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Editor's note:
The 2024 presidential election is coming up and, as in the past, religion is expected to play a significant role. In 2016, evangelical support contributed to Republican nominee Donald Trump's victory. Joe Biden, too, relied on public endorsement from 1,600 Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical faith leaders in 2020.
In this year's run-up to the election, there will likely be intensified religious rhetoric, writes historian and religious studies scholar Tobin Miller Shearer. In particular, he expects to see an increase in end-times rhetoric, claims of divine support for candidates and the rise in Christian nationalism in national politics.
Religion News
How Dominican women fight child marriage and teen pregnancy while facing total abortion bans
In Latin America, the heavily Catholic Dominican Republic is one of just four counties with a total abortion ban. In spite of this, abortion-rights activists keep fighting to try to protect women who already face poverty, gender violence and lack of appropriate health services. By María Teresa Hernández/The Associated Press
How Philadelphia’s faith communities held together as Oct. 7 attack tested ties
Interfaith bonds fostered by Jewish, Christian and Muslim groups before the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas have allowed the groups to pull together despite a spike in hate incidents. By Tori Luecking/Religion News Service
Tributes were paid on the first anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI, with Pope Francis praising his love and wisdom and Benedict’s private secretary expressing hope he might one day be declared a saint. By Luigi Navarra and Nicole Winfield/The Associated Press
In a secular age, some young Americans still choose religious life
While the numbers of priests and nuns have declined in recent decades, many millennials and Gen Zers still find a calling to religious life in the Catholic Church, even if the path to discernment has changed. By Elizabeth E. Evans/Religion News Service
Christ the Redeemer lit in Pele shirt as Brazil honors first anniversary of his death
Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue was lit up in a Pele shirt among Brazilian tributes to the soccer great on the first anniversary of his death. By Mauricio Savarese/The Associated Press
Commentary and Analysis
Far-right American Christians once viewed Soviet culture as a menace to their values. Today, some authoritarian-leaning admirers wish their country were more like Putin's Russia. By Sarah Riccardi-Swartz for The Conversation
Through the power of rituals, inanimate objects can be understood to transform into agents who can see, hear, taste and respond to the concerns of those who worship them. By Michael Naparstek for The Conversation
It's akriveia versus oikonomia. By Mark Silk/Religion News Service
Many countries wrestle with whether to include any kind of education about religion in public school lessons, and each one takes its own approach. By Charles J. Russo for The Conversation
For many Buddhists today, both in East Asia and across the world, the Lotus Sutra offers religious support for various gender identities. By Megan Bryson for The Conversation
Members of Hindu Brahmin community perform the annual Shravani Puja at Sangam, the holy confluence of river Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, in Prayagraj, India, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Brahmins, or Hindu upper castes, believe that performing rituals on this day will wash away their sins. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
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