Wall Street workers seek spiritual guidance. As the market mayhem rocks Wall Street, dazed employees in the financial sector who have lost their faith in the economy are turning to religious leaders for guidance. Houses of worship in New York City are providing programs to help employees manage the stress of the market meltdown, including immediate counseling, job training and long-term direction for those who still have jobs but aren’t sure for how long.

 
Let there be light—except in England. Reversing an eight-year campaign to brighten up the evenings, the Church of England has developed new guidelines backed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams urging parishes to cut back on the use of floodlights, in the interest of reducing their carbon footprints. The move marks a sharp switch in Anglican enthusiasm that received a major boost for exterior lighting eight years ago, when Britain’s Millennium Commission awarded about $4.4 million to install floodlights at 400 places of worship. Now, the church’s new guidelines suggest all this lighting up at night has gone a bit too far in these days of global concern over carbon emissions. The new guide advises that nightly lighting be reserved for special occasions, such as celebrations of an anniversary.
 

Church of England apologizes to Darwin. The Church of England has gone into 21st-century cyberspace to issue an official apology to naturalist Charles Darwin for its own 19th-century “misunderstanding” over his theory of evolution. Darwin’s thesis that all life evolved over millions of years was published in 1859 in his book, On The Origin of Species, and almost instantly triggered controversy that still continues. His antagonists, including the Church of England, vilified him for questioning convictions that the universe and all its parts were solely the work of God perhaps around 6,000 B.C. and certainly no earlier than 10,000 years ago. But Malcolm Brown, director of missions and public affairs for the Church of England, addressed Darwin on the church’s website and conceded that the church “owes you an apology for misunderstanding you, by getting our first reaction wrong.” In his online apology, Brown likened the Darwin controversy to the Vatican’s trial in 1633 of Galileo, the Italian astronomer who angered the Roman Catholic Church by asserting the Earth revolved around the sun.

Founder returns to Promise Keepers. Promise Keepers co-founder Bill McCartney, former University of Colorado football coach, has returned to his position as chairman and CEO of the Christian men’s ministry. Raleigh Washington, a former executive of the Denver-based ministry and current board member, will return as president. McCartney, 68, resigned in 2003 to care for his ill wife. Lyndi McCartney is “still ailing but in complete accord” with McCartney’s decision to return, general counsel Ed O’Brien told the Rocky Mountain News. Tom Fortson left as president and CEO during the first weekend of September. His resignation was voluntary, O’Brien reported.

–Compiled from Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A new survey by Baylor University researchers suggests that megachurches are more intimate, believers less gullible and atheism less prevalent than popular stereotypes would suggest.

Results of the 2008 Baylor Religion Survey were released in a Sept. 18 Washington press conference during a meeting of religion reporters. It found some results that might surprise those unfamiliar with the lives and beliefs of deeply religious Americans.

For example: Stereotypes about churches that have an average weekend attendance of more than 1,000 worshipers.

“We all know that megachurches have all sorts of flaws. They’re big; they have a wonderful Sunday service because they can afford a symphony orchestra. But they’re kind of cold, they have kind of, like, theater audiences,” said Baylor sociology professor Rodney Stark, the study’s lead researcher, noting common perceptions of megachurches. “All wrong.”

The survey found that members of such churches tended to have more friends within their congregations, hold more conservative or evangelical Christian beliefs, share their faith with friends and strangers more often, and be involved in volunteer work more frequently than their counterparts in churches with less than 100 in average attendance.

“How does that make any sense?” Stark asked. “The answer is: That’s how they got there. Their friends brought them to church, and then they brought their friends to church, and that’s how the congregation was built.”

An additional factor suggested by the survey: Megachurches are far more likely than small churches to be conservative evangelical congregations. Meanwhile, smaller churches had a higher rate of affiliation with what the survey called a “liberal Protestant denomination,” or with mainline church bodies such as the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church.

The survey also found that active religious believers — and particularly conservative Christians — were less likely than the general public to believe in the occult and paranormal.

“The Baylor Survey found that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases credulity, as measured by beliefs in such things as dreams, Bigfoot, UFOs, haunted houses and astrology, with education having hardly any effect,” the survey’s authors said.

For instance, as measured against an index of belief in occult and paranormal beliefs researchers constructed, only 14 percent of respondents who described themselves as “evangelical” rated high on the index. Meanwhile, 30 percent of those who rejected the “evangelical” label scored high on the same index.

Those who described themselves as “theologically liberal” were actually more likely than evangelicals — and than the public at large — to believe in such things as the ability to communicate with the dead, the existence of mythical creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, and alien encounters with Earth.

Stark, asked if it should surprise people that those who hold conservative biblical beliefs would reject beliefs in the paranormal, said no — but that some in academia and the scientific community hold that stereotype.

“It seems pretty logical that people who are into conventional Christianity are not going to be open to this other stuff,” he asserted. “But there’s an enormous amount of belief out that they’re just suckers for anything — that they’re just credulous people.”

