Bad Girls and Boys Go to Hell (or Not): Engaging Fundamentalist Evangelicalism
In Bad Girls and Boys Go To Hell (or not), Gloria Neufeld Redekop takes us on her own personal journey as she engages a movement in which she was raised, conducting a careful study of the history of fundamentalist evangelicalism, the attachment to a literal-factual interpretation of the Bible, and an analysis of the experience of those who have left the movement.
read moreReport | Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Comprehensive Portrait from Recent Research
Catholics are more supportive of legal recognitions of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and Americans overall. Nearly three-quarters of Catholics favor either allowing gay and lesbian people to marry (43%) or allowing them to …
read moreBreakaway group offers more progressive form of Catholicism
FAIRFAX, Va. (RNS) About 30 people are gathered in a dark, makeshift sanctuary at St. Anthony of Padua Church as the sun dips into the horizon. The service follows the familiar pattern of a Catholic Mass, but something is …
read moreFifty years on, Catholics still debate the meaning of Vatican II
When Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council half a century ago, he said he wanted to “open the windows” of his almost 2,000-year Church to the rapid changes in the modern world. Within a few …
read moreReligious leaders respond to the rise of the “Nones”
As we noted yesterday, the number of Americans who have no religious affiliation has hit an all-time high, according to a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. One in five adults does not belong …
read moreCatholic theologian preaches revolution to end church’s ‘authoritarian’ rule
Hans Küng urges confrontation from the grassroots to unseat pope and force radical reform at Vatican
One of the world’s most prominent Catholic theologians has called for a revolution from below to unseat the pope and force radical reform at the Vatican. Hans Küng is appealing to priests and churchgoers to confront the Catholic …
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Outgrowing Evangelicalism: It’s Not Just for Scholars Anymore
In July, Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, posted on his website his experience of being a Christian, a musician, and why he finds it hard–maybe more than just “hard”–to do that within the world of evangelicalism. The band’s in a studio …
read moreNumber of Protestant Americans Is in Steep Decline, Study Finds
For the first time since researchers began tracking the religious identity of Americans, fewer than half said they were Protestants, a steep decline from 40 years ago when Protestant churches claimed the loyalty of more than two-thirds …
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Why Not Women?
A bishop makes a case for expanding the diaconate.
Jesus chose the Twelve and others to help spread the word that God was working in the world uniquely through him. After his death and resurrection, local communities of believers formed; and within them leaders emerged or were chosen.
read moreNuns on the Bus Returns in Missouri
Earlier this summer, members of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, boarded a bus in Des Moines, Iowa for a two week tour across the country to draw attention to those working families most affected by …
read moreCardinal Carlo Maria Martini, In final Interview Before Death Says Church ’200 Years Out Of Date’
ROME, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said the Catholic Church was “200 years out of date” in his final interview before his death, published on Saturday. …
read moreDoes megachurch ‘high’ explain their success?
(RNS) Maybe religion really is the opiate of the masses – just not the way Karl Marx imagined. A University of Washington study posits that worship services at megachurches can trigger feelings of transcendence and changes in brain chemistry …
read moreMormon women seeking middle ground to greater equality
Feminism » Ordination may be a long shot, but activists see a middle ground to greater visibility and involvement in their faith.
For some Mormon feminists, there can be only one goal on the road to gender equality: priesthood ordination. After all, every worthy male in the lay-clergy-run Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — starting at age …
read moreDo the American nuns have a future?
…studies show that despite conservative claims, traditional orders are not doing that much better than the liberal communities. In 1992 the Vatican set up a rival organization to the LCWR, called the Council of Major Superiors of …
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What Should Churches Be About?
Whatever paradigm a community may favor (or more than one among community members), the core of Christian faith and what Jesus emphasized — the centrality of love in action — can be the community emphasis as well.
read moreSurvey: most Americans keep faith private online
(RNS) Meet the social media “nones.” A new survey finds that Americans, while mostly religious, generally do not use social media to supplement worship and mostly keep their faith private online. The Public Religion Research Institute survey found about one in …
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Hookers, Looters and Cheats, Part 4: The Looter Who Became Jesus’ New BFF
Skype Guest: Rev. Fred Plumer
Full Darkwood Brew show with President, Fred Plumer. Interviewed by Eric Elnes.
read moreSurvey finds 19% without religious affiliation
Unbelief is on the uptick. People who check
The rapid rise of Nones — including atheists, agnostics and those who say they believe “nothing in particular” — defies the usually glacial rate of change in spiritual identity. Barry Kosmin, co-author of three American Religious Identification …
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