Faith - links
IVP: Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study…
Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse present social science research on homosexuals designed to answer the questions
* Can persons who receive religiously informed psychotherapy experience a change in their sexual orientation? * Is it harmful for anyone to receive such therapy?The results show that outcomes for this kind of therapy are similar to outcomes of therapy for other psychological problems. Such therapy is not harmful to individuals.
This research will be of interest to all those who want to know the latest research on sexual orientation change and the effects of religiously based therapy on those who utilize it.
Sep 17, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Ministry, Family, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality
Graven images? Pornography in the Church - KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/255/v-print/story/142253.html
Jun 18, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Bible, Ministry, Family, Sexual Purity, Pornography
WSJ - Christianity Without Salvation
Christianity Without Salvation
The legacy of the “Social Gospel”—100 years later.
BY JOSEPH LOCONTE
Friday, May 11, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Within a few years of its publication in 1907, “Christianity and the Social Crisis” swept through America’s Protestant churches like a nor’easter, selling more than 50,000 copies to ministers and laypeople alike. In an age of social upheaval, Walter Rauschenbusch’s jeremiad was meant to rouse the church from its pietistic slumber. “If society continues to disintegrate and decay, the Church will be carried down with it,” he warned. “If the Church can rally such moral forces that injustice will be overcome . . . it will itself rise to higher liberty and life.”
May 11, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Apologetics, Bible, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, Church and State, Social Issues, Issues
New Coalition of Christians Seeks Changes at Borders
A new coalition of more than 100 largely evangelical Christian leaders and organizations asked Congress on Monday to pass bills to strengthen border controls but also give illegal immigrants ways to gain legal residency. In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.
May 8, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Citizenship, Immigration, Legislation, National
Study: Religion is Good for Kids
Live Science
By Melinda Wenner
Special to LiveScience
posted: 24 April 2007
09:39 am ET
Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development.
The conflict that arises when parents regularly argue over their faith at home, however, has the opposite effect.
Apr 26, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Apologetics, Family, Children, Parenting, Science
Sex Offenders Test Churches’ Core Beliefs
On a marquee outside and on a banner inside, Pilgrim United Church of Christ proclaims, “All are welcome.” Sustained by the belief that embracing all comers is a living example of Christ’s love, Pilgrim now faces a profound test of faith.
Apr 10, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Family, Sexual Purity, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship
TIME: The Case for Teaching the Bible
The same might be said about public-school courses on the Bible nationwide. There aren’t that many. But they’re rising in popularity. Last year Georgia became the first state in memory to offer funds for high school electives on the Old and New Testaments using the Bible as the core text. Similar funding was discussed in several other legislatures, although the initiatives did not become law. Meanwhile, two privately produced curriculums crafted specifically to pass church-state muster are competing for use in individual schools nationwide. Combined, they are employed in 460 districts in at least 37 states. The numbers are modest, but their publishers expect them to soar. The smaller of the two went into operation just last year but is already into its second 10,000-copy printing, has expressions of interest from a thousand new districts this year and expects many more. The larger publisher claims to be roughly doubling the number of districts it adds each year. These new curriculums plus polls suggesting that over 60% of Americans favor secular teaching about the Bible suggest that a Miss Kendrick may soon be talking about Matthew in a school near you.
Mar 28, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Bible, Family, Education, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, Religious Liberty
For Some Black Pastors, Accepting Gay Members Means Losing Others
When the Rev. Dennis Meredith of Tabernacle Baptist Church here began preaching acceptance of gay men and lesbians a few years ago, he attracted some gay people who were on the brink of suicide and some who had left the Baptist faith of their childhoods but wanted badly to return. At the same time, Tabernacle Baptist, an African-American congregation, lost many of its most loyal, generous parishioners, who could not accept a message that contradicted what they saw as the Bible’s condemnation of same-sex relations.
Mar 27, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Family, Marriage, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship
No Altar, No Pews, Not Even a Roof, but Very Much a Church
Homeless off and on since 1991, Rickey Robinson figures he needs to get close to God as often as he can. So on an especially icy Tuesday afternoon, as on many Tuesday afternoons, he bundled himself in a long black coat and joined a small group gathered in a corner of Franklin Square Park, where they prayed, sang a hymn and recited the 23rd Psalm.
Feb 6, 2007 - topic(s): Faith
Bible Class Can Be Difficult, But Legal
Thursday, January 25, 2007 9:20 AM CST
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series looking at issues surrounding a proposed elective looking at the Bible as a cultural document. Friday’s report will examine the history of the Bible in the classroom.
By Amy Sherrill
TIMES RECORD • ASHERRILL@SWTIMES.COM
The Bible can be taught in a secular manner in public schools, according to law professors, First Amendment advocates and religious leaders, but teachers and school districts must walk a fine line to do it legally.
In Fort Smith Public Schools, no classes incorporate the study of the Bible in history and literature, but a Fort Smith group hopes that the school district adopts its proposal to do so.
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The Rev. Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said that a public school attempting to teach a course on the Bible is fraught with difficulties that are exacerbated because schools deal mostly with minors.
“A lot of these questions are different questions when you’re dealing with college students,” Land said. “Even as an elective course, I don’t know how you’re going to teach the Bible objectively and fairly in a secular school. If you teach it as a secular subject, well, that’s going to be perceived as being an approach to the Bible that is not balanced or fair by people of religious faith.”
He added that when the school board gets ready to make its decision, members should ask the litmus test question: If the school board is willing to have an elective course on the Bible, is it also willing to have an elective course on the Koran?
Jan 25, 2007 - topic(s): Faith, Bible, Family, Children, Education, Citizenship, Church and State, Religious Liberty