Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Anti-Immigration Bills March Through State Legislatures
The Arizona Senate's rejection of five anti-immigration bills hasn't slowed the pace of anti-immigration bills surging through statehouses in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee....
God’s extravagance
I love dogwoods. I just do. For most of the year, they're most unremarkable trees, but in the springtime, when they blossom, they grab me. A dogwood in the backyard shades my patio. When the breeze rustles its...
For Every Action, an Equal and Opposite Reaction
(RNS) The website of the Dove World Outreach Center describes the tiny church in Gainesville, Fla., as “a New Testament church based on the Bible, the Word of God.” Someone might want to tell them that they missed that...
Millionaire Buys Paintings so Church Can Keep Them
CANTERBURY, England (RNS/ENInews) A self-effacing multimillionaire has become a local hero after buying a series of 17th-century religious paintings and then donating them back to the Church of England in a bid to help...
Top U.K. Druid Charged with Money Fraud
LONDON (RNS) One of the prominent figures in the revived ancient priesthood of Druidism in Britain has been charged with defrauding the government of 40,000 pounds (about $25,000) in welfare payments over the past...
Four Ways for Ministers to Become Entrepreneurs
For centuries the church has taken Ephesians 4 to heart and suggested that there are five primary roles for a minister to fulfill. Modern ministers are expected to embody these roles as needed and with a significant...
Reducing One Kind of Entitlement to Protect Another
Some stars seem to be aligning in a way that makes clear what is happening in our congressional leaders' efforts to respond to our deep economic deficit problem. · First star: Wail and woe over how much "government...
Anti-Semitism Has No Place in Islam
Rabbi Eric Yoffie presented his concerns about the possibility of anti-Semitism gaining traction amid the revolutionary tumult now sweeping the Arab world in a recent opinion piece – "An Appeal to My Muslim Friends."...
Young Mormons Advised not to Delay Marriage
(RNS) Single Mormon men who are postponing marriage should get to it right away, church President Thomas S. Monson said Saturday (April 2) at an all-male priesthood session of the church’s 181st Annual General...
Man Denies Author’s Claim that He killed Malcolm X
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) For 46 years, the chief assassin of slain civil rights icon Malcolm X has been hiding in plain sight in Newark, according to a major new biography of the African-American leader released Monday...
Supreme Court Takes Dim View of Church-state Challenges
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court on Monday (April 4) rejected a challenge to an Arizona school tuition credit program critics contend was principally benefiting religious institutions. The 5-4 decision, combined with...
Dim Bulbs? GOP Pols Are Light-Bulb Pro-Choicers
Political conservatives are opposing energy conservation with bills in Congress, South Carolina and other states. U.S. Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced in...
How Will Churches React to British Government’s Cuts?
Those who attended the demonstrations in London on March 26 must have felt they were too large to ignore. Perhaps as many as 400,000 people marched against the British government's cuts, and this before they have...
Civil War, Freedom Ride Anniversaries Offer Time for Truth-Telling
Two fast approaching anniversaries place race in the middle of the public square and at the center of the sanctuary, offering a time for truth-telling by those of moral good will. One is the 150th anniversary of the...
Small irritants, big problems
A personal experience and an ugly news story came together for me yesterday. The personal experience involved a growing abscess just behind the spot where I had a back molar pulled about five weeks ago. A piece of...
Ala. Church Bans Employees’ Social Networking with Minors
MOBILE, Alabama (RNS) The Archdiocese of Mobile has told staff and volunteers who work with children that electronic communication with minors must be limited to “providing information related to a ministry or event...
Faith-healing Ore. Couple Released from Prison
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Two members of a controversial Oregon City church that rejects medical treatment were released from prison Wednesday (March 30) after serving time in the faith-healing death of their teenage...
Deadly Afghan Riots Blamed on Quran Burning at Fla. Church
(RNS) The Florida pastor who presided over the recent burning of a Quran said the United Nations must protect Afghans from deadly riots, even as he denied responsibility for inspiring them. At least eight U.N. aid...
U.S. Senator’s Top 10 List of Corporate Tax Avoiders
Four days after the appearance of a New York Times news story about how General Electric did not pay taxes, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) compiled a list of the top 10 corporations that avoid paying or pay almost nothing...
“Fighting for Darfur” – Why Advocacy Fell Short
As bombs fall over Libya, the U.N. Security Council debates what actions to take - or not take - with regard to the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire. And while those of us with the luxury of distance debate whether what will...
Sure, The Facts Are Accurate, But Is The Story True?
"What is truth?" Pilate did not seem to know. Jesus did. I have been thinking a lot about truth these last few weeks. Reading quotes on websites and in newspapers and listening to people suggest the "sky is falling"...