The Ten Commandments are so hot, right now, that its amazing some Beltway politico hasn’t tried to hit Moses with a grand jury subpoena or a blast of rumors about his private life during all those mysterious years out in the desert. America’s political establishment is struggling with the implications of Commandment No. 7: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” No. 9 issues a timely warning against perjury: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Meanwhile, legislators and legions... Read more

It would be hard to imagine two more radically different evangelicals than Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine. One is a superstar on the Religious Right, the quietly authoritative radio counselor who has used his multimedia empire to pummel President Clinton and political progressives. The other is a veteran social activist who has fiercely criticized the political establishment from the left on economic and military issues, while needling Clinton and others from... Read more

The images of debris and death from Swissair 111 are all too familiar, as are the scenes of grieving families gazing at a distant crash site. Four years ago, Father Thaddeus Barnum was caught up in a similar drama, when USAir flight 427 fell in a 23-second death dive into the wooded hills about a mile from his church outside Pittsburgh. The Sept. 8 crash killed 132, virtually shredded the aircraft and remains one of the great mysteries in aviation... Read more

A new year has begun at America’s 3,500 or so institutions of higher learning, which means it’s time for yet another cycle of news about alcohol, sex, suicide and cheating. As dean of the Duke University chapel, theologian William Willimon has heard more than his share of sobering statistics and angry debates about who is to blame. Instead of going around in old circles, he thinks it would be good if more educators had to sit down with students –... Read more

Caught in a web of news and rumors about sex games so sordid that journalists declined to report many details, the big man decided he had to speak. “I do not plan to whitewash my sin,” he said. “I take the blame. I take the fall.” The key word was “sin,” when the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart set the standard for media confessions a decade ago. For 30 tear-drenched minutes he confessed sins against God, his wife, his children and his... Read more

The Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway was so upset he did something sophisticated church leaders rarely do – he said precisely what was on his mind. The Anglican primate of Scotland told reporters he felt “lynched,” “gutted” and “shafted” when Anglican bishops assembled at Canterbury strongly affirmed centuries of doctrine that sex outside of marriage is sin. This was a stunning blow for bishops who support gay rights in pulpits and pews. Thus, Holloway lashed out at the Africans and Asians... Read more

CANTERBURY – As television crews zoomed in, a Nigerian bishop and a British gay-rights activist demonstrated why it’s so hard to operate a totally inclusive church. Facing demonstrators at the 13th global Lambeth Conference, Anglican Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma urgently offered prayers of healing for Richard Kirker of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Kirker insisted he did not need to repent, since God had made him gay. In a gesture as old as the apostles, the Nigerian tried to place... Read more

When a technology enters a culture, it quickly spreads until it changes everything — like a drop of red ink in a glass of water. The result is a “Faustian bargain,” said scholar Neil Postman, at a conference hosted by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. “Technological change is not additive. It is ecological. After television, America was not America plus television. Television gave a new coloration to every political campaign, to every home, to every school, to every church.”... Read more

The Christian’s Guide to Small Arms site shoots straight with World Wide Web users, offering information on safety, ammunition, marksmanship and photos of 40-plus weapons. Clicking on another icon leads to Bible-study materials arguing that it isn’t just “the right, but in fact, the DUTY of Christians to be armed.” After all, Jesus told his followers: “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell... Read more

Among the few belongings that survived the Romanovs’ last days, anti-Bolshevik troops found a book containing a poem given to the family that Grand Duchess Olga had hand-copied and hidden in its pages. “Lord of the world, God of creation, give us Thy blessing through our prayer,” it concluded. “Give peace of heart to us, O Master, this hour of utmost dread to bear. And on the threshold of the grave, breathe power divine into our clay, that we, Thy... Read more