Faith & Culture

(RNS) —In the 1960s, the relatively new medium of television brought the war in Southeast Asia into living rooms across the United States like never before. And, this month, TV is once again at the center of the story as filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick present “The Vietnam War,” a 10-part, 18-hour series on the Public Broadcasting System.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Ben Moseley is a little older, the creases in his face a little deeper since he and two of his buddies set fire to some Baptist churches in Alabama on a night of binge drinking 11 years ago.

p>HOUSTON (RNS) — Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale was kicking himself the morning after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, for closing his furniture stores while some people could still shop.

(AP) — Debris and muck were all that remained where homes once stood, tens of thousands spent the night in shelters, and others would weather another long day without safe drinking water or electricity. Yet, in churches across storm-ravaged South Texas, parishioners saw hope amid the devastation, and sought strength in faith.

(The Conversation) —The earliest Latin commentary on the Gospels, lost for more than 1,500 years, has been rediscovered and made available in English for the first time. The extraordinary find, a work written by a bishop in northern Italy, Fortunatianus of Aquileia, dates back to the middle of the fourth century.

The World Day of Prayer for the Care for Creation, a designation first established by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1989, is Sept. 1.

The observance was expanded in 2007, according to the World Council of Churches, into a season known as "Creationtide" or "Time for Creation," lasting from Sept. 1 through Oct. 4.

LONDON (RNS) — The line of locals and tourists stretches about 400 people long, and one might think they are waiting to get into a play, a museum or even for ice cream.

But these people want to go to a church service.

(RNS) As Harvey, now a tropical storm, continues to turn its Super Soakers on Houston, those quick to see God’s angry handiwork in earlier storms have so far focused their efforts on praising Houston’s first responders and citizen volunteers.

PRINCEVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — When it comes to disaster relief, few outfits across the South have been as organized, efficient or cheerful as the Baptist and Methodist recovery networks.

Imagine Delores J. Porter’s surprise, then, when she gingerly stepped onto the exposed floor joists of her torn-out home to find a troop of young Muslim volunteers in blue “Islamic Relief USA” T-shirts installing support beams in the 90-degree heat.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (BP) -- It's not every day that a rendition of "Rocky Top" rings out from an orchestra in a church.

But the University of Tennessee's signature song is how the evening began at Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga where an energetic crowd -- including a large number of football players and coaches from the local area -- came together for "A Night of Orange and White."