All David Morrison has to do to find out what gay activists and religious conservatives are saying about each other is open his own mail. “I guess the only way to end up on all the mailing lists that I’m on is to have lived my life,” said Morrison, a thirtysomething journalist in Washington, D.C. In college, he was a homosexual activist who specialized in arguing with Christians. Then he graduated into volunteer work with AIDS networks. In 1992, he... Read more

JERUSALEM — Hidden in the maze of passageways and shrines that is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the Chapel of St. Nicodemus. In this lesser-known sanctuary there is an electric light. The intricate details of life in Jerusalem’s holiest Christian site are governed by a Turkish “Status Quo” declaration from 1852, which tells the Roman Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, Copts, Syrians, Jacobites and Ethiopians what they can and can’t do in their corners of the church. But tensions remain,... Read more

JERUSALEM — In Pope John Paul II’s first Christmas sermon, he shared his dream of making a pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan and the painful patchwork of land in between. Any papal trip is a big news story. But the best way to grasp the historic nature of this pope’s journey into the spiritual minefield called the Holy Land is to see it as a global story built on generations of personal stories — some beautiful, some horrific. It’s like an... Read more

Something mysterious happened in the wilds of Brazil when the morally bankrupt lawyer Nate O’Reilly finally found missionary Rachel Lane, the illegitimate heir of a one of America’s richest men. She didn’t want $11 billion. Instead, she wanted him to repent, be healed of his alcoholism and claim an outrageous gift — new life. The lawyer confessed his sins and then prayed his way through a case of jungle fever. But weeks later, he sat shaking in a pew, wracked... Read more

The walls and shelves in Gary Bauer’s new office are bare, since he only left the presidential campaign trail a few primaries ago. But his e-mailbox is bursting and his fax machine is still humming, after his endorsement of Sen. John McCain’s long-shot insurrection. Bauer has been hearing from Christians “in Timbuktoo” who hope he spends eternity in a sizzling location — ASAP. But he has been just as stunned by the reaction of Beltway insiders, folks he has known... Read more

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — The Saddleback Community Church bleachers were still filling up when the jazzy Latino pre-service music faded and, with a “One, two, three!” countdown, the 13-piece band rocked into their opening hymn. “I wanna be like You. Live everyday, the way that You want me to,” sang the throng, watching the JumbroTrons. “It’s getting better. I read Your letter. These are the words you said to me. Love the Lord with all your heart. Love your neighbor... Read more

The more Richard Nixon talked about his faith the more his enemies complained about it. Critics of the troubled president accused him of hiding behind a smokescreen of “White House religion,” which an Associate Press report described as “personalized piety detached from its social demands.” Liberal church leaders said Nixon was using Christianity as a shield. Critics said he needed to get some new religious advisers, instead of surrounding himself with clergy who would only tell him what he wanted... Read more

On Friday afternoons, Tom Landry and his secretary used to work their way through hundreds of letters from Dallas Cowboy fans around the world, answering every one of them. A few years before owner Jerry Jones shoved him out the door, Landry received a letter that left him shaken and speechless. A mother was worried because her 10-year-old son was still depressed, even though it had been weeks since the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs. Could the coach help?... Read more

The powers that be at Hillsdale College applauded when Chuck Colson delivered his lecture that was, with a nod to Fyodor Dostoevsky, entitled “Can man be good without God?” But there was one problem. When the Christian apologist reviewed a version of his text prepared for Hillsdale’s “Imprimis” newsletter, he saw that all of his references to Jesus were missing. When Colson protested to Lissa Roche, the college president’s daughter-in-law and strong right hand, she said it was campus policy... Read more

For the worldwide Anglican Communion, July 29, 1974, was a day when old ties were broken and new bonds were formed. That was when four Episcopal bishops broke tradition by ordaining — without permission from their hierarchy — the “Philadelphia 11” as the first female Anglican priests. Liberals said they had to violate one tradition, to obey a higher tradition of equality and justice. Traditionalists said this radical action would only create more schisms. Now, Anglican historians have to underline... Read more