Christianity

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Billy Graham Done Advising Presidents: Son

But influential pastor supports and would like to pray with Obama

(Newser) - Billy Graham, the pastor who has advised every president since Eisenhower, won’t be counseling Barack Obama, the AP reports. Graham, who turns 90 today and is in failing health, “feels like his time and day for that is over," said Graham’s son Franklin. "He would...

UK Group Raises $80K for Atheist Bus Ads

Fundraising target far surpassed, campaign may expand nationwide

(Newser) - A campaign to plaster London buses with agnostic advertising has far exceeded its fundraising goal, the Guardian reports. The ads, aimed to counter what one writer sees as overbearing Christian messages, will say, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Organizers have raised...

Pentecostal Questions Haunt Palin
Pentecostal Questions
Haunt Palin
Oct 11, 2008 6:48 AM CDT

Pentecostal Questions Haunt Palin

McCain may be avoiding pastor attacks to avoid focus on Palin's beliefs

(Newser) - John McCain has so far avoided attacking Barack Obama's controversial pastor in what may be a strategy to keep Sarah Palin's preachers out of the spotlight, Time reports. Palin officially left her Pentecostal church before campaigning for lieutenant governor but has made many return visits—including one in 2005 when...

Episcopal Priest Faces Ban for Practicing Islam

Seattle cleric considers faiths compatible

(Newser) - An Episcopal priest who also practices Islam will likely be defrocked, the Seattle Times reports. "I'm still following Jesus in being a Muslim," said Ann Holmes Redding, who has been a priest for almost 25 years. "I have not abandoned that." But the local bishop...

Prosperity Gospel Blamed for Subprime Hell

Belief that God bestows riches may have duped faithful into dodgy mortgages

(Newser) - A fast-growing strain of Pentecostalism may have made its followers victims of the credit crisis by preaching that God's hand was behind dubious mortgages, Time reports. "Prosperity Gospel" preaches that God will "make way" for the poor to gain wealth, making believers easy prey for greedy mortgage brokers,...

Christianity in China Grows Quickly, Quietly

Government puts total enrollment at 21M; others say 130M

(Newser) - Despite government restrictions, Christianity in China is widespread and growing. Authorities typically look the other way, occasionally applying pressure that only seems to spread religion's influence, reports the Economist. Most of the Protestant "house churches" consist of 25 people—the largest legal gathering—where new Christians lead newer converts...

Bush's Biggest Mistake: Declaring Religious War
Bush's Biggest Mistake: Declaring Religious War
OPINION
Sep 15, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Bush's Biggest Mistake: Declaring Religious War

McCain, Palin may repeat incumbent's errors

(Newser) - The 9/11 attacks would’ve posed a great challenge to any president, but George Bush’s response, to invoke God and declare a Manichean quest to “rid the world of evil,” made him Osama bin Laden’s accomplice, writes James Carroll in the Boston Globe. "Bush is...

Bible Underpins Palin's Politics

Her church promotes gay 'cure,' she hoped Alaskan pipeline was 'God's will'

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's pastors say an abiding faith in the Bible is at the core of her personal and political life, the New York Times reports. She attends the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church. Its links to groups which seek to convert Jews and "cure" gays have caused concern—but townspeople...

Palin Might Also Have Pastor Problems

Wasilla church leader Kalnins says Bush critics will go to hell

(Newser) - It turns out Sarah Palin has a controversial preacher of her own: Ed Kalnins, senior pastor at the Wasilla Assembly of God, which the Alaska governor has attended much of her adult life. Radar compiles some of his greatest hits:
  • On the Bush Administration and Katrina: "I hate criticisms
...

Knights Templar Heirs Sue Pope for $150B

Group wants money, apology—and its good name back

(Newser) - A group claiming to be descended from the ancient Knights Templar want Pope Benedict XVI to right a 700-year-old wrong, NPR reports. The group has filed a lawsuit in Spain seeking $150 billion in compensation for property seized by the church. It also wants the church to apologize and restore...