The survey, of 1,648 English-speaking American adults, used detailed questionnaires mailed in the fall of 2007. Collected by the Gallup Organization and analyzed by Baylor researchers, it has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

It was funded by the Templeton Foundation, and is the second wave of a three-part survey project. The first set of results was released in 2006. The final set, researchers said, will be released next year.

Read more:

Baylor press release on the survey

Americans believe in four Gods, Baylor religion study finds (9/13/2006)

WASHINGTON (RNS)— When Marilyn Lorenz of Alma, Mich., talks about living out her faith in daily life, she starts by describing what’s inside her refrigerator.

The produce is grown on nearby farms, and the milk is organic and hormone-free. Meat comes from a local farmer who lets his animals graze freely and doesn’t use antibiotics.

“Packing animals in factory farms, I think, is against God’s wishes,” said Lorenz, who changed her shopping and eating habits after a speaker at her church broached the issues in 2007. “It isn’t something my faith could ever support.”

In bringing faith to bear anew on diet, Lorenz is among a growing movement of believers from various traditions who are exploring how to reflect their moral values in the ways they eat. A few examples:

• In Pennsylvania, the Laurelville Mennonite Church Center’s annual conference on sustainable farming was just for farmers when it started five years ago, but this year it attracted nonfarmers from more than 40 Mennonite congregations in five states.

• Three congregations in Clemson, S.C., teamed up for the first time this summer to host dinners featuring local foods, offer workshops on eco-friendly eating, and launch “Upstate Locavores,” a regional group to promote local food sourcing.

• Methodists in North Carolina, Congregationalists in Massachusetts and Catholics in Michigan have in the past year started organic gardens on church property in part to encourage consumption of foods grown without pesticides or chemically based fertilizers.

Thinking of diet in religious terms is, of course, hardly new. Jews and Muslims long have followed dietary codes in order to maintain purity.

Although Christians generally haven’t required year-round dietary codes, fasting and abstaining from certain foods traditionally have been important in certain seasons, such as Lent.

For many congregations, today’s initiatives are tackling new terrain. The faithful discuss how God might want them to eat in light of new research on health, working conditions in food supply chains and environmental crises.

In the process, they’re learning new ways to model the values they profess—and tread lightly when seeking converts.

Consider, for instance, the challenge facing James Patterson, pastor of Institute Church of the Nazarene in Institute, W.Va., who believes he’s accountable to God for both the spiritual and physical health of his predominantly African-American congregation, where one in four parishioners suffers from either diabetes or high blood pressure.

Patterson encourages followers to honor their bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit by shunning fried food, as he tries to do.

But he is careful not to suggest an inherent link between a God-pleasing diet and one that’s beyond many people’s budgets.

“Poor people really can’t afford all the things that are necessary for healthy eating, even if they can get a ride or catch a bus down to the farmer’s market,” Patterson said.

“You have to know who your congregation is and how much they can actually afford.”

Elsewhere, proponents of diet discipleship are figuring out how much eco-friendly eating they can preach without ruffling a flock’s feathers.

In Newbury, Mass., First Parish Church allows a local organic farmer to distribute vegetable harvests on the premises every Friday, and individual plots in the church’s new community garden must be treated with organic products.

But the idea of replacing First Parish’s monthly ham and bean supper with a locally sourced, organic feast wasn’t going to fly with some of the church’s longtime members.

“We’ll have an organic or vegetarian dish” at the community suppers, said Deacon Erin Stack. “But we honor people in the congregation who say: ‘I’m making the ham and beans. That’s what works for me.’”

In North Carolina, some members of Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church tried to stop a plan to turn most of a ball field into a 7,500-square-foot organic garden.

Now the congregation’s gardeners, who call their work “a Christian practice,” invite former naysayers to partake of the bounty at a seasonal picnic.
Picnickers follow one rule—no meat allowed—in order to focus gratitude for what the garden gives as nourishment.

This year, about 250 of 800 worshippers stuck around after the Sunday service for homegrown- tomato sandwiches.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The Shack, a novel of horror and healing rejected by more than a dozen publishers, has sold more than 2 million copies to become the bestselling religion book of the past year.

Author William P. Young, who goes by Paul, says he wasn’t writing for the masses but for a small circle of family and friends. But his story was so raw and powerful it has touched thousands of readers and turned Young into a sudden, if unlikely, celebrity.

“I totally see this as a God thing,” Young said. “This is proof that God still uses the foolish. And it shows that story always has a way of reaching the heart of a person in ways that a debate or lecture doesn’t.”

William P. Young's novel, The Shack, has met with mixed reviews.

The Shack tells the story of Mackenzie Philips, who is enjoying a family vacation when the unthinkable happens: His daughter is abducted and murdered in a nearby shack. Four years later, the grieving father receives a letter from God inviting him to spend a weekend at the shack. Mack accepts, and his understanding of God (who appears as a black woman named Papa) and forgiveness are transformed and enlarged.

