MC News
James Mumford is a well-dressed 27-year-old from the posh London neighborhood of Pimlico. He holds degrees in philosophy from Oxford and Yale and, like many of Britain’s elite, spent a post-graduate stint working in London’s finance industry. But tonight he wants to talk about how he came to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart. "I don’t mind talking about my faith," he says, sheepishly. "But it’s a touch embarrassing. Just don’t brand me as a mindless evangelical." That peculiarly British reticence may be one reason that an unexpected spiritual awakening among London’s high society has gone unnoticed in recent…
Using powerful computer software, an Australian astronomer says that he has re-created the night sky over Bethlehem in the year 2 B.C. and discovered a planetary conjunction that may have been the Star of Bethlehem that drew the Magi to worship the baby Jesus.Astronomer Dave Reneke said the close proximity of Venus and Jupiter created a spectacle in the night sky just before the summer solstice that year. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported that Reneke went so far as to suggest that perhaps Christmas should be celebrated on June 17 rather than December 25. An interesting idea, since the December Christmas…
Merry Christmas. Seriously. And some people do mean seriously. A vocal faction of believers, grumpy about Christmas gone wild, insist that Christians should get a theological grip."Christmas is being marginalized every day of the year, when pastors fail to preach who Christ really was," says Michael Horton, who blasts these trends in his new book, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church.Read more of this story. |||It’s a Narnia Christmas – Laura Miller, New York Times|||
NEWS RELEASE New study shows children in such families have fewer problems at home and at schoolMadison, WI – A new study released by Wisconsin Family Council finds that children have fewer problems at school and home when they live with both biological parents and frequently attend religious services. Drs. Nicholas Zill and Philip Fletcher co-authored the new study which analyzes data from the National Survey of Children’s Health.
The sudden crush of worshipers packing the small evangelical Shelter Rock Church in Manhasset, N.Y. — a Long Island hamlet of yacht clubs and hedge fund managers — forced the pastor to set up an overflow room with closed-circuit TV and 100 folding chairs, which have been filled for six Sundays straight.In Seattle, the Mars Hill Church, one of the fastest-growing evangelical churches in the country, grew to 7,000 members this fall, up 1,000 in a year. At the Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J., prayer requests have doubled — almost all of them aimed at getting or keeping…
This year’s big Christmas controversy has been the suddenly in your face anti-religion tactics launched by some atheists. I wrote about what I considered to be a mildly amusing advertising campaign by atheists in Washington D.C. But some people in Washington state have taken a rather ugly turn in their attempt to have a voice during the Christmas season. A group called Freedom From Religion placed this sign near a nativity scene at the state capitol."Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."…Dan Barker, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president, said he intended the sign to be…
University of Wisconsin-Madison students celebrated Study Day Monday at Blackhawk Evangelical Free Church in Verona, where the congregation opened its doors and hearts to 1,000-plus students in the midst of final exams. They arrived with books, laptops and appetites for free meals, quiet or group study, tutoring, recreational breaks of ping-pong and basketball, Christmas-themed movies and an optional worship service.Read more of this story.
The popular image of fundamentalist faith — whether Jewish, Muslim or evangelical Christian — is humorless, intolerant and angry, unhesitant to cast the first stone, sometimes literally. The words "whimsy" and "orthodoxy" do not often appear in the same sentence. Yet humor is a way of explaining religion — to its adherents and to others. Increasingly, believing members of orthodox faith traditions are able to joke about their foibles and shortcomings before an audience of their community — if only in the safe, sheltered environs of a mosque social hall, an Israeli comedy club or a sold-out Apostles of Comedy…
Sarah Palin’s family will have to attend church in a local school this morning after a fire ripped through her church on Friday evening. The fire, estimated to have caused $1 million in damages to the Wasilla Bible Church, has been labeled “suspicious” by James Steele, chief of the Central Mat-Su Fire Department.Read more of this story.
JOS, NIGERIA (ANS) — Compass Direct News has reported that the murderous rioting sparked by Muslim attacks on Christians and their property on Nov. 28-29 left six pastors dead, at least 500 other people killed and 40 churches destroyed, according to church leaders.More than 25,000 persons have been displaced in the two days of violence, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Read more of this story.