The new Pope has taken the name Leo XIV to announce that he stands in the line of Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). Leo XIII is noted for his encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), which called for action to redress the plight of workers and the poor in rapidly industrializing and urbanizing Europe during the late 19th century. The encyclical spurred the development of the Roman Catholic Church’s body of social and political doctrine, known as Catholic Social Teaching. This biblically grounded set of principles stressed the dignity of each person, the human calling to love our neighbors, the importance of church, […]

(This article emerged from a shared email exchange in the days following the Trinity Forum’s online conversation “Faith and Foreign Aid.” It represents our joint reflection and inquiry as colleagues and co-laborers in the pursuit of public justice and institutional religious freedom.) As colleagues shaped by a commitment to principled pluralism and public justice, we often find our most fruitful conversations begin outside formal channels. Sometimes they’re stirred by the quiet promptings of the Holy Spirit—through an unresolved question or even a moment of silence that speaks volumes. That’s what happened after we both watched the Trinity Forum’s recent event […]

The rainbow is not a mere symbol—it is a sign, a covenant, a memory of mercy and a promise of justice. In the Christian tradition, the rainbow first appears after the great flood in Genesis, when God sets God’s bow in the clouds as a divine promise that God will never again destroy the earth by water. It is a symbol not of erasure or imposition, but of holy restraint and cosmic mercy. “God is upholding His creation, keeping the rainbow in its place, showering us with grace for redeemed lives,” wrote James W. Skillen, founder of the Center for […]

This article is part of our series exploring the role of faith-based organizations in providing vital support and care to those affected by HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR. Throughout this series, we will highlight the importance of a clean, five-year reauthorization of PEPFAR to ensure the stability and continuity of lifesaving treatment. Once, while presenting my research at a national immunology conference, an attendee asked me why researching human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) matters. I gave a standard response about addressing a major public health crisis. But later, I reflected more deeply on the underlying reasons why I had spent the past three years in Dr. Anding […]

A new website, ReligiousEquality.net, catalogs a range of unconstitutional provisions in state laws and regulations that exclude religious schools and other faith-based organizations from equal access to government funding. The site features an interactive map linked to the descriptions of the instances of anti-religion discrimination. Clicking on a state gives access to listings of problematic rules affecting schools, social services, health services, and more. The goal is transparency—and reform! Anyone who cares about respect for constitutional protections for religious freedom or for the flourishing of services offered by houses of worship and other faith-based organizations can easily locate mistaken statutory […]

An April 9 presidential directive instructs federal agencies to repeal and replace, without utilizing the usual “notice and comment” process, if those regulations are deemed to violate the U.S. Constitution as recently reinterpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ten precedent-changing Court decisions are listed, including two that expand religious freedom. The directive supplements President Trump’s Executive Order 14219 (February 19, 2025), which gave agencies 60 days to review all regulations and identify those that should be changed or abolished because they do not align with the Constitution, congressional statutes, Administration policy, or principles of good governance. That Executive Order, however, […]