How Jindal Traded Vishnu for Jesus
How Jindal Traded Vishnu for Jesus
Jul 25, 2008 1:30 PM CDT

How Jindal Traded Vishnu for Jesus

Hindu-born La. governor's conversion could help McCain

(Newser) - When political observers talk about Bobby Jindal’s vice presidential credentials, they often mention that his devout Christian faith might sway the base. It’s a curious advantage for the Hindu-raised son of Punjabi immigrants, but Jindal’s conversion was the sincere product of a deep spiritual quest, the Wall ...

Pope to Kids: Spurn 'Spiritual Desert'

Young should change lives of 'quiet despair,' Benedict pleads

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI called on young Christians to revive spirituality by rejecting modern society's greed and materialism, AP reports. At a mass of 350,000 young pilgrims in Sydney, and a global TV audience of millions, the pope called for "a new age in which hope liberates us from...

Obama's Unique Road to Faith
 Obama's Unique
 Road to Faith 
Jul 13, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

Obama's Unique Road to Faith

How the presumptive nominee found a religion, and now seeks a church

(Newser) - As a young man, Barack Obama experienced a lonely, drawn-out crisis of faith—and now finds himself churchless as the whole world watches, Newsweek reports. His father was an atheist Muslim, his mother a Christian who turned secular, and Obama eventually embraced Chicago's Trinity United after years of church-based activism....

Devil, US May Care About Satanist's Custody Fight

Mom wants kids to spend Sunday morning in church instead of with devilish dad

(Newser) - An Indiana man says he is a loving father who just wants to share his faith with his kids—but his Christian ex-wife would prefer their daughters spent Sunday morning in church instead of with their Satanist dad. The custody case raises thorny church and state issues, the Chicago Tribune ...

Ancient Text Casts Doubt on Resurrection

In tablet, scholar sees risen messiah as pre-Jesus theme

(Newser) - A new interpretation of a tablet written in 1st century BC questions the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Times of London reports. One biblical scholar says the text conveys the story of an angel telling a dying Jew, killed by Romans 4 years before Christ's birth, that he...

The Gospel According to Jefferson
The Gospel According to Jefferson
Jul 6, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

The Gospel According to Jefferson

Founding Father cut and pasted his own personal Bible

(Newser) - Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted together his own New Testament, removing everything he refused to believe—like miracles and the resurrection of Jesus, the Los Angeles Times reports. Dubbed the Jefferson Bible, it reflects his deist belief that God created the universe and let it run on its own. But...

Pragmatism Dictates China's Religious Policy

Strategic chip firm given leeway for Christian worship

(Newser) - China officially sanctions religious worship only at state facilities, but the Christian Science Monitor finds that plenty of wiggle room exists in the business world. It profiles one company whose Christian CEO is allowed to put up a church at every worksite. Why such accommodation in a formally atheist state?...

Christian Novel Outstrips Oprah Pick

Somewhat controversial book depicts God as a black woman named "Papa"

(Newser) - Once rejected by multiple mainstream publishers, the slim Christian novel The Shack is flying off shelves, topping the New York Times trade paperback bestseller list. “Everybody that I know has bought at least 10 copies,” says one devotee. The Times looks at a blockbuster built around an unconventional...

Anti-Obama Evangelical Writes Pro-Obama Book

Stephen Mansfield thinks Obama may sway young Christians, though he himself will vote against him

(Newser) - Stephen Mansfield expects to cast his ballot against Barack Obama in November. But that hasn’t stopped him from writing an admiring book about the candidate's religious profile—The Faith of Barack Obama—which argues that the candidate may well steal young evangelical voters away from John McCain. McCain is...

Jordan Cave May Be World's First Church

Unearthed cavern could be oldest place of Christian worship

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found what might be the world’s oldest Christian church in Rihab, Jordan, the BBC reports. The cavern, located under the also-ancient church of St. Georgeous, dates to between 33 and 70 AD, and doubled as a home.

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