| More U.S. children on brink of, fewer in poverty
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The number of children living on the threshold of poverty in working families surpassed 10 million in 2000 after increasing throughout the 1990s.
"We've got people no longer dependent on the government, but certainly not out of poverty.... "We haven't moved a lot of those people into jobs they can support a family with."
The report, based on government data, found that seven of the 10 categories measuring children's lives improved between 1990 and 1999. The indicators include children's chances of surviving infancy and childhood and avoiding becoming a teen parent. |
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| Pope accepts resignation of Milwaukee's archbishop
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Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee yesterday after the disclosure of a $450,000 settlement the archdiocese made in 1998 with a man who had accused Weakland of sexually abusing him as an adult more than two decades ago.
The development stunned Roman Catholics in the 10-county archdiocese, which Weakland has led for 25 years while gaining a national reputation as one of the church's most liberal prelates. In recent months, Weakland has taken an aggressive stance in his own archdiocese against sexual misconduct by priests. |
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| California church bars convicted child molester |
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The members of the Church of the Brethren in La Verne, California Tuesday evening decided Kristian Rosvold, a twice-convicted child molester, will not be able to attend public services, Pastor Chuck Boyer said Wednesday.
It is the second church to reject his request to attend Sunday services. |
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Anne Lamott's subversive faith
Cover story of Presbyterians Today, June 2002 |
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God used a tiny Presbyterian congregation to teach this best-selling author about the power of unconditional love.
"I will go to my grave not understanding why I, of all people, ended up being such a committed Christian, let alone a Presbyterian." |
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| Pittsburgh Steelers coach to address GA media lunch |
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Anthony G. Griggs, Coordinator of Player Development and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL), will be the featured speaker of the 2002 General Assembly Media Luncheon, sponsored by the Presbyterian Media Mission |
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| Presbyterian laywoman receives book-of-the-year award
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Marc Clements Henrikson received this year's annual Book-of-the-Year Award in the gay and lesbian publishing category from Foreword magazine for "Our Daughter Martha: A Family Struggles with Coming Out". "Foreword" is a book and periodical-industry publication for editors and writers.
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Presbyterian Women seeks to become more anti-racist
Survey polls members for suggestions on "inclusive, caring community" |
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A survey seeking feedback on how Presbyterian Women (PW) can become a more racially and culturally inclusive organization was sent to 600 members of the group on May 13. |
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First amendment doomed?
Freedom Foundation head warns that basic freedoms "are in trouble" |
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Charles Overby, chairman of the Freedom Foundation, said, in an address titled "The Religious Press in the Public Square," that "it will not survive this century unless the public is educated."
Recent polls done for the Freedom Foundation, an independent foundation dedicated to the First Amendment and media issues, reveal that many Americans are objecting to what they perceive as "unbridled freedoms," expressing a willingness to give up some basic freedoms for more security.
For example, almost 40 percent say that the First Amendment goes too far – double the percentage of the previous year. |
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| Blair science speech angers pro-lifers, environmentalists |
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair has jumped into the fray surrounding scientific research, angering both environmentalists and the pro-life lobby by indicating his strong support for genetically modified crop research and embryonic stem cell studies.
Blair said he wanted to change Britain's "anti-science" culture, during a speech Thursday to the Royal Society, the U.K.'s leading scientific body.
He noted that Britain has produced 44 Nobel Laureates in the past half-century but only eight in the last 20 years. |
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| BBC documentary investigates Muhammad Ali's bizarre beliefs
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A new BBC documentary reveals how he refused to buy a house because he'd been taught a spaceship was coming to Earth to save him. |
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Going beyond her father's footsteps |
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Holding meetings in large arenas, writing books and speaking at such venues as the United Nations and Washington National Cathedral, Anne Graham Lotz is becoming a force in the American evangelical movement -- and something of a trailblazer.
"There are a lot of people who feel like I do," said Lotz. "They're longing for a fresh touch from God."
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| Anti-theft sermon stirs mass repentance
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Police have been called in to process thousands of pounds of stolen goods handed in by committed Christians after they sat through a sermon on the Commandment: "Thou shalt not steal."
Items including £1,500 in cash, diamond jewelry,watches and wallets have been left in "honesty bins" by churchgoers who attended the meeting at the Norfolk Showground, near Norwich, last week - one in a series of 10 being held on each of the Commandments.
