Beliefnet News

Confessions of a Preacher’s Daughter

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:04:02 +0000

She’s the star of “This Is Our Time.” She played Kirk Cameron’s wife in the surprise blockbuster “Fireproof.” But she grew up as the pastor’s kid at a megachurch. Was Erin Bethea the stereotypical fast-driving, hard-drinking, boy-teasing, cigar-smoking preacher’s daughter? After all, in “Fireproof,” she played an angry, bitter wife looking for the drama of an illicit affair. Is that the sort of teen she was back at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia? “I hate...

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Focus on the Family’s President Says It’s Time to “Refocus”

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:24:18 +0000

It’s tough out there in the culture wars and Jim Daly has the battle scars to prove it. But does the top executive of Focus on the Family believe he can ever successfully declare a truce with forces that seem determined to discredit his ministry? Can Daly ever dilute Focus on the Family’s message enough to win his opponents’ approval? There are radical groups declaring vehemently that the Colorado Springs-based ministry founded in 1977 by Dr. James Dobson is a “hate group”...

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5-week Bible special a labor of love for famous TV producer and ‘Touched by an Angel’ wife

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:47:19 +0000

It’s a passion project. The new 10-hour mini-series The Bible is “a story of enduring love,” says Mark Burnett, producer of TV mega-hits Survivor (CBS), The Voice (NBC), The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC), and Shark Tank (ABC). “It’s many, many stories that have endured over thousands of years. It’s how God has used many flawed characters and doesn’t give up on them.” But the History Channel’s upcoming Easter presentation is...

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Who should be allowed to pray for Obama?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:59:32 +0000

It seems preposterous, but there’s a major debate over who is worthy to invoke the presence and blessing of the Almighty on the leaders of this land we love! So, who is qualified to pray for the President of the United States? Everybody and anybody, according to the Apostle Paul writing to young follower Timothy in what author Mark D. Roberts calls “one of the most commonly...

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Do parents have a say in what schools teach?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:11:31 +0000

Should a Hindu foundation be allowed to finance yoga instruction in California grade schools – despite vehement parental objections? Should a student production featuring cross-dressing and gender confusion go ahead in Utah despite protests from furious parents? Should Massachusetts teens be subjected to school assemblies in which homosexual practices are described in detail by a gay-rights group – even after parents have battled and lost in court for their rights to pull their own...

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What has Americans so scared? Why are millions stockpiling guns?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:33:30 +0000

Why is fear stalking the land? Why in the wake of tragic shootings across the country are Americans buying guns and ammunition at record rates? Could it be that with the President’s re-election, as taxes and government spending spiral out of control, as an unpopular Congress dithers, as entertainment featuring apocalypse surges in popularity, and as the latest failed doomsday prediction is replaced by yet another, many Americans have been gripped with an uneasiness that each of us is on our...

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ABC News’ Christiane Amanpour: Not your ordinary Christmases

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:14:12 +0000

Christmas has unique memories for international journalist Christiane Amanpour, the ABC News Global Affairs Anchor. As a small child, she remembers wonderful times, “my family with a Christmas tree and presents and a family gathering.” But her father was Muslim. Her mother was Catholic. They lived in Iran. Little Christiane grew up in a clash of worlds – yet it was quieter than today. “We had Christmas off from school, but,” she notes, “remember, Iran was not yet an Islamic...

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Who’s winning the war on Christmas?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:29:35 +0000

A Los Angeles-area retirement center was briefly the center of the annual war against Christmas when employees tossed out a Christmas tree, menorahs and anything else festive, declaring them to be prohibited religious symbols. Meanwhile an elementary school banned children from the audience of its Christmas show -- put on by children -- and a Hawaiian atheist was gleeful that he's blocked public school children from raising $30,000 for a Christian charity. The nursing...

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Jamie Foxx declares Obama “Lord & Savior”

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:07:25 +0000

Why would actor Jamie Foxx startle the Soul Train Music Award audience over the Thanksgiving weekend by urging them to "first of all, give an honor to God -- and our Lord and Savior, Barack Obama!" Why would a stand-up comedian commit what until recently over the last 2,000 years was regarded as “blasphemy” – and on national TV? Well, for one thing, shock works so well on TV. Viewers aren’t startled anymore by any of the old cuss words -- all that’s left is “the F-bomb” and...

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Did third-party candidates deny Romney the presidency? And where were the Christians?

Rob Kerby, Senior Editor — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:18:00 +0000

In 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader catapulted George W. Bush into the Oval Office by siphoning off 97,488 Florida votes that otherwise would have gone to Al Gore. As a result, Bush -- heavily supported by evangelical Christians -- won Florida and the Presidency by the slimmest of margins – 537 votes. Back in 1992, H. Ross Perot gave the White House to Bill Clinton, drawing away enough discontented conservatives and Christians that George H.W. Bush lost and Clinton became...

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