The emerging church movement began several years ago as a conversation among evangelical Gen-X leaders who were alarmed at church dropout rates among 20s and 30s. They formed a loose network named Emergent to discuss what it means in today’s world to follow Jesus and to reach out to others. More →

July 8, 2005

A Sikh ceremony celebrates the creation of the Khalsa — a brotherhood of Sikhs who publicly take a vow to follow a certain spiritual and physical discipline. More →

June 3, 2005

Catholic leaders have often expressed their opposition to certain uses of science, such as anything that threatens human life. But the Church has no objection to basic scientific research itself — from it. That work is honored as trying to understand what God created — in the case of an observatory in Arizona, the entire visible universe. More →

June 3, 2005

Part one of a four-part series on America’s evangelicals. They make up about a quarter of the population. Their political influence is strong. Their churches seem to be thriving. And yet, many evangelicals say they feel misunderstood by the wider culture — under siege — as if they were an estranged minority. More →

March 18, 2005

In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that executing people for crimes they committed before the age of 18 is unconstitutional. The case that brought the issue to the Supreme Court involved a young Missouri man named Chris Simmons. More →

March 4, 2005

One of the most difficult questions facing many communities is how the public schools should educate children about sex. Some want a comprehensive approach that recommends abstinence but also covers birth control and disease prevention. Others, especially religious conservatives, want abstinence education only. More →

February 4, 2005

Across the political and theological spectrums, religious conservatives, moderates, and liberals all have their own hopes for President Bush’s second term. Some conservatives say it’s payback time for their support in the election. Others say, “Don’t forget the poor.” More →

February 4, 2005

“Right now, people are just numb and shocked, and they are non-functional. And it will take a few weeks from now for the grief to really sink in, and that’s the time we may have people who are trained counselors, who would go alongside these people and help them deal with the grief, to bring out the grief, and to actually face what they have gone through.” More →

January 21, 2005

Kim Lawton reports from Sri Lanka, as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services, assess the destruction of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

January 14, 2005

As presiding bishop, Frank Griswold is lead pastor and chief administrator of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church USA. It’s a prestigious job, and these days, he admits, a challenging one. More →

November 26, 2004