What matters is human ingenuity. Allow people a window of freedom, and they will fly through it. SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. --- Like many air travelers, I have learned to expect the w ...

Hamblin, 21, pastor of Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., is part of a new generation of serpent-handling Christians who are revitalizing a century-old faith tradition in Tennessee. ...

It seems the Sisters of North America are calling the Vatican out. When criticized by Vatican officials for taking a position too far left of center on a number of social issues, the Leadership Conference of W ...

Nearly lost amid ongoing reports about the Vatican leaks scandal, Rome’s battle with American nuns, the American bishops’ battle for religious freedom, and the priest on trial in Philadelphia, was the news tha ...

Despite the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI's butler two weeks ago, leaks of confidential documents continue to dribble out of the Vatican as “moles” vow to continue their action until the pope's two clo ...

A long-simmering conflict between the Vatican and American nuns erupted again on June 4 when the Vatican's doctrinal office issued a scathing critique of a popular book on sexual ethics by Sister Margaret ...

When publicly reprimanded by some of the most powerful men in the Vatican, one is expected to respond, "Yes, Your Excellencies. Very sorry, your Excellencies.” American nuns are trying something different ...

This is Mourning 2.0. Technological advances have dramatically altered how we grieve for and memorialize the dead.In this new era, the bereaved readily share their sorrow via Facebook comments. They light virt ...

Can those who don’t interpret scripture literally use the Bible as a bludgeon against others? Of course. But the inherent lack of room for discussion, critical thought, nuance or even alternate views within th ...

Couldn't quite get yourself together to make it to church this weekend? We've got you covered. Here for you edification and instruction, are three good lessons in video and audio form, from pastors T ...

The unexpectedly strong pushback to the Vatican may be an indication of how much backlash the campaign has sparked among Catholics, who value the sisters’ longstanding ministry in education, health care and so ...

An interview with Sr. Pat Farrell, president of LCWR. After releasing its first public statement in response to Vatican criticism, Leadership Conference of Women Religious pre ...

Holy Trinity is not the most popular festival among preachers who, for all the other seasons and special days of the church year, normally get to dig into interesting gospel narratives. ...

Faith is an orientation toward something rather than an arrival at it. Faith is a daily practice, not a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Yet we continue to try to define God, faith and the Bible on our own terms ...

Joanie Eppinga Rebecca Barrett-Fox An interview by Joanie Eppinga with Rebecca Barrett ...

Andrew Wilkes Missional Preaching: Engage, Embrace, Transform, by Al Tizon. AL TIZON’S Missional Preaching ...

[ June 24 ] Grace and Power 1 Samuel 17:57 - 18:5,10-16; Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32; 2 Corinthians ...

Sitting in his hotel room in Saudi Arabia in April 1964, civil rights activist Malcolm X penned a letter on hotel stationery to his friend and co-author, Alex Haley. Now, Haley’s son wants that letter back. ...

Pastor Mack Wolford — an eccentric snake handler and Pentecostal minister — was bitten by a deadly rattle snake at an outdoor service (or “evangelistic hootenanny”) at Panther Wildlife Management Area in West ...

Idaho regulators have decided not to carry Five Wives Vodka because of its label, while Utah booze cops have deemed the bottle’s depiction of 19th-century women in petticoats holding kittens near their lady p ...

It is not the imperfection or presence of conflict themselves within the Communion of the Saints that too many of those who would not call themselves Christians find repellent. It is how the church deals with ...

The Trinity is meant not only to tell us the truth about God but to invite us to live that truth — a truth revealed not in abstract theory but in the flesh and blood, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus ...

BIG SUR, Calif. — Perched atop the rugged splendor of the California coast south of Monterey, the Esalen Institute is the mother church for people who call themselves “spiritual but not religious." Over the last five decades, hundreds of th ...

The Vatican's No. 3 official on Tuesday (May 29) condemned the theft and publication of secret papal documents as an “immoral act of unheard-of gravity.” The Vatican's ...

Atheists and others who don’t adhere to a religion often say they can be good without God. Now, three new studies appear to back them up. BERKELEY, Calif. — Atheists and others w ...

