RealClearReligion Articles

For most of the last decade, the headlines about young people and faith have been about decline. So, it’s worth pausing on what Barna Group is now calling a “generational reversal”: Gen Z has become the generation most likely to attend church regularly, surpassing even Millennials. That should be encouraging news for ministry leaders, but there’s another trend happening at the same time that could determine whether ministries actually reach this spiritually curious generation. In December of 2025, Nielsen recorded a first: streaming accounted for over 50% of all daily...

Commemorating the third anniversary of October 7, 2023, the horrific jihad massacres perpetrated by Hamas and its allies, demands more than remembrance. What is required is unapologetic examination of the core Islamic religious texts, their traditional interpretations, and the authoritative institutional teachings that legitimize Muslim Jew-hatred and anti-Jewish violence. An official post on X December 10, 2024 from Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s preeminent religious teaching institution, featured its Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb condemning “the Zionists” for the Syrian...

Hatred of the Jews is nothing new. Hatred of the Jews by American political candidates for major positions is new. For example, ABC4 News of Washington, D.C. reported last week: “Chants of ‘From the river to the sea’ were heard at recent Cornell University Young Democratic Socialists of America events featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, as new polling shows most registered voters view the Democratic Socialists of America unfavorably.” Let’s be clear: “From the River to the Sea” means that Israel...

One of RealClear's own, Jerry Rogers' — who ably edits RealClearPolicy and RealClearHealth — father died recently. He was a legend of a man. A lover of God, family, and country. We all could benefit on the recipe of his live well lived.  Mr. Rogers, welcome. As an Irish Catholic, I believe that we, or at least the Irish, get to hang around for our own funeral. Mr. Rogers, you are a legend. Those who met you met a man in full. Not a man full of himself, but a complete man. Christ was in your manly soul. You were well ordered to what was above you, and you shared the world with...

A devastating wave is crashing over South Asia, wreaking havoc on those who choose to follow a faith other than the majority. It is a wave of anti-Christian sentiment. So-called “Freedom of Religion” and “Anti-Blasphemy” laws fuel it and generate a powerful undercurrent of distrust and disdain toward Christians. They suppress one of the most basic human rights: the right to worship without government interference. India and Pakistan stand out as countries where this hostility results in unsubstantiated accusations, unjust arrests and violence. Sovereign states almost...

The Rev. Robert Smith was prepared to defend resistance to Britain without placing the resisters beyond Christian judgment. On Feb. 17, 1775, the Anglican rector entered his Charleston pulpit as South Carolina leaders weighed whether resistance accorded with Christian duty. That distinction remains urgent during America’s 250th anniversary and midterm elections. Officials and candidates make claims about human life, biological sex, parental authority, and religious conscience that many Christians believe contradict Scripture. Should churches remain silent — or can they speak...

On his recent trip to France, Pope Leo said Mass to an estimated 800,000 people. The energy and size of the crowd was an incredible sign of God’s timeless and real presence with us today—especially in our age of chaotic change. The Holy Father called it a “sign of rebirth.” With artificial intelligence rapidly advancing, people need a spiritual rebirth more than ever. Following recent incidents of AI gone rogue and industry experts voicing their own concerns, Americans are increasingly fearful of the new technology. Growing numbers across the political aisle worry that...

The Sultan of Swat. The King of Crash. The Colossus of Clout. The Great Bambino. The Promoter of Religious Education? Babe Ruth, one of the greatest baseball players ever, was Catholic. Although not pious for most of his life, the Hall of Famer’s spiritual journey offers an encouraging lesson for catechists: what they teach today might not bear immediate fruit, but may become the inspiration a soul depends on to grow in a relationship with Christ. Ruth emphasized this point quite clearly in his last public statement. He reflected not on the 714 home runs, World Series titles or other...

The Judeo-Christian tradition is filled with holy people and saints known to hear “voices”: from Moses to St. Augustine to St. Joan of Arc to St. Faustina. While cynics may ascribe mental illness to these phenomena, to people of faith discerning and acting upon God’s voice (or his will) is a mark of humility and holiness. As Jesus Christ models in the Garden of Gethsemane, we discover our true purpose when doing God’s will and not our own, even if it means enduring suffering. So, why is the male voice Lindsay Clancy heard to kill her three children barbaric? The answer...

