Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
First Lady Seeks Help for Military Families
WASHINGTON (RNS) First lady Michelle Obama has asked religious leaders to join her initiative to assist military families by increasing programs to support veterans and the families of military members deployed far...
Muslims Wait for Signs of Change from Obama
(RNS) Officially, President Obama was talking to the Muslim world in his State Department speech on Thursday (May 19), but U.S. Muslims were equally interested in how their faith will be treated in a post-Osama bin...
Power of Community Can Address Hunger, Poverty
This past week a group of about 20 from our church traveled to the Williams community just outside Jacksonville, Ala., near the campus of Jacksonville University. We went to offer whatever assistance and support we...
USA Today Compares Climate-Change Deniers to Birthers
USA Today compared the deniers of climate-change science to birthers – those who claimed President Obama was born in a foreign country and thus an illegitimate president – expressing the opinion of the paper's...
Does Stephen Hawking’s View of Heaven Compute?
Who doesn't like Stephen Hawking? For 49 years he has "lived with the prospect of an early death" from Lou Gehrig's disease, yet he has fought the disease with remarkable courage. His "A Brief History of Time" has sold...
Flash of Recognitition
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on May 8, 2011. Luke 24:13-35 If we saw a dollar bill lying on the floor, most of us would probably stop and pick it up. But if we...
The Example of Youth
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., May 8, 2011. 1 Timothy 4:11-16 Morning Prayer: We thank you today, O God, for the arms that have held us when we were small and arms that hold...
The Example
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on May 15, 2011. Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25 Most of you are aware that I preach from the lectionary....
From Buies Creek to the Sea of Galilee: TravelBlog 1
Long trips, whether for leisure, work, or a study tour, all begin with getting there. A group of 31 students, alumni, family members and friends of Campbell University Divinity School began a 12-day tour of Israel and...
Israel Removes Land Mines from Site of Jesus’ Baptism
QASR EL YAHUD, West Bank (RNS/ENInews) Pilgrims are flowing back to the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River as Israel removes 40-year-old land mines and makes improvements to the area. “It is a very...
Amnesty International Chides Vatican for Abuse
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Amnesty International has criticized the Vatican for falling short of its commitments to protect children from sex abuse. “The Holy See did not sufficiently comply with its international obligations...
Bishops at Center of Abuse Scandal, and Potential Reform
WASHINGTON (RNS) A sweeping new report on the clergy sex abuse scandal compares the Roman Catholic Church to police departments, with similar hierarchies, moral authority and isolated working environments. And because...
Four Traps That Await Clergy When They Move
A minister recently asked me what I thought were the major traps that most often snared ministers when they moved to a new congregation. Great question! Healthy churches and ministers pay attention to potential trouble...
British Baptists Take Stand Against Tax Evasion
Tax justice campaigners have welcomed the call by British Baptists to tackle corporate tax evasion. Delegates at the Baptist Assembly, the joint annual meeting of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) and BMS World...
Living in a World Where We Embrace Our Mortality
Picture a world where, at birth, you are hurled off a cliff – a really, really high cliff, so that it takes a lifetime to reach the bottom. You would "grow up" on the way down (if you can imagine such a thing) moving...
Who is God, But The Lord?
A sermon delivered by Howard Batson, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx., on May 15, 2011. Psalm 18 We don’t really understand what it means to have the presence of God, to have the protection of God. But in...
Going to camp; learning stuff
By John Pierce As summer approaches, my thoughts always turn to camp. Going to various camps was as big part of my youth: Boy Scout camp, church camp, 4-H camp and Safety Patrol camp — even though I never served...
Ready and waiting …
I'll be ready and waiting on May 21, when radio preacher Harold Camping believes judgment day is coming. I'm not at all surprised when folks like him come up with a new date for the rapture, even though Jesus pointedly...
Churches Asked to Share Pulpits with Muslims
(RNS) Religious and human rights activists are asking U.S. churches to invite Jewish and Muslim clergy to their sanctuaries to read from sacred texts next month in an initiative designed to counter anti-Muslim bigotry....
Mormons, Baptists Assist in Tornado Clean-up
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Mormon missionaries are often unwelcome guests when they knock at local front doors wearing white dress shirts and holding a Book of Mormon. But after a tornado, when Mormon missionaries arrive...
RNS Exclusive: Report Spreads Blame for Catholic Sex Abuse
NEW YORK (RNS) Nearly a decade after revelations of widespread sexual abuse of minors rocked the Catholic Church in the U.S., a comprehensive report on the scandal is set for release on Wednesday (May 18), hoping to...