Author: Gordon Govier

The minister’s housing exclusion faces its next battle in a 7-years-and-counting war with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. A Wisconsin federal district court ruled in October 2017 that the housing exclusion for minister-provided housing is unconstitutional, a ruling that could ultimately strike down the allowance nationwide, resulting in nearly $1 billion in new taxes for ministers across the country. An appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was filed by Chicago-area pastors in early February 2018. While the appeal will not reach the courtroom until later this year, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, representing pastors on the South…

Human nature is not basically good, conservative commentator and radio host Dennis Prager told a packed hall of friendly supporters on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Wednesday. “Goodness in humans is like gold in mines. You need to mine human goodness, you don’t need to mine human evil,” said Prager. He argued that the Judeo-Christian values that traditionally shaped life in the United States — but are under attack from the ideological left — kept baser human instincts in check. “It’s better that people fear God than they fear government,” he said.

Six weeks ago, Monona’s David Lippiatt was nearing the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. He was leading a group of 11 men on a mission to raise funds to support programs for women and children around the world who are affected by gender violence. “One of the greatest injustices of our time is that more is not being done by men to address sexual-based violence against women,” said Lippiatt, president of Madison-based WE International.

GREENDALE – A Greendale church is little by megachurch standards, but it has a mighty ministry that reaches out to radio listeners in Arabic, Chinese and more than 60 other languages with the message of Christianity. The Rev. Douglas Schroeder, pastor of Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, knows the radio waves are getting through, but he also knows the message is getting through. That’s because listeners in remote villages and in dense cities tell him so.

Madison’s Luther Memorial Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The church, located at 1021 University Ave., is known for its Neo-Gothic Revival style architecture, historical society spokeswoman Kara O’Keeffe said. The style’s characteristics can be seen in the church’s steeply pitched roof, buttresses and pointed-arch openings.

PAICINES, Calif. (RNS) — Sometimes a tomato isn’t just a salad ingredient. Sometimes it’s a call to action. That’s the revolutionary idea of about 40 farmers who gathered for a first-of-its-kind interfaith weekend at a working ranch in the rolling green hills 60 miles southeast of San Jose. Christians, Jews, Muslims and the spiritual-but-not-religious united to seek nothing less than a complete disruption of how food is grown, distributed and even served. “We never ask questions when it comes to a handout model of food ministry,” said Venice Williams, a Lutheran lay minister who came to the conference from Milwaukee,…

The Handwritten Bible project began back in August 2010 by Len Lindsay.  How many pages would the Bible be when it is handwritten by over 300 different people? 4,000 pages! All the chapters were handwritten right here in the Madison area. However, people from all over: Texas, Boston, Puerto Rico, and even Australia wrote chapters during their time in Madison. The River Food Pantry was one of the first partners with the Handwritten Bible project seven years ago.

Whether it’s welcoming a new life, preparing for a life to end or dealing with the anguish or uncertainty of injury, surgery or disease, patients and families often turn to hospital chaplains for help with their mind, body and spirit. Despite a national decline in church attendance, or perhaps because of it, hospital chaplain programs are on the rise. More than 65 percent of hospitals in the U.S. had chaplains in 2016, up from 53 percent in 2002, according to the American Hospital Association. Madison’s four main hospitals have had chaplains for years.

New research from Barna Group showcases the breakdown of the most Catholic and Protestant, both mainline and nonmainline, cities in America as part of its ongoing tracking of religious demography. The cities report, which was released last week, examines the distribution of the denominational makeup of American cities and towns and uses data based on online and telephone interviews with nationwide random samples of 76,505 adults conducted over the course of seven years, concluding in 2016.

My APB for 17 missing children—all wanted by First Presbyterian—resulted in two sightings and the discovery of a 173-year-old family tree, full of life and legacy of faith. Little Josh, last seen in our Sunday school in the 1990s pushing just 4-ft tall, now fills the door at church, to say: I am one of the “missing children” you have been searching for!