Religion Unplugged

Taking advantage of Indonesia's status as the largest Muslim nation in the world and the shift to digital during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Leimena Institute is setting an enormous example for harmonizing relationships between Abrahamic faiths. The institute’s quickly growing online seminars have brought together scholars, powerful religious leaders and people of faith from dozens of countries...

Ministry Watch: Episode 82 Today, I’m pleased to welcome back to the program Paul Glader. Paul is the editor-in-chief at Religion Unplugged and the director of the journalism program at The King’s College in New York City. His journalism experience includes a long tenure with the Wall Street Journal. Here at MinistryWatch we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in chari...

London-based Ethiopian Religion Unplugged contributor Desta Heliso weighs in with Religion Unplugged Managing Editor Meagan Clark on the recent war sparked in Ethiopia between federal armed forces and the Tigray region’s militia. In addition, we talk to Desta about what we know and don’t know yet about alleged brutal massacres of Ethiopian Christian civilians in November in light of reports from A...

The Biden administration recently announced the restoration of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The office has functioned as an engine for policy, neighborhood engagement and public communication to promote religious freedom, negotiating the conflicts between LGBTQ+ rights, religious nonprofit protections and the distribution of funding for public programs involving religio...

On Sept. 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church was attacked by White supremacist domestic terrorists in a dynamite explosion which left four children dead and dozens of others wounded including The Fifth Girl, Sarah Collins Rudolph. Mattie Townson spoke with Rudolph to hear her story about the bombing, the legacy of her and her sister who died in the attack and for her thoughts on whether real...

This week, evangelical finance advisor Dave Ramsey’s organization fired off a sarcastic email to Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana that you don’t want to miss. The rant was in response to Smietana’s robust report on toxic workplace culture at Ramsey’s company.

The inauguration of President Biden left pentecostal and other charismatic church leaders scrambling for explanations and apologies after widespread prophecies of the guaranteed victory for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Senior Programs Manager Melissa Tamplin Harrison interviewed Dr. James Beverley, Professor at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada and author of the recent book, The Q...

In the wake of the violent attempt to overthrow a democratic election at the United States Capitol by a large group of Trump voters that included conspiracy theorists and self-described conservative Christians, journalist Tore Hjalmar Sævik from the Norwegian Christian newspaper, Dagen, wanted to understand what the future of American Christianity and politics might look like. Sævik interviewed Re...

The Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict escalated rapidly this fall with reported war crimes by both Armenian and Azeri soldiers, including multiple attacks on Armenian hospitals, churches and historic religious sites. Senior contributor and board member Roberta Ahmanson interviews United Kingdom House of Lords member, Baroness Caroline Cox, who is urgently concerned with the potential for a new Armenian...

Ministry Watch: Episode 62 Here at MinistryWatch we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, all designed to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. Regular listeners to the program know that I do a regular weekly roundup of the week’s ministry news with my co-host Natasha Smith. But these MinistryWatch Extra epi...

The second season of “Star Wars” spin-off television show “The Mandalorian” deals heavily with the protagonist’s religious creed that prevents him from removing his helmet. Executive Director Paul Glader talked with reporter and editor Jillian Cheney and contributor, Joseph Holmes about the religious implications of the show and what to expect next.

In July, Bevelyn Beatty, a fiery Christian, conservative and Black woman, got America’s attention when she painted over three Black Lives Matter memorials in New York City to promote “Jesus Matters.” Princess Jones spoke with Beatty about her life and her fight to reveal the truth as she sees it about the state of the Black community and Black church. 

Markus Spieker is an author, reporter, editor and board member of The Media Project. His new book “Jesus. Eine Weltgeschichte” approaches the story of Jesus from a biographical and journalistic perspective. The book investigates the source material of what we really know about Jesus with combined references from secular, Muslim and Jewish archives in addition to recent scholarship describing previ...

Famous for his quirky roles in everything from The Office to Star Trek: Discovery, Rainn Wilson sat down with Meagan Clark and Mattie Townson to discuss his Bahaʼi faith and to give a crash course on a little known religious tradition. Wilson's faith dates back to his childhood and is part of a much larger community of over 7 million Baháʼí around the world. 

Peru has had Martín Vizcarra, Manuel Merino and Francisco Sagasti all serve as president within a single week amidst political chaos and religiously devisive pandemic restrictions. Board Member of The Media Project, Reynaldo Aragón, spoke to Christian Rosas, an evangelical political analyst from Lima, about the ongoing crisis.

MinistryWatch Episode 54: A Conversation with Religion Unplugged’s Paul Glader Here at MinistryWatch, we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, all designed to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. Today, I’m pleased to welcome back to the program Paul Glader. Paul is the editor-in-chief at Religion Unplugged...

Religion Unplugged wraps up the 2020 Election in a roundtable discussion with editors and contributors including data journalist and political scientist Ryan Burge. The next big question on religion and politics: What does the future of voting for people of faith look like? Big moves among Hispanic Catholic and Evangelical communities in Florida, Black Churches in states like Georgia, and some sur...

First time gun buyers looking to protect themselves during a potentially dangerous election are fueling mass FIREARMS buying trends across the country. Many of these people have never shot a gun before or been proponents of gun control themselves and are struggling to find ways to learn about, purchase and practice firearms without paying organizations that promote extremist rhetoric. RUP EXECUTIV...

Ministry Watch Episode 50: A Conversation with Religion Unplugged’s Paul Glader Here at MinistryWatch we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, all designed to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. Regular listeners to the program know that this month we began these “MinistryWatch Extra” episodes. We will con...

Sherry Sacino's story writing platform Global StoryMakers is working to overcome the conflict between literacy education and cultural and religious erasure. By creating reading programs and publishing public domain books written by and about local communities, Sacino hopes to bring new stories to children that they can identify with more than common Westernized or Anglocentric education progra...

A new book by Todd Von Helms addresses head on some of the biggest questions people have about christianity. In a year where institutional trust is in crisis across politics, religion and science, Before You Leave, For College, Career, and Eternity is an answer for students preparing for college, ministers struggling with difficult questions, and long-time christians struggling with their faith. P...

This summer, the Jesus movement group Saturate OC hosted revivals along beaches in Southern California, baptizing thousands and leading them in outdoor worship just as Gov. Gavin Newsom banned singing in places of worship. Parker Green, its co-founder, talked to Religion Unplugged about what the new Jesus movement is, getting his first misdemeanor and why he thinks American Christianity as it is w...

Professor Ben Quash is the Director of the Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King's College in London. In partnership with the National Gallery, London, Quash and a team of art historians and theologians catalogue and write thevcs.org , a publication dedicated to the relationship between Christian theology and scripture through historical and contemporary art. Senior contributor and chairwoman...

Anne Hendershott, sociologist and historian talks with Paul Glader about the history of New York City and how the cultural hub weathered crises throughout the the 20th Century. While many are asking "Can New York City bounce back?" there may already be an answer. 

Ministry Watch Episode 36: A Conversation with Religion Unplugged’s Paul Glader Hello, everyone. I’m Warren Smith and I’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Here at MinistryWatch we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, all designed to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. Regular listeners to...