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The closing of several Protestant denominational newspapers, magazines and other news services has played a part in eroding the standards of professional religious journalism, according to members ...

A Michigan woman has filed a wrongful­-termination lawsuit against InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, saying she was fired because of her divorce while two male colleagues kept their jobs as th...

The RCL includes a few "optional" readings, to be subbed in as needed. Of course, it's all optional.

For about a month, there has been an ongoing discussion about the term “mainline.” I refuse to use it because it doesn't adequately reflect the diversity of our social justice influences.

Christian Mingle wants to help God help you. The dating site’s motto comes from Psalm 37: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Christian Mingle reflects a move from broad dating pools like Match.com to niche markets of personal preferences and identities. Christian Mingle’s goal is to help singles “make new friends or to find a life-partner that shares similar values, traditions and beliefs.” My guess is that more log in for the latter.

New today from the Century: Steve Thorngate on alternatives to the common lectionary, Carol Howard Merritt on "mainline" and the importance of labels, more.

When I was a small girl I went to an excellent Sunday school where we were introduced to lots of Bible stories with very few be-good-or-else threats attached....

Is there a better name for main­line Protestants? How about vintage Protestants? Or the VPCC—Vanishing Progressive Christian Church? Or the Legacy Church?...

The new movie 12 Years a Slave may depict a bygone era in American history, but religious leaders hope it might spark increased attention about present-day race relations....

Week before last, I wrote this: I've always supported the health-care reform law, and I remain mostly optimistic about it (despite this week's tech glitches). But the point I take from [Obamacare convert Butch] Matthews isn't that people will agree with me about stuff once they have the facts. It's that if Obamacare's coverage expansions don't work out as well as we supporters expect them to, we should acknowledge this—rather than going down the endless path of confirmation bias and doubling down on existing loyalties. In that spirit: I was wrong when I dismissed the problems with the Obamacare exchange rollout as mere "glitches" confined to a parenthetical aside.

When writer Philip Caputo was almost 69, he took a road trip across the country—diagonally, from Florida to Alaska....

New today from the Century: Pastor Francis, Obamacare's unimpressive first two weeks, more.

Chesterton wrote that what St. Benedict stored, St. Francis scattered. It was a prophetic phrase.

c. 2013 Religion News Service...

A court in Muslim-majority Malaysia has ruled that only Muslims are permitted to use the word Allah to describe God, overturning a lower court’s 2009 decision that allowed others...

I have great respect and gratitude for our democratic system. But my respect and gratitude are being tried.

I’ve been thinking about Jacob a good deal lately, so for this week’s Century lectionary column I wrote about Jacob and the angel. But I also rather wanted to write about the Gospel reading, the Unjust Judge parable from Luke. I wanted to write about the parable because on the surface it is a bit nonsensical.

New today from the Century: Carol Howard Merritt on avoiding tokenism, John Buchanan on cynicism about government, more.

Wanting to avoid tokenism is important. But it's a terrible excuse for our indolent inability to see beyond our own thought bubbles. 

After his elderly father died and he himself was approaching 70, Caputo took a road trip, cutting diagonally across America and a corner of Canada....