News-Record.com

...but her 17-year-old unwed daughter's decision to keep her baby is in line with the pro-life movement -- and that's largely supported by evangelicals and the Republican's family values platform.
Why should she drop out of the race?

Well, more accurately Guitar Hero: Christian rock knockoff edition.

Coming your way this month -- Guitar Praise.

From the ad copy:

"Grab the guitar and play along with top Christian bands! Shred those riffs or blast the bass…you add a unique sound to the solid Christian rock."

This is presumably aimed at Christian parents who want to let their kids play Guitar Hero but don't want them doing it to the devil rock of Judas Priest, The Allman Brothers, Nirvana and Queen.

Sarah Palin's former church believes. So do many of you. It was last year that the 'spiritual gift' of speaking in tongues was the controversy the biggest group of evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Or just politics? Dole's campaign not keen on the atheist vote.

CAIRO (AFP) -- Muslims around the world this week begin the fasting and feasting month of Ramadan amid hopes of violence easing in some of the Islamic world's conflict hotspots but hit hard by rising food prices.

By Julie Peeples, senior pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ

O God, help us remember:

Those who suffer still from the loss of loved ones and livelihood.

Those who yet strive to bring an end to terrorism in ways marked by integrity and justice.

The moments when our nation and our world seemed united in grief, compassion, and concern for the common good.

The myriad ways you bring good out of evil.

O God, help us forget:

The urge to hate all who differ from and disagree with us.

All pettiness and greed.

The desire to paint your amazing world in simplistic colors and strident boundaries.

Our cynicism, despair, and the need for security at any cost.

Most of all, God, be with us. Be with us all.

Amen.

On 9/12, my 22-year-old son told me he was going to enlist, says Norman Jameson, editor of the Biblical Recorder. I asked why.

"To fight the people who did this to us," he said.

"And who is that?" I asked.

A dear mommy.
A good soul.
Carla, you will be missed.

"Let me confess that I was genuinely unnerved by Sarah Palin's performance at the Republican convention. Given her audience and the needs of the moment, I believe Governor Palin's speech was the most effective political communication I have ever witnessed. Here, finally, was a performer who -- being maternal, wounded, righteous and sexy -- could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly intones "God and country." If anyone could make Christian theocracy smell like apple pie, Sarah Palin could."

Here's a good look at all of them.

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- With life taking on shades of normalcy since Hurricane Ike flooded 80 percent of this city a week ago, people looked forward to taking part in their first communal acts on Sunday -- like going to church and watching football.

Steve Still, Kenneth Brown and Travis Roberts leave Greensboro to feed the hungry -- those normally with and without -- on the streets of Houston after Ike.

UPDATE:
New comment: 'I love the lord. I choose to support the Hells Angels because of their loyalty and respect.'

Authorities this morning arrested eight members of a Christian biker gang known as Set Free Soldiers on charges of attempted murder in connection to a bar fight last week between the gang and members of the Hells Angels, according to Anaheim police.

Houses of worship in New York City are providing programs to help employees manage the stress of the market meltdown, including immediate counseling.

I would prefer it not be a 'faith debate' on Friday as McCain and Obama hold the first presidential debate. I'd like to hear what McCain and Obama have to say about a number of things, from the economy to the Middle East. But faith has played so many roles in the Bush administration and through the current presidential race. How would you make faith a part of the debate? What questions need to be asked?

How parents and kids cope with the temptations of campus life.

Ok...

Sheryl Brady, the 48-year-old pastor of The River Church, was featured among four other female pastors on the cover of Gospel Today, a Christian lifestyle publication based in Atlanta. The article, titled "Women Pastors: Breaking the Glass Ceiling," was pulled from the shelves of LifeWay Christian stores because it upset the owner -- the Southern Baptist Convention.

The convention believes the position of pastor is reserved for men.

Setting the stage for a collision of religion and politics, Christian ministers from California and 21 other states will use their pulpits Sunday to deliver political sermons or endorse presidential candidates -- defying a federal ban on campaigning by nonprofit groups.

"I'm going to talk about the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes. Nobody who follows the Bible can vote for him," said the Rev. Wiley S. Drake of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park. "We may not be politically correct, but we are going to be biblically correct. We are going to vote for those who follow the Bible."

Some evangelicals are using their pulpits this Sunday to say no.

An Obama supporter gives his take on the conversation which, with merits or not, is out there.

The Rev. Ralph Donnell Graves is the pastor of the Greater Metropolitan Restoration Center, and has a master’s of divinity and a doctorate of ministry.

Our nation is facing one of the most exuberating periods in its political history. The atmosphere is charged with an aroma of freshness — the fresh scent of rejuvenation, restoration and regeneration.

Rejuvenation emerges for those who have become overwhelmed with the struggles of daily socioeconomic and financial challenges; the possibility of the restoration of respect and admiration of our global neighbors once again for the United States and the hope of the regeneration of the moral embrace of all the peoples who comprise our great melting pot nation.

However, there is some serious concern of some Christian believers whose Christian status is being questioned because of their commitment and support of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate. Several mature adults within the Greensboro community requested my support in expression toward this sensitive subject. “How can one call themselves a true Christian and support Barack Obama?”

Catch up on International Peacemaker the Rev. Diego Higuita-Arango here.
And, catch up with him while he's in Greensboro by checking out his schedule below:

The Rev. Sheryl Brady finds irony in that a woman whose candidacy for vice president of the United States is being elevated by evangelicals could not pastor a Southern Baptist church.
"We’ve got Hillary Clinton who has broken all records, we have Sarah Palin running for vice president, and yet there are those who say I shouldn’t be in the pulpit," said Brady, one of five female pastors featured on the current cover of Gospel Today .
The Christian magazine recently was pulled (see today's online News & Record) from the shelves of LifeWay stores, including one in Greensboro. The stores are owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, an affiliation of largely conservative evangelicals who officially voted in 2000 that women shouldn't serve as senior pastors. A few of the churches, which are autonomous, have selected women to lead them.

Lots of characters, I'm sure.

JODHPUR, India -- At least 168 people were killed and 100 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded today at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, officials said. Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate a Hindu festival.

Offering comedians, cooking classes, rock concerts, authors and a sex therapist, along with an eclectic collection of worship services, Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in downtown Washington doesn't fit the mold of a standard house of worship.

No one's quite sure why attendance has increased so dramatically recently, seven years after 9/11.

"Maybe it's a political empathy post-9/11, a wanting to stand alongside and experience something like this for the first time," said Edina Lekovic of the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.-based Muslim Public Affairs Counsel. She said she's noticed more non-Muslims across the country fasting in solidarity with their Muslim friends this year than ever before. "Whatever it is, it's all the rage."