“…unlike urban poverty, rural poverty has many guises, including “impoverished rural hollows in the Appalachian Mountains, former sharecroppers’ shacks in the Mississippi Delta, desolate Indian reservations on the Great Plains, and emerging colonias along the Rio Grande.” The phrase “poverty in America” conjures images of urban blight and plight, but in reality, rural poverty rates... Continue Reading

Cantor’s wife…once told The Washington Post that she was shocked, on their first date, when her future husband revealed his affinity for the GOP. “I said, `I thought you were Jewish?’ I’d never met someone who was Jewish and Republican,” she remembered telling him. When Virginia Republican Eric Cantor becomes House Majority Leader next month,... Continue Reading

The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, which said its purpose was to force the release of the two women in Egypt. “All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them,” the group said. President Hosni... Continue Reading

Mr. Beisner, a former professor of theology and a ruling elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, argued that the science is still unsettled on whether greenhouse gases are warming the climate and that projections of dangerous human-driven warming in the future are flawed and unreliable. Over the last decade, many evangelical Christians have embraced the... Continue Reading

Muslims came to the United States in large numbers for doctorates, engineering and medical degrees, after the federal government eased immigration quotas in the 1960s. Studies have found that a significant percentage of Muslims are better educated and wealthier than other Americans. In the ballroom of an upscale hotel a short train ride from New... Continue Reading

Concerns about the face of Christianity have led a former atheist to form a non-profit to address the perceived hypocrisy of the church. The Texas-based non-profit Changing the Face of Christianity Inc. is a direct response to non-believers who believe all Christians are intolerant, judgmental, hypocritical and homophobic, explained founder R. Brad White. White said... Continue Reading

The official tables, composed by the Department for Education, show that nearly two thirds of the best primary schools are Anglican, Roman Catholic or Jewish. The success of faith-based primaries comes despite the fact that they account for just one in three schools nationally. Secularism isn’t a value neutral force in education and attempts to... Continue Reading

The 12 days of Christmas in Western Christianity refer to the time between Christ’s birth on Dec. 25 and the arrival of the Magi to honor the newborn, known as Epiphany, on Jan. 6. Twelve drummers? Ten leaping lords? Two turtle doves? Chances are, the gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” are not high... Continue Reading

“Conditions for religious freedom in Russia and former Soviet republics are still better than they were during the communist period, but “compared to 10 years ago, it’s much more difficult and restrictive.” During the Christmas season 20 years ago, regimes and realms were making news that still resonates two decades later: The United States was... Continue Reading

While the new law does not mention advance care planning, the Obama administration has been able to achieve its policy goal through the regulation-writing process, a strategy that could become more prevalent in the next two years as the president deals with a strengthened Republican opposition in Congress. When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning... Continue Reading