An Open Letter to the Voting Members of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

Film about Christian converts to Judaism.

Photo.

The New York Times on “Angels and Demons. “The only people likely to be offended by “Angels & Demons” are those who persist in their adherence to the fading dogma that popular entertainment should earn its acclaim through excellence and originality.

After two years as Associate Pastor of the Houston International Seventh-day Adventist Church, a time meant to allow me to reacclimate to the church of my youth, I’ve been called to a new assignment. Starting next month, I’ll be pastor of the North Houston and Spring Creek Seventh-day Adventist churches. We won’t be moving–I’ll just…

Gibson’s review.

Al Jazeera has aired a report on alleged proselytism by American soldiers, and alleged inappropriate conduct by chaplains. It includes extracts from a documentary, The Word and the Warriors, by Brian Hughes. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is making a big deal of it, saying it “proves proselytization rampant at U.S. military bases.” The film…

Willimon writes: Seminaries, at least those in our church, labor under a growing disconnect between the graduates they are producing and the leadership needs of the churches these graduates are serving. This disjunction causes friction in and sometimes defeat of the transition between seminary and church for new pastors. For example, most protestant seminaries have…

William Willimon writes: I recently heard Marcus Borg of the errant “Jesus Seminar” chide us pastors for protecting our congregations from the glorious fruits of “contemporary biblical scholarship.” There’s a brave new world of insight through the historical-critical study of Scripture! Don’t hold back from giving the people in the pew the real truth about…

Article.

CNA carries a story about Catholic author Christopher West’s “Theology of the Body,” and conservative Catholic opposition to him. Unfortunately, both West and his critics engage in misguided and erroneous bashing of Puritans, accusing them of being against sex and against the body. But hold on there. Did the Puritans demand that their clergy be…

I was surprised to hear that an old friend and mentor, Carl Towley, died in January. He was my CPE supervisor at Walter Reed.

Andrew Leigh writes.

ABC reports that the CIA hired two psychologists as consultants to help them devise torture techniques–but they had no prior experience in interrogation.

Boston Globe.