Jan.1, 2007, the day Craig Watkins was sworn in as Dallas' first African-American district attorney, marked a seismic shift in local politics. Perhaps even more significant than the election of Ron Kirk, our first black mayor, Mr. Watkins' first two years in office illustrate a commitment to just and effective enforcement of the law; citizens expect as much and rightly so. December 2008 Archives
Jan.1, 2007, the day Craig Watkins was sworn in as Dallas' first African-American district attorney, marked a seismic shift in local politics. Perhaps even more significant than the election of Ron Kirk, our first black mayor, Mr. Watkins' first two years in office illustrate a commitment to just and effective enforcement of the law; citizens expect as much and rightly so.
Roger Babson, famed statistician, said, "Every economic depression is foreshadowed by a religious decline."
Great is the need for an authoritative voice to point the way out of our moral and spiritual confusion in America--a voice totally dedicated to God and his imperishable Word.
Leaders in Christian higher education could be in for an easier time under Barack Obama's administration than they had under George Bush. Under Bush's administration, the federal government became increasingly involved in accreditation for higher education, said Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Corts and others in Christian higher education are hopeful that the Obama administration will back off from further involvement.
Continue reading Why Obama May Be Good News for Christian Higher Education.
The New York Post reports that the Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School will not be changing its name to honor President-elect Barack Obama.
Continue reading Long Island Obama School Nixed By Parents.
What the authorities say happened to members of El Camino Church, a gray brick building wedged into a corner of Washington Heights, will not make financial history. No charities will have to close, no endowments will be eviscerated. Millions were not lost, let alone billions.
Continue reading New York Man Accused of Fleecing Fellow Churchgoers.
Barack Obama has long stressed the importance of religion in his life. But as his fellow Christians around the world attended Christmas services on Wednesday and Thursday, the president-elect and his family remained sequestered at their vacation compound on the windward coast of Oahu.
Continue reading Obamas Miss Out On Religious Services in Hawaii.
Thousands of pilgrims overcame checkpoints and tight security to celebrate Christmas with a mass last night in the birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem.
Continue reading The World Celebrates Christmas.
In a move intended to force public testimony from President-elect Barack Obama's inner circle, a lawyer for Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked the legislative panel considering impeachment of the governor to subpoena more than a dozen witnesses, including Obama's incoming chief of staff.
Continue reading Blagojevich Scandal: Governor's Lawyer Wants Obama Staff Subpoenaed.
Radical Evangelism: Man Returns to D.C. Inner-City to Save Souls After "Swearing" He'd Never Go Back
Carlos Williams swore he'd never return his children to Washington, the city where drug deals, fights and drunks outside his father's apartment used to keep him and his brothers awake at night.
It's not that Christmases past weren't meaningful for Tracey Keim. But today, the 41-year-old Metuchen resident expects to have her most spiritually important Christmas yet, one revolving more around a manger than a tree.
Continue reading For New Christians, Christmas has New Meaning.
A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It's the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century. 
From the announcement of Barack Obama's longshot candidacy to the management of his presidential transition, his organization -- including the biggest fundraising operation in U.S. political history -- has rolled forward with seemingly flawless precision. 
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has warned against prisons becoming "jail hotels" during his annual Christmas visit to the Cook County, Ill., jail.
Continue reading Rev. Jesse Jackson Warns Inmates of `Jail Hotels'.
The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
Continue reading Homeland Security Forecasts 5-Year Terror Threats for U.S..
Russian
gas giant Gazprom has renewed its threat to cut off gas supplies to
Ukraine on 1 January, saying a contract dispute has reached a
"critical" stage. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine faced
Russian "sanctions and demands" if it did not pay off its gas debt "to
the last rouble".
Continue reading Russia May Cut off Ukraine's Gas.
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have been unusually talkative in recent weeks, sharing candid thoughts in a string of exit interviews.
Continue reading Looking Back, Bush and Cheney Reveal Different Views.
Israel moved closer to invading Gaza, saying Thursday it had wrapped up preparations for a broad offensive after Palestinian militants fired about 100 rockets and mortar shells across the border in two days.
Continue reading Israel Set for Gaza Invasion after Rocket Barrage.
