Political Pastors Pick Fight With IRS

(NEWSER) - The hallelujahs are strained in US churches these days as donations plunge at the same time demand for aid is skyrocketing, reports the Wall Street Journal. Congregations across the nation are slashing budgets and even laying off staff, including pastors. Churches and synagogues usually weather downturns well, but not this time. "There has been significant tightening of budgets," said Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, spokesman for the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents some 900 congregations. "People have less money to give." More»

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. Take the Saints’ locker room talk of their Super Bowl win being God's plan: Didn’t they stop to think He was more concerned with earthquake-ravaged Haiti than their “gridiron performance?” More»

(NEWSER) - The evangelical stress on abstinence until marriage is fantastic, writes Mark Regnerus—himself devout—in Christianity Today, "but promoting it has come at a cost." Doing so has "turned our attention away from the damage that Americans are doing to the institution of marriage by discouraging it and delaying it," Regnerus writes. We tell our children to work toward a career, be independent, and battle their sexual urges, "when in fact we are battling them far longer than we were meant to. How did we misdiagnose this?" More»

The religious right has driven young people away, but a change in tone could lure them back: Putnam

(NEWSER) - Young Americans would likely become more religious if faith were disentangled from the polarizing practices of evangelical conservatives, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post. That’s a good thing, because research for an upcoming book found that religious Americans give more time and money—to secular and religious causes alike. The content of faith matters little: The benefits of religion come from joining a loving community. More»

Three others injured, including suspect

(AP) - Illinois state police say a man shot a pastor to death and injured others at a church during a service in Maryville. Master Trooper Ralph Timmins says the man walked down the aisle during the early Sunday service at First Baptist Church in Maryville, exchanged words with pastor Fred Winters, and then pulled out a .45-caliber handgun. More»