WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed May 20 to hear a case centering on whether sectarian prayers at the beginning of official government meetings violate the First Amendment — an issue which has roiled county governing and school boards in…
Catholic rocker Matt Maher finds cross-over appeal among evangelicals
(RNS) — Growing up Roman Catholic in Newfoundland, Matt Maher never imagined that his childhood interest in music would lead to a career as a Grammy-nominated, chart-topping Christian rocker — let alone a crossover artist featured on Christian radio and…
test
test
Supreme Court to consider whether sectarian prayers at government meetings at odds with Constitution
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed May 20 to hear a case centering on whether sectarian prayers at the beginning of official government meetings violate the First Amendment — an issue which has roiled county governing and school boards in…
OPINION: Who are you?
One of the great struggles of life is finding your identity. Discerning who you are and what you are about are key parts of our human development and our maturation. Two films playing currently deal with the issue of identity…
ANALYSIS: Will the Kermit Gosnell verdict change the abortion debate?
(RNS) — Even before rogue abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted in Philadelphia on May 13 of delivering and then killing late-term infants, abortion opponents were convinced they had a case that could reshape an abortion debate that has remained static…
Electronic reading is growing, and church libraries are taking note
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — It’s a sign of the times. Technology is changing what and how people read. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that the number of Americans reading electronic books has doubled since 2009. With the…
Social media and public records offer options to fact-finders
Do people in the pew have any options for finding information if their local church, state organization or national denominational body refuses do divulge it? Not many — but technology and government offer a couple of options. Social media When…
HeraldBeat: Tracking Baptists across the Mid-Atlantic
Accepted a new call? Been ordained? Church celebrating an anniversary? Mission trip or project that you would like highlighted on the HeraldBeat page? Send info to HeraldBeat editor Barbara Francis at [email protected]. Transitions ON THE MOVE Tom Ficklin, to Southampton…
In a low-trust environment, do churches operate on a need-to-know basis?
Many churches have cut back the number of business meetings held each year. Some have scaled back publications — particularly mailed-out print versions. Some large churches with communications staff or a department have eliminated them or severely reduced their resources….
Virginia church aims to minister to children without one or both parents through 127JUNCTION
Following the mandate in James 1:27 for Christ’s followers to care for orphans in need, Community Heights Baptist Church in Southwest Virginia has initiated a ministry it calls 127JUNCTION to mobilize its members to care for the physical, emotional and…
Denominational entities struggle to find balance between privacy and openness
Baptists follow the congregational form of church governance — every member who wants to can have a say in the way the church and the denomination operate. But how much access does the average church member have to information about…