Today’s Briefing

Russell Moore on how the rise of online gambling is affecting our culture, our children, and our churches.

Young Christian influencers under the Communist regime in Cuba are taking to social media to call for freedom. But their activism comes with real risks.

A new study has found that among Gen Z, young women are increasingly outpacing their male counterparts in claiming no religious affiliation.

Behind the Story

From CT contributor Hannah Herrera: I first heard about @el4tico, a social media account created by two Christians that speaks out against Cuba’s authoritarian government, through a contact from a previous story. There’s an online resistance movement, she told me, and “people are saying most of them are Christian, but you’d have to investigate to find out.”

So I did, and she was right. These influencers, some of them as young as 20 years old, are facing all kinds of risks—imprisonment, exile, fines, threats—but they refuse to back down.

The article came with challenges. The sources and I had to be creative on how—and when—we communicated. One contact was in the process of fleeing to Spain for political exile. Other contacts frequently had no internet access due to rolling blackouts or targeted cell service cutoffs.

Additionally, I reported the article in Spanish and wrote it in English, which requires constant switching between different mental train tracks. There are some words—and even entire concepts—that exist in Spanish and not in English, which were difficult to concisely translate. Thankfully, my editors were a great help, and I’m glad readers will get to hear the story of these Christians’ bravery and conviction.

In Other News

President Donald Trump read 2 Chronicles 7:14 as part of a Bible-reading marathon event. Christianity Today covered how that passage was the top-searched-for Bible verse of the 2016 presidential election.
Thousands of Christians are still protesting the passing earlier this month of a harsher anti-conversion law by government officials in Chhattisgarh state. The area is one of the hotbeds in India for violence against Christians.
Andy Riemersma used to dream of playing in the NBA. Now, he’s a hip-hop artist, pastor, and chaplain to players in the Noblesville Boom.

Today in Christian History

April 23, 1538: John Calvin and William Farel (whom Calvin was assisting) are banished from Geneva. The day before, Easter Sunday, both had refused to administer communion, saying the city was too full of vice to partake. Three years later, Calvin returned to the city he would forever be associated with.

Just War Theory Is Supposed to Be Frustrating

Once upon a time I was a pacifist, and some days I still am. Although I’m a theologian, which means it pays to pretend to know everything about everything, there…

Will the Church Enter the Guys’ Group Chat?

Despite the loneliness, mistrust, and anger coursing through American social life, young men have at least one institution they can still rely on: the male group chat. I am 23…

Young, Educated, and Urban Pastors Are Most Likely to Use AI

As the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) grows in the broader culture, some within the church are skeptical of downloading AI into the ministry. Both US Protestant pastors and churchgoers…

Attempts at Cultural Crossover

CT greeted 1982 with a big profile of a televangelist trying break out of “the Christian ghetto.” The magazine reported that Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) was developing programming…

IN THE MAGAZINE

In this issue of Christianity Today and in this season of the Christian year, we explore the bookends of life: birth and death. You’ll read Karen Swallow Prior’s essay on childlessness and Kara Bettis Carvalho’s overview of reproductive technologies. Haleluya Hadero reports on artificially intelligent griefbots, and Kristy Etheridge discusses physician-assisted suicide. There is much work to be done to promote life. We talk with Fleming Rutledge about the Crucifixion, knowing that while suffering lasts for a season, Jesus has triumphed over death through his death. This Lenten and Easter season, may these words be a companion as you consider how you might bring life in the spaces you inhabit.

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