Religion
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Kate Bowler on unexpected joy, even in the midst of pain
(RNS) — Kate Bowler spent the past decade bashing the American cult of positivity and the pursuit of optimal happiness. Her experience battling stage 4 colon cancer in her 30s taught her the fallacy of such thinking. Where her earlier books pondered mortality and grief, Bowler’s latest book is, of all things, about joy. Perhaps ironically, Bowler has found that…
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AI has a bias toward Catholicism, researchers say
(RNS) — Most popular artificial intelligence models are biased toward Catholicism and against a number of other religious traditions when asked about converting to a faith, according to new research assembled by a group of religious colleges. The findings were unveiled on Tuesday (May 26) alongside a speech by Elder Gerrit W. Gong, one of the 12 apostles in The…
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A Pope, an AI founder and the most important document of our moment
(RNS) — On May 25, Pope Leo XIV will publish his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”) that will focus on addressing artificial intelligence and human dignity. It was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum,” confirming its place in the tradition of Catholic social teaching as a response to massive cultural change wrought…
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Spiritually burned out? Tish Harrison Warren and some ancient monks have advice.
(RNS) — Tish Harrison Warren had everything going for her. A job as a priest at a church she loved. A family she adored. Good friends. And a dream gig writing about faith for The New York Times. And yet, she, like millions of Americans, was exhausted. And God had gone silent. “I would sit to pray, but it felt…
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MLK was teen agnostic who rediscovered faith on a tobacco farm, new book reveals
(RNS) — Child orator. Farmhand. Agnostic. Only one of those titles would be commonly guessed to describe the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But a new 420-page book by scholar Lerone Martin reveals those and other little-known pieces of King’s history. In “Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.” — which will be released Tuesday (May 5) —…
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Dallas pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts recovering, ‘almost paralyzed’ in accident
(RNS) — Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts, co-leader of the Dallas megachurch founded by her father, Bishop T.D. Jakes, is recovering after suffering a neck fracture that she said almost paralyzed her in mid-April. Jakes Roberts, 37, a popular conference speaker, author and co-senior pastor with her husband at The Potter’s House church, posted on social media that she was injured…
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Pope Francis’ legacy in time, one year after his death
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Francis will likely be remembered for his gestures: his lone walk under the rain in St. Peter’s Square to pray during the pandemic, his embrace of migrants, his unscripted phone calls and off-the-cuff remarks. But behind the images, the pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio was built on something quieter — “starting processes” as he would say,…
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Orbán’s defeat is a defeat for Christian nationalism
(RNS) — Like the journalist Lincoln Steffens, who, after visiting the Soviet Union in 1919, wrote, “I have seen the future, and it works,” America’s Christian nationalists saw the future working in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. Take Tucker Carlson, for example. Interviewing Orbán a year ago, he said, “I don’t mind sucking up: I think there’s a reason you’re the longest-serving…
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How the LDS Church is growing — and shrinking
(RNS) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just reported its highest convert growth in history. Over the weekend at its semiannual General Conference, the church released its 2025 membership statistics that indicate an almost 25% increase in convert baptisms in 2025, compared to 2024. But at the same time, 2025 data from the Cooperative Election Study, also…
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Christian nationalists are panicking because religious progressives are thriving
(RNS) — Christian nationalists are sounding a bit panicked these days. I can’t say I am surprised. On Saturday (March 28), 8 million Americans of diverse faiths and beliefs joined together in streets and squares around the world for No Kings protests. The next day, the Christian holy day of Palm Sunday, thousands more came out again. All of these…
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