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All is vanity
Where is Qoheleth coming from? What is he doing in the Bible? What can
he offer us, when his mood and outlook seem so at odds with the rest of
the Bible?
To join or not to join
St. Cyprian said that we can't have God as our Father if we don't have
the church as our mother. It seems, however, that we live in an age in
which people are less inclined to become church members—even when they
are happy to have some church associations.
Amnesty International chides Vatican for abuse
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Amnesty International has criticized the Vatican for
falling short of its commitments to protect children from sex abuse....
It's the end of the world as they know it, and atheists feel fine
(RNS) Harold Camping's campaign to warn Christians that the rapture is
coming on Saturday (May 21) may have won him a band of followers,...
Israel removes landmines from Jesus baptism site
Pilgrims are flowing back to the traditional site of Jesus' baptism
on the West Bank of the Jordan River as Israel removes 40-year-old
landmines and makes improvements to the area....
Trauma Recalled, by Dirk G. Lange; Divine Worship and Human Healing, by Bruce T. Morrill
One might not expect to find so much common ground between a Lutheran and a Roman Catholic liturgist....
Sunday, May 29, 2011: Acts 17:22–31; 1 Peter 3:13–22
Walk through most people's houses, and you'll quickly get a sense of what they love....
Mormons, Baptists assist in tornado cleanup
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Mormon missionaries are often unwelcome guests
when they knock at local front doors wearing white dress shirts and
holding a Book of Mormon....
Hawking says heaven is for `people afraid of the dark'
LONDON (RNS) Professor Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most eminent
scientists, says the concept of heaven is "a fairy story for people
afraid of the dark."...
Taking time in worship to counter bigotry
Religious and human rights activists are asking U.S. churches to
invite Jewish and Muslim clergy to their sanctuaries June 26 to read...
My good parishioner
There's a young man in my congregation--let's call him
"Michael"--who's trying to turn his life around. He's been in and out of...
Loose connections: What's happening to church membership?
Most churches still
approach membership the way they did in the 1960s. But if new modes of affiliation are
appearing, churches will need new ways of thinking about membership.
Dismembership plan
When House of Mercy began in 1996, most attendees weren’t interested in formal membership. In 2008, the church joined the ELCA—which requires congregations to keep a member roll.
Vatican gives bishops one year to set abuse policies
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The world's Catholic bishops have one year to set
national policies on clerical sex abuse of minors, the Vatican said on...
Billy Graham returns home from hospital
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham returned home Sunday (May 15) after a
five-day hospital stay for pneumonia....
Dalai Lama, Nobel laureates tussle (gently) over violence
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The Dalai Lama says peace in the world begins with
peace in oneself. Some of his fellow Nobel laureates, however, aren't
convinced....
The one true music collection
This week's texts make me think about interfaith dialogue,
and interfaith dialogue makes me think of a conversation with my friend Ali. We
were trying to reconcile the fact that each of our religions--or at least some
segments of each of our religions--claims that the other's religion is flat out
wrong.