A well-to-do couple in our church has offered to buy our softball team's church-league equipment and uniforms if the church will elect the husband as a deacon and name him chairman. If this request is as haywire as I think…
OUTLOUD
“Our focus right now is saving lives. We can save souls tomorrow.” Bishop T. D. Jakes The Dallas pastor spoke at a two-day conference of black clergy organized by the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. (RNS) “It seemed self-evident…
Southerners give more to religious organizations
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The numbers prove it: Southerners are more generous to their churches, while lagging in other categories of giving. Using data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a new study by empty tomb inc. shows that in 2005,…
RIGHT OR WRONG: Prayer in public school
In the spring, a mass e-mailing circulated at the school where I teach. It reports a teacher's presentation to a school board. She says all the things expected from the teacher on a relatively small salary, and closes with “……
How to ‘flunk’ retirement
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away,” Gen. Douglas MacArthur observed in the twilight of his long military career. Retired missionaries, on the other hand, just keep returning to the field — or finding new…
Care for the caregiver
DALLAS (BP)—No one likes to be labeled, but I am of the Baby Boomer Generation, born from 1946 to 1964. (You can just assume I am really close to the 1964 end of the spectrum.) We are mostly suburban kids…
OUTLOUD
“A convergent Christian, in many ways, is what [theologian] Don Carson calls a world Christian. Their allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Kingdom is self-consciously set above all national, cultural, linguistic and racial allegiances. Their commitment to the church and…
‘In God We Trust’ motto still mints controversy after 50 years
WASHINGTON—Fifty years after “In God We Trust” first appeared on U.S. paper currency, those four little words have proven to be the source of big debate in the courts. Michael Newdow, the California atheist known for trying to strip “under…
State Department reports Iraqi insurgency hurts religious freedom
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The continuing insurgency in Iraq is significantly harming the freedom of worship in that country, the State Department said in its 2007 International Religious Freedom Report. The recently released report lists Iraq among 22 countries it notes for either…