News-Record.com

We talk a lot about choices and ethics on this blog., so this isn't a stretch.I mean, there's a chance those Richards offended could walk away with money. Am I not seeing something here?

My vote: Rick Warren, who not only gives away most of his money from extremely popular "The Purpose Driven Life" industry, but he also turned the spotlight on AIDS in Africa.
Now for the pulpit controversy.

"In a letter sent to members of Congress from the Carolinas, Catholic bishops in Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston urged passage of immigration legislation that would include a path to U.S. citizenship for refugees and those here illegally."

"One of the most common questions put to me about Jeff has to do with the sincerity of his faith. And I usually hear this from Christians. They ask if Jeff was truly sincere in his desire for baptism and in his Christian life. My answer is always the same: Yes, I am convinced he was sincere."

"Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran," one columnist writes.
"He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization."

"After a study revealed that less than 10 percent of evangelicals were Bible literate, James Dobson's Focus on the Family is desperately taking a two-day multimedia Bible boot camp on the road, selling "truth" for $179 a seat."

DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq.

"My grandmother went out of her way to lay away a toy and paid on this thing for months," said the boy's mother, Brandi Ervin. "It was only to teach my son a lesson. He's been going through life doing things ... and getting away with it."

"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," Earll said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."

Lots of people who consider themselves Christians or who are religious with similar beliefs opt not to go to church -- the so-called unchurched/dechurched. What advice would you give this new pastor, whose mission is to get them to church? What made you leave the church/would bring you back?

TORONTO — The handsome, clean-cut young man of evidently Pakistani or Indian origin is standing in an airport line, gesticulating emphatically as he says into his cellphone, "If Dad thinks that's suicide, so be it," adding after a pause, "This is Allah's plan for me."
As might be expected, a cop materializes almost instantly and drags the man off, telling him that his appointment in paradise will have to wait, even though the suicide he is referring to is of the career kind; he’s giving up the law to pursue a more spiritual occupation.

KATY, Texas — A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has blown up into a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims.

...One resident has set up an anti-Islamic Web site with an odometer-like counter that keeps track of terrorist attacks since Sept. 11. A committee has formed to buy another property and offer to trade it for the Muslims' land. And next-door neighbor Craig Baker has threatened to race pigs on the edge of the property on the Muslim holy day. Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.

Here's a note I got from a friend with this link:
"This is a good way for Christian evangelicals to lose all credibility with, well, anyone who is not a Christian evangelical. If you want to promote the stereotypes of conservative Christians as hostile to the rest of the world, intolerant and dangerous: Mission Accomplished. I wonder if we'll be talking about this video game the next time some screwed up kid goes in an shoots up a high school."

"It's hard out there for a punk -- especially a tattooed, lip-pierced one who's also a Christian minister. Even tougher if your last name is Bakker."

"Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary."

This contest encourages young people to commit what Christians call the ultimate sin, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. For what Christians consider an eternity in hell, participants get a God-bashing documentary DVD for uploading their blasphemy on youTube.

Enjoy.

FAIRFAX, Va. — Eight Virginia churches that voted Sunday to quit their Episcopal diocese and align with a more conservative African Anglican bishop Monday reached a "standstill" pact for the next 30 days, agreeing to offer spiritual care for all believers and not to sue for control of multimillion dollar church properties.
The dissenting congregations, including two of the wealthiest and oldest in the nation, object to the 2003 consecration of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, and the more liberal views of Scripture and salvation held by the national denomination, the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Interesting -- but what's up with that Nike emblem on her hajib. Catch her in action.

DALLAS — Two former employees of the University of Texas at Arlington said they were fired after praying over another staff member's cubicle and anointing it with olive oil.

"I remember a time when people of faith bemoaned the over-commercialization of Christmas," the columnist writes.

"Now some are shouting persecution because sales clerks at some stores are wishing customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" or because the tree behind the City Market building was called a holiday tree in press releases instead of a Christmas tree last year.

When it comes to persecution, Christians have come a long way from being fed to the lions, my friends."

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19 — It is fair to say that in a neighborhood largely populated with Orthodox Jews, it is rather unconventional to have a life-size Santa perched on the edge of the roof of a house, attached to a microphone and bellowing, "What is this Hanukkah you speak of?"

Share your holiday memories here.
I'd like to share a note I got from a reader experiencing a loss this Christmas:
My loving husband of almost 40 years passed away on July 21 of this year. The path thus far for me has been three steps up and 2 back, but that means progress.
I would like to tell you what I have planned for this year — my first Christmas without my love. In September I realized that I needed to do something to 'protect' myself during the most sensitive holiday of the year, a time of celebration of each other, the loving of friends and family, and the renewal and promise of the new year.
Friends were contacted and the suggestion was no gift exchange — let’s do birthdays instead. Immediate family was sent checks to make the best selections for their family for me. The decorations in the house are simple with a bit of holly here, ivy there, entwined around a few candles and gold Christmas ornaments.
Then with the help of the staff at the O'Henry Hotel, I made reservations for two nights -- the 24th and 25th -- to be spent with them by myself in a delightfully appointed room. The hotel will be decorated and festive; reservations for one for the two evening meals have been made at the Green Valley Grill; there will be church in Greensboro on Christmas morning and movies in Friendly Center in the afternoon. A totally new and different Christmas and one that I can build on for future years.

If not, what are you up to?

What kind of 'miracles' would you like to see make faith news this new year?