The trigger for the mass repentance was a sermon by John John, a British preacher, who urged his 3,500-strong audience to go home and think about things they had acquired dishonestly. |
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Presbyterian minister accused of sex crimes
Soliciting a minor over Internet among charges from state police sting
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He is accused of sending instant messages to "Jennifer" from his PCA church computer beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and, within hours, arranging an afternoon sexual tryst with the girl at a park, Maryland state police spokesman Lt. Bud Frank said. |
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When a triangle affronts religious beliefs
The refusal to use the devices on buggies signals a larger clash between religious rights and safety.
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The ultratraditional Swartzentruber sect of Amish living in western Pennsylvania refuse to use the orange triangle, which state law requires on the backs of all slow-moving vehicles, on their horse-drawn buggies. The police have ticketed them, but they've resisted paying the fines. One farmer has even gone to jail as a result. |
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"World's largest church" to be built in South Korea
Sanctuary to hold between 150,000 and 200,000 worshippers
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There will be TV monitors at the back of each seat. "The congregation will be able to comfortably watch what's going on in his or her own seat. The round altar will be at the center of the sanctuary, rotating around and going up and down," the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lee Jae-Rock, stated. |
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British evangelist and pioneer drug worker reaches four milestones in one year
By Dan Wooding
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"When I first visited Vic and Jan [back in the mid-sixties], they were the great encouragement that I needed to help launch Hill Farm and later write my book on that experience called Junkies Are People Too..." |
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| Anglican bishop says church weddings should be scrapped
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The Right Reverend Noel Jones, whose diocese is the Isle of Man, says he wants to prevent couples from committing perjury at the altar. |
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| Ten Commandments banner makes waves
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"YOU SHALL NOT MURDER," is one of the Ten Commandments emblazoned in large white letters on a huge black banner that hangs on a building across from the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 11, said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who put up the banner, has awakened people to the fact that "moral relativism has not served the nation or the world very well. People recognize that there are some things that are absolutely right and absolutely wrong." |
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| Laws protecting kosher foods struck down
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A U.S. appeals court held that New York state laws aimed at preventing fraud in the sale of kosher food are unconstitutional because they fuse state and religious functions. |
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Massive abuse of power at core of Episcopal Church crisis
Commentary by David W. Virtue |
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"This is America, and it's a country that won't tolerate Fascist political dictators and it won't tolerate Fascist religious leaders dressed up in Beanie caps and women's clothing hiding behind,"We are the Church, mother knows best." Cover ups are not acceptable, bankrolling sodomy and tolerating sexual sin will not be permitted to go on forever. God won't allow it. And all the talk of a hierarchical church and phony talk of inclusivity will not wash with Episcopalians forever.
"Just as a single Catholic layman called James Muller [co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, who recently founded the group Voice of the Faithful] is changing the face of his church, it might just be that a single scrappy Internet Episcopal journalist is providing the wakeup call to Episcopalians." |
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| Bible professor wins gay book prize
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Hebrew Bible scholar Ken Stone was honored by the Lambda Literary Foundation at its annual awards banquet. The Lambda Foundation is an organization dedicated to the promotion and recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender authors and literature. The award, popularly known as a "Lammy," was for an anthology contributed to and edited by Dr. Stone: "Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible". Stone is an associate professor of Hebrew Bible, and director of the Ph.D. program, at United Church
of Christ-affiliated Chicago Theological Seminary. |
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| Grape juice enters spirited debate about Jesus
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Was Christ a teetotaler? Some Protestants and proponents of a dry Communion believe his 'fruit of the vine' was actually nonalcoholic. |
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| New Bible helps surfers ride a wave to Heaven
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Many surfers pray to the god of waves but Christian surfers now have a "Surfers Bible," a combination of New Testament, glossy surf photographs and Christian surfer testimonials.
The Bible Society in Australia has printed 10,000 copies of the "Surfers Bible," to go on sale next week. |
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| Klez is the most virulent e-mail virus of all time
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Have you received emails with attachments with silly or no text? A helpful email from a stranger with a tool attached to remove Klez from your system (instead, it infects you!)? You think you can trust the "from" line to tell you who send it? Think again!
[BTW, you can NOT have received such an email emanating from our computers, even if the "from" line told you otherwise.] |
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Letters from readers |
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Tom Taggart responds to the news in yesterday's article about the proposal to make the per capita contributions mandatory for the sessions.
"We can be congressionally unitarian, as long as we tithe?"
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Harold A. Franch in response to letter from Dr. George Hunsinger: "....Inflammatory rhetoric... also includes language that disenfranchises the majority of an electorate. Reckless actions include those that subvert the fairness underlying the democratic process..." |
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Earl C. Apel wonders, in response to Robert Campbell's letter, if behavior between unmarried people such as holding hands and kissing should disqualify them for serving in an ordained office. |
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