“I do not like to be called a Christian magician,” David Garrard, a retired children’s minister and magician from St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, says. “I’m a magician who is a Christian.”
Pastor, judge, activist, agitator: As he strives for justice, Wendell Griffen stretches the lexicon of adjectives
Wendell Griffen, 66, is all of these things. But his persona is so large, his reputation so loud, his “rightness” so locked in and eagerly defended, that the man’s depth can be lost in the shallows in which he must wade.
Racially diverse church occupies campus where Baptist pastor once proclaimed racist views
In one of life’s delicious little ironies, New Millennium Church now meets on the campus associated with one of Little Rock’s most ardent racists of the 1950s.
Photo Gallery: Wendell Griffen
View the photo gallery of Wendell Griffen.
New American religious ‘types’ revealed in survey, quiz
Religion in the U.S. is morphing so fast that observers often are at a loss for words to describe it. Terms like “nones” and “dones,” unheard of just a few years ago, are now commonly used by universities, seminaries and…
Why Americans prefer a Bible in their hands to one at their finger tips
Americans are online for everything nowadays, but evidence shows most prefer paper and ink to read the Good Book. And that’s no surprise to Troy Dixon, the lead pastor at Normandy Park Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. “As the world…
More white men choosing guns over God and church, survey finds
Guns and their inherent power restore in some people a sense of control stripped away by the economic consequences of globalism, say the authors of a new study.
More evidence religion is declining — and that’s OK with these pastors
A computer scientist who crunched the numbers on American religion says the decline of faith will accelerate during the next 20 years. But is decreasing religiosity and increasing secularization such a bad thing? Some clergy don’t think so.
Doubt is a part of faith — especially in uncertain times like these
Take a few hundred Nazis and Klansmen marching openly in Charlottesville, add three fatalities and a wink from the White House, and many people are apt to wonder if God is really out there.
In U.S., post-Christian cities overtaking Bible-believing urban areas
Used to be, research and polling organizations interested in American religious life regularly documented how much Christians are, or aren’t, going to church. The Barna Group did just that in a recent survey which found that residents of Chattanooga, Tenn.;…
Biblical skeptics outpoll literalists for first time, survey shows
Americans who see the Bible as fable now outnumber those who believe it to be the literal word of God. Gallup announced the shift in a survey it released Tuesday titled “Record Few Americans Believe Bible is Literal Word of God.”…
Scripture reading stable in U.S. despite rising skepticism
Let’s face it: New Year’s resolutions are mostly a lot of talk. Gyms that are crowded in January and February thin out to normal levels by March and April. Fad diets fade and new savings accounts are bled dry. And…