The Rev. James Massa, executive director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said Pope Benedict XVI made the changes over Jewish concerns on anti-Semitism. "What is important is that he's chosen to omit any language that's been associated with negative images of Jews," he said.
But the top U.S. Jewish groups were not mollified.
Read moreThe Rev. James Massa, executive director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said Pope Benedict XVI made the changes over Jewish concerns on anti-Semitism. "What is important is that he's chosen to omit any language that's been associated with negative images of Jews," he said.
But the top U.S. Jewish groups were not mollified.
Read moreScorning people for their faith is intrinsically repugnant, and in this case it also betrays a profound misunderstanding of how far evangelicals have moved over the last decade. Today, conservative Christian churches do superb work on poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, climate change, prison abuses, malaria and genocide in Darfur.
Read moreThe Alliance Defense fund (ADF), a legal alliance that is dedicated to defending and protecting religious freedom, sanctity of life, marriage, and family, is currently defending Elane Photography.
Read moreSkipping happily down the church hater's version of Memory Lane, the graphic shows Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and various dark moments in church history such as witch burnings, Galileo getting jailed for heresy and Joan of Arc's martyrdom. It finishes with the 20th century example of California pastor David Hocking losing his ministry in 1992 over a relationship with a married woman.
Read moreSadly, Moore goes on, "No consensus exists among the followers of Christ concerning how to approach and make use of the artifacts, institutions, and conventions of culture in a decidedly Christian manner, and this in spite of the fact that we are called to do all things unto the glory of God."
As T. M. points out, this lack of consensus keeps the Church from effectively engaging and transforming culture.
Read moreA new study from The Barna Group provides a data-driven snapshot of the U.S. population, providing a dose of objectivity to some much-debated, often-misunderstood issues. The Barna research explores matters beyond "who-will-Christians-vote-for" questions - for now - in favor of examining the perceived importance of 10 diverse issues.
Read moreAfter all, not only is God omnipresent, but we're told His greatest desire is to have a personal relationship with each of us, whom He created in His image - to direct our paths and become our ultimate destiny. In other words, to be our God.
Why then are so many of us so lost?
Read moreOnly a slim majority (56 percent) of Americans said in a 2007 survey that freedom of worship should extend to people of all religious groups, no matter what their beliefs (down 16 points, from 72 percent in 2000).
"A great many Americans don't define religious liberty as a universal right for everyone," says Charles Haynes, one of the honorees. He is senior scholar at Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center, which conducted the survey.
Read moreRoe and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, took the question of endowment of life by "our Creator" and placed it in the hands of individuals. History has shown what happens when humanity seizes such power for itself: political dictatorships, eugenics and scientific experiments unrestrained by any moorings to a moral code.
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