Surviving the Easter crush, 2013
There must a law, deep in the cosmic base code, that if parents dress their nine children in Easter white — especially when the New England snow is melting — at least one will fall into the mud. “It...
View ArticleThe life and Times of John McCandlish Phillips
The word on the Brooklyn streets in 1959 was that a crazy preacher from Pennsylvania was helping addicts find the power to kick heroin and gang members to trade their weapons for Bibles. Reporter John...
View ArticleThe faithful soul of Jackie Robinson
Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey knew that the first black player in major league baseball was going to go through hell. That’s why the cigar-chomping, Bible-thumping Rickey set out to...
View ArticleSouthern Baptists without (many) baptisms
Visitors who enter Southern Baptist churches these days will usually see posters and pamphlets for everything from marriage enrichment retreats to tornado-relief fundraisers, from weight-loss classes...
View ArticleBoy Scouts, canon law and trying to predict the future
Every since the gay Boy Scouts earthquake, many Catholics have been asking canon law expert Edward Peters to fill a role he has clearly stated he has no desire to play — that of a prophet. “I’m no good...
View ArticleGoodbye to a radical Baptist patriarch
The old Southern preacher had walked through many airport security gates using his cherry-wood cane and was surprised — especially years before 9/11 — when a guard ordered him to send it through the...
View ArticleOld religious realities in a not-so-new Egypt
At the moment, Egypt is operating under a Constitutional Declaration issued soon after the recent military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. This temporary declaration...
View ArticleSobering words for Brazil’s bishops
If Roman Catholicism can be compared with a fleet, then the Brazilian church has long been it’s largest aircraft carrier — with an estimated 123 million Catholics, more than any other country on earth....
View ArticleProtecting church flocks from real killers
It was a Saturday morning and the Rev. Jaman Iseminger had just dropped by to help some volunteers as the cleaned up the cemetery next door to the Bethel Community Church in Southport, south of...
View ArticleCulture wars in the App Store (and what they mean)
In a career packed with sound bites, the late Steve Jobs offered one of his best when describing his vision for a family-friendly Apple App Store. “We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep...
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