News
President Bush said that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation’s struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil." Read more.
Recall the political storms in the United States over lifting bans on opening stores on Sundays – the so-called "blue laws." Christian ministers would point to Moses’ fourth commandment: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Owners of mom-and-pop retail shops would plead to keep a legal "day of rest" that prevented big stores from luring away business by staying open on Sundays. But growing numbers of women worked outside the home and found it difficult to shop during the week. States hoped Sunday store hours would boost tax revenues. Today, the battle is largely over. In most parts…
Town of Brookfield – Elmbrook Church, one of the region’s first megachurches, is launching a year’s celebration of its 50th anniversary with jubilee events and a cutting-edge Web site that could be a national model for linking people to ministries and faith messages. Read more.
Islam History Professor Moshe Sharon of Hebrew University told a counter-terrorism conference Thursday, "There is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians whatsoever – ever.” Read more.
CommentaryWhat is the fastest growing religion in America? Could it be conservative protestants with their evangelical zeal? Perhaps the Mormons, who send their well-scrubbed young people on year-long mission trips as a "rite of passage" into adulthood? Maybe it’s a denomination that is following the latest "fad" — an Emergent, or Willow Creek, or "seeker" church.
ANNOUNCEMENTThis summer we experimented with a concept that took our former Prayer Internship students and other trusted praying friends out to pray for local churches and ministries. We called them Ignition Teams. We believe prayer can release the blessings of God. And that’s what these Ignition Teams do. They go out to turn on blessings from God in answer to prayer. This is one of the most visible ways we can be a “gift” to the body of Christ in our city.We want to let you know that we are now re-launching these teams.
News Release (MADISON, WI) – Members of 10 Madison area churches are working together to build a home for the Xiong Family and will be part of the Apostles Build II for Habitat for Humanity of Dane County (HFHDC). Groundbreaking for the Xiong Family will be held on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. at 9 Kanazawa Circle in the Twin Oaks Subdivision on Madison’s Southeast side.
The United States calls itself one nation under God, but Americans don’t all have the same image of the Almighty in mind. A new survey of religion in the USA finds four very different images of God — from a wrathful deity thundering at sinful humanity to a distant power uninvolved in mankind’s affairs. Forget denominational brands or doctrines or even once-salient terms like "Religious Right." Even the oft-used "Evangelical" appears to be losing ground. Read more.————————————————CHICAGO TRIBUNE: In what has been called the most comprehensive survey of the nation’s faith since a seminal study in 1968, Baylor University sociologists…
The nation’s most powerful voice against same-sex marriage is entering the battleground in Wisconsin, where voters in November will decide the fate of a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage. Focus on the Family, the conservative Colorado Springs-based group led by James Dobson, filed papers with the state Elections Board last week to create a referendum committee. The group has spent more than $1 million passing anti-gay marriage legislation in other states and the stakes here are high: Wisconsin has been pegged by analysts as perhaps the first state that stands a chance of defeating a same-sex marriage ban.Read more.
Some proclaimed themselves to be bikers for Jesus, while others evoked the spit and shine of the Marine Corps. Some sat stoic while others wept openly. And many jumped up and down as though they were at a football game. But on this it can be agreed: There was no larger group of kindred souls singing wildly off key on Saturday than the men and boys who filled the Bradley Center for the first Promise Keepers rally in Milwaukee in six years. Read more.