Recent Articles
Turnout Trends Up for In-Person Religious Services
US adults are attending in-person religious services in increasing numbers, a report found, with 20% saying they attended a religious service in the past week. Online service engagement, meanwhile, continues to trend downward.
June 3, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: Gorsuch Denies Colorado Churches’ Petition Challenging Covid-Related Restrictions; Texas GOP Now Claims its Bill Limiting Black Churches’ ‘Souls to the Polls’ Was a Typo; New Research Indicates Religion Protected Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak But Also Undermined Efforts to Save Lives; An Evangelical Battle of the Generations at Liberty University: To Embrace Trump or Not; Christian Monks May Have Buried This Treasure to Dupe the Vikings; and more.
Vegetables, Vermin, and Blossom-End Rot
We want our churches to grow and be healthy and produce fruit. We overcome obstacles, but nothing we do will stop the weeds of the world from competing with the kingdom vision. And so, we continue on. It’s what we do.
A New Way to Think About Education
Thinking educationally neither denies history nor embalms it into uncritical permanence. Rather, it enables history to teach its lessons and to become a creative partner in the educational process rather than an idol in place of it.
White Evangelicals Most Likely to Affirm QAnon Tenets
Nearly one out of four white evangelical Protestants either mostly or completely agree with three core tenets of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory group, a report revealed. That’s more than any other religious group.
June 2, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: Hundreds Gather at Historic Tulsa Church to Dedicate Prayer Wall on Anniversary of Massacre; Christian Billionaires are Funding a Push to Kill the Equality Act; Anarchists and an Increase in Violent Crime Hijack Portland’s Social Justice Movement; Disputing Racism’s Reach, Republicans Rattle American Schools; and more.
Don’t Believe Lies Downplaying Town’s Destruction
Greenwood was a thriving African American community in Oklahoma that had it all. Segregated but without racial oppression, it was known as Black Wall Street. Then, during 18 hours 100 years ago, a white mob decimated the town.
What a ‘Followship’
The earliest followers of Jesus would be greatly baffled by what it means to be ‘Christian’ today. Today’s Americanized Christianity gives little to no attention to following Jesus, except for a nod as a salvation-inducing mascot.
Ethical Questions Swirl Around Hybrid Creation
A mythical hybrid beast, the chimera has a modern-day equivalent in a research lab, where a monkey-human chimera has been created. While this represents a potential game-changer for organ transplants, ethical questions abound.
June 1, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: The Second Amendment is Not About Guns – it’s About Anti-Blackness, a New Book Argues; How Does America’s Gun Cycle Violence End?; Tulsa Pastors Honor ‘Holy Ground’ 100 Years After Massacre; Virginia Theological Seminary, Built on Slavery and Jim Crow Labor, Has Begun Paying Reparations; and more.
People of Good Faith: Don Brewer
Don Brewer is a retired baseball coach and retired national sales manager for a foodservice equipment company. He’s lived in Gainesville, Georgia, for 51 years – almost long enough to be a native.
Your Church: Alive with Spirit’s Fire or Just Making It?
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink what it means to be the church. With more time to pay attention to our neighbors, people of the Christian faith were invited to see Christianity from a new perspective.
Memorial Day: When Will We Mourn All the War Dead?
Should we legitimately and unreservedly mourn the loss of our war dead on Memorial Day? The answer is a no-brainer. Yes. A thousand times, yes. The larger question: On what day should we also mourn the loss of others’ war dead?
Good Faith Media Welcomes Summer 2021 Interns
Four interns have each already completed a semester working with Good Faith Media’s staff on a variety of projects. This summer, Cally Chisholm and Isaiah Anthony will join their ranks as GFM’s Ernest C. Hynds Jr. interns.
May 28, 2021
In today’s news and analysis curated headlines: Survey: White Evangelicals, Hispanic Protestants, Mormons Most Likely to Watch Far-Right News Outlets, Believe in QAnon; Amid Criticism of Critical Race Theory, Southern Baptists Prep for Largest Convention in 24 Years; Once-a-Month Church Goers are Becoming More Common; Former Catholic Journalist: The Catholic Church’s Reproductive Fight is About Controlling Women’s Freedom; and more.
