Jonathan Merritt, Religion NewsService

Jonathan Merritt

Religion NewsService

New York, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Religion NewsService
  • The Atlantic
  • The Daily Beast
  • The News-Star
  • CityLab
  • The Week
  • The New York Times
  • Paste Magazine
  • RELEVANT
  • USA TODAY
  • and more…

Past articles by Jonathan:

John MacArthur and the dangers of biblical literalism

(RNS) — Christians must accept that the only way to take the Bible seriously is to stop taking every word literally. → Read More

Southern Baptists' abuse report is no call for reform. It’s a repudiation of the past 40 years.

(RNS) — Scapegoating a handful of leaders won’t bring the transformation the SBC needs. → Read More

Liberty University football team realizes Falwell’s winning vision, but at what cost?

(RNS) — Liberty is one of three undefeated top-tier college football teams: one Catholic, one Mormon, one evangelical. → Read More

It’s time to rescue the ‘pro-life’ label from anti-abortion activists

(RNS) — The 'pro-life' term was once a moral call to arms, but it has become a mere political checkbox. → Read More

Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them.

(RNS) — One Alabama megachurch preacher is experiencing a cautionary tale about a central spiritual idea: What goes around comes around. → Read More

Some of the Most Visible Christians in America Are Failing the Coronavirus Test

In place of love, they’re offering stark self-righteous judgment. → Read More

Mohler's turn to Trump is the crowning flip-flop of his career

(RNS) — Many, including Mohler’s friends and colleagues, have pointed out that his decision to favor Trump is consistent with a career marked as much by ambition as conviction. → Read More

New Yorkers Are Right to Be Skeptical of Evangelical-Run Coronavirus Ward in Central Park

Franklin Graham’s religious org has done good around the world, but it’s not wrong to question whether his history of bigotry could get in the way of caring for the sick. → Read More

Rachel Held Evans: Remembering a 'torchbearer,' an 'arsonist,' a 'prophet with a pen'

The reason a writer as young as Evans mattered to so many is that, religiously speaking, she was not just a writer. Evans was a prophet with a pen. → Read More

What Should Cities Do With All These Empty Churches?

Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches die in the U.S. every year, and many are sitting on prime real estate. → Read More

The Portuguese emotion that can't be translated

Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons. → Read More

What 'decorum' meant to the ancient philosophers

Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons. → Read More

It’s Getting Harder to Talk About God

The decline in our spiritual vocabulary has many real-world consequences. → Read More

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss

Whenever a great author dies, loyal fans begin holding their breath. They hope that one day, perhaps soon, a final work will emerge from the artist’s private collection and sail into the marketplace for one last hoorah. Could there be a previously unpublished manuscript, caked in dust, lying at the bottom of a desk drawer? A character sketch locked away on the author’s hard drive that might… → Read More

Paige Patterson has resigned. Imagine if he were Tim Cook.

(RNS) — Many of the secular communities in America that Southern Baptists have painted as evil possess more moral courage than they do. RNS columns are direct-published opinion pieces. They are not always edited and reflect the views only of the author. → Read More

The Scandal Tearing Apart America's Largest Protestant Denomination

A denominational leader’s claim that abused women should remain in their broken marriages is forcing Southern Baptists to pick sides. → Read More

How American Christians can break free from ‘slaveholder religion’

(RNS) — It’s been 150 years since the Civil War ended, but does the racist theology remain? RNS columns are direct-published opinion pieces. They are not always edited and reflect the views only of the author. → Read More

The way we teach morality

Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons. → Read More

From hell to atonement, musician Audrey Assad has been quietly evolving

(RNS) — 'I suppose if there is anything I could say I reject, it is the idea that God’s love and acceptance is dependent on our right belief. I no longer see how that could be possible,' said Audrey Assad. → Read More

Why isn't there a 'War on Easter' like Christmas?

Despite their many similarities, Easter has avoided the controversy that stalks Christmas. Here’s why. RNS columns are direct-published opinion pieces. They are not always edited and reflect the views only of the author. → Read More