The book’s success has cast a spotlight on Young’s own troubled life story—and raised eyebrows among some high-profile Christians about its theology.

Born to missionaries in New Guinea, Young reports he was sexually and emotionally abused both by members of the local community and children at the missionary boarding school where he and other kids were housed.

After college, Young cycled through a series of jobs before facing his next big crisis.

“On Jan. 4, 1994, I got a call from my wife Kim who told me she knew about my affair,” he said.

Over the next 11 years, he experienced the healing and forgiveness that planted the seeds for The Shack, which Young sees as a metaphor for people’s secret sorrows and sins.

“The shack stands for the house of the human soul,” he said. “It is all busted up and broken by our choices, but we learn to hide all that. We build a false front on the outside of our shack, but inside we hide our addictions, our secrets, our lies. … We want people to believe in our facade, which we paint real nice. But inside, everything’s a wreck.”

William P. Young

Young’s wife forgave his infidelity but challenged him to write something about his journey. He embraced the task, hoping to give the story to his children by Christmas 2005. He missed that deadline, but in early 2006 distributed 15 copies of The Shack to family and friends. Before long, recipients were asking for additional copies.

Young sent the manuscript to two friends with connections to the movie and publishing industries. Over the next 16 months, the two men helped Young repair some of the novel’s literary and theological flaws.

In early 2007, they unsuccessfully pitched the book to two dozen publishers. Religious publishers said it was too iconoclastic; mainstream houses said it contained too much Jesus talk.

The two friends raised enough money to create Windblown Media and print 10,000 copies, hoping they could sell them online within two years. Within a year, they had sold a quarter-million copies.

Hachette Book Group USA, a major New York publisher, signed on to distribute the book in May. It debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times’ June 8 trade paperback fiction best-seller list and has stayed there ever since. Young says Oprah Winfrey’s staff is now reading it.

Some evangelical leaders—such as Eugene Peterson, author of The Message Bible— have praised Young’s book. Others—such as Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler—say it plays fast and loose with Scripture, and confuses key Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, forgiveness and salvation. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle calls the book heretical.

Media scholar Lynn Clark says the book blends elements from popular books—such as The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The Purpose-Driven Life—and movies like Bruce Almighty to “reassure readers that even in our culturally plural world full of conflict, an old, unquestioned approach to traditional Christianity is best.”

Still, Clark is troubled by its racial stereotypes.

“The book pretends that it’s being diverse, but then all its racially diverse spiritual beings serve the white guy at its center,” she said.

Young welcomes criticism but isn’t letting it slow him down.

“People have their fears about the book’s theology and stuff, and that’s OK,” said Young, who is working on a movie version of the novel, blogging at www.windrumors.com and thinking about writing his autobiography.

“All over the country, I meet nonreligious people who have read the book, bought copies for their religious friends, and told them, ‘I like the God in this (book) a lot more than yours.’”

Contemporary Christian musician Bart Millard recorded his first solo album of hymns as a tribute to a past generation. He sees his latest collection of gospel songs as a gift to the next generation.

“The first one grew out of a promise I made to my grandmother just before she passed away. She wanted me to record an album of hymns,” said Millard, lead singer of MercyMe, who released Hymned in 2005. “My grandfather was a Baptist pastor, and I grew up on these songs.”

Grandfather Lloyd Lindsey served as pastor of Ardis Heights Baptist Church in Greenville throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Millard recalled old gospel songs and hymns as important influences in his faith development.

So, it meant a lot to Millard when he recognized the power of those songs to capture the attention of his own young children.

“I heard my kids in the backseat singing ‘The Old Rugged Cross,’” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of kids aren't exposed to hymns like that anymore.”

Millard’s decision to record a second collection of gospel standards—Hymned Again—developed from that incident.

“The selfish reason I did it is because I love these songs. The bigger reason is that they are an important part of our heritage, and they shouldn’t be allowed to fade into nothing,” he said.

Stylistically, the arrangements on Hymned Again include everything from Dixieland jazz and blues to country—a far cry from the traditional piano and organ Millard heard in church as a child in Northeast Texas, but with the same familiar tunes and lyrics.

“It’s the same message that was enough to sustain the generation before us,” he said. But with new instrumentation, he hopes the songs will “take on new life.”

In addition to standards such as “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” and “Brethren We Have Met to Worship,” the new album includes one original composition by Millard—“Jesus Cares for Me”—with guest vocals by country recording artist Vince Gill.

Bart Millard (left), lead singer of MercyMe, has recorded his second solo album of hymns and traditional gospel songs, Hymned Again, with the help of (left to right) engineer Chris Hooper, producer Brown Bannister and country recording artist Vince Gill. Gill appears as a guest artist on one song, “Jesus Cares for Me,” written by Millard. PHOTO/Brody Harper

“It’s a new song, but it’s one that sounds like it could have been written 40, 50 or 60 years ago,” so it fit well into the collection of traditional gospel songs, Millard said. “And I feel like Vince Gill really knocked it out of the park.”

