What’s the role of America’s patriotic songs and symbols?

Last updated on: June 22, 2024 at 2:05 pm By Richard Ostling

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: To thrive, the United States needs, yes, to be “united,” which is a challenge this polarized July 4th. The population’s hugely varied array of backgrounds has always meant unity grows from shared democratic governance and ideals rather than ethnic bonds or a single religious heritage. In troubled times, this uniquely complex nation has sought to uplift shared symbols of freedom and fellowship, often with a religious flavor. That instinct presumably underlies this week’s new law in... Read more

How should Christianity relate to politics and culture?

Last updated on: June 9, 2024 at 12:44 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The moving 80th commemoration of D-Day occurred six days after the barely-noticed 90th anniversary of the Barmen Declaration, one of the past century’s most important religious documents. This anti-Nazi protest by German Protestants addresses the vital question of how churches should respond when dangerous social currents arise. The Declaration’s authors could not have imagined that, as Britannica.com puts it, the coming decade would bring the “deadliest and most destructive war in human history” and, with it,... Read more

How should antisemitism be defined?

Last updated on: May 24, 2024 at 2:59 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: The Antisemitism Awareness Act that passed the U.S. House by a 320–91 vote this month is stalled in the Senate as of this writing. The bipartisan bill is a rapid response to increasing and alarming harassment against minority Jews at colleges and K-12 schools. It says the Department of Education “shall” investigate whether incidents with “antisemitic intent” at a school warrant denial of federal funding under anti-discrimination law. This legislation reflects the broader dispute over how... Read more

Will religious beliefs on abortion affect 2024 U.S. vote?

Last updated on: May 13, 2024 at 8:49 am By Richard Ostling

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New York abortion protest. “All”? “Most”? / Katie Godowski @ pexels.com THE RELIGON GUY’S ANSWER: Yes, but perhaps not much. Starting with the news, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) announced a poll showing 64% of Americans think abortion should be legal in “most or all” cases. However, dig into the internals and only 29% said “all” cases while 35% said “most,” indicating some restrictions. Meanwhile, Gallup found 51% want abortion “legal only under certain circumstances” with 34% favoring all... Read more

Is belief in God “good for you”?

Last updated on: April 30, 2024 at 6:54 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Yes, according to a large and growing body of scientific research this past generation. But as with most things regarding religion, the following sketch of the discussion will indicate things may not be quite so simple. Three recent articles neatly focus matters: “Some Mental-Health Benefits Are Linked to Going to Church” (Clare Ansberry, Wall Street Journal, April 16), “The True Cost of the Churchgoing Bust” (Derek Thompson, theatlantic.com, April 3), and “What Really Happens When Americans... Read more

Why does the Catholic Church oppose gender transitions?

Last updated on: April 13, 2024 at 12:34 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: Talk about timeliness for a church pronouncement. On April 8, the Vatican’s doctrine office issued a broad-gauged “declaration,” approved by Pope Francis after five years of work, that contained new moral denunciations of what it called “gender theory” and resulting “sex change” treatments. The very next day, science weighed in, as British medical journals reported such devastating research findings that the National Health Service has halted gender transition treatments for children and teen-agers. There’ve been other... Read more

Why so many splits in the Latter-day Saints tradition?

Last updated on: March 30, 2024 at 7:30 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: History was made this month when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS”) paid a rival denomination $192.5 million to purchase the faith’s first temple in Kirtland, Ohio, along with other properties and sacred manuscripts. The buyer and seller are the two largest among 68 branches that have emerged from U.S. Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.’s latter-day revelations between 1830 and 1844. The Utah-based LDS church (which rejected its familiar “Mormon” nickname in 2018) is... Read more

What do U.S. churches believe on “recreational” marijuana?

Last updated on: March 20, 2024 at 10:05 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: All the buzz after President Biden’s State of the Union address ignored his boast about “directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana.” Since 1970, the federal government has designated marijuana, a.k.a. cannabis, as a dangerous Schedule I drug alongside ecstasy, heroin, and LSD, therefore outlawing manufacture, distribution or possession, except for qualified research. But prodded by the President, the Health and Human Services department in 2022 launched a review and last August 29... Read more

“What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly?”

Last updated on: March 2, 2024 at 1:19 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: That pertinent question above was the headline with David French’s February 26 New York Times column, which lamented confused definitions of the movement known as “Christian nationalism” (hereafter abbreviated as CN). The past few weeks have seen assorted articles pro and con, political squabbles, new public opinion polling, and even a Hollywood documentary. Here are aspects of recent attempts to understand and define this controversial movement. The CN term is mostly defined and applied by outside... Read more

Why does the Catholic Church condemn surrogate motherhood?

Last updated on: February 17, 2024 at 1:05 pm By Richard Ostling

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THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER: They say Pope Francis is Catholicism’s most liberal leader in modern times. So there was some surprise January 8 when he declared that nations should outlaw the morally “deplorable” practice of surrogate motherhood to produce human children. He said surrogacy “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child” and “a child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract,” asserting the fundamental belief that human life must... Read more