eMinders»
Southern Baptists face numbers crunch
Baptisms have dropped to a 20-year low in the Southern Baptist Convention, and membership and giving are down, too. The declines are causing hand-wringing in the nation’s largest Protestant body — and setting the stage for intense debates when SBC leaders gather on June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky., for their annual convention. What will they do?
- New justice on the high court: Religion in the balance
- Tortured debate: the morality of prisoner abuse
- Shopping for religion widespread, Pew survey finds
- Gardening after Eden: the ethics of food production
- UPDATE on gay clergy: PCUSA votes no, but more narrowly than in the past
- Ten years after Columbine: gun violence, moral questions
- Jewish-Christian relations: taking stock at the holidays
- Obama orders changes on stem cell policy
- Supreme Court: Pleasant Grove City v. Summum
Government & politics»
Muslims and civil rights: A continuing debate
President Barack Obama’s June 4 address to the Muslim world served as a fresh reminder of the tensions between civil rights and national security that have played out in the U.S. and abroad since 9/11. The president’s speech was welcomed by the Muslim community, which remains deeply concerned about attacks against Muslims.
- A guide to experts on religion and poverty
- Abortion doctor killed: Issue takes center stage
- American Muslims: A diverse minority
- Islamofascism: Anatomy of an epithet
- Mapping Muslim assimilation: Islam’s growing social infrastructure
- The faith-based initiative, 2.0: Obama’s new - and old - approach
- Abraham Lincoln at 200: Prophet of America’s ‘civil religion’
- ‘So help me God’: The piety and politics of the presidential inauguration
- ‘Hail to the (New) Chief’: Barack Obama and the future of religion and politics
Marriage & family»
A guide to covering same-sex marriage debates
A May 15, 2008, court ruling striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage has rocketed the issue back into the national spotlight. Political, legal and religious battles over homosexual unions are continuing in California, other states and nationally.
Although the ruling directly affects only California, some predict it could play a role in softening objections to [...]
- Religious issues complicate adoption
- Beyond VBS: The spiritual formation of children
- A guide to covering same-sex marriage debates
- Grandparents raising grandchildren
- Polygamy a factor in marriage debates
- Same-sex marriage in limbo
- African-Americans focus on families
- A guide to covering marriage issues
- All in the family: Interfaith households on the rise
Medical ethics»
Abortion: updates, experts & organizations
Thirty-five years after abortion became legal in the U.S., the perennial hot-button issue is shifting in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The nation’s abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1974. The procedures that are performed are done, increasingly, at an earlier stage of pregnancy than in the past. Hollywood is releasing “life-affirming” films [...]
- A guide to beginning-of-life issues
- Transgender people seek openness, acceptance, civil rights
- A guide to end-of-life issues
- Who has the right to end a life?
- Is access to unproven, experimental drugs a right-to-life issue?
- U.S. policies on sexual health care under fire globally
- Court upholds ‘partial-birth abortion’ ban
- Stem-cell scandal inspires talk of faith, ethics and culture
- A guide to bioethics experts
Religions & movements»
Pope addresses economic crisis in new encyclical
Pope Benedict XVI released his third encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” on Tuesday, July 7. The encyclical — an authoritative teaching document from the pope – applies Benedict’s ideas and the Catholic social justice tradition to the economic crisis. It also comes out as the G-8 summit convenes in Italy.
- A guide to Scientology: Beyond sects and celebrities
- ARIS 2008: Mapping America’s shifting religious landscape
- Bahá’í Faith
- Judaism: U.S. experts and organizations
- The Apostle Paul: Saint of the public square
- Reporting on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (II)
- Covering Islam and politics
- Buddhism: Ancient faith experiences an explosion of growth in U.S.
- The greening of Passover
Science & medicine»
Science and Religion: Friends? Enemies? Frenemies?
Monday’s announcement that Bernard d’Espagnat, a French physicist and philosopher of science, has been awarded the 2009 Templeton Prize highlights once again the long-running debate over the relationship between faith and science. D’Espagnat has theorized that quantum physics could provide insights into alternate spiritual realities. He has said that recent discoveries in the field may [...]
- Darwin at 200: The evolution of a theory
- Animals and religion: A guide to issues, organizations and experts
- World hunger worsens
- A source guide on religion and the environment
- The science of gratitude
- The physics of creation
- Congregations learn to embrace disabled members
- Evolution vs. intelligent design: The battle continues
- Religious reformers target farm bill
Social issues»
The New Sanctuary Movement: Protecting and welcoming
Two key precepts have always found some form of expression in religious traditions across the ages: One is that we love our neighbor by welcoming the stranger, and the other is that the sacred ground of a house of worship cannot be violated by secular authorities. These two teachings came together in the United States [...]
- Hunger persists; what to do?
- Abstinence-only sex education debate intensifies
- Ramadan in public schools
- Faith fuels affordable housing
- The changing face of homelessness
- Immigration: Legislation dies, debate thrives
- Public schools wrestle with sexual orientation issues
- Senior cohousing: retiring stereotypes, rethinking community
- Colleges innovate to engage religious diversity
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