Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Evangelicals Pledge to Hold Governments Accountable for Poverty
UNITED NATIONS--Evangelical Christians from around the world pledged Friday to make governments keep their promises to cut poverty in half by 2015. "What we are doing is harnessing the muscle of Christians all over the...
NCC Head Blasts Magazine for ‘Smear’
National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar criticized a column in U.S. News & World Report critical of his organization as "journalistic malpractice." An Oct. 18 column in the magazine included the...
Disney ‘Gospel’ a Southern Baptist Nightmare, Author Says
The Walt Disney Company's "gospel" of morality without explicit mention of God is "a Southern Baptist's nightmare," says an author who studied 31 of the company's animated films for values and ethics. Walt Disney grew...
Groups Criticize Kerry for ‘Politicizing’ Religion
A church-state watchdog group that this summer asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate partisan activities by two conservative Baptist pastors accused of endorsing President Bush on Wednesday said a Miami...
British and Australian Baptists Spearhead Effort to Fight Global Poverty
UNITED NATIONS—British and Australian Baptists are among leaders spearheading a global alliance of churches and faith-based aid organizations intent on mobilizing the Christian community to eradicate extreme poverty by...
‘The Dust Factory’
"The Dust Factory" is like a cross between Cirque du Soleil and "The X-Files." Or maybe it's a cross between "Holes" and "What Dreams May Come." Or maybe it's between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz." And...
A Quarter and a Commitment
My first allowance—25 cents per week—came with both obligation and opportunity, in that order. My parents usually gave my allowance in some combination of nickels and dimes. It was easier that way, they explained, to...
‘Sue Thomas’ Episode Features Burn Victim Sonnenberg
On Sept. 15, 1979, 22-month-old Joel Sonnenberg was burned on more than 85 percent of his body during a fiery car crash at a New Hampshire toll booth. Twenty-five years and dozens of operations later, Sonnenberg is...
‘Spin’
"Spin," a 1991 novel by Donald Everett Axinn, is now a film from James Redford, who adapted and directed the project. Set in the 1950s, it deals with a boy's search for purpose after the death of his parents—as well as...
Democrat and Proud
I am a Democrat and proud of it. I am proud to be a member of the party that brought us out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, that brought us to victory in World War II and more recently paid down a huge national...
‘Dust Factory’ Reveals Unique Vision
Twelve years ago, Eric Small wrote a script that originated with his own fears about death and dying. Now the script is a movie, being released in six markets this Friday by MGM. "The Dust Factory" features Ryan...
Theologians Protest ‘Theology of War’
A group of theologians and ethicists is collecting signatures nationwide on a statement criticizing President Bush for what they call his "theology of war." The document, titled "Confessing Christ in a World of...
Historians Critique NAMB Church-Starting Guidelines
New guidelines for starting Southern Baptist churches that affirm biblical inerrancy and oppose the ordination of women as deacons reflect recent trends rather than the Bible or Baptist history, said moderate scholars...
Producers of ‘Doug,’ ‘Stanley’ Create ‘HoopDogz’ to Teach Commandments
Two of the most successful producers of children's programs are putting the Ten Commandments on display—in a new animated series aiming to teach the commandments in age-appropriate ways. "HoopDogz," from David Campbell...
‘Values’ Voters Being Wooed from Both Sides
"Vote your values" is a message being repeated in many houses of worship this election season, but what that means depends on the messenger. In the latest of a spate of voter education and registration efforts aimed at...
Integrating Faith and Science
Last month "Inherit the Wind," the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which is loosely based on the 1925 Scopes trial, received its first professional stage production in Nashville, Tenn. I was asked to be part...
Pat Robertson Roils Israelis with ‘Messiah’ Comment
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who in the past has angered Muslims by describing Islam as a violent religion and Muhammad as a "wild-eyed fanatic," is now ruffling Jewish feathers by stating in Israel that Jews...
Pro-Life? Look at the Fruits
I am a Christian ethicist and trained in statistical analysis. I am consistently pro-life. My son David is one witness. For my family, "pro-life" is personal. My wife caught rubella in the eighth week of her pregnancy....
The Quest for A Christian America
As we enter the final weeks of the presidential campaign we can expect the "faith faction" to intensity their activities. The faith faction is an amalgam of conservative Christians, mostly evangelicals, who hold strong...
Relief Efforts Continue in Russia, Sudan
The bodies of three children of a Baptist church elder in Beslan, Russia, have been identified and buried, a month after a Sept. 3 massacre that that left 331 people dead, many of them students. Three children of elder...
‘Raise Your Voice’
In "Raise Your Voice," Hilary Duff plays Terri Fletcher, a small-town girl with big-city dreams. Terri wants to make music, and she sees the route to her dreams through the Bristol-Hillman Conservatory in Los Angeles....