Kara Bettis Carvalho is an opinion writer and editorial board member at The Boston Globe, where she writes about South Coast Massachusetts, religion, immigration, affordability, education, politics, and cultural trends.

Before working at the Globe, Kara was senior features editor at Christianity Today, where she wrote and edited feature-length essays about theology, ethics, and politics. She also helped develop the ideas and books sections.

In addition to her work at Christianity Today, Kara has experience editing book manuscripts and academic articles. A religion journalist by training, Kara has a special focus on reported features and profiles. Her work has appeared in Christianity Today, The News & Observer, Common Good Magazine, Religion Unplugged, RELEVANT Magazine, Christ and Pop Culture, The Gospel Coalition, Insider.com, and others.

Her profile writing has won several awards, including honors from the Evangelical Press Association and the Zenger House. She is an alumnus of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute fellowship (‘14), the Faith Angle Forum fellowship program (‘23), and the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab-Templeton Religion Trust fellowship (‘24).

Kara holds a bachelor’s degree in media studies from The King’s College and a master of arts in theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Kara also serves on the board of New England Urban Church Planting. She and her husband live in southern Massachusetts, where they serve in their local church, lead a college ministry, remodel their fixer-upper, train at CrossFit, and hike with their Australian cattle dog.