When Dwyane Wade heard the plight of a South Florida woman whose nephew accidentally burned down her home -- and ruined all the family's possessions -- the Miami Heat star knew he had to do something.
Continue reading Dwayne Wade Gives Family New Home for Christmas.
A small fire started at the home of U. S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. early Wednesday on the South Side. At 12:15 a.m. Chicago Fire Department's truck 49, Engine 126 and Battalion Chief 17 responded to a fire in the 2500 block of East 72nd Street, police said.
Continue reading Small Fire Reported At Jesse Jackson, Jr's Chicago Home.
Millions of Americans go to church on Christmas Eve. They crowd shoulder-to-shoulder in pews to sing "Silent Night" and light candles and listen to soloists belt out "O Holy Night."
Continue reading Going to Church on Christmas: A Vanishing Tradition.
Only about 50 known copies of the first-edition 1611 King James Version of the Bible exist, and Hardin-Simmons University now has one, thanks to a Dallas couple. Dr. Charles Tandy and his wife, Roena, also donated a collection of other Bibles, leaves, fragments and volumes of secondary literature, some dating to 1521.
When Chelsea Banton was born five weeks prematurely, doctors predicted she had 36 hours to live. Proving them wrong was the first miracle for Chelsea, now an Independence High School freshman. "She spent the first four months in a neonatal intensive care unit," recalls her mother, Colleen Banton of Mint Hill.
Continue reading Christmas Miracle: Hospital Angel Heals 14-Year-Old of Pneumonia
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(Video).
On Wednesday, as Warren ushered in Christmas Eve at his sprawling Saddleback Church in Orange County, he joked briefly about the inauguration fallout in a sermon devoted mostly to another pressing issue: the importance of faith when plans are upended.
Continue reading Pastor Rick Warren's Christmas Eve Sermon Centers on Faith and Turmoil.
Reporting from Honolulu -- President-elect Barack Obama used a holiday radio address released Wednesday to remember the nation's troops serving overseas and citizens at home who are struggling amid a troubled economy.
Continue reading Obama Urges Renewed 'Sense of Common Purpose' in Holiday Message.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's unexpected Christmas message is full of seasonal goodwill, but the Iranian President clearly believes that if Jesus Christ were alive today he would be on the side of Iran not the West.
Continue reading Ahmadinejad says 'Christ Would have Been on Our Side'.
The deals were there and, by most accounts, so were the shoppers. But at the close of the final holiday shopping weekend, consumers confessed they were still nervous about buying.
Continue reading Holiday Sales Worst in 40 Years.
Lawyers for embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich want two key aides to President-elect Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. subpoenaed, according to Chicago media reports.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Thursday that terrorists in the Gaza Strip would pay a "heavy price" if they continued to target Israel, as the IDF finalized preparations for a possible large-scale assault on the coastal territory.
Continue reading Barak Warns Hamas will Pay a 'Heavy Price' if Rocket Fire Continues.
The handful of 20-something friends went to a bar. They drank until the early morning, then left. And when one of their cars crashed into a light pole, Lisa Torti hurried over and pulled one of the passengers from the wreckage.
Continue reading California Court Limits What Good Samaritans Can Safely Do.
Just one day before giving the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, a local pastor will be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service, officials at Saddleback Church said.
Continue reading Rick Warren to Speak at MLK Memorial Day Before Inauguration.
Rick Warren is in a place he never expected to be: at the center of a culture war. The pastor chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to give the inaugural invocation backed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his home state of California. But he did so belatedly, with none of the enthusiasm he brings to fighting AIDS and illiteracy.
Continue reading Rick Warren's Biggest Critics: Other Evangelicals.
The auctioneer told the small crowd huddled outside the Talbot County Courthouse that the property would be sold "as is" -- rectory, bell tower, oak pews and rose-tinted stained glass windows included.
Continue reading In Hard Times, Many Churches Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy.
The Rev. James L. Bevel, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement whose legacy was clouded by an incest conviction has died, a relative said. He was 72. 
With weeks to go before her job as secretary of state comes to an end, Condoleezza Rice said Monday she is looking for a new home near Stanford University in northern California, reports the AFP. 
A California official is warning that the state will run out of money in about two months unless a budget deal is struck. State Controller John Chiang said Monday that his office could be forced to defer billions of dollars in payments or issue IOUs.