Catholics around the U.S. are coming together for prayer vigils as a show of support for America's nuns, whom the Vatican accuses of having "serious doctrinal problems." ...

Children are usually the primary complainers about Sunday school, but when Mudita Bahadur started looking for excuses not to take her children to the Hindu temple on Sunday, she knew she had to make a change. ...

I’m coming to terms with the realization that I’m a big, fat fake. But at least I’m in good company. I’m coming to terms with the realization that I’m a big, fat fake. But at lea ...

As the Muslim population of the U.S. has grown -- the number of mosques grew 74 percent in the last 10 years, according to a 2011 survey -- so has the need for Muslim-specific services like funeral homes and c ...

I'm troubled by the way many Christians choose to take definitive and certain stances about complex issues, and the rhetoric they use to state and defend these positions, rhetoric that tends to divide rat ...

The Vatican has published rules to evaluate the authenticity of the dozens of apparitions of the Virgin Mary reported each year. The Vatican has published rules to evaluate the au ...

Every soul cries: “Am I worthy of connection?” We then allow the mass public to tell us the answer to that. Please note: that unstable analysis can never end well no matter how popular one may seem. This lead ...

The wave of lawsuits filed this week by more than 40 Catholic groups against the Obama administration’s birth control mandate was meant as a demonstration of church unity and influence in the face of what some ...

Groups of Boston-area Catholics who have waged an eight-year battle to block the sale of parish buildings are running out of options as the Vatican has rejected their appeals. BOS ...

Quinn, 23, a quiet engineering student from Springfield, Mo., wanted to settle down, and asked his ... to keep her daughter from dating, which Unificationists frown upon. Jaime, 23, saw her friends fawn over ...

This incident has inspired thousands to react in solidarity with American nuns. Long before the Vatican statement was released, however, I’ve had a sense that compassion is something powerful enough to trigger ...

In his speeches, Pope Benedict XVI often echoed bishops' concern about religious freedom and the challenges confronting the American church. In his last address, on May 22, he warned bishops of the “threa ...

As part of our ongoing series, "What is an Evangelical?" author Jennifer Grant used some creativity to get the message across. As part of our ongoing series, "Wh ...

Paul Simon says there must be 50 ways to leave your lover. The Naked Pastor figures there must be at least three ways to leave your church. Paul Simon says there must be 50 ways ...

Archbishop Michael Seneco, of Washington, D.C., is a gay man who plans to marry his longtime partner in September. Bishop Jim Morgan, of Ogden, Utah, is also gay and has been with the man he considers his hus ...

Dozens of Catholic universities, dioceses and other institutions filed lawsuits in courts around the country on Monday in a coordinated effort, spearheaded by the U.S. hierarchy and Catholic conservatives, to ...

It's been nearly a month since Bishop Richard Lennon announced he would reopen 12 closed churches, but so far no shuttered sanctuaries have been resurrected. CLEVELAND — It ...

Young pastor Jarrod McKenna describes it as “rolling up our sleeves and just getting on with the practical work of loving our neighbors.” He’s been arrested more times than he ca ...

of 23 percent. When the church was growing financially desperate earlier this spring, a predominantly ...

May 17, 2012   QUOTE OF THE WEEK "The church is supposed ...

So I want to speak directly to you about the vocation of the church in the world. Let me start with a baseball story. I have been a Little League baseball coach for both my son’s teams over many years. And I’ ...

"It seems like my sexuality doesn't have anything to do with how my congregation plays softball," Darnell said. "It's frustrating because this is who is representing Christianity in ou ...

The Vatican's doctrinal office said “further discussions” will be needed with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in order to heal a decades-long split within the Roman Catholic Church. ...

N.T. Wright has explored Christian misconceptions about heaven in previous books, but now devotes an entire volume, "How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels," to this trendy subject. ...

Prison Fellowship founder and former Nixon aide Chuck Colson was memorialized Wednesday (May 16) at Washington National Cathedral in a service steeped in Scripture and prayers about prison and redemption. ...