Christianity

By Ron Synovitz March 17, 2020 Efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus have rekindled a millennium-old debate within Christianity. Should Eastern Orthodox priests use a shared spoon to distribute sacramental bread and wine to churchgoers? The debate has resurfaced amid unprecedented coronavirus measures that are compelling religious institutions around…

Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization labelled the novel coronavirus a pandemic, after it became clear that Covid-19 was spreading freely across most of the world. But history is no stranger to global disease outbreaks, each of which has taught us something about how to manage their spread. Whether we’re…

This article by James Farrelly is republished here with permission from The Conversation. This content is shared here because the topic may interest Snopes readers; it does not, however, represent the work of Snopes fact-checkers or editors. In 1997, my students and I traveled to Croagh Patrick, a mountain in…

Saint Patrick's Day Getty Today is St Patrick’s day. A fitting occasion to explore the links between Ireland’s patron saint and the Irish whiskey industry and in particular the Hill of Slane which figures prominently in both the life of St. Patrick and modern day Irish whiskey. St. Patrick is…

I suppose we owe Jerry Falwell Jr. a debt of gratitude. I’m serious. Falwell is the son of the late Jerry Falwell, the man most responsible for bringing fundamentalist Christianity out of the political wilderness during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Junior, along with Franklin Graham, himself a scion of a religious…

Are there any major Christian theologians who did not believe in, or downplayed, the importance of an active church community? Who emphasized solitary instead of communal worship? I'm not interested in the "like God, but not church?" type groups. I'm specifically looking for scholarly theologians who, well, liked God but…

We're still trying to figure out what the full effects of the coronavirus will be. While the health and economic effects are growing, the pandemic is making an unprecedented cultural impact too. Cities, nations, and event organizers are either canceling or postponing popular traditions and annual events. This is the…

During a livestream last night, televangelist Kenneth Copeland cured coronavirus. It’s gone now. He just held out his hand, asked viewers to touch their screens to meet it, and… somehow coronavirus is no longer a thing. Who knew. Kenneth Copeland healed viewers of the coronavirus through their televisions last night.…

The Church of Cyprus, an independent Greek Orthodox church, has no intention to stop serving wine and wafers during communion despite the threat of the novel coronavirus. Even though the ritual requires contact with the same vessels, they’re not afraid because they insist God would never let the virus transmit…

The Trail Leading Back to the Wuhan Labs It is understandable that many would be wary of the notion that the origin of the coronavirus could be discovered by some documentary filmmaker who used to live in China. Matthew Tye, who creates YouTube videos, contends he has identified the source…