Latest Articles
Off the pedestal: Speaking the truth fearlessly yet tenderly
Ted Haggard built up a 14,000-member Pentecostal church on the basis of his charismatic gifts and organizational skills....
Century Marks
Real money: By one estimate, the war in Iraq may eventually cost the United States $2 trillion. Which raises the question: how else could we have used this money? According to Nicholas D. Kristof (New York Times, October 24), it is four times the amount of money needed to stabilize the Social Security system for the next 75 years, and it is four times the amount needed to provide health care insurance for all uninsured Americans for the next decade. Every minute we stay in Iraq costs another $380,000.
Homeward bound: The Dinka tribe in Sudan
In Dinka Bor tradition, long ebony shafts serve as walking sticks for the elderly, as scepters for newly married women and as weapons for initiates into manhood....
Killing zone: What can be done in Darfur?
Christians from all traditions and from across the political spectrum have been pressing President Bush to try to get more United Nations peacekeeping troops on the ground in Darfur to stop the unr...
My 'Jesus Camp' Fond memories: Fond memories
What is missing from the camp portrayed in Jesus Camp, or at least from the film account of it, is the fun. In my church camp days, I enticed non-Christian friends to go to my camp by telling them how much fun it would be. My counselors taught me how to canoe, how to fake fart, how to belay up a rope and how to flirt with girls. The counselors were college kids who were “on fire for Jesus,” but they loved me for myself—not as a future foot soldier in the jihad for America. That’s why I accepted their faith. If it was faith in Jesus that made them love me and others and allowed—no, encouraged—an unbridled pursuit of fun, I wanted in and I wanted to tell others about it. I still do.
Two-year 'recovery' for charismatic pastor: Haggard needs time for healing and wholeness
In the aftermath of Ted Haggard’s sexual immorality scandal, analysts may wonder how much the misdeeds harmed the evangelical–White House alliance or the National Association of Evangelicals, which...
Election scorecard: Who won and who lost
Efforts by Democratic candidates to display their faith and connect with religious voters helped produce huge electoral wins in Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to analysts and independent pollster...
NCC urges phased pullout from Iraq: Plan linked to rebuilding Iraqi society
One day after the November elections, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches, holding its annual meeting in Orlando, called for “an immediate phased withdrawal of American and coa...
Woman bishop takes the Episcopal helm: Preaches peace to a divided denomination
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori knocked three times on the door of Washington’s National Cathedral early this month, and the Episcopal Church welcomed her as its new presiding bishop—the first wom...
Methodist college drops 'Indians' team name: Complies with denomination and NCAA
United Methodist–related McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, has decided to discontinue calling its athletic teams “Indians” in keeping not only with the denomination’s two-year-old policy agains...
Episcopalians in Bay State to seek church rites for gay weddings: Study clergy role in civil marriage ceremonies
Massachusetts Episcopalians will seek authorization from their denomination to use the church’s official marriage rites in same-sex marriage ceremonies....
Gay megachurch welcomed to UCC: Chosen to be part of 50th anniversary event
Nearly a year after the 4,300-member Cathedral of Hope in Dallas voted to seek affiliation with the United Church of Christ, the gay congregation was admitted to membership October 29 by a regional...
Nuclear bomb race not a faith showdown, says atomic official: Global poverty and extremists are key issues
The head of the International Atomic Energy Association contends that although the nuclear weapons landscape is increasingly uncertain, it is not shaping up into a showdown along religious lines....
In Australia, debates arise on which party reflects church values: Call for "a different Christian voice"
Australian opposition lawmaker Kevin Rudd has triggered a national debate by criticizing the growing influence of conservative Christian groups in Australian politics....
Briefly noted
Half of U.S. evangelical Christians do not support government funding of faith-based organizations, a survey shows....
Performing the faith
George Lindbeck is one of the most influential Protestant theologians of recent decades. He taught at Yale from 1955 until his retirement in 1993....
Hell house
Halloween has come and gone in Habersham County. I cannot remember when I have seen so many houses draped with spider webs and strings of pumpkin lights....
Give hudna a chance: An obligation to find a lasting peace
Election season 2006 is over, and we can say goodbye to the negative media ads and stories. Opposing sides fought one another with reckless abandon....
Stirred up: A reflection on decades at the Christian Century
We have relegated to the “remember when” columns all resistance to the updating of Thanksgiving Day to lengthen time for Christmas shopping....
Century Marks
Real money: By one estimate, the war in Iraq may eventually cost the United States $2 trillion. Which raises the question: how else could we have used this money? According to Nicholas D. Kristof (New York Times, October 24), it is four times the amount of money needed to stabilize the Social Security system for the next 75 years, and it is four times the amount needed to provide health care insurance for all uninsured Americans for the next decade. Every minute we stay in Iraq costs another $380,000.