Continue reading California Could be Broke in 2 Months If Budget Deal Not Made.
Britain and the United States increased pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, accusing him of presiding over the country's economic collapse blamed for a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,000.
Continue reading Britain, US Step Up Efforts on Zimbabwe's Mugabe to Step Down.
Add this to the growing list of Plaxico Burress' problems: getting in a car crash and not having insurance on his nearly $140,000 Mercedes-Benz. The suspended New York Giants wide receiver was sued last week in Florida's Broward County Circuit Court for rear-ending a woman in May.
Continue reading Plaxico Burress was Driving Without Insurance Before Crash.
Worship services may still be the USA's most segregated hour, but fewer congregations are now completely white, finds a study comparing churches, synagogues and mosques last year with a decade ago.
Continue reading Churches More Informal & Diverse than 10 Years Ago.
A trio of reports due Tuesday are expected to paint a bleak picture of the nation's housing market and the broader economy, as the deepening recession sends more companies lining up for a piece of the government's $700 billion bailout fund.
Continue reading Companies Keep Lining up for a Piece of Bailout Fund.
The two frontrunners in the race to become prime minister after a snap election in February both vowed to topple Hamas, which has run Gaza since violently seizing power there in June 2007.
Continue reading Israeli Leaders Vow to Topple Hamas.
The last Sunday before Christmas was celebrated with a carol service in a downtown Johannesburg church that has become a haven for hundreds of Zimbabweans who have fled their nation's collapse.
Continue reading Christmas Bleak for Zimbabweans Fleeing Collapse.
President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his choice of a popular evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, rejecting criticism that it slights gays. The selection of Pastor Rick Warren brought objections from gay rights advocates, who strongly supported Obama during the election campaign.
Continue reading Obama Defends Choice of Warren for Invocation
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The Sunday service at Durham's King's Park International Church features a blast of hymns, gospel and praise music performed live and loud by band members that are as multi-racial as the people in attendance.
Continue reading Diversity On the Rise in More Churches.
One of the five emails obtained by the Associated Press news agency asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested. It concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!" 
Here is Rick Warren's statement praising Obama for his "courage" in picking the pastor to deliver the invocation at the inauguration despite criticism of the president-elect due to Warren's opposition to gay marriage:
Funeral arrangements are pending for the country's first black Republican mayor, Highland Park's Robert Blackwell, who died Tuesday night after a long illness. Blackwell, who was in his 80s, was mayor of Highland Park for two different stints in the '60s and '70s.
Continue reading Robert Blackwell, America's First Black Republican Mayor, Dies.
President-elect Barack Obama almost certainly knew that he'd take some heavy flack from gay rights and abortion rights groups for picking mega preacher Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation. Warren backed the anti gay marriage Prop 8 in California to the hilt and rails against abortion. 
Nearly a decade after the NAACP condemned a "virtual whiteout" in broadcast TV, the civil rights group said major networks have stalled in their efforts to further ethnic diversity on-screen and off. Television shows of the future could be even less inclusive because of a failure to cultivate young minority stars and to bring minorities into decision-making positions, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said.
Continue reading NAACP Report Finds TV Lacking in Diversity.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich needs time to put together a legal team and political consultation to defend himself against federal corruption charges but feels he's "not getting space or a chance to sort anything out," according to one of several pastors who prayed with the embattled governor at his North Side home Friday morning.
Continue reading Blagojevich Tells Ministers He's Innocent & Will be Vindicated.
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have deep pockets when it comes to charities. Tax returns for their foundation show the couple gave $1.3 million in donations last year to a variety of religious, civic and arts groups, reports Fox411's Roger Friedman.
Continue reading Will Smith Gives James Robison and Life Today $250,000.
The Rev. Al Sharpton took Caroline Kennedy to lunch Thursday at a famed Harlem soul food restaurant as she continued her quest to join her uncle in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy smiled as she and the civil rights activist made their way through a throng of media and into Sylvia's, whose walls are lined with photographs of visiting politicians including the Clintons.
Continue reading Rev. Al Sharpton takes Caroline Kennedy to Lunch in Harlem.
Baptisms reached a 20-year low. Church membership dropped, prompting fears the Nashville-based Baptist body was on a downward slide. And its outgoing president warned that within 20 years, more than half of Southern Baptist churches could die off.
