CLEVELAND (RNS) — For Deborah Taylor, keeping her body fit and eating well is a way of honoring God. So, when Taylor, a financial assistant for University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center, heard about the hospital’s Body & Soul program for…
YMCA seeks to reclaim ‘C’ in its name
SHERWOOD, Ore. (RNS) — The wooden box, not quite big enough to hold a pair of shoes, sits on the reception desk, just inside the Sherwood YMCA. Once a day, Roger Button empties the box, finds a quiet place to…
Religious games and toys more than child’s play, authors insists
BOSTON (RNS) — On the first day of her introductory religion class at Merrimack College, professor Rebecca Sachs Norris put her students to work at having some fun. She assigned teams of three or four students to play some of the…
Tumultuous times fuel End Times preparations
WASHINGTON (RNS) — For years, Ken Uptegrove believed another Great Depression was at hand. A computer professional in Springdale, Ark., Uptegrove started a garden and researched ways to live more simply. He studied the lives of early Christians and launched…
Fear of flu prompts panic in cautious congregations
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Hand sanitizer appears at the sanctuary entrance. Worshippers greet each other with a cautionary bow rather than a warm handshake or hug. Absences increase in Bible classes. The H1N1 flu pandemic is shaking up religious communities and…
Handwritten ‘Bible Across America’ sells for $15,000
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The first handwritten copy of the New International Version Bible sold on eBay for more than $15,000. Zondervan’s handwritten Bible Across America project marked the 30th anniversary of the popular New International Version translation. The Christian publisher…
Soul-searching evangelicals look toward nonpolitical future
SOUTH HAMILTON, Mass. (RNS) — Repentant for having spent a generation bowing at the altars of church growth and political power, concerned evangelicals gathered recently to search the soul of their movement and find a new way forward. That evangelicals,…
As scandal-plagued pastor returns, questions linger about ‘restoration’
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS) — After disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard decided to start holding prayer meetings at his Colorado home, advisers and observers, perhaps not surprisingly, reacted with disappointment. But the fact he’s chosen to host the meetings within…
Zondervan pulls kung fu book; Is it ‘Rickshaw Rally’ revisited?
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Evangelical publisher Zondervan has pulled a leadership book featuring a kung fu theme after Asian-American Christian leaders led an online protest against its imagery. The book, Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life…
Christian students offer liquor-free tailgate parties on Alabama campus
AUBURN, Ala. (RNS) — Setting up on the grassy area outside their dorm, grilling burgers and distributing drinks, the young men known as College Kids Tailgate are like scores of other Auburn students on game day — full of good…
German court rules against Sunday shopping, cites ‘day of rest’
BERLIN (RNS) — Constitutional provisions that declare Sunday a day of rest mean German merchants will have to significantly rein in the number of days they are open for business, Germany’s highest court ruled Dec. 1. The ruling was prompted…
Conscience clauses not just about abortion anymore
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Faced with a request to give an unmarried female patient a prescription for birth control pills, Michele Phillips looked to her conscience for the answer. “I’m not going to give any kind of medication I see as…