As a father with three boys in the Rockwood School District, it was with great interest that I read Tim Townsend’s recent STLtoday.com article on the issue of the school district’s stance of using B.C.E. and C.E. instead of the more traditional B.C. and A.D. when referencing the dates of historical events.

For those new to the controversy, a quick refresher:

B.C. is the abbreviation for Before Christ while A.D. is the abbreviation for Anno Domini (Latin, “in the year of the Lord”). The new designations allegedly remove the Christian implications and stand for Common Era and Before Common Era.

Does it matter whether we use B.C. or B.C.E?

Some comments from Rockwood Superintendent Craig Larson, from Townsend’s article:

“There’s no agenda here,” he said. “We’re just teaching kids how to understand dates.”

Last week, Larson reacted to the debate on his blog.

“Within the last 10-15 years, CE/BCE has started to appear in student textbooks, usually along with AD/BC and…

I was talking with a Baptist friend of mine the other day and we were good-naturedly bemoaning the fact that every time a church makes it into the news for some ridiculous reason, it usually has “Baptist” in its name, even if it doesn’t remotely resemble a typical Baptist church with typical Baptist beliefs (See: Westboro Baptist Church and Amazing Grace Baptist Church).

I mentioned that it would be really nice to write a positive story about an organization with “Baptist” in the title, and he reminded me of the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home in Bridgeton, Missouri.

Lowe-Frillman Campus in Bridgeton, Missouri

Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH) has been around since 1886 and is very good at what it does, providing such crucial services as emergency and transitional shelter, case management, foster and adoptive services, counseling and vocational training.

Every year around this time, a Christmas wish list gets published on the MBCH website, along with…

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

With the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (which fellow blogger Sharon Autenrieth wrote about here) coming up on November 9th, I thought it would be a good time to let people know about an amazingly moving book that you can receive absolutely free from The Voice of the Martyrs, a non-profit organization founded by Richard Wurmbrand that aids the persecuted church around the world.

The book is Wurmbrand’s Tortured for Christ. It is a personal account of the persecution he faced as a result of preaching the gospel of Christ in Communist Romania.

(Not too long ago I wrote about Wurmbrand and the book on my blog, echad. Rather than reprinting that here, If you’re so inclined you can read that post here.)

For more about Wurmbrand, or to sign up online to receive your free copy of Tortured for Christ, you can visit www.TorturedforChrist.com.

(For what…

Fred Phelps came to town yesterday afternoon.

Fred Phelps

(For a quick primer on the infamous pastor you can check out his Wikipedia page here.)

Phelps was in town with members of his Westboro Baptist Church to protest at Hazelwood Central High School because of its Gay/Straight Alliance club.

It should be noted that Westboro Baptist church — much like the book burning Amazing Grace Baptist Church — is an independent Baptist church that bears little to no resemblance to a typical Baptist church and is not affiliated with any of the major Baptist associations or conventions.

But I don’t want to talk about Fred Phelps or his Topeka, Kansas based church.

I want to talk about the counter protest that took place with the intent of disarming Phelps’ nausea-inducing message of hate with a message of love.

Organized by Ed Reggi, the counter protest consisted of upwards of 60-70 people, about 10 times as many…

Remember that famous scene from The Brady Bunch where Jan was spouting off about “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”?

I’m starting to feel that way about healthcare reform. It seems like everywhere I turn, it’s healthcare, healthcare, healthcare.

And if people can agree on one thing, it’s that they can’t agree on anything.

Which is why it’s so refreshing to see this story from CNN.com about Dr. Pedro Jose “Joe” Greer, a gastroenterologist in Miami, Florida who doesn’t care if his patients have the money to pay for his services.

President Obama presents Dr. Pedro Jose "Joe" Greer with Congressional Medal of Freedom. Source: Getty Images

Greer’s comments from his CNN profile are both beautiful and striking:

“I don’t know when it became socially acceptable in our country to refuse a patient because they have no funds,” he told CNN.

“It goes against all the ethics and morals that we know,” he said.

In discussing…

The Red Door - a ministry led by Kathy Price of Wisconsin - meets every Sunday at the Willowdale Saloon in Janesville, WI. The full story about The Red Door can be found here at the Beloit Daily News website.

According to the story,

In an effort to minister to those turned off by traditional religion, Price
holds services at the bar at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday. A social beer and
cigarette is allowed as well as chicken wings, coffee and donuts.

Price continues,

I want the people who don’t want to go to church, those who are wounded and broken, especially from religion…I want to reach out to the person who believes a beer separates them from God.

Many people are hesitant to attend church, Price said, because they feel they
aren’t good enough, or are too sinful. For example, some feel they can’t live
with their boyfriends or girlfriends, must cease swearing, or driving and
talking on the…

Thunder Rd. street sign

I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, so it’s no surprise that I’m anxiously counting down the days until this Sunday when I’ll get to see him and the E-Street Band in concert at the Scottrade Center.

In addition to writing some of the best lines ever in rock and roll music, in the song Thunder Road Springsteen is  responsible for what I think may be the most honest - albeit horribly conceived - pick-up line ever:

“You ain’t a beauty, but hey you’re alright.”

Of course, he follows it up with the reassuring, “And that’s all right with me,” which brings some level of humility to the whole thing and somehow makes the statement actually seem kind of sweet, in a naïve way (since I don’t think that the narrator is speaking grudgingly but rather that he genuinely means that her appearance is okay with him).

Still, I can’t imagine…

Credit: Liberty Counsel

My name is Adam, and I am a liberal Christian.

Yes, we really do exist.

And I just found out that there are people praying for me and all of the other Liberals. Well, maybe not for me, exactly - I’m not high enough on the radar and I yield absolutely zero political clout. But if I did, I’m positive I’d be on the prayer list.

The following comes from David Waters’s Under God blog at The Washington Post:

A conservative Christian organization affiliated with Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has decided to take a less partisan and more prayerful approach to the “radically liberal” age of Obama. The Liberty Council [sic], a nonprofit that defends religious liberties, is encouraging its supporters to “Adopt a Liberal” and “pray earnestly and intensely for them.”

Adopt a liberal, huh? Am I the only one who finds that just a tad condescending?

Looking at the Adopt a Liberal page…