Conservatives grow wary of mixing church, politics Social conservatives are growing more wary of church involvement in politics, joining moderates and liberals in their unease about blurring the lines between pulpit and ballot box, a new study found. (Associated Press)
More Americans want church and politics separate: poll A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. (Reuters)
Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod. Abilene Christian University in Texas has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall. (New York Times)
Doctors can refuse to provide abortions The Bush administration is proposing stronger job protections for doctors who refuse to perform abortions because of religious or moral objections. (Associated Press)
Leah Daughtry: Democrats Are People of Faith The Pentecostal minister and chief executive of the 2008 Democratic National Convention describes how people of faith and faith-based ideas are being incorporated into this year's events. (PBS)
N.J. court says conversations with pastors not always privileged A conversation with a religious leader is not protected from being revealed in court unless it occurred in private and the leader was acting as a spiritual adviser, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Wednesday. (Religion News Service)
Obama faces new criticism on abortion Painted during the Democratic primary as weak on abortion rights, Barack Obama is now being portrayed by opponents of abortion as an extremist who literally supports killing babies. (Associated Press)
Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center The Olympic Village's religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers (The Washington Post)
Conservatives grow wary of mixing church, politics Social conservatives are growing more wary of church involvement in politics, joining moderates and liberals in their unease about blurring the lines between pulpit and ballot box, a new study found. (Associated Press)
More Americans want church and politics separate: poll A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. (Reuters)
Leah Daughtry: Democrats Are People of Faith The Pentecostal minister and chief executive of the 2008 Democratic National Convention describes how people of faith and faith-based ideas are being incorporated into this year's events. (PBS)
Obama faces new criticism on abortion Painted during the Democratic primary as weak on abortion rights, Barack Obama is now being portrayed by opponents of abortion as an extremist who literally supports killing babies. (Associated Press)
Osteens thank supporters during Lakewood service A celebratory Joel and Victoria Osteen, co-pastors of Lakewood Church, said during services Sunday that their strong faith served as both refuge and inspiration as they dealt with the legal trouble of the last two years (Houston Chronicle)
How to Teach Science to the Pope The Vatican keeps close tabs on the latest science—and integrates new research into its modern theology. (Michael Mason, Discover)
A Georgia church tries drive-in worship Attendees like the informality of listening to a sermon on their car radios in the parking lot, where they can sit in shorts and sandals and bring along the family beagle (The Christian Science Monitor)
Conservatives grow wary of mixing church, politics Social conservatives are growing more wary of church involvement in politics, joining moderates and liberals in their unease about blurring the lines between pulpit and ballot box, a new study found. (Associated Press)
More Americans want church and politics separate: poll A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. (Reuters)
Doctors can refuse to provide abortions The Bush administration is proposing stronger job protections for doctors who refuse to perform abortions because of religious or moral objections. (Associated Press)
Leah Daughtry: Democrats Are People of Faith The Pentecostal minister and chief executive of the 2008 Democratic National Convention describes how people of faith and faith-based ideas are being incorporated into this year's events. (PBS)
How to Teach Science to the Pope The Vatican keeps close tabs on the latest science—and integrates new research into its modern theology. (Michael Mason, Discover)
Shroud of Turin Stirs New Controversy A Colorado couple researching the shroud dispute radiocarbon dating of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus, and Oxford has agreed to help them reexamine the findings. (Los Angeles Times)
Chronological Bible sparks debate Whole sections of Isaiah and Nehemiah are reordered to better reflect an accurate historical timeline; the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are merged into one based on Mark's chronology; and some of St. Paul's letters are woven into the Book of Acts. (USA Today)
Belief in hell dips, but some say they've already been there In a survey released this summer by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, just 59 percent of 35,000 respondents said they believe in a hell "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished." That's down from 71 percent in a 2001 Gallup survey. (Religion News Service)
More Americans want church and politics separate: poll A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. (Reuters)
Doctors can refuse to provide abortions The Bush administration is proposing stronger job protections for doctors who refuse to perform abortions because of religious or moral objections. (Associated Press)
Court hears arguments over prayers at Cobb Commission An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to stop a practice that allows predominantly Christian prayers to open Cobb County Commission meetings. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
