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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Update: Italy Unfreezes $33 million in Vatican Funds
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Prosecutors in Rome on Wednesday (June 1) released $33 million (23 million euros) in Vatican funds that had been frozen last September pending an investigation for possible money laundering. The...
Lawyers: Faith-healing Parents Sought Care for Daughter
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Two faith-healing parents pleaded with child-welfare workers for permission to take their infant daughter to a doctor and keep her out of state custody, defense attorneys said Tuesday (May 31)....
Seeking God’s Will? Try Finding God’s Dream
I've made a transition in recent years in the way I think and talk about God's will. For many people, the will of God is a mysterious, elusive and frustrating concept. Too often, we have made it into a game that...
British Churches Support Nepali Asylum-Seekers
Red tape and government stonewalling have left a Nepali Baptist couple stranded in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in England – and fearing for their lives if they're made to return to their homeland. Govinda...
Flipping Taxes to Turn Around States’ Deficits
An organization called United for a Fair Economy (UFE) issued the report "Flip It to Fix It: An Immediate, Fair Solution to State Budget Shortfalls" in late May. The report discusses the injustices caused by the...
Showing respect
I suppose it's not surprising that I'm still reflecting on memories and experiences left over from a 12-day visit to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. In my role as a shepherd of sorts, one of my jobs was to keep an...
Supreme Court Decision on Immigration Draws Applause, Criticism
Anti-immigration advocates applauded the Supreme Court's decision last week that upheld a 2007 Arizona law that would punish businesses that hire undocumented migrants. "The Supreme Court gave a big boost to proponents...
Myth Busted: U.S. Not Founded as Christian Nation
Political mythology provides the opportunity to construct a historical genealogy that both frames the overall public discourse and the mystical, if not spiritual, justification for maintaining oppressive and repressive...
Finding Faith Through Questions, Not Answers
At the bottom of my email messages, I have this quote from Thomas Merton: "A person is known better by his questions than his answers." These words sum up my understanding of religious faith. Faith is not about...
Messiah Alumni Rally Around Gay Student
GRANTHAM, Pa. (RNS) Alumni at evangelical Messiah College have launched an online petition urging the conservative Christian school to change its policies toward gay and lesbian students. The petition has collected...
God at the Root of Malick’s ‘Tree of Life’
LOS ANGELES (RNS) Terrence Malick’s new film, “Tree of Life,” is nearly indescribable. Not because its beauty or virtuosity are beyond words, although it has its moments. “Tree of Life,” which opens on Friday (May 27),...
Southern Baptist Pastor, Fox Host Get Facts Wrong
A Southern Baptist megachurch pastor appeared on a Fox News program last month and used falsehoods and innuendo to challenge the president's faith. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, appeared on...
When Christians Refuse to Dialogue with Society
Not many readers of The Baptist Times will have lost any sleep over the predictions of the 89-year-old U.S. radio show host Harold Camping that the elect would be snatched up to heaven on May 21, and that everyone else...
A Critical Examination of the New Old Atheism
"Same Old New Atheism" is a 6,800-word review that places the trendy "New Atheism" in the context of previous efforts to establish scientific positivism in the place of religion. Religion, in turn, is to be done away...
Praying homeward: TravelBlog 11
Participants in the 2011 Bible Lands Study Tour sponsored by Campbell University Divinity School completed their visit to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan with a full day in Jerusalem before a late night, overnight...
Bishop Long Settles Sex Suit Out of Court
(RNS) Bishop Eddie Long, an Atlanta-area megachurch pastor, has settled suits out of court with four young men who accused him of sexual misconduct, his church announced Thursday (May 26). “After a series of...
Crystal Cathedral Goes Up for Sale
(RNS) The Crystal Cathedral has announced plans to sell its iconic glass-walled church in Southern California to pay back creditors and overcome bankruptcy. Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman, daughter of founder...
Empty Religiosity Ignores Issues of Justice
Buddhists all over the world celebrated Vesak last week. It is the commemoration of both the birth and the attainment of Enlightenment (nirvana) by Gautama, the Buddha. In Sri Lanka, a society that prides itself on...
How End-Of-World Prediction Erred Literally
Harold Camping, the California preacher who predicted the world would begin coming to an end May 21, 2011, has offered a five-month reprieve. Now, the world will come to an end Oct. 21, 2011. Camping's original...
Spanish Quake’s Damage Includes Baptist Churches
Baptists were among those affected by the earthquake that struck southeastern Spain on May 11. The tremors in the historic city of Lorca, in southeastern Spain, registered 4.5 and 5.2 and were the biggest to hit the...
Too much to remember: Travelblog 10
The penultimate day of Campbell University Divinity School's "Bible Lands Study Tour" for 2011 was one of those days with so many parts that participants get to the end of the day and can't remember what they had for...