The top religion stories of 2024

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This article was published 04/01/2025 (272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What were the top religion stories in 2024?

If the amount of attention garnered is an indication, the top local religion story was about calls to return the monument of the Ten Commandments to Assiniboine Park. Altogether, there were three stories and four columns about it in the Free Press, along with many letters to the editor both for and against its reinstallation.

The monument, which was donated to the City of Winnipeg in 1965 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, was removed by the Assiniboine Park Conservancy in 2017 to make way for the building of the Leaf. It has been in storage ever since.

In September, the city council executive policy committee decided to work with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy and other groups to determine where the monument could be placed, if council gave the plan final approval. That could include a spot in Assiniboine Park, another public space or a privately owned space with public access.

To date, there’s no word on where it might go; stay tuned! There will surely be more stories about it to follow.

Another big local religion story last year was the premier’s call for a new prayer to open sessions of the Manitoba legislature — one that reflects and includes the views of Manitobans of all faiths, as well as atheists. He followed up that call by convening a “prayer summit” in fall to solicit advice from faith leaders and others in the province.

Currently, the premier says he is open to a rotation of different prayers from various faith traditions — an idea that emerged from the prayer summit. As with the Ten Commandments monument, stay tuned for that decision as well.

Other major religion stories in 2024 from around the world included how a majority of American Christians voted for Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.

According to Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), white evangelicals continued to be the religious group with the strongest backing for Trump, with 85 per cent reporting they voted for him. Majorities of both white Catholics (59 per cent) and white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (57 per cent) also voted for Trump.

When it came to voting for Harris, 83 per cent of Black Protestants voted for her, as did majorities of unaffiliated voters (72 per cent), non-Christian religions (67 per cent) and Jewish voters (62 per cent).

“Religious divides in presidential vote choice are stark,” concluded the pollster, adding that higher church attendance was correlated with higher support for Trump.

Another top story with religious implications was the war between Hamas and Gaza. While not a religion story, it continues to have a profound impact on religious groups in Canada. The war has contributed to the increase in antisemitism and Islamophobia, along with negatively impacting interfaith relations here and around the world.

There was also a religious angle to the current challenges facing the Liberal government. A survey by the Angus Reid Institute last year found that support for the federal Liberals is declining among all religious groups, including two groups they have traditionally counted on — Muslims and Jews.

According to Shachi Kurl, president of Angus Reid Institute, Muslims support is declining due to what they feel is a lack of Liberal support for the Palestinians, while Jews are moving to the Conservatives from the Liberals and NDP because they believe there is insufficient support for Israel in both those parties.

2024 also saw the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, five years after it was damaged by fire. And the Roman Catholic Church concluded its Synod on Synodality with a final gathering in Rome, where a decision was made to involve more lay people more at all levels of that Church. At the same time, doors were left open to consider greater roles for women in the Church and for extending greater welcome and inclusion to LGBTTQ+ Catholics.

In the U.S., the United Methodist Church decided, after years of debate, to repeal its stance that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and openly backed LGBTTQ+ clergy and same-sex marriages. The decision prompted over 7,000 of the denomination’s approximately 30,000 churches to leave.

Other stories of note were the Christian outrage that followed after a dance troupe at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was seen to be mocking the Last Supper; the protests from some Canadian religious groups against policies that support trans kids in public schools — and how other religious groups stood up for those same policies; the plight of historic churches across Canada; the growing number of Christians, especially evangelicals, who are disaffiliating from that religion; and a decision by the Anglican Church of Canada to remove a prayer calling for the conversion of Jews from its Book of Common Prayer.

Those are a few of the top religion stories that come to mind from this past year. It will be interesting to see what 2025 will bring.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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