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December 19, 2011

John Helmiere was severely beaten by Seattle police while demonstrating peacefully with Occupy West Coast at the Port of Seattle. Despite his experience, he urges Christians to practice love and non-violence.

December 9, 2011

We are like amnesia victims in a shell-shocked world. We have forgotten who we are and where we belong until we get to Bethlehem.

In an article published in 1996, English Theologian, Don Cupitt, said that "Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity." I winced when I read that characterization of Christmas. It hurt because it contains an embarrassing element of truth. Almost all of us participate in the commercialization of Christmas.

December 9, 2011

Young Americans are seeking spiritual integrity, compassion, real experience and a place that encourages their questions.

In a Sept. 28 article published by the Barna Group, “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church,” Barna, a nationally respected non-profit research organization dedicated to spiritual development, outlines six reasons why young people stay away from churches:

Churches seem overprotective: While many churches try to convince members to reject or avoid “worldly” influences, today’s young people are more connected to culture, media and concerns of the world than ever.

December 8, 2011

The National Council of Churches honors five U.S. congregations for their special enthusiasm and exemplary efforts at building bridges between different faiths.

NEW YORK – Five congregations demonstrating a special enthusiasm and exemplary work for interfaith relations have been named "model interfaith engaged congregations" by the National Council of Churches.

In June, the NCC's Interfaith Relations Commission asked for nominations from its member communions and other communities affiliated with the Council of congregations that "have something important to share about interfaith engagement."

November 29, 2011

Hopes for a major turnout of faith representatives were dashed at an opening event for this week's climate conference, but those who attended were energized by Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech.

 DURBAN, South Africa -- Climate change may be of grave concern to many people, but that would have been hard to tell by the sparse size of the crowd that attended a faith-based rally Sunday in King's Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa.

"It was disappointing really," says Peter VanderMeulen, director of the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice, who attended the rally.

November 21, 2011

Church World Service executive Rev. John McCullough urges the Obama Administration to make good on past U.S. promises regarding funding and support for climate change responses in developing countries.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the lead up to the COP-17 climate change summit Nov. 28 – Dec. 9 in Durban, South Africa, the head of international humanitarian agency Church World Service has urged President Barack Obama and State Department negotiators to make good on previous U.S. promises on funding environmental defenses.

November 11, 2011

Too often, stories of struggle and of heartache from religion (or, more accurately, from people who identify as religious) are not transformed into stories of love. And this doesn't have to happen.

My parents are really religious. My pastor said being gay was immoral. I heard that God hates fags. My church took collections to stop marriage equality. They told me about Sodom and Gomorrah. They quoted Leviticus. They told me I was evil. They told me I was a sinner. They told me I couldn’t love God. They told me I could change.

October 3, 2011

The Religious Institute, a national multifaith organization devoted to sexual healing, education and justice, offers worship resources for National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11.

In preparation for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, the Religious Institute is pleased to offer worship resources to assist clergy in speaking out in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens and young adults. Please feel free to modify any of these in order to better serve your faith community.

September 23, 2011

Church people ought to paying more attention to a growing segment of the population: People who identify as "spiritual, but not religious," or SBNRs,

Every day, I enjoy conversations with students who fit into the category of SBNR - "spiritual but not religious."

September 8, 2011

We cannot change the past, and we cannot know or control the future. Nurturing the "now" of life is our best hope for happiness.

A few years ago I was invited to be one of the speakers at a retreat for medical doctors. My assigned topic was "Finding Happiness Now." Big order!

August 24, 2011

Sept. 11 commemorative events planned for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, have been moved to new locations after a large crane repairing earthquake damage fell on part of the building.

Churches and other faith-based organizations around the United States are gearing up to present a message of hope, faith, tolerance and unity as the nation observes the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

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August 22, 2011

One major value of religion is its tendency to build social capital for people, creating networks of relationships that sustain them in both practical and spiritual ways.

July 26, 2011

The wisdom of age soon teaches that showing off for younger friends isn't such a great idea.

Old age is not for sissies. The actor Bette Davis said that, I think. Neither is it for show-offs. I can testify to that.

I have a Mazda Miata, stick-shift, of course. I've bragged about it in these notes at least once before, called it my second middle-age crisis. My wife CP and I have a good friend, a handsome and talented young woman in her very early fifties, younger than our children. I rather proudly took her for a top-down spin in the Miata not long ago. 

