NEW YORK (RNS) — On a recent Sunday, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a Pentecostal church in Iowa an intimate account of her pilgrimage from apathetic teenager to devout Christian whose faith has persevered through hardship, including a miscarriage. But when…
ANALYSIS: What’s behind China’s hard line against Catholics?
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — When China’s state-run Catholic Church ordained a new bishop for the Diocese of Shantou July 14 without the Vatican’s approval, it represented the latest step back from years of progress in a complex relationship. Yet the…
Candidates run for office, and some away from their church
NEW YORK (RNS) — On a recent Sunday, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a Pentecostal church in Iowa an intimate account of her pilgrimage from apathetic teenager to devout Christian whose faith has persevered through hardship, including a miscarriage. But when…
Calling old name ‘problematic,’ Campus Crusade rebrands itself
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (RNS) — Campus Crusade for Christ is out. “Cru” is in. The 60-year-old evangelical ministry announced its new name at a staff conference in Fort Collins, Colo., on July 19, saying the old name had become problematic….
Blogosphere abuzz over Rupert Murdoch as ‘Bible mogul’
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) — The scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid empire continues to widen, bringing scrutiny to, of all places, western Michigan and the Zondervan publishing company. Among the major holdings in Murdoch’s News Corp is publisher HarperCollins,…
Evangelical leader Leith Anderson to retire from Minnesota pulpit
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (RNS) — Evangelical leader Leith Anderson has announced plans to retire as senior pastor of his Eden Prairie, Minn., megachurch. Leith Anderson Anderson will end his 35-year pastoral leadership of the 5,000-member Wooddale Church at the end…
Justices rely on ‘standing’ in courts’ church-state disputes
WASHINGTON (RNS) — As the U.S. Supreme Court ends its 2010-2011 term, legal scholars say one decision is likely to resonate within church-state debates for years to come. The justices rejected a challenge to an Arizona school tuition credit program…
Southern Baptist Convention wrestles with elaborate gay hoax
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Officials of the Southern Baptist Convention say they were the victims of a hoax in which a group claiming to be the denomination’s Executive Committee announced it had started to support gay marriage. A website of the…
All Southern Baptist eyes on black New Orleans pastor
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Even before the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Fred Luter to national office, there was already widespread speculation that Luter is poised to become the denomination's first African-American president. Representatives of 16 million Southern…
International religious freedom envoy condemns religious intolerance
GENEVA (RNS) — The Obama administration's new envoy for international religious freedom told a U.N. commission that government, political, religious and business leaders must stand ready to condemn hateful ideology. Borrowing from recent headlines, Ambassador-at-Large Suzan Johnson ook cited a…
Southern Baptist Convention looks to minorities to jumpstart growth
PHOENIX (RNS) — The Southern Baptist Convention adopted a plan to try to boost minorities in their top leadership posts as the convention faces continuing reports of stagnant baptism rates and declining membership. Messengers to the annual meeting backed the…
Gingrich and evangelical voters
WASHINGTON (RNS) — As evangelicals and other social conservatives gather here June 3-4 to take the measure of a number of Republican presidential candidates, Newt Gingrich will be conspicuously absent. Gingrich’s campaign cited scheduling conflicts in not speaking to Ralph…