NEW YORK (RNS) — A bipartisan coalition of 80 U.S. mayors on Jan. 20 launched a “Freedom to Marry” campaign to build public support for giving same-sex couples the right to marry under U.S. and state laws. “It is not…
VITAL SIGNS: The unbalanced church
When a congregation wants to get, stay or remain healthy, one of the key questions it asks has to do with the balance between its internal and an external focus. One excellent congregational exercise to help with this question is…
Amish man says home electricity OK if it gets him out of jail
CLEVELAND (RNS) — The leader of an Amish splinter sect who is being held in jail on federal hate crime charges related to a series of beard-cutting attacks says he is not opposed to allowing electricity installed in his home….
WINN RECOMMENDS
Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster) Everyone’s talking about Jobs’ biography, so you might as well cave and give it a go. One observer noted that decades from now, we will remember Jobs in the same way we remember…
Obama holds firm on contraception coverage
NEW YORK (RNS) — The Obama administration said Jan. 20 that it will not broaden the religious exemption in new rules that require employers to provide contraception coverage to employees, a move that angered religious groups and opened a high…
OPINION: Songs about love and death
I feel sadness that I can’t quite shake and it’s strange to me because it all stems from an album I just listened to. Haunting melodies and gut wrenching lyrics pull my imagination in all kinds of places, but that…
Faith-based anti-trafficking efforts make a difference
Small details in the lives of the troubled students Tyler Shoesmith works with tell more than they would like him to know. It's the words they use, the clothes they wear — even the age of the people they spend…
Leonard to be installed in Baptist studies chair
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Bill J. Leonard will be installed as the first James and Marilyn Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity Jan. 24. Bill Leonard The installation will be held in conjunction with…
Church administrator charged with theft
By Bob Allen A former administrator at a prominent North Carolina moderate Baptist church was arrested recently and charged with embezzling more than $136,000 in church funds over a five-year period. Robert Lahr, 49, is accused of taking $136,324.58 from…
Scholar compares culture-war issues to Germans who resisted Hitler
By Bob Allen A Baptist historian compared today’s battle for the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious freedom to courageous heroes who resisted the Nazis in Germany. Timothy George speaks to students and faculty of Judson College in chapel…
HeraldBeat
Transitions ON THE MOVE John Moxley, to First Baptist Church, Dillwyn, Va., as pastor. Dave Hawes, to Fair Bluff (N.C.) Baptist Church, as pastor. David E. Roberts, to Hampton (Va.) Baptist Church, as interim pastor. Tim Williford, to Lystra Baptist…
HeraldBeat
Transitions ON THE MOVE John Moxley, to First Baptist Church, Dillwyn, Va., as pastor. Dave Hawes, to Fair Bluff (N.C.) Baptist Church, as pastor. David E. Roberts, to Hampton (Va.) Baptist Church, as interim pastor. Tim Williford, to Lystra Baptist…