Continue reading Southern Baptist Growth Plan Teeters.
KMBC in Kansas City reports that on a reverend in Blue Springs, Missouri who removed books related to President-elect Barack Obama from the Catholic school's library because of his position on abortion:
Continue reading Kansas City Priest Removes Obama Books From School.
In an HBO documentary set to air Jan. 29, disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says he never claimed to be heterosexual, as was once reported, and he continues to struggle with same-sex attraction. But he's committed to living a heterosexual life because he believes it's better for children to be raised by a mother and a father.
Russia has hardened its stance toward US plans for a missile shield in an apparent bid to "test the mettle" of incoming President Barack Obama, US arms negotiator John Rood said Wednesday.
Continue reading Russia wants to Test Obama on Missile Defense.
Paul Weyrich, who helped turn social conservatives into the most powerful element of the Republican party, had long suffered ill health. Yet together with the Rev Jerry Falwell, one of America's leading political evangelicals, he pushed the Christian Right-wing agenda to the forefront of the nation's politics.
Continue reading Paul Weyrich, Man who Coined 'Moral Majority', Dies.
Jason Castro, a runner-up in season 7 on 'American Idol,' gives his testimony in this video on the very cool I Am Second website. Castro tells how a Christian camp experience in high school -- with a little help from the David Crowder Band -- led him to "really dedicate my life to the teachings of Jesus."
To the chapters of a life of a one-time prime minister and now freelance diplomat, add one more: Mr. Blair Goes to Yale.
Continue reading Tony Blair Reflects on his Newest Title: Teacher.
President-elect Barack Obama has said that he will sign the Freedom of Choice Act shortly after assuming office. The act would strike down local and state laws related to limiting abortion, parental notification and such. According to some reports, he may even do this as one of his first (and therefore closely scrutinized) initiatives as president.
Continue reading Healing a Great Divide, by Frank Schaeffer.
If anyone knows how Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich feels right now, I do. On Tuesday, the governor was arrested in a glare of publicity and charged with going on "a corruption crime spree," as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald described it -- including alleged attempts to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.
Continue reading Chuck Colson: I Know What Illinois Governor Feels Like Now.
President-elect Barack Obama said Monday a review by his own lawyer shows he had no direct contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the appointment of a Senate replacement, and transition aides did nothing inappropriate.
Continue reading Obama: Probe Shows No Contact in Illinois Governor Scandal.
Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich has sent a note to her neighbors apologizing for the media attention that has besieged her Chicago neighborhood. In the message sent over the weekend, Blagojevich acknowledged "the media barrage that has descended" on her neighborhood.
Continue reading Wife of Illinois Governor Apologizes to Neighbors.
Newspapers are desperately seeking new business models that will help them survive dwindling readership and a deep advertising slump exacerbated by the recession.
Continue reading Detroit Newspapers Going Digital.
You've been "superpoked" -- and served. A court in Australia has approved the use of Facebook, a popular social networking Web site, to notify a couple that they lost their home after defaulting on a loan.
Continue reading Australian Couple Loses Home via Facebook.
Caroline Kennedy told New York's governor on Monday that she's interested in the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, making her the highest-profile candidate to express a desire for the job.
Continue reading New York Governor: Caroline Kennedy Wants Clinton's Senate Seat.
A judge sentenced a religious sect's elder to 30 years in prison for molesting an 11-year-old girl during a phony cervical cancer exam.
Continue reading Texas Sect Elder Gets 30 Years for Molesting Girl.
An apocalyptic religious sect's leader was convicted Monday of criminal sexual contact with an underage girl in an incident he called a spiritual healing exercise.
Continue reading New Mexico Sect Leader Guilty in Child Sex Case.
The Christmas season is deeply embedded into the consciousness and lifestyles of Americans. It alters people's schedules, spending patterns and family experience, but it may not have as dramatic an effect on lives in other dimensions as you might imagine.
The eastern Indian state of Orissa, largely unknown to Catholics in the West before August, is a rural area with significant mineral resources.
Continue reading Kill Christians and Destroy Their Institutions.
