evangelism

14 Stories

They Haven't Come Knocking in 2-Plus Years. They're Back

Jehovah's Witnesses making in-person rounds again after a pandemic hiatus since March 2020

(Newser) - Jehovah's Witnesses have restarted their door-to-door ministry after more than two and a half years on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, reviving a religious practice that the faith considers crucial and cherished. From coast to coast, members of the Christian denomination fanned out in cities and towns Thursday...

Vatican Seeks to Win Back the West

New council to 're-evangelize' wealthy countries

(Newser) - Never had a Catholic missionary knocking on your door? That could soon change. Pope Benedict XVI, lamenting "the eclipse of a sense of God" in Europe and North America, has launched plans to "re-evangelize" the West, the Telegraph reports. The newly created Pontifical Council for New Evangelization will...

'Hunt-a-Homo Week' Proposed by Pastor
'Hunt-a-Homo Week' Proposed by Pastor

'Hunt-a-Homo Week' Proposed by Pastor

For real. 1995 sermon comes back to haunt Baptist homophobe

(Newser) - Are you a non-homophobic person looking for something to get very, very angry about? Then check out this horrifying audio Dan Savage has dredged up of a sermon given by Pastor Jeff Owens, of the Shenandoah Bible Baptist Church in West Virginia. “In America we need to stop burning...

600 Audio Bibles Sent to Haiti
 600 Audio Bibles Sent to Haiti 

600 Audio Bibles Sent to Haiti

'The Proclaimer' speaks Haitian Creole and is powered by the sun

(Newser) - A New Mexico ministry has sent 600 talking, solar-powered Bibles to Haiti to bring disaster victims the “hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy.” The “Proclaimer,” Reuters reports, reads the good book aloud in Haitian Creole and is...

University Ski Slope Aims to 'Bring People to Christ'

First all-weather slope 'of its kind in North America'

(Newser) - Virginia’s Liberty University presented its new synthetic ski slope—the first in North America—this weekend with extreme performances from pro skiers and snowboarders. The chancellor of the Christian university, Jerry Falwell, showed off his own moves after paying tribute to his dad, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, who...

Site Will Email Buddies After You Depart in Rapture

Youvebeenleftbehind.com costs $40 a year

(Newser) - A new website will email godless friends and family left behind after you’ve been taken to heaven in the Rapture. For $40 per year, Youvebeenleftbehind.com will store any emails and documents for you, ABC reports—then send them about six days after the Lord hath taken away. The...

Gospel Lives in the Oval Office
Gospel Lives in the Oval Office

Gospel Lives in the Oval Office

New biography reflects on Billy Graham's counsel to 8 of last 9 presidents

(Newser) - Billy Graham has seen US leaders laid bare, from skinny-dipping with LBJ to long walks on the beach with GWB. A new book details the ailing 88-year-old preacher’s rendezvous with presidents past, including counseling Ford to pardon Nixon and advising Hillary Clinton to look past Monica Lewinsky. Graham’s...

Camo Bible Lets Faithful Hunt 'n' Pray

Online retailer gives covert cover to conspicuous Good Book

(Newser) - Evangelical Christians are not used to hiding their faith—but pious hunters have to when gilded scripture covers catch the eye of their prey. An Arkansas-based online outdoors shop is solving the problem with Bibles covered in leaves and tree bark, as well as camo covers for personal copies of...

Born-Again Actor Leads Charge into Iraq

Commentators cry foul over evangelical care packages

(Newser) - A ventriloquist and a born-again movie star are among those headed for Iraq to entertain US soldiers and fold them into the arms of the Lord, writes Max Blumenthal in the Nation. All well and good, but this version of the Almighty, delivered by the likes of Stephen Baldwin, is...

Tammy Faye Messner Dies at 65
Tammy Faye Messner Dies at 65

Tammy Faye Messner Dies at 65

Famed evangelist and media figure struggled with drugs, scandal

(Newser) - Televangelist and Christian entertainer Tammy Faye Messner died Friday morning, CNN reports. She had struggled with drug addiction throughout her life and finally died of cancer. Messner had recently been a guest on Larry King Live, appearing precariously ill, claiming she could no longer swallow food and weighed only 65...

Barack Bashes Right for 'Hijacking' Faith

Dem candidate inveighs against evangelicals for dividing the country

(Newser) - Barack Obama assailed right-wing evangelical leaders yesterday, accusing them of "hijacking" faith and politicizing religion, the Daily News reports. Addressing the national conference of the United Church of Christ, he criticized "so-called leaders of the Christian right" for demonizing Democrats and convincing Americans that Christians' main concerns are...

Ruth Graham Dead at 87
Ruth Graham Dead at 87

Ruth Graham Dead at 87

Motorcycle-riding evangelist's wife recalled as spirited, opinionated

(Newser) - Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, stayed in the background of the legendary evangelist's ministry but was far from obscure. The missionary's daughter was at once demure, feisty, independent, and unpredictable, the LA Times reports. Graham, who died yesterday at 87, was also an accomplished poet and parent to five...

Televangelist Falwell Dead at 73
Televangelist Falwell Dead
at 73

Televangelist Falwell Dead at 73

Controversial conservative mixed religion, politics

(Newser) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and mixed evangelism with conservative social criticism, died today after collapsing in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He was 73. A lightning rod for controversy, Falwell once called AIDS "the wrath of a just God against homosexuals"...

Bible Belt Brings Fight to Europe
Bible Belt Brings Fight to Europe

Bible Belt Brings Fight to Europe

Evangelicals attack stem cells, gays, truancy laws on the continent

(Newser) - American evangelicals have opened a new front in the culture wars—across the Atlantic. Christian groups, including Pat Robertson's legal organization, the American Center for Law and Justice, are actively challenging German laws against home schooling, defending Britons who refuse to work on Sunday, and combating same-sex marriage and stem...

14 Stories
Most Read on Newser