God makes rain fall on the just and the unjust, Jesus said. Similarly, recession makes market prices fall, affecting endowments of Christian higher education and secular universities alike. United States and Canadian schools suffered an average 23 percent drop in…
Devout less stressed than nonbelievers
TORONTO (RNS) — Religion may provide a “buffer” allowing the devout to feel less anxiety when they make mistakes, compared with nonbelievers, according to new scientific research. Researchers at the University of Toronto measured “error-related negativity” — people’s defensive response…
RIGHT OR WRONG? Liability
Following a recent service at our church, a visitor tripped over a curb. She maintained to people around her that she was all right but then asked for an ambulance to carry her two and a half blocks to the…
Religious groups push action on prison rape
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Six months before her scheduled release, Marilyn Shirley was raped in 2000 by a guard at the Texas prison where she was serving time for drug charges. “I am still haunted by the words he whispered in…
FAITH DIGEST
Jordan too polluted for baptisms? Concerns about pollution and water quality have prompted an environmental advocacy group to call for banning baptisms in the lower Jordan River, where the Bible says Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Israeli authorities…
Duvall talks faith on film, except his own
THE PLAINS, Va. (RNS) — Amid the rolling hills of Northern Virginia, actor Robert Duvall lives in a rural hamlet not unlike the on-screen settings where he has immersed himself in Southern culture. It is, his wife says, “the last…
Bobby Bowden says he used coaching to witness to players
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Former Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden recently told a Baptist newspaper that it was his duty as coach to share his Christian faith with all his players, even though it wasn't the "politically correct"…
Baptist campus locks down during robbery chase
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (ABP) — Ouachita Baptist University instituted a campus lockdown Aug. 24 while police sought a fleeing bank-robbery suspect later apprehended near the campus. Police captured a mud-covered Lamar Demond Holms shortly after noon on the banks of the…
Religious leaders say questioning Obama’s faith is out of bounds
WASHINGTON (ABP) — More than 70 Christian leaders signed a letter Aug. 25 calling on "public officials, faith leaders, and the media to offer no further support or airtime to those who misrepresent and call into question" whether or not…
Religious leaders say questioning Obama’s faith is out of bounds
WASHINGTON (ABP) — More than 70 Christian leaders signed a letter Aug. 25 calling on "public officials, faith leaders, and the media to offer no further support or airtime to those who misrepresent and call into question" whether or not…
Interfaith leaders defend ‘mosque’ project; co-leader says move off table
NEW YORK (ABP) – The co-leader of an effort to build an Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan said Aug. 25 that, although leaders of the project are working with interfaith “stakeholders” to determine the best course of action, moving…
St. Louis pastor arrested on molestation charge
ST. LOUIS (ABP) — A Southern Baptist pastor in St. Louis faces between five and 15 years in prison on a charge that he inappropriately touched a child younger than 4. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office issued warrants…