2015-02-10T17:12:52-05:00

Last updated on: February 10, 2015 at 5:12 pm   By
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The Washington Post has an interesting article about Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian animistic religion.  Read about it after the jump.  I predict that this religion will come to this country, not just among immigrants but also among the white middle class.  Candomblé has a lot of what people want in religion–ecstatic experience, get-your-way health & prosperity promises–without too many moral demands.

One reason I think this religion could catch on here is the way this news story is so sympathetic to this primitive religion and so antagonistic to its Christian critics (who are also facing legal jeopardy from the Brazilian government for their “intolerance”). (more…)

2014-12-10T16:39:59-05:00

Last updated on: December 10, 2014 at 4:39 pm   By
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The Barna Group has finished a major study of people who do not go to church.  (They used to be called the “unchurched”; this study calls them “churchless.”)  And it has some surprises.  For example, the churchless tend to be less educated than those who go to church, are mostly white, men, unmarried, and young.  Also, nearly two-thirds of the unchurched consider themselves to be Christians.  See Barna’s “Ten Facts” about the churchless after the jump. (more…)

2014-10-29T21:39:38-04:00

Last updated on: October 29, 2014 at 9:39 pm   By
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Easter Island, known for its mysterious stone figures,  is 2,300 miles from South America.  And yet, DNA research has found that the ancient Polynesians had children with Native Americans.  This happened between 1300 and 1500 A.D.  Today, the residents of Easter Island are 10% American Indian.  Meanwhile two skulls have been found in Brazil that have been identified as Polynesian.   How this mixing of two peoples with primitive technology separated by so much distance is a mystery. (more…)

2014-04-27T17:24:34-04:00

Last updated on: April 27, 2014 at 5:24 pm   By
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. . .is soon to be China, according to scholars who project that in ten years the still-Communist country will have 160 million Protestants (the USA has 159 million) and in 15 years 247 million Christians in all, more than any other nation. (more…)

2013-12-29T21:24:57-05:00

Last updated on: December 29, 2013 at 9:24 pm   By
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After the jump, the top religion news stories of 2013, based on a  poll of the Religion Newswriters Association.  Strangely downplayed or omitted:  the persecution of Christians in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East; the new assaults on religious liberty; the new prominence of aggressive atheism; the rise of the “nones.”

What do you think should be included?  What do you think of this list?  Was 2013 a good year or a bad year for religion? (more…)

2013-11-07T17:56:27-05:00

Last updated on: November 7, 2013 at 5:56 pm   By
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Pope Francis and the Roman Catholic hierarchy are reportedly re-considering the practice of denying Communion to Catholics who have  divorced and remarried.

Details after the jump.  Notice in the church debates over the issue how we can see Rome’s teaching that the Sacrament is for those who are holy, rather than for those who need the forgiveness of sins.  We also see Rome’s opposition to divorce, while still allowing divorce-like annulments. (more…)

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