Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Slow driving
Saudia Arabia is striding toward the future -- about an inch at the time. And then backwards about three-quarters of that. Saudi King Abdullah announced earlier this week that women in his country would finally get the...
Dead Sea Scrolls Now Available Online
JERUSALEM (RNS) Five of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been stored for decades in a climate-controlled exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem are now available in digital form to anyone with an Internet connection....
Christians Outraged as BBC Drops B.C./A.D. Dating Method
LONDON (RNS) British Christians are incensed after the state-funded BBC decided to jettison the terms B.C. and A.D. in favor of B.C.E. and C.E. in historical date references. The broadcaster has directed that the...
Update: Church/jail Sentencing Program Under Review
BAY MINETTE, Ala. (RNS) An alternative sentencing plan that would give inmates the choice between time in jail or a year in church will be delayed for several weeks while lawyers review it to make sure there are no...
Three Reasons Why Jesus Condemns Rich, Favors Poor
It seems that as the gap between the very rich and everyone else grows, many of those who are wealthy have taken defensive positions that expose how out of touch they really are. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has suggested...
Pope Must Solve Church’s Biggest Problem “ Apathy
Random headlines from daily newspapers which reached our door recently: "Pope Ventures Into Land of Luther, and Criticism," "A Papal Homecoming to a Combative Germany: Benedict Faces Calls for Change," "Pope to Visit...
Privatized Prison Corporation Promotes, Profits from Anti-Immigration Laws
Corrections Corporation of America is a private prison corporation that profits from anti-immigration laws it helps to pass. National Public Radio reported in October 2010: "NPR spent the past several months analyzing...
Amnesty International Slams Irish Catholic Church on Abuse
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A new report by the Irish branch of Amnesty International says the sexual abuse of children by Ireland’s Roman Catholic priests “included acts that amounted to torture and inhuman and degrading...
Best-selling Pastor Is Off to L.A. to Write More books
GRANDVILLE, Mich. (RNS) Megachurch pastor Rob Bell, whose best-selling book raised evangelical eyebrows by questioning traditional beliefs on hell, knew it was time to address the “giant, glowing, loud” elephant in the...
Criminals Offered Choice of Time in Pews or the Pokey
BAY MINETTE, Ala. (RNS) A new alternative sentencing program that offers first-time, nonviolent offenders a choice of a year in church or jail time and fines is drawing national attention, including fire from the...
Exercising the Virtues Requires Much More than Courage
Street evangelists are perhaps some of the most courageous Christians I can think of, but until they begin to emphasize the rest of the four cardinal virtues, their ministry will lack a Christian method. As students on...
Catholic, Methodist Bishops Scheduled for Documentary Screenings in Georgia, N.C.
United Methodist and Catholic bishops are scheduled as panelists at screenings of "Gospel Without Borders" at Baptist churches in early October. "GospelWithoutBorders," on faith and immigration, is the newest...
Team from Haiti Receives Help to Attend Paralympics
Plans to bring a Paralympic team from Haiti to compete in the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games were officially unveiled recently. Titled "The Dream," the more than $388,000 project (about 250,000 British pounds) involves...
Rolling acorns
The dog has picked up a new habit. As we leave the house for a near-dawn walk each morning, he runs left and right a couple of times, as far as the retractable leash will allow him, then he grabs an acorn from the road...
Catholic Anti-abortion Group in Financial Trouble
(RNS) A leading Catholic anti-abortion group whose leader is under scrutiny for failing to disclose financial details reported a $1.4 million deficit in 2010 despite collecting tens of millions of dollars in donations...
Pope Seeks Protestant Allies to Combat Secularism
BERLIN (RNS) All faiths have to work together to stanch the tide of secularism sweeping the world, warned Pope Benedict XVI on Friday (Sept. 23) during the second day of a tour through his native Germany. Benedict...
Rob Bell Isn’t First Megachurch Pastor to Seek Life Beyond the Pulpit
(RNS) For pastors with ambitions to reach huge audiences, there’s often no better platform than the megachurch, which has given rise to powerhouse media empires from T.D. Jakes to Max Lucado to Joel Osteen and many...
From Obama to The Daily Show, Talk of Fair Taxation
President Obama spoke from the Rose Garden last Monday morning about economic growth and deficit reduction. He talked about a government that spends less and collects more, the latter through changes to the tax code....
Hard-Working Immigrants in Greece Face Dilemma
When we returned to Greece after two weeks in the United States, an Albanian friend approached us so happy, so uncharacteristically joyful. She blurted out that she had found more work. Never mind that she was working...
Sometimes, We’re Called to Abandon Common Sense
A recently posted comment in response to a news interview with Ellin Jimmerson – who is featured in "GospelWithoutBorders" and who is suing in an effort to block Alabama's new immigration law – suggested that a more...
Trouble on steroids
A scary melange of religion and public policy reared its fearsome head Sept. 20 when Rick Perry, governor of Texas and a potential Republican candidate for president, took advantage of the "should the U.N. recognize...