MercyMe had performed with Gill’s wife, Christian singer Amy Grant. So, Millard first approached her to ask if she could persuade Gill to record a song for his new CD.

“She said, ‘You’ll have to call him yourself,’” Millard recalled. “I was kind of star-struck. So, I called when I thought he wouldn’t be there and left a message on his voice mail.”

While the hymns and gospel songs on Millard’s two solo albums represent a big departure from the contemporary songs MercyMe typically performs, he noted the band has used one selection from Hymned Again—“I Stand Amazed”—in worship settings.

And Millard hopes that by recording a variety of hymns, a new generation of church worship leaders will be inspired to draw from the vast reservoir of hymns.

“I would make 10 more albums like this if I could,” he said.

Like most addictions, compulsive gambling usually has more than one victim. Take the example of a 16-year-old named Jerry. The picture he painted of his own experience as he began treatment is common among young people who struggle with problem gambling.

Jerry started betting on games in almost every sport and made good money in the beginning. He secured a bookie; then he discovered Internet gambling. He began staying up all night gambling and had problems getting to school.

When Jerry started losing big, he gambled more in an attempt to recover his losses. At first, he borrowed from his parents to pay his own credit cards. Then, without their knowledge, he began using their credit-card information and charging his debts to their accounts.

For awhile, he was able to intercept their escalating credit card statements in the mail.

“When the credit card companies started calling the house, I was done,” he told his counselor. “I couldn’t always get to the phone first even if I tried. When the truth came out, the family was thousands of dollars in debt.

“That night, I tried to kill myself. I couldn’t stand hurting my parents like that.”

That’s when this teenage gambling addict wound up in counseling to try to reclaim his young life.

Professionals who try to help young people and adults who have fallen victim to gambling differentiate between pathological, or compulsive, gamblers and other problem gamblers.

The National Council on Problem Gambling website—www.ncpgambling.org —offers a prime online resource for information on problem gambling. The council website describes the difference this way:

“Problem gambling is gambling behavior which causes disruptions in any major area of life: psychological, physical, social or vocational. The term ‘problem gambling’ includes, but is not limited to, the condition known as ‘pathological,’ or ‘compulsive’ gambling, a progressive addiction characterized by increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money more frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop, ‘chasing’ losses, and loss of control manifested by continuation of the gambling behavior in spite of mounting, serious, negative consequences.”

Resources are readily available for adult and adolescent problem gamblers, and the national council’s website is a good place to start.

Increasingly, colleges and universities are acknowledging the risks of problem gambling on their campuses. They make students aware of the dangers of gambling, no less than they do about the dangers of alcohol and drug use. Colleges encourage students to avoid gambling and direct problem gamblers toward resources for assistance.

Case in point, the University of Missouri operates a website—gambling. missouri.edu—called “Keep-ing the Score” with gambling-related resources for students, parents and educators, including a self-assessment survey. The survey asks 10 pointed questions to help a person of any age quickly determine whether he is—or is in danger of becoming—a problem gambler.

The University of Missouri site draws on resources available from the National Council on Problem Gambling, including frequently asked questions that describe dangers of gambling, motivations and reasons for gambling, and negative consequences associated with adolescent problem gambling.

The council site prominently lists a toll-free 24-hour confidential national hotline—(800) 522-4700—and links to additional resources available in each of the states, including counselor and facility directories.

Hospitals around the country have added programs intended to help problem gamblers through outpatient and inpatient treatments. For instance, Rhode Island Hospital’s gambling treatment program has worked with 1,000 individuals addicted to gambling in the past seven years, according to director and licensed clinical psychologist Bob Breen.

“Each success story is extremely gratifying, but at the same time, we have only scratched the surface,” he notes on the hospital website, www.lifespan.org .

Breen works alongside Henry Lesieur, an internationally recognized re-searcher, clinical psychologist and certified gambling instructor. Lesieur developed the standard screening tool used on six continents in 35 languages—the South Oaks Gambling Screen—and is the founding editor of the Journal of Gambling Studies.

The University of Missouri site suggests 61 percent of teens who gamble do so with their parents’ permission.

Practical steps suggested to help parents protect and educate their children and their communities include:

• Examine your own attitudes and behaviors concerning gambling.

• Learn the facts about gambling—age restrictions, types of gambling and gambling terminology.

• Educate yourself on the warning signs of problem gambling and be cognizant of changes in behavior that might indicate a problem.

• Talk to your children about the risks associated with gambling.

• Be responsible role models; practice what you preach.

• Help form a collaborative network among parents, teachers, youth workers, coaches and other role models in the community to raise awareness and support healthy gambling behaviors.

• Request that schools provide education about gambling and problem gambling, just as they do for substance abuse.

