PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)—The Christmas contradiction gives Pastor Rick McKinley a headache. Americans will spend about $475 billion this year on gifts, decorations and parties that many won't even remember next year. They will run themselves ragged—shopping, wrapping and celebrating. And…
For some, happy holidays means no gifts
AUSTIN, Texas (RNS)—Scrap the gift lists. Trash the wrapping paper. Blow off the mall. That's the mind-set of Americans who can't stomach exchanging holiday presents. They aren't grinches or scrooges. They just reject what they consider the wastefulness and stress…
GodTube offers Christian alternative to YouTube
DALLAS (RNS)—Chris Wyatt and the Internet have something going. In the late '90s, the young television producer helped start Communities.com, the world's first social networking website. The site exploded into the Internet's largest pre-MySpace network. Now, less than a decade…
Does ‘Compass’ point kids in the wrong direction?
NEW YORK (RNS)—The holiday season means it's time for another Hollywood wintry blockbuster with a cast of talking animals, witches and an earnest child to point the way to truth and justice. But some Christians who applauded the Christian allegory…
Conservative Christians show growing acceptance of divorce
WASHINGTON (RNS)—When Pentecostal power couple Randy and Paula White recently announced they were headed to divorce court, the most remarkable part of the reaction was that there wasn't much reaction at all among their supporters. For increasing numbers of clergy,…
Groups say hunger stats, food prices up
WASHINGTON (RNS)—While millions of Americans stock their kitchens for holiday feasts, many groups are concerned about people who will go hungry during the festive season—and in the weeks and months to come. Inflation has made food more expensive, making it…
Diverse group of Christians seeks better relationship with Muslims
WASHINGTON (RNS)—A wide range of Christian theologians and leaders have endorsed a document calling for increased efforts to work with Muslims for peace and justice. The move responds to an earlier call from Muslim leaders seeking common ground. The new…
We three kings of Orient are … mostly unknown to Christians
They came. They saw. They gifted. That's about all we know of the foreign visitors who traveled to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus. The scene ingrained in the public imagination — a stately procession of three kings in turbans,…
Hillary Clinton pays a call on Rick Warren’s conference on HIV/AIDS
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (RNS) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., reached out to conservative Christians on Nov. 29 at a church-run AIDS conference where the presidential candidate fused her faith with the event's push to combat HIV and AIDS. “It's…