Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
An Interview with God: “Who Said I Endorsed Them?”
After considerable scheduling complications, I am pleased to report that I was able to hold a brief interview with God. Obviously, the Almighty is an incredibly busy personage, and time available for interviews like...
Democracy’s Banquet “ It’s For All Not a Select Few
Were Peter and the disciples just peeved? Rather than inviting them to share an intimate dinner together on the lakeshore with just barely enough bread and fish for their party, Jesus had made it a humongous banquet...
Rick Perry Invokes God’s “Calling” to Prepare Presidential Run
As Rick Perry's prayer rally kicks off in Houston's Reliant Stadium tomorrow, Perry continues to consider whether he is being "called" to run for president. The Republican Texas governor's presidential considerations...
Blessed Interruptions
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on July 31, 2011. Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21 Have you ever wanted just a little peace and quiet, a time and...
Wake Up!
A sermon delivered by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, Farmville Baptist Church, Farmville, Va., on July 30, 2011. Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 17:1-7, 15 Who likes to be awakened while deep in delicious sleep? I...
The Bone Crusher
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on July 31, 2011. Genesis 32:22-31 Jacob’s wrestling with the angel on the bank of the Jabbok River is shrouded in mystery and...
Examination
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on July 17, 2011. Genesis 28:10-19a; Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24; Romans 8:12-25 Some stories hit so close to home that they are hard to...
Fertile Soil
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on July 10, 2011. Psalm 119:105-112; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Romans 8:1-11 One day a customer walked into a garden center and...
Hats off to a courageous church
I would like to publicly congratulate Flat Rock Baptist Church of Mt. Airy, North Carolina for its courage in following God's leading, even at the cost of being spurned by kindred congregations. And I would like to...
Judge Bars Witch Hunt Comment from Faith-healing Trial
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (RNS) A state medical examiner who concluded that two members of an Oregon City faith-healing church were victims of a prosecutorial “witch hunt” will not be allowed to offer that opinion when...
Colleges Sign Up for Obama’s Interfaith Program
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 250 colleges, universities and seminaries have submitted plans to the White House for yearlong interfaith service projects in response to a campaign launched by the Obama administration....
With Spotlight on Mormon Faith, Scholars Gather to Defend It
(RNS) Mormon founder Joseph Smith may have declared all churches to be wrong, even apostate, but he also defined Mormonism as “an inclusivist faith that not only sees and appreciates goodness and truth in other...
Finding Beauty When We Look Beyond the Surface
Probably nothing evokes our area of the country more than a magnolia blossom. Although the trees themselves are impressive with their shape, height and waxed leaves, when the blooms emerge, they almost speak, saying...
Listen Up: Why Your Pastor’s Sermons Don’t Help
I was surprised and perplexed as I examined my curious, contradictory behavior. My wife and I go each summer for a week to the ChautauquaInstitution in western New York state, where we hear outstanding ministers from a...
Couple Face Deportation, Allege Abuse by British Guards
Supporters of a Nepali Baptist couple seeking asylum in Great Britain claim they were verbally abused and the husband physically assaulted by U.K. Border Agency (UKBA) guards. Govinda Pokharel and Jamuna Rijal were in...
Water talks
Water is one of those things you don't think about until you don't have enough of it, or on the rare occasions when you have too much. Then it jumps up and screams at you and gets your attention. I've thought about it...
Women Show Deep Drop in Church Attendance, Survey Says
(RNS) Women, long considered the dominant pew dwellers in the nation’s churches, have shown a dramatic drop in attendance in the last two decades, a new survey shows. Since 1991, the percentage of women attending...
Faith Leaders Challenge Alabama’s Immigration Law
(RNS) Leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Monday (Aug. 1) to stop enforcement of the state’s new immigration law, which they say could strike at the...
Poll: American Muslims Hopeful About Life in the U.S.
(RNS) Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, an extensive new survey of Muslims finds them as optimistic as other Americans, even as large minorities of Christian Americans question Muslims’ loyalty to the United States....
Prayers Not Hitting the Ceiling? Remember This
I have always been a little jealous, but at the same time impressed, with folks who give a lot of time and effort toward praying. I am especially impressed by those who, without any hesitation, put so much faith in the...
Atheism 2.0: Taking Cues from Religion
The popular philosopher Alain de Botton gave a lecture at a recent TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, on what atheists need to learn from religion. In the blog of the science...