Thursday, May 7, 2026
5/7/202628 min
This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
On today’s edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses the trend of the rise of church attendance, the life and legacy of Ted Turner, and the politics, morality, and ridiculous fashions of the Met Gala.
Part I (00:13 – 13:38)
Church Attendance is Higher in New Report– What is Going on with the Trend of the Rise in Church Attendance?
- Study: In-person worship attendance in U.S rises for first time in decades by NPR (Jason DeRose)
- Worship attendance at churches up for the first time in decades, according to new report by Religion News Service (Bob Smietana)
- Signs of Rebound Amid Uneven Recovery: The Changing Congregational Landscape by Hartford Institute for Religion Research
- “This Place Means Everything to Me”: Key Findings From a National Survey of Post-Pandemic United States by Hartford Institute for Religion Research
Part II (13:38 – 22:58)
Media Titan “Mouth of the South” Dies at 87: The Life and Legacy of Ted Turner
- Ted Turner, Creator of CNN and the 24-Hour News Cycle, Dies at 87 by The New York Times (Jonathan Kandell)
Part III (22:58 – 27:37)
Carnality, Consumerism, and the Cultural Elites at Their Most Elite: The Politics, Morality, and Ridiculous Fashions of the Met Gala
- Met Gala isn’t frivolous. Fashion matters more than ever. by USA Today (Kofi Mframa)
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlbert Mohler· Host0:00
[intro music] It's Thursday, May 7, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Well, you had some big headlines coming out in recent weeks about statistics about religion in the United States, in particular about Christianity in the United States, in some studies Christianity and Judaism. But the big story here is the fact that you have some credible reports indicating that church attendance has gone up for the first time in many decades. So just looking at the period, especially since the end of the COVID pandemic, there has been a significant increase in church attendance. So theologically, biblically, in terms of the Christian worldview, what in the world is going on here? Well, for one thing, you have a big issue in the United States, and the big issue has often been described as American exceptionalism. And then the debate is over how exceptional the United States is. What's the exceptionalism? Well, in the modern age, the trend has been, especially from the midpoint of the 20th century, toward a decline in religious influence, the binding power of religion, and of course, in the Western civilization that means Christianity by and large, the, the waning or the declining social force, social authority, moral authority of Christianity in the culture. And of course, one of the ways that's measured is in numbers, and church attendance