Aug. 29 -- Forgive us our debts: 'Forgive us for getting so far into debt" is the approach many people are taking to financial problems as they seek faith-based ways to solve them.

Aug. 29 -- Local folks seek solution for homelessness: Allan Brubaker wants to send a message, and it's the same one that Mark Hewitt and Linda Jones want to spread.

Aug. 29 -- University Church of Christ plans Family Emphasis Month: When a well-respected professional in the congregation suggests a program for the church, the minister had best listen.

Aug. 29 -- PC resources speed up study; just be careful, religious scholars say: The computer screen is split into quarters.

Aug. 29 -- Teaching the basics of faith to children is critical, say teachers and parents: WICHITA, Kan. -- It happens thousands of times a week across the country:

Aug. 29 -- Artists celebrate religion through mural painting: TOLEDO, Ohio -- When Leslie Adams was an art student, she loved to steal away to the Toledo Museum of Art's Cloister to "hide."

Aug. 29 -- Pastor serves cowboys and cowgirls at rodeos: MURRIETA, Calif. -- The Rev. Bob Harris' sanctuary lies between the chutes.

Aug. 29 -- Whoop it up: DALLAS -- It's a Sunday morning at Greater El Bethel Baptist Church and a young black minister is preparing to engage in an old preaching tradition called whooping.

Aug. 29 -- Church provides a welcoming home to to gays, lesbians: LEXINGTON, Ky. -- When Tom Lyons started looking for a place to worship 16 years ago, he heard sermons and conversations that condemned homosexuality.

Aug. 29 -- Generation warms to words from 19th-century novel: Generation X, the demographic group weaned on Nike's admonition to "Just do it," has come up with an alternative adage straight out of a 19th-century novel.

Aug. 29 -- Youth ministry reaches to help 11-year-old through tough times: Youth pastor Chris Perry of Jonesboro, Ark., will never forget the night that 11-year-old Monte Johnson came to Wednesday night church looking for a friend.

Aug. 29 -- Evangelist offers his take on women, love and God: Men and women don't speak the same language, says Bishop T.D. Jakes, a talented writer, nationally known evangelist and pastor of a megachurch between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Aug. 29 -- What religious leaders are saying about Clinton: Caught in a web of news and rumors about sex games so sordid that journalists declined to report many details, the big man decided he had to speak.

Aug. 29 -- In every church, there should be something bright and happy: Last week, I decided to take my home computer into the store for an update so I could send e-mail messages to a relative now living in Europe.

Aug. 29 -- God's people need to catch the vision of unity: This is an open letter to all Christians who are members of the body of Christ.

Aug. 29 -- It's time to break down walls of misunderstanding between Christians, Muslims: When bombs were set off earlier this month in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 250 people and injuring at least 5,500, terrorism and Islam were once again linked in the minds of many.

Aug. 29 -- Jimmy, we hardly knew ye because we didn't want to: An open apology to former president Jimmy Carter:

Aug. 22 -- Alternative Christian band uses spirituality as measure of success: ARLINGTON, Texas - Audio Adrenaline lead vocalist Mark Stuart didn't have to ask twice.

Aug. 22 -- Clinton a likely theme in many local sermons: If you're sick and tired of hearing the names Clinton and Lewinsky, you might want to skip church Sunday.

Aug. 22 -- Religion has big presence on Internet: Want to find religion on the Internet? It's easy.

Aug. 22 -- 'Rock Your World' rally comes to town: McMurry University's Radford Auditorium will be jammin' and rockin' next Saturday night as the popular "ZJAM Rock Your World" youth rally comes to town.

Aug. 22 -- Biblical version of creation passes muster with Americans: Americans have much stronger belief in the Bible's creation story than do Europeans, Canadians and citizens of other industrialized nations, a University of Cincinnati public opinion researcher said.

Aug. 22 -- Layman to lead Hispanics Baptists in Texas: Back in the 1940s, in the sleepy Central Texas town of Brownwood, Zenaido and Petra Camacho opened their home to Hispanic students studying the gospel at Howard Payne University.

