In the News

• Bush Praises Faith-Based Groups for Helping - 6/31 APresident Bush said Saturday that religious charities, partly financed with federal money, have helped reduce homelessness, found jobs for former inmates and helped combat malaria and HIV/AIDS overseas. Bush used his weekly radio address to trumpet the "remarkable difference these groups have made over the past eight years."   Read Full Article
• Commentary: In Defense of Dr. Dobson - 7/1 - by Patrick J. Buchanan  Last week's clash between Dr. James Dobson and Barack Obama is but the latest skirmish in a war that dates back to the time of Christ. At issue: What is Christian truth? Does the true Christian put social peace ahead of his duty to make God's Law man's law?
  In a speech in June 2006, Obama, citing the book of Leviticus, which declares homosexuality an abomination, noted that Leviticus also says the eating of shellfish is an abomination and condones slavery. Read Full Article
• Obama campaign worker helps set up anti-Dobson site -6/31 A campaign worker for Barack Obama was instrumental in launching a new website designed to counter Dr. James Dobson's criticism of the Democratic presidential nominee. A recent article on OneNewsNow featured comments by Methodist pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, a Barack Obama supporter. The pastor took issue with James Dobson's contention that Obama distorts the Bible with his theological views. Read Full Article
• Politicians Outraged by Child Rape Ruling - 6/29 - Angry politicians are sounding a defiant tone, after yesterday's supreme court ruling banning the death penalty for those who commit the crime of child rape. Read Full Article
• Church lifts its passion across Canada - 6/31 The legendary Paul Bunyan, who according to folklore hacked through seemingly impenetrable frontier forests to open much of North America, is said to have been based on the exploits of a French-Canadian lumberjack in the mid-1800s. French-Canadian church planter Rick Lamothe now envisions the same kind of endeavor from one end of Canada's Eastern Corridor to the other –- a 715-mile stretch along the St. Lawrence River populated by more than half of the country's 33.3 million people. Read Full Article
• Christianity is flourishing in China - 6/31 The Rev. Jin Mingri peered out from the pulpit and delivered an unusual appeal: "Please leave," the 39-year-old pastor urged his followers, who were packed, standing-room-only on a Sunday afternoon, into a converted office space in China's capital. "We don't have enough seats for the others who want to come, so please, only stay for one service a day."
  A choir in hot-pink robes stood to his left, beside a guitarist and a drum set bristling with cymbals. Children in a modern playroom beside the sanctuary punctuated the service with squeals and tantrums. It was a busy day at a church that, on paper, does not exist. Read Full Article
• Women Touching Lives in Sikkim - 6/31 Raju and Prasela, a couple in Sikkim, India, stood by feeling helpless to do anything for their little boy. Sujin was seriously ill, and it pained them to watch him suffer. Then the couple met a team of Christian women serving with Gospel for Asia. These women listened with compassion to Raju and Prasela’s plight and told them about Jesus. They prayed earnestly for Sujin, and he started to feel a little better.  Read Full Article
• Bible Burning Targeted at Messianic Jews - 6/6 In Israel, there are reports that some ultra-Orthodox Jews burned New Testaments in the town of Or Yehuda.It's the latest in a series of incidents within Israel against Messianic Jews -- those who believe Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Read Full Article
• Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy - 6/6 Opponents of teaching evolution, in a natural selection of sorts, have gradually shed those strategies that have not survived the courts. Over the last decade, creationism has given rise to “creation science,” which became “intelligent design,” which in 2005 was banned from the public school curriculum in Pennsylvania by a federal judge. Now a battle looms in Texas over science textbooks that teach evolution, and the wrestle for control seizes on three words. None of them are “creationism” or “intelligent design” or even “creator.” The words are “strengths and weaknesses.” Read Full Article
• Black Ministers Watching their Words on Obama - 6/7 An island in a sea of pastel suits, alligator shoes and elaborate pocket squares, the Rev. Jeffrey Bryan stood out at a meeting of black ministers for his simple fashion choice: Denim shorts and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the face of presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. He's posted campaign signs and even has snapshots of himself with Obama, who once made a stop at his Newark, N.J., church.
  But that's as far as he'll go to show his support — there will be no sermons peppered with "Obama in '08." "It's a historical time for black people, we cannot ignore what's going on," said the pastor, who was nonetheless resolute that "you can't tell people who to vote for." In the black community, the pulpit has long played a powerful role in shaping voting decisions. But the role of the church in politics has been under increased scrutiny since uproars involving prominent pastors. Read Full Article
• Chinese City Set to Become Bible Printing Capital of the World 6/10 In two weeks, the world’s largest Bible printing facility will open in Nanjing, China, prompting some to dub the historic eastern Chinese city the Bible printing capital of the world. Read Full Article
• McCain Meets with Billy Graham and Son - 6/29 John McCain met Sunday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's mountaintop retreat. The Republican presidential candidate, who is actively courting religious voters and trying to reassure skeptical conservatives, visited privately with the Grahams on the grounds of Little Piney Cove in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. Read Full Article
• Canadian Court to Father: Grounding Daughter 'Too Severe' a Punishment - 6/29 What started as a simple case of parent-child disagreement has turned into what some fear is a precedent-setting ruling. In Quebec, a 12-year-old girl repeatedly ignored her father's rules and posted a profile of herself at an online dating site. Her father then grounded her from attending her sixth grade field trip. Read Full Article