Juvenal believed far too many citizens were far too willing to cooperate in their own exploitation. What I find incredibly intriguing — and disconcerting — about Juvenal’s observations is that, numerous genera ...

Author Nancy Sleeth offers tips for acheiving each of her principles for "almost Amish" living. Editor's Note: This post is a follow-up to yesterday's ...

Ramadan has stripped me bare, so that when my inner ego would usually rise up and demand recognition —something else is beginning to happen. Ramadan is no joke.  I do a 30-day ...

Unlike dogs, lions hold a place of pride in Rasta theology, explained Edmonds, author of a forthcoming history of the religious movement. Back in in 1993, Snoop Dogg scored a huge ...

A growing number of people just don’t seem to believe that the Christian Church, in all its many forms, has much to offer them. Growing up, I heard things at camp and in youth gr ...

These principles (similar to the list that Wendell Berry laid out more than two decades ago in Home Economics) provide guidelines for a simpler, slower, more sustainable life. They offer me hope. ...

When the Summer Olympics opened in London, there was a version of a religious ritual in the Olympic oath, procession of athletes and lighting of the flame. This was no accident because the modern Olympics have ...

Whether wrestling with one the of non-heterosexual identities or the exigencies of birth control, the hidden costs of pornography, or the viability of chastity, 21st-century Christians have been confronted wit ...

Brad R. Braxton Preaching for social transformation requires an abundance of courage, moral credibility, and the virtue of precision. ...

leader. [ August 5 ] Growing Up in Every Way 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13; Psalm 78:23-29; Ephesians ...

Harry Emerson Fosdick was famous for lots of things, particularly the sermon "Shall The Fundamentalists Win?" which he preached on May 21, 1922. It was a call to arms of sorts within the church, enco ...

Break out the tambourines and rise up singing! A hymn revival is happening… again. Break out the tambourines and rise up singing! A hymn revival is happening … again. Back in 2 ...

Today marks the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuits. View the video below to learn more about St. Ignatius from Fr. James Martin, SJ. Today marks t ...

Okay... for all my friends out there. No, history does not repeat itself. Yes, history is a human construct. Okay... for all my friends out there. No, history does not repeat itse ...

It was supposed to be a realistic lesson on the dangers missionaries sometimes face overseas. But after a mother’s complaint that her teen daughter was injured and terrorized during a mock terrorist kidnapping ...

Neighbors and neighborliness. They're messy, surprising, and all of us. The Messiness Good Neighbored ...

For all you Arabic number snobs, that’s volume 24 of your favorite cringeworthy church signs. Order up!!! For all you Arabic number snobs, that’s volume 24 of your favorite cringe ...

"I am a flawed person. I should not be allowed to be here talking to you. But you know what? That's the God we're dealing with, people." ~ Nadia Bolz-Weber to the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering ...

Here’s the challenge for those concerned with words in worship: Can we ever argue that it doesn’t matter what we say, as long as we say it properly? I don’t think so. “Words! Wor ...

Planners of a Bible museum in Washington, D.C., closed a $50 million deal late last week on a building two blocks from the National Mall. Planners of a Bible museum in Washing ...

MOHAWK VALLEY, New York — Twelve-year-old Jake Finkbonner leaned over and ran his hand through a pool of water from a natural spring at the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, in Fonda, N.Y.. With th ...

A Catholic priest has suggested that Satan may have driven accused killer James Holmes to open fire at a Colorado cinema, continuing the religious debate over a shooting that claimed 12 lives and wounded 58 mo ...

Christians toss out blessings like beads at Mardi Gras. They get offered so often and in so many contexts that it’s hard to know what exactly it means. So I thought I’d break down at least some of the kinds of ...

Here are some reasons I’ve decided that failure isn’t just inevitable or necessary, but that it’s actually kind of wonderful. When I was in preschool, I was insanely jealous of th ...

For those of us in lay or ordained leadership, the stress of trying to please everyone, or the difficulty of being honest about what we know really must change with people we truly love and admire, often sucks ...