July 12, 2011

Once we accept the certainty of death, we can never again be casual about life. Death is a thought around which none of us likes to linger long, but this existential fact defines life whether we like to think about it or not. It is a reality from which we cannot flee.

May 21, 2011

ELCA congregations and individuals can win thousands in ministry grants and cash prizes in the denomination's second video contest. Winners will be screened at the Lutherans' churchwide assembly in August.

CHICAGO (ELCA) – What does it means to "live Lutheran" today? Members and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are invited to answer that question and compete for ministry grants and cash prizes in the 2011 ELCA Video Contest.

May 3, 2011

A concert by the acclaimed Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church will be webcast live on May 5 by the Episcopal Church Office of Communication.

The Episcopal Church Office of Communication will live webcast a performance of London's Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from St. John's Church, Lafayette Square, in Washington, DC (Diocese of Washington) on Thursday, May 5 at 7 pm Eastern (6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain, 4 pm Pacific, 3 pm Alaska, 2 pm Hawaii).

March 28, 2011

Sneezes and evolution dominate the Editor's email inbox this week.

"Allergy Blues" (Sung to the tune of "Summertime" from "Porgy & Bess")

Texas spring, and the livin' is sneezy;
Trees are buddin' and the pollen is high.
My eyes itch, and my sinuses quiver.
So, hush, all you sneezes; just let me die.

This chorus of "Allergy Blues" is dedicated to all the hay fever and allergy sufferers in the TPC readership. Today in big D the sky is gray with clouds and the smog is heavy with pollen, God help us!

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November 15, 2010

Learn to live eternally here and now during a Faith and Reason seminar in Baton Rouge, LA, with Fr. Richard Rohr, director of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM.

"The Change That Changes Everything: Lifestyle-Based Spirituality"
A Two-Day "Faith & Reason" Seminar presented by Fr. Richard Rohr, executive director of the Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, NM and author of The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See.

Location: First United Methodist Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Sponsored by the D.L. Dykes Foundation and its local partners:

November 28, 2011

Not everyone holds history in high regard, and even those who do express deep concern that nations and governments do not seem to learn from it. Yet history holds four profound lessons that are urgent for us today, writes columnist Thomas Lane Butts.

One of the most treasured books in my library is a 100-page tome titled the Lessons of History, written in 1968 by Will and Ariel Durant. I have read and reread it and referenced it in many sermons, columns and essays. It is a profound book that should be read by anyone who wishes to understand the great lessons of history by the century rather than by the year. History really makes more sense that way.

November 15, 2011

Christians, Muslims and Jews across the country plan vigils for Nov. 20 to pray for the members of the congressional "super committee" to create a federal budget that protects the nation's most vulnerable citizens.

WASHINGTON – As U.S. Super Committee lawmakers grind down to a Nov. 23 deadline to slash $1.2 trillion from the federal budget, humanitarian agency Church World Service will be among a gathering of the nation's interfaith leaders in Washington for a Nov. 20 Super Vigil pressing for a budget that preserves what is viewed as vital domestic and international assistance funding.

November 14, 2011

David Shasha critiques New York Times' columnist David Brooks' arguments for elitism as absurd contentions that trivialize the morals of great religious traditions.

After his previous article “The Wrong Inequality” was criticized for its snobbery and elitism, it now appears that David Brooks has had his poor little feelings hurt according to his latest column, "The Inequality Map".

November 12, 2011

Retired pastor and civil rights activist Gilbert H. Caldwell harks back to a time of racial prejudice in responding to United Methodist bishops' vow to uphold their denomination's anti-gay stances.

November 11, 2011

Activists led by environmentalist Bill McKibben, including people of faith, succeeded in convincing President Obama to halt a license for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline by sending it back to the U.S. State Department for a more thorough climate change review.

Under the leadership of environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, a United Methodist layman, thousands of concerned demonstrators succeeded in delaying the Obama Administration's approval of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

The pipeline is slated to cross thousands of acres of vulnerable U.S. land from its origin in the Canadian tar sands to refineries along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

November 8, 2011

Theologian Aaron Saari draws intriguing comparisons between the aims of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement grows, an increasing number of Republican legislators and media personalities are claiming that the members are overwhelmingly anti-Semitic. From Newt Gingrich to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck to Bill Kristol, the charge of anti-Semitism is becoming a common trope.[i]