Jerry Pattengale’s cell phone won’t stop ringing as he leads a secretive group of four wide-eyed college administrators around a majestic campus built in 1879 by legendary evangelist D.L. Moody. Calls and visitors are pouring in for one reason: the billionaire Oklahoma family that owns the 217-acre site and its 43 buildings aims to give [...]

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For the Rev. Jerry Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fairhope, being Southern Baptist is a defining aspect of life. He embraces the denomination’s conservative social values, extols its evangelism — “We reach out to people instead of waiting for them to come to us” — and identifies with its name. “I grew up [...]

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The atmosphere is like a pop concert: in a darkened theater in the lively Montparnasse area of Paris, hundreds of young people sing catchy songs and wave their arms in the air, while a group plays booming music on stage. But this isn’t a pop gig. Welcome to Hillsong Church. The Australian-born Pentecostal church set [...]

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Ron Williams is the pastor of Church at the GYM in Sanford, Fla. As the Baptist church’s name implies, Williams’ congregation meets, well, in a gym. Williams said the goal is to remove the “stained-glass barriers” for people who might not be comfortable in traditional church settings. “I think all the trappings of traditional religion [...]

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When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney released his federal tax returns for the past two years, he disclosed that he and his wife, Ann, gave about 10 percent of their income to their church, a well-known religious practice called tithing. In that way, the Romneys are typical Mormons, members of a church that is exceptionally [...]

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From her home, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as visitors outside come to look upon the spot where Egypt’s Coptic Christians believe Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus found refuge after fleeing Bethlehem. Once crowded with Christians, Cairo’s Coptic quarter where she lives with her husband, Mounir, [...]

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Millie Campbell slipped the transmission into reverse and backed her blue Chevrolet away from her spotless brick home. “Oh God,” she said, “we thank you for the blood of Jesus.” Then the 76-year-old cranked the wheel straight, put the car into drive, and headed slowly up Frenchmen Street, one hand on the wheel, the other [...]

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Sue Fritz tended to the sick for more than two decades as a nurse at St. Peter’s University Hospital. By the time she left for another job in 1999, she was vested in the hospital’s federally insured pension program — confident her earned pension of $20,000 or more a year would be there for her [...]

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In the midst of a governance crisis that threatens to divide the Philippines, several churches say they are marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by setting aside doctrinal differences, praying and working for change. “Even amidst new political trouble that threatens to polarize again our country, we Christians can take the lead in [...]

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Ask Mormons if they are Christian, and their answer often starts with a sigh. Look at our name, they’ll say, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Read The Book of Mormon’s subtitle, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” Examine our Articles of Faith, “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may [...]

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