questioned EVERYTHING.” Her self-described social... Read more

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2023-04-25T13:47:19-04:00

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.

Question: Why doesn’t the U.S. Census ask about religion?

Last updated on: April 25, 2023 at 1:47 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Most Americans may never have thought about this, an odd omission considering that religion is such an important aspect of society. Canada’s government, for example, has asked about religious affiliations since 1871. But from the first once-a-decade U.S. Census conducted in 1790, the federal government has never directly asked all Americans about their religion (or lack thereof). Responses are anonymous, which should remove any sensitivities about answering such a question. The usual explanation is that... Read more

History and Religion

2023-04-12T19:24:49-04:00

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.

Question: “Why have many worshippers stopped singing in church”?

Last updated on: April 12, 2023 at 7:24 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The question in that headline accompanied a provocative article about U.S. Protestant church trends that The Guy will turn to in a moment. The answer is important, and it’s quite obvious to observers of the long-running “worship wars” that are about far more than guitars and drums supplanting pipe organs and hymnals. (For Catholicism’s parallel debate, check out the lively book “Why Catholics Can’t Sing” in the revised edition subtitled “With New Grand Conclusions and Good... Read more

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2023-03-31T11:42:26-04:00

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.

Question: How do scholars explain bloodthirsty Bible passages?

Last updated on: March 31, 2023 at 11:42 am By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Skeptics seeking to disparage the Bible and, with it, Judaism and Christianity, cite certain passages in the Bible that depict all-out warfare as mandated by God. Consider Israel’s “conquest” of Canaan under Joshua, and a notably bloodthirsty passage like Deuteronomy 20:16-17, which says “you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them. . . as the LORD your God has commanded.” There’s been intriguing recent discussion of this complex issue. Even conservative... Read more

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History and Religion

2023-03-16T13:55:29-04:00

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.

Question: What is Sikhism, candidate Nikki Haley’s onetime religion?

Last updated on: March 16, 2023 at 1:55 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Nikki Haley, who is challenging Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, was raised in the religion of Sikhism (“SEEK-ism”) by immigrant parents from India. But soon after both Sikh and Methodist weddings she converted to husband Michael’s Christianity. During Haley’s first run for South Carolina governor in 2010, National Public Radio posted a notably nasty piece by a fellow Indian-American who said “I’m not buying” Haley’s “Christian bit,” noting that “serious churchgoers” and political opponents... Read more

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