Saturday, November 20, 2010

Complaint Over Vet Day Video

A student has filed a complaint about a public high school principal over two videos he showed students during a Veterans Day rally. In one video slideshow, images were shown to the tune of country musician Jo Dee Messina’s Heaven Was Needing a Hero. It ended with an image of Jesus embracing a man. Tigard High School principal Mark Neffendorf says he didn't know the videos would be shown at the assembly, which was organized by the school’s student leadership.

Friday, November 19, 2010

The T-NIVB

Zondervan has put out a new Bible translation. It's available online now and will be in print next year. Today's New International Bible flopped last year, so the Bible publisher promised an update to avoid the controversy over the gender neutral Bible.In an interview with the Tennessean, Wheaton College Bible scholar Doug Moo said, "We tried to be careful about not bowing to any cultural or ecclesiastical agenda."

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Facebook Theology

A look at Facebook theology at CNN.

Baptists Drop Church Over Woman Pastor

Georgia Southern Baptists are cutting ties with another church because it has a woman as co-pastor. Delegates at the annual state meeting approved a recommendation made from the convention's executive committee to declare the Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta "not a cooperating church." The group separated from the First Baptist Church of Decatur last year over the same issue.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Pastor Bans Facebook

A pastor at a New Jersey church is giving his staff an ultimatum: Give up Facebook or give up their position. Cedric Miller at Living Word Christian Fellowship Church says Facebook is breaking up marriages at his Asbury Park evangelical congregation because people can reconnect through the social network.

Megachurch Salaries Questioned

Objections are being raised over the large salaries enjoyed by members of Robert Schuller's family by the Trustee handling the bankruptcy of the Crystal Chathedral. CFO Fred Southard is given a $132,019 housing allowance while the youngest of Robert H. Schuller's daughters gets $70,000 for producing the Hour of Power broadcasts. Another family member gets $55,000 just for scheduling musical guests. There is a question as to why Southard gets any salary at all, since the church also has an accounting staff. Court documents show that the Schuller family members made more than $1 million in salaries even as the Southern California church owes more than $7 million to creditors.

Monday, November 15, 2010

NH Pledge Law Stands

An appeals court says a Pledge of Allegiance law in New Hampshire is constitutional. It requires schools to authorize a time each day for students to voluntarily recite the pledge. The court found the oath's reference to God doesn't violate students' rights, upholding a lower court ruling. The Freedom From Religion Foundation had filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents who identified themselves and their children as atheist and agnostic. Under the new law, students who choose not to recite the pledge may stand silently or remain seated.