Tomorrow’s religion news today: 5 storylines for 2025

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At the end of 2024, members of the Religion News Association named the reelection of Donald Trump, along with other dynamics and demographics related to the election, the top domestic U.S. religion story and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza the international religion story of the year.

Other top U.S. stories included rising antisemitic speech, harassment and assaults; the strain the war in the Middle East is putting on Jews’ and Muslims’ traditional Democratic loyalties; and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s signing of a law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public classrooms. 

As 2025 begins, these stories are ongoing, sure to continue capturing headlines. 

But what other news will snare our attention in the year to come? What trends, storylines and events will occupy our social media feeds and fly across the airwaves? 

This edition of ReligionLink is dedicated to stories that could possibly top the lists in 2025, providing background, resources and expert sources for you to turn to as the news unfolds over the next 12 months.

  • The second coming of Donald Trump 
  • Keeping an eye on the world’s chaos
  • Insecurity, wellness and “human-centered” cultures
  • Kumbh Mela, Jubilee and other religious events
  • What we will be covering …

The second coming of Donald Trump

It is perhaps no surprise that the election of Donald Trump — and the role that evangelicals and Muslim voters played in the election — was a major story in 2024. 

But how might Trump’s second trip to the Oval Office impact the religion beat? 

Ask any religion reporter and they will tell you they expect the new Trump administration to impact their beat and their reporting even more in 2025. 

And looking ahead, the biggest policy story looks to be immigration. Trump has promised mass deportations and his border czar, Tom Homan, is planning on implementing said plans with “shock and awe.” Trump has also said he will shrink the refugee cap and the number of immigrants allowed into the country and hinted that he will no longer let churches and other “sensitive locations” claim sanctuary status so that they can harbor undocumented immigrants.

**Read ReligionLink’s recent guide on immigration**

With religious groups often at the forefront of immigrant activism in the country and many minority religious groups made up of immigrants, what the Trump administration does — and how religious groups respond — will be a top religion story in 2025.

At the same time, other religion-related storylines are sure to emerge in connection to Trump’s second term in office. As Whitney Phillips at the University of Oregon wrote, “religious rhetoric […] is likely to suffuse the White House and the overall MAGA media landscape in 2025.”

Religion reporters have the opportunity to approach the next year with “curiosity” — as The New Yorker’s Emma Green put it — and a critical recommitment to the balance, accuracy and insight that characterizes the religion beat. 

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  • Matthew Brooks

    Matthew Brooks is the chief executive officer of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a political organization working to strengthen ties between the Republican Party and American Jews.

  • Jen Butler

    The Rev. Jen Butler is the founder and former CEO of Faith in Public Life, a progressive, faith-based organization that advocates for policies on immigration, LGBTQ rights and other issues. She is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and previously served as chairwoman of the White House Council on Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships.

  • John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics

    The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics advances the study of the intersection of religion and politics and publishes the journal Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera. It is based at Washington University in St. Louis. Mark Valeri is director.

    Contact: 314-935-9345.

  • Chelsea Sobolik

    Chelsea Sobolik is a writer based in Washington, D.C., where she is also director of government relations at World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization and the largest evangelical refugee resettlement in the U.S.

  • Matthew D. Taylor

    Matthew D. Taylor is a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, where he specializes in Muslim-Christian dialogue, evangelical and Pentecostal movements, religious politics in the U.S. and American Islam. Media inquiries should be directed to ICJS’ communications and marketing director, John Rivera.

  • Ali A. Valenzuela

    Ali A. Valenzuela is an associate professor at American University in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on race and racism in U.S. politics and campaigns; Latina/o/x attitudes, preferences and turnout in U.S. elections; immigration and demographic change in the U.S. and its political consequences; U.S. public opinion and voter behavior; as well as ethno-racial and religious identities in politics.

  • Alicia Wrenn

    Alicia Wrenn is vice president of resettlement and integration at HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees and was originally known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Wrenn leads U.S. programs supporting refugees and asylum-seekers.

Keeping an eye on the world's chaos

The day after the U.S. elections were over, Germany’s government collapsed. Though the uneasy coalition between the center-left Social Democrats, Greens and liberal, market-minded Free Democrats was already creaking due to disagreements over the economy, immigration, upholding the rule of law and strengthening democracy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s call for snap elections took on new significance after Trump’s win.

