News-Record.com

Temple Emanuel and the Greensboro chapter of Hadassah will present a community forum on stem cell research at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Temple Emanuel, 1129 Jefferson Road.

Speakers include Dr. Shay Soker, a medical researcher from Wake Forest University; state Rep. Earl Jones, D-Guilford, who introduced a bill to allow and fund stem cell research in North Carolina; the Rev. Michael Usey, a Baptist minister; Rabbi Fred Guttman, Temple Emanuel; and a stem cell lobbyist from the national office of Hadassah.

A boy, abused and abandoned, needed a home, writes John Young, opinion page editor of the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald.

A caseworker called all over town. She called one pastor, then another. Too busy with revivals and speeches. Several other men of the cloth and high morals said the demands of Christian life were too intense to take in the abused child, Young writes. Two pleasant, presentable 30-something men came to the caseworker's office and inquired about offering their home as foster parents. They were domestic partners.

Who practiced the second commandment, to love thy neighbor as thyself? Young asks.

By the way, the offer by the domestic partners didn't count. As Young notes, the Texas House voted to require Child Protective Services to reject comparable applicants who would offer sanctuary, even if it means abused children go without foster care.

What would have been the perfect ending for this child in this situation?

What are you praying for?

When is "I'm sorry" good enough?

I'm reading yet another story about the "Runaway Bride" whose disappearance meant several officers couldn't attend a fallen comrade's funeral, because they were called in for the search. What's worse, she initially claimed she had been abducted by an Hispanic man (shades of Susan Smith and her false claims about a black man).

Maybe I would be more sympathetic about her supposed 'fragile state' if there weren't real women abducted and feared dead whose cases get little or no national attention.

Remember those United Church of Christ ads ABC and NBC refused to air? The battle appears to be heating up.

"East Waynesville Baptist asked nine members to leave. Now 40 more have left the church in protest. Former members say Pastor Chan Chandler gave them the ultimatum, saying if they didn't support George Bush, they should resign or repent.

"But some neighbors are objecting, saying the church would damage the environment and snarl traffic. The township has not yet approved Christ Church's building plans, which were submitted in July 2003, and the church sued the township last month claiming a violation of its right to practice religion."

A megachurch (membership greater than 2,000) is going up in this Montclair, N.J., neighborhood and not everybody's happy. The Triad-area has them in abundance, tucked in neighborhoods big and small: Westover on Muir's Chapel Road in Greensboro; Mount Zion on Alamance Church Road in Greensboro; and Green Street Baptist Church at North Rotary Dr. and Phillips Avenue.

The list goes on and on.

What's been your experience with the large house of worship (whatever the faith) next door or on your street?

Give me a break!
This is something we (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, whomever) should all care about.
First the armoured vehicle problem, now this....

Mainstream Christian churches must make changes or risk losing their relevance, religious leaders said this week at a conference sponsored by the World Council of Churches.

How can churches/religious institutions become more relevant in our community? Are there good examples already out there?

Or would we really miss not having a church on every other block?

Recording artist CeCe Winans brings her Throne Room Tour Concert to Winston-Salem tonight (Thursday) -- and it's free on a first-come, first-in-line basis. Winston-Salem gospel group Solely For Christ is the opening act.

The concert is 7 p.m., First Assembly of God Church, 3730 University Parkway, Winston-Salem. Doors open at 6pm. For more information, call (336) 471-1431.

TV evangelist Joyce Meyer got a $900,000 annual paycheck -- her husband $450,000 in recent years. Their kids get houses and a housing allowance, all from Joyce Meyer's Ministries.

This is the first public look at how the worldwide broadcasting and publishing empire has compensated Meyer, a one-time bookeeper, and her family.

Some of the details first came to light as the ministry battled to keep its $30 million headquarters and its contents off the Jefferson County tax rolls.

Bill Saye was a drug dealer on death row when he says God changed him.

A former truck driver and head of a large drug organization in 1975, he was charged in 1980 with killing his wife in Florida. He spent two years on death row before a retrial that led to a manslaughter conviction. He says he did not kill his wife.

"I was a horrible human being, and I would be the first to admit I deserved to die for things I've done or been responsible for, but God is merciful, and I don't believe there's a person out there who's done any kind of crime where God won't forgive them if they turn their lives over to him," said the evangelist, who will be in High Point today and Saturday for a youth crusade (If you go, come back here to comment).

A young man allegedly kills his parents in Chapel Hill sometime last week. A promising young high school student drowns the week before graduation. Here's a story bound to be more uplifting....

A story Newsweek magazine finds itself apologizing for demonstrates how what many might construe to be a simple, seemingly small act -- a report of desecrating a religious work -- can lead to death and destruction.

How would Bible-believing Americans react if the Bible, instead of the Qu'ran, was alleged to have been flushed down a toilet?

"My father believes that you can only be saved by attending a church of his denomination," says the daughter, now an adult. "I do not believe this, and have joined the Catholic Church, where I am extremely happy.

"I will not reveal to my father where I worship because he is elderly and he would be terrified if he knew I had joined the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, his denomination has made him terrified of dying, which is very sad to me ... he has been scared to death by "fire and brimstone" preaching since he was five years old, and he cannot recover from this."

"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005," said Sheila Cosby.

A death row inmate wants his execution delayed so he can be an organ donor for his ailing sister. The man hasn't been tested for compatibility and some question whether he is able to give informed consent.
But I say, 'What's the problem?' They're relatives. She knows what she's getting and what he might have done.
I guess in a slippery slope kind of way, you could ask if this could lead to the general harvesting of organs from death row inmates?

In the Five on Faith section on the Religion page on Saturdays, I ask readers their opinions on a variety of topics. Last week I asked, "The World Council of Churches said this week mainstream Christian churches are at a crossroad and must make changes or risk losing their relevance. Do you agree or disagree? Why?"

(This week's question is at the end of the responses on the Religion page.)

Here's what some of you had to say:

"I do believe churches must change with the times. One must always be relevant to the population," said Allen Tate.

"My creed is the Bible, which tells me I am supposed to stand up and defend my faith," said the Rev. Creighton Lovelace, pastor of the 55-member Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City. "I don't hate Muslims, I just hate their false doctrines."

Lovelace is the pastor at a church with a sign out front saying, "The Koran should be flushed."

We definitely haven't heard the last of the evolution vs. creation debate in our courts. This from religion columnist Cary McMullen:
"The Kansas state board of education, after a week of hearings boycotted by every respectable science-education organization in the nation, is poised at the end of the summer not just to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution — it is attempting something much more audacious. The board will consider an astonishing proposal to redefine science itself as "a systematic method of continuing investigation" that is not limited to natural explanations.
"Why, silly us. And we thought science is an attempt to explain the natural world by observable means. The board ought to get some kind of medal for illogic, which they could wear below the crosses around their necks."