A 2008 study by the Pew Forum indicates many conservatives have changed their position on churches speaking out on political issues. Four years ago, just 37 percent of conservatives felt the church should stay out of politics. Today, 51 percent share this view. This virtually matches the views of moderates and liberals (52 percent).

The study also found that a growing number of people are uncomfortable ...

Wilfredo Garza lived the life of an illegal immigrant for more than 35 years. Year after year, he eked out a living crossing the border from Mexico into the United States—some days finding work, some days not. Regardless, he was constantly looking over his shoulder. He was caught by the Border Patrol four times during that period and bused back to Mexico every time. Undeterred by each apprehension, ...

Many Christians, like most of the populace, believe the political structures can cure all our ills. The fact is, however, that government, by its very nature, is limited in what it can accomplish. What it does best is perpetuate its own power and bolster its own bureaucracies.

—Charles (Chuck) Colson, advisor to President Nixon, writer, and founder of Prison Fellowship

I once had the great privilege of traveling to Cuba to teach on worship in a little seminary in Havana and to preach in some house churches. Cuba? Yes, Cuba.

My father went with me on the trip. Our family is from Florida, and in the weeks leading up to the trip, we talked about my parents' memories of weeks of dread during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. We knew we were walking into a history of ...

It's not all that hard to argue that Ken Burns is the biggest name in the world of documentaries. His stirring works about the Civil War, baseball, and jazz have garnered numerous awards and helped put PBS back on the "must-see" list. What could be argued, though, is his ability to consistently give the Latino population its rightful due.

It began with Burns's 1994 documentary on baseball. In 18 hours ...

The Guardian is about the heroic and sacrificial efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard.

In a DVD bonus feature, Rescue Swimmer Joseph Flythe comments: "Hurricane Katrina really brought out what a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer is because we were plastered all over the national media. It was the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers you saw go down to the roofs, pulling people out. We were all working 18–24 hour ...

On the way to work this morning, I pulled up to a stop light and noticed an interesting SUV in front of me. The owner of the SUV is clearly a person of deep loyalty. The spare tire mounted on the back had the words "Texas Longhorns" and an orange, steer-head icon on it. The trailer hitch displayed another steer-head icon and the word "Texas." The license plate frame was bordered with the words "Longhorns" ...

In October 2005, Moses Bittok celebrated an experience he had waited a lifetime to achieve: he became a U.S. citizen. That alone would have been enough to give the native Kenyan the happiest day of his life, but it was just a prelude.

On the way home from the Des Moines, Iowa, federal building, Bittok stopped at a gas station to see the winning numbers in the Iowa state "Hot Lotto Game." He was surprised ...

The Terminal is the story of a foreign traveler named Victor Navorski (Tom Hanks) who unwittingly gets caught up in a series of bureaucratic glitches making it impossible for him to return home.

Victor arrives at New York City's JFK airport and finds he is stranded in a no man's land. He is not allowed to get back on a plane, but neither can he leave the airport and legally enter the United States. ...

In the summer of 2004, Warren Beamer, a missionary from San Antonio, Texas, visited an orphanage in Nigeria. Beamer was startled when one of the children at the orphanage spoke to him with a southern accent. The girl quickly shared that she was from Houston, Texas. To convince the missionary that this was true, she recited her social security number. Then the girl led Beamer to six other children ...