Many students may be accomplished gamblers be the time they reach college, so the university site also suggests a course of action for high schools:

• Establish and enforce policies regarding gambling in school for students and staff.

• Evaluate those who break school polices for potential gambling problems.

• Eliminate Las Vegas Night-type activities on prom and graduation nights, gambling-related fundraisers, and sports pools associated with staff, parent and student activities.
 
• Incorporate a module on gambling and problem gambling into the health and education curriculum.

• Run stories on problem gambling and/or recovering gamblers in the school newspaper.

• Use school-based drama groups to teach in an entertaining way about the dangers of gambling.

• Create or include information resources for a student health fair.

• Conduct a poster/video contest to create a positive message about gambling and problem gambling prevention.

The University of Missouri’s Keeping the Score website—gambling.missouri.edu —lists some of the problem gambling signs to look for in family member or friend:

    •    Frequent unexplained absences from classes or work

    •    Sudden drop in grades

    •    Progressive preoccupation with gambling

    •    Unusual interest in newspapers, magazines or periodicals having to do with horseracing and stocks

    •    Withdrawal from friends and family

    •    Visible changes in behavior (such as mood changes or behavior problems)

    •    Increased use of gambling language, including the word “bet” in conversations

    • Talks more about wins and tries to hide gambling losses

    • Loss of interest in non-gambling activities

    • Neglects personal hygiene

    • Decline in health, increased symptoms of depression

    • Lies about engaging in gambling behavior either commission or omission

    • Feels compelled to “chase” losses

    • Attempts unsuccessfully to cut back

    • Gambles to escape worry or problems

    • Unexplained absence of household and personal items

A growing number of America’s young people are in danger of gambling away their futures—literally.

Studies point to a dangerous trend toward problem gambling among 14- to 21-year-olds who face a dizzying array of enticing gambling options, all with big potential payoffs.

Experts are alarmed about early-age gambling because they believe adolescents are more likely than adults to become problem gamblers—as much as three times more likely. And recent research confirms some youngsters increasingly are introduced to gambling as early teens or younger through peers, state lotteries, the Internet and their own families.

One study estimates 2.9 million young people are gambling on cards on a weekly basis.

One of the most comprehensive surveys of gambling among American young people is “The Prevalence of Problem Gambling Among U.S. Adolescents and Young Adults: Results From a National Survey”—released in late 2007. Researchers interviewed 2,274 randomly selected U.S. residents ages 14 to 21.

Among the key findings from the survey—one of the few not limited to a regional sampling—were:

• 68 percent of the young people who responded said they had gambled in the past year.

• 11 percent acknowledged gambling at least twice a week.

• 6.5 percent were considered at-risk or problem gamblers, and 2.1 percent were clearly problem gamblers.

• Males ranked significantly higher than females in every measure of gambling involvement. Other studies suggest females tend to become more actively involved in gambling as adults.

• Young people who have more access to money tend to have more gambling involvement.

• Non-students—particularly those with regular income—were more likely to have gambled than students.

• Young people living independently were significantly more likely to have gambled in the past year than those living with parents.

• Researchers estimate three-quarters of a million problem gamblers ages 14-21 in the United States.

Various studies suggest a strong correlation between problem gambling and substance and alcohol abuse.

Alarming as they are, these latest findings suggest rates of problem gambling somewhat lower than some previous studies, some of which were considerably more regional in scope.

The games of choice for young gamblers identified in one survey might surprise parents.

A 2006 study of four Minnesota colleges suggested the top three most commonly played games among the surveyed students were slot machines at 70 percent, the lottery at 63 percent and Texas Hold ’Em poker at 46 percent.

Among the games played on a weekly basis, Texas Hold ’Em—by far the most popular form of poker—wins the jackpot, hands down. Four percent of the surveyed students report playing Texas Hold ’Em for money with friends weekly, and an almost equal number play the game online for money every week.

“Texas Hold ’Em online for money is the most popular game being played by probable pathological gamblers on a weekly basis,” the Minnesota researchers concluded in an executive summary of their findings.

Among other demographic factors, the 2007 study looked at religious preferences and the relative prevalence of gambling among young people in each.

Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others had low rates of having gambled in the previous year. But if they gambled, they had higher rates of frequent gambling than any other religious group.

Similarly, researchers found Baptists were less likely than other Protestants to have gambled in the past year. However, when Baptist young people gambled, they exhibited higher rates of frequent gambling, according to the study.

The modern-day legalization of various forms of gambling, its effective promotion and the availability of gambling on the Internet have made the enterprise readily available to and a potential temptation to virtually anyone, including teens and young adults. And the results can be disastrous.

“Gambling addiction is destructive when limited to Las Vegas, Louisiana and state lotteries. Put it right in people’s homes, and its destructive power is devastating,” said Weston Ware of Texans Against Gambling.

