“I'd like to see the CEOs of these companies march down Wall Street in sackcloth and ashes.” Cokie Roberts The ABC news analyst was speaking on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” about Wall Street executives who asked Washington to bail…
Americans believe heaven’s gates open wider
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Many Americans no longer see heaven as an exclusive destination, according to a new survey from Baylor University. When researchers polled U.S. adults about who — and how many — will get into heaven, 54 percent of…
Who kicked out whom?
While I agree wholeheartedly with Marshall Buckles' comments online about the SBC and CBF working together [Herald, Sept. 18], he seems to have forgotten who kicked whom out of the SBC leadership and I might say, quite incriminatingly. Gerald R….
FAITH DIGEST
Wall Street workers seek spiritual guidance. As the market mayhem rocks Wall Street, dazed employees in the financial sector who have lost their faith in the economy are turning to religious leaders for guidance. Houses of worship in New York…
Human rights and wrongs
ATLANTA — Most evangelical American Christians remained silent about torture at Abu Ghraib and Guan-tanamo for some of the same reasons European Christians 70 years ago largely failed to resist the Holocaust, ethicist David Gushee told a na-tional summit on…
The nature of forgiveness
In your Sept. 18 issue Tom Ehrich said that “Forgiveness grows out of a determination to live ….” I am not sure what he is saying, but certainly determination to live is not a biblical basis for forgiveness, so I…
Red-letter Christians can transcend partisan politics, Campolo insists
WACO, Texas — Red-letter Christians committed to taking Christ's teachings seriously have the potential to transform society in a way that moves beyond partisan politics, author and educator Tony Campolo told an ethics conference at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary….
Poll: On torture, evangelicals not looking to Bible
ATLANTA (ABP) — A new survey suggests the very Americans who claim to follow the Bible most assiduously don't consult it when forming their views about torture and government policy. The poll of 600 Southern white evangelicals was released in…
FAITHSHAPERS: Special children
I'd like to tell you about my Ann. She is autistic, and she is the bravest person I have ever met. Sometimes she disappears, and I can find her in bed under all the pillows, or under the loveseat in…
Not all coercive force is torture, Baptist ethicist insists
Debate over the morality of coercive force would be served better if everyone involved quit using the word “torture” altogether, said Daniel Heimbach, professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. “The problem here is that in hotly debating…
Some conservatives say: ‘A woman VP? Sure. A woman pastor? No way’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — There may never be a female pastor leading Tony Perkins' Southern Baptist congregation in Louisiana, but there could be a woman taking over the vice president's mansion in Washington. And as Perkins sees it, there's no contradiction…
Torture fails to ensure national security, experts insist
ATLANTA — Retired high-ranking military officers and national security experts at a national summit on torture agreed — a policy that permits torture does not make the United States or its troops safer. Speaking on the seventh anniversary of terrorist…