Ecumenist, prophet, peacemaker. Friend of presidents and queens. Evangelical powerbroker who was sometimes too closely tied to politicians. Each description applies to Billy Graham. An official 1991 biography by William Martin called America's foremost evangelist a “Prophet With Honor.” The…
Couple urges truce in war between faith and science
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) — The poster in Deborah Haarsma's office at Calvin College bears the bold title, “Long, long ago in galaxies far, far away” — appropriate Star Wars jargon for an astronomy professor. It shows photos of galaxy…
Study links subprime mortgage crisis to U.S. poverty & hunger
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The poorest counties in the United States are among the hardest hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, according to a study released by the Christian anti-hunger advocacy group Bread for the World. The report, titled “Home Ownership,…
Catholics paid $615 million on abuse claims
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Catholic Church paid out $615 million in costs related to sexual abuse claims in 2007, even as the number of victims coming forward fell for the third straight year, according to an annual report issued…
Muslim leader decries American ‘bigotry’
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — American culture's view of American Muslims and Islam steadily is deteriorating under an onslaught of “bigotry” on cable news shows, newspaper op-ed pages and in the blogosphere, an Arab-American activist said. Commentators and politicians have devoted…
Indiana Jones would be proud
LONDON (RNS) — Brushing back a thick layer of dust, Tudor Parfitt revealed a distinctive interwoven pattern carved around the outside of the “terribly, terribly damaged” wooden artifact tucked away on the bottom shelf of a Zimbabwe warehouse. “The moment…
Oxford researchers get $4 million to study origins of belief in God
LONDON (RNS) — Oxford University researchers have been given nearly $4 million to investigate the origins of belief in God. The three-year project titled “Empirical Expansion in Cognitive Science of Religion and Theology” is designed to determine if belief in…
Some Southern Baptists decry timidity on environmental issues
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A group of Southern Baptists has launched a new initiative on the environment, saying that their denomination's past declarations on the issue have been “too timid.” “We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues have often…
Does God protect some disaster victims but not others?
JACKSON, Tenn. (RNS) — As Kristen Fabrizio felt the vibrations preceding the tornado that ripped across the campus of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., last month, she clung to her friends, who in turn clung to their faith. “You can…
Americans fluid in their religious affiliation, Pew study reveals
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new study of more than 35,000 adult Americans by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life captures the depth and breadth of religious America — 78.4 percent Christian, 4.7 percent members of other faiths and…
Shared meals at church take on a different flavor to meet changing needs
AKRON, Ohio (RNS) — Andrew Hamilton still can taste the homemade apple, cherry and peach pies that capped off the covered-dish church meals of his youth in Lakeville, Mass. In those days, children played on their own for hours while…
Jehovah’s Witnesses fastest growing of U.S. faiths
Jehovah's Witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the U.S. and Canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the U.S. and Canada. Although Jehovah's Witnesses ranked 24th on the list…