New York Times
Atheism may be “understandable” when man is confronted with evil and suffering, Pope Benedict XVI wrote on Friday in his second encyclical, the highest papal teaching. But man’s attempt to banish God, he wrote, “has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice,” whether through Marxist revolution or the science that produced the atomic bomb...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Evolution Debate Led to Ouster, Official Says
New York Times
The [Texas] state’s director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who said she had given the appearance of criticizing the teaching of intelligent design...
The [Texas] state’s director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who said she had given the appearance of criticizing the teaching of intelligent design...
Mormons and the Bible
New York Times
One moment that got some attention at Wednesday’s CNN-YouTube Republican debate was when the candidates were asked whether they believed every word of the Bible...
One moment that got some attention at Wednesday’s CNN-YouTube Republican debate was when the candidates were asked whether they believed every word of the Bible...
A Cross of Green
The Economist
In contrast to 1997, when the religious right led denunciations of the deal negotiated in Kyoto, many of today's evangelicals want America to be generous and constructive...
In contrast to 1997, when the religious right led denunciations of the deal negotiated in Kyoto, many of today's evangelicals want America to be generous and constructive...
Clinton woos evangelicals at AIDS conference
Washington Post
Emphasizing her own Christian faith and quoting frequently from the Bible, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton wooed a U.S. evangelical conference on AIDS on Thursday with a pledge to fight the global pandemic together...
Emphasizing her own Christian faith and quoting frequently from the Bible, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton wooed a U.S. evangelical conference on AIDS on Thursday with a pledge to fight the global pandemic together...
Huckabee's Religion Problem
American Spectator
Unfortunately for Huckabee, such broad-based, diverse support looks like something he is unlikely to attract. Ultimately, then, what happens in Iowa, will almost certainly stay in Iowa -- whether the Other Man From Hope likes it, or not...
Unfortunately for Huckabee, such broad-based, diverse support looks like something he is unlikely to attract. Ultimately, then, what happens in Iowa, will almost certainly stay in Iowa -- whether the Other Man From Hope likes it, or not...
Cell tower may be built inside cross
St. Louis Today
Residents along Milton Road could be saved from the view of a hulking cell phone tower if one company has its way. Saved, that is, by a giant cross...
Residents along Milton Road could be saved from the view of a hulking cell phone tower if one company has its way. Saved, that is, by a giant cross...
Confession is just a keypad away
USA Today
Confession used to be good for the soul. On the Internet, it may be good for business, as well..
Roberts Says God Forced His Resignation
Washington Post
Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but that he did so because God insisted...
Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but that he did so because God insisted...
U.S. evangelicals strive to change attitudes on AIDS
Washington Post
Kay Warren says five years ago she was a "white suburban mom with a minivan" helping her husband run one of the most influential evangelical churches in the United States and barely aware of the global AIDS crisis...
Kay Warren says five years ago she was a "white suburban mom with a minivan" helping her husband run one of the most influential evangelical churches in the United States and barely aware of the global AIDS crisis...
Giuliani shows abortion danger for Republicans
Washington Post
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is doing surprisingly well among conservatives in his bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, but there is one group that will not countenance voting for him...
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is doing surprisingly well among conservatives in his bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, but there is one group that will not countenance voting for him...
In Iowa, Mormon Issue Is Benefiting Huckabee
New York Times
The religious divide over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith that his supporters had long feared would occur is emerging in Iowa as he is being challenged in state polls by Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who has played up his faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination...
The religious divide over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith that his supporters had long feared would occur is emerging in Iowa as he is being challenged in state polls by Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who has played up his faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination...
'Golden Compass' incenses both Christians and atheists
USA Today
Rarely can one movie annoy stalwart defenders of Christianity and atheists alike...
Rarely can one movie annoy stalwart defenders of Christianity and atheists alike...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Big Faith
New Yorker
Frances FitzGerald writes about Faith Church, in New Milford, Connecticut, and its charismatic pastor, Frank Santora. “Megachurches are rare in New England—there are less than a dozen in the region—but there are more than twelve hundred and fifty of them across the country,” FitzGerald writes. Here is a portolio of images of Santora and Faith Church, by Brian Finke...
Frances FitzGerald writes about Faith Church, in New Milford, Connecticut, and its charismatic pastor, Frank Santora. “Megachurches are rare in New England—there are less than a dozen in the region—but there are more than twelve hundred and fifty of them across the country,” FitzGerald writes. Here is a portolio of images of Santora and Faith Church, by Brian Finke...
How Hollywood Saved God
The Atlantic (subscription req'd)
It took five years, two screenwriters, and $180 million to turn a best-selling antireligious children’s book into a star-studded epic—just in time for Christmas...
It took five years, two screenwriters, and $180 million to turn a best-selling antireligious children’s book into a star-studded epic—just in time for Christmas...
The Future of the GOP
Slate
The Bush-Gerson partnership was a match made, dare one say, in heaven: a religious speechwriter who wanted to graft "a message of social justice" onto the rugged individualism of Goldwater-Reagan conservatism, and a governor who, in Gerson's words, "not only wanted to run the Republican Party, but to remake it..."
The Bush-Gerson partnership was a match made, dare one say, in heaven: a religious speechwriter who wanted to graft "a message of social justice" onto the rugged individualism of Goldwater-Reagan conservatism, and a governor who, in Gerson's words, "not only wanted to run the Republican Party, but to remake it..."
Who’s Afraid of “Soulless Scientism”?
New York Times
Some Republican presidential candidates are breathing easier because of the news on stem-cell research, and some religious leaders are proclaiming a truce in their conflict with scientists. But I wouldn’t bet on any longterm peace, for a couple of reasons...
