Supreme Religion
Noting the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
African Churches and Homosexuality
A recent story in The Economist caught my eye, because it describes a very rare phenomenon: a church in Africa which openly welcomes homosexuals. “House of Rainbow” is an independent Nigerian church, founded in Lagos by Rowland Jide Macaulay in 2006. After violence against the tiny congregation and death threats against the pastor, Macaulay fled ..
Mapping Faith’s Legal Limits
An Oregon case spotlights the legal conundrum of charting the legal limts of religious faith and practice in America. The facts are as follows:a jury has convicted an Oregon couple of criminally negligent homicide after the death of their 16-year old son. They are members of the Followers of Christ Church, and as such they ..
New religion and politics center started at Wash U
John Danforth delivering the homily at Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004 (Screen capture: C-SPAN) The New York Times broke the story on the formation of this new center yesterday, named for one of our state’s most distinguished senators, John C. Danforth, who is also an ordained Episcopal priest. Washington University announced the center in a press release and news conference today
The Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel, and Stanley Hauerwas – 20 years later
Vaclav Havel, center in red scarf, placing a candle at a Prague commemoration of the Velvet Revolution (Petr David Josek/AP) The New York Times did a nice retrospective yesterday on Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution on its 20th anniversary. I was 15 years old when the Berlin Wall fell along with all the other Eastern European dominoes that fell in its wake
Overhearing a random act of ministry
Just one example: Chaplain Steve Lee, head of Peace Officer Ministries, at work, somewhere. The police called me from the house of a woman with a gun to her head. That’s the conversation I overheard in the hallway outside my office. (A workshop for chaplains, peace officers and pastors, focusing on effective Christian ministry to and through law enforcement is meeting at Concordia Seminary this week.) The rest of the story involved 16 cats, animal control, health and human services, and the woman ‘gun to her head’ shouting out the window, You’re not taking away my babies! The end of the story involved this particular chaplain talking the woman down, averting disaster, and restoring calm to the neighborhood