Posted by Tom Ehrich 1 week 4 days ago
The go-to number in American religion is “ASA” — average Sunday attendance. Or as an irreverent colleague put it, “Fannies in the pews.”It’s a meaningless metric, but it’s easy. Open the doors on...
Posted by Tom Ehrich 2 weeks 6 days ago
On the day after the Indianapolis 500-mile race, I wonder why the self-proclaimed “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” matters so much to me.It isn’t a nostalgia trip to my growing-up days in Indianapolis...
Posted by Tom Ehrich 3 weeks 6 days ago
Religious historians say that every 500 years, Christianity goes through a “massive transition,” as noted religion writer Phyllis Tickle puts it.Around 500 A.D., “barbarians” sought to subjugate Rome...
Posted by Tom Ehrich 5 weeks 6 days ago
NEW YORK — I sat with my gospel choir colleagues, in a pew, while the host choir at Park Avenue Synagogue rehearsed a lovely Psalm setting in Hebrew.Some sang the Hebrew text with ease, some with...
Posted by Tom Ehrich 6 weeks 6 days ago
Five men who know what it means to be president of the United States shared a stage in University Park, Texas. Then the incumbent among them flew to Waco, to mourn 11 first-responders, killed in a...
