HIXSON, Tenn. (ABP) — Suffering from burnout after a decade as pastor of Central Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in suburban Chattanooga, Tenn., Ron Phillips wrote his resignation letter on a portable computer on the way to a meeting…
Trinity debate trickles down to gender roles
DEERFIELD, Ill. (ABP) — There’s a tempest brewing among evangelical theologians about the triune nature of God, with potential to spill beyond academic halls into relationships between males and females in the church and home. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School near…
Congo: New fighting creates
latest humanitarian crisis
NEW YORK (ABP) — Escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is creating a “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions,” the head of the United Nations said Oct. 29. U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon called attention to the flare-up, which…
Religious Right appeals
to fear as election nears
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (ABP) — Perfect love may cast out fear, but some Religious Right leaders seem intent on scaring the pants off of their followers as the Nov. 4 presidential election approaches. With Republican nominee John McCain trailing in…
Study: Religious people more generous, helpful — but only with two conditions
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Reli-gious people are more helpful and generous than others — but only on two conditions, according to a new study published in the prestigious journal Science. University of British Columbia psychology researchers Ara Noren-zayan and Azim Shariff…
Dual citizenship
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The forbidden idea of churches and other tax-exempt organizations endorsing political parties or candidates has started to sound like a good one, in recent decades, to many conservative evangelicals in the United States. In fact, a group…
Report calls U.S. church giving ‘lukewarm’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Amer-icans spent nearly twice as much on first-day sales of the video game “Grand Theft Auto IV” as the Southern Baptist Convention and its International Mission Board would need to share the gospel with all the world's…
Religious ‘test’ for public office? Yes and No
American Christians may pledge loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. But behind the closed curtain of the polling booth, many violate the spirit of the constitutional prohibition on any religious test for public office. And several church-state experts insist that's not…
Churches try to meet need of developmentally challenged kids
DAMASCUS, Md. (RNS) — On Sunday mornings at Damascus Road Community Church, when most children are dismissed from the sanctuary for Sunday school, another set of children and adults head to “The Haven.” Up to four dozen people gather in…
Where they stand: ‘Values’ distinguish both candidates and voters
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (ABP) — “Values voters” — a term popularized by conservative evangelicals after the 2004 elections — may bring a wide array of values to the polls. Here's a rundown of the two presidential candidates' views on a number…
FAITH DIGEST
AFA says it's OK to order a Big Mac. The American Family Association has dropped its boycott of McDonald's after learning a representative of the restaurant chain no longer serves on the board of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber…
Hot-button culture war issues not so hot for young evangelicals, study shows
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A large study of religious Americans suggests white evangelicals' views on gay rights may be shifting to the left. The survey, which includes one of the largest samples of younger voters' political and religious views ever taken,…