GFM Launches #SacredSpaces Initiative
Good Faith Media is launching a new initiative called #SacredSpaces. As the GFM staff begins to travel across the country again, we want to be intentional about recognizing the sacred locations where God’s presence permeates.
Why Many White Evangelicals Resist Vaccine
White evangelical pastors need to push harder to get more of their white evangelical flock vaccinated, where four out of 10 say they likely won’t get the shot. These resistant folks will keep us from achieving herd immunity.
Emerging Voices | How Your Teen Handles Grief: Part 2
Most adolescents (ages 10 to 19) are mature enough to understand death as being an irreversible and inevitable fact of life. Where they need help is in understanding and navigating the complicated emotions that come from grief.
May 27, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: First Universalist Church of Denver Looks to Offer Overnight Parking for Those Living in Cars; China Bars US Evangelical in Response to Sanctioning of Chinese Official; 100 Years Later: Tulsa and the Church that Survived the Massacre; and more.
Island Time, and About Time
While trying to ‘get away’ and relax in a beautiful setting in Hawaii, we couldn’t get away from the knowledge that America remains so polarized it’s practically paralyzed – and that Israel and Gaza were at it again.
Alcohol, Drug, Suicide Deaths Doubled Since ’99
The number of annual deaths in the United States from alcohol, drugs and suicide has more than doubled in the past two decades, a report found, increasing to roughly 156,000 in 2019 from over 60,000 in 1999.
Emerging Voices | How Your Child Handles Grief: Part 1
Children are often ignored, or at least overlooked, in conversations about helping people handle grief. Yet, children understand death as early as preschool so it’s vital to know how they comprehend grief and how to help them cope.
May 26, 2021
In today’s curated news and analysis headlines: George Floyd Anniversary is a Chance for White Evangelicals to Stand Up for Black Lives; More Than 50 Years Before George Floyd’s Death, Lawmakers Predicted a Growing Racial Divide; Wheaton College Rewords Plaque Calling Indigenous People in Mission Field ‘Savage’; Ancient Judeans Ate Non-Kosher Catfish, Shark Despite Biblical Prohibition; and more
When Jesus Almost Came Back in the ’70s
One can only wonder how much more good we could have done in the ’70s – and beyond – if we had only been more dismissive of the doctrinal distractions that didn’t usher in the end times but rather wasted a lot of time.
Educators Deserve Thanks for Thankless Work
Educators, we had no space for your anxieties during the pandemic, but you did what we have come to expect of you: Take our kids. Teach them. Feed them. Love them. And you did all of this brilliantly and exceedingly well.
US Holds Shameful Record on Mental Health Care
The US has only 11 mental health beds in general hospitals per 100,000 people, a declining rate since the 1950s. We must rethink our mental health care system. Our current approach is not compassionate, effective or cost efficient.
May 25, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: NYPD Steps Up Presence in Jewish Communities After Hate-Related Incidents; A Conversation About Race: Unlikely Allies Share Their Pasts at Church of the Redeemer; From Ferguson to Palestine’: How Black Lives Matter Changed the U.S. Debate on the Middle East; More Millennials Follow Horoscopes than Believe in All-Knowing God, Survey Finds; and more.
Emerging Voices | Harsh Words Reap Consequences
We must properly weigh the effect of words. When judging the efficacy of a leader or the morality of an individual, we cannot set aside their language as a separate matter from their other actions and beliefs.
Emerging Voices | When Clergy Neglect Good R&R
The ability for ministers to serve others well is compromised if they overlook the importance of rest. Whether by the minister’s own choice or by the congregation’s, self-care is often left out. Resting reflects our trust in God.
May 24, 2021
In today’s news and analysis headlines: How Some Religious Institutions in the Milwaukee Are Adapting to the New CDC Mask Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People; The Man Who Taught Millions of Americans to Read Before Being Forgotten; and more