Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

Idol Chatter

With the amount of TV that most of us watch, it’s inevitable–much as we try to resist or deny it–that the small screen shapes our worldview and our national conversation. To that end, a significant cultural leader passed away this weekend. Aaron Spelling was 83. The producer of such megahit television shows as “Charlie’s Angels,”…

Were your weekend’s activities planned around exciting (and some ho-hum) World Cup soccer elimination matches? Mine were, and happily, here in the U.S. I had the benefit of daytime broadcasts from Germany. And though my biggest problem was fighting for television rights with my almost three-year-old daughter, I realize there are much worse problems that…

One of the many reasons summer is my favorite time of year is the fact that while enjoying the view of Lake Michigan, I can also catch up on my reading. Yes, with re-runs on TV and little at the box office to grab my interest lately, it’s time to turn the pages of some…

As far as saints go, free-standing statues, mass cards, portraits on the walls, ceramic figurines, and tiny iