Author: Gordon Govier

A quick video primer on Halloween, All Saints Day, and why St. Frances Cabrini is the patron saint of parking spaces from the guys at Busted Halo. Check out this interesting video.

When she was director of religious outreach for John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign four years ago, Mara Vanderslice could hardly have seemed lower on the campaign totem pole."I had one unpaid intern who didn’t have a phone," she said. "We didn’t have a budget, and they never let me talk to the press."Read more of this story. Obama Redraws Map of Religious Voters – National Public RadioMisunderstanding Sarah Palin – Christianity Today EditorialA Variety of Evangelical Politics – Christianity Today Book ReviewYour Wisconsin Vote – Wisconsin Family CouncilWhen Christians Fail to Vote – Baptist PressPraying for the President – Serious…

AMMAN, JORDAN (ANS) — In a strategic gathering of Middle Eastern, European and American Christian leaders, westerners were given an inside view of the Middle Eastern Church’s struggle in a war-torn land. Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding’s (EMEU) Sounds of Hope II conference was held in Amman, Jordan on Oct. 15-18. Read more of this story.

COMMENTARYI’ve been surprised by the number of Christians who have given up on politics this year. “I don’t like either candidate, so I’m staying home,” I’ve heard all too often.Okay, I get fed up with the vain posturing and empty promises of politicians as well. But, as I note in this month’s Christianity Today, voting is never an option—it’s both our civic duty and sacred duty. Voting is required of us as good citizens and as God’s agents for appointing leaders.Read more of this story.

With more Americans describing themselves as "spiritual but not religious," one researcher set out to find what that statement really means. The Rev. Linda Mercadante, a professor of theology at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio, conducted research on this growing segment of the American population and found possible reasons why the "spiritual" tend to stay away from the church or religious practices. Read more of this story. FURTHER READING – George Barna study on American Spirituality

WYOMING, Mich. — David Karel does not know what comes next for him and his 1,500 fellow workers at the GM metal stamping plant, following last week’s announcement it will close by December 2009.But of one thing the Baptist minister is certain: God will be there for them.Read more of this story.

Together, Minneapolis and St. Paul are big enough to sustain diverse expressions of Christian theology, but small enough to bring those expressions into contact. In many ways, the Twin Cities are a microcosm of the current tensions in American evangelicalism.Read more of this story.

Church ProfileGrace Evangelical Church is ten years old and has been in its new building on highway AB, on Madison’s southeast side for three years. When Pastor Paul Bawden arrived from Des Moines six years ago, the congregation was meeting at Monona Grove High School.

LAKE FOREST – As members of Saddleback Church settled into their seats Sunday to hear the weekly sermon from Pastor Rick Warren, one thing was missing: Rick Warren.Fellow pastors had convinced the founder and leader of the mega-church in Lake Forest to take the day off. They filled in for him by preaching about an ongoing campaign, "40 Days of Love."For Warren, one of the most influential ministers in the nation, the forced break was nothing to celebrate. It came at the end of a harrowing week in which he and his family were whipsawed by a health crisis.Read more of…

Members of Christ Church Anglican in Jacksonville, Fla., gathered Sunday for an unusual religious ceremony that involved torching X-rated old movies in a fire pit.Read more of this story.