News-Record.com

In what ways are your house of worship -- or nonfaith -- group paying attention to the environment?

"When people realize that there is this direct tie between our own faith and being good stewards of this Earth," said John Wear, founding director of Catawba College's Center for the Environment, "then it gives them a purpose that didn't exist before."

Which presidential candidate do you think would be better for the environment?

"It's this principle that allows Roman Catholics to exclude women as priests, or Southern Baptists to prevent women from leading churches -- in contrast to businesses, which would face discrimination charges for the same kinds of actions."

Israel at 60.

You gotta feel for Karl Malone's, dare I say, son.
Even if the son claims it doesn't bother him, I would bet it does. Imagine meeting your wealthy father at age 18 and having him tell you that you'll have to earn your own money. Morally, this stinks.

Need gas? Come to church -- and bring folks with you.

UPDATE (sorry that the link didn't work!):

I admit, this was a hard chapter of the Bible for me to read. See the end of my Saturday column.

One of the first calls I got this morning was from a man who said stories like this do nothing but 'legitimize' criminal activities and hurt 'hardworking Americans.'
A woman at the conference said last year as she saw immigrants working in fields in 100-degree weather she knew it wasn't a job she would ever do.
The caller labeled himself a Christian -- I wonder how he would have defended himself had he been among those who pointed out that in his faith, Jesus was also an immigrant.

"In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms," wrote John Hagee, a John McCain supporter and spiritual advisor, in a letter of apology. "I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews.

"In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It does not."

Critics have attacked McCain as failing to distance himself enough from Hagee. McCain said two weeks ago that he was "glad to have his endorsement," but that he condemned remarks that were "anti-anything."

The Islamic Center of the Triad Youth Committee will release 720 balloons representing "the 720 months of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Land," from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today at the corner of Holden Road and High Point Road in Greensboro. Others are also protesting the celebration of Israel's 60th birthday.

Here's the official statement from the local organization:
"How long has this Israeli Occupation continued? Sixty years! 21900 days! How much we have suffered! How much we have endured! Our children should release 720 balloons on this day of mourning to remember that Israel has killed our children. Generations of our people have been destroyed by this Occupation."

Albert Einstein's beliefs, especially in a higher power, has long been debated. This could set the record straight.

SAN FRANCISCO - Even as same-sex couples across California begin making plans to tie the knot, opponents are redoubling their efforts to make sure wedding bells never again ring for gay couples in the nation's most populous state.

A watershed moment?

A minister at a Dallas-area megachurch (26,000 members) was charged with online solicitation of a minor after police said Friday he was caught in an Internet sex sting. Joe Barron has since resigned.

The temptation to do something wrong must be so strong in these cases. How else do you account for the fact that, if the police got the right person, this seemingly intelligent man did this anyway? I mean, am I the only one who has watched those Dateline stings?

Is your faith group requesting any special use of economic stimulus checks? (Check out today's N&R story by Emily Stephenson.)

This one will break your heart.This family has to grieve the loss and comfort the person who has to live with the accident. Painful and difficult all the way around.

The Internal Revenue Service has concluded that the UCC did not violate tax laws when U.S. Sen. Barack Obama addressed the denomination's 50th anniversary General Synod in Hartford, Conn., in June 2007.

Was the investigation political or was it the kind of work the IRS should be doing?

UPDATE: Obama and McCain have something else in common.

Interesting insight as more of these comments from the cast of spiritual advisors of presidential contenders:

"I sure hope one thing comes out of this campaign cycle -- that in the future, all politicians will stop trying to 'out-Christian' their opponents," commented a friend. "This is what you get when things go overboard."

Despite few resources and more people being in the need, this association of churches is looking for ways to significantly help people. (See today's News&Record).

"We know that people are coming from all parts of the country to our region and we understand that people from different denominations have different stereotypes about Baptists," Frank Bowman says in today's News & Record, "and we wanted to take away any and all kinds of roadblocks."
That doesn't mean he’s ashamed of being Baptist, a fact noted on the congregation's Web site. But even Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention , is among those who blame the perception that Baptists are "mean-spirited, hurtful and angry people" for thwarting evangelism efforts. The denomination is losing membership.

Rabbi Fred Guttman

May, 23, 2008

Almost 14 years ago, shortly after I arrived in Greensboro, I got a call from Adelaide Israel, of blessed memory who said, "Rabbi, I’ve got to meet you at the cemetery." I had no idea what she wanted but, of course, I met her at the cemetery. I had only been here a month or two and had only met her once or twice. I thought maybe she wanted to talk about a plot or her funeral. When I got there, Adelaide said, "I’m going to take you on a tour and introduce you to a lot of my friends."

For decades, Boston University sociologist Peter Berger says, American intellectuals have looked down on evangelicals.
Educated people have the notion that evangelicals are "barefoot people of Tobacco Road who, I don't know, sleep with their sisters or something," Berger says.
It's time that attitude changed, he says.

Forgot about this post. If you were a Methodist, would you want the library for history sake -- I mean, Bush was elected president (no matter what you thought about the first election).

A license plate with a cross in front of a stained glass window is closer to becoming an option in South Carolina.

I find this truly disgusting.
I know, however, that if an alien were to land here, it might find other acceptable aspects of what we call religion quite odd.

Or is it that too much is happening in the world and at our own door and we've begun to simply take care of or think about our own issues?

Just two years ago he told me:

Generations to come won't be caught up in whether gay couples can be married or should be covered on a shared health insurance plan, says retired Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong, who wrote the best seller, "Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism."

Could this be that watershed moment?

Actress Sharon Stone had said that the earthquake, which ended up leading to the deaths of more than 10,000 people in China recently, might have been 'bad karma' for the country's treatment of Tibet.

The Vatican announced Thursday in a general decree that it will excommunicate anyone who would attempt to ordain a woman as a priest and the woman herself.

It was not persuasive to Regina Nicolosi, a program coordinator for Roman Catholic Womenpriests (sic), who was ordained two years ago.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine in Iraq has been removed from duty amid complaints that he was handing out coins with Bible verses at an American checkpoint, the military said Thursday.

At least one of the coins is stamped with the words "Where will you spend eternity?" according to a report published Thursday by McClatchy Newspapers.

I wrote about a burial tradition in the Jewish faith (see today's N&R) and it got me thinking about those faith traditions that carry from generation to generation. What are those that continue in your family or faith?

Nathaniel Abraham, released from jail last year after being the youngest person in Michigan to be convicted of murder at the age of 11, is back in jail this morning.

Undercover officers witnessed what appeared to be a drug sale between Abraham and a man on a bicycle.

John Cromer, who has served as a mentor and spokesman for Abraham, said he learned of the arrest this morning.

""Obviously, I am shocked and devastated," Cromer said today.