“Internet gambling has all of the most addictive elements of all forms of gambling, plus an added measure of anonymity. It makes nearly every dorm room, home and office in America a potential casino and turns every computer into a virtual addiction-delivery device. We just don’t need gambling in our homes and offices—much less our universities.”

Les Bernal, executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling, a national citizens movement, pointed to a 2006 report that provides a demographic breakdown of people who play the Texas Lottery. It showed young people ages 18 to 24 spend a median $50 a month playing the state lottery.

“Predatory gambling touches all age groups and demographics, but it hits the youngest the hardest,” Bernal concluded.

Internet gambling presents a special challenge because of the difficulty in controlling access, he noted. And the gambling industry sees college-age young adults as a market to be tapped.

“The industry recognizes the profit potential of that demographic,” Bernal said.

College-age students who become ensnared by the lure of the Texas Hold ’Em fad should realize the poker tournaments are not just benign fun and games, Ware added.

“Texas Hold ’Em is not just marbles and pitching pennies,” he said.

“Don’t think that these games are the innocent results of kids wanting to play cards for a diversion. Texas Hold ’Em tournaments and events with various designations are businesses designed to make money. And ultimately most of the money will be made from those who fall victim to gambling as addiction rather than entertainment.”

Church bells a nuisance? A town hall in southern England has ruled its 14th century village church has just as much right to ring its bells as the villagers have to operate their noisy lawnmowers and hedge trimmers. Some residents in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, had griped for months that the racket from peal practice at St. Peter and St. Paul Anglican Church—some lasting nearly three hours—disturbed their weekend tranquility, and they wanted it stopped. But the South Coastal District Council, noting residents rarely complained about the din raised by their own garden-trimming activities, said locals shouldn’t be complaining about the church’s bellringers and ruled it had no reason to take action on ground of noise nuisance.

Court says doctors cannot discriminate against gays. California’s Supreme Court ruled doctors cannot discriminate against homosexuals even if they believe their religious freedom will be violated during a course of treatment. The case involved a San Diego County lesbian, Guadalupe Benitez, who informed doctors that she and her partner wanted to pursue fertility treatments. Two doctors in a Vista, Calif., practice said their religious beliefs would prevent them from performing an artificial insemination for Benitez. Benitez sued, citing California’s civil rights act, and the court ruled on her behalf. Lawyers for the doctors are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Head of faith-based office resigns. Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, has resigned to care for his father, who is battling cancer. Hein, 43, had led the office two years. The office, which George W. Bush began soon after becoming president, previously was led by University of Pennsylvania political science professor John DiIulio and Saint Vincent College President Jim Towey.

Fourth-century Bible to go online. The Codex Sinaiticus, thought to be one of the world’s oldest Bibles, has gone online in a project led by the British Library to reconnect all its 1,600-year-old parts spread across Europe and Egypt’s Sinai desert. A preview of the manuscript, which dates from the 4th century and includes what’s believed to be the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, is available free at www.codex-sinaiticus.net. The Codex is a “unique treasure” that “only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages,” said Scot McKendrick, the British Library’s head of Western manuscripts.

Sheriff drafts worshippers as special deputies. Citing recent high-profile shootings across the country, a Tennessee sheriff has introduced a new plan to train worshippers as law enforcement officers. Under the Church Protection Plan, churches in Bradley County can nominate members to serve as special deputies during Sunday services. Under the program, churches with nonprofit status and more than 50 members would have the option of submitting two names to the sheriff’s office to serve as special deputies. If appointed, special deputies would be required to participate in 40 hours of training each year and be authorized to carry firearms. Their authority would be restricted to church services and events.

WASHINGTON (RNS)— Bob Sanford wanted to create a Bible that would bring order and clarity to the text. Instead, he’s waded right into one of the great debates of biblical scholarship.

The Chronological Study Bible will be released this fall in the midst of a Bible-publishing boom in the United States. In an industry that now has as much to do with profits as with prophets, Sanford expects his new edition to have wide appeal.

The challenge “is to take the scholarship and make it enjoyable to a readership that enjoys history,” said Sanford, who oversees the Bible division for the giant Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.

The company has carved out its share of the industry’s estimated $500 million annual haul by cornering the market on niche markets, such as families and teenagers.

The latest edition reconfigures the order of books, psalms, and Gospels in an effort to provide a historical framework for a text many scholars consider chronologically challenged.

So, for example, whole sections of Isaiah and Nehemiah are reordered to better reflect an accurate historical timeline; the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are merged into one based on Mark’s chronology; and some of the Apostle Paul’s letters—which traditionally appear later in the New Testament—are woven into the Book of Acts.

Some biblical scholars, however, aren’t buying the idea.

“I would say, generally speaking, that scholars would have no interest at all,” said Pat Graham, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta. “What it ends up being is something that laypersons find helpful—or would think it would be helpful. Any biblical studies expert worth their salt would not have much interest in this at all, except as kind of a curiosity.”

Graham, who called the idea of a chronological Bible “radical,” offered a helpful suggestion for potential buyers.

