It’s no secret in Christian circles that young people are leaving the church in droves, with  Christian research firms finding over and over that once there’s not a parent there to push them to church, the majority of high school kids drift away from religion once they move out of the house. Some come back, but some leave permanently. One favorite solution is to try to make the church more hip by employing young, seemingly cool Christians who are in tune with modern... Read more

The Religious Communication (RCA) is an academic society founded in 1973 by people interested in the study of all aspects of public religious communication. Among its members are teachers, students, clergy, broadcasters, and other scholars and professionals who share a common interest in religious speech, media, performance, and other communication. It is nonsectarian, striving to provide a setting in which persons of various faiths, or no faith, can study the problems of communication and religion. As an interfaith scholarly and... Read more

by Earle Fisher R3 Contributor *This is the second of a two part post. Read Part 1 here In my last post, I shared that I have refrained from commentating on The Preachers of LA show because a) there are enough perspectives being offered in response to it and b) most of the responses are opportunistic and/or hypo-anti-critical so I said I would wait until the entire “buzz” died down (which sadly still has not).  Nevertheless, my fortuitous take on... Read more

Religion students at Yale Divinity School blame Dr. Joel Baden for “ruining” King David for them. Baden insists this was not his intention. But in his new book, The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero, the Old Testament professor digs into the past of this hero of the faith and argues the iconic Biblical character has been misunderstood. He says that he found someone more animated than the glorified felt-board action hero many have come to know. Here... Read more

Here are the top five posts from Rhetoric Race and Religion this week. To contribute to R3, click here.Number 1The Forgotten Preacher: Bishop Henry McNeal Turnerby Andre E. JohnsonR3 EditorHenry McNeal Turner, the first black chaplain in the Union Army and one of the most prominent religious and political leaders of Civil War era black America, was born a free black on Feb. 1, 1834, in New Berry Court House, S.C. Turner was the oldest child of Hardy Turner and Sarah Greer... Read more

Rev. Martha Simmons is an associate minister at Rush Memorial United Church of Christ in Atlanta, Ga. For the 2013 Gardner C. Taylor Lecture, she gave a talk on Sept. 24 titled “Changes in the Mechanics of Preaching at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Particularly in African American Contexts” Read more

by O’Shan GadsdenR3 Contributor *This first appeared in the Good Men Project Walking down the Famous Georgia Avenue in Washington, DC always has lively displays of animated folk, beautiful and handsome young students, and DC’s diverse working and professional class. However, three years ago that fond experience was interrupted with a horrific scene. There they were, two young African-American males, no older than 17 years of age sitting on the sidewalk, handcuffed. There they sat with their freedom restricted; and... Read more

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly... Read more

R3 editor, Dr. Andre E. Johnson will serve as the Inaugural Speaker of the Gifts of Life Ministries Lunch and Learn Series on November 5 at 12 noon. The church is located at 1542 Jackson Ave. in Memphis, Tennessee. Lunch and Learn is a new ministry of the church designed to foster a better understanding of topics that are germane to people in the community. Speakers in this series will typically speak on topics straight from the headlines. Dr. Johnson’s lecture will center... Read more

Rev. Nadolyn Dunigan currently serves as an Associate Pastor at Christ Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart. She also serves as a pastor of Disciple Development, evangelism and as a Stephen Minister. In addition to her church work, Rev. Dunigan is currently a doctoral student at Memphis Theological Seminary. Her ministry increasingly leads her outside the church as she has served many organization that work with homeless persons. Rev. Dunigan is married to Deacon David Dunigan and her motto is... Read more