Snap. Pop. Fizzle. Bang.

To me, that’s the sound of the modern news cycle, with headlines blowing up in rapid succession, each demanding our attention before we scroll to the next. We live in the midst of an unrelentless attention economy, where urgency becomes currency, outrage is easy to manufacture and what seems to matters most is whatever is newest, loudest or most emotionally charged.

In this environment, it is perhaps inevitable to get trapped in the present moment, mistaking immediacy for importance and something going viral for significance. But when it comes to understanding religion’s role in society, staying locked on today’s headlines is not enough.

To make sense of religion in public life, we need not only track breaking stories or flip through reels on our social media feed but lift our eyes to the horizon, looking for emerging patterns, global developments, and stories still unfolding.

As 2025 ended and 2026 began, I had the chance to contribute to two recent efforts to chart that horizon: the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s “6 to 7 Trends to Watch in Religion and Society in 2026” and ReligionLink’s 2026 predictions.

In prepping this piece I took a quick look at CNN's, BBC's, and The Africa Reports' front pages. Here are the religious headlines that caught my eye:

Did Pope perform miracle?
60 seconds in an "atheist church"
Multiple news stories on al-Dawla al-Islamiyya (ISIS)
War against Boko Haram nears its end
Reports of rising anti-semitism in U.S., on college campuses

As part of my wider passion for religious literacy and dedication to helping religion journalists deliver religion news with relevance, fairness, and depth I was recently appointed as one of the newest Board Members serving the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA).

The RNA is the world's only journalism association for people who write about religion in the news media. The RNA offers training and tools to help journalists cover religion with balance, accuracy and insight including a smashing annual conference (Philadelphia, PA - August 27-30, 2015) aimed at informing headlines and networking newswriters; the Reporting on Religion Primer; and Religion Link with fresh, free, story ideas and expertise.

It is exciting times for RNA and the field of religion newswriting. While challenges are plenty with the general decline of print newspapers, there are also new opportunities to be found online and in new venues passionately dedicated to specializing on religion, not just carrying it as a sideshow. We are also finding that the "god beat" is now the regular romp of political columnists, economics experts, and other journalists. This means that the number of interdisciplinary "religion newswriters" is increasing, often finding themselves wearing multiple media hats and transcending print and digital boundaries.

With all this said, sometimes journalists struggle to understand religion, know their resources for reporting on it, fail to apperceive its real-world effects, or appreciate the insiders' point-of-view. As Diane Winston -- the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC Annenberg -- recently said, "The next generation of reporters should understand the importance of religion in the daily lives of Americans and learn how ordinary people look for and find meaning, identity, and purpose." I couldn't agree more.

RNA is here to help and I'm humbled, honored, and excited to contribute as a board member in the years to come!