Latest Articles
Up for review: Ventures into popular culture
Like many ministers, I used the popularity of Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ to focus attention in the church on what we believe about Jesus Christ....
War comes home: The dark side of what soldiers do in our name
The myth of American innocence dies hard. It resurfaces even as it is being punctured by reality....
Century Marks
Quagmire? The Center for American Progress has a plan for getting the U.S. out of the quagmire of Iraq....
All in the family: United Methodists reaffirm gay ban
On the persistent question of whether churches should tolerate same-sex intimacy by any of its ministers, opponents won a series of victories in May as United Methodists met in Pittsburgh....
Christian group reported Iraqi prison abuse: Christian Peacemaker Teams
Nearly four months before the publication of photos of Iraqi detainees abused by their coalition captors, a small Christian peace organization issued a report detailing incidents similar to those n...
Catholics, Protestants urge new Iraq policy: Call torture scandal a damaging self-inflicted blow
High-ranking Vatican diplomats are calling the Iraq torture scandal a self-inflicted blow that has caused more damage to the United States than the 2001 terrorist attacks....
What's hot and not in Episcopal church names: Lots of saints
The most popular names of Episcopal parishes in the U.S. are in a virtual three-way tie between churches with the word Christ (527), St....
Pastor wins same-sex rites case on appeal: Conflicting interpretations of the Book of Order
A Cincinnati minister has won a reversal of a 2003 Presbyterian church-court conviction for performing same-sex marriage ceremonies at a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)....
Mennonites like 'First,' 'Bethel,' trees in names: One-quarter don't use "Mennonite" in their names
If you’re looking for a Mennonite church in any given city, turn to “F” in the phone book—more Mennonite churches start with “First” than any other name, according to the Mennonite Weekly Review...
Ratio of 'unchurched' up sharply since 1991: A Barna Group study
The portion of adults who generally do not attend church has risen sharply in the past 13 years, a Barna Group study shows....
Reformed churches merge publishing work: Faith Alive Christian Resources
Two Reformed churches with shared roots in Dutch Calvinism have merged their publications divisions to streamline operations....
Mennonite evangelists imprisoned in Vietnam: Targeted by authorities for months
More than two months after their arrest, three evangelists and a staff member of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam remain imprisoned, their status unknown....
Clinton spokesman learns ropes as church delegate: Mike McCurry
When Mike McCurry was press secretary for President Bill Clinton, the toughest part of his job was staying one step ahead of the White House press corps....
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Fourth in a series
In late 2003 President Bush said, in response to a reporter's question, that he believed Muslims and Christians "worship the same God." The remark sparked criticism from some Christians, who tho...
Welcome interruption: Letting the Bible question us
In a famous 1936 lecture, “The Presentation of New Testament Texts,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposed to the Confessing Church an alternative strategy of reading scripture....
Abuse at Abu Ghraib: Not aberrant but systemic
Both the International Red Cross and Amnesty International knew about the horrors of Abu Ghraib....
Rumor of saints: St. Expeditus
"Bibfeldt’s back” was the slogan of the University of Chicago Divinity School Association’s recent celebration of theologian Franz Bibfeldt after a decade of well-deserved neglect....
God's arms: Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
Paul’s daunting promise to the Romans haunts me: “Suffering produces endurance,” he assures the Romans and us, “and endurance produces character and character produces hope.” Recently I stood in the pulpit of my church and looked over the top of a white, 32-inch-long casket at a young couple from my congregation. Their six-month-old son, who had been happy and healthy just days before, had died in his sleep. The unfathomable suffering of the family was shadowed by a church filled with mourners for whom the scene enacted their most dreaded fears.