8 in 10 Church Members Think Sex Offenders Belong in Church – New survey reveals attitudes and practices relating to released sex offenders at church Nearly 80 percent of the more than 2,500 respondents to the “Sex Offenders in the Church” survey, conducted by Christianity Today International (CTI), say th

Family-Faith Film Review: The Waiting City By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting The Waiting City—This poignant yet challenging drama follows an Australian couple (Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton) to India, where they hope to finalize their adoption of a baby girl. But the tensions created by bureaucratic delays a

Greg Walden: Absurd fine on Mercy Flights is Exhibit A for out-of-control government – Walden asks Transportation Secretary LaHood for official explanation By Congressman Greg Walden HOOD RIVER, Ore. — U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) yesterday told Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in a letter he is disappointed

By Andrew Palau, Luis Palau Ministries No matter how many stories you hear, you never dream you will be the one in a plane crash. For me and my family, the worst came true last Christmas (2009). We barely escaped with our lives. You may remember hearing about American Airlines Flight 331 that crash-landed in Jamaica. The p

EMO speaks out on Cordoba Community Center and Mosque in New York Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) joins the National Council of Churches and Oregonian editorial writers and columnists to express our concern at the tenor of discourse in the past weeks around the building of the Cordoba C

Oregon radio host Georgene Rice of KPDQ-FM interviewed  Sean Tuohy author of “In A Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving” and was featured in the movie, The Blind Side. Rice: Why do you think your family’s story has captivated so many people? Tuohy: It’s interesting, as we travel around, we are so lucky t

Homeschooling: The Fastest-Growing Form of Education in the U.S. It appears that in the U.S., homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education, according to independent research conducted by organizations ranging from the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org), a nonprofit research and educational

By Steve Rabey Religion News Service (RNS) Believers have been writing about their spiritual journeys ever since St. Augustine invented the autobiography 16 centuries ago. Today, spiritual memoirs are enjoying a popular resurrection. Exhibit A is Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love,” which describes Gilbert’s midli

Parishes encouraged to promote Family Day By Portland Archdiocese Parishes in the Archdiocese of Portland are being encouraged to promote Family Day. September 27 is the tenth anniversary of “Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with your Children.” This celebration was started in 2001 by the National Center on Addiction

Family-Faith Film Review: Takers By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting Takers—Crime drama that devolves into a cliched exercise in gunfire, explosions and insipid dialogue. Director and co-writer John Luessenhop tells the story of a gang of five skilled thieves (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Michael Ealy an

Family-Faith Film Review: The Last Exorcism By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting The Last Exorcism—Middling fright fest about an evangelical minister and self-confessed charlatan (Patrick Fabian) who brings a film crew (led by Iris Bahr) along to document his final faked exorcism. But he gets more than he bargained

Majority Oppose Proposed Islamic Center and Mosque in NYC, But Support Mosque in Own Local Community – Majority say former site of World Trade Center is ‘Sacred Ground’ By Public Religion Research Institute WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the debate over building a Muslim community center and mosque in lower Manhatt

Oregon faith Report Online Poll, Most Oregonians consider the Census process an uncomfortable experience according to an Oregon Faith Report online straw poll.   The question asked was “In filling out the 2010 census, did you feel comfortable/uncomfortable on the questions asked?” with 65% saying uncomfortabl

Church Girls Gone…Mild? Paul Coughlin, Oregon author of No More Christian Nice Girls No book on the Christian Nice Girl problem would be complete without looking at how the church socializes girls and women.  Rather than trying to resolve every “hot button” doctrinal issue related to gender, such as wheth

Family-Faith Film Review: The Switch By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting The Switch—Seven years after his unmarried best friend (Jennifer Aniston) conceived a son (Thomas Robinson) by artificial insemination, and left town to raise the boy, a successful but neurotic New York stock trader (Jason Bateman) reconnects

Family-Faith Film Review: Lottery Ticket By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting Lottery Ticket—Broad comedy centers on a hardworking, good-natured 18-year-old (rapper Bow Wow) from an Atlanta housing project who wins the lottery but must survive a long holiday weekend before he can collect. He must evade the wiles of

By Jeff Merkley Oregonian guest letter The debate swirling around the proposed mosque and Muslim community center in lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center site has, for many, tapped into strong emotions of a national trauma that is still raw. But in the churning political and constitutional arguments, one question has

A Georgia University Orders Student to Change Her Christian Beliefs to Earn Degree. By Oregon Family Council In another blatant (and increasingly common) example of religious freedoms being assailed in the “land of the free”, a counseling student at Augusta State University in Georgia was told that her Christian beliefs

Texas Church Leads Nat’l Facebook Fast, Wed. Aug. 25 Even though we’re more connected virtually than ever before, why do so many people feel increasingly disconnected from deep and rewarding relationships? One week from today, NYTimes bestselling authors and church leaders Kerry and Chris Shook — along wit

WASHINGTON, — Concerned Women for America has confirmed that Math Counts, a national math competition for teams and individual students in grades 6-8, will not allow homeschoolers to form teams and compete in the 2010-2011 school year.  The Math Counts board unanimously decided to exclude homeschoolers in response to

New Pew Research Center Survey Reveals Growing Number of Americans Who Say Barack Obama is a Muslim Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Washington, D.C.—A new national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that a substantial and growing num

Religion in Sports: NFL player fasts during practice to honor Ramadan, Tim Tebow tops athlete ratings, plus Hockey star  Kane shares his faith By Oregon Faith News Notes: 1. Footballer Abdullah fasts during Ramadan 2. Tim Tebow hits #3 most popular athlete 3. Hockey star Patrick Kane shares his faith 1. Husain Abdullah shu

Faith-Family Film Review: Eat Pray Love By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting Eat Pray Love—Off-kilter values underlie this fact-based narrative of a travel writer’s (Julia Roberts) self-initiated divorce (from Billy Crudup), brief affair with a much younger actor (James Franco) and yearlong quest for enlighte

Faith-Family Film Review: The Expendables By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting The Expendables—Brutally violent action vehicle, directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, in which a veritable Who’s Who of Hollywood tough guys and professional sports stars form a ragtag brotherhood of mercenaries who trave

By Kari Patterson, Oregon blogger KariPatterson.com Today marks three years of investing time into this peculiar little sphere of space I call my blog.  I remember so vividly, one afternoon in July of 2007 when Jeff suggested starting a blog, so that I’d have the motivation to keep up the discipline of writing.  I was s

Rick Johnson Better Dads Ministry Oregon I was recently asked to speak at a large men’s conference. Besides speaking from the main stage I was scheduled to give two breakout sessions as well. One of the breakout sessions was on the topic of my newest book, Becoming Your Spouse’s Better Half. Upon arriving at the venue I

Can Hands-On Prayer Help Heal? THURSDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) — An older Mozambican woman named Maryam could not see two fingers held up just one foot in front of her when she arrived for a Pentecostal prayer intervention in her village. Nor could she see an eye chart from a similarly close distance.  But after [.

Things I Wish I’d Known Before We Got Married – No. 1 NYT Bestselling Author Gary Chapman’s Newest Book Helps Starting Marriages Last—Starting Sept. 1 CHICAGO—The honeymoon is so over. “In love” is in remission; sex falls short; and toilets don’t clean themselves. “Surely,”

8 Million Americans Leave Church Annually, ‘reDiscover Church’ Booklets Invite Them Back Great Tool for National ‘Back To Church Sunday’ VISTA, Calif.—The church in the United States is in a general state of decline, with fewer than one in five Americans attending on a regular basis and almost 8 mi