Freedom From Religion; Snooping ministry; a new book from Robert M. Franklin; Icon artist prays and

Thursday’s RNS report features a report by National Correspondent Adelle M. Banks on the challenge to faith-based programs going before the Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next week (Feb. 28) on a technical aspect of church-state law that is being closely watched for its potential implications on how government and […]

Thursday’s RNS report features a report by National Correspondent Adelle M. Banks on the challenge to faith-based programs going before the Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next week (Feb. 28) on a technical aspect of church-state law that is being closely watched for its potential implications on how government and religious organizations relate to one another. The arguments mark the first time the high court will consider a case challenging the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. But the justices’ task is to determine whether the taxpayers bringing that challenge-staffers of the Freedom From Religion Foundation-have the right to file the suit. “The case seems very technical in nature but it could end up impacting real substantive rights that people expect and have come to enjoy over decades,” said Melissa Rogers, a visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School.

Daniel Burke reports on a company for whom snooping is a ministry: It’s not snooping, say the folks at Oxford Document Management Company, it’s ministry. What they do-checking the reputations of candidates for ministry, as well as their financial and criminal histories-is a service to God. And the churches are lining up. With just three full-time employees, Oxford Document Management Company provides the background checks for 90 Episcopal dioceses, 13 United Methodist regional conferences, six Catholic dioceses, scores of Lutheran Synods, the Unitarian Universalist Association and a host of other national denominations. After 16 years in the business, the company has established itself as the go-to firm for church background checks. And in an age of million-dollar embezzlements and costly sex-abuse scandals, its services are more important than ever.

Churches must combat crisis in black America, says author Robert M. Franklin. Adelle M. Banks takes a look at his new book: Black churches need to work together on specific problems facing African-American communities in order to address the “unfinished business” of helping people in need, argues the author of a new book on the subject. Robert M. Franklin, author of “Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities,” said churches are among the institutions that should combat gaps in education, income and health between blacks and whites. “This is a call to action … for churches and other houses of worship,” said Franklin, a professor of social ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, whose book was published by Fortress Press. “You could use your moral authority more effectively by taking on the tough and persistent problems that plague our children and young people.”


Fran Henry talks to an artist who paints icons, and gets closer to God in the process: Self-expression never entered into Chris Rigby’s decision to learn to paint “windows to the divine,” as she sees icons. She is a Roman Catholic, and says icons inspired her to better understand her Christian faith: “I write the icon, and the icon writes me. It teaches me. It changes me.” Following iconography tradition, she prays while she paints, “humanly prayers, full of worries and the human experience. … Something in the prayer will come through in the icon.” She hopes they help those who see them connect with God.

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