The case stemmed from the diocese’s slow dealing with Shawn Ratigan, a priest from Independence, Missouri, who pleaded guilty in August to five charges of child pornography. Prosecutors said it took nearly five months for church officials to notify police that disturbing images of children had been found on Ratigan’s computer.     A judge... Continue Reading

“God is not necessary, but he is inevitable,” Mr. Vahanian wrote in 1964 in “Wait Without Idols,” displaying the gnomic style that sometimes tried reviewers’ patience (and eschewing capital letters when referring to the deity). “He is wholly other and wholly present. Faith in him, the conversion of our human reality, both culturally and existentially,... Continue Reading

A national group called American Atheists is suing the museum to stop the display of the cross, arguing that a religious symbol has no place in a memorial that’s backed by public funds and that is supposed to serve as a monument to victims of many different religions – and to those who had no... Continue Reading

If you are going to be pro-choice, at least don't cheer the idea-- at least long to make abortion "rare." Whatever your views on abortion, and whether you're Republican or Democrat, cheering is not the right response.

How should we assess this ever-present narrative of struggle? Is it good for American politics? Good for Christians? Good for the soul? Or are there dangers? Let me offer one observation, two appreciations, and three concerns.

The old Puritan colonies of New England drove out dissenters, true enough, and Christianity was as official as could be, and those places are now as burned over and secular as it gets in the United States.

The New Atheists, on the other hand, seemed to gain a boost by labeling all pious citizens as potentially dangerous fanatics. Optimism faded for a short while (notice the darker colors and military surplus style in fashion or the pre-2008 cynicism in both political parties).

“The travails of a handful of Trappist monks in Israel — or Dalit and tribal Christians in India, or Nigerian Christians menaced by the Boko Haram, or the 150,000 new Christian martyrs every year generally — simply have a hard time breaking through the media filter in the West"

Nadarkhani - who grew up in a Muslim home but never embraced Islam - refused multiple offers of release over the last three years. Iranian authorities had promised to free him if he recanted Christianity and affirmed Islam. Nadarkhani repeatedly refused, answering in court with two simple words: "I cannot."

Christians who had taken refuge in churches were burned to death as the buildings were locked and set on fire. Churches that remained had their crosses taken down and crescents put up in their place. All of this was part of a move to exterminate Christianity from the lands of the old Byzantine empire, to “liberate” Asia Minor from Christian influence and put it into the hands of Islam.