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Century Marks
Match made in heaven? Almost half of American Jews marry gentiles, a rate that has tripled since 1970. But now JDate—a matchmaking Web site for Jewish singles—is teaming up with rabbis to reverse this trend. JDate offers a bulk rate to rabbis who will make subscriptions available to members of their congregations, and some of the rabbis are picking up the tab (Newsweek, January 21).
Stranger on the steeple: Lessons from a homeless man
Over the years, the fiberglass steeple had gradually weakened, and the hot sun and brutal winters had changed it into a streaked and stained obelisk. Its paint was flaking and splintering, its cracks widening. The “case of the stained steeple” went on the council agenda, and the steeple was taken down and carted off to a field just south of the building. The council neglected to decide on its disposal, so there it rested. The grass grew high and the steeple was forgotten—until the day the director of the preschool looked out the window and shouted, “Pastor, we have to do something about that man out there!”
Briefly noted
Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, who has been stripped of his credentials to function as a priest by the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, has formed his own church, the Anglican Pro...
Adventists say WHO seeks faith partners: Greater collaboration
The Seventh-day Adventist Church says its health leaders have been asked by the Geneva-based World Health Organization to join its initial consultations as it prepares to renew partnerships with fa...
Philippine Protestant and Catholic leaders plan continued activism: Against extrajudicial killings and environmental destruction
Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders in the Philippines, Asia’s most predominantly Christian nation, have said they plan to be as active in the affairs of civil society this year as they have been...
Ecumenical group decides to sit out presidential race: Christian Churches Together
Christian Churches Together in the USA—the nation’s broadest and newest group devoted to ecumenism—says it will stay out of the presidential campaigns but hopes to convey its top concern—combating ...
Presbytery OKs first step for lesbian's ordination: Follows procedure approved in 2006
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved in 2006 a procedure for ordaining gay and lesbian candidates for ministry, but the first step in that direction was not taken until a San Francisco regiona...
UCC head responds to attacks on Obama's church: Chicago congregation is UCC's largest
Efforts to portray the Chicago church of which Senator Barack Obama is a member as racist and anti-American are “absurd, mean-spirited and politically motivated,” said John Thomas, head of the Unit...
Motto on U.S. coins will be more prominent next year: Will move from edge to front or back of coins
The national motto “In God We Trust” will move from the edge of new dollar coins honoring U.S. presidents to the front or back of the currency....
Habitat's new controls concern some affliates, including New Orleans: Requirements unprecedented
A months-long effort by Habitat for Humanity International to retool relations with its 1,600 local affiliates has raised concerns in Habitat’s productive operation in New Orleans, where volunteers...
Property fight in Virginia costs millions: Episcopal church assets
The court battle over church assets between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and 11 breakaway congregations has already cost both sides more than $2 million between them, according to representati...
Bishops make moves on Episcopal chessboard: San Joaquin out, Pittsburgh still in
In a scenario that may be performed repeatedly in months ahead, the Episcopal Church has declared that two bishops have “abandoned the communion of the church”—John-David Schofield, whose diocese i...
Social insecurity: Linking retirement and personal responsibility
One of the greatest fruits of high productivity and rising incomes in a country like the U.S. is the financial ability people have to retire....
Trust exercise: Unexpected wallops
The blizzard hit more suddenly than predicted, dumping several inches on us by noon and stopping traffic dead in all the streets leading from our town to the outlying country....
Map quest: Candy box directions
A friend stopped by the other day having just come back from Iran. She brought with her a gift of sweets from the Iranian city of Qom....
Spiritual wanderlust: Genesis 12:1-4
The urge to travel is in Abraham’s genes. According to Genesis 11, his father, Terah, uprooted the family from the southern Mesopotamian town of Ur and headed north to Haran....
Identity confirmation: John 4:5-42
Respectable women made their trips to the well in the morning, not at noon.
Dinosaurs in the Garden: A visit to the Creation Museum
The "young earth” creationists behind the new $27 million Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, insist that creation took place in six 24-hour days about 6,000 years ago. The “old earth” creationists, who argue that a “day” in Genesis could be a symbol for millions of years, are considered theological wimps. And advocates of intelligent design? They aren’t even worth a mention.
God in evolution: The nature of divine power
While controversies over evolution continue to arise in some sectors of American Christianity, most mainline Christians have made their peace with Darwin....