- Obama will Arrive in Washington D.C. by Train
- Biographical Information on Steven Chu
- Barkley Believes Race was a Factor in Auburn's Coach Hire
- More Layoffs in Publishing industry: This Time at Macmillan
- Yahoo Revamps E-mail Service to Become More Social
- Your Next Home: A Smaller, Greener Approach
- Google Says It Still Stands by Net Neutrality
- Donovan McNabb Leads Eagles to 30-10 Win over Browns
All the great nations of the past, which now sleep in dusty oblivion, followed the same pattern: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence back to bondage. Where in this pattern is our beloved America today?
Continue reading From Bondage to Spiritual Faith.
Though Barack Obama isn't accused of anything, the charges against his home-state governor -- concerning Obama's own Senate seat no less -- are an unwelcome distraction. And the ultimate fallout is unclear.
Continue reading Obama Tries to Distance himself from Illinois Governor
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While being a committed Christian, Tony Blair did not, in Alistair Campbell's famous phrase, "do God". George Bush is different. Famously born again from his dissolute, hard drinking ways, the soon-to-depart US president's fervent faith helped make America's large evangelical community the bedrock of his election victories.
Continue reading George Bush the Religious Moderate?.
Going into this election, Republicans owned most of the seriously devout voters. John Green, who studies religious voting patterns for the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, says that ownership dates back 30 years.
Continue reading Obama Closes the God Gap, by William McKenzie
of The Dallas Morning News.
of The Dallas Morning News.
American Idol winner Fantasia could be in line with millions of other Americans. Media reports suggest that the singer "is about to lose her home." She says it's not true.
Continue reading Fantasia Reportedly Losing One of her Homes.
Church groups in the UK have voiced concerns over the findings in the fourth national census of the ethnicity of all patients in the NHS psychiatric hospitals. The "Count Me In" 2008 report revealed that detention rates for people from African and Caribbean communities continue to exceed that of all other ethnic groups.
Continue reading Alarm Over Rising Detention Rates of Blacks, Other Minorities.
Frank Schaeffer's parents, Francis and Edith, were best-selling authors who were instrumental in linking the evangelical community with the anti-abortion movement.
Madeleine Brand talks with Reverend Jeff Strong, who heads the Anawim Community Church in Portland, Ore. As donations dwindle, Reverend Strong is struggling to take care of his rapidly growing population of needy parishioners.
Continue reading Many Churches Struggle To Help As Donations Fall
(Audio).
(Audio).
High food prices have plunged an additional 40 million people into hunger this year, pushing the overall number of needy to almost 1 billion, a U.N. agency said Tuesday. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization put the number at 963 million.
Continue reading Nearly 1 Billion of the World's Population Goes Hungry.
When a gunman attacked parishioners at a Clifton church last month, word of the shootings spread quickly among two culturally divergent communities that share a strong but little known bond: South Indians and Middle Easterners, who both are members of the Syriac Orthodox tradition.
Continue reading Church Shooting Puts Spotlight on Knanaya Religion.
Dec. 9 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton, and fans around the world are celebrating with literary events, exhibits and readings of his epic poem Paradise Lost. 
The English write sonnets. The Japanese, haiku. Americans have their own form of abbreviated poetry: the personalized license plate. Seven letters or numbers to say almost anything you want. But those limits are being tested in federal court by a Vermont man who tried to write a six-character ode to Jesus on his plate.
Continue reading Vermont Court to Decide if Bible Vanity Plates Should be Allowed
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(Audio).
The two-year-old adopted daughter of British Christian missionaries arrested in Africa is being cared for by a family friend, the Foreign Office said. David Fulton, 60, from Troon in Ayrshire and his wife Fiona, 46, from Devon, were arrested in The Gambia on sedition charges on 29 November.
Continue reading Child Removed from British Missionaries in Gambia.
A nine-year-old girl from Hampshire has taken on the role of a bishop for the month of December. Ophelia Wells is looking after St John's Church in Forton, Gosport, in a revival of a medieval custom. She is taking sermons throughout the month at the church, which is part of the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth.
Continue reading Nine-Year-Old Girl Takes on Role of Bishop in British Church.
Oprah Winfrey opens up about her recent weight gain in an eight-page package in the January issue of O. The coverline reads: "How Did I Let This Happen Again?" Winfrey writes about how and why she has gained 40 pounds in four years, now reaching 200 pounds. That's right. 200. 