Somewhere in New England, cloistered away, is the brave, lone holdout from the Lindsay Clancy case. Hated by the left, he is the one who caused a mistrial in the case because his conscience couldn’t approve of a woman getting away with the systematic strangling of her children.  He is in hiding because there may be serious threats on his life from what we could call “the shock troops of tolerance.” How is it that those who claim to be “progressive” so often advocate the promotion of death and the abrogation of life? What is this love affair with death that...

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman warns that a Netanyahu victory in the coming Israeli election is a threat to democracy as it will continue the anti-Palestinian policies of the extreme rightwing led by Itamar Ben-Gvir. However, Friedman points to the long-term threat coming from the Haredi community: [Economist] Dan Ben-David … explained the demographic basis for the threat to Israeli democracy. Fertility among most Israeli population groups is about two children per woman, but among Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox Haredi allies it is about seven children per woman, Ben-David...

For most of the last decade, the headlines about young people and faith have been about decline. So, it’s worth pausing on what Barna Group is now calling a “generational reversal”: Gen Z has become the generation most likely to attend church regularly, surpassing even Millennials. That should be encouraging news for ministry leaders, but there’s another trend happening at the same time that could determine whether ministries actually reach this spiritually curious generation. In December of 2025, Nielsen recorded a first: streaming accounted for over 50% of all daily...

Recently, I met with a literary agent about writing a book. It was a fascinating experience diving into the questions: Who would publish the book and what it would be like to see it on a retail bookshelf? Amazon has helped millions of aspiring writers realize their dreams, and the number of books being published has grown exponentially. In 2025 alone, books with ISBN numbers jumped nearly 33 percent from 2024—an increase led by self-published books.  I love seeing people realize their dreams and fulfill the call that God has placed on their lives, but there is concerning data...

Just in time for the one-year anniversary of the murder of evangelist and Christian activist Charlie Kirk, one of the left’s leading influencers mocked him. Islamist and socialist influencer Hasan Piker recently made fun of Kirk and his death in front of an international audience, drawing “cheers and laughter from his audience.” Piker has the ear of DSA senatorial candidate for Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed.  These are cynical days. As we all remember, Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood on a college campus in Utah before the watching world on September 10, 2025. About a...

How is it that so many young Americans have come to espouse Marxist ideas and want to impose them, even by force if necessary, on the rest of us? Marxism has the most abysmal track record imaginable. How could it be so popular? The answer is the schools. Not all of them, of course, but many of them. Young Americans for Freedom notes: “A 2025 Cato Institute survey found that 62 percent of Americans ages 18–29 view socialism favorably. That number would have been unthinkable a generation ago. Rising costs, student debt and economic frustration explain part of that shift. But there...

Catholic leadership has been very supportive of the Palestinian cause. In 2025, a manger scene in Bethlehem had baby Jesus clothed in a keffiyeh. Church leaders singularly focus on what they perceive as Israeli abuses. While there certainly have been troubling Israeli incidents, Islamic actions have been a major cause of the collapse of Christian populations in Bethlehem. Most troubling, the Catholic press overwhelmingly ignores the substantial success of the 1.4 million Christian Arabs living within Israel. Just this week, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “Spitting...

A few weeks ago, a friend of my fiancée and me passed away. He was only 33 years old.  Out of respect for his family, I’ll keep his name private. But I pray — and firmly hope — that his name is written in the Book of Life spoken of in Revelation.  He was an affable, joyful man. With childlike curiosity, he immediately welcomed me into a young adult Catholic group. Together, we would discuss movies, sports — particularly baseball and basketball — and naturally faith. He often invited me to Sunday night basketball (of which I now regret not...

Four brave American soldiers, who lost their lives in service in the Middle East last week, were brought home and honored Wednesday at a dignified transfer, attended by the president, secretary of war and other administration officials.  “Yesterday, we saw the President of the United States and many others at Dover Air Force Base presiding over a ceremony that is very sacred to those of us who served, and that is a dignified return of remains from the war zone, and that process happens beginning in the war zone through Dover to the hometown of our fallen heroes,” Former Navy...

In his 1855 poem “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman wrote: “I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.” The line encapsulates his complex, ever-changing views about a creator, which were at once deeply spiritual and blazingly unconventional. One of America’s greatest poets didn’t adhere closely to any organized religion; instead, he envisioned God as an all-pervading presence that infuses every person, creature, and object in the universe.  These notions, though unique to Whitman, rhymed with the intellectual zeitgeist of...