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Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Baptist State Convention Endorses Ashcroft, Violates Historic Baptist Polity
The South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) sent an e-mail memorandum to pastors today urging them to "alert South Carolinians" from their pulpits about "the need to flood" the office of Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C.,...
No Evidence for Internet Story About Bush Leading Teenager to Christ
No evidence can be found to support a story circulating widely on the Internet about President George W. Bush taking time out during a banquet for volunteer staff to lead a teenager to faith in Jesus Christ. While not...
Majority Believes Bush’s Campaign Promise of Compassionate Conservatism Is More than Rhetoric
A majority of Americans believe President George W. Bush will govern with compassionate conservatism, according to the most recent CNN-USA Today Gallup poll. The poll, taken before Saturday's inauguration, found that...
Religious Right and Left on Ashcroft: Is It Different Shoes but the Same Dance?
A Southern Baptist Convention official violated the denomination's historic commitment to non-endorsement of political candidates and breached his own claim of non-partisan political alignment when he endorsed former...
Super Bowl: A Holy Day or a Holy War?
"America stops on Super Sunday," proclaims the television promotion. Sometimes, even churches stop on the Sunday of the Super Bowl. In a little more than three decades, it has become one of our most popular cultural...
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
January 15, 2001, is the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday. It is celebrated on the third Monday of January in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner. King...
Religious Community Divided Over Nomination of Ashcroft as Attorney General
America's religious community holds sharply conflicting views about President-elect Bush's nomination of Senator John D. Ashcroft of Missouri for attorney general. The religious right supports Ashcroft, who has a long...
The Ethics of Execution: Back to Jesus’ Way
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article by Glen Stassen is reprinted with permission from Sojourners Online. To learn more about Sojourners, visit http://www.sojo.net or call 800-714-7474. When you look at the history of...
“Temptation Island” Tests Television Values
A Fox television series debuting Jan. 10 has attracted critics for tempting "committed couples" to stray from their romantic partners by surrounding them with other attractive and available singles. "Critics have...
Relationships as Contest in ‘Temptation Island’
"The safest, easiest formula is that nothing succeeds like success," wrote cultural critic Todd Gitlin in Inside Prime Time. The premiere of "Temptation Island" Jan. 10 offers evidence Fox television is employing that...
Taking a Pro-active and Positive Stance On Low-Fidelity Show
Congregational leaders will be tempted to blast "Temptation Island," a six-episode television show about unmarried couples mingling with 26 exotic-looking singles. The first episode airs Wednesday night on Fox. While...
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
"Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" introduces us to an alternate reality called Middle Earth, a place where "history becomes legend and legend becomes myth," according to the movie's opening voice-over....
BCE’s Five Guiding Stars
BCE's significant constituency growth and increased visibility in the public square necessitates a restating of our mission and methodology. Since bcE*byte's launch at the end of March 2000, BCE's e-mail database has...
The Hope of the World
The first Christmas was about hunger and hope. Of course, the hunger part of the story is either forgotten or ignored as we rush through stores in search of the perfect gifts for friends who have everything. We sing...
The Songs of Christmas
For weeks, we have been hearing the songs of Christmas. And, yes, they do begin earlier every year! Whether it's "Joy to the World, " "Frosty the Snowman," or "Grandma Got Run over by a Raindeer," the packagers of...
Chanukah: Not the “Jewish Christmas”
Antiochus IV became king of the Seleucid empire centered in Syria during the second century BC. He imposed Hellenistic culture on Judea and transformed worship at the temple in Jerusalem, wrote Michael Lerner of Tikkun...
Kwanzaa
"Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture," according to Kwanzaa's official Web site. "Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the...
Why the Grinch Stole Christmas
I'm less interested in how the Grinch stole Christmas than in why the Grinch stole Christmas. The former seems to be about logistics, the latter about motive and spirit. Director Ron Howard's film version of Dr. Seuss'...
Rural Communities and Churches
Social ethicist and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr warned us in the mid-20th century that a "free market" economy leads ultimately to monopolies controlled by corporate lords, not to some Adam Smith utopia. A truly free...
Gen Xmas
Christmas is the season of good cheer? 'Tis the season to be jolly? Peace on earth, goodwill to men? The Xperience of Christmas has arguably been less whole, peaceful or jolly for Xers than for previous generations....
The History of December 25
"In its furthest, dimmest past, Christmas may have a now-forgotten, prehistoric ritual of the sun as one of its ancestors," wrote folklorist and holidays expert Jack Santino in All Around the Year. " Although Christmas...