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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Muslim Cabbie Fights Ticket over Religious Cap
ST. LOUIS (RNS) Taxi driver Nabeel Langrial was chatting with another cabbie last summer when an enforcement agent for the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission stopped to tell him his hat did not conform to the driver dress...
Ore. Couple Convicted in Faith-healing Trial
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) After just an hour of deliberation, jurors on Tuesday (June 7) unanimously found two members of a faith-healing church guilty of felony criminal mistreatment for not seeking medical care for...
Feds Rule Against a Second Catholic College
(RNS) For the second time this year, a federal regulator has rejected the First Amendment arguments of a Catholic college and cleared the way for the school’s adjunct faculty to unionize. In a May 26 decision, the...
What Would Bonhoeffer Say to 21st-Century Issues?
Quaker Richard Foster has drawn the topographical map of Christian spirituality with its streams of "spiritual traditions" (contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice and evangelical). Baptists are found all...
Ecological Challenges Need Spiritual Leadership
The world's environmental challenges will need to be met by a "different quality of spiritual leadership," according to veteran green campaigner Jonathon Porritt. Speaking at a Christian Ecology Link meeting in...
A Public Prayer Whether You Like It Or Not
A high school in Texas has been involved in a lawsuit regarding prayer at graduation. As Christians, should we be more concerned about the "right" of prayer or another individual's faith struggle? This past weekend,...
Beside still waters
Hot summer days can lead to parched summer plants. So I often find myself, usually at some early morning hour, wandering around the yard with garden hose or watering can in hand, doing what I can to keep my plants...
Egyptians Want Advice, Not Rule, of Clerics
WASHINGTON (RNS) Four months after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a new Gallup survey says a majority of Egyptians want religious leaders to advise the nation’s officials but they do not want a...
Ore. Faith-healing Trial Draws to a Close
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Two parents accused of denying medical care to their infant daughter are the victims of religious persecution, inflexible bureaucrats and unreasonable expectations, a defense attorney said...
Miss. Woman Named World’s Longest-serving Church Organist
MOSS POINT, Miss. (RNS) For the past 69 years, Ida Mae Cumbest has been the pianist and organist at Caswell Springs United Methodist Church—a tenure that qualifies her as the world’s longest-serving church organist....
Conservatives Must Choose: Ayn Rand or Jesus
Progressive people of faith and Democrats need to take some time studying Ayn Rand to fully understand the political significance of all the conservative leaders lining up to praise her. The GOP has a huge problem if...
Conservative Christian Panelists: U.S. Christians Persecuted
Editor's Note: Also read Brian Kaylor's previous coverage of the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference: Religious Conservatives Cheer Trump at Conference and Huntsman Avoids "Faith" Questions at Evangelical Event....
Five Reasons Some Christians Overlook Trump’s Lack of Piety, Humility and Fidelity
What explains the Christian right's love affair with Donald Trump? He's profane, twice-divorced and a self-promoter. He has made a living on building casinos and objectifying women. He worships wealth and struts with...
History trumped by pop culture
Whitefield Chapel By John Pierce Whitefield Chapel, on the Bethesda Orphanage (now Academy) campus in Savannah, Ga., is named for the founder of this oldest, continuous charity in North America. One of the best-known...
Poll: Two-thirds of Americans OK with Mormon Candidate
WASHINGTON (RNS) Roughly two out of three Americans say it makes no difference to them if a presidential candidate is Mormon, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, although evangelicals are more cautious. The...
Irish Abuse Probe Finishes First Phase
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A Vatican investigation of clerical sex abuse in Ireland has finished its “first phase,” the Vatican announced on Monday (June 6), but a published report of its findings may not appear until next...
Evangelicals: Bachmann Speaks Our Code
WASHINGTON (RNS) Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned several hundred Christian conservatives gathered here last week (June 3-4) not to expect a “perfect candidate” to emerge from the field of Republican presidential...
War Criminal’s Arrest Begins to Close Terrible Chapter
The capture of Ratko Mladic begins at least to bring to a close some of the unfinished business remaining from the terrible Bosnian War. Forty years after the end of World War II, which saw the Balkans drenched in...
Injustice in Global Labor Market Is at Church’s Doorstep
It is tempting to read Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged rape of a hotel maid as paradigmatic of the International Monetary Fund's attitude toward poor nations and their citizens. It is also tempting to see the incident...
Huntsman Avoids “Faith” Questions at Evangelical Event
Editor's Note: Also read Brian Kaylor's first installment of coverage of the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference: Religious Conservatives Cheer Trump at Conference. Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman,...
Spin city, legislative style
It's always fascinating to see how sloganeers can distort issues simply by the names they attach to them. Campaign rhetoric is the worst, and with the 2012 elections approaching, we'll soon see and hear enough of...