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7+ hour, 51+ min ago (720+ words) By David W. Virtue, DD An exclusive interview with the Rev. Jerry Kramer of Love for the Least, a global mission to Muslims in the Middle East and East Africa. He and his wife Stacy have been actively serving as missionaries for more than 25 years. They were briefly in the US before returning overseas, where I had an opportunity to interview him. VOL: In the U.S., only one percent of churches is doing evangelism, according to Ryan Burge and other demographers. Is this the beginning of the end if churches are not actively evangelistic? VOL: Traditional missionary methods have seemingly failed, with increasing talk of interfaith dialogue and accommodation with other faith and religious traditions. In your opinion, why did traditional missionary methods fail? VOL: Your work is mainly in Iraq, Iran, and Tanzania. First, tell us about your work in Tanzania....

21+ hour, 32+ min ago (947+ words) by editor | Dec 1, 2025 | Archive, Homepage, Southern Partisan BEAUFORT " The story of the first Thanksgiving in North America nearly perfectly embodies the truism that history is written by the victors. Representations of the "first" Thanksgiving are rife with English pilgrims and Native Americans celebrating a bountiful harvest in Plymouth, Mass., in the fall of 1621. That's all true enough. But according to historical records, the French may have celebrated a Thanksgiving some 57 years earlier and 1,000 miles south of New England. And while that took place in somewhere along the St. John's River near present-day Jacksonville, Fla., there is a direct line between events on Beaufort County's Parris Island and that celebration. Two decades earlier, France, intent on getting a foothold in the New World, dispatched naval officer Jean Ribaut with orders to establish a colony along the coast. Ribaut sailed from France…...

1+ day, 7+ hour ago (45+ words) As ICE raids continue at houses of worship, Rev. Paul Erickson, of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, explains that religious institutions need to be "the conscience of government them back to ... You're watching a daily free preview Preview expires in 00:00 You can cancel anytime....

1+ day, 22+ hour ago (96+ words) Would Christianity still dominate the United States if it were reimagined as a small town of 100 people? That's the premise of a new report from Pew Research Center, which offered fresh analysis of America's religious landscape through the lens of Pew's sweeping 2023-24 Religious Landscape... Would Christianity still dominate the United States if it were reimagined as a small town of 100 people? That's the premise of a new report from Pew Research Center, which offered fresh analysis of America's religious landscape through the lens of Pew's sweeping 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS)....

1+ day, 23+ hour ago (811+ words) Bradford makes clear in Book I of Of Plymouth Plantation that the communal system was not chosen by the Pilgrims for ideological reasons. The London merchant investors'who financed the colony'insisted that all labor, production, and profits be merged into a common stock for seven years. Food, apparel, tools, and all necessities were to be distributed equally regardless of contribution. This was not a utopian experiment; it was a contractual instrument of early modern capitalist investment. Yet, from the colonists" perspective, it functionally resembled enforced communalism: equal distribution without regard for effort or skill, centralized control over labor assignment, and a social structure that minimized individual initiative. But the reality of life in Plymouth'starvation, exposure, disease, harsh winters, and the precariousness of frontier existence'exposed the fragility of this arrangement. With investors 3,000 miles away across the Atlantic, the contractual structure was increasingly…...

3+ day, 9+ hour ago (531+ words) I don't think it was coincidental or circumstantial that one hundred years from this day (almost to the day) the Continental Congress received Richard Henry Lee's resolution for a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. (We have Richard Henry Lee's'Resolution for Independence'in THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS as well.) All told, we have 212 full-size (8" x 11) pages containing 57 of the greatest documents of American history compiled under ONE title. We call this magnificent collection THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS. There isn't another book like it in existence. This book is absolutely essential to the knowledge of American history. THE FREEDOM DOCUMENTS'are being printed and distributed RIGHT NOW. The first Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by the revolutionary Continental Congress was on November 1, 1777, and authored by Samuel Adams. It reads in part: FORASMUCH as it is the indispensible duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago (231+ words) GREENPOINT TO MANHATTAN " The Rev. Dr. Katrina Foster, who most recently served St. John's Lutheran Church in Greenpoint, was installed on Nov. 22 as the first woman and openly gay bishop to lead the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's Metropolitan New York Synod." Bishop Foster will oversee 160 congregations across the region, leading with a message grounded in social justice, compassion and inclusion. Her ministry has long centered on serving LGBTQIA+ individuals, refugees, and the unhoused. This installation marks a milestone for MNYS and signals a new chapter of leadership for faith communities across the nation. The consecration service, hosted at the Cathedral of St. John Divine, added to both the historical nature of the liturgy and to the longtime full-communion relationship between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. The Rev. Yehiel Curry, the ELCA's first Black Presiding Bishop, was the homilist....

3+ day, 17+ hour ago (937+ words) Religious leaders" "powerful prophetic and moral compass" comes to fore amid ICE arrests, teargas and violence For weeks, Chicago has been at the center of the Trump administration"s brutal immigration crackdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officials have arrested 800 people as of 1 October, while also using violent tactics such as body-slamming and deploying teargas in residential areas. Amid the raids and arrests, which have created a pervasive sense of fear, faith leaders have stepped up, putting themselves on the front lines of resistance. One of clergy"s most visible actions has been holding regular Friday gatherings, where dozens of people from various faith communities rally outside the Broadview processing facility, where ICE holds people slated for deportation. Rev David Black of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago says that sometimes faith leaders show up…...

4+ day, 23+ min ago (511+ words) This week millions of Americans gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving with food and football. But many Indigenous Americans did not celebrate. For them, it is not a day of celebration, it is a National Day of Mourning. They mourn the loss of their cultures brought about by European settlers. Since 1970, tribal members have gathered in many places, especially on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Mass., as a reminder of the ensuing genocide, honoring their ancestors and the struggles of Native people to survive today. Of course, not all Indigenous Americans participate in the Day of Mourning, but many do and the trend is growing. While most tribes cannot go to Cole's Hill to be at the memorial for the Grand Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag to remember and reflect, many still do spend the day in prayer to the Great Creator that…...

4+ day, 3+ hour ago (1004+ words) It's easy for small, quiet actions like these to get lost amid larger protests that draw millions of participants. But it would be a mistake to underestimate their power. On a rainy Wednesday a week before Thanksgiving, members of the congregations of the Roman Catholic parishes of Holy Innocents and St. Joan of Arc gathered in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Center City. They stood vigil in witness to what the Rev. Christopher Neilson " the founder and president of Christianity for Living Ministries and founder and pastor of the Living Church at Philadelphia " calls "the core requirements God has for humanity: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Another religious group appeared at ICE's door near Eighth and Cherry Streets on the day before Thanksgiving. This time, it was an interfaith mix of folks…...