Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Methodists Shun the Bottle That No One Wants to Talk About
(RNS) The Rev. James Howell knew he had a problem on his hands when several teenagers arrived at a church dance drunk and had to be taken from the church by ambulance for treatment for alcohol poisoning. Starting in...
Pope Neither Condemns, Endorses Libya Attacks
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI voiced “fear and trepidation” about the “disturbing news coming from Libya” in a carefully worded statement that neither endorsed nor condemned U.S. and European attacks against...
Fla. Pastor Presides at Burning of Quran
(RNS) The controversial Florida pastor who halted plans to burn a Quran on the 9/11 anniversary last year oversaw the burning of the Islamic holy book on Sunday (March 20) after it was found “guilty” during a “trial”...
Southern Baptist State Lawmakers on “Dirty Dozen” List for Extremist Views
A Southern Poverty Law Center report identified 12 state legislators for their radical-right beliefs on immigration, conspiratorial attitudes and involvement with hate groups. Four of the 12 were Southern Baptists. The...
What Politicians Mean When Extolling U.S. Exceptionalism
"U.S. exceptionalism" has become neo-conservatives' justification for foreign policies that would be condemned if other nation-states implemented them. The rhetoric that proclaims the United States as "the greatest...
Healthy Churches Don’t Look Down on Wanderers
The book of James closes with a most interesting assertion: "My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from...
Some blooms unwelcome
Unless you suffer from severe allergies, it's hard not to like spring, when flowers are everywhere from window baskets to shrubs to trees. My pansies are bursting with springtime energy, the azalea buds are about to...
Dominican Program Explores, Expands Lay Spirituality
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) As a student at Aquinas College in the 1980s, David Lincoln was on track to become a Roman Catholic priest. While those pastoral aspirations were later rerouted, Lincoln still wanted to serve...
Obama Taps Campuses for Interfaith Service Projects
WASHINGTON (RNS) The White House is hoping to recruit America’s college and seminary students in a nationwide interfaith service campaign that was launched Thursday (March 17). In the next month, the Obama...
Missionaries Grapple with Leaving Japan
(RNS) Wolfgang Langhans, a Tokyo-based field director for missionaries, calls the week since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan “the busiest and most stressful week of my life.” But when those twin crises created a...
“Inside Job” Unveils Finance Industry’s Greed
Until I saw Charles Ferguson's documentary film "Inside Job," I thought Simon Johnson and James Kwak's book "13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown" provided the best introduction to the...
When Experience Becomes Monumentally Unhelpful
Usually, I pay my respect to those with experience. I value the experience of others who are skilled, accomplished, knowledgeable and who simply have done it. Yet, there are times when experience is monumentally...
Methodist Foundation Funds EthicsDaily.com Documentary on Immigration
The United Methodist Foundation of Arkansas is the major sponsor of an educational documentary on immigration being produced by EthicsDaily.com. The documentary is designed for use in churches to bring more light and...
They’re back!
By John Pierce All around Macon, Ga., the abundant cherry blossoms have returned in their full glory. So have the tree gawkers from near and far. So has the annual festival. Once again pink-wearing old people will...
Court Rejects Mother’s Religious Home-school Arguments
(RNS) The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling on Wednesday (March 16) that orders an 11-year-old girl to enroll in public school instead of being home-schooled by her mother. Although the girl’s...
Schuller Says He Wouldn’t Have OK’d Church’s Gay Covenant
(RNS) Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller said Wednesday (March 16) he never would have approved a recent covenant choir members were asked to sign urging them to be Christian and heterosexual. “I have a...
Priest Forced to Give up 40 Days of Muslim Lent
FERGUSON, Mo. (RNS) The Rev. Steve Lawler should have just given up chocolate or television for Lent. Instead, Lawler, the part-time rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, decided to adopt the rituals of Islam for...
Group Claims Environmentalists Belong to “Cult”
The Psalmist declares, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." However, a group of evangelicals known as the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation seems to take issue with that notion....
Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Fuels Violent “Solutions”
The Kansas House Appropriation Committee debated on March 15 if the population of 500 wild hogs should be controlled by using gunmen in helicopters. During the debate, state Rep. Virgil Peck Jr. (R-Tyro) said, "If...
Australian Baptists Help Japanese Baptist Congregations
Australian Baptists are focusing their response to the unfolding crisis in Japan on the Baptist community. "Japan is one of the world's largest and most advanced economies. It does have significant capacity, supported...
Just how dumb …
... do they think I am? It wasn't enough that for years I've received near-weekly emails from "Sister Beatrice" in India or "the honorable" something-or-other in the Republic of Congo, claiming they have millions of...