By my friend Stan Friedman: By Stan Friedman MANCHESTER, NH (July 25, 2014) — The Evangelical Covenant Church will help resettle Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman once sentenced to death by the Sudanese government when she would not renounce her Christian faith. Ibrahim, along with her husband, Daniel Wani, and their two children, was secretly flown out of Sudan to Italy on Thursday. They had been living at the American Embassy in Khartoum for the past month after she was... Read more
Well, what do you think of this? SÃO PAULO, Brazil — It occupies an entire block in this teeming megacity: a 10,000-seat rendition of Solomon’s Temple. Towering in sharp relief against the graffiti-splattered tenements nearby, it beckons with monumental walls of stone imported from Israel and the flags of the dozens of countries where its owner, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, is nourishing an evangelical Christian empire. A helicopter landing pad will allow Edir Macedo, the 69-year-old media magnate who founded... Read more
One of the (many) highlights of the Evolution and Christian Faith Workshop in Oxford earlier this month was the plenary lecture by David Livingstone, Professor of Geography and Intellectual History at Queen’s University, Belfast. This lecture was based on a chapter in his recent book Dealing with Darwin: Place, Politics, and Rhetoric in Religious Engagements with Evolution. I’ve ordered the book and will post on some of this in the near future. Several years ago I had read and posted... Read more
Do you think folks convert at a single moment or do you think it happens (for some) over time? Do you think it happens different for different people — some all at once and others over time? Let me give a big sociological sketch first. Studies reveal that folks, in a general sense, “convert” to the Christian faith in one of three basic ways: through a church process of being nurtured into the faith, through another church process of ongoing... Read more
Every day, about 10am, both Kris and I eat a banana. We knew of their health benefits, but this article takes it over the top. Time for a banana! Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s... Read more
This post is by Terry Tiessen, and I use the post with his permission. I set out to write a blog post that grew rather large. So I have decided to split it into two posts, of which this is the first. Here I will relate the story of my long journey in quest of a biblical answer to that big question. In Part 2, I will recommend a book which I believe contributes very helpfully to the conversation about... Read more
The psalmist acknowledges that the Lord has “done good” or “treated him well” — though I think the psalmist is much less interested in “how” (well) God has treated him and more with “what” (good) God has done to him. Notice: “You have dealt well with your servant” (Ps 119:65). Time for us to ponder the “good” (Hebrew tov) God has done us. A good time of the year for us to ponder the good God has done for us. And... Read more
Source: Would this hurt most the conservative churches, the liberal churches, or the African American churches? The Internal Revenue Service has reached a lawsuit settlement agreement with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, agreeing to investigate churches that violate a federal law that activist groups often cite in an attempt to silence them by threatening their tax-exempt status. “This is a victory, and we’re pleased with this development in which the IRS has proved to our satisfaction that it now has... Read more
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
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