(RNS) Talk about hellfire! One of the nation’s rock-star-popular young pastors, Rob Bell, 40, has stuck a pitchfork in how Christians talk about damnation. Pastor Bell’s “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived,” arrived in stores Tuesday (March 15). Critics pounced before the book was even […]

(RNS) Balancing the federal budget at the expense of the poor would be un-Christian, evangelical leaders warned Congress on Thursday (March 3) as they work to reject proposed spending cuts to domestic and foreign aid. “The Bible says that God has a special concern for the poor,” said Ron Sider, president of the group Evangelicals […]

(RNS) Whether they rally behind Fox News’ Glenn Beck to “Restore Honor” or Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart to “Restore Sanity,” Americans agree on one thing: our political system has a civility problem. Four out of five Americans, regardless of party or religious affiliation, think the lack of respectful discourse in our political system is a […]

WASHINGTON (RNS) An evangelical-progressive coalition has developed an agenda aimed at moving beyond past divisions on hot-button social issues to seek policy changes on abortion, torture and other issues. After two years of discussion, they have concluded that their “Come Let Us Reason Together” agenda will include reducing abortion, protecting employment rights of gays and […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Having spent his life in the limelight, Billy Graham now lives at his mountain retreat in relative seclusion, while down below there is a clamor to crown his successor. (By the way, I should say at the outset, this is a subject that holds zero interest for Graham himself.) […]

Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw is continuing his efforts towards Mormon-evangelical dialogue by suggesting in a Beliefnet.com column that Mormon leaders should offer their “official blessing” to discussions with evangelical scholars who have presented their theological differences with Mormons in “fair and careful ways.” He said this period after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s […]

The AP has got hold of a draft of something called “An Evangelical Manifesto” (not to be confused with the National Association of Evangelicals’ “An Evangelical Manifesto”), calling on evangelical activists of the left as well as the right to love more, politick less, hew to the actual gospel message, and see the mote in […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service Chicago Lutheran church tests gay policy (RNS) A Chicago congregation is testing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s new policy on gay clergy by ordaining a lesbian who did not take a vow of celibacy. Resurrection Lutheran Church ordained the Rev. Jennette Lynn Rude, 27, on Saturday (Nov. 17) despite […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service British cardinal slams lesbian parenting bill LONDON (RNS) The top Catholic leader in England and Wales has condemned as “profoundly wrong” proposed legislation that would make it easier for lesbian couples to become parents using in vitro fertilization (IVF). Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster said a bill to remove the […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) “For the Bible Tells Me So,” a documentary that seeks to make the case that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality, is making the rounds at film festivals and screening in select cities. The 97-minute film weaves biblical analysis with the stories of five Christian families who learn that […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Hoping to capitalize on the momentum created by the current re-examination of U.S. policy in the Middle East, an interfaith group of prominent religious leaders is pressing the Bush administration to place the Israeli-Palestinian conflict higher on its agenda for the region. The National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ If you want to serve me, Dave and Veronica Commire heard God saying, paint this guy’s house. So the couple rounded up about 15 of their church friends and beautified the home of a neighbor who had lost a son and was angry at God. Telling […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, he was the first Catholic to seek the Oval Office. To win, he had to convince non-Catholic voters that he wouldn’t take orders from the pope. Now, another Massachusetts politician with an eye on the White House _ Republican Gov. […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ If you asked many Jewish and evangelical leaders how the United States should respond to the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections that ushered Hamas into power, the reaction would be fairly swift and severe: No aid. No relations. No questions asked. But if you asked Catholic and mainline Protestant […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As a Baptist preacher in Waco, Texas, the Rev. Dr. Randall O’Brien knows the Bible says natural disasters can be signs of God’s judgment. But he’s not preaching anything of the sort, not even in a year marked by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Instead, he’s joining other evangelical Protestant […]