Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Don’t Let Political Campaigns Shape Your Life
Everyone knows the political season is in full swing. The political ads on television and radio and those annoying automated phone calls are in full operation. I am looking forward to the elections just because I want...
Presbyterian Pastor to Appeal Gay-marriage Verdict
(RNS/ENInews) A retired Presbyterian pastor who was formally rebuked by a church court for marrying same-sex couples in California will appeal the ruling. The Rev. Jane Spahr was found guilty of violating her...
Ex-leader of Belgian Catholics Urged Victim to Keep Silent
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Secret audio recordings show the former head of the Belgian Catholic Church asking a sex abuse victim not to expose the crimes of his assailant, a bishop who was the victim’s uncle. The tapes,...
New Orleans Marks Katrina Anniversary with Grief, Hope
(RNS) With a light rain falling, hundreds of New Orleanians gathered at St. Louis Cathedral on Sunday (Aug. 29) afternoon to remember Hurricane Katrina in grief, gratitude and hope, in the words of New Orleans...
Butterfly musings
I've always liked butterflies. There's something about them that shouts of God's abundance in blessing the world with, as the old Anglican hymn says, "All Things Bright and Beautiful." That's one of the reasons we...
Man Sues Mormon Church over Baptism Back Injuries
(RNS) A Las Vegas man is suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for medical expenses after he injured his back in 2007 performing baptisms for the dead. In a civil suit filed in 3rd District Court on...
Poll: Muslims Give Obama Highest Approval Ratings
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than three-quarters of U.S. Muslims support President Obama, a distinctly mixed blessing for a White House trying to combat rumors that Obama is a secret Muslim. A new Gallup Poll shows that Obama...
Church Court Convicts Pastor on Gay Marriage Charges
(RNS) A Presbyterian court on Friday (Aug. 27) found a retired California pastor guilty of violating church rules and her ordination vows by performing same-sex marriages while it was briefly legal in the state in...
Glenn Beck Calls America Back “ To a Generic God
Fox News host Glenn Beck muddled biblical references with fragments of American history, recreating a pottage of civil religion that says America has a divine destiny and claiming that a national revival is beginning....
Duties to the State from a Romanian Orthodox Church Perspective
I have a Scripture reading system in which I read first from the Gospels and then from the Epistles. I read this as well as a selection of Psalms every day. One day I came across a section of St. Paul's letter to the...
Back to School Again? The Ethics of Doctoral Studies
It's that time of year when classes begin and all kinds of students start back to school, including people in ministry and Christian vocations seeking the highest levels of degree attainment. But there's a lot of...
Some things are hard to explain
Free concerts are held along the Chattanooga Riverfront — a few steps from my weekend abode — each Saturday evening in late summer. The artists range from country to jazz to less-clearly describable. A band called...
Ever suffered from “baptizer’s back”?
The Associated Press is reporting that a Las Vegas man is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) over injuries he claims to have received while baptizing more than 200 people at the Mormon temple...
The Note Read, “BHO is a Marxist”
A short man with a neatly trimmed beard told me at the end of the worship service that he didn't want to go against the Word of God but that he did want me to read a note he had written. He handed me a twice-folded...
Graphic Novels Hold Mirror Up to Society
I have loved comics since I was 7 years old. My grandmother bought me a copy of "Justice League of America" on a trip to the drugstore, and I was hooked. Back then the comics told tales of guys and gals in long...
Ensuring Interest Rates Don’t Gouge the Poor
As new regulation on the finance industry became effective recently, news reports indicate that the average interest rate on credit cards is 14.7 percent – the highest level of average interest in nine years and 11.45...
Western Wall to Feature New One-way Partition Between Men, Women
JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish authorities at the Western Wall hope to replace the existing opaque partition that separates the men’s and women’s prayer areas with one that will enable female worshippers to see...
Conservative Groups Push Against Hiring Rules in Federal Funding
WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of mostly conservative religious organizations is urging Congress to amend a proposed bill that would bar them from making personnel decisions based on religion if they receive government...
Irish Catholics Deny Cover-up of Paramilitary Priest
DUBLIN (RNS/ENInews) The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has denied engaging in a cover-up of a priest who was allegedly involved in a 1972 bombing that killed nine people in Northern Ireland. A report released...
A big, yet incomplete, step
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified 90 years ago today, on Aug. 26, 1920, No longer was the voting booth for men only. The battle had been long and hard. Women fought for the right...
Should Poor Church Members Be Coerced to Give?
The church has always had a very ambiguous relationship to money and hard economic times. The Gospels comment frequently on the trappings of money, and the New Testament consistently encourages Christians to give of...