National News

Religion News Service selected 13 who made their mark this year, speaking out on a range of contentious issues and challenging the nation to live up to its values.

The Israel-Hamas war, along with the rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the U.S. and around the globe, were named the top international and domestic religion stories of 2023 by members of the Religion News Association.

In the West Bank and Gaza, Christians are searching for ways to celebrate a subdued Christmas, with festivities canceled for the first time since the First Intifada in 1988. 

Although masks have stopped being enforced, and six feet of distance is now looking like a closer three, the effects of the 2020 pandemic are still underway, and congregational leaders are seeing the real effects of it.

Hanukkah, a joyous Jewish holiday, which in the United States has often tried to rival Christmas in buoyancy if not glamour, will not be the same this year. With the Israeli military in the midst of a destructive showdown in its war with Hamas, few are in the mood to celebrate the holiday that begins at sundown Thursday.

Bowing to weeks of mounting global pressure, UN Women released a statement “unequivocally” condemning “the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel” and calling “for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted.”

Despite past controversy, David Barton’s influence in conservative evangelical circles has found an eager audience with the rise of Christian nationalism in the age of Trump.