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A classroom's crucible for evangelical ideas
“Is there a back door out of hell?” I asked the students seated across the table from me. The question hung there for a minute as they considered it. If they said yes, what would that mean about how they had always thought about hell? If they said no, what would that mean about how they had always thought about God?
In fall 2014, I had the opportunity to teach Contemporary Religious Thought.
Deep convictions, strong opinions, and tender love
There’s more than a year to go before the presidential election, and, already, I am weary of the campaign. When I can manage simply to view the candidates as performers, some talented and others not so much, and hear their speeches as scripts in an over-the-top television series, the political news is entertaining.
The Spirit of Grace, by Alister E. McGrath
In this fourth book in the Heart of Christian Faith series, McGrath covers the part of the creed dealing with the Holy Spirit and the church....
Why Supreme Court is still weighing in on same-sex marriage
(The Christian Science Monitor) Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk in Kentucky who has repeatedly refused to issue marriage licenses to...
Obama bristles at anti-Semitism charges during interview with Jewish newspaper
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
Ordinary 24B (Psalm 19; James 3:1-12)
James reminds us of the duplicity of language, like a matchstick dropped by singed fingers that leaves behind charred acres. The deception of language is that we believe it is innocent.
Church wounds
Riley, who has called herself a “former Evangelical Poster Child,” describes her struggle to heal from wounds inflicted by institutional Christianity.
It's time to equalize pastor salaries
Not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder if I chose the wrong profession. Friends who went to graduate school for disciplines other than theology—law, business, or medicine—pull in six figures; their lifestyles make me a bit envious. I heard a story on the radio recently of a CEO who makes $13,000 an hour (not, it turns out, an unusual CEO pay rate) and my first thought was, “I’m young … I could still do that.”
Religious satire on Broadway
Religious satire was once an edgy form of humor celebrated by rebellious teens. Now it’s attracting adults who buy theater tickets.
Can lessons from Plains reach beyond Mr. Jimmy's Sunday School class?
(The Christian Science Monitor) When the Methodist church in Plains, Georgia, puts on its annual fish fry, the congregation is usually...
White supremacist rests case in shooting trial: how prevalent is anti-semitism?
(The Christian Science Monitor) Frazier Glenn Miller Jr....
Why ISIS set off explosives at Syria's ancient Bel temple
(The Christian Science Monitor) In its latest assault on Syria’s cultural heritage, the self-described Islamic State has use...
What religious freedom isn’t
Free exercise is a basic right and a great asset to the American religious landscape. Yet some of its advocates seem eager to give it a bad name.
Schools engage three faiths in Israel
Four decades ago, the YMCA in Jerusalem opened a “peace preschool” that brought Arab and Jewish children into shared classrooms....
UNCO West is calling you
Terra Pennington felt like walking away from her job. She was planting a church and feeling so burnt out that she didn’t know what to do. So she started counting down until UNCO.
On doors and shores and sides of roads
I stared at the headline for a while in mute silence: “Austrian police say up to 50 migrants’ bodies found in truck.” It’s the kind of headline that you read and think, “Whatever awful realities will unfold underneath those words, they surely shouldn’t be nicely filed there on the side bar of a website, right underneath news of Celine Dion returning to perform in Las Vegas or Apple’s latest “media event” or the latest round of lies promises being served up by politicians on the election trail today. They shouldn’t be nicely filed anywhere.
But there they are.
Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest, by Gordon Oyer
In November 1964, Thomas Merton hosted an unprecedented ecumenical gathering of 13 peace authors and activists—including Catholics Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Mennonite John Howard Yoder, and Quake...
The pastor's search for meaning
I’m re-reading Man’s Search for Meaning. The last time I read it was when I was in seminary....
Training cheerful givers
In my much younger years, I remember having heated arguments with my parents about money—but not the kind of arguments you might expect. My parents tried to train us to have good money sense, which included talking about how we would spend our money. In my rebellious years, I didn't think I should give money to charity. I had an attitude that might be typical: "I earned it; why should I give it to charity? What did they do to deserve any of my money?"
We may have been the only family talking about the idea of tithing as we ate our family meals.
Why I support Planned Parenthood
This week, there were many Evangelicals protesting Planned Parenthood. Reading about the gatherings made me remember why I support the organization....