What happened in Africa after the pandemic of 1918
Something as big as a plague always remakes the religious landscape.
%1
Three women in Cleveland who are serving the most vulnerable
Yvonka Hall, Yvonne Pointer, and Frances Mills are beacons of hope in the face of racial disparities.
A pastor’s pandemic diary
I hope our little flock survives. But the church is nonessential to God’s redemption of the world.
Christian publishing houses announce layoffs
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on Christian publishing companies. The publishing arms of the nation’s two largest Protestant denominations—the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church—both announced staff cuts at the end of April as a result of the virus.
The United Methodist Publishing House will lay off about 70 of its 296 employees in June. The Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources started reducing staff on May 1, in addition to implementing hiring and salary freezes and cutbacks.
Coronavirus ushers in new era of collaboration among scientists
In a conference room in Washington, D.C., a dozen epidemiologists huddle over a computer monitor. On the screen, a map of self-reported data from test labs around the world shows a lethal strain of avian influenza originating in Asia.
After initial increase during pandemic, Trump’s approval ratings drop among white Christians
President Trump’s job approval ratings among some faith groups jumped in March as the number of coronavirus infections began to spread across the country.
But that “Trump bump” has all but disappeared.
A new poll released on April 30 from the Public Religion Research Institute shows Trump’s approval has fallen on average by 6 percentage points and is now more in keeping with 2019 levels among most demographic groups.
Gregg Mast, influential Reform leader, dies at 68
Gregg Mast, a renowned Reformed Church in America pastor and educator, died April 27 from complications related to COVID-19. He was 68.
Early in his career, Mast spent a year as an assistant pastor at a Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa—at the height of apartheid. The experience stuck with him.
The old, evil idea of humans as units of production
When people’s value is reduced to their economic contributions, they are dehumanized.
What are we really doing when all we can do is pray—or not even?
It may be Easter, but lament comes more readily than alleluia.
Faith groups respond to rise in domestic violence amid global pandemic
When local and state governments across the nation began instituting shelter-in-place policies back in March, there was immediate concern for the risk staying at home would pose for survivors of domestic violence.
Marianne Hester, a Bristol University sociologist who studies abusive relationships, told the Chicago Tribune that domestic violence goes up whenever families spend more time together—like during Christmas and summer vacations.
Indeed, many communities have observed an upswing in the number of reported domestic violence incidents.