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World Relief denial of employment over faith highlights hiring hurdles
Posted: 10:13 am on March 16, 2010
Baltimore-based World Relief has a long history as an evangelical-based organization helping with international aid and is one of a handful agencies endorsed and funded by the federal government to help with refugee resettlement programs. Recently a resettled Iraqi living in Seattle was denied employment because he isn’t Christian after volunteering for the organization. The case underscores the right of faith-based organizations to pick and choose whom they hire based on beliefs.
View the full story published by The Seattle Times
tags: charities, employment, faith-based organizations, hiring, World Relief
Remaining jailed Haiti missionary facing new charges
Posted: 10:07 am on March 16, 2010
Laura Silsby, the last of 10 Baptist missions volunteers detained in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping, now faces a new charge. Silsby, who led the team, now is accused of attempting to take 40 children out of Haiti without proper paperwork on Jan. 26, three days before the 10-member team was prevented from crossing the border into the Dominican Republic with 33 children.
View the full story published by Baptist Press
tags: Baptists, Central Valley Baptist Church, Haiti, Laura Silsby, missionaries
German priest at center of sex abuse scandal has ties to pope
Posted: 9:52 am on March 16, 2010
A German priest who is at the center of rapidly growing church abuse scandal has been suspended. Peter Hullerman has been working in the church for 30 years since he was convicted by a German court of molesting boys. Pope Benedict XVI is involved in the circumstances, raising the interest level considerably. Previously known as Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope responded to early accusations of molestation against Hullerman by allowing him to move to Munich for therapy in 1980.
View the full story published by The New York Times
tags: Catholic Church, Germany, Peter Hullerman, Pope Benedict XVI, sexual abuse
Discovering purpose, faith through service
Posted: 9:41 am on March 16, 2010
Defining your life’s purpose is challenging for most people. Service to others is a great way to help define and shape that purpose, but there are other spiritual factors involved, including taking advantage of the talents God has given you and finding the best ways to apply them.
View the full story published by Belief.net
tags: faith, service, volunteering
Pastor killed in Haiti robbery
Posted: 9:35 am on March 16, 2010
A leading Lutheran pastor in Haiti was killed during an apparent robbery attempt. Pastor Doris Jean Louis was murdered by two men invading his home. Considered the father of Lutheranism in Haiti, Pastor Louis started five or six churches in Haiti and was the key player in establishing orphanages.
View the full story published by Duluth News Tribune
tags: Haiti, murder, pastor Doris Jean Louis, pastors
Arizona town seeks to back off zoning rule curbing in-home religious meetings
Posted: 9:13 am on March 16, 2010
The town of Gilbert, Ariz., has drawn unexpected flak for a zoning ordinance that prohibits religious gatherings in single-family homes. The rule could potentially prohibit house churches or in-home Bible study groups from meeting, as was enforced last year. Town leaders say that was not the law’s intent and that a special session may be held of the town council may be held to adjusting the rule.
View the full story published by Arizona Republic
tags: Arizona, Bible study, church meetings, Gilbert, house churches, zoning
Former NBC reporter shepherded young Iraqi translator to U.S.
Posted: 9:00 am on March 16, 2010
Former NBC News Baghdad correspondent Don Teague stuck up a great friendship and admiration of a young Iraqi translator, Rafraf Barrak, while working in the country in 2003 shortly after the U.S. invasion. Teague, a devout Pentecostal, was concerned that Barrak’s independent nature would get her into trouble or killed in Iraq and helped her come to the United States. Since moving here, and with the support of Teague and his family, Barrak has become a Christian and is now pursuing her Master’s degree.
View the full story published by The Christian Post
tags: Baghdad, Don Teague, Iraq, Muslims, NBC, Rafraf Barrak
Turning theology into practice
Posted: 8:58 am on March 16, 2010
In any professional field, translating theory into practice is one of the greatest challenges. So too is the case for pastors who seek to fall back on their theological training and insights and deliver messages to their congregation that resonates in everyday life. One key is carefully decide what elements of theology and faith in general are open to discussion and which – such as the nature of the Bible – are not.
View the full story published by Christianity Today
tags: Bible, church doctrine, pastors, sermons, theology
Chelsea King memoralized with prayer, determination
Posted: 2:10 pm on March 15, 2010
Thousands gathered in Poway, Calif., over the weekend to remember Chelsea King, an honor student murdered last month by a registered sex offender out on parole. The deeply Christian community bid her farewell amid promises to work toward legislation strengthening monitoring for sex offenders.
View the full story published by ABC News
tags: Chelsea King
Tenth Avenue North set to release second album
Posted: 2:05 pm on March 15, 2010
The debut album “Over and Underneath” earned Tenth Avenue North the New Artist of the Year award at last year’s Dove Awards. The band’s follow-up,“The Light Meets the Dark” will be released May 11.
View the full story published by KBIQ-FM (Colorado Springs)
tags: Christian music, Dove Awards, music, Tenth Avenue North
Divisions between tea partiers, conservative Christians
Posted: 10:30 am on March 15, 2010
The lack of engagement on social issues by tea party activists has conservative Christians doubt of the movement because of its straying away from issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Some social conservative leaders have begun to express concern that tea party leaders don’t care about their issues, while others object to the personal vitriol against President Obama, whose personal conduct many conservative Christians applaud.
