Paul evidently thought he was exorcising some kind of evil spirit, but this must have been all in his mind. What he was actually doing, the bishop surmised, was depriving the slave girl of “her gift of spiritual awareness.” Paul is filled with prejudice, she thinks, and so does something sinister by refusing to recognize... Continue Reading

There are some who are glad that a family has found a way to be happy even though there are racists haters out there (and that’s a good thing to be happy about). However, mixed into the celebration over racism is a celebration over the idea of breaking the mold of “traditional” marriage which, if... Continue Reading

With albums in my CD player such as Get Rich or Die Trying, are you surprised my idea of the good life was having a wallet so stuffed it wouldn’t even close? It wasn’t all about money, though. I can’t forget the lessons I learned about status (chase it), women (chase them), and happiness (chase... Continue Reading

I grew up with formulas—as you probably did, too. Study hard, and you’ll get a good job. Be good to others, and they’ll be good to you. Raise a child in the way he (or she) should go, and when he is old, he won’t depart from it. Then I grew up. College friends lost... Continue Reading

The number of churches that were dismissed from Presbyterian Church (USA) last year has increased by fivefold compared to 2011, says a recently released report. According to statistics released Thursday by the Office of the General Assembly for PC(USA), 110 congregations were granted dismissal in 2012 in order to join other denominations; in 2011, the... Continue Reading

A new study has found that American veterans who had a negative experience serving during World War II attend church more frequently today than those who were less troubled by their service. The study also found that when service members were fearful in combat, they reported prayer was a better motivator for getting them through it... Continue Reading

I am sorry that my Mormon readers have put all their eggs in one basket by constantly writing to me quoting Matthew 7:16. So I am sorry that I must now apply that verse to the very first Mormon. I am sorry that among the 33 well-documented plural wives of Joseph Smith, there were close... Continue Reading

There were three pastors nominated for moderator: Archibald Allison, Larry Westerveld, and Jeffrey Landis. After the nomination speeches, balloting was to take place though electronic voting devices but they did not work; paper ballots were provided for the delegates. Jeffrey Landis, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in San Jose, Calif., was elected as moderator.  ... Continue Reading

There is one bright spot. Japanese researcher, Shinya Yamanaka, who had rejected embryonic stem cell research as unethical, and who won last year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine, has pioneered the creation of stem cell lines from skin cells without destroying embryos. Consequently, with hardly a whisper and certainly no apologies, most stem cell scientists have... Continue Reading

Southern Baptists owe Dr. Frank Page a debt of gratitude. Some questioned the wisdom of creating the Calvinism Advisory Committee last year, citing numerous reasons why such an effort was doomed to fail and perhaps even make things worse. It did not fail, unless success is defined only in terms of some utopian ideal of... Continue Reading