Religion | Religious News - www.mreligion.com

Huck and the Evangelicals: A match made in Heaven?

It’s fun to watch as layers are gradually peeled away from the conventional wisdom to reveal that the CW is, well, wrong. Old CW: Evangelicals are marching in lockstep behind Mike Huckabee; Emerging CW: Evangelicals are just as fragmented in their opinions at this point in the nominating process as anyone else. Mr. Huckabee did well with churchgoers [in Michigan], but the bigger story is so did other Republicans. According to exit polls, of the 39% of Michigan voters in...

The ‘Emergent’ Calvin

In the prefatory address to King Francis in Calvin’s 1535 edition of the Institutes, Calvin cites Hilary of Poitiers approvingly: Indeed, Hilary considered it a great vice in his day that, being occupied with foolish reverence for the episcopal dignity, men did not realize what a deadly hydra lurked under such a mask. For he speaks in this way: “One thing I admonish you, beware of Antichrist. It is wrong that a love of walls has seized you; wrong that...

‘Harp of the Spirit’

St. Maximos the Confessor Today the Orthodox Church remembers St. Maximos the Confessor, the great saint who — virtually alone — stood against the Monothelite heresy and its powerful allies in the Church and in the Byzantine Empire. The importance of St. Maximos (580-662) also is built on his work in the Philokalia, the collection of texts written between the fourth and the fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Eastern Christian tradition. Here is St. Maximos on truth (Third...

Week of prayer for Christian unity

This week, January 18-25, is the worldwide Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (HT). The week is “encouragement of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.” To mark the end of the week, the WCC’s general secretary Samuel Kobia and Pope Benedict XVI “will meet in Rome on 25 January, at a ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The WCC said...

The Pope and intellectual freedom

canceled Update: Ecumenical News International is reporting that the rector of Rome’s La Sapienza University has said he plans to re-invite Pope Benedict XVI to address his institution. The English text of the Pope’s speech is available here. This week Benedict XVI canceled a visit to La Sapienza University in Rome, an institution founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303. The decision was made after a number of professors and students had announced protests claiming that the pontiff’s presence would...

It must be an election year, part II

The Wall Street Journal jumps on my bandwagon: We’re all for putting more money in the hands of the poor and moderate earners, especially via stronger economic growth that will give them better paying jobs. But the $250 or $500 one-time rebate check they may now receive has e from somewhere. The feds will pay for it either by taxing or borrowing from someone else, and those people will have that much less to spend or invest themselves. We are...

Nanny state comes to China

It appears the citizens of an anti-democratic China have stood up to government authorities who are suggesting smoke free restaurants in preparation for this year’s Summer Olympics. The Beijing Disease Control and Prevention Center urged restaurants in the Chinese capital pletely ban smoking on their premises. While the smoking ban is only a suggestion, the article declares not a single restaurant has taken up the suggestion in the city of Beijing. Even though the United States has fewer smokers by...

RELIGION & LIBERTY

Why the Book of Psalms Is for You

　　Why the Book of Psalms Is for You 　　By Dane C. Ortlund 　　“Blessed is the manwhowalks not inthe counsel of the wicked, nor stands inthe way of sinners, norsits inthe seat ofscoffers;but hisdelight is in the lawof the LORD, and on hislaw he meditates day and night.” –Psalm 1:1-2 　　The Psalms Speak to Our Humanness 　　The Psalms are not written...

Mar 27, 2026

How the Gaucho Stole Easter in Uruguay

　　This week, millions of Latin Americans are attending worship services observing Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. 　　In Uruguay, they are going to the rodeo. 　　While their Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking neighbors mark the death and resurrection of Christ, locals from the country of 3.3 million are celebrating Semana Criolla (Creole Week), a series of festivals honoring the...

Mar 27, 2026

Shoes Stay On for Maundy Thursday

　　Americans get cold feet when it comes to footwashing, experts say. 　　Maundy Thursday is a Holy Week service marking the Last Supper. In some faith traditions, that service has included footwashing from the example in John 13, where Jesus washes his disciples feet during the supper and says, Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you...

Mar 27, 2026

God Transforms Us Into New Creations

　　God Transforms Us Into New Creations 　　Weekly Overview: 　　We serve a God of powerful transformations. All throughout Scripture God takes those whom the world deemed the lowest, the hopeless, and the helpless and uses them to change the world. You are not beyond transformation. God longs to break off that which inhibits you from experiencing fullness of life. He longs...

Mar 27, 2026

Madisonian Meditations on Argentina

　　In studies on democracy and constitutionalism, two oft-cited letters exchanged between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1789 and 1790 reveal a perennial debate about constitutional change. Let us summarize the arguments with the Federalist Papers, which have much in common with the Argentine political and economic context. 　　Jefferson sustains that the people, as the holders of sovereignty, should not...

Mar 27, 2026

Bootleggers, Baptists, and Fertility Clinics

　　The Alabama Supreme Court held in LePage v. The Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C. that the parents of embryos created through in vitro fertilization could bring a statutory wrongful death claim when the clinic where their embryos were stored allowed the destruction of the parents’ embryos by an intruder. The decision prompted a firestorm of stories seemingly written to frighten...

Mar 27, 2026

A Classical Liberals Guide to Civilization

　　The word “civilization” is unfashionable in our times. It implies a contrast, and that contrast is uncomfortable. If some societies have attained a cultural level that merits this designation, it may follow that other societies are less civilized or—worse—even barbarous. For many people today, making any such value-judgment is simply unacceptable. 　　Those who maintain that such distinctions can and should...

Mar 27, 2026

After Terrorists Kill 130, Russian Evangelicals Resist Revenge

　　Russian evangelicals used Sunday sermons to condemn a terrorist attack that killed more than 130 people at a Moscow concert hall. 　　As Russias Baptist union prayed for Gods mercy and protection, its Pentecostal union conveyed its bitterness and sorrow. Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, called it a painful shock that could unleash unbridled revenge against terrorism....

Mar 27, 2026

Anti

　　The number of violent anti-Christian incidents in India jumped to 601 in 2023 compared to 413 the previous year, according to a new report from the Evangelical Fellowship of Indias Religious Liberty Commission (EFI-RLC). 　　Despite constitutional protections and Indias long-standing tradition of religious diversity, the rise of divisive rhetoric and inflammatory language, often condoned or inadequately addressed by official channels,...

Mar 27, 2026

Died: Sandra Crouch, Gospel Artist Who Broke with Church to Get Ordained

　　Sandra Crouch, the twin sister and collaborator of gospel music legend Andra Crouch, died earlier this month after an illness, her publicist said. 　　Crouch, 81, who died on March 17, will be honored with a musical tribute and funeral at New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, California, set for April 16-17, according to an announcement. 　　She died in a...

Mar 27, 2026