“It’s like you would attach a pack of cigarettes with a warning label from the surgeon general,” Graham said. “Well, this Bible should have a warning from the theologian general or something: ‘This Bible may be harmful to your spiritual health.’”

At issue for scholars is a question they have grappled with for generations: When—and by whom—was the Bible written? For readers, the larger question is this: Does it really matter if Ezekiel appears before or after Nehemiah, and does it make a difference if a biblical timeline looks more like a zigzag?

The most recognizable changes in the Chronological Study Bible come in the placement of non-narrative sections—books that aren’t necessarily anchored by specific people, places and events.

For instance, the book of Psalms, which appears in the middle of the Old Testament in most editions, is split up in the new edition by time period.
All psalms relating to King David appear as supplements to the relevant books of the Old Testament, such as 1 Chronicles.

Unlocking and reordering the Bible’s chronology can help readers understand the context in which portions of the book were written, Sanford said. But in practice, scholars say, this can prove challenging.

For some biblical accounts, such as the Israelites’ exile to Babylon, there are nonbiblical historical accounts to support the narrative. Other stories require a leap of faith, however.

Critical scholars say trying to rearrange individual books requires getting to the bottom of questions about authorship. Many biblical works were the handiwork of multiple authors, all writing under a single name, they insist.

“It was very common in antiquity to attribute one’s own writings to the most important historians in the past,” said professor Michael Coogan, a professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., and editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible.

“It happens not just in the Bible. Socrates certainly didn’t say everything Plato quotes him as saying,” Coogan observed.

The Bible’s order is significant for other reasons as well. Some scholars worry that changing the order would impact the Bible’s meaning and diminish the value of non-narrative elements, such as the book of Psalms.

“Part of the problem, and to me one of the flaws, is the assumption that this Bible is working with—that (narrative) is the primary genre of literature in the Bible. That just isn’t true,” said Bruce Birch, who teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

All is not lost for the book’s publishers, however. While some in the academic community cry “foul,” the book’s target demographic seems more receptive to the idea. Brad Riley, pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in Wichita, Kan., said a chronological Bible would likely be most useful for newcomers to the faith.

“The Bible can be intimidating for people … and the chronology can help people put the timeline together in their minds,” Riley said.

Tommy Bratton Jr., who leads group Bible study at First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., agreed.

“We try to put our Bible studies now in context of when things occur,” Bratton said. “It would give people, I think, a greater sense of how things were laid out in that way.”

Whether or not the book will win any converts in academia, Sanford thinks his new edition will be a success. There have been chronological Bibles before, he notes, but none specifically geared toward Bible study.

If everything works according to plan, the newest product will provide a fresh perspective on an age-old bestseller. And on this, experts begrudgingly agree.

“You’re writing a new biblical narrative,” said Timothy Beal, a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “I guess in this age of (cutting and pasting), it seems like a way to come up with a new Bible.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A new survey shows that “unchurched” Americans may be worshipping more, and “churched” Americans worshipping less, than many people might think.

Numerous surveys track trends among “unchurched” Americans, but what does “unchurched” really mean? Does it mean never attending religious services, not attending regularly or to simply be unaffiliated with a particular congregation?

Phoenix, Ariz.-based Ellison Research said the most common definitions “often don’t tell a complete story about how Americans attend religious worship services.”

The Ellison survey showed 40 percent of the “unchurched” do not entirely stay away from worship services, and 37 percent of “churched” Americans do not make it to religious services every week, even though they consider themselves regular attenders.

Who are the "unchurched"? 

“There’s often an assumption that people either do attend worship services or they don’t,” said Ellison President Ron Sellers. “But what we find in this study is that one out of every five Americans is attending worship services at least occasionally during the year, even though they are not regularly involved.”

Definitions of “unchurched” used by leading researchers typically are based on yes/no questions of membership at a house of worship, service attendance in the last month or attendance in the last six months apart from holidays, weddings and funerals.

The Ellison study, however, prides itself in more nuanced questions about frequency of worship attendance for churches, mosques and synagogues.

33% of population attends church weekly 

In a survey of more than 1,000 adults, 29 percent of Americans do not attend religious services at all; 10 percent attend only on religious holidays; 9 percent attend occasionally; 19 percent attend between one and three times a month; and 33 percent attend once a week or more.

“It is not our intent to say that anything in the research world is wrong, but the ‘unchurched’ is a huge mass of people,” Sellers said. “Some people out there may not regularly attend services, but they do regularly attend every Easter and every Christmas.”

The study also analyzed family history of attendance and parental religious involvement. The study estimates 43 million adults typically categorized as “unchurched” will visit a church or place of worship at some point during the year, and suggested this should be the focus of outreach for congregations.

TYLER—For some hard-working East Texans, a trip to the doctor can be financially catastrophic. The reason: They number among the 45 million uninsured or underinsured Americans.

