WASHINGTON (RNS) — Black clergy, led by the Progressive National Baptist Convention, have launched a new coalition to fight gun violence, saying they are undeterred by the recent failure of legislation on Capitol Hill and all too aware of the…
REFLECTIONS FROM NEW YORK: Imagining new places
Moving into new places presents a unique challenge to imagine and re-imagine our past lives in relation to the present locations in which we find ourselves. Walter Rauschenbusch, the late 19th-century and early 20th-century pastor, church historian and social gospel…
Thin silver band reminds teens to make healthy choices, say organizers of abstinence movement
SPARTA, Va. — Over 90 teenagers in the Caroline County, Va., area are wearing a thin silver band. Someday they hope it will be replaced by a wedding ring. In the meantime the silver band serves as a reminder of…
Helping Christians understand Islam is goal of Beckett Center, says its founder
RICHMOND — There’s a rickshaw parked at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center, typical of those in South Asia. Don’t look for it out front in one of the reserved parking spots. It’s on display inside in the museum of the…
Team from Virginia church to perform at Baptist global youth event
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A team from Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., will be among a variety of music, dance and dramatic performers during the 16th Baptist Youth World Conference, to be held July 17-21 in Singapore. Alfred Street…
CBF of North Carolina to host second Fresh Expressions event
RALEIGH — Fresh Expressions has scheduled a Vision Day in Raleigh Aug. 16, the second to be hosted by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. The event serves as an introduction to Fresh Expressions, a movement which aims to…
Books, films more than a passing fad
By Jim White Americans love sinking their teeth into stories about vampires, and some fans live for the latest tales of the undead. All this leaves some Christians wondering what to make of the current fascination with vampires, zombies, werewolves…
America exporting new religion, Australian theologian insists
By Jim White Fascination with zombies and vampire reflects a global New Spirituality America shapes through pop culture, said theologian Ross Clifford, author of The Cross is not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection. Clifford, principal of Morling College…
LEADERSHIP LINK: As I write this
Every church has a few of them. Some have many — people who live with chronic pain or illness. Some of them live in families or in retirement communities, but many of them live at home, getting by the best…
Occult obsession not a passing phenomenon but a folk religion, say some experts
Many Americans love sinking their teeth into stories about vampires, and some fans live for the latest tales of the undead. But as vacationers pack their beach bags with “teen paranormal romance” novels and movie-goers await World War Z, what…
Zombie apocalypse offers a secularized twist on Scripture, says educator
The Walking Dead, Doomsday Preppers and Left Behind may have more in common than meets the eye. Dramas about zombie apocalypse, TV reality shows about survivalists and speculation about end-times prophecy all grow from a desire for hope in the…
America exporting new religion, Australian theologian insists
Fascination with zombies and vampires reflects a global New Spirituality which America shapes through pop culture, said theologian Ross Clifford, author of The Cross Is Not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection. Clifford, principal of Morling College in New…