Author: Gordon Govier

A Wisconsin federal judge on Thursday found the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, saying it violates the First Amendment prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion.The decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin was a victory for the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

ENTEBBE, Uganda – Young American couple Amber and Terrill Schrock have set an ambitious goal many wouldn’t dream of taking on.She’s from Ohio and he’s from Alabama, but together they now call Uganda home. There, they are developing a written language for a remote African tribe. Their efforts are part of a project to translate the Bible into the last remaining languages on earth.

Four Dallas high school graduates traveled through Europe for five weeks with one camera, one microphone and one question: What does it mean to be a Christian?

Christy Ortiz, an interpreter for the deaf at a Texas high school, says most of her students have attended local churches for years. But without interpreters in their congregations, the teenagers were not grasping the fundamentals of the faith."The cross, Jesus’ death and resurrection—it meant nothing to them," Ortiz said after her students bombed the religion part of a recent exam. "They were shocked to learn that Jesus was a Jew."

COMMENTARYThe bigger that government gets, the further it grows away from the people. From the massive expansion of health care to increased environmental controls, higher taxes, and mind-numbing budget deficits, people feel overwhelmed and powerless. It doesn’t help when Congress closes its doors to draw up the health-care bill in conference committee—signaling a request to the public not to butt into its affairs.Where will all of this lead?

NEW YORK | Rabbi Marc Schneier’s Upper East Side office at the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding is relatively stark; a bookshelf here, an abstract painting there, and little hint of the outsized role he’s played in bringing opposites together. When he founded the FFEU 20 years ago, it was geared toward improving relations between the black and Jewish communities. Then three years ago, he switched to a much harder mission: Muslims and Jews.

(RNS) With her careers as veterinarian, astronaut and U.S. president behind her, Barbie has at last found her true calling: as a second-career Episcopal priest. The 11.5-inch-tall fictional graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., has donned a cassock and surplice and is rector at St. Barbara’s-by-the-Sea in (where else?) Malibu, Calif.

With U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announcing his retirement, attention has focused on the "who" — as in who is on President Obama’s short list of potential nominees. But almost nobody has noticed that when Justice Stevens retires, it is entirely possible that there will be no Protestant justices on the court for the first time ever.

WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama bared his soul before a cross section of Christian leaders at a White House Easter breakfast on Tuesday (April 6), where he spoke publicly of his faith in redemption through Jesus in his most personal terms since becoming president. Addressing his “brothers and sisters in Christ” among the nearly 90 pastors, community activists, and bishops in attendance, Obama spoke of “our risen savior” and the inspiration he takes from Christ’s resurrection.

COMMENTARYDuring this Holy Week, which encompasses the crucifixion of Jesus, I found myself thinking back to a remarkable 1980 "Firing Line" interview between journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge and William F. Buckley Jr., on the topic of how does one find faith.