Jason Byassee
Splitting up: Anglican angst
It takes a flow chart to keep straight all the Episcopal- Anglican divisions that have developed in the well-heeled suburbs of DuPage County, west of Chicago. Many assume that the key issue is homosexuality, but a closer look reveals that other factors are at work. For one thing, this story is about charismatic leaders coming and going, and about congregations growing in their presence or folding in their absence.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Darwinists are communists. And Nazis. They hate our freedom. And—this might be worst of all—they are New Atheists....
Johnny Cash and the Great American Contradiction: Christianity and the Battle for the Soul of a Nation
Alasdair MacIntyre famously compared dying for the modern nation-state to d...
Glimpsing the future: Dispatch from Hong Kong
While attending a conference in Hong Kong I spent a free afternoon looking for signs of the vibrant Asian Christianity that we’ve heard so much about recently....
Neighborhood presence: Innovative urban ministry
Of course, the city isn’t gentrifying everywhere....
The church downtown: Strategies for urban ministry
The city is changing. For decades white people with money fled the city for the suburbs, leaving behind a mostly brown and black population that was often bereft of resources....
Bridging the gap: The Th.D.
A Ph.D. student in religion veered off from his friends one morning to head toward the divinity school chapel. “Where are you going?” one of his colleagues asked....
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.
Textweek.com: The woman behind the Web site
If you’re a lectionary preacher with access to the Internet, you have probably clicked on textweek.com....
Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians
Fergus Kerr’s new book is so good that the only thing worth criticizing about it is its title....
Shopocalypse now: 'What would Jesus buy?'
Reverend Billy, otherwise known as Bill Talen, sports poorly dyed blond hair blown and sprayed back in a mighty bowl. In his cheap white suit and a clergy collar, he invites consumers to a booth where they can “confess your shopping sins” and be absolved. He is the pastor of the Church of Stop Shopping, and his Shopocalypse tour has been captured on film in What Would Jesus Buy? directed by Rob VanAlkemade and produced by Morgan Spurlock (creator of Super Size Me).
What you're looking for: Worship at the U2charist
Elevation, a U2 tribute band, played so loudly that the tunes were unintelligible. Lead singer Danno, named after U2’s Bono, wore shades and donned the leather jacket with the American-flag liner that Bono wore for U2’s Super Bowl performance. Watching him bounce around in a gothic sanctuary was painful.But then Elevation lit into the guitar riff that opens U2’s song of religious longing, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For." Something in me changed, and I started to groove.
Multifaith mosaic: PBS's Cities of Light
Andalusia, the vibrant, southernmost region of Spain, is famous for its party culture, bullfighting and oceans of sunshine....
Democrats for Jesus: Faith-friendly candidates
In Mississippi these days, you may hear a candidate insist that “our children should be able to learn and pray in the best schools in the land." You might be surprised to hear the candidate refer to “the day I accepted Christ.” But you might be more surprised—especially if you hail from another part of the country—to learn that the candidate is a Democrat, John Arthur Eaves. At times Eaves seems to be trying to unseat GOP governor Haley Barbour by out-Jesusing him.
Gangs and God: How churches are reaching out
Pastor Maria Edmonds is doing gang ministry in the mountains of North Carolina. As she puts it, "They’re not accepted anywhere else. So I figure Jesus would have me spend time with them.”Millions of dollars are spent each year at the federal level to combat gang activity and reduce gang-related violence in our big cities. And, as Edmonds has discovered, gangs are also a feature of life in many small towns.
Mass appeal? Attending a Latin liturgy: Attending a Latin liturgy
The Sunday after Pope Benedict XVI authorized the wider use of Latin in the Catholic mass, I went to St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, which has been celebrating mass in Latin for years....
Counting the cost: A crusade against consumer debt
Heather from Oregon sounds like a born-again woman, financially speaking. “I finally got everything paid. . . . No more credit cards, no more student loan!“ She thanks radio personality and anticredit crusader Dave Ramsey for freeing her from her bondage to consumer debt.She's not the only Ramsey fan. The tough-talking, quick-witted evangelical radio personality from Nashville has an audience of millions that includes both religious and secular listeners.
The Internet, gay sex and the surgeon general nominee: A new litmus test?
Surgeon general appointees are often controversial, usually for reasons having to do with sex. Conservatives fumed when C....
Raunchy family values
A friend of mine has an idea for teaching youth about sex: have them view one of those graphic birthing videos that the hospital has for first-time parents, the kind that shows the crowning and the...