News-Record.com

"As the accountability pressures on higher education grow, and words like 'measurable outcomes' become common parlance in academe, religious colleges are increasingly embracing a need to measure the spiritual and moral outcomes they promise in their mission statements to deliver. They're seeking ways not only to measure their own students' spiritual commitments -- and how those commitments might change from freshman to senior year -- but also how they as institutions stack up, spiritually speaking, relative to peer colleges."

RICHMOND, Virginia, Jan. 31 - Episcopalian leaders are asking courts around the state to evict breakaway conservative congregations from church buildings.
Wednesday's move comes more than a month after the churches began voting to part ways with The Episcopal Church, citing disagreements with the American denomination's liberal views on homosexuality.

but this church's Jesus?

Is your house of worship vulnerable?

Why is the faith community not in the lead?

A few Charlotte churches say they are leaving the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina before they're kicked out.

Religious institutions have long had leeway to hire and fire based on creed. But what happens when a man who professes the faith also starts to appear on campus as a woman?

"Homeless off and on since 1991, Rickey Robinson figures he needs to get close to God as often as he can. So on an especially icy Tuesday afternoon, as on many Tuesday afternoons, he bundled himself in a long black coat and joined a small group gathered in a corner of Franklin Square Park, where they prayed, sang a hymn and recited the 23rd Psalm."

Is this reasonable?

Filling a need, Christian mags say.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Commercials do it. Television programs do it. Now even churches are using sex to grab the attention of the masses.

Can a scientist produce intellectually honest work that contradicts deeply held religious beliefs?

Does Romney have a chance? Some would say his faith, often misunderstood, might be "less than a blessing" with voters.

Something we can all buy into.

Want to get here, with your situation?
Maybe this is the opportunity.

'Jesus' image in tree? Go to 'video.' I wonder if these 'sightings' leave Christians open to more ridicule. I mean -- couldn't Jesus just use the sky as a billboard?

"Hey," reads the email from Eric. "I got me one of those new $1 coins from the bank today. Interesting thing... the date of issue, and both mottoes (old and "new") are hidden away from normal view on the rim. Since "In God We Trust" isn't on the normal surfaces where folks look to see stuff, I wonder if anyone will complain that these coins are "Godless?"

"I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned. Registration required, or you can view a few graphs below:

The church that he began building 20 years ago in Miami resembles no other:Followers have protested Christian churches in Miami and Latin America, disrupting services and smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.
De Jesus preaches there is no devil and no sin. His followers, he says, literally can do no wrong in God's eyes. The church calls itself the "Government of God on Earth" and uses a seal similar to the United States.

Everything you wanted to know.

"The painting, 'The Apotheosis of Washington,' reminds us of a special challenge when assessing the faith life of George Washington: he was deified so early that it’s nearly impossible to separate fact from wishful thinking. For instance, it turns out that the source for the story about Washington praying on bended knee at Valley Forge – which inspired many a patriotic painting – was the biography by Parson Weems, the same creative fellow who made up the fictitious tale about young GW chopping down the cherry tree."

From USA Today: Friday marks the 200th anniversary of Parliament's historic vote in 1807 to abolish the slave trade throughout the British Empire. In more than 800 U.S. theaters, Bristol Bay Productions releases Amazing Grace, a film about Wilberforce's sense of calling and career as a lawmaker.

But in the film, Wilberforce seeks God in a garden, not a church. He never refers to Jesus. He displays none of the historical figure's passion for winning converts to Christianity.

"The spiritual side (of Wilberforce) has been extremely toned down," says associate producer Bob Beltz, one of several evangelicals involved in the project. "The purpose of the film is to introduce him to a new generation by appealing to a broad audience that is not necessarily religious."

Speaker tells students to shun Muslims.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The victims' advocates who dogged the Roman Catholic Church over sex abuse by its clergy have now turned their attention to the Southern Baptists, accusing America's largest Protestant denomination of also failing to root out molesters

MADISON, Wis. - Annie Laurie Gaylor speaks with a soft voice, but her message catches attention: Keep God out of government.

Gaylor has helped transform the Freedom From Religion Foundation from obscurity into the nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics, with a fast-rising membership and increasing legal clout.

Are sperm banks wrong for single women?

Four years for insulting Islam.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by the Oscar-winning director James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets.

"The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries -- small caskets used to store bones -- discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

The American Medical Association says it's OK, but what if Jesus, who Christians follow, had these rules?

STORY: BAKERSFIELD - A family is turned away by a local pediatrician, they say because of the way they look.The doctor said he is just following his beliefs, creating a Christian atmosphere for his patients. Tasha Childress said Dr. Gary Merrill wouldn’t treat her daughter for an ear infection because Tasha, the mother, has tattoos.

"Couldn't she forgive and still want justice?"

Values shift?

Does this undermine the values of justice and fairness that religious types tell others to pay attention to?

NEW YORK (AP) — Appearing on a live webcast, the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop began the painful task Wednesday of persuading members to roll back their support for gays — at least for now — so the denomination can keep its place in the world Anglican fellowship.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who personally supports ordaining partnered gays, told a studio audience, callers and those who submitted questions by e-mail that they should make concessions that Anglican leaders are seeking to buy time for reconciliation.

"To live together in Christian community means each member takes seriously the concerns and needs of other members," Jefferts Schori said. "If we can lower the emotional reactivity in the midst of this current controversy, we just might be able to find a way to live together."