« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
"There is a part of me that says, 'Gee, doesn't the NFL have enough money already?'" said Steve Holley, Immanuel's executive pastor. He pointed out that bars are still allowed to air the game on big-screens TV sets. "It just doesn't make sense."
ATLANTA -- Sarah McCoy mixes her own laundry detergent from biodegradable ingredients, saves cardboard by taking a cookie sheet to the pizzeria to bring home a pie, and got her parents rechargeable batteries for Christmas.
She's not just another tree-hugger, though. She's a 26-year-old divinity school student at Campbell University in Buies Creek and a new generation of Baptist leader who characterizes global warming as a "burr in my butt."
PHOENIX -- There is no sauna, no heated pool, no chauffeur or sommelier. In fact, no alcohol is allowed on the premises, and guests share a bathroom with their next-door neighbor.
But for $250 a night in a city where Super Bowl rentals are topping out at $250,000 a week for a mansion in Scottsdale, the sisters at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery figure they have an offer that cannot be beat.
"Don't confuse evangelicalism with Republican conservatism," says Rice sociologist Michael Lindsay. He says the media and the public unite the two too easily.
Lindsay, who spoke to more than 350 evangelical leaders for his latest book, noted these among a number of interesting points:
*Seventy percent of evangelicals do not identify with the religious right.
* "Cosmopolitan" evangelicals are playing a new role in American leadership.
*The Rev. James Dobson, conservative talk-show hosts and pundits no longer have enough clout to dictate the way evangelical Americans should vote. In fact, in the general election, a large segment of evangelical voters could be voting for the Democratic candidate. This could be the year that conventional wisdom about "values voters" is turned on its head.
A ban on all things red in Saudi Arabia.
"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women," Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.
Is our society too accommodating of the differences in values among us? My question to these parents: When is a second grader mature enough to know that "he" wants to live as a "she"?
"There has definitely been an increase in conflict over religious issues," said Ronald William Nelson, chairman of the custody committee of the American Bar Association's family law section. "Part of that is there has been an increase of conflicts between parents across the board, and with parents looking for reasons to justify their own actions."
Another factor, he said, is the rise of intermarriage and greater willingness by Americans to convert.
What about "best spiritual performance" and "best spiritual film?"
A prominent Southern Baptist pastor is being investigated by the IRS after giving Mike Huckabee his 'personal' endorsement. He'd probably have a stronger case if it wasn't on church stationery.
A Charleston radio station is giving away a divorce today.
"The board felt that after 40 years of statements and resolutions from our denomination, as well as from many other churches and other organizations, urging Israel's withdrawal from occupied lands in the West Bank, that something more needed to be done," James Winkler, general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. The church joins the Presbyterian Church (USA) in its proposed divestment.
"At the church's quadrennial General Conference in April in Fort Worth, the Methodists, with more than 8 million U.S. members, will debate whether to pull church holdings in Caterpillar, which provides the Israel Defense Force with bulldozers."
"With 60 percent of the region's population under the age of 25, this youthful religious fervor has enormous implications for the Middle East. More than ever, Islam has become the cornerstone of identity, replacing other, failed ideologies: Arabism, socialism, nationalism.
"The wave of religious identification has forced governments that are increasingly seen as corrupt or inept to seek their own public redemption through religion. In Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco and Algeria, leaders who once headed secular states or played down religion have struggled to reposition themselves as the guardians of Islamic values. More and more parents are sending their children to religious schools, and some countries have infused more religious content into their state educational systems."
What's missing?
Quaker Martyrs
In Puritan New England, to be a Quaker was a crime punishable by death.
Mary Dyer, a Quaker, is shown here walking to her own execution, which took place on the Boston Common on June 1, 1660.
Drummers played to drown out her words in case she tried to speak to the audience. A local minister urged her, "Repent, Mary Dyer...Repent!" Reportedly she responded, "Nay, man, I am not now to repent. I do only what the Lord God requires of me. Do not mourn of my passing, for I am filled with happiness."
It's 14 years later and Calvin Wayne Inman is a youth minister. He could have confessed to God that he stabbed a man to death at the age of 16, and left it at that. But he admitted his crime to authorities. Some say locking him up now would rob the next generation of a mentor. I don't see it in the same way that the family of the clerk he stabbed to death lost their loved one, but I admit it took courage when he wasn't on the verge of being caught. But should he be an exception to prosecution or a lengthy prison term?
What a great story of persistance and talent. Ben L. Smith High School's Gospel Choir swept the competition in New York this past weekend. The principal said last week that people in the community -- even those with no ties to the school -- had been dropping off checks and donations to make sure the kids had enough money to get there.
Researcher Justin Barrett, a psychologist, compared believers to 3-year-olds who "assume that other people know almost everything there is to be known."
Verrrrrry interesting tactic.
Americans claiming no specific religion at record high.
Senator says he didn't go looking for support.
Keith Mesecher, a longtime member of First Unitarian Universalist Church, says he's "totally turned on" by Dowd's message that humans contain billions of years of evolution inside of them. "We have the wisdom of the universe in us," says Mesecher.
He echoes Dowd that the problem with the science community's presentation of evolution is that it lacks any mention of the sacred. Science provides the facts, he adds, while religion provides the meaning.