From the journal Current Biology this research continues the disputes about the relationship of religion and morality: “Parents in religious households reported that their children expressed more empathy and sensitivity for justice in everyday life than non-religious parents. However, religiousness was inversely predictive of children’s altruism and positively correlated with their punitive tendencies. Together these […]
The Katy, Texas, public-classroom dispute abut God between a teacher and a 12-year-old student serves as a case study on the challenge for journalists reporting on religion. On a critical-thinking test, the student declined to give the correct answer, which was that “There is a God” was a statement of opinion, not fact. Why is […]
No “Lions of Gory Mane” (Concordia Journal, Fall 2015): In 1522 Luther wrote, “It is the nature of the divine word to be heartily received by a few, but to be persecuted ruthlessly by many.” Today some voices in the United States are calling for American Christians to make a similar shift in their thinking. The church […]
A Theological and Journalistic Reformation: Martin Luther’s bold theological stand on Oct. 31, 1517, made independent journalism possible. Modern journalism began in 1517 as the German prince Frederick the Wise was putting the finishing touches on his life’s work of building up Wittenberg’s sacred relic collection. The effect of Luther’s 95 Theses and his subsequent publications […]
Physicist Marcelo Gleiser briefly surveys several perspectives about religious belief and scientific belief: “When discussing the relationship between science and religion, people often take a polarized position: It’s either ‘I believe’ or ‘I don’t believe.’ The fact is that religion and science do overlap in people’s minds, in their life choices, in the difficult moral […]
Reprogrammed Stem Cells Work as well as Those From Embryos: The journal, Science, reports that a new study suggests that ES stem cells and iPS stem cells are equivalent, and this may help soothe worries about the capabilities of iPS cells. From 2002 to 2010, claims about the unique potential of human embryonic stem cells were common. Now, ES cells and […]
Old Languages Never Die; They Just Fade Away: The preacher speaking aloud in Latin in the middle of the first millennium may have been producing sounds that were startlingly at variance with the spellings in his written notes. This can explain how it is that congregations could understand St. Augustine’s sermons, though written down and […]
Christianity Today presents a point-counterpoint exchange with Michael Gerson, Washington Post columnist, and Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writing on Christians in a same-sex world, and a response from Rod Dreher, senior editor at The American Conservative, on living in a post-Christian world. Students can assess and consider the contours […]
The Court will hear birth-control challenges in March, 2016, a challenge brought by faith-based hospitals, schools, and charities that contend the government’s opt-out provision for birth-control coverage does not go far enough to accommodate their religious beliefs. Under the ACA, congregations are not required to provide birth-control coverage for their workers. But religious non-profits that […]
A Different Kind of Street Ministry: Local leader Richard Parker asked Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church to consider providing a peaceful presence in his Baltimore neighborhood. Congregation members were eager to find a way to be engaged in the community. Pastor Deborah McEachran and others gathered every Friday at a street corner known for drug dealing and […]
