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Mark A. Kellner

mkellner@washingtontimes.com

Mark A. Kellner was a Faith & Family reporter for The Washington Times.

Articles by Mark A. Kellner

A stamp is shown on an envelope Friday, May 28, 2021, in Washington. The U.S. Postal Service is raising rates on first class stamps from 55 cents to 58 as part of a host of price hikes and service changes designed to reduce debt for the beleaguered agency. The changes, which will take effect on Aug. 29, include price hikes for first class mail, magazines and marketing mailers. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Postal Service plans first-class rate hikes

Stock up on those "forever" stamps now, before the price goes up. The U.S. Postal Service Friday announced plans to hike the cost of a one-ounce first-class letter to 58 cents, effective August 29. Metered letters, domestic postcards, large pieces called "flats," and outbound international letters will also see price rises.

May 28, 2021
In this Monday, June 4, 2018, file photograph, baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, manages his shop in Lakewood, Colo. Baker, who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012 is being sued by a lawyer for declining to make a cake celebrating her gender transition. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 the commission showed anti-religious bias when it sanctioned Phillips. The justices did not rule on the larger issue of whether businesses can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gays or lesbians. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Jack Phillips, Christian baker, hounded by lawsuits, threats

Authors doing online video book "tours" is common in the pandemic era. But Coloradan Jack Phillips had an unusual "sidekick" for his May 26 conversation with a reporter: attorney Ryan Bangert of Alliance Defending Freedom, a public interest law firm that's been at Mr. Phillips's side since 2012, including during a 2018 Supreme Court victory.

May 26, 2021
Missionaries at the LDS Church’s Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, shown before the 2020 pandemic halted in-person classes. The onsite training is expected to resume in late June. (©2019 by Intellectual Reserve Inc.)

Mormons to resume in-person missionary training

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in late June will reopen missionary training centers in Provo, Utah; Accra, Ghana; and Auckland, New Zealand, to resume the in-person training suspended 14 months ago for the coronavirus pandemic.

May 25, 2021
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, with Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, an influential Sephardic leader, during a Sukkot holiday gathering at the Nachalat Yitzhak synagogue in Jerusalem Tuesday Oct. 21, 1997. U.S. peace envoy Dennis Ross is in the region holding talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort to push peace negotiations forward. (AP Photo/Zoom 77)

KELLNER: Did a prominent rabbi find Jesus — and does it matter?

The 2006 funeral of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and a Kabbalist who studied and taught Jewish mysticism, drew a crowd estimated at 200,000 by Britain's Guardian newspaper. Eight years after his death, Kaduri's life and, especially, a "last teaching" contained in a note allegedly sealed until a year after his death, are stirring some interest in decidedly non-Jewish quarters.

January 16, 2014
** FILE ** North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at a banquet for rocket scientists in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, in this image made from video. (AP Photo/KRT via AP Video)

KELLNER: ‘Failed’ states among most dangerous lands for Christians

Three weeks ago in this space, you read about the difficulties with which Christians contend in nations around the world. This week, an international ministry that has long supported the persecuted church has released a "watch list" documenting even more issues.

January 9, 2014

KELLNER: Positive thinking key to Horowitz’s ‘One Simple Idea’

Mitch Horowitz is right: the notion that changing one's thoughts can change one's life really is "One Simple Idea," and his engaging history of positive thinking in America, to be published next Tuesday is, in fact, a tour de force recap of what is a bedrock philosophy, also known as "New Thought" or even "New Age" in some circles.

January 2, 2014
Pope Francis

KELLNER: The year in religion offered hope, peril

No doubt about it — the man born Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the religious figure of 2013. Time magazine confirmed this by naming the Argentine cardinal now known as Pope Francis as Person of the Year, and a survey of Religion Newswriters Association members this month designated his election as the top religion story of the year.

December 26, 2013
The Evangelical Church of Malawi was ransacked, looted and burned Thursday as supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi took out their anger at Coptic Christians. (Associated Press)

KELLNER: It’s not a Merry Christmas for the persecuted church

Christmas is different things to different people it seems, and that's no surprise. For most, if recent surveys are correct, it's just a wonderful time to reconnect with family and friends, exchange presents, and, perhaps, consume too many calories. This week, the District-based Public Religion Research Institute reported "more than one-quarter (26 percent) of Americans celebrating Christmas this year will do so largely as a non-religious holiday."

December 19, 2013