Iranian Vice President Esfandyar Rahim Mashaei believes the destruction of Israel should become an international goal and a global demand, the state-owned IRNA reported Tuesday.
Continue reading Iran's Vice-President Calls for Israel's Destruction.
A broken O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to as much as 33 years in prison for a hotel armed robbery after a judge rejected his apology and said, "It was much more than stupidity." 
President George W. Bush publicly acknowledged for the first time Friday that the U.S. economy is in a recession and worried aloud that Detroit's Big Three automakers may not all survive their mounting troubles.
A white social studies teacher attempted to enliven a seventh-grade discussion of slavery by binding the hands and feet of two black girls, prompting outrage from one girl's mother and the local chapter of the NAACP.
Continue reading White Teacher Sorry for Binding Two Black Girls in Slavery Lesson.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama's election.
Continue reading What's Going On?
Will Supreme Court Take Case on Obama's Citizenship?.
Will Supreme Court Take Case on Obama's Citizenship?.
Voters' economic status and religious convictions played a greater role than race and age in determining whether they supported the Nov. 4 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California, a new poll shows.
Continue reading Poll: California Homosexual Marriage Ban Driven by Religion.
The proliferation of foreign evangelical Christian sects in Iraq is putting Iraqi Christians in greater danger, said a Chaldean bishop. The fall of Saddam Hussein opened the doors to a large influx of Christian groups and movements from abroad, said Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad.
Continue reading Evangelical Sects put Iraqi Christians in Danger, Iraqi Bishop Says.
The Katako market was still smouldering five days after it was razed to the ground by a mob of Christian youths. The bodies of ten people trapped in the fires that destroyed it had already been taken away and buried.
Backers of an attempt to legalize same-sex marriage in the District next year are re-evaluating their strategy in light of political realities, including a California referendum last month in which blacks voted overwhelmingly for a constitutional amendment to prohibit the practice.
Continue reading Homosexual Marriage Activists Regroup.
Christians in Orissa state are anticipating Christmas with fear as Hindu extremists have called for a state-wide bandh, or forced shut-down on all sectors of society, on Dec. 25 - a move that could provide Hindu extremists the pretext for attacking anyone publicly celebrating the birth of Christ.
Continue reading Christians in Orissa, India Fear Violent Christmas.
A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia on charges of "adultery" by supporters of an influential Islamic group which previously murdered Christian converts, BosNewsLife learned Sunday, November 2.
Continue reading Somali Militants Stone Raped Girl to Death for "Adultery".
President-elect Barack Obama has begun laying the groundwork for overhauling the troubled U.S. healthcare system, reaching out to interest groups and building grass-roots support for the huge undertaking.
Continue reading Obama Laying Groundwork for Health Reform.
Two California lawmakers and openly gay members of the Legislature have introduced measures supporting the repeal of Proposition 8. Sen. Mark Leno and state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced concurrent resolutions that seek to put the California Legislature on record opposing Proposition 8.
Continue reading California Lawmakers Introduce Resolutions to Repeal Prop. 8.
A Salvation Army leader is likely to be terminated after he announced his engagement to a woman who is not affiliated with the organization.
Continue reading Salvation Army Captain to Lose Job for Violating Marriage Policy.
A Christian literature ministry is calling on believers in America not only to celebrate this Christmas without a Bible in hand, but also to clear their shelves of many of the Bibles they may have.
Iran is conducting a second day of war games near the Strait of Hormuz. The Fars News Agency reports fighter jets successfully launched air-to-sea missiles against a predetermined target.
Continue reading Iran Conducts War Games Near Strait of Hormuz.
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said today that it was "well past time" for Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe to step down. Rice called on other southern African nations to take the lead on pressuring him to quit. 
Researchers gathered recently in a small darkened lab near Santa Barbara, nervously pacing as a digital camera snapped hundreds of images of a shard of pottery resting a few feet below the lens.
The first NFL game broadcast to theaters live in 3-D fumbled, then recovered Thursday night. Two satellite glitches blacked out the broadcast to theaters in Boston, New York and Los Angeles in the first half of the game between the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers.
Continue reading First Football Game in 3-D Fumbles, then Recovers.
