That's the question posed by Beliefnet.com founder Steve Waldman on (no kidding) his Facebook status this morning. Which reminded me of a traditional Jewish story about a boy, a whistle and a prayer. Old-school tweeting, you might say. Read a...
I have a story today about the Jewish ritual of Birkat HaChama -- a prayer for the sun -- that takes place every 28 years. Today being the day for this cycle. I didn't have room to mention a story...
Louisiana correctional officials have agreed to take a Bible citation and a prayer off a monument near the entrance to the state penitentiary at Angola. Here's the story from Religious News Service. The warden said he had the monument placed...
On a day when our company has announced yet another round of layoffs, it was good to stumble onto this prayer, from Thomas Merton's classic book of meditations, Thoughts in Solitude. It is, as Spirituality & Practice puts it, "a...
A sampling of comments from our readers: "Warren's prayer rocked." -- "easye" "Compared to the inspirational Joseph Lowery, Rick Warren just washed out." -- "Informed Citizen" "How backwards is a country that still believes in prayer? Why not just get...
Texas Faith is our weekly discussion of matters of religion, politics, and culture. Read about our panel here. Sometimes the obvious question is the best one. And there's nothing more obvious in the news today than Barack Obama's inauguration --...
In what appears to be Barack Obama's attempt to cover the widest possible theological spectrum in the various prayer opportunities during his inauguration festivities: TNew Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, an outspoken, international gay rights leader, has been asked to...
A sampling of comments from our readers: "Those who think God established their country end up making their country their god." -- "Bill Marvel" "Riner will keep costing his state money as long as he keeps up those antics. He's...
Mike Ghouse, founder of the local Foundation for Pluralism, advises us that the Dallas Peace Center and the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations are co-sponsoring an interfaith prayer vigil from 2:00 to 3:30 pm today at Northaven...
Hard times in the newspaper biz affect the sacred and the profane: Readers of The Indianapolis Star woke up to some changes in their newspaper this morning. The Business section was wrapped into the A section. TV listings and classified...
Seems to me that right now we have about eleventy-billion more important things to worry about as a nation than whether Rick Warren invokes the name of Jesus in his inaugural invocation. But apparently, for some, it cracks the list....
Colbert I. King, a columnist for The Washington Post, has this to say to gay-rights activists and others upset that Rick Warren will deliver Barack Obama's inaugural invocation: Chill out. The inaugural ceremonies are just that -- ceremonial. Just because...
In this commentary for National Public Radio, David Weinberger says he's a liberal through and through ("Free the whales. Tax the rich!") and he applauds the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural prayer. And to his fellow liberals,...
On his God Blog, Brad A. Greenberg writes: "At this point, the Rev. Rick Warren should really just assume the title The New Billy Graham." Warren (right) made headlines in August when he brought John McCain and Barack Obama to...
Just guessing here, but it may be hard from now on to convince Scott Napper of Silverton, Ore., of God's eternal goodness. According to this story from The Oregonian, Napper took his 22-year-old fiance, Leafil Alforque (right), to the Oregon...
USA Today reports that dozens of Muslim workers were fired at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants after the workers protested that break schedules at the plants did not permit them to observe their daily prayer rituals. The firings...
David Gibson rang this bell a couple of days ago over on Beliefnet, but I can't resist. You may recall that before the Democrats' convention, some GOP-ers suggested, only partly in jest (and some in dead earnest), that their side...
We mentioned a few days ago that the American Civil Liberties Union was wringing its hands over a prayer that takes place (and has since 1845) over the noon meal at the U.S. Naval Academy. In a column for Religion...
Some who responded to an earlier posting about the death of George Carlin said they would keep the comedian in their prayers. Carlin would have guffawed. He was an emphatic atheist, and there's just about nothing that he would have...
"Its proceedings are a contact sport -- albeit wrapped in parliamentary niceties and sweet traditions, like opening each bone-crunching, back-stabbing session with a prayer." -- Patricia Kilday Hart of Texas Monthly, on the Texas Legislature...
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