To celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Virginia is for Lovers,” Virginia’s tourism department is sharing a list of free things to do on vacation. For more details click on www.Virginia.org. Activities include: Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. Virginia has some…
Celebrate Baptists’ 400th anniversary with day trips across Virginia
European Baptists are throwing a huge party in July in Amsterdam to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the church founded by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys in 1609. If Amsterdam is not on your summer itinerary, there are places closer…
OUT LOUD
“Darwin was right about natural selection, right about different species forming and species changing, but wrong that such changes are a mechanism to change one kind of animal into a totally different kind."Ken HamThe founder of Answers in Genesis, which…
SECOND OPINION: Babyboomers, volunteerism and the future of church leadership
It is not a stretch to realize that churches are probably the longest standing user of volunteer services. From teaching Sunday school classes and staffing committees to operating the various mission efforts, churches are almost completely dependent upon unpaid volunteers….
HERITAGE: Time travel
Jim Slatton had a catchy title in mind for his biography of William Heth Whitsitt. He wanted to call it An Inconvenient Truth, but Al Gore coined it first for his book. It would have been apropos. After all, in…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida develops a bonus plan
Dear Jimmy, Last night after I went to bed I was a-lyin’ there thinkin’ about all the things I’ve been puttin’ off, and right at the top of the list was writin’ you. So, here goes. I don’t have much…
Southern Baptist activist organizes confab on church and environment
ATLANTA (ABP) — An upcoming national conference on churches and the environment features several well-known evangelical speakers, including some prominent Southern Baptist leaders who will be speaking for first time on the increasingly high-profile theological issue known as "creation care."…
Presidential prayer effort proves to be bipartisan
WASHINGTON (RNS)—A national grassroots network that came together after the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the sole purpose of praying for the president has lost more than 25,000 members since Barack Obama’s election last November. But more than 41,000 new members…
Death penalty opponents hope book about Texas case can help put an end to executions
NEW YORK (RNS)—Religious opponents of the death penalty hope a new book about a Texas death row case by a best-selling author can help their efforts to end the practice of state-sanctioned executions. Thomas Cahill’s just-published book, A Saint on…
Do churchgoers like Web porn? Not on Sunday, study reveals
BOSTON (ABP)—According to a new study, people who live in states with high church-attendance rates buy as much Internet pornography as their more secularized counterparts—but they are less likely to subscribe to an adult website on Sundays. Researcher Benjamin Edelman…
Ministries offer help for Christians with porn addiction
FRESNO, Calif. (RNS)—Every February, SouthPoint Foursquare Church reminds young members that “True Love Waits,” as part of a global campaign launched by Southern Baptists that stresses abstinence until marriage. A few days after Valentine’s Day this year, 80 teenagers and…
American Muslims a diverse group
WASHINGTON—Muslims in America attend worship services weekly just as much as Protestant Americans. Among the nation’s faith groups, they are the most racially diverse. And they’re younger: more than a third of Muslim adults—36 percent—are between ages 18 and 29,…