Here's what's happening on the church and culture front today...
So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning. (Barry, AP News)
On this episode of “Interesting Times,” Ross Douthat is joined by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor of America Magazine, to reflect on the legacy of Pope Francis and the challenges facing the next papacy. (Douthat, The New York Times)
Although the two executives — Joel Kaplan and Nick Clegg, who has since left the company — stopped short of telling the board how to rule, they said the cases were particularly sensitive given the fraught political debate about the rights of trans people in the United States, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. (Nix, The Washington Post)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider whether one of the nation’s largest school districts violated parents’ First Amendment right to religious freedom when it stopped allowing them to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed lessons. (Jacobson, The 74)
So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning. (Barry, AP News)
Read more>>
On this episode of “Interesting Times,” Ross Douthat is joined by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor of America Magazine, to reflect on the legacy of Pope Francis and the challenges facing the next papacy. (Douthat, The New York Times)
Read more>>
Although the two executives — Joel Kaplan and Nick Clegg, who has since left the company — stopped short of telling the board how to rule, they said the cases were particularly sensitive given the fraught political debate about the rights of trans people in the United States, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. (Nix, The Washington Post)
Read more>>
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider whether one of the nation’s largest school districts violated parents’ First Amendment right to religious freedom when it stopped allowing them to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed lessons. (Jacobson, The 74)
Read more>>
Department of Veteran Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins has instructed the agency’s employees to report any instances of anti-Christian bias, including any policies that are “hostile to Christian views” or punishments for displaying Christian symbols. (Smietana, Religion News Service)
Read more>>
The clip, titled “Me at the zoo,” was the first video uploaded onto YouTube 20 years ago, opening the door to a new medium of television. From those modest beginnings, the site opened the gates for users from around the world to post funny, viral videos that could take the internet by storm, racking up millions of views and earning some millions of dollars. (Lee, Los Angeles Times)
Read more>>
The Catholic Church has become more culturally heterogeneous than at any point in its 2,000-year history. Nearly half of the voting cardinals will come from the global south, compared with just over one-third at the 2013 conclave that elected Francis. (Meichtry & Walker, The Wall Street Journal)
Read more>>
Bingeing a series on the big screen is highly unusual, particularly as streaming businesses and movie theaters have become increasingly at odds over attracting audiences. But the unconventional distribution strategy has proved to be a win. (Masunaga, Los Angeles Times)
Read more>>
The death of Pope Francis at age 88 sets off a chain of events as Catholics around the world mourn and the Vatican begins a series of ceremonies and plans to select a new pope. (Neuman, NPR)
Read more>>
The Pope’s passing on Monday morning has thrown open a global succession race to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Yet it has also focused attention on the Vatican’s fraught relationship with an American flock that is undergoing cultural and theological changes that echo the rightward shift in the nation’s politics in the MAGA era. (Chafin & Zitner, The Wall Street Journal)
Read more>>
Churches enjoyed bumper attendances over Easter, members of the clergy have said. Some parishes reported congregations up by half compared to recent years, buoyed by large numbers of young people turning to religion. (Evans, The Telegraph)
Read more>>
Americans’ religious preferences have generally held steady in the past five years, after a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation and concurrent declines in Protestant and Catholic identification over the prior two decades. In 2024, 45% of Americans identified as Protestant or nondenominational Christian, 21% as Catholic and 10% as another religion, with 22% not identifying with any religion. Those figures are each within one percentage point of their 2018-2020 levels. (Jones, Gallup)
Read more>>
From the moment Donald J. Trump was re-elected to the presidency, his conservative Christian supporters have rejoiced in a second chance for their values to have power. And now, week after week, scenes like these are taking place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as they seize on this opportunity. (Dias & Graham, The New York Times)
Read more>>
Two fifths of teachers have been physically assaulted by pupils in the last year, a survey shows, with knives and fire extinguishers among the weapons used to attack teachers in the classroom. Teachers said they had been punched, kicked, shoved or spat at and some primary school teachers reported being threatened with weapons by pupils. (Woolcock, The Times UK)
Read more>>
English Heritage has claimed that Easter was not originally Christian. The charity is accused of “whitewashing” the holiday by claiming its roots lie in a pagan festival celebrating the start of Spring. A booklet about Easter’s origins given out at several of its historic sites says that the word comes from the name of the goddess Eostre while failing to mention Christianity at all. (Sawer, The Telegraph)
Read more>>
The controversy sparked by English Heritage’s recent claim that Easter has pagan roots has once again reignited an enduring myth: that it began as a celebration of spring and of the pagan Anglo–Saxon goddess Eostre. (Lapshynov, Theos)
Read more>>
TIME’s founders knew that focusing on the individuals who are transforming the world is the best way to help readers understand it. That belief animates much of what we do at TIME. (TIME)
Read more>>
The Colorado House of Representatives has passed a law that would create legal grounds for the state to strip custody from parents who legislators say “misgender” their children. The bill would make using a person’s name given at birth or using a person’s biologically correct pronouns discriminatory actions under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. (Cockes, Baptist Press)
Read more>>
The judges conclude that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex providing a victory for the women’s rights campaigners. (The Times UK)
Read more>>
According to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors, 94% believe their churches will still exist in 10 years, 4% disagree and 2% aren’t sure. Yet, even among the more than 9 in 10 who are looking forward to an extended future, some doubt remains. Fewer than 4 in 5 (78%) strongly agree they expect their church to have at least another decade. (Earls, Lifeway Research)
Read more>>