Aug. 22 -- U.S. Muslims want to demystify their religion: NEWBURY PARK, Calif. - Wide powder blue and off-white stripes of carpet, in what was once a Newbury Park preschool, point eastward, to Saudi Arabia, to the holy city of Mecca.

Aug. 22 -- Religious artifacts turning up in antique stores: ST. PAUL, Minn. - Religious artifacts from recent years - everything from traditional statues and pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary to holy medals, missals and even rosaries - are turning up at antique stores.

Aug. 22 -- It's time to seek common ground in debate over school prayer: The debate over school prayer is going to rage long after our children have graduated.

Aug. 22 -- Methodist Church's ban of same-sex ceremonies cheered, jeered: Conservatives gained important ground in one of America's historic denominations last week when the United Methodist Church's "supreme court" affirmed as binding a ban on ministers performing same-sex covenants for homosexuals.

Aug. 22 -- Lambeth Conference concludes amid much controversy: The Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway was so upset he did something sophisticated church leaders rarely do - he said precisely what was on his mind.

Aug. 22 -- Summer a time to evaluate what we've left at the wayside: I remember how guilty I felt as a young student of theology about my devotional life - or, rather, my lack of a devotional life.

Aug. 22 -- Spiritual words, images can provide links to everyday life: "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Aug. 15 -- Gay issue divides Anglican communion, many U.S. bishops (Jim Jones): One of the significant messages coming out of the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, is the clear confirmation that the Episcopal Church in the United States is much more liberal than many other provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Aug. 15 -- The last thing we need is another public confession (Eugene Kennedy): The last thing America needs is another public confession, even if -- perhaps especially if -- it comes from the president of the United States.

Aug. 15 -- Anglicans show why it's hard to have an inclusive church (Terry Mattingly): CANTERBURY, England -- As television crews zoomed in, a Nigerian bishop and a British gay-rights activist demonstrated why it's so hard to operate an inclusive church.

Aug. 15 -- Revitalizing churches requires some risk (Clark Morphew): ST. PAUL, Minn. -- I can think of one 5-mile urban radius where there are only two congregations that could seriously claim to be growing and creating any kind of excitement in their neighborhoods. One is Jewish; the other, Christian.

Aug. 15 -- Congregations face Summer Slump (Tom Schaefer): Ministers are most familiar with this seasonal disease. It's not fatal, and it won't cause permanent disability.

Aug. 15 -- Faith-based institutions help people: Every day Mary Anne Sides glances over a list of "Community Resources for Basic Needs" looking for an agency to assist someone who has just called for help.

Aug. 15 -- Children's clothing donations multiply: Kind of like the fish and bread that miraculously multiplied to feed the multitudes, new clothes for one child miraculously have evolved into new clothes for 70 -- and counting.

Aug. 15 -- Motivational speaker comes to Abilene: A bit of luck and a dash of prayer helped attract an internationally known entrepreneur and motivational speaker to Abilene and Stamford next week.

Aug. 15 -- Church leader faces jail for ignoring court order: MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) -- For the Rev. Paul Norwalt, law comes from the Bible, not the Legislature. This is evident even outside his church.

Aug. 15 -- Religious advisers promote faith-based financial planning: People have long worshipped money. Now more people are listening to what religion has to say about it.

Aug. 15 -- Prospective priests ponder the future: CAMARILLO, Ca. -- A dozen prospective Catholic priests wear colored T-shirts, jeans and sandals that reveal white socks.

Aug. 15 -- Investors plan Catholic radio network: MILWAUKEE -- A group of private investors is poised to launch a $70 million Catholic Radio Network in 10 U.S. cities in mid-September, saying the Catholic Church is nearly absent from the popular religious radio field.

Aug. 8 -- Christian Boot Camp for teen girls puts faith first: SAN ANTONIO -- They came thinking they'd spend a month swimming, sleeping late, hanging out -- all without parents nearby to nag.

