IndyStar.com: Faith & Values
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
Do sports skew perspectives?
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament kicked off this week and will captivate the nation into early April. Over the years, the tournament has become a phenomenon; some might even say a religion. With the Super Bowl recently ended and March...
Faiths' teachings differ, but all share one belief
Perhaps the word college students hear more than any other is “diversity,” and for those who teach ethics, that means trouble. Students, like most people, think people are diverse and so must their ethics be. A necessary first step for...
Area ministers explain spiritual lessons to learn from Tiger Woods saga
The story of Tiger Woods’ infidelities has captivated Americans for several months. Last month, the golfer gave a nationally televised apology in which he admitted to “irresponsible and selfish” behavior and outlined steps to return...
Aaron Brockett: Would you want your final days filled with love?
Wouldn’t you want your final days filled with love? What would you do if you knew that you had only one month to live? Realizing the brevity of life can turn our attention to the things that matter most: our faith and our relationships. If I...
Ex-missionary in Fishers helps Haitians, then helps the volunteers
A Fishers man and former missionary in Haiti returned from a recent trip to the country only to turn around and coordinate a special relief effort to get food to those in need there, particularly volunteers. In cooperation with The Wesleyan Church...
Too many are self-serving, not serving others
My grandfather — Class of “Naughty-five” at Purdue University — was a civil engineer, builder and inventor imbued with an American “can-do” spirit. He worked on a great dam project in the Northwest, when a new...
Tea Party must now beware of manipulation, scapegoats
Like any political movement, populism has a light side and a dark side. The light side is taking power back from the moneyed elites who manipulate systems to get their way no matter who is in power. Our democracy needs a movement to say...
Comforting in times of great stress
Chaplain works with police, their families and victims of crime It’s a job few want, but one that Philip Bacon embraces. Bacon is the senior chaplain for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, a role he has held for 18 years. One of...
Changing our self-defeating ways requires some pain
As the train rolled on, the man fussed about missing his stop. “I really screwed up this time. I have a job interview there.” Then he took hold of himself, found a seat, called his contact and did a job interview over the phone. In this...
John Davis had unexpected calling to ministry
John Davis once taped church’s services; now he’s leading them Pastor John Davis tells folks it took him 19 years to get from the back of the church to the front. The founder of Noblesville’s Channel 19 had his faith rekindled while...
Manning showed what we can achieve if we just think
As a New York Jets fan, I was both frustrated and fascinated as I watched the Indianapolis Colts dismantle the Jets’ Super Bowl hopes in a conference title game Sunday. In losing 30-17, our Jets weren’t out-hustled, out-skilled or...
Indiana missions group changes name, not its work
Indiana-based OMS continues its work of planting churches around the world Indiana-based OMS International started sending Christian missionaries to Asia in 1901 under the name of the Oriental Missionary Society. Over the years, the group’s...
Jesus would be in Haiti, and not on Wall Street
On an airplane bound for a family visit, I fly over Manhattan and New Jersey, where the financial geniuses who brought us the Great Recession are planning how to handle vast fortunes being heaped on them in year-end bonuses. In a slight nod to public...
Dalai Lama plans public lecture in Indy on May 14
The Dalai Lama’s springtime visit to Indiana will include a public lecture at Conseco Fieldhouse on facing challenges with compassion and wisdom, according to local Buddhist leaders. The Tibetan spiritual leader’s May 14 lecture, designed...
Church's mentoring program helps ex-offenders
Church working with city to improve former inmates’ odds of success Every year, about 5,000 people are released from state prisons to return to Marion County. Many struggle to find jobs or rebuild relationships. An alarming number all too...
If churches don't offer more to living, they are on path to death
I participated in an online seminar last week, sponsored by The Presbyterian Outlook magazine, related to my new initiative that encourages church leaders to think beyond Sunday morning. One participant’s question struck me as especially...
Former IHC Rabbi Murray Saltzman dies
As a college student in the 1950s, he organized a lunch counter sit-in after a black classmate was refused service at a local diner. As a young rabbi, he found neo-Nazis had smeared swastikas on the wall of his first synagogue. And in the heat of the...
Interfaith displays comfort Rabbi Bienstock on Berlin trip
Editor’s note: Rabbi Arnold Bienstock of Carmel’s Congregation Shaarey Tefilla recently traveled to Berlin, a German city still coming to grips with its nation’s role in the Holocaust of World War II. Below is an account of his...
Learning from experience, changing your mind are only human
On New Year’s Day, I sat down at my computer and created a new financial management spreadsheet for my business. The next day, I switched to a more agile writing application. All of this came a week after relocating my primary work environment...
Israeli envoy talks about living in Indy
For emissary at Jewish Federation, ‘it is an interesting experience’ Etay Furman grew up in Israel but moved to Indianapolis a year ago to work at the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis as an Israeli community emissary — or...
CHRISTmas provides food and clothing today
Everyone is welcome to come to River of Life Church of God’s giveaway today of 13,000 pounds of groceries, says senior pastor Jon Quigley. “CHRISTmas at the River: Outstretched Arms for the Hungry Soul” is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m....
Debate overshadows the church
When I heard that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles had elected a lesbian as assistant bishop, my reaction was, “Here we go again.” I knew the anti-gay lobby would kick into overdrive with dire warnings about violating “biblical...
German-language service speaks to Zion Church's roots in Indianapolis
Zion Evangelical United Church of Christ will offer a German-language Advent service Sunday, celebrating the spiritual and cultural significance of Christmas to German Christians. The event is free and open to the public. Voluntary offerings will be...
Immorality brings real pain
I took my sister on a seven-mile walk through Manhattan. We talked about marriage — each of our eldest sons is getting married next year. We are pleased for our sons, thrilled with their fiancees and filled with hope for their new lives. We...
Dalai Lama to visit Indiana in spring
His itinerary includes stops in Indianapolis and Bloomington The Dalai Lama plans to return next spring to Tibetan Buddhism’s oasis near Bloomington, but he also will make a special public appearance in Indianapolis, his first in more than a...
Many choosing faith from spiritual buffet
When it comes to religion, many Americans like the build-your-own approach. Large numbers attend services of traditions other than their own and blend Christianity with Eastern and New Age beliefs, a survey finds. The report Wednesday from the Pew...
Event helps kids visualize events around Christ's birth
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Pastor Stan Sutton said tonight’s “Journey to Bethlehem” at Refuge Christian Church gives children a better idea of what Christmas is all about. Actors from the church, one portraying a Roman centurion who...
Kick spending addiction
In this do-or-die season of holiday shopping, retailers watch nervously as millions of consumers make a fateful choice: Exercise prudence, or spend money they don’t have in order to buy what they don’t need. Though economists have...
Gospel show tonight aids Christian kids' camp
Southern gospel concert in Greenfield a benefit for Kentucky site being developed Dave Frady is a construction and excavation contractor by trade, but through a desire to help a Christian youth camp in Kentucky, he learned a little something about...
Joyful and triumphant -- despite the hard times
Now begins the holiday season, our annual extravaganza of travel, shopping, worshipping, eating and deep emotions. Some treasure every moment of it. Some look anxiously for gold amid the dross of hyper-everything. Some sink into a seasonal funk. Our...
