New Lutheran denomination forms amid theological split
| Associated Press via Des Moines Register
Critics of the country's largest Lutheran denomination and its more open stance toward gay clergy formed a new Lutheran church Friday at a meeting of a conservative activist group. The overwhelming voice vote by members of the Lutheran Coalition of Renewal created the North American Lutheran Church… [continued]

Church rebukes pastor for same-sex marriages
by Zusha Elinson | The Bay Citizen
Rev. Jane Adams Spahr received an official rebuke today from the Presbyterian Church for marrying gay and lesbian couples. The verdict followed a three-day church trial held in a small Napa church where the law books were Bibles and the jury was a panel of six church elders… [continued]

Pastor's Corner: The good thing about being a spiritual failure
by John Crotts | Newnan Times-Herald
How many stories have you heard about people filled with treatable cancer or other diseases that could have been cured if they would have only known about the disease in time? The same is true about being a spiritual failure… [continued]

New poll says religion losing influence on American life, government
| Catholic News Service via The Boston Pilot
A new Pew Research Center poll on religion and public life showed that two-thirds of Americans think religion is losing its influence on American life.… [continued]

Egyptian convert to Christianity fights for asylum in the US
by Montserrat Alvarado | Spero News
Walid Salama and his wife and child face deportation back to Egypt despite a documented history of physical attacks by both the police and Salama's family members due to the fact that Salama was formerly Muslim and his wife is a Christian… [continued]

Islamists politically exploit Pakistan's disaster
by The Editor | Family Security Matters
On August 5 this year, eight medical aid workers from a Christian charity, along with their two interpreters were summarily executed in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan… [continued]

Volunteers fill in gaps church pastors can't
by Laura M C Farland | Rocky Mount Telegram
it is up to the leadership to make sure members understand how every position, from cleaning the sanctuary to being a prayer partner, is part of the church's greater purpose of saving souls, she said. If people don't understand the importance of what they are doing, they are not going to prioritize it, Mitchell said. They might do sloppy work, come in late or not show up… [continued]

Your doctor's religion matters
by Dominic WIlkinson | Practical Ethics News
In a paper released today in the Journal of Medical Ethics, a large survey of UK doctors found that doctors' religion influenced their views and practice of end-of-life care. Why does this matter? A number of headlines highlighted that atheist or agnostic doctors were more likely to report having participated in "ethically contentious end-of life actions"… [continued]