Bethesda Health Clinic, a faith-based primary care clinic started by First Baptist Church of Tyler and other churches in the area, is addressing the problem by offering affordable healthcare with dignity and in Christ’s name.

“In our community, there was already pediatric, OB-GYN, and Medicare clinics established. So, our real focus was to develop a quality clinic for those who are working and uninsured,” said John English, executive director of the clinic. Many people “are working hard, but they just happen to work for a business that doesn’t provide insurance.”

The need for a primary care clinic was apparent when Michael Massar, pastor of First Baptist Church, encountered a doctor at the University of Texas Health clinic in Tyler.

“She came to me and asked it she could use one of our Sunday school rooms to hold a clinic because it was her calling to help people who did not have health insurance. I was very intrigued by that,” Massar said.

The doctor took Massar on a tour of local clinics. He recalled his shock at the lack of dignity and care offered to patients. Massar presented the idea of opening a clinic to the deacons at First Baptist, and a group went to tour a medical facility started by a church in Memphis, Tenn. After seeing the clinic, the group knew First Baptist needed to serve the community in this way.

“With the rising health costs, it becomes one of the real issues of this time,” said Massar. “And it is just following the commands of Jesus when he talked in Matthew 25. It seems to be a very important issue for Jesus.”

A volunteer healthcare provider starts an IV for a patient at Bethesda Clinic in Tyler.

Massar wanted the health care ministry to be a community effort, so he invited other churches in the city to take part in the clinic. Organizers created a board of trustees, and they raised funds to renovate a building leased for $1 a year by First Baptist Church. Local doctors donated supplies for patient rooms and the pharmacy. Businessmen and lawyers at First Baptist helped with the paperwork and legal aspects of the clinic.

By 2003, doctors at the clinic were seeing patients two nights a week. During the next few years, the clinic gained more volunteers and was able to open five days a week, offering additional appointments two nights a week and on Saturday mornings if needed.

This primary-care facility offers help to patients ages 16 to 64 who work or live in Smith County, is based on a sliding payment scale up to $20 and is run by volunteer medical and non-medical volunteers. Patients who need care not offered at the clinic are referred to specialists who donate their time and services.

Several churches have volunteered to run Saturday clinics and health fairs, providing not only needed medical care, but also information about preventative medicine. The clinic also offers healthy-living classes at the Bethesda Wellness Center, a prescription drug assistance program and diabetic education classes.

“I’ve lived in several places, and this is one of the most wonderful things I have seen happen in a community—where people can go for help and feel dignity and respect,” said Elaine Osburn, coordinator for the patient advocate program.

Ashleigh Crider from the University of Texas at Tyler paints the faces of children at a volunteer appreciation dinner sponsored by Bethesda Clinic in Tyler. (Photos courtesy of Mary Berry/Bethesda Clinic of Tyler)

Workers at Bethesda want “to meet their medical needs, but that is not the only need we hope we could meet in the patients. We want them to know that this is a place that spiritual needs can be met,” Osburn said.

To do this, Osburn and other volunteers are available when patients need to talk or pray with someone. The volunteer staff meets daily in the chapel at the clinic to pray for patients’ needs.

“We want to be able to minister to their physical and spiritual needs,” Massar said. “We show people that we love them. We try to model out the love of Christ before we start talking about it. We don’t make people jump through hoops in order to get help.”

Because of the success and growth the Bethesda clinic has seen, it has become an example for ECHO—Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach, a nonprofit organization based in Fort Worth that helps churches start healthcare ministries. ECHO takes the concepts, problems and successes that Bethesda experienced and helps other churches maneuver through the information to start their own clinics.

First Baptist “has learned so much in their efforts that they are willing to share,” said Tim Dammon, executive director of ECHO. “But they really don’t have time to do that. We learn a lot from them, and then we take that load off of them and share it with others. We help them understand the process to start (a clinic)—all the insurance requirements, malpractice coverage and recruiting volunteers and doctors.”

Because ECHO is fully funded by the John and Nancy Snyder Foundation, it is able to offer services to churches free of charge. A consultant is assigned to each church interested in this ministry and helps them through the 12 to 18 month process necessary to open a clinic.

ECHO has helped 10 churches—four in Texas—start healthcare ministries. Dammon’s goal is to start 10,000 primary-care clinics by 2030 and provide quality medical care for more than 20 million uninsured people in the United States.

Having such an ambitious goal is not a choice for Dammon. It is just following Jesus’ commands.

“It is so clearly an extension of the gospel,” he said. “Jesus himself clearly called the church to be engaged with the poor and to meet needs. When I sit down and talk to pastors, there has not been one who has said that this is not what the New Testament church ought to be doing. I think that is what makes me so passionate about this.

In July, ECHO signed a memorandum with the Baptist General Convention of Texas to help affiliated churches launch healthcare ministries. Dammon also plans to be present at the BGCT annual meeting to inform pastors how their churches can start primary-care clinics.