Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Family Feud
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga., November 7, 2010. Luke 12: 13-21 Several years ago, I did what Jesus, according to Luke, declined to do. I...
Now That I Believe: I Give As I Am Blessed
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., November 7, 2010. 2 Corinthians 8:12-15 Meditation Text: What I always say to people is that if you take the standard of 10 percent and say...
Actress Pushes Churches to Reach Out to Prisoners
(RNS) Jesus left his followers with precious few commands: love thy neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the prisoner among them. So why do so many churches have such a hard time with that last one?...
Mormons Soften Language on Gays
(RNS) A newly published compilation of guidelines used worldwide by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has softened the language about gay Mormons. The book, known as the Church Handbook of...
Pope Outlines Scope of Irish Abuse Probe
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Catholic archbishops of New York and Boston will meet personally with victims of abusive priests as part of a Vatican investigation of the Catholic Church in Ireland, the Vatican announced on...
Third Time’s A Charm: Kentucky Town OKs Mosque
Mayfield, Ky., my hometown, will have a Muslim prayer space after all. The city’s board of zoning adjustments recently reversed itself and approved a Somali man's request for such a space, which the media and many...
Conservative Christian Leaders Plot to Replace Obama
Conservative Christian leaders from across the nation met two months ago near the Dallas airport to strategize about replacing President Barack Obama with someone who matches their agenda – a move that paralleled an...
Clergy Plotting to Defeat Obama Lack Moral Integrity
Conservative Christian leaders are plotting against President Obama, hoping to do to him what they did to President Jimmy Carter: use their moral authority and organizations to remove a fellow Christian from the White...
Contempt + meanness = big trouble
President Obama has been visiting Indonesia, one of my favorite countries -- where the good morning greeting is "selamat pagi," where bananas and mangoes grow wild, and where street vendors sell satay cooked over tiny...
Many Will Die if Health-Care Reform is Dismantled
While discoursing during his final week in Jerusalem on the fate of the temple, Jesus tells his disciples that not only will it be laid to ruins ("not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down"), but...
“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”
Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is back in the public mind these days with a new show on CNN – and a new feature documentary about his rise and fall. One might also add that the popular new CBS show "The Good Wife"...
When Christians Favor Retribution Over Forgiveness
According to a recent survey conducted by the Michigan-based Fetzer Institute, more than 60 percent of Americans feel the need for more forgiveness in their lives. And more than 90 percent feel the need for more...
Cardinal Says U.S. Morally Obliged to Protect Iraqis
WASHINGTON (RNS) The nation’s leading Catholic bishop said the U.S. has failed to help Iraqis develop the means and political will to protect its citizens, particularly Christians, dozens of whom have been wounded and...
Pope Answers Ahmadinejad’s Provocative Letter
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI replied in a diplomatic and general terms to a provocative letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pledging to find common efforts for “peace and reconciliation” with the...
U.K. Churches Warn Government on Forced Employment
EDINBURGH, Scotland (RNS/ENInews) British churches have criticized a government plan to remove unemployment benefits from people who refuse to accept jobs offered by labor officers. “There is a serious danger that...
Were simpler times all that simple?
By John Pierce
In our fast-paced, high-tech living there are moments when we yearn for simpler times. At least, I do.
My own upbringing was pretty simple. Life revolved around home, church, school and community events (like Boy Scouts and Little League) with a small circle of friends.
Carlock’s grocery didn’t even have an olive bar. But they did offer credit for those needing milk and bread a week ahead of payday.
However, not everything was simpler in the past. Pay phones were a pain compared to cell phones — especially when making long-distance calls and continually feeding an undeterminable amount of coins into the slot.
Tossing a plastic “key” on the hotel counter as I leave sure beats the old ordeal of checking out that often involved long lines, cost disputes over phone calls and lost real keys.
Thoughts of simplification seem to arise this time of the year as we face the holiday season head-on. Will it exhaust us and cost us too much? Will we reach January 2, 2011 refreshed or depleted?
Simpler holidays require going against the commercial flow. Ignoring the hype that consumes the consumers. Only intentional planning can keep meaningful traditions while avoiding frenzy.
Massive Pentecostal Meeting Means Massive Bucks for City
ST. LOUIS (RNS) When is a church convention more than just another church convention? When 40,000 saints from the Church of God in Christ come marching in and relocate the year’s largest convention from one...
Study Calls for Sensitivity in Muslims’ Medical Care
(RNS) U.S. doctors need to take religious values into account while providing health care, especially when the patient is a Muslim woman, according to a new study in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Dr. Aasim Padela, the...
Poll: Christians Most Likely to Want N.Y. Islamic Center Moved
(RNS) Christians are more likely to say a proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan should be built farther away from Ground Zero than Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians, according to a new Gallup Poll. Park51, a...
Standing Firm in Difficult Times
Theologian Karl Barth said Christians engage the world best with a Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Recently, the testimony of struggle from the first-century letter to the church in Thessalonica came...
Britain’s Child Detention Policy Challenged
The British government's policy of detaining children at immigration removal centers was challenged in the High Court recently. Although the coalition government has pledged to end the controversial practice and is in...