Author: MC Editor

David Swanson reports on opening events from the National Pastors Convention.David Swanson agreed to leave frozen Chicagoland to labor in sunny San Diego at this year’s National Pastors Convention. He’ll be sending us updates throughout the week of the goings on there. This is his first post. I arrived at the National Pastors Convention in California a day early to catch one of the pre-conference seminars: Emerging Critical Issues Facing the Church. (For this Midwesterner, the sunny blue skies of San Diego were another reason to come early.) The seminar featured four panelists—Scot McKnight, Phyllis Tickle, Andy Crouch, and Tony…

The Wisconsin Family Council now has their Voter Information Sheet available for download.There is a sear on the Wisconsin Supreme Court up for grabs along with a referendum on the governor’s veto power. Their web site says:To help you prepare for this election, Wisconsin Family Council (WFC) has produced an educational Voter Information Sheet (see options below), featuring information on the two Supreme Court candidates and on the statewide referendum. The Voter Information Sheet is strictly educational and can therefore be distributed in churches.Go to the Wisconsin Family Council web site for more information and to download the sheet.

There were tears, laughter and praise Thursday as "The Fish" Christian radio station broadcast its last morning show and prepared to enter the airwaves at midnight with a new identity.WFZH-FM (105.3) will still offer contemporary Christian music under its new ownership, but the national "K-LOVE" format it will use does not include local disc jockeys.Read more >>

Evangelicals make up the nation’s single-largest tradition, followed by Catholics. The survey also notes many Americans have changed religious affiliations or dropped ties to a specific faith.America remains an overwhelmingly Christian country, but the nation’s religious life also shows great fluidity, with many adults switching religious affiliations or abandoning ties to organized denominations altogether, according to a new survey released today. The study also suggests that, in the near future, Protestants may no longer make up a majority of Americans.Read more >>

It’s always intriguing to see which churches have grown and which denominations have faded in the past year. According to the 2008 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (a Bible of sorts for us religion writers), the fastest-growing religious body in 2007 was the Jehovah’s Witnesses at 2.25 percent. Following them were the Mormons at 1.56 percent and the Roman Catholics at .87 percent. Compare this to last year’s states that had the Catholics out front at 1.94 percent, followed by the Assemblies of God at 1.86 and the Mormons at 1.63.Read more >>

WAUKESHA – Most Americans believe nanotechnology is morally unacceptable because of strong ties to faith that may skew perception about the basis of the minuscule science, a recent study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison said. Dietram Scheufele, a UW-Madison professor of life sciences communication who helped conduct the study, said deeply-rooted religious views are dictating peoples’ views on nanotechnology. The results of the study show an urgent need to better explain the scientific practice to the public, he said.Read more >>

Is it a medical mystery or a miracle? A South Florida man pronounced dead from a massive heart attack and then brought back to life. His doctor says the man was raised from the dead by a simple prayer. Seven’s Louis Aguirre has the story. WSVN — Dr. Chauncey Crandall isn’t your usual doctor. The world-renowned cardiologist is a man of medicine and science, but he’s also a man of faith. Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "If you come in with a problem into our service, we are definitely going to treat you with conventional medicine, but we are going to believe…

In a study conducted by Arizona State University, only 29.5 percent of the respondents thought nanotechnology was morally acceptable. That compares to 54.1 percent in the United Kingdom, 62.7 percent in Germany and 72.1 percent in France. Nanotechnology is a branch of science that focuses on developing, designing and producing materials, structures, devices and circuits at the smallest possible scale. There are dozens of products that make use of this kind of technology already on the market. Read more >>

A prayer movement has broken out in a handful of churches along Interstate 35. Participants say that if people pray hard enough, God will touch communities along the highway, which stretches from Texas to Minnesota.The prayer movement — part of a Pentecostal, evangelical branch of conservative Christianity — began with Cindy Jacobs, a petite and intense woman who heads a prayer ministry called Generals International. Read more >>

Due to the severe winter weather, many Madison, WI area churches are cancelling services this morning. Go to Life 102.5’s page to see the current list.-MC