Then, in early January, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation due to a mounting set of crises, including Trump’s tariff threats. Meanwhile, the Labour government in the United Kingdom has run aground just months after coming to power. Elsewhere, the new rulers of Syria, HTS, are working hard to consolidate their rule amid Kurdish calls for independence, and the Israel-Hamas war threatens to pick up again after a brief ceasefire. In Africa, Sierra Leone is experiencing increased strife between religious groups as already simmering tensions in Mauritania, Morocco and Western Sahara heat up even more. And in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideology remains powerful and persuasive, despite recent electoral setbacks.

All of this is to say, it will behoove reporters to keep a keen eye on religion’s role in global affairs and on the state of religious freedom across the world in the year to come.

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  • Mohammed Abu-Nimer

    Mohammed Abu-Nimer is a full professor in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at American University and the Chair of the Said Abdul Aziz for Peace and Conflict Resolution. He previously served as the director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute from 1999 to 2013 and is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. He has researched, intervened and conducted conflict resolution workshops around the world, including in the Palestinian territories, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, the Philippines (Mindanao) and Sri Lanka. Abu-Nimer is also a senior adviser to KAICIID, the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

  • Judd Birdsall

    Judd Birdsall is the project director of the Transatlantic Policy Network on Religion and Diplomacy and a senior research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is also the editor of Religion & Diplomacy and a senior editor and a frequent contributor at The Review of Faith & International Affairs.

  • Elizabeth K. Cassidy

    Elizabeth K. Cassidy is senior strategic adviser at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Her substantive expertise includes the International Religious Freedom Act, international organization issues, international and comparative law issues, and refugee and asylum policy.

  • Aykan Erdemir

    Aykan Erdemir is director of global research and diplomatic affairs at the Anti-Defamation League and is a former MP in the Turkish Parliament. He is on the advisory council for FoRB  Women’s Alliance and is one of the founders of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, a global network of parliamentarians committed to advancing the right to freedom of religion or belief for everyone, everywhere.

  • FoRB Women’s Alliance

    FoRB Women’s Alliance is an international community of religious freedom and human rights advocates seeking to advance, facilitate and support solutions for freedom of religion or belief for women.

  • Nazila Ghanea

    Nazila Ghanea is the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. She is professor of international human rights law and director of the Master of Science in international human rights law at the University of Oxford.

  • Palwasha L. Kakar

    Palwasha L. Kakar is the interim director for religion and inclusive societies at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Kakar joined USIP after four years with the Asia Foundation, where she was the Afghanistan director for women’s empowerment and development. Before that, Kakar led the Gender Mainstreaming and Civil Society Unit in the United Nations Development Program’s Afghanistan Subnational Governance Program, managing a small grants program for Afghanistan’s civil society initiatives. Kakar also served as program manager for the Gender Studies Institute at Kabul University. She has experience working with the World Bank Group on gender, social justice and environmental issues surrounding their various projects in the region.

  • Religions for Peace

    Religions for Peace is an international coalition of representatives from the world’s religions dedicated to promoting peace and was founded in 1970. Email contact through webpage.

    Contact: 212-687-2163.

  • Gaetan Roy

    Gaetan Roy is the official representative from the World Evangelical Alliance to the United Nations. He is also chairman of network-m and a board member of the Association of Evangelical Missions, and he represents evangelicals both in the German and European parliaments. He has extensive experience in international humanitarian aid and advocacy.

  • Erin D. Singshinsuk

    Erin Singshinsuk serves as executive director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She is responsible for directing the day-to-day operations of the commission and managing its staff.

Insecurity, wellness and "human-centered" cultures

The cost of living, international conflicts, economic uncertainty, climate angst, technological encroachment: This is just a short list of the issues causing anxiety and insecurity as 2025 begins.

Although there may be bright spots and cautious optimism among some, global optimism remains below standards and “Americans foresee a somewhat challenging year ahead,” according to Gallup.

