For the past three years, the Religious Herald has run photographs of church mission trips in a back-page feature called “Mission Moments.” With the recent reformatting of the newspaper, the Herald is discontinuing that feature and utilizing the back page…
RIGHT OR WRONG: What should I tell my preschooler about Santa Claus?
You actually have asked two separate “right or wrong” questions. One concerns whether it is right or wrong to tell a “little white lie” to a child if it brings happiness. Parents avoid telling their children the absolute truth all…
EDITORIAL: When someone slaps you in the faith, turn the other cheek
The biblical word translated into English as persecution means to chase after; to harass, trouble, molest or mistreat. It seems to me that Christians and Christianity suffer persecution—face-slapping if you will—from numerous places. I realize that I may be accused…
Are some people born to be religious?
NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—A recent debate at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was titled “The Future of Atheism,” but the heart of the dialogue explored a related question: Can mankind's age-old belief in God be explained purely as a stubbornly recurring…
SECOND OPINION: Good manners and speaking the truth
The early onset of the presidential campaign has brought with it a renewed call for a “return to civility.” There seems, however, little prospect for any immediate restoration of such civility, assuming that it ever existed. I think there are…
In sweeping decision, divided court upholds ‘partial-birth’ abortion ban
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court did April 18 exactly what many pro-lifers hoped — and what many abortion-rights advocates feared. For the first time, the majority upheld a nationwide ban on a specific abortion procedure. In a…
In court’s abortion decision, both sides see risk for Roe
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In upholding a federal ban April 18 on a rare kind of late-term abortion procedure, the Supreme Court may have begun undermining its key abortion precedent. Activists on both sides of the abortion issue greeted the court's…
In days following shootings, Hokies search for bright spots amid tragedy
BLACKSBURG, Va. (ABP) — Two days after Cho Seung-Hui shot and killed at least 32 students and professors on the campus of Virginia Tech, students are searching for something good to come of the massacre. “There are people out there…
BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court upholds ‘partial-birth’ abortion ban
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court did April 18 exactly what many pro-lifers hoped and what many abortion-rights advocates feared it would: It upheld, for the first time, a nationwide ban on a specific abortion procedure. In a…
Churches in parenthesis: Intentional interims serve specific purposes
PLAINVIEW, Texas (ABP) — According to Michael Summers, a director of church services at Wayland Baptist University in Texas, every church needs to step back periodically and reevaluate its purpose. It's a time for members to determine who they are,…
Churches in parenthesis: Churches benefit from intentional interims
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Churches that go through an intentional interim pastor process show lasting benefits, according to recent research. The North Carolina-based Center for Congregational Health examined churches 24 to 36 months after they completed an intentional interim, paying…
Devastated Va. Tech students gather for prayer at Baptist campus center
BLACKSBURG, Va. (ABP) — As the sun began to set and the wind continued to howl over a wounded campus and city April 16, Virginia Tech students gathered for prayer, comfort and counseling at the school's Baptist student center. Blacksburg,…