A hotel in the United Kingdom has replaced in-room Gideon Bibles with the soft-porn best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey. A hotel in the United Kingdom has replaced in-room Gideon Bib ...

July 26, 2012 Suffer the Little Children: Crime and Punishment at Pe ...

Maybe we haven't all heard the thunder clap yet, but the lightning bolt struck a while ago. We are going to have to adjust our reading of the Bible to coincide with a modern scientific understanding of th ...

The 2012 Olympic games are approaching quickly. This Friday, over 10,000 athletes will gather in London to celebrate athleticism and competition in 26 sports. While the hype of an event like this may drive ath ...

We cannot and will not lament our powerlessness. We need to learn how. You can search the internet and find post after post about the shootings in Aurora, Colo. Rightly so. We� ...

“It was like a scene out of a movie.” I’ve heard that phrase a few too many times in the past month. “It was like a scene out of a movie.” I’ve heard that phrase a few too ma ...

Sometimes we have to get out of the way and let the Spirit do his thing — that requires intentionality. Other times we’ll have to choose to love or choose to forgive or choose to speak the truth, and as we con ...

"Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or earth; for love is born of God, and can rest only in God above ...

Widening the already vast chasms created by the culture wars won’t heal deep wounds in the body. As we have faithfully argue, our God and our interpretations of the Bible ought to make church a wide and wonder ...

From the first day of school until the last, our watchword is, "We use words to build up instead of tear down. We use words to help and not to hurt." Even my former students can recite this word for ...

Thought I’d mix it up a little bit, especially since I’ve seen so many remarkable Christian themed T-shirts. And if you go out and buy one of these after seeing this, even as an ironic statement, so help me… ...

A friend of mine once said, “a true and genuine dialogue only takes place when each person is willing to be ‘converted’ to the other side of the argument.” At first I was skeptical of this remark, as I wondere ...

The most comprehensive study of religion and Asian-Americans to date finds them less religious than most Americans, but also far more religiously diverse. Within that diversity, however, researchers discovere ...

Every year, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend tens of millions of dollars to spread their takes on Christianity. They rely heavily on thousands of faithf ...

Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv, considered by many the foremost rabbinic authority in the Jewish world, died in Jerusalem on Wednesday. He was 102. JERUSALEM — Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv, conside ...

Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, then, may provide a window into a church teaching that is helping to drive the most serious standoff between the church and the federal government in decades. ...

Five guys + one piano --- photo project helping battered women --- The Mirror, a short film on aging --- wine glasses with pitch indicators --- comedians read starting line up at Chicago Cubs game --- cats and ...

The director of the Pennsylvania chapter of American Atheists says he will desecrate the Quran if the state House of Representatives doesn't drop a "Year of Religious Diversity" resolution. ...

July 19, 2012   GUEST COMMENTARY by Christian Piatt Top 10 ...

During this election time, we have come to expect the rhetoric to replace reason and civility is a term that has no place in our discourses. Our disagreements are often not cognitive disagreements, but differe ...

Herod was trapped in his own story and it feels to me like it’s a story that tortured him, one from which he felt there was no escape. When our own little stories begin to feel self-contained and inescapable, ...

No, this is not some new Charlie Kauffman movie that folds in on itself, creating a perpetual feedback loop. I’m serious; Christians love Top 10 Lists. No wonder Moses did only 10 commandments. ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Could a Virgin Mary statue under a pine tree in the middle of a cow pasture in rural Alabama one day become an officially recognized international pilgrimage site of the Roman Catholic Churc ...

Commentators see decisions they don't like — such as the Episcopal Church's recent endorsement of a rite for blessing same-sex unions. They see declines in church membership. They pounce. ...

Today on WHYY’s Fresh Air, Sister Farrell talks with Terry Gross about how to deal with conflict. She tells Gross that as the sisters prepare for the national assembly in August, they are busy dialoging and ga ...