In St. Louis, ‘Grill to Glory’ Deploys Churches (and Hot Dogs) for Community Renewal
(RNS) — James Clark has a perfect recipe for getting to know your neighbors: Set up a grill. Light some charcoal. And put on some hot dogs.
I Was an Expert Witness Against a Teacher Who Taught Students to Question the Holocaust
(The Conversation) — In researching how the Holocaust was being depicted in textbooks, I never imagined it would lead me to serve as a witness against a history teacher who encouraged his students to question whether the Holocaust occurred.
Hospital Chaplains Stick to the Heart of the Job Amid Health Care Industry Changes
(RNS) - In the shift across all health care professions, from volume-based to value-based care, the goal is to promote services led to positive outcomes. Chaplains, too, are increasingly being rated by a wide range of measures: better outcomes, lower costs, and higher patient satisfaction.
How Remembering the Dead Has Evolved From Graveside Eulogy to Farewell Address
(RNS) — Cyrus M. Copeland, who has recently completed his third book of the art of the eulogy, observes, , “A great eulogy cannot beat back Death, but it can give new meaning to life and this moment.”
Evangelical Financial Watchdog Faces Scrutiny Over Backing of Errant Megachurch
ECFA was founded 40 years ago to promote financial integrity in Christian ministries and claims nearly 2,400 members, But after its years-long failure to identify financial misdeeds at Chicago-area Harvest Bible Chapel, the organization itself faces scrutiny.
Getting in on — and Tossed out of — the Satanist Temple Joke
The Satanic Temple is what, on the internet, they call a “troll”: a spoof meant to raise hackles and call attention to potential loopholes in religious freedom laws designed to benefit the Christian right. Its most recent triumph was convincing the Internal Revenue Service that
WMU Street Ministry Shines Light in Prostitution Zone
RICHMOND, Va.(BP) -- A small group of volunteers gathers two nights a month in south Richmond, Va., to walk a mile-long strip of the city and minister to prostitutes and others they cross paths with along the way.
Only Half of Kids Raised Southern Baptist Stay Southern Baptist
The bigger factor behind the SBC’s decline isn’t the struggle to gain new converts; it’s keeping their own.
The Day Christian Fundamentalism Was Born
A century ago, a meeting in Philadelphia changed American religion forever.
Network of Black Farmers and Black Churches Delivers Fresh Food from Soil to Sanctuary
Black Church Food Security Network is helping congregations establish gardens and farmers markets on church-owned land, and then the nonprofit connects them with black-owned farms and urban growers throughout the mid-Atlantic.