Tens of millions of Americans have already suffered substantial financial losses in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial challenges. A new survey from The Barna Group shows that more than 150 million adults said they have been affected by the economic turbulence, and most of them expect it to take several years before the nation fully recovers.
Continue reading Churches Stand to Lose Several Billion Dollars in Economic Downturn.
"At this moment, the United States has a unique opportunity to push forward a vision that aligns its own interests and ideals with those of most of the world's major powers. But it is a fleeting opportunity," Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes in the December 8 cover, "How to Fix the World" (on newsstands Monday, December 1).
Continue reading Newsweek Cover: How to Fix the World.
When 85 new students enrolled this fall at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, the numbers were "beyond our wildest dreams," said President Duane Larson. But the Lutheran school's board, looking at a 35 percent drop in its endowment value and a similar decline in individuals gifts, also had to face up to stark financial realities.
Continue reading Seminaries Tightening Belts Amid Crisis.
Police arrested the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson on Monday in the shooting deaths of the entertainer's mother, brother and young nephew, taking him from a prison where he had been held on a suspected parole violation. 
It was just 10 months ago that Plaxico Burress became an instant New York sports hero after his clutch performance in the Super Bowl. But on Monday, Burress was hauled out of a police precinct in handcuffs facing two weapons charges that could send him to jail. 
The pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles apologized to his congregants Sunday for any embarrassment caused by disclosures that he had used church credit cards for sizable personal expenses and had failed to pay federal taxes for several years.
A gay version of the Bible, in which God says it is better to be gay than straight, is to be published by an American film producer. New Mexico-based Revision Studios will publish The Princess Diana Bible - so named because of Diana's "many good works", it says - online at princessdianabible.com in spring 2009.
Continue reading The "Homosexual" Bible Angers Christians.
The mayor of Alabama's largest city, Larry Langford, was arrested Monday on federal bribery and fraud charges connected to a multibillion-dollar sewer bond deal that has driven the surrounding county to the brink of bankruptcy.
Continue reading Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford Arrested on Bribery Charges.
Stoic and publicly silent through months of a sex scandal, the woman whose relationship with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick led to his downfall broke her silence Monday, shedding tears as she pleaded guilty. Christine Beatty, a former aide to the mayor, accepted a four-month jail sentence in exchange for admitting to obstruction of justice charges for her actions in a civil lawsuit brought by two police officers.
Top Obama economic advisor Lawrence Summer is the consummate Wall Street, and yes another Clinton insider. His resume reads like a mini telephone book on the list of posts he's held in and out of every financial and government monetary agency imaginable.
Continue reading Red Flags Fly High on Obama's Economic Team,
by Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
by Earl Ofari Hutchinson.
President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Monday it will cut a total of 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual, which it acquired Sept. 25 after Washington Mutual became the nation's largest bank to fail amid the ongoing credit crisis.
Continue reading JPMorgan Cutting 9,200 Jobs at Washington Mutual.
When Barack Obama took to the stage on election night, he was careful to court the dog lovers of the world by telling them he'd be buying his daughters a puppy. What he neglected to mention was the gift that he'd be giving his wife, Michelle.
Continue reading Big Bling Thanks from the President-Elect to his First Lady.
The selection of experienced centrists -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and James L. Jones -- to head President-elect Barack Obama's national security team points to the possibility that on Iraq, the incoming commander-in-chief may take a more measured path to ending American military involvement than he described during the presidential campaign.
Continue reading Obama From Change Agent to Pragmatist.
Happily contemplating another woman as the top U.S. diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she will offer advice, privately, and then get out of the way. 
President George W. Bush confessed he was "unprepared for war" and that the lowest point of his presidency was his administration's mistake on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Continue reading President Bush: "I Was Unprepared for War".
India picked up intelligence in recent months that terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, an official said Tuesday, as the government demanded that Islamabad hand over suspected terrorists believed living in Pakistan.
Continue reading India Demanding Pakistan to Hand Over Terror Suspects.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is holding a two-day meeting to examine reports on the alleged nuclear activities of Iran and Syria, both of which has sparked international concern. In comments before the commission on Thursday, agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei said neither country had done enough to assuage concerns about their programs.
Continue reading IAEA Frustrated Over Lack of Transparency in Iran, Syria.
