In the 1950s, the communist government of China expelled all foreign missionaries. Many Americans have seen black-and-white photos of missionary families sitting next to piles of luggage on the wharves of Shanghai, waiting to sail home. We know much about this event because the missionaries came home and wrote books about their dedication and their unrealized harvest.
Nine faith leaders have joined to urge senators Barack Obama and John McCain to present a ten-year plan to combat poverty at their nominating conventions. The interfaith coalition—led by Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA—sent letters to the two candidates asking them to propose a strategy in a prime-time speech to help the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. “As people of faith, we believe it is immoral to ignore our nation’s most vulnerable populations,” the letter said.
In a decision hailed by supporters as a victory for the separation of church and state, a federal appeals court upheld a Fredericksburg, Virginia, policy that restricts praying “in Jesus’ name” at city council meetings.
City council member Hashmel Turner, who is a part-time Baptist minister, claimed that requiring all prayers to be nondenominational violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.