In general, amid existential insecurity, people turn to religious beliefs and practices to cope. People pray more amid conflict, look to religious leaders for comfort and comment when disaster strikes and rely on religious communities and organizations for aid.

Looking ahead, and in keeping with a trend toward more “spiritual” and “secular” sources of comfort, religion reporters would do well to cover how large numbers of people are turning to meditation, mindfulness and other sectors of the “wellness industry” for succor and security in the face of fear and uncertainty.

Following the pandemic and its emphasis on health and well-being, the wellness industry has continued to boom. Coupled with an aging population, chronic disease, an increased focus on mental health, technological availability and general insecurity about the future, wellness trends look set to gain more traction in 2025 and beyond.

Wellness gurus and guides abound online, each predicting new trends in the wellness space — things such as drinking less alcohol, finding community connection, building “human-centered” cultures in workspaces and adopting hybrid fitness, mixing traditions such as yoga with sleep-maxxing smartwatches — lacing their teaching and recommendations with spiritual buzzwords and a mix-match of religious rituals.

How might religion reporters cover these trends and connect them to long-standing currents in American religion or global spirituality? Below are resources and sources to help you explore more.

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Relevant sources

  • Elizabeth Bucar

    Liz Bucar’s research and writing covers a wide range of topics — from sexual reassignment surgery to the politics of religious clothing — but generally focuses on how a deeper understanding of religious difference can change our sense of what is right and good. She is the author of four books, including Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation, and the award-winning Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress. Bucar is also director of Sacred Writes: Public Scholarship on Religion, a grant-funded project that provides support, resources and networks for scholars of religion committed to translating the significance of their research to a broader audience.

  • Susannah Crockford

    Susannah Crockford is a lecturer in anthropology at Exeter University, specializing in environmental and medical anthropology and the anthropology of religion. Her first book, Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona, deals with issues related to the politics and economics of wellness, health and spirituality. She is working on a second book, a multi-sited ethnography of climate change.

  • Mark van Ommeren

    Mark van Ommeren studies how traumatic experiences affect mental wellness for the World Health Organization.

The Jubilee and other religious events

Already, the largest religious festival in the world — the six-week-long Kumbh Mela — is underway, with 350 million to 400 million gathering in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to take a dip in sacred rivers amid the specific alignment of the heavenly bodies to wash away sins and accrue spiritual merit (punya).

But that is just the start of major religious events in 2025. Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of Feb. 28, lasting throughout March, with Purim and Passover in March and April respectively and Holy Week coming for millions of Christians in April.

Christians will also commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, held from May 20 to July 25, 325, in what is today İznik, Turkey.

Roman Catholics already started the Jubilee Year 2025, which officially began with Pope Francis opening the first Holy Door on Dec. 24 at St. Peter’s Basilica. Since Pope Boniface VIII instituted the Holy Year in 1300, the Jubilee has been a significant event in the life of the Catholic Church.

For centuries, the Jubilee has been synonymous with physical pilgrimage. But experts believe financial constraints, health concerns and technological convenience might mean most Catholics will celebrate the Holy Year of pilgrimage without a trip to Rome. Instead, reporters should look to how parishes are adapting their offerings for those unable to travel, offering “mini-pilgrimages,” prayer services, volunteer opportunities and resources such as “virtual pilgrimages.”

Religious events are fairly common fodder for reporting and commentary. But whatever religious event reporters are covering this year, it will be important to write about religious events in what could be called a new era of faith engagement: How might spiritual technologies, home-based practices and local pilgrimage change the way we do religion? How might interfaith families celebrate and mark the holidays? What of diaspora communities who are far away from the usual places they practice their faith?

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ReligionLink's 2025 source guides

Here at ReligionLink, we will be following the above storylines closely. We also have a robust line up of monthly source guides on a range of relevant issues and narratives we think need the balanced, accurate and insightful coverage that our subscribers and followers do so well.

With that in mind, here are some of the source guides coming your way over the next 12 months:

  • Church/state separation, education and social services under Trump
  • Religious responses, and resistance, to the Trump presidency
  • Religion and America’s housing crisis
  • Intrareligious minorities
  • Religion in strange places
  • Interfaith families
  • Religious diaspora communities in the U.S.
  • Systems journalism and religion reporting
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