News
Will the Obamas affiliate themselves with a black church, which could signal that they are still comfortable making their spiritual home one that is predominantly African American? Or will they choose a mostly white or racially integrated church, sending the message that they are interested in shifting the paradigm of religion and race? Read more of this story.
Religious organizations have begun to swing into action in response to the swine flu virus now sweeping around the world. Read more of this story. Can a Communion chalice transmit swine flu?
The fight over gay marriage may be far from over, but already some conservative Christian leaders are looking beyond the courtroom dramas and the legislative infighting. The trouble they see is not just an America where general support for gay marriage will have driven a wedge between churches and the world, but between churches themselves.Read more of this story.
About half of all Americans have switched religions at least once, according to the most in-depth survey on the topic, released Monday. And that may still be "a conservative estimate," says Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.Read more of this story. Study Probes Reasons for Leaving Catholic, Protestant FaithsChanging Pews – critique by Terry MattinglyThe Executive Summary
The gospels describe Jesus visiting the synagogues of Nazareth and Capernaum and report that he "went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." [Matt. 4:23] It’s clear that synagogues were common in Jewish communities of the first century, but the exact nature of their role and especially their origin is still somewhat of a mystery to Bible scholars, according to archaeologist Jodi Magness, speaking in Madison last night.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA (ANS) — A Christian organization that helps believers prepare for emergencies and natural disasters is calling on Christians across America to ‘Be Aware, Be Ready and Be There’ for those who don’t know Jesus Christ as Savior during the current outbreak of Swine Flu.Mary Marr, Founder/Chairman of Christian Emergency Network (CEN) — www.christianemergencynetwork.org — was responding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declaration of emergency preparedness resulting from findings of the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC). Read more of this story. NATIONAL SWINE FLU SITUATION PAGE
(UNDATED) What do the Good Samaritan and “Green Eggs and Ham” have in common? They’re both parables that explain divine truth, according to Robert Short, a retired Presbyterian minister in Little Rock, Ark., and author of “The Parables of Dr. Seuss.” “In this book I tend to argue that Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was a first-class Christian thinker and that this thinking was intentionally made part of the literary and artistic work he has given us,” Short says in the introduction. Read more of this story.
COMMENTARYI recently become a fan of Twitter. It’s an easy-to-use social networking device to let friends, family, fans or whoever know what you are doing in real time. And here’s the trick to it, you can only post up to 140 characters, so you have to be short and sweet (hard for a preacher like me!)Do you think Jesus would have been on Twitter if it was available while He was on earth? Interesting question with an unknowable answer. But if had been on Twitter I would love to read His “tweets.”Read more of this commentary.
Religious environmentalists and social justice advocates in Wisconsin are echoing the concerns of a faith-based initiative announced in Washington on Tuesday aimed at addressing global climate change and its effects on the world’s poor.A coalition of Catholic organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, launched what they described as an unprecedented campaign to educate the faithful about the moral implications of climate change and of legislative proposals to remedy it.Read more of this story.
The Rev. Richard Cizik, the National Association of Evangelicals lobbyist who was forced to resign after expressing support for same-sex unions, is forming a new organization that will embrace a far broader agenda than the issues long claimed by the conservative Christian movement.Read more of this story.