Latest Articles
The health-care gap: Both Bush's and Kerry's plans are inadequate
After bandaging a stranger’s wounds, the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ famous parable instructs the innkeeper to provide whatever further care is needed—he will foot the bill....
Century Marks
You’ve got power: Every human being has power. So the question for humans is, How should we use our power? All temptation, claims Bennett J....
The Episcopal middle: Listening to congregations
Soon after the Episcopal Church’s General Convention of 2003, an unanticipated phenomenon became apparent....
Marriage amendment may rise again: Earlier attempt failed procedural vote
Although a proposed constitutional amendment to define matrimony solely as a one-man, one-woman compact fell flat in the U.S....
IRS: Church directory politics carries risks: Bush-Cheney defends legality of strategy
While the Bush-Cheney campaign defended the legality of urging churchgoing volunteers to turn over parish rolls for political organizing, Internal Revenue Service officials spelled out the ways tha...
Protestants may lose majority status: Family size, immigration are factors
Protestants could cease to be the majority religious group in the United States within the next year, and their numbers already may have dipped below 50 percent, says a new study by the National Op...
Unclear bankruptcy rules challenge Catholics and Disciples: Nonprofit status may help determine legal precedents
The nonprofit status of the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, which filed for bankruptcy last month, and the Protestant-affiliated National Benevolent Association, which filed for protectio...
Coalition urges end to youth executions: In Roper v. Simmons
A wide array of nearly 30 religious groups has called upon the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw the execution of minors....
Study: Student debt hurts new pastors: Average debt of $25,000
Seminarians preparing to serve as pastors are increasingly taking out low-interest government loans to pay educational costs, but researchers say that trend is dangerously compounding the struggles...
Seminary denies that Schuller is ignored: Crystal Cathedral pastor claims he's been shunned
As a prominent pastor whose Crystal Cathedral was only a few stone throws away, Robert H....
Anglicans establish theological prize: The Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing
A biennial $27,750 prize for new theological writing has been announced by Lambeth Palace in London....
LCMS reelects its president: Kieschnick holds on
The incumbent president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has been reelected to another three-year term—essentially ending a long debate over his backing of a New York minister who took part in...
Presbyterians try to mend Jewish ties: Divestment plans, support of messianic Jews caused tension
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), under fire from Jewish groups for its funding of messianic Jewish congregations and a move to divest from Israel, is appealing to members of both faiths to respect...
Missionary recall for American Baptists? Financial troubles: Financial troubles
To overcome a pressing financial deficit, American Baptists Churches USA may reduce up to a fifth of its missionary force unless its mission agency can raise new money....
Briefly noted
The Bush administration asked a federal appellate court July 12 to reconsider its spring decision to uphold Oregon’s assisted-suicide law. It would like the Ninth U.S....
President Bush and immigration reform: The real problem
In January 2004 George Bush outlined a new approach to immigration. He would grant special visas to foreign workers which would be valid for three years and renewable....
China syndrome: The persecution of Falun Gong
Walking toward Chicago’s Federal Plaza a few months ago, I saw what appeared to be a rather large aggregate of people engaging in aerobic exercises....
Campus tour: The university of all things
Summer is sailing past and we are trying to catch up to it in our 1988 Volvo with its worn upholstery, carpet of crushed Ritz crackers and Freon-guzzling air conditioner....
Thank God for the secular: Thank God for religious freedoms
Turkey advertises itself both as “secular,” thanks to its constitution of 1923, and as “98 percent Muslim.” India is called “secular,” thanks to its constitution of 1947, and is often seen as havin...
Dying to get in: Crisis on the Mexican border
Last year over 200 people lost their lives as they tried to cross the border from Mexico into Arizona. They died from dehydration in the 120-degree heat of the Sonoran Desert....