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Religion News

2015-03-13T22:08:11-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

America’s church slide: Why?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

GENE ASKS: What one factor accounts for the indifference so many Americans harbor toward the church? THE GUY ANSWERS: Forced to pick just “one factor” among many, The Guy says fading cultural respect — for committed Christians, for Christian churches, and for Christianity. Begin with some hard data. As Religion Q and A analyzed last October 19, the collective membership of America’s moderate to liberal “Mainline” Protestant denominations has gradually fallen by a third since the mid-1960s, an unprecedented slide. These... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:11-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Women & men & Bible & church

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

PARK ASKS: What are the major scriptural passages [and interpretations] relative to a complementarian and egalitarian approach to gender roles in the church? THE GUY ANSWERS: A big one. First, about that lingo: “Egalitarians” say the Bible teaches across-the-board equality without regard to gender. Period. This supposedly “liberal” view is held by many “conservatives.” “Complementarians” (that’s “complement,” not “compliment”) say the Bible establishes different roles for men and women in the church and, most add, in the home. For instance,... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:11-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God, prayer & the Super Bowl

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

THIS QUESTION doesn’t come from a “Religion Q and A” reader but a headline in The Record, the daily newspaper in the New Jersey county that’s hosting a certain athletic event: “Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?” THE GUY (who lives in that county) ANSWERS: You gotta be kidding. Spiritual suffering, physical and mental illness, anxiety and loneliness, natural disasters, oppression, wars, terrorism, kidnapping, senseless murders, broken families, kids without dads, homelessness, addiction, materialism, privation, pestilence, prejudice, impossible decisions that... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:11-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Oh, those religious fund-raisers

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

GRETCHEN ASKS: (Paraphrasing) She attended a fund-raising event for an unnamed organization where a slide show began by saying that “on the 8th day God created” this group and then presented its purposes. She found that “arrogant and self-serving” and it “bothered me beyond belief. Am I being overly sensitive?” THE GUY ANSWERS: In The Guy’s eyes, yes, you are. Still, religious offenses are in the eye of the beholder and fund-raising is well worth some examination. The late Henri Nouwen... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:12-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What is faith?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

MICHELLE ASKS: What is faith? THE GUY ANSWERS: This is the simplest yet perhaps most difficult question in the brief history of “Religion Q and A.” Not the sort of thing journalists usually write about, but The Guy can at least report on what some thinkers have said about this. Start with Merriam-Webster definitions: 1) “strong belief or trust in someone or something.” 2) “belief in the existence of God: strong religious feelings or beliefs.” 3) “a system of religious beliefs.” ... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:12-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Are there different versions of Islam’s Quran?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

DUANE ASKS: Are there different versions of the Quran or just different interpretations of the one version? THE GUY ANSWERS: Since early in the history of Islam, only one Quran text in the original Arabic language has been fully authorized. However, as with most religious matters, the story is complicated. The religion teaches that the Quran existed eternally in heaven before angels gradually revealed the words little by little to the Prophet Muhammad between the year 620 C.E. (“Common Era”) and his... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:12-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Happy New Year, year-round

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

THE GUY EXPLAINS: Nobody posted a “Religion Q and A” item on the new year’s theme so here’s his own chosen topic, aspects of time’s passage in world religions. The commonly observed times have notably religious origins. Years (e.g. 2014) are counted from an ancient and inaccurate guess on when Jesus Christ was born. Non-Christians often designate years as C.E. (“Common Era”) instead of A.D. (“Anno Domini” meaning “Year of the Lord”). Our Gregorian Calendar is a reform ordered by... Read more

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2019-12-23T11:50:28-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Did baby Jesus cry?

Last updated on: December 23, 2019 at 11:50 am By Richard Ostling

MARY (an appropriate name for this) ASKS: Did the infant Jesus cry? THE GUY ANSWERS: Good one. A beloved Christmas carol says “the little Lord Jesus no crying he makes,” which would have been a tiny miracle. But the New Testament, which has the only early accounts of Jesus’ Nativity, tells us nothing about his infancy, or even his youth except for teaching in the Jerusalem Temple at age 12. If pondered in terms of what Christianity has always thought there’d be... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Which Bible version is the most authentic?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

DUANE ASKS: There are many different versions of the Bible: King James, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, etc. Which is considered the closest to the earliest available manuscripts? THE GUY ANSWERS: Folks shopping for Christmas gift Bibles are well aware of the countless editions on sale, those aimed at Moms, teens, substance abusers in recovery, ESL students, and the like, and all the useful study Bibles with marginal notations, explanatory articles, timelines, maps, and indexes. However, Duane isn’t asking... Read more

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2015-03-13T22:08:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Merry Christmas,” the “plastic reindeer rule,” and all that

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Richard Ostling

MARY ASKS: What happened to saying “Merry Christmas”? Is the move to saying “Happy Holidays” instead a good thing? THE GUY ANSWERS: On the hit CBS-TV drama “The Good Wife” we’re in the offices of Illinois’ governor-elect as his top aide scans a hallway and angrily barks a Yuletide order: “Holiday decorations! Not Jesus! Holiday!” Bruce Tinsley’s satirical comic strip “Mallard Fillmore” carries this TV announcement: “The following Christmas special actually mentions Christianity. Viewer discretion is advised.” Another “Mallard” strip... Read more

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