Can you be a Christian and a Scientologist? This emerged as the sticking question during my visit to a Scientology church in Clearwater, Florida. I’ll talk to anyone about anything and I’m interested in the truth. So, when Karen, a Scientologist for more than 40 years, called the radio show to confront my use of…
(By Frank Newport, Gallup.com). Religion remains an integral part of most Americans’ lives, but Gallup’s ongoing research shows how this has changed over time. The following are five important findings about religion in the U.S.: 1. America remains a largely Christian nation, although less so than in the past. Seventy-four percent of Americans identify with…
Recently, The Layman’s Kathy Larson spoke with Masey McLain, the actress who played Rachel in the movie I Am Not Ashamed. The interview follows: KL: How did you get involved with the film? Really just an audition. I started acting when I was a freshman in high school. Then I got an agent for TV and…
By Ed Stetzer, The Exchange. InterVarsity is an Evangelical Christian organization, and people who work at InterVarsity are, not surprisingly, expected to hold evangelical beliefs. Or, you could state it as Elisabeth Dias of TIME Magazine did: One of the largest evangelical organizations on college campuses nationwide has told its 1,300 staff members that will…
The Barna Group. The Christian church has been a cornerstone of American life for centuries, but much has changed in the last 30 years. Americans are attending church less, and more people are experiencing and practicing their faith outside of its four walls. Millennials in particular are coming of age at a time of great…
Judges who lack judgement, clergy who lack faith and doctors who kill. The term oxymoron seems generous. To say we live in an age of confusion seems so patently obvious and yet the confusion is so thorough we need to point it out. Case in point: openly atheist clergy who are ordained and paid by…
If our churches have to be a little more uncomfortable to us insiders in order to reach even one lost soul for Christ, that’s a sacrifice we should all be willing to make. By Ed Stetzer, The Exchange. As we all know, it’s election season. This isn’t ever a rosy time for America, filled with…
Unless Christianity updates its doctrine and adapts to a changing world, it’s destined for irrelevancy! A century ago, many church leaders made this sort of claim about God’s supernatural intervention in human affairs. The Bible’s miracle stories were simply unbelievable for modern people in a world steeped in the discoveries of science. As a result,…
The next President of the United States will likely be a self-identified mainline Christian. Hillary Clinton is a member of the United Methodist Church and Donald Trump continues to assert that he is a Presbyterian. However, Clinton does not align with the UMC on the exclusivity of Christianity, LGBTQ issues or abortion. Trump’s self-avowed denomination…
By Bob Smietana, LifeWay. Americans who don’t go to church are happy to talk about religion and often think about the meaning of life. They’re open to taking part in community service events hosted at a church or going to a church concert. But only about a third say they’d go to a worship service,…