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Christmas Bombings Spark Unrest in Nigeria

Some fear escalating violence ahead of elections

(Newser) - State police are swarming into central Nigeria following a series of Christmas church bombings that killed 38, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Following Saturday's explosions, angry youths barricaded roads and attacked people passing by yesterday, and houses and a truck also were set ablaze. UN chief Ban Ki-moon blasted the...

Let's Stop Lecturing Once-a-Year Churchgoers
Let's Stop Lecturing
Once-a-Year Churchgoers
OPINION
Dec 23, 2010 10:05 AM CST

Let's Stop Lecturing Once-a-Year Churchgoers

Reverend: Instead, we should celebrate they're still coming

(Newser) - The Rev. Scott Black Johnston knows his church will be packed tomorrow night with people who attend only once a year at Christmastime. But he's not bemoaning the fact—he's celebrating it, especially in an age where more young people than ever claim no faith. "Instead of wagging our...

The Real Reason Religious People Are Happier

It's not because of God...

(Newser) - It's relationships with people—not God—that make religious people happy, a new study suggests. While several studies have shown that when it comes to life satisfaction, the devout are more satisfied than nonbelievers, the latest findings show that's because of the social network they build at church. "We...

Iraq Church Attack Leaves Dozens Dead

More than taken 100 hostage in Baghdad yesterday

(Newser) - Dozens are dead and more than 50 wounded after militants took nearly 100 hostage in a Catholic church in Baghdad yesterday, prompting Iraqi anti-terrorist forces to storm the building. Officials say most of the injuries and deaths occurred after the kidnappers set off two suicide vests, the New York Times...

God's Not Male, at Least Not at One Church

Scottish Episcopal bishops OK with removing gender references

(Newser) - God is no longer a "he," at least according to the Scottish Episcopal Church. Its bishops recently debuted a new order of service that removes all masculine references to God, including but not limited to "Lord," "he," "his," and "him,"...

Amid Mosque Furor, Pleas for Church at Ground Zero

Greek Orthodox church was destroyed on 9/11

(Newser) - The Greek Orthodox Church has seized on the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy to push for the rebuilding of a church that actually was at Ground Zero. Two Church officials yesterday appeared with a pair of Republican politicians to call for the rebuilding of the St. Nicholas Church, which was...

Church Protests Strippers, So Strippers Protest Church

Ohio congregation gets a taste of its own medicine

(Newser) - Sunday services at one Ohio church have had an unusual feature lately: strippers frolicking in front of the building. Fed up with protests by the New Beginnings Ministries community, which employs tactics like filming clubgoers' license plates and posting them online, employees of the Foxhole have begun traveling 7 miles...

Vatican OKs Cracking Open Mafioso's Tomb

Teen kidnap victim may be buried with mobster

(Newser) - Italian police probing the unsolved 1983 disappearance of a teenage girl have been given the Vatican's permission to open the tomb of a mobster. Enrico Pedis was buried in the crypt of a Vatican-owned church after he was gunned down by rival gangsters in 1990. Now police have received a...

Capistrano Swallows Shun Church for Country Club

Famous California birds move upmarket

(Newser) - The famous swallows of Capistrano have flown straight past Capistrano this year to an upscale country club. The birds, who have migrated from Argentina to nest at the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano church in southern California for decades, have received a warm welcome at the 700-acre Vellano Country Club,...

Church Forced Girl to Apologize for Being Raped

Girl forced to apologize before being sent away

(Newser) - When a 15-year-old girl was raped and impregnated in 1997, her New Hampshire church took justice into its own hands…by sending her to Colorado, thereby protecting her alleged rapist. Ernest Willis, 51, was finally arrested last month after the victim, now 28, read about similar cases and decided to...

German Chapel Becomes Neo-Nazi Shrine

Church built with stones quarried by Jewish slaves

(Newser) - A German chapel built using ruins from Hitler's luxury retreat has become a hit with neo-Nazis. The Bavarian government only recently acknowledged that marble blocks and stones quarried by Jewish slaves in Hitler's Berghof in Berchtesgaden were used to build Wegmacher Chapel in 1997. Now leather-jacketed "pilgrims" with shaved...

A Call for Separation of Church and Sports


 A Call for Separation 
 of Church and Sports 
ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2010 12:23 PM CST

A Call for Separation of Church and Sports

Football players leave much to be desired as Christian role models

(Newser) - Christian evangelicals must be pretty amped up by the high profile of their religion in professional sports, David Gibson writes, but the "cozy coupling" of church and sport has its dark side. First, there’s what commentator Shirl James Hoffman recently called the “cheap grace” of athletic faith....

Texas Arsonists Torching Churches

Security stepped up after 10 church fires so far this year

(Newser) - A string of church fires in East Texas has stumped authorities and frightened congregations, with seven so far this year having been set by arsonists and another three thought to be their handiwork. The damage runs into the millions of dollars and some churches have begun organizing night watches, the...

Churches Ask Men to Fight Like Jesus

The latest trend combines Christianity with mixed martial arts

(Newser) - Jesus just too wimpy for you? Fear not: A new crop of churches that combine religion with mixed martial arts could solve all your spiritual problems. "Compassion and love—we agree with all that stuff, too," one pastor tells the New York Times , "but what led me...

Comedy Club Battles Church in Texas Mall

Comedians sick of too-loud gospel music; church cries bigotry

(Newser) - It sounds like a sitcom setup: A comedy club and a boisterous church move in next to each other in the same Texas strip mall and can’t stand each other. Hilarity ensues. But it’s a scenario that’s actually playing out in Austin, the Wall Street Journal reports,...

LA Church Adds Dogs to Flock
 LA Church Adds Dogs to Flock 
SIT, STAY, KNEEL
Nov 7, 2009 6:56 AM CST

LA Church Adds Dogs to Flock

First service attracts quite a pack

(Newser) - A pastor looking for an idea to revitalize the sagging membership at his Los Angeles church found it by letting the dogs in. “Wherever there’s love, there’s God in some fashion,” says Tom Eggebeen of Covenant Presbyterian Church. “And when we love a dog and...

Healthcare Bill Boosts Pay for Prayer

Insurance firms urged to cover praying healers

(Newser) - A little-noticed provision in a Senate version of the pending health care bill would require insurance companies to consider paying for prayer as a medical expense. The addition was inserted by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and backed by Democrats John Kerry and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the home state...

Atheist Ads to Hit NYC Subways
 Atheist Ads to 
 Hit NYC Subways 
UNHOLY CAMPAIGN
Oct 21, 2009 5:36 AM CDT

Atheist Ads to Hit NYC Subways

Coalition to launch godless monthlong campaign

(Newser) - Eight atheist organizations are the creators of a unique month-long ad campaign beginning next week in Manhattan subways that will challenge the belief in God. "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?" the ads will ask on posters featuring blue sky and clouds. Because the city's...

Crowds Flock to Church's 'Porn Talk'

Former sex film producer among the speakers at Christian anti-porn forum

(Newser) - Over a thousand people are descending on an Atlanta-area church this weekend for 3 days of talks on pornography, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The "Porn Talk" event, one of many put on by anti-porn Christian group XXXchurch.com, seeks to address the harm pornography is doing to children, families,...

'Reborn' Jesus Leads Vegans in Russia

Known as Vissarion, former traffic cop preaches against war

(Newser) - A former traffic cop in Russia has declared himself a reincarnation of Jesus and amassed a following of 5,000 devotees, including artists and intellectuals, the Daily Mail reports. Sergei Torop, "reborn" as "Vissarion" after losing his job in 1991, preached against the evils of war and harming...

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