ArcaMax

Q: In our Friday morning Bible class (ladies), we are reading Hebrews and we read in Hebrews 8:8-12, which quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34, in comparing the new covenant with the old. The old covenant law was given by God to Israel. Now God has provided a new and better covenant, one of grace, in which Christ offers to forgive our sins and bring us...Read more

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier last week issued a legal opinion affirming that all school districts must accommodate parents who want their children to leave or be absent from school for the purpose of receiving religious instruction.

Release time for religious instruction, also known as RTRI, allows students to be excused from school ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Despite declining religious affiliation, Maryland’s campaign trail increasingly runs through church sanctuaries, fellowship halls and post-service meet-and-greets, where candidates see an opportunity to connect with voters in a setting that remains influential.

Reflecting the enduring political influence of faith communities, ...Read more

Pedro Sánchez is having a come-to-Jesus moment.

After eight years in office, Sánchez attended his first Roman Catholic mass as prime minister on Wednesday when Pope Leo XIV blessed the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. Sánchez’s Socialists have traditionally had a difficult relationship with the church — but this week, with this ...Read more

Lots of responses to my request for your most important spiritual films. I believe that many of the beliefs we hold are taught or undermined; supported or weakened in the films we watch as kids and then re-watch as adults. Two centuries ago this cultural refining of our religious beliefs would have been limited to books, but now the ...Read more

Pope Leo XIV called for justice for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy during a trip to Spain, where he plans to meet with those who have suffered.

“Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever-more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of ...Read more

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Except for the stained-glass windows, much of the inside of Temple Israel is now unrecognizable.

Flooring that was once inside the large West Bloomfield synagogue has been removed, revealing the building's concrete foundation. The seats inside the sanctuary are gone, too. And pipes usually hidden in the ...Read more

Pope Leo XIV’s apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s sins of slavery is long overdue. With that apology must come atonement.

Last week, Leo apologized for the Holy See’s role in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record “a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot ...Read more

Q: I am a Jewish immigrant who came to America from Holland in 1948. My parents were in the Resistance during the Nazi occupation. During the war years my parents had a dog, Tyno, who quietly alerted them time and again when the Germans came close. When we came to America, they were unable to bring Tyno with them due to the quarantine ...Read more

In the heart of the Bible Belt, a small Methodist college graduated its final class in May 2024, shutting its doors after 168 years.

Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, was a Christian private liberal arts school that counted among its graduates members of Congress, famous musicians, Pulitzer Prize winners and the former ...Read more

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, I follow your column, so I know you have eclectic interests. Do you have favorite films about spiritual issues? Odd question, but here is why I am asking: I work at PlazaMac, a nonprofit art house cinema in Patchogue, New York. I am working with St. Joseph's College and ...Read more

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, Catholicism holds "animals have mortal souls that perish when the body dies" – therefore, animal souls don't go to heaven.

Humans have immortal souls and those souls (if good) live on in Heaven. Hopefully, when my time comes, I will be welcomed into Heaven. I hope to be reunited with my parents and those ...Read more

Q: Thank you for your columns. I would like to ask you about the one on happiness. If happiness comes from serving others, does that make God utilitarian?

Does God value people less if they can't go to soup kitchens? In Psalm 62 it says, "My soul finds rest in God alone." That sounds like knowing God is happiness. I believe that....Read more

Q: Many years ago in your God Squad column you wrote that Catholics weren’t meant to be happy. Your reasoning made sense to me then but now I can’t remember what it was. Can you please explain that to me because a friend of mine recently brought the subject to my attention. Thank you. – (From J in New York)

A: When Father Tom ...Read more