Features
Sticky faith: What keeps kids connected to church?
We youth ministers have often tried to make our ministries cool enough to compete. But every teen knows that the church is not cool.
The perils of silence: Real and imagined dangers
There are specific and cunning temptations in silence that, if allowed to flourish, can fester and rot the whole enterprise.
Steps toward solitude
I don't settle automatically into the silence of solitude. At first the silence can be as startling as noise.
God ran with us: Caught between two Sudans
The Sudanese government has long waged war on its own people. In the borderland of Abyei, it's turned two peaceful groups into enemies.
Books
We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down, by Rachel Hanel
Growing up, Rachel Hanel knew about death. Her father was a gravedigger and cemetery caretaker, and she played among the tombstones....
Sacrament of friendship
Amy Andrews and Jessica Mesman Griffith render things – a graveyard walk, a dream about an elevator, a Neil Young song – into something else entirely.
The God Argument, by A. C. Grayling
Having written a weekly column in the Guardian and published a series of books on philosophy for the general reader, A. C. Grayling is a rarity: a well-known philosopher....
Interfaith marriage: A reality check
Forty-two percent of U.S. marriages are interfaith. Naomi Schaefer-Riley convinced me that this is one of the biggest stories in religious life.
Benediction, by Kent Haruf
All three of Kent Haruf’s novels set in the fictional farming town of Holt, Colorado, bear liturgical-sounding titles: Plainsong (1999), Eventide (2004) and now Benediction...
Why Leaders Lie, by John J. Mearsheimer
Lying is usually considered reprobate behavior, yet it seems to be acceptable behavior for political leaders and even expected in international affairs....
Unexpected Gifts, by Christopher L. Heuertz
What does it mean to be mainline Protestant?...
Departments
Empathy in satire
One of the premier pleasures of reading is finding a new author. I recently discovered George Saunders's comic touch and sympathetic characters.
Morning companions
When I open the sanctuary doors in the morning, I see the face of Christ in the shadow side of the welfare state.
Jane Austen in California
Diehards may not like Lizzie Bennet Diaries' changes to Austen. But the fun lies in considering the choices involved in cultural translation.
Jesus the Homeless, by Timothy Schmalz
In an era when homeless people can be seen sleeping on city sidewalks and park benches, Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz wanted to convey the idea that Jesus too was homeless....
Gifted
I recently watched my granddaughter and other teens with Down syndrome perform Shakespeare—with emotion, wit and passion.
Who Congress works for
The sequester cuts are a supreme case of Washington dysfunction. Yet Congress is actually quite capable of getting some things done.
News
Methodist scholar may face trial over officiating at same-sex wedding
Thomas W. Ogletree, a United Methodist theologian and retired dean at Yale Divinity School, is facing a potential church trial for officiating last year at the same-sex wedding of his son....
Vatican painting may reflect contact with Native Americans
Preservationists working on a Renaissance fresco in the Vatican have uncovered what experts believe is the first European representation of Native Americans, created in 1494....
Tackling stigma of mental illness
Frank Page, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was getting ready to work in the yard in the fall of 2009 when the phone rang. His daughter was on the line....
Pentagon debunks reports of anti-Christian policies
Christian conservatives became alarmed recently over reports and rumors that the Pentagon was considering new policies aimed at discriminating against Christians and disciplining or even court-martialing...
U.S. Muslims more moderate than Muslims worldwide
Muslims in America are much less inclined to support suicide bombing than Muslims abroad and are more likely to believe that people of other faiths can attain eternal life in heaven, according to a new r...
Female converts to Islam facing growing scrutiny
When Karen Hunt Ahmed and her Muslim husband divorced four years ago, many friends asked her, “Now you can stop this Islam stuff, right?”...
Jerusalem court upholds women’s right to pray at Western Wall
Women who want to wear prayer shawls while praying in the women’s section of the Western Wall are not breaking the law, according to a landmark decision handed down April 25 by the Jerusalem District Cou...