LUXEMBOURG (BP) — Lawmakers in Luxembourg voted Feb. 19 to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill patients and people with “grave and incurable” conditions. The country joins the Netherlands and Belgium as the third European country to legalize euthanasia. Luxembourg's prime…
Scholars examine Billy Graham’s legacy
Ecumenist, prophet, peacemaker. Friend of presidents and queens. Evangelical powerbroker who was sometimes too closely tied to politicians. Each description applies to Billy Graham. An official 1991 biography by William Martin called America's foremost evangelist a “Prophet With Honor.” The…
FAITH DIGEST
ACU freshmen get cool gadgets. Abilene Christian University will be the first university in the nation to provide all incoming freshmen with an Apple iPhone or an iPod touch, according to school officials. ACU, which is affiliated with the Churches…
Obama pastor’s tough sermons just part of long, prophetic tradition
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The longtime pastor of Sen. Barack Obama's black megachurch in Chicago has come under fire for sermons that many have called racist, offensive — and even dangerous. Jeremiah Wright has called the federal government the “U.S. of…
Black liberation theology provides the doctrine behind fiery rhetoric
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — Jeremiah Wright's condemnation of the United States — particularly pronouncing damnation on America — looped hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube and news broadcasts. In the process, the pastor preached himself and his most famous…
RIGHT OR WRONG
More and more, when I treat people as I believe a Christian should, other people dismiss my actions by saying something like, “That's so PC” — politically correct. Even Christians seem to reject Jesus' statement, “Love one another.” How should…
Supreme Court to revisit decency standards
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court announced it will revisit limits on on-air vulgarity in the court's first case on unsavory speech in almost 30 years. After Cher and Nicole Richie used expletives during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard…
Study links subprime mortgage crisis to U.S. poverty & hunger
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The poorest counties in the United States are among the hardest hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, according to a study released by the Christian anti-hunger advocacy group Bread for the World. The report, titled “Home Ownership,…
FAITHSHAPERS: Spiritual formation 2: Indoctrination
During the school years, children develop greater ability to focus and sit still, and their brains are developed enough to soak in staggering amounts of information. As preschoolers, children also learn quickly, but they learn primarily through direct experience —…
Indiana Jones would be proud
LONDON (RNS) — Brushing back a thick layer of dust, Tudor Parfitt revealed a distinctive interwoven pattern carved around the outside of the “terribly, terribly damaged” wooden artifact tucked away on the bottom shelf of a Zimbabwe warehouse. “The moment…
Muslim leader decries American ‘bigotry’
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — American culture's view of American Muslims and Islam steadily is deteriorating under an onslaught of “bigotry” on cable news shows, newspaper op-ed pages and in the blogosphere, an Arab-American activist said. Commentators and politicians have devoted…
Oxford researchers get $4 million to study origins of belief in God
LONDON (RNS) — Oxford University researchers have been given nearly $4 million to investigate the origins of belief in God. The three-year project titled “Empirical Expansion in Cognitive Science of Religion and Theology” is designed to determine if belief in…