View the full story published by Politico
tags: abortion, gay marriage, Republicans, Tea Party
Pope Benedict XVI encourages social media with limits
Posted: 9:15 am on March 15, 2010
Benedict XVI, the first pope with his own YouTube channel and presence on Facebook, is urging Roman Catholic clergy to use social media to communicate with parishioners and reach those outside the church. But the Catholic Church, including the Orlando Diocese, has policies that take the “social” out of social media. Parishes that use social media, such as Facebook, are instructed to disable the comment functions of those sites.
View the full story published by Orlando Sentinel
tags: Catholic Church, Facebook, Pope Benedict XVI, social netwroking
Morocco defends expanding Christian expulsions
Posted: 9:00 am on March 15, 2010
The expulsion of some American Christians from Morocco is expected to continue as the government accuses foreign aid workers of proselytizing to its citizens. Morocco has generally been recognized among Islamic countries of being comparatively tolerant of other faiths, although it does specifically watch foreign groups for what it feels are attempts at conversion or coercion. Controversy rose to the surface last week when a group of 16 Christians who were accused of proselytizing the 33 orphaned children they took care of at their Village of Hope and subsequently expelled.
View the full story published by The Christian Post
tags: expulsion, Morocco, orphanages, proselytism, Village of Hope
Glenn Beck panned for remarks about churches’ priorities
Posted: 9:00 am on March 15, 2010
Glenn Beck has drawn fire from across the political spectrum for comments he made last week suggesting Christians should leave their churches if the congregation discusses social justice issues such as caring for the poor and the needy. The conservative commentator aligned social justice as code words for Communism of fascism. “I don’t know what to make of Beck’s absurd rant,” wrote Dan Nejfelt of Faith in Public Life. “The fact that a person with a multimedia platform and an audience of millions is either so addled that he believes social justice is a tool of tyranny, or so craven that he would use fearmongering and vitriol to come between people and their churches, is—to say the least—a troubling indictment of what we as a society value and reward. I just hope nobody comes to believe that the Gospel According to Beck is the word of the Lord.”
View the full story published by Christianity Today
tags: church attendance, Fox News, Glenn Beck, social justice
High school valedictorian sues to stop prayer at graduation
Posted: 9:00 am on March 15, 2010
A valedictorian at a suburban Indianapolis high school is suing the school district to keep any officially sanctioned prayer out of the school’s graduation ceremony. Eric Workman, 18, enlisted the help on the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a longstanding tradition of a prayer and stop it when he finishes at the head of his class later this spring.
View the full story published by The Indianapolis Star
tags: ACLU, education, Eric Workman, graduation, prayer, schools
Church doctrine as a compass for faith
Posted: 9:00 am on March 15, 2010
The word doctrine often gets associated with particular denominations’ beliefs or dry theological discussions. The author, however, sees doctrine as critical to understanding the historical underpinnings of Christian thought and ultimately leads to a more vibrant faith perspective in a post-modern society.
View the full story published by Christianity Today
tags: church doctrine, theology
Texas pastor tapped to lead large Pentecostal denomination
Posted: 11:39 am on March 12, 2010
Rev. David Bernard, a Pentecostal pastor with local ties who founded 16 churches in Central Texas, was inaugurated as the general superintendent of 30,000 United Pentecostal Church International churches in 190 nations last week. The church, which has over 4,000 churches in North America, has had six general superintendents since its inception in 1945. Bernard, 53, is the seventh.
View the full story published by Austin American-Statesman
tags: David Bernard, United Pentecostal Church International
College president sues school’s sponsoring denomination
Posted: 11:26 am on March 12, 2010
Erskine College of South Carolina is embroiled in a power struggle with its sponsoring denomination, the Associate Reform Presbyterian Church. The college’s president is suing the denomination after it removed the majority of the board of directors. At the heart of the conflict are long-running disputes over the church trying to push the school in a more conservative direction than many educators are comfortable with.
View the full story published by Associated Press
tags: Associate Reform Presbyterian Chruch, Erskine College
Christians expelled from Morocco orphanage deny proselytism
Posted: 11:19 am on March 12, 2010
A group of Christians who were expelled from Morocco and forced to leave behind 33 orphaned children refuted all allegations of proselytism and maintained that it has abided by the law. In a statement Thursday, Village of Hope said it is not a missionary organization and that it only exists to offer love, care and education to Moroccan children. The 16 overseas workers feel their expulsion from the country was “without foundation and completely unjust.”
tags: Morocco, orphanages, proselytism, Village of Hope
ELCA prepares to welcome gay clergy
Posted: 11:00 am on March 12, 2010
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is preparing to welcome a group of openly gay and lesbian ministers as official clergy with new liturgical rites. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Conference of Bishops approved a draft proposal on Monday (March 8) for the new rites, which include prayers and the laying on of hands by the local bishop, according to the denomination’s news service.
View the full story published by The Pew Forum on Religion & the Public Life
tags: ELCA, gay clergy
