STAFF CHANGES Clarence “Whitey” Davis, to Sharon Church, Rice, as interim pastor. Tom Cribb, to Oakland Church, Roanoke, as interim pastor. RETIREMENT Al Peverall has announced plans to retire as pastor of Jackson Memorial Church, Chesapeake, effective Jan. 1. He…
IRS denies it told church not to pray for re-election
(RNS) — A Virginia pastor who prayed that God would re-elect President Bush says the Internal Revenue Service threatened him with charges of improper “electioneering,” but the IRS maintains it has made no decision in the case. The controversy erupted…
OPINION: A Christian film critic’s conundrum
I was once reprimanded by a reader for suggesting Casablanca as a video alternative because the Humphrey Bogart character owned a bar. I remember my consternation over the fact that this man had dismissed this classic romantic adventure that salutes…
Members of Congress accepting religious trips
(RNS) — Over the past four-and-a-half years, private organizations spent nearly $570,000 flying members of Congress and their families around the globe on religion-related trips, putting them up in hotels and feeding them, a study of congressional records shows. An…
LETTERS: Not the way of Christ
The guest editorial “Kill or be killed” by David Gushee left me wondering — what was the point that Dr. Gushee was trying to make? Was he saying that we have crossed some line where it is now legitimate to do…
Church and people news
STAFF CHANGES Jim Day, to Broad Run Church, New Baltimore, as pastor. John Compton, resigning as senior pastor of First Church, Alexandria, to accept a similar position in Mississippi. Lance Yost, to Jahnke Road Church, Richmond, as bi-vocational pastor. DEATHS…
LETTER: Kill or be killed
I was a bit surprised to read David Gushee’s article “Kill or be killed” in the Religious Herald [Oct. 21]. The piece was well-written and thoughtfully prepared, the kind of essay one might find in The Atlantic Monthly, for instance,…
Regrets the Averett decision
Your article in the Dec. 9 issue, “Aiming at Southwest Virginia,” reports that the Virginia Baptist Mission Board approved Averett University's proposal to create a program to provide training and theological education to ministers and laity in Southwest Virginia. Such…
UCC flies complaint with FCC over rejection
The United Church of Christ has asked the Federal Communications Commission to deny licenses to two Miami television stations after church ads were rejected as “too controversial” by the NBC and CBS networks. The church accused the two stations-WFOR, a…
Bush’s re-election, Gibson film are top among religion writers
The role of faith in President Bush's re-election and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ tied as the top stories of 2004 in a survey of religion newswriters. The online survey of Religion Newswriters Association members was conducted Dec….
Iraqi leader says country will protect Christians
Iraq's foreign minister met with Pope John Paul II on Dec. 13 and pledged the commitment of his interim government to protect the country's Christians from terrorist attacks. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari delivered a message to the pope from…
From the red states to The Passion, religion news glowed red in 2004
By Kevin Eckstrom Red, color experts tell us, is a serious color. It denotes passion, heat, importance, even danger. Power ties, celebrity carpets and stop signs are all red. Red says, “Stop what you're doing and pay attention.” So it…