A few years after Roe vs. Wade, one of America’s most passionate preachers publicly attacked the impact of legalized abortion on the powerless. His National Right to Life News article ended with these words: “What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of person, and what kind of society, will we have 20 years hence if... Read more

The Epistle of James warns that it’s crucial for gossips to mind their tongues. “If we put bits into the mouths of horses … we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also; …they are guided by a very small rudder,” notes the third chapter. “So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!” Now let us turn to the third chapter of Van Halen.... Read more

In the fall of 1992, Serbian Patriarch Pavle came to Washington, D.C., to explain why he had led protests in Belgrade against Slobodan Milosevic’s neo-Communist regime and why the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod was calling for a new government. His National Press Club address drew a handful of reporters and none from major media. This past fall, Bishop Artemije of Kosovo came to Washington, D.C., and warned that the prospects for peace were bleak as long as Milosevic held... Read more

It takes extra luggage to hold the Byzantine miter and all the ornate vestments an Orthodox archbishop needs on a road trip. Packing is even more complicated when Archbishop Dmitri Royster heads home to Dallas, because the faithful always give him gifts to please his hardcore Tex-Mex palate. Just before his suitcase snapped shut last week in Knoxville, Tenn., he slipped several bottles of fiery pepper sauce in among the layers of purple, gold and white silk brocade. Archbishop Dmitri... Read more

Soon after the 1961 breakthrough of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” with its hellish first glimpse inside a Soviet labor camp, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published a radically different kind of story. “Matryona’s Place” described a peasant woman who quietly, but persistently, refused to be corrupted by the numbing policies of the Stalinist regime. Some people were evil. This elderly woman chose to be good. It was a matter of virtue, character and soul. The story ended by saying:... Read more

George Bush never did learn to open up when anyone asked about his faith, salvation, family values and all those messy spiritual issues. On one campaign stop, he was asked what he thought about as he floated alone in the Pacific Ocean after his plane was shot down during World War II. His response was chilly: “Mom and Dad, about our country, about God … and about the separation of church and state.” Eventually, the Kennebunkport Episcopalian ran into a... Read more

Anyone who grew up in a parsonage knows that “PK” stands for “preacher’s kid.” Early on, I rebelled against that label. But I wasn’t rejecting my father, my family or the faith. When people called me a “preacher’s kid,” I told them that my father wasn’t a preacher — he was a pastor. There’s a difference. My father passed away last week at the age of 82 and I thought this would be a good time to say, once again,... Read more

It’s amazing how Sunday school songs can stick with people for the rest of their lives. “Oh be careful little hands what you do! Oh be careful little hands what you do,” sang social activist Tony Campolo, as he led a recent Milligan College (Tenn.) chapel audience in the hand motions that children have learned for generations. “God is up above. He is looking down in love. So be careful little hands what you do.” This song may sound silly,... Read more

Some people give up candy or soft drinks, while others sacrifice something as major as caffeine or meat. So far, so good. However, Father Michael Buckley thinks most Roman Catholics, and members of other churches that observe Lent, would find it easier to properly prepare to celebrate Easter if they took an even more drastic step – unplugging their televisions. “The reality is that most people sacrifice small things at Lent in order to give the season a kind of... Read more

From Adolph Hitler’s point of view, Christendom had it all wrong. Jesus wasn’t a humble savior who suffered and died on a cross to redeem all of humanity. For Hitler, Jesus was an angry, whip-cracking messiah who was tough enough to lead Germany to victory. Hitler’s Jesus looked a lot like Hitler. The Christian messiah was too Jewish. “My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter,” said Hitler, in one 1922 speech. “It... Read more