Latest Articles
Episcopal Church chided but not sanctioned: Controversial proposals
The Episcopal Church should apologize for stirring disunity, but will not face serious sanctions for allowing an openly gay bishop, an Anglican church panel said in long-anticipated recommendations...
Campaigning for civility, compassion: Three initiatives
Pastor Jay Geisler had grown weary of fellow Christians squabbling over political ideology. He wanted issues put in the context of the poverty and hopelessness in neighborhoods near his St....
UCC official urges new fairness doctrine rules: Countering personal attacks
The plans of Sinclair Broadcasting to show an anti–John Kerry documentary days before the November 2 election “demand restoring the personal attack rule and the Fairness Doctrine,” urged Gloria Tri...
Methodist bishops open D.C. office: Across from the Capitol
The United Methodist Church bishops have opened their first permanent office in Washington with retired Bishop Roy I....
Belated Democrat bid in religious outreach: New Web site for religious voters
Less than a month before the national election, the Democratic National Committee unveiled a new Web site for religious voters, as well as a new director of religious outreach, after some earlier c...
High court to hear Commandments cases: Cases from Kentucky and Texas
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear two cases related to ongoing questions about the constitutionality of displays of the Ten Commandments in public places....
Divestment plan could harden Israel's stance, warn peace groups: Might be the wrong strategy
If mainline Protestant church groups divest from businesses operating in Israel, as some say they might, it could actually harden rather than soften Israel’s stance toward Palestinians, warn promin...
African woman wins Nobel Peace Prize: Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai
Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, whose tree-planting movement defied political leaders, was praised by Samuel Kobia, the World Council of Churches’ general secretary—and a fellow Kenyan—fo...
Briefly noted
New guidelines for starting Southern Baptist churches ask members of new congregations to affirm biblical inerrancy and male-only deacons....
Habitat leaders reach accord on transition: Millard Fuller will remain as "founding president"
Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity International with his wife, Linda, in 1976, will relinquish the title of chief executive officer but continue as “founding president” of the worldw...
Global healer: An interview with Paul Farmer
You’ve referred to Americans as "lazy democrats." How does this assessment describe America’s relationship wit...
Time out: Twenty quiet minutes
When I served a church full time, I grew used to greeting people at the door on Sundays who apologized for not having been there the week before....
Faith in fashion: When faith marries the Zeitgeist
Martha Sawyer Allen isn’t here anymore. She’s off to new adventures.” That line ended Allen’s final column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (September 4)....
Monastic mentors: Luke 20:27-38
I would just as soon skip the first part of this Gospel reading. The Sadducees are trying to trick Jesus by getting him to respond to an impossible question about the resurrection. According to the law, if one of two brothers dies before his wife has children, then his brother marries her. But what if there are seven brothers, and each marries the woman in turn? To whom will she belong at the resurrection?
Grave affairs: HBO's 'Six Feet Under'
Like David Fisher in the award-winning HBO series Six Feet Under, when my father died, I embalmed him. My brother Pat assisted....
One plot at a time: Luke 21:5-19
If I could tell when the end times were on their way by the number of wars, famines, earthquakes and plagues that are afflicting our world, I’d say, “Wow! Here they come!” The Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America—you name it, atrocities are taking place. Even in the United States of America, the home of the free, the hope of the huddled masses, the place where no one really has to go hungry, human-caused disaster is everywhere.
A cure for what ails us
What do philosophers do? Do they, like other academics, get doctorates, publish for fellow academics, strive for tenure and advance up the academic ladder?...