Being a church volunteer in 2019 is not just about leading the next bake sale. With the increase in shootings at houses of worship, some churches are choosing to arm themselves. Is packing in the pews the best answer? Or, is there a better way to keep the congregants safe?

Music: "StompDance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). Licensed under the Creative Commons.

There is crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

And with stories of immigration central to the Biblical narrative, Christian theologians have a lot to say about our nation’s immigration laws.

They said that if you applied basic Christian principles to our laws, immigration in America would look much different.

Whether Jesus was gay, straight or bisexual may never be known. But a growing group of scholars has a new interpretation of Christianity’s long-held views on sexuality.

Historians are unearthing more ways in which American churches and universities benefited from slavery. These realities are running into the Christian practice of repentance and atonement. For the organizations that benefited from human bondage, what do they owe the people they enslaved?

Gun violence is growing more frequent and deadly in the pews of America’s churches. But for congregations who survive an attack, do their fundamental views on guns change?

And, is there a Christian approach to gun ownership?

There are two ways to approach religion. You can close your eyes and repeat the feel-good hymns you learned in Sunday school or you can take a hard look at what you believe. But, be prepared for what you may learn.

This is The Needle, a podcast on religion that takes a topic you’re not supposed to talk about in church, and does. The show will look at topics like guns, sexuality, race, immigration, money and women in leadership. Each episode is a deep dive into the controversies and contradictions of being a person of faith in modern society.