Aug. 8 -- Ministry offers aid for persons with mental disabilities: BROWNWOOD -- Three words scribbled on a scratch piece of paper and placed in a modest frame in his office remind Mike Millican every day of the good things happening at Aldersgate Enrichment Center.

Aug. 8 -- Abilene native opens church consulting office: Three years ago Ken Lomax watched helplessly as a small airplane carrying two friends crashed in the Alaskan wilderness.

Aug. 8 -- Math teacher writes, preaches: As coach of math teams that won numerous regional and state championships, and as the holder of two outstanding teacher awards, John Hobbs ought to be content to go to his teaching job every day and then go home and relax.

Aug. 8 -- Guinness recognizes collection of crosses as the world's largest: SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In early July, 60 years after Ernie Reda's mother gave him his first cross in Blackey, Ky., the retired San Jose handyman received this letter from the special projects coordinator at the Guinness Book of Records:

Aug. 8 -- Many churches and other religious groups struggle with ignorance about the mentally ill: WICHITA, Kan. -- Every night before she lays down for sleep, Pamela Nero says a prayer. She prays for the strength to fend off depression, she prays that she will be a good mother to her 8-year-old son, Shelby.

Aug. 8 -- Inspiration by e-mail: PLOVER, Wis. -- It's inspiration by e-mail, salvation by circuit board and virtual baptism by bytes. Sitting at his computer in a village of barely 10,000 souls, the Rev. Pat Umberger reaches across cyberspace each day to spark the lives of people around the globe.

Aug. 8 -- An evangelism that misses the point (Tom Ehrich): I could tell a church convention was in town.

Aug. 8 -- Despite 'all the gold,' Gatlin saved by faith (Jim Jones): Larry Gatlin, the Grammy Award-winning country music singer, already had hit records such as "Broken Lady" and "All the Gold in California," when drugs and alcohol began taking him down a disastrous path.

Aug. 8 -- Children hope of the Ukraine (Andrew Kelly): Until gaining its independence in the early 1990s, Ukraine was just another part of the Soviet society.

Aug. 8 -- Of human life: the hard legacy of Paul VI (Terry Mattingly): When a technology enters a culture, it quickly spreads until it changes everything -- like a drop of red ink in a glass of water.

Aug. 8 -- Being too busy can cause problems for kids (Clark Morphew): The parents are suffering longer and with more intensity during the summer than the children. The children are off running the neighborhood; making sure the rain water flows into the storm sewer, checking the progress of Mr. Digger's tomatoes and monitoring the number of trucks that hustle down the streets.

Aug. 8 -- Vending-machine theology borders on paganism (Michael O'Connor): While channel surfing the other day, I ran across what appeared to be an infomercial. A narrator was describing the trials of a middle-aged couple struggling to make ends meet. He had recently retired from the military, and they had enough debts to whittle their monthly income down considerably.

Aug. 1 -- Psychiatrist priest blends disparate worldviews: Where faith and facts, science and spirituality cross paths, you will find the Rev. Dr. John Wisner.

Aug. 1 -- Water signals entrance to the Christian faith ... whether by sprinkling or immersion: LUBBOCK, Texas - Methodists sprinkle. Baptists and Churches of Christ immerse.

Aug. 1 -- What would Jesus do with all the latte mugs, bracelets and such?: DALLAS - What would Jesus do? It has become a million-dollar question. Literally.

Aug. 1 -- Youth program plans rock explosion: Buffalo Gap will be overrun with teen-agers Friday, and they're loving it.

Aug. 1 -- Opening a Window to God: Sister Clairvaux McFarland has found an unexpected mission: the ancient art of iconography: ROCHESTER, Minn. - Icons have not had a deep tradition in the Catholic church. For centuries, those stern-faced saints were the sole province of Orthodox religions, with each ethnic tradition embracing its individual style.

Aug. 1 -- Former missionary, monk united by shared faith, battle against torture: ORLANDO, Fla. - One autumn day in 1974, a decade after arriving in Brazil as a missionary, the Rev. Fred Morris mused with a friend about how they would react if they were interrogated by the military government, like many other Brazilians of the time.