Registration is open for LCMS Youth Ministry’s National Lutheran Youth Workers Conference (also known as “NATIONAL”) — set for July 12-15 at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio. NATIONAL provides leadership training for volunteer and professional youth workers in Synod…
British group can't tout divine healing in ads, website
LONDON (RNS) — Britain’s powerful media advertising watchdog has banned a Christian group from claiming on its website and brochures that God’s cure-all powers can heal a string of medical ailments. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the independent regulator of advertising in…
Materials available for 'Concordia Sunday'
Free materials are available from the Concordia University System (CUS) to celebrate “Concordia Sunday,” a recognition of the 148-year history of the Synod’s 10 universities and colleges. The date of April 29 is suggested, but congregations may select any Sunday for…
Volunteer center brings hope to flooded Minot
By Kim Plummer Krull Seven months after the Souris River flooded a quarter of Minot, N.D., devastating some 4,100 homes, the great majority of the families affected by the flood still live in FEMA trailers or with friends and relatives,…
Catholics rally against Obama contraception mandate
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — From Maine to Arizona to southern Louisiana, Catholic churches across the country echoed with scorn for a new federal rule requiring faith-based employers to include birth control and other reproductive services in their health care coverage.…
Middle East Christians keep wary eye on Arab Spring
CAIRO (RNS) — From her home, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as visitors outside come to look upon the spot where Egypt’s Coptic Christians believe Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus found…
Study says U.S. Muslims don't want Shariah either
(RNS) — North American Muslims are more than satisfied with the secular legal system and do not want a set of parallel courts for Islamic law, according to a new study of U.S. and Canadian Muslims by a Washington-based think…
Harrison opposes HHS ruling in Feb. 3 statement
By Kim Plummer Krull In a statement issued Feb. 3, Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison staunchly opposed the recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) ruling requiring religious employers to cover contraceptives, including controversial…
A Statement on Recent HHS Decision and Religious Freedom
We are deeply distressed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent decision to require nearly all private health plans, including those offered by religious employers, to cover contraceptives.
Pope gives final approval to controversial lay group
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — After a 15-year process, the Holy See on Jan. 20 gave its final approval to the Neocatechumenal Way, a lay movement that has been criticized for its unorthodox liturgical practices but that has been successful in…
Praying for New Orleans, one block at a time
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — Millie Campbell slipped the transmission into reverse and backed her blue Chevrolet away from her spotless brick home. “Oh God,” she said, “we thank you for the blood of Jesus.” Then the 76-year-old cranked the wheel straight,…
Big-city mayors come out for same-sex marriage
(RNS) — A bipartisan coalition of 80 U.S. mayors on Jan. 20 launched a “Freedom to Marry” campaign to build public support for giving same-sex couples the right to marry under U.S. and state laws. “It is not about what you…
Obama holds firm on contraception coverage
(RNS) — The Obama administration said Jan. 20 that it will not broaden the religious exemption in new rules that require employers to provide contraception coverage to employees, a move that angered religious groups and opened a high stakes election-year…
Americans intrigued but wary still of Mormon beliefs
(RNS) When Mormons call themselves “a peculiar people,” they mean it in the biblical sense — set aside by God, chosen. But many Americans call them peculiar in Webster’s way — strange, odd. Now Mormons, followers of the Church of Jesus Christ…
As missionary movement turns 200, questions for future
SALEM, Mass. (RNS) — When America’s first ordained missionaries sailed from here to India 200 years ago, they kicked off a movement to spread the faith and created America’s most potent export: Christianity. That’s the message that will reverberate across nine…
Conservative Presbyterians launch new denomination
(RNS) — Conservative Presbyterians launched a new denomination on Jan. 19, saying that the Presbyterian Church (USA) – PC(USA) — is too consumed by internal conflicts and bureaucracy to nurture healthy congregations. “This ‘new Reformed body’ is intended to foster a…
