Julia Duin

DUIN: To heaven from Times Square

I was at an otherworldly event last Sunday in the middle of Manhattan. It was the third "Prayer in the Square" rally, sponsored by the Times Square Church, a mega-congregation that got 40,000 people to pray at Broadway and 7th avenue and West 45th and 46th streets.

September 24, 2009

Attorney to terrorists organizes Muslim rally at Capitol

A lawyer with a history of representing Islamic terrorists, including men connected to the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, is one of the chief organizers of a large Muslim prayer service intended as a show of American patriotism Friday at the Capitol.

September 23, 2009

DUIN: Minnesota home to Hindu temple

The largest Hindu temple in North America is not in Los Angeles, New York or Chicago, but just outside Minneapolis. Specifically, the 43,000-square-foot Hindu Temple of Minnesota sits in Maple Grove, northwest of the Twin Cities.

September 20, 2009

Officials cleared in prayer injunction case

Two rural northern Florida school officials were found not guilty of violating an injunction against praying in school, a Florida judge ruled late Thursday in a contentious school prayer case that spurred a reaction from Congress earlier this week.

September 18, 2009

Lawmakers back officials facing jail for prayer

Two Florida school officials facing possible jail terms for praying in the presence of students arrive in court Thursday enjoying the support of more than 60 members of Congress.

September 17, 2009

DUIN: Schaeffer’s son not repentant

I still remember the first time I saw Frank Schaeffer, then known in the evangelical Christian world as "Franky," the son of revered scholar Francis Schaeffer.

September 17, 2009

DUIN: Episcopal ‘path’ spurs nuns’ break

I was not totally surprised to learn the nuns of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor convent in Catonsville, Md., were leaving the Episcopal Church.

September 13, 2009

Anti-Muslim bias persists, poll finds

Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the general public thinks Muslims are second only to homosexuals in being discriminated against, a new survey shows.

September 10, 2009

DUIN: Jailed Iranians stand by God

There's a bookmark in my Bible that shows the winsome faces of two attractive 20-something dark-haired, brown-eyed Iranians with a kind of alluring beauty that makes Persian women some of the loveliest women on earth.

September 10, 2009

DUIN: ‘Scourge of God’ an Uzbek symbol

There's a reason Uzbekistan, which celebrated its 18th birthday Tuesday, is one of the world's most repressive societies.

September 6, 2009

Home-schooler ordered to attend public school

A New Hampshire court ordered a home-schooled Christian girl to attend a public school after a judge criticized the "rigidity" of her mother's religious views and said the 10-year-old needed to consider other worldviews.

September 4, 2009

DUIN: The charisma of Art Katz

While enjoying the delights of northern Minnesota's lake country last week, I stopped by the grave of a patriarch in the charismatic movement.

September 3, 2009

DUIN: Carthusians share tales of isolated life

The rigors of living in the order's 22 monasteries around the world are so tough, 90 percent of the postulants never make it to solemn professed vows five years later.

August 30, 2009

DUIN: Pastor launches ferries in Africa

Evangelical Christians have been plowing money into Africa for decades, even before megachurch pastor Rick Warren made it fashionable with his development program in Rwanda.

August 27, 2009

Lutheran schism feared after votes on gays

Last Friday, as members of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination were casting four historic votes recasting the role of homosexuals in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mop-up operation had begun a few blocks away.

August 24, 2009

DUIN: Non-Jewish moms learn traditions

An upcoming class teaching the basics of Judaism will be held in Washington, D.C., for non-Jewish women who want to learn for their children's sake.

August 23, 2009

Lutheran church to allow gay clergy, couples

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America passed several resolutions Friday that recognize committed gay relationships and, for the first time, permit non-celibate homosexuals to be Lutheran clergy.

August 22, 2009

Lutheran conservatives reeling over defeat

Conservatives at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's churchwide assembly here were still reeling Thursday from losing -- by one vote -- their battle to defeat a new social statement that gives validity to same-sex relationships.

August 21, 2009

DUIN: On seeking ‘a better God’

I first heard of Wade Bradshaw, the outreach pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, when I was researching a book on why people leave church. Barely a few miles from the University of Virginia, his specialty is on why the young are disenchanted with organized religion.

August 20, 2009

Lutherans adopt more open view on gays

America's largest Lutheran denomination voted Wednesday by the narrowest of margins to approve a theological statement on human sexuality that loosens church teaching on homosexuality despite being spooked by a tornado that touched down within a block of their meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center.