Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Polish Church Ready to Unveil World’s Largest Christ Statue
WARSAW (RNS/ENInews) A Polish bishop has invited fellow Catholics from around the world to attend an unveiling on Sunday (Nov. 21) of the world’s largest statue of Christ. The statue, located about 20 miles from...
Don’t Start the Funeral for Megachurches Yet
Recent news reports tell us that Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in California has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Church leaders disclosed that the church is close to $50 million in debt. Some have seen this as...
How to Make Sure Everything’s Well With Your Soul
The news was good from my recent routine doctor's visit. Keep doing what you're doing, the doctor told me as she noted that I also had lost five pounds since my last annual check-up. But an hour or so later, my mind...
Culture War Is Back for Christmas
America's culture war at Christmas is back, except this year fundamentalist Christians and Fox News didn't fire the first salvos. Nope, by all accounts, the godless fired first on the God-believers. Who knew that...
Things I don’t understand
The Book of Proverbs speaks of things that appear beyond human understanding: There are three things that are too wonderful for me, four that I do not understand: the way of...
Student Survey Says Some Likely to Throw Punches
(RNS) A recent survey of 43,000 high school students found that public school students were more likely to participate in physical violence, while private school students were more likely to have teased or taunted...
U.S. Hunger Stats Stable, but Still at Record High
WASHINGTON (RNS) The number of Americans struggling with hunger remained stable in 2009 despite the economic downturn, but remained at the highest recorded level, according to new federal figures. The U.S. Department...
German Church Allows Gay Pastors to Live with Partners
BERLIN (RNS) Gay and lesbian Lutheran ministers in the conservative German state of Bavaria may live with their partners in parish parsonages, but only if they enter into a state-sanctioned civil union. Although the...
How Churches Must Face the Economic Downturn
The Great Recession has created seismic shifts in religious life in America. During the Exceedingly Long Recovery, congregations need to pay careful attention to equations that describe our "new normal" or help pave...
Honoring the Sabbath When You’re Out of Work
"Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. The seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, you shall do no work that day" (Exodus 20:8-10). How many times have you sat...
Will Iraqi Christians Find Asylum in Britain?
The call by Archbishop Athanasios Dawood for Christians to leave Iraq and be given asylum in Britain is likely to be heard far more clearly in Iraq than it is here. The recent terrible events – the attack that left 50...
Rightsizing the Gospel
By John Pierce
The Gospel is too big for us. It calls us to do things we are unwilling to do.
Love our enemies? It’s hard enough to love all of our family and friends.
Bishops Defend Opposition to Health Care Reform
BALTIMORE (RNS) The outgoing head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops vigorously defended the bishops’ opposition to the health care reform bill, asserting that only bishops can speak for the church on matters...
U.S. Activists Lobby Against U.N. Defamation Resolution
WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious freedom advocates are urging members of the United Nations to vote against the latest proposal from Islamic countries to combat “defamation of religions.” For the last decade, the...
Pope Warns Athletes on Doping
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday (Nov. 15) warned against doping in athletic competition, a practice he called incompatible with “human and Christian values.” The pope made his remarks at a meeting with...
Why It’s Important to Question the Bible
I was recently engaged in an exchange on Facebook when the question of Paul was raised. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned the fact that some of Paul's teachings had been used to support the subjugation of...
Glenn Beck Revises History to Suit His “Facts”
Someone has said, "Everyone has a right to his or her opinion, but not to his or her facts." I thought of that saying recently while watching Glenn Beck, who hosts one of television's most watched talk shows. Beck, who...
Torture’s Justification Exposes Political Corruption
Here are two more indicators of depraved political leadership in the United States. President George W. Bush now says he authorized the "waterboarding" interrogation technique on suspected terrorism detainees. And the...
Stones
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor , Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on November 14, 2010. Isaiah 12:1-6; Luke 21:5-19 When Janet and I visited Scotland in 2003, we toured...
Radical Faith In A Better World
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on November 14, 2010. Isaiah 65:17-25 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be...
Infinite Possibilities
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City Mo., on November 14, 2010. Isaiah 65:17-25 Six centuries before Jesus was born, the great Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the...