Some Republican presidential candidates are breathing easier because of the news on stem-cell research, and some religious leaders are proclaiming a truce in their conflict with scientists. But I wouldn’t bet on any longterm peace, for a couple of reasons...
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Evangelicals Everywhere
New York Times
And so you will find an interview with Ted Haggard in this book with no reference to gay sex, Ralph Reed described without mention of his work for Jack Abramoff and a disquisition on the importance of religion in the Bush White House without any substantive discussion of the cynicism found there by David Kuo, an evangelical who soured on President Bush...
And so you will find an interview with Ted Haggard in this book with no reference to gay sex, Ralph Reed described without mention of his work for Jack Abramoff and a disquisition on the importance of religion in the Bush White House without any substantive discussion of the cynicism found there by David Kuo, an evangelical who soured on President Bush...
People Before Prophets
Wall Street Journal
But faith is also personal. You can be touched by a candidate's faith, or interested in his apparent lack of it. It's never wholly unimportant, but you should never see a politician as a leader of faith, and we should not ask a man who made his rise in the grubby world of politics to act as if he is an exemplar of his faith, or an explainer or defender of it...
But faith is also personal. You can be touched by a candidate's faith, or interested in his apparent lack of it. It's never wholly unimportant, but you should never see a politician as a leader of faith, and we should not ask a man who made his rise in the grubby world of politics to act as if he is an exemplar of his faith, or an explainer or defender of it...
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Not All It's Cracked Up To Be - Why is the New York Times Magazine saying evangelical Christians are increasingly divided?
Slate
To hear the press tell it, the so-called values voter is disenchanted with the Republican Party and will stay home and pray for our country on Election Day '08 if the GOP nominee ends up being a cross-dressing home wrecker—or, God forbid, a Mormon...
To hear the press tell it, the so-called values voter is disenchanted with the Republican Party and will stay home and pray for our country on Election Day '08 if the GOP nominee ends up being a cross-dressing home wrecker—or, God forbid, a Mormon...
Faith, Hope and populism
The Economist
Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice on abortion. Fred Thompson lacks gumption. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. John McCain tells a moving story of his time being tortured by godless communists: one of his Vietnamese guards secretly loosened the ropes that trussed him and, by way of explanation, drew a cross in the dirt with his foot. But Mr McCain has long riled religious conservatives, once calling the late televangelist Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance”.
Enter Mike Huckabee...
Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice on abortion. Fred Thompson lacks gumption. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. John McCain tells a moving story of his time being tortured by godless communists: one of his Vietnamese guards secretly loosened the ropes that trussed him and, by way of explanation, drew a cross in the dirt with his foot. But Mr McCain has long riled religious conservatives, once calling the late televangelist Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance”.
Enter Mike Huckabee...
Cardinals Discuss Pentecostal Threats
Washington Post
The Roman Catholic Church must figure out what it is doing wrong in the battle for souls, because so many Catholics are leaving the church to join Pentecostal and other evangelical movements, a top Vatican cardinal said Friday...
The Roman Catholic Church must figure out what it is doing wrong in the battle for souls, because so many Catholics are leaving the church to join Pentecostal and other evangelical movements, a top Vatican cardinal said Friday...
Rock of Ages, Ages of Rock
New York Times
“Dad, how’d these fossils get here?” asked Jess, 7, looking up from his own Ziploc bag full of specimens.
“Dad, how’d these fossils get here?” asked Jess, 7, looking up from his own Ziploc bag full of specimens.
Whitmore, who was wearing a suede cowboy hat, answered in a cowboy manner — laconic but certain.
“From the flood,” he said...
Holiday Consumerism Targeted by Humor
Washington Post
Buy Nothing Day is getting a Jesus jolt. Performance artist Bill Talen assumes the persona of Reverend Billy, often accompanied by a gospel choir, to use the histrionics and cadences of a televangelist (think Jimmy Swaggart) in an anti-consumerism effort to convert people to his "Church of Stop Shopping..."
Buy Nothing Day is getting a Jesus jolt. Performance artist Bill Talen assumes the persona of Reverend Billy, often accompanied by a gospel choir, to use the histrionics and cadences of a televangelist (think Jimmy Swaggart) in an anti-consumerism effort to convert people to his "Church of Stop Shopping..."
Evangelicals shift toward acceptance on divorce
USA Today
For many evangelical Christians, the line seems to have shifted from a single acceptable reason for divorce — adultery — to a wider range of reasons that some say can be biblically justified...
For many evangelical Christians, the line seems to have shifted from a single acceptable reason for divorce — adultery — to a wider range of reasons that some say can be biblically justified...
Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission
New York Times
The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.
The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.
“We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,” said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years...
The Backlash Against Tithing
Wall Street Journal
Can you put a price on faith? That is the question churchgoers are asking as the tradition of tithing -- giving 10% of your income to the church -- is increasingly challenged. Opponents of tithing say it is a misreading of the Bible, a practice created by man, not God. They say they should be free to donate whatever amount they choose, and they are arguing with pastors, writing letters and quitting congregations in protest. In response, some pastors have changed their teaching and rejected what has been a favored form of fund raising for decades...
Can you put a price on faith? That is the question churchgoers are asking as the tradition of tithing -- giving 10% of your income to the church -- is increasingly challenged. Opponents of tithing say it is a misreading of the Bible, a practice created by man, not God. They say they should be free to donate whatever amount they choose, and they are arguing with pastors, writing letters and quitting congregations in protest. In response, some pastors have changed their teaching and rejected what has been a favored form of fund raising for decades...
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