Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Mosque’s Name Isn’t Code for Islamic Conquest
When I first learned that the Islamic center in lower Manhattan would be called Cordoba House, I saw only the beauty in it. The symbolism of the name seemed obvious. Cordoba was a city in which Muslims, Jews and...
Five Ways to Lead Your Church to Change
"How can I get them to change?" As a small-church pastor, I think I've asked myself that question at least once a day in every church I have pastored. Wanting the churches we pastor to change is part of our DNA. We see...
Seton Hall to Proceed with Class on Gay Marriage
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) It appears Seton Hall University will offer a controversial course on gay marriage over the objections of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, according to the professor scheduled to teach the...
Conservative Lutherans to Form New Church Body
(RNS/ENInews) Conservative Lutherans are forming a new church body they say will “uphold confessional principles” after disagreements with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the ordination of gay clergy....
Scottish Church Official Supports Release of Libyan Bomber
EDINBURGH, Scotland (RNS/ENInews) The Scottish government was right to show compassion and to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Scotland, an official of the (Presbyterian)...
Corn off the cob
Like many teenagers, my son Samuel doesn't eat a lot of vegetables, but he loves corn, all the way from the "baby corn" that comes with Chinese food to big ears of corn on the cob. He doesn't care too much for canned...
World Vision Wins Right to Hire, Fire Based on Religion
(RNS) World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization, can fire employees who disagree with its theological tenets, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday (Aug. 23). In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court...
WCC to Meet in Cleveland to Tackle Racism
CLEVELAND (RNS) Members of the World Council of Churches, representing more than 560 million Christians in 110 countries, will gather in Cleveland to discuss how to expose and combat racism around the globe. The...
Conservatives Claim Victory as Judge Halts Stem Cell Funding
WASHINGTON (RNS) Conservative Christian groups won a major victory Monday (Aug. 23) when a Washington judge halted federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to allow a suit challenging the practice as illegal to...
Religious Right Linked Politics, Conservative Christianity
EthicsDaily.com's news analysis story recounts the transformation in American politics emerging from the Religious Roundtable's National Affairs Briefing in 1980. By nearly all accounts, that event marks the rise of...
Four Suggestions to Finding Peace in the Ministry
Healthy ministers are true to themselves and their calling. Being true to self is a moving target; we grow and evolve over a lifetime. I remember reading an article noting the human brain isn’t fully developed until...
The Triumph of Love
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., August 1, 2010. Hosea 11:1-11 The more I read about the founding of our country, the more convinced I am that America never should...
What I Believe: God Is
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., August 15, 2010. Genesis 1:1-5 and John 1 Morning Prayer: Our Father, we have heard that you are the same yesterday, today, and...
Future of Destroyed Ground Zero Orthodox Church in Doubt
NEW YORK (RNS) Buried by falling rubble from the World Trade Center towers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all that remained of the tiny St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church were some candles, two icons and a bell...
Boston Archdiocese Blocks Employee Access to Critical Blog
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has blocked a conservative website from employees’ computers, saying the anonymous bloggers, who have sharply criticized archdiocesan leaders, were causing a...
Pope Chides France after Gypsies Are Deported
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In an apparent criticism of France’s mass deportation of Roma (Gypsy) immigrants, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday (Aug. 22) urged French-speaking Catholics to accept legitimate human diversity and...
CBF “2012 Task Force” Must Navigate Curve Between Jerusalem and Jericho
Separated some 20 years ago, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Southern Baptist Convention have found themselves on parallel tracks, establishing task forces to figure out where to go in the future. While CBF's...
A Woman I Know Faces Execution in Virginia
Teresa Lewis faces execution on Sept. 23. She is the first woman scheduled for execution in Virginia in almost 100 years. I knew when I met Teresa I was taking a risk. The more I invested, the more painful the journey...
Politicians Employ Hate and Fear to Oppose Mosque
I was recently walking down 14th Street in Washington, D.C., when I was stopped in my tracks by an inscription I read under a monument. At the Reagan Building, in the entrance to the U.S. Agency for International...
Are ‘true Christians’ named Smith and Jones?
A guest on CNN this morning said President Barack Obama’s name is a factor in so many Americans’ failure to acknowledge him as a Christian. As has been widely reported recently, only one-third of Americans identified...
Anniversary of Bailey Smith’s Harmful Moment in Baptist-Jewish Relations
On Aug. 22, 1980, then Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith offered an off-the-cuff remark that many believe harmed interfaith relations between Jews and Southern Baptists. Speaking at the Religious...