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Pucker up
Bombs-away: Not so long ago neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz, John Bolton and William Kristol were recommending that the U.S. (or Israel) bomb Iran. Now that there are protests in Tehran against what appears to be a rigged presidential election, some of these same commentators are showing concern for the well-being of the protesters. Blogger Glenn Greenwald says: “Imagine how many of the people protesting . . . would be dead if any of these bombing advocates had their way” (salon.com, June 16).
Briefly noted
Christian leaders, including three members of President Obama’s faith advisory council, have urged the president to make good on his promise of comprehensive immigration reform....
Carter says Gaza residents are treated like animals: Two-year-old blockade "an atrocity"
Former president Jimmy Carter is calling Israel’s two-year-old blockade of Gaza an “atrocity” and saying that people there are being treated like animals....
Faith leaders press Obama for torture comission: National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Prominent religious officials led a march to the White House last month to urge President Obama to form a commission of inquiry into interrogation practices under the Bush administration....
RCA drops Church Herald as subscriptions fall off: An online successor to come
Just as major mainstream print publications are struggling to forge a new path in the digital age, so will the flagship magazine of the 166,000-member Reformed Church in America....
Megachurches a draw for those under 45: Members often invite others to church
Megachurches are most attractive to younger adults, and almost all who arrive at their sanctuaries have attended church elsewhere before, a new survey shows....
Toxic mix: Antifaith and antigovernment violence: Hate and extremism
In 1981, white supremacist James W. von Brunn tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., in a bid to overthrow a financial system he believed was controlled by Jews....
Religious charities gain in a recession year: A Giving USA Foundation study
Religious organizations reported a 5.5 percent increase in donations last year, a marked contrast from the nationwide 2 percent decline in charitable giving, according to a study by the Giving USA ...
Recession may pull seminaries apart or together: Creative solutions
The recession has forced seminaries to undertake cost-cutting measures that affect people, projects and their own best-laid plans for sustainability....
Family secret: Resurrected memories
When my father boarded a ship to New York in 1938, he brought his trunks of family silver and linens—and his faith....
The crypto-Christians: One of the world's largest religious groups
For most American Christians, re straints on the open expression of religious loyalties normally involve situations in which believers might be seen as imposing their views on others—through evange...
No vacation from ministry: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56; Ephesians 2:11-22
July is vacation time for many of us. Anticipating grilled burgers, potato salad, sunshine and seashore can get us through months of occupational drudgery....
The pastor's husband: Redefining expectations
"You can be a minister. Just don’t marry one,” I heard myself telling a little girl in my church, and then wondered where that came from. I suspect that I meant it as a compliment to my husband, who was standing nearby. Perhaps I had been short-tempered, as I sometimes am on Sunday mornings, so the comment was my way of saying that I know it is not always easy to be married to a minister.
Mixed marriage: A pastor and a skeptic
Early on in our marriage, Karen began to decide that even if she believed in some kind of God, she could not accept basic Christian teachings. The faith claims that Christians make about Jesus—about him being the Son of God—seemed unbelievable to her. The Bible is just another book, she began to conclude, and so we cannot grant it any particular authority. She wondered whether she could continue to attend church. This stirred a bit of panic in me. She was not just my wife. She was the minister’s wife.
A new kind of king: 2 Samuel 11:1-15; John 6:1-21
I appreciate the lectionary’s knack for relating Old and New Testament texts, but I have no idea why King David’s adultery with Bathsheba is coupled with Jesus feeding the 5,000 and walking on wate...
Engine trouble
The book Two Billion Cars arrives in stores at the close of a quarter that has seen auto sales plummet 30, 40, even 50 perc...