I smile once again this year at the ironic situation I see at most Christian churches in the area these days during the October event commonly called Halloween. ...more

October 1, 2009

It can't hold as many screaming fans as the football stadium in Denver, where Sen. Barack Obama is to address an expected crowd of 75,000 on Aug. 28. Nor is it conveniently located near the scenic Mississippi River, like the arena in St. Paul, Minn., where Sen. John McCain is to take the stage a few days later. But the 3,000-seat auditorium at pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., does have one notable advantage: It's a stage that Obama and McCain recently agreed to share, at least for a little while, on Aug. 16. ...more

August 3, 2008

While many Christmas decorations went back into their boxes with the arrival of the new year, hundreds of people in Wimauma were not done celebrating the holidays. ...more

January 12, 2008

Rob Bell backs James Hibbs op-ed page column against religious zealotry in American public life. ...more

January 8, 2008

Three Iraqi soldiers threw themselves on a suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest at an Army Day celebration Sunday - an act of heroism the United States said likely prevented many more deaths. ...more

January 7, 2008

In Raleigh Whiteman's column of Nov. 8, Democracy Not Always The Answer, he appears to slight democracy in the title. Actually, the column is about religion. Whiteman says there are over billion atheists and agnostics in the world, the wildest estimate I have ever heard. According to Whiteman, "Nary a one of these 37 churches considers any of the others to be equal or valid." On the contrary, today the Roman Catholic Church considers a baptism in virtually any Protestant church to be valid. Although there are several sects of Eastern Orthodox, they all recognize the others as having valid Apostolic Succession. The Church of England practices InterOrdination with a sect called the Old Catholic Church.Bishops of either church are sometimes ordained by Bishops of both churches. The Methodist Church split off the Church of England, but not because of differences in belief. John Wesley did not introduce new beliefs, he wanted a new emphasis on Bible study and to bring Christian services to the American frontier. ...more

December 9, 2007