Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Pentagon: Chaplains Can Celebrate Gay Marriages
WASHINGTON (RNS) Military chaplains can lead same-sex marriage ceremonies on and off military bases, the Pentagon announced Friday (Sept. 30), in a move that closely followed the repeal of a ban on openly gay service...
Jury Convicts Dale, Shannon Hickman of Manslaughter
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) A jury on Thursday (Sept. 29) unanimously convicted an Oregon couple, Dale and Shannon Hickman, in the faith-healing death of their infant son. Both parents were found guilty of second-degree...
When God Doesn’t Seem to Answer Our Prayers
I have been praying hard for the last couple of weeks while trying to make something happen that I needed to happen in a right-now-Lord kind of a way. A couple of times I came at the Lord like the stubborn widow in...
Politicians, Faith Leaders React to Anti-Immigration Ruling
When a federal district court upheld most portions of Alabama's anti-immigration law last week, state officials voiced a triumphant note while faith leaders offered mixed commentary. Alabama Republican Gov. Robert...
Speak up for Youcef
I've had Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani on my mind a lot this week. It's hard not to: he's been sentenced to hang for the crime of converting to Christianity when he was 19. He's 34 now. First arrested in 2009 when...
Supreme Court to Weigh Churches’ Hiring Rights
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday (Oct. 5.) will hear one of most important religion cases in decades, centered on the degree to which religious institutions should be exempt from anti-discrimination...
Mother Cares for Her Son’s Amish Victims
LANCASTER, Pa. (RNS) Terri Roberts was eating outside with a co-worker on a bright October day when an ambulance wailed nearby and a helicopter swooped overhead. As she often did at a sirens’ sound, Roberts said a...
Churches Lose Fight over Ala. Immigration Law
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (RNS) A federal judge jolted the national immigration debate on Wednesday (Sept. 28) by approving most parts of Alabama’s aggressive immigration law that religious leaders had called the “meanest” in...
“Moneyball”
I love baseball and – baseball movies. "Field of Dreams," "The Sandlot" and "The Natural" are some of my favorites. Each has a terrific story set against a diamond backdrop. Baseball once was the most popular...
What Does God Expect from His Tenants?
Sympathy toward an absentee landlord, difficult though it may be, is exactly what the Gospel writers ask of us in a narrative assigned to the voice of Jesus. (See Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12 and Luke 20:9-19.) The...
Capitalism “ God’s Plan for Hard-Working Christians?
The Baylor University report on "The Values and Beliefs of the American Public" found that 40.9 percent of Americans "strongly agree" and 32.2 percent "agree" that "God has a plan for them." What exactly that means is...
Getting Serious: Loving Missions To Be A Star Thrower
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on September 25, 2011. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Morning Prayer: O Lord, you did make us all. We honor you today as creator of the world and all...
A Forgetful God
A sermon delivered by Howard Batson, First Baptist Church, Pastor, Amarillo, Tx., on September 25, 2011 Hebrews 10:17 Ernest Hemingway began one of his short stories entitled “The Capital of the World” with the...
What Do I Know for Sure?
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga., on September 25, 2011. Philippians 1:3-6 What do you say after almost thirteen years and 560 sermons? To be honest with...
An Unanswered Question
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on September 25, 2011. Ezekiel 18:25-29; Matthew 21:23-32 Charles Campbell tells of the time he was watching television and...
Report Says Trends for U.S. Churches Mostly Pointing Down
(RNS) American congregations have grown less healthy in the last decade, with fewer people in the pews and aging memberships, according to a new Hartford Seminary study. But there are also “pockets of vitality,”...
Parents of Dead Baby Defend Use of Faith-healing
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Two years to the day after their newborn son died, two parents accused of choosing faith healing over medical care said Tuesday (Sept. 27) that given the chance, they would do nothing...
U.S. Christians Rally Around Iranian Pastor
WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious freedom advocates rallied Wednesday (Sept. 28) around an Iranian pastor who is facing execution because he has refused to recant his Christian faith in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. The...
“Divided” Demonizes Youth Ministry, Sunday School
The recent film "Divided" has attracted national media attention for its critique of age-based church ministries, targeting youth ministry in particular. But despite the film's message that families should be more...
Federal Judge Upholds Most of Alabama’s Anti-Immigration Law
A district judge upheld Wednesday most parts of an Alabama law passed in June that is widely considered the nation's harshest anti-immigration law. U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn had temporarily blocked...
Saudi Women May Be Allowed to Vote, But Not Drive
Saudi Arabia is striding toward the future – about an inch at a time. And then backward about three-quarters of that. Saudi King Abdullah announced earlier that women in his country would finally get the right to vote...