White House Faith-Based Director, Known for Pushing State Efforts, Resigns Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, resigned last week, saying he will return to Indiana to care for his father who has a progressive form of cancer. (The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy)
For Coach, God and Archery Are a Package Deal Lee’s advocacy has raised concerns in the United States Olympic Committee, and some in the elite archery community feel uncomfortable with his proselytizing. (New York Times)
China confiscates Bibles from American Christians Chinese customs officials confiscated more than 300 Bibles on Sunday from four American Christians who arrived in a southwestern city with plans to distribute them, said the leader of Vision Beyond Borders (Associated Press)
A Teachable Moment For many years now, the central debate in American education has been over just how much schools can do to improve the low rate of achievement among poor children. (The New York Times Magazine)
Spreading Hope Fighting AIDS in Africa turns out to be possible, after all. (Editorial, The Washington Post)
Church a Home of Hope for Refugees Standing with his back against the wall, Zimbabwean Johnson Matiza finds warmth under a meagre winter sun. 'I will go home when the situation gets better,' he explains outside the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. (Pretoria News)
Conservative Dems Hail Party Platform's New Abortion Plank On a conference call Tuesday, a half-dozen anti-abortion pro-Democratic thinkers and religious leaders claimed victory for the party's new abortion plank. (The Trail, Washington Post)
Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire Gen. David Petraeus has been quoted as saying that the book 'should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy.' (military.com)
Take the Bananas and Run At 72, a superstitious Woody Allen is still working hard, but is terrified of the void, the 'meaningless flicker' of life. (Newsweek)
Testing faith in 'Henry Poole' "Henry Poole Is Here" manages a fairly rare trick: It's a movie that's both deeply felt and completely phony. (Ty Burr, The Boston Globe)
Sunscreen, swimsuit and spiritual reading These books aren't the usual summer fluff: Maybe one will find a spot in your suitcase? (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)
Bible's Lessons Help In Taming Bucks Grant Golliher is a horse whisperer, a rare breed of horse trainer who subdues wild horses with gentleness and a dash of Christian spirituality. (NPR)
Small farms have growing pains Small-scale farmers are experiencing growing pains as they adapt to the country's expanding diet for locally grown foods and the exacting demands of high-volume distributors of their produce. (The Boston Globe)
Church Rejects Donation from Lottery Winner First Baptist Orange Park Pastor David Tarkington would not say exactly why the church refused the money, saying only he didn't want to talk about members' gifts (WJXX, Jacksonville, Fla.)
Take the Bananas and Run At 72, a superstitious Woody Allen is still working hard, but is terrified of the void, the 'meaningless flicker' of life. (Newsweek)
The Jonas Brothers loom large on the pop landscape The God-fearing brothers are clearly selling pre- and just-post-pubescent sex via glossy, glitzy, mildly tuneful and gently rocking power-pop--the oldest game in the history of popular music--but they're trying to do it in the most asexual, non-threatening way possible. (Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun-Times)
In Praise of Melancholy American culture's overemphasis on happiness misses an essential part of a full life. (Eric G. Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education)
Take the Bananas and Run At 72, a superstitious Woody Allen is still working hard, but is terrified of the void, the 'meaningless flicker' of life. (Newsweek)
Osteens thank supporters during Lakewood service A celebratory Joel and Victoria Osteen, co-pastors of Lakewood Church, said during services Sunday that their strong faith served as both refuge and inspiration as they dealt with the legal trouble of the last two years (Houston Chronicle)
Bentley bends B. C. healer, televangelist withdraws for his own healing. (National Post, Canada)
Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire Gen. David Petraeus has been quoted as saying that the book 'should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy.' (military.com)
In Praise of Melancholy American culture's overemphasis on happiness misses an essential part of a full life. (Eric G. Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education)
'Twilight' Sinks Its Teeth Into Feminism Despite all the indoctrination they've received to the contrary, most of the hundreds of teenage girls I have interviewed nevertheless believe that human nature is gendered to the core. (Leonard Sax, The Washington Post)
Author explores divide between sex, religion on college campuses At a secular college, students go to a party feeling pressure to find someone to spend the rest of the night with. At an evangelical college, students go to a party under pressure to find someone to spend the rest of their lives with. (Tennessean)
How would Jesus vote? Candidate thinks he knows Bennion Spencer said the book he has written looks at Jesus' deeds and teachings to try to discern the policies he might support. It is due out in October. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod. Abilene Christian University in Texas has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall. (New York Times)
Baylor Names Garland Interim President Board chair has confidence that seminary dean will be able to unify some of the splintered groups at the university. (Waco Tribune)
David Garland named interim president of Baylor University David Garland has been dean of Baylor's Truett Seminary, and he was for many years a faculty member at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. (The Dallas Morning News)
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