NEW YORK (RNS) — Conservative Presbyterians launched a new denomination on Jan. 19, saying that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is too consumed by internal conflicts and bureaucracy to nurture healthy congregations. “This ‘new Reformed body’ is intended to foster a…
WMU advocates for children victimized by trafficking
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The sticker in the hotel window reassured the visitor — this business would help protect children from predators while they and their parents are guests. "The Child Safe Zone," a project of Georgia Woman's Missionary Union and…
OPINION: Special treatment hurts both church and state
NEW YORK (RNS) — It’s time for religion to lose its special treatment in the Constitution and in tax codes. Not because religion has ceased to matter, but because it matters more than ever in our increasingly unethical society, and…
HERITAGE: ABCs of Virginia Baptists
Our favorite 5-year-old recently had a rare few minutes alone with his grandparents. He suddenly got very serious and shared that he was having difficulty learning the alphabet. He said that during the school day he goes to a special…
OPINION: Somebody’s daughter
I was at my daughter’s school when her teacher asked, “Did you see what your daughter wrote? All the teachers are coming down to read it.” My daughter is 7 years old and in the first grade and anything she…
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…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Regrets attitudes to women pastors
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a major support for Baptist women seeking to serve God as chaplains. Under the current climate in the Southern Baptist Convention it is impossible for an ordained Baptist woman to obtain endorsement as a chaplain….
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…
TRENDING: Designer faith, part 1
“If World War II-era warbler Kate Smith sang today, her anthem could be Gods Bless America,” USA Today recently quipped. It’s a remark about America's drift toward “designer faiths,” custom tailored to fit personal preferences. John Chandler Sociologist Robert Bellah…