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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–In the aftermath of the 2008 elections, liberals and moderates were quick to claim a sea change among religious voters, but the facts are not as convincing as the anti-conservative crowd would have you believe.Read more of this story.
BOOK FEATUREIf we want nonscientists and opinion-makers in the press, the lab, and the pulpit to take a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion, Ronald Numbers suggests that we must first dispense with the hoary myths that have masqueraded too long as historical truths.Find out more about this book.
Around 45,000 athletes and coaches across the nation will be participating this year in summer camps organized by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.Open to boys and girls between the ages of eight and 18, FCA Sports and Team Camps are offered in a variety of sports, ranging from baseball, basketball, football and golf to beach volleyball, cheerleading, karate, lacrosse, surfing and water polo.Aside from sports training, camp participants, which have more than tripled since 2002, are provided with speakers and opportunities for developing friendships and experiencing life change.Read more of this story.
He’s done it while talking about abortion and the Middle East, even the economy. The references serve at once as an affirmation of his faith and a rebuke against a rumor that persists for some to this day. As president, Barack Obama has mentioned Jesus Christ in a number of high-profile public speeches — something his predecessor George W. Bush rarely did in such settings, even though Bush’s Christian faith was at the core of his political identity. Read more of this story.
Evangelical Protestants – born-again, Bible-believing and ever-ready to spread the Word – make up the country’s biggest religious group, with 26 percent of all U.S. adults. Marching under that banner are some of America’s most prominent figures of faith, from Rick Warren to Franklin Graham.And who is most closely identified with mega-churches, contemporary Christian music, mass-rally evangelism and best-selling, purpose-driven Christian books? That’s right: Evangelicals. Sounds like a golden age for the evangelical church, right?Wrong, says Warren Cole Smith, an evangelical journalist and longtime editor of The Charlotte World.Read more of this story. More stories:Americans tired of typical churchRepent of…
Promise Keepers is broadening the focus of its stadium event this year to reach out to women, the poor and Jewish believers. For the first time in the history of the 19-year-old men’s ministry, women will be invited to a Promise Keepers meeting. The day-and-a-half long event, named A Time to Honor, will take place on July 31 and Aug. 1 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo. It will be the only Promise Keepers event this year.Read more of this story.
Christians have been transnational since Pentecost. But world events create new possibilities. Spanish missionaries followed closely on the heels of Columbus, and Danish and British missionaries capitalized on trade relations with India. Today, globalized economic and communications networks create new possibilities for American congregations, says Princeton University’s Robert Wuthnow in his most recent book, Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches.Since 2000, for instance, 12 percent of active churchgoers reported having gone overseas on a short-term mission while in their teen years.Read more of this story.
The council created to advise President Obama on faith-based issues held its first official meetings via a conference call last week. Over the course of an hour, the 25-member advisory council outlined its broad mission–to find ways faith groups and government can work together on issues ranging from climate change to fatherless families to abortion rates–and a timeline to make recommendations for Obama to address those problems.Read more of this story.
Sometimes it seems that an atheistic tsunami has hit. Anti-Christian books land high on bestseller lists. Polls purportedly show a decline in belief. Newsweek this spring had one of its traditional Easter cover stories on "The Decline and Fall of Christian America." Whenever the conventional wisdom points in a particular direction it’s good practice to ask: What if the opposite is true? What if nominal Christian affiliation is declining but serious biblical belief is actually on the rise? What if Christianity in America is not dying, but instead getting its second wind—or maybe its sixth wind? Read more of this…
Craig Sorley is a self-proclaimed environmental missionary. He represents the Baptist General Conference on the "conservative side of the evangelical movement" in the US. For many (perhaps most) of his church colleagues back home, the environment barely registers on the scale of challenges facing the world today. Climate change is still widely regarded as a myth, while creationism trumps evolution.But for Sorley, 41, who discovered his calling after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumour two decades ago, global warming, environmental degradation and food and water shortages are some of the greatest threats to mankind today, particularly in the…