Father Thomas Johnston of Arkansas is without a doubt the world’s most controversial missionary, at least among prelates who wear purple shirts and Anglican collars. It isn’t his years of overseas work that will have insiders whispering, or cursing, his name during the next three weeks as 800 Anglican bishops gather at Canterbury for their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference. No, Johnston is controversial because he is currently, under church law, a foreign missionary in his own land. He is an American... Read more

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas returned home to Roman Catholicism two years ago and, more recently, a few high-profile conservatives have converted — ranging from Norma “Jane Roe” McCorvey to Florida Wasp Jeb Bush. While the Evangelical Right gets the most ink, it isn’t hard to figure out what’s happening, said Joseph D’Agostino of Human Events, a conservative weekly based in Washington, D.C. “It’s a reaction to an incredible decline in Western and American culture. The very concept of truth... Read more

The pastors who wear Roman collars believe they can see the wreckage caused by pornography and other media addictions whenever they stand at their altars and scan the faces before them. While researchers continue to debate the links between mass media and in real life, the members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops have heard enough. The bishops think it’s time to admit that sordid images sometimes can become reality — leading to moral numbness, shattered marriages and, in... Read more

Anglicanism begins and ends with The Book of Common Prayer. Obviously, this volume is full of prayers — morning prayers, evening prayers and prayers for all the times in between. There are hundreds of pages of prayers for Holy Communion, baptisms, ordinations, funerals and other events and most begin with “O God,” “Heavenly Father,” “Eternal Lord God” or similar phrases. The working assumption is that the God of the Bible hears these prayers and can answer them. Wrong, argues America’s... Read more

WASHINGTON — Viewed from their balconies, the pews in traditional black churches looked like waves of polished wood curving down to the pulpit and, through decades of Sundays, the crests were topped by graceful rows of women’s hats. Before the sea change of the 1960s, it was much more common for women to cover their heads in congregations of all kinds. Nevertheless, visitors would have to have been blind not to see that there was more to the hats in... Read more

WASHINGTON — The train from New York City was jammed as Matthew Chancey traveled back to the nation’s capital after this spring’s meeting of the Titanic Historical Society. Lucky passengers sat shoulder-to-shoulder while others spent four hours on their feet. As he stood, Chancey quietly became angry when he noticed those seated included young and middle-aged men, while the throng swaying in the aisles included several elderly women. One pregnant woman eventually slumped to the floor to rest. No one... Read more

Try to imagine what would happen if the following scene took place in a “Religions of the World” class in a public school. First, the social studies teacher explains the history of Pentecostal Christianity and offers a statistical snapshot of the movement. Then he says that students need to experience Pentecostalism, in order to understand it. So they are told to kneel, lift their hands high and try to join in as he speaks in tongues. Afterwards, the students sing... Read more

It was time, once again, for a political leader to step to the microphone and debate the politics of morality with America’s most outspoken Roman Catholic prelate. This time, Cardinal John O’Connor had used his pulpit in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to deliver a diplomatic, but forceful, sermon attacking a New York City Council plan to create “domestic partnerships” equal to marriages. After quoting centuries of secular and sacred texts, he stressed that the church believes unconditionally that “no human authority... Read more

WASHINGTON — Whenever a preacher starts getting personal, picky and downright pushy, Bible Belt folks like to say he has quit preaching and “gone to meddling.” A lot of folks have been saying that, and much more, about the Rev. Reggie White lately. The Green Bay Packer legend recently offended legions of people with a sermon to Wisconsin lawmakers that attacked abortion, called homosexual acts sin and offered up a colorful series of ethnic anecdotes, while arguing that all racial... Read more

As the old saying goes, for most American newspapers a front-page religion story has three essential elements — a local anecdote, new poll data and a quote from scholar Martin Marty. Need a quote on God and politics? Call Marty. Liberal or fundamentalist demographics? The clout of suburban believers? Hollywood spirituality? Salvation for extra-terrestrials? Conflict in (name any church) pews? Call the University of Chicago Divinity School and anyone who answers will know what to do. The church historian is,... Read more