The Valedictorian and the Constitution

AG Jump in Membership

The Assemblies of God says it gained 4% in membership in the last reported year - the biggest jump since 1983. The denomination claims 3,030,944 members in 2010. Church officials report more than 63 million Assemblies of God followers worldwide in 2009.

VA Lawsuit

The VA is releasing new cemetery guidelines after complaints by local veterans and volunteer groups that there's a ban on religious speech at VA National Cemeteries. The Department of Veterans Affairs says invoking the name of God or Jesus is allowed and common. But a federal civil suit fined by the Liberty Institute against the VA claims the opposite. In one instance, the suit describes how a cemetery director told volunteers they had to stop telling families "God bless you" at funerals and ordered them to remove the words "God bless" from condolence cards. Several members of congress have expressed their concerns over the matter.

Software Attempts to Identify Biblical Writers

A new computer program is being used by software programmers in Israel to look for patterns in the Biblical record. Researchers from Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv and Hebrew University in Jerusalem say the analysis of style and word choices matched with the traditional academic division of two authors for the Pentateuch. The findings were presented at the Association for Computational Linguistics meeting in Portland.

Billboard Comes Down

A billboard on church property in Ohio proclaiming, "I can be good without God" is down. The sign, paid for by the Freedom From Religion Foundation was placed on land owned by Christ Cathedral Church. The ad agency said the placement was just a mistake.

Bishop Leaving

A bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is leaving to become interim pastor at the largest ELCA congregation in the U.S. Bishop Craig Johnson leads the Minneapolis-area ELCA, but is resigning to become interim pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis.

Bachman the Evangelical Feminist?

Is Michele Bachman an Evangelical feminist? CNN offers an article addressing the question. Read the story here.