Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Citizens United: One of High Court’s Worst Fails
In January 2010, the Supreme Court made one of its worst decisions in years, if not decades, and maybe even the worst since the Dred Scott case in 1857. In a 5-4 split decision, the court ruled in favor of Citizens...
Perry Drops Out of GOP Race, Backs Gingrich
Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday he was suspending his presidential campaign and endorsing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. The announcement came more than two weeks after Perry finished a distant...
Support Candidates Who Embody Our Best Values
As the Republican candidates for president crisscross South Carolina, spewing venom at each other and producing lots of heat but no light, I have to ponder what I want for our country. I want everyone to have adequate...
Called and Recalled
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on January 15, 2012. The Second Sunday after Epiphany I Samuel 3:1-10 Psalm 139: 1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51; I Corinthians 6:12-20...
Hemmed In
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on January 15, 2012. Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51 If you have a credit card or three, from time to time you receive...
The Loser
A sermon delivered by Howard Batson, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx., on January 15, 2012. Psalm 51 This time of year, we’ve just passed the season of the “fired football coach.” The crowd is fickle, you...
At 27, New Imam Represents a Homegrown American Islam
ST. LOUIS (RNS) At just 27 years old, Asif Umar is the new imam of Daar-ul-Islam mosque, the largest mosque in the metro area. The son of Indian immigrants is devoted to the city’s sports teams, marking the end of...
Christians Report Lowest Growth Rate in Israel
JERUSALEM (RNS/ENInews) Christians have the lowest growth rate among the Israeli population, according to a recent report from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the Jan. 6 report, the Christian...
Flood of ˜De-baptisms’ Worries European Church Leaders
PARIS (RNS) A decade ago, Rene Lebouvier requested that his local Catholic church erase his name from the baptismal register. The church noted his demands on the margins of its records and the chapter was closed. But...
Where’s Your Congregation’s Focus: Inward or Outward?
When a congregation wants to get, stay or remain healthy, one of the key questions it asks has to do with the balance between its internal and an external focus. One excellent congregational exercise to help with this...
Five Ways to Put an End to Your Ersatz Sermons
While reading a book produced in England about the history of rock 'n' roll music, I kept coming across the phrase "ersatz albums," as in "several ersatz albums followed their well-received debut." Given that the word...
Are Exemptions Given to Religious Groups Just?
Those who observe United States Supreme Court decisions on "church and state" are dealing with what many call the most important "religious liberty" case in decades, at least since the 1940s. Like so many cases, this...
Eighteen years …
Could it really be 18 years? Eighteen years since the cold January morning when seven-year-old Bethany and I happened along as a hopelessly drunk young man pointed his truck from bar to home, only to meet us in...
Just stylin’
By John Pierce A neatly-dressed man in a crisp Pittsburgh Pirates cap and I struck up a casual conversation. Eventually I made some comment about his cap — and the challenges the team it represents has faced in...
Muslims Say Ron Paul is Their Kind of Republican
(RNS) Growing up in rural parts of the American West, Nadja Adolf’s libertarian streak developed early on. “When you come from a countryside that can kill you,” said Adolf, a Muslim convert in her late 50s, “there is a...
Will Evangelical Endorsement Fuel Santorum Surge?
(RNS) The Iowa caucuses revived Rick Santorum’s underdog presidential campaign. Now an influential assortment of Christian conservatives has moved to consecrate it. On Saturday (Jan. 14), the former U.S. senator from...
Tennessee Bishops Set for Documentary Panel on Immigration
Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist bishops will speak to Tennessee clergy on Jan. 24 at Nashville's Loews Vanderbilt Hotel on the situation of undocumented immigrants following a screening of a new documentary –...
Flawed Arguments Against the Bible, Evolution
I recently attended a gathering at which an evolutionary biologist – a distinguished professor at South Carolina's flagship university – offered his observations and answered questions from the audience following a...
John Wesley Speaks to Vulture Capitalism
What would John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and the preacher of one of the most famous sermons on the use of money, say about vulture capitalism? First, what is vulture capitalism? Vulture capitalism is a verbal...
The Mindless Reasoning of Pseudo-Scientists
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was notorious among his contemporaries for his cynical view of human nature. Hobbes held that we always act out of self-interest. Once, a friend observed him giving...
Growth Transitions Can Challenge Congregations
In discussing church development, we often categorize churches by size. The most common taxonomy is family size (1 to 50 participants); pastoral size (51 to 150 participants); program size (151 to 350); and corporation...