Film in review: “Rampart”
“Rampart” refers to the name of the police station in Los Angeles where Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) still worked in 1999.
Latest Posts
Faith groups participate in peace initiative for London Olympics
London (ENInews) Faith leaders and community groups in London are promoting "One Hundred Days of Peace" – an initiative to develop a "peace legacy" for the London Olympic Games this summer.
GAMC addresses gender imbalance among witnesses at congressional hearing
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Mission Council ended its meeting Feb. 17 with a flurry of votes, looking at both internal church issues and events in the nation. Here’s some of what happened.
Panel says it has reached a dead end in efforts to get 3 companies to change practices in Israel
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 2012 General Assembly is being asked to consider a controversial recommendation that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) divest its holdings in three companies doing business in Israel – companies that a church committee on socially responsible investing has determined are engaged in “non-peaceful” activities.
MRTI recommends targeted divestment in 3 companies for nonpeaceful use of their products in Israel-Palestine
Update: On Feb. 17, the full General Assembly Mission Council approved by a voice vote the recommendation from the Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee. The recommendation on divestment now will go to the 2012 General Assembly for its consideration.
LOUISVILLE – It’s sure to be a controversial issue before the 2012 General Assembly: whether the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should divest its holdings in three companies doing business in Israel.
3 Hispanic churches in Texas withdraw, may face eviction
Three churches in Mission Presbytery may all lack a center for worship this Sunday as their presbytery has responded to their “renunciation of jurisdiction” by serving an eviction notice.
Call goes out for study of women in leadership
LOUISVILLE –
Saying that questions remain about whether women are being treated as “equal partners” in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a task force is asking the 2012 General Assembly to fund a research study to look more carefully at women in leadership in the denomination.
Panel’s proposals would revamp special offerings
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Over the next few months, leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will consider whether to make changes in the denomination’s four special offerings.
Wynn Kenyon dies
Wynn Kenyon (64), whose ordination by Pittsburgh Presbytery was rejected by the national church in 1974 because he wouldn't ordain women, died..
The rights of the poor
New SFTS president: Christians are ‘message and messenger’ in one
SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (PNS) Theological seminaries exist to serve the gospel of Jesus Christ, not themselves or the institutional church, the Rev. James L. (Jim) McDonald told the packed First Presbyterian Church here Feb. 11 as he was inaugurated as the 11th president of San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS).
Commission advises trial period for nongeographic presbyteries
The Mid-Councils Commission advises that nongeographic presbyteries be given a trial run and that that synods be stripped of ecclesiastical authority.
Where have all the “angry” elders gone?
As a teaching elder, long in tooth and at the risk of being branded a heretic, I feel compelled to comment on what I perceive in reading, listening and generally observing the actions and rhetoric surrounding present activities within the PC(USA).
Some church leaders join battle against Uganda’s gay bill
(ENInews) Following the re-introduction in Uganda of a bill that would harshly punish homosexuality, gay rights activists, including some church leaders, are uniting through Twitter and Facebook to oppose it.
NGPs and NGCGs
Maryland is thinking about letting gays and lesbians get married.
Signs of hope
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (OGA) One question I’m asked almost more than any other is, “So, where do you see hope in the PC(USA)?”
A comprehensive answer would take up more than the word limits of this column. But two things stand out.
Task force on special offerings looks to reverse downward trend
Although giving has been declining for a decade for the special offerings of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a task force – saying there is “tremendous untapped potential” – is recommending that the church set a goal of raising $20 million from those offerings by 2020.
Please pass the fig leaves
I blew it. Here I was up to my eyeballs co-editing two different letters of outreach to many of my disaffected friends in the PC(USA), promising to “sow seeds of grace, kindness, respect and cooperation in every possible way — all toward the end of us all serving as agents of reconciliation before the watching world, as Scripture requires of us.”
Pew study shows Christianity counts as ‘truly a global faith’
A century ago, the geographic center of Christianity was in Europe and North America.
The facts and the questions
First, a disclaimer: I am happily married to a person whose vocation is sociology of religion.
Cuban official: normalization will benefit both countries
HAVANA (PNS)
Cuba and the United States have so much in common that despite political differences it’s “overtime” to normalize relations between the two countries, a Cuban foreign ministry official told a group of 15 visiting U.S. religious leaders here Nov. 30.
Playgrounds on the battlefield
NOVEMBER 2008, GREEN ZONE,
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
Every day when my chaplain assistant and I drove around the Green Zone, we went by the 215 towers.
Could the “Arab spring” lead to a “Christian winter”?
Churches in Egypt are praying and helping migrants who flee their homes due to political turmoil, violence and an uncertain future. If the “Arab Spring” fails to produce democratic societies, it might instead lead to persecution of religious minorities.
Managing ‘touches’ with the right touch
I just received a year-end greeting from a Web service that I tried briefly last summer and then forgot about. And while I was writing that sentence, another arrived from a service that I stopped using over a year ago.
In for the long haul
I was fortunate to spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s in Switzerland, visiting a dear friend who, sadly, has had her cancer return with a vengeance. A pastor in Zurich, Denise and I met years ago at a Reformed theology conference sponsored by the Office of Theology and Worship. Later her daughter became our exchange student here in the States, and a big sister to our only child. Our families have stayed close.
Page 642 of 890