How to celebrate Christmas: Change the world
(RNS) — How should we celebrate Christmas? Pay off others' debts, for a start, and dismantle and rebuild systems that keep people in poverty.
Keeping the longing for Christ in Christmas
(RNS) — Advent, with its carols and holiday parties, may be the last vestige of a liturgical life lived in common. But even those who want to keep the Christ in Christmas forget that the season is about the hunger that we feel for the redeemed world.
The original ‘Blue Christmas’: New Advent resources focus on grief, justice before celebration
(RNS) — A number of new Advent resources available this year admit a bleak midwinter spirit, drawing attention to grief and injustice.
Postcards from the Protestant decline in America
(RNS) — A weekend trip to my hometown makes the statistics more personal (and painful): Only about 1 in 5 young adults were Protestant in 2018, compared with twice that when I was in high school.
SMU sued as it moves to cut ties with United Methodist Church
(RNS) — Southern Methodist University has moved to cut ties with the United Methodist Church after the denomination voted to strengthen rules barring LGBTQ members from marriage and ordination earlier this year.
Was Mister Rogers the messiah?
(RNS) — Why the explosion of Fred Rogers-mania? Because the children's TV host is the antithesis of everything in this country today.
Faith groups sue Trump administration over refugee resettlement order
(RNS) — Three refugee aid groups argue that a recent executive order granting officials authority to block resettlement inhibits their ability to practice their faith.
N.T. Wright explains the world of the New Testament in new book
CHICAGO (RNS) — 'The New Testament in Its World' captures — in nearly 1,000 pages, a workbook and series of lectures — the 'sweep of my teaching,' said the Anglican bishop and scholar.
Sex scandals show why evangelicals need to recover the sacrament of confession
(RNS) — Imagine a church where everyone, including the senior pastor, was required to have a person they confessed to. For one, it would help avoid some of the major crises in the failures of leadership.
Dissent from Traditional Plan dominates United Methodists' top court meeting
CHICAGO (RNS) — Many of the requests before the Judicial Council this past week had to do with actions recently passed by various regional annual conferences across the country dissenting to the Traditional Plan approved in February.
At Border Mosque, a Muslim prayer is shared across the US-Mexico divide
PLAYAS DE TIJUANA, Mexico (RNS) — Imam Omar Suleiman led a binational prayer Sunday (Oct. 27) at Friendship Park, a historic meeting place on the US-Mexico border that overlooks the Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Tijuana.
United Methodist clergyman accused of sexual misconduct, says UMNS report
(RNS) — Four women have accused the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman — a United Methodist elder who is well known in interfaith circles — of sexual harassment, misconduct and abuse, according to the United Methodist News Service.
Kate Bowler on how evangelical women carved a niche in celebrity culture
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — Without any kind of theological credentials and while toeing the line of the subservient wife, many preachers' wives were as successful as their husbands in the capitalist marketplace, Kate Bowler's new book argues.
United Methodists float plans to split denomination after LGBTQ vote
(RNS) — The most likely proposals provide for dissenting congregations to exit the denomination, while retaining ties to United Methodist support organizations.
By their tweets you will know them: The Democrats' continuing God gap
(RNS) — If they want to win back the White House, Democrats need to reach Christian voters. At least on social media, Democratic candidates are failing to do so.