At the Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, centuries of Islamic doctrine have literally been carved into the shrine’s walls. Two quotations on the northwest wall will be of special interest to anyone interested in the latest whirlwind of controversy linked to evangelical superstar Rick Warren and his giant Saddleback Church. The outer face inscription states, in part: “Praise be to God who has not taken a son and who does not have any partner in dominion. …”... Read more
One thing was clear, back in the winter of 1982. No one at the famous Record Service store near the University of Illinois campus could figure out the hot new Irish band that was about to hit town. The guy behind the front desk cranked up the group’s new single so that everyone could ponder the lyrics. “I try to sing this song,” sang the young singer called Bono Vox. “I, I try to stand up, but I can’t find... Read more
“Atheocracy” is not the kind of word that gets tossed around very often in bars. Nevertheless, Bishop James Conley recently defined that term and defended its use while speaking in a pub in the heart of Denver’s trendy Capitol Hill neighborhood. The goal, as always, was to use this “Theology on Tap” forum for an informal, frank encounter with young Catholics and others who might be curious. “America today is becoming what I would call an atheocracy — a society... Read more
It doesn’t take a doctorate in church architecture to know why every pew in every Catholic cathedral allows worshippers to gaze toward the altar. What happens on the altar during Mass is the heart of Catholic faith. Meanwhile, architects that design Protestant churches make sure preachers have everyone’s attention when they rise to preach. What happens in those pulpits is what matters for most Protestants. The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, on the other hand, asked the legendary architect Philip Johnson... Read more
Every now and then, bishops write letters for their priests to read to the faithful during Mass. In 1996 the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services sent a letter to its chaplains instructing them to urge their flocks to back the “Project Life Postcard Campaign” in support of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Father Vincent Rigdon wanted to follow this order in rites at Andrews Air Force Base. But there was a problem. Pentagon officials had issued a gag order... Read more
For more than a decade, Pentecostal Bishop T.D. Jakes has lived in the shadow of a Time magazine cover that asked, “Is this man the next Billy Graham?” That was a loaded question, because of tensions behind the scenes between the multi-media Dallas superstar and many mainstream Christian leaders. Now, this legendary preacher — often listed as one of America’s most powerful evangelicals — has taken a big step toward convincing his critics that he is, in fact, an evangelical.... Read more
Pope Benedict XVI cut to the chase when meeting with the visiting bishops from Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services. The pope mentioned “religious freedom” in the third sentence of his Jan. 19 remarks at the Vatican and he never let up — returning to this hot topic again and again. The bottom line, he said, is that America’s once strong political consensus has “eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only... Read more
Moments after the New England Patriots smashed his Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow stood before a wall of reporters and said exactly what anyone who has been paying attention already knew he was going to say. The Patriots, he stressed, “came out and they played well and they executed well and you’ve got to give them a lot of credit.” Then Tebow interrupted himself to deal with a higher matter: “But before I talk about that, I just want, you know,... Read more
In the fall of 1979, a cluster of Episcopalians made another trip to Rome seeking a haven for Anglo-Catholic believers anxious to exit their increasingly divided church. Vatican officials agreed that it was time to petition their new leader, the young Pope John Paul II. The document was prepared and then signed on the altar of the North American Martyrs at Rome’s North American College. In it, members of the Society of St. Augustine of Canterbury and other like-minded clergy... Read more
In terms of giant headlines and spilled ink, there is no question that the lightning strike by U.S. special forces that killed Osama bin Laden was the year’s most spectacular news event, featuring a deadly brew of religion, politics and violence. Thus, it isn’t surprising that members of the Religion Newswriters Association selected the death of the world’s most infamous radical Muslim as No. 1 in their poll to name the year’s top 10 stories on the religion beat. In... Read more
Terry Mattingly
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