Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The need to nudge
Despite his overuse of acronyms, Leonard Sweet has some important things to say. My colleague Tony Cartledge interviewed the author/minister/teacher for an upcoming article in the autonomous, national news journal...
Toxic sludge, anyone?
When a large dam holding back a massive reservoir of highly alkaline waste from a Hungarian aluminum plant burst on Monday, the red sludge tore through villages and killed several people before finding its way into...
Ex-gay Group Ends Support of Students’ Day of Truth
(RNS) A leading “ex-gay” group, concerned about a recent rash of anti-gay bullying, has ended its role in the annual “Day of Truth” events that encourage students to express their opposition to homosexuality. The...
Jewish Paper Faces Firestorm over Gay Wedding Announcements
TEANECK, N.J. (RNS) After enduring “a firestorm” of criticism from all factions of Judaism, New Jersey’s oldest Jewish newspaper says it overreacted in printing and then rescinding its first published same-sex wedding...
ACLU Files Suit over Nose Ring
(RNS) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed two federal lawsuits in the Carolinas, alleging religious discrimination over a teenager’s nose ring and prisoners’ lack of books other than the Bible. In South...
“The Social Network”
Some people have great ideas but lack what it takes to make them something more than a notion in their heads. And some people can take your idea and make it into something you never dreamed it to be. Mark Zuckerberg,...
Washington State Faith Leaders Advocate for Tax Reform
What do Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Washington state Lutherans have in common? They both support I-1098, a November ballot initiative to redress the state's regressive tax system. "Washington State has one of the...
Tax Exemption: Not a Right But a Privilege
An Oklahoma church may be in jeopardy of losing its tax-exempt status. Ironically, that is exactly what the pastor wants. Fairview Baptist Church pastor Paul Blair deliberately broke the law on Sunday, Sept. 26, by...
The right to express ignorance
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could have far-reaching implications concerning First Amendment freedoms. The case involves the family of a slain Marine and those sick-minded persons who...
Report Finds Strong Growth in U.S. Orthodox Churches
(RNS) America’s Eastern Orthodox parishes have grown 16 percent in the past decade, in part because of a settled immigrant community, according to new research. Alexei Krindatch, research consultant for the Standing...
Mormons Divided on LDS Apostle’s Speech on Gays
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Scores of Mormons say they felt confused and bruised after Apostle Boyd K. Packer unequivocally condemned same-sex marriage and insisted that gays can change their attractions with enough faith. It...
Zacchaeus’ Tree Now a Top Tourist Destination
JERUSALEM (RNS) A huge sycamore tree that some believe was climbed by Zacchaeus the tax collector to get a better view of Jesus is the centerpiece of a new tourism campaign by the Palestinian government. The tree is...
Guatemalan Research: Disturbing Echo of Tuskegee
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized last week to the Guatemalan people for gross ethics violations committed by U.S. researchers in the 1940s. From 1946-48, a...
How You Can Make Your Pastor’s Sermon Better
Healthy churches hear good preaching. Few would disagree with such a statement. However, the definition of good preaching is about as easy to agree upon as is good taste in fashion. Our definition of good preaching...
Discover How You Can Help Eliminate Hunger
Our world is filled with hungry people. Hunger, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (1971), has three meanings: · The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the exhausted...
On the Willows
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City Mo., on October 3, 2010. Psalm 137 Today we’re joining forces to maintain and care for this gathering point we call “our church.”...
Faith on Its Knees
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on October 3, 2010. Lamentations 3:22-26; Luke 17:5-10 Have you ever been overwhelmed by the immensity of...
Living with Suffering, Pain, and Hope
A sermon delivered byWendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on September 26, 2010. Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:19-26; 2 Timothy 2:1-14 There is no quick or easy way to discuss the problem of...
The Good Life
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, First Baptist Church,Winston-Salem, Nc., on September 26, 2010. 1Timothy 6:6-12, 17-19 If you keep up with movies, you know this weekend has seen the return of one of the most...
Running out of memory
My first computer had no hard drive, just slots for two 5 1/4 in. floppy disks -- one with the operating system, the other for data storage. Memory for the storage disk was measured in kilobytes. My next one had a very...
Vatican Perplexed by Nobel Awarded to IVF Creator
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican’s top bioethics official expressed “perplexity” after the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday (Oct. 4) to the inventor of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Bishop Ignazio Carrasco de...