News & Ideas

Monday's News & Ideas - 10/3/2022

  • Trends in switching religions
  • Churches defend clergy loophole
  • Report on ACNA inaction on abuse
  • Migrant ministry for everyone
  • How evangelicalism thrives in ’60s
  • Fighting for Black cemetery

Religious ‘switching’ patterns will help determine Christianity’s course in U.S.
Pew Research Center: Whether the U.S. will continue to have a Christian majority in 2070 will depend on many factors, including one that was a key focus of the Center’s new study: religious “switching” – that is, voluntary changes in religious affiliation.

Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting
Associated Press: In 33 states, clergy are exempt from any laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child sexual abuse to police or child welfare officials if the church deems the information privileged.

Third-party report details ACNA leaders’ inaction on sexual abuse allegations
Religion News Service: Released online late Tuesday, the report follows a monthslong investigation that was contentious from the start.

Don’t leave migrant ministry to the border
Christianity Today: What the surge of asylum seekers is like on the ground and how the church all over the country can help.

Evangelicalism thrived because it enabled white Christians to avoid civil rights movements according to new book
Religion Dispatches: Historian David Hollinger argues that evangelical churches grew during and after the 1960s precisely because they offered a less demanding alternative to the social justice and civil rights commitments of the liberal mainline.

The Spark

Slavery descendants fight to memorialize a cemetery in Maryland
A Black cemetery is the center of a legal fight. Local officials want to sell the property to a commercial developer. Descendants want to memorialize the site, NPR says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers



Want to get News & Ideas in your inbox every weekday?
Subscribe to our 
News & Ideas newsletter or receive our RSS feed in your RSS reader.

Most recent News & Ideas

Thursday's News & Ideas - 6/1/2023

  • CT lawmakers apologize for witch trials
  • Tina Turner’s Buddhism
  • TX campus ministry profile
  • Capital Jewish Museum
  • Pride night at LA Dodgers
  • Bizarre world of flies

Wednesday's News & Ideas - 5/31/2023

  • Latino Americans’ religion
  • Hillsong experiment
  • Scorsese’s new movie
  • Tension over Jewish settlement
  • Christian assassins
  • Traffic stops of Black drivers

Tuesday's News & Ideas - 5/30/2023

  • CA Catholic Church facing lawsuits
  • Religious character on TV
  • Nun’s exhumed body intact
  • Seminarian & NFL coach
  • Ethnic minority in China defend mosque
  • Guide to meditation
Louisville Institute logo

Louisville Institute now accepting 2024 program applications

The Louisville Institute is excited to announce that applications are open for the 2024 grant and fellowship funding season.

Since 1990, LI has funded more than 2,700 grants and fellowships totaling $57.7 million to those who lead and study North American religious institutions, practices and movement. Their grantees and fellows include pastoral leaders, researchers, early career and seasoned scholars and many others in the United States and Canada whose work resonates with LI’s mission to bridge church and academy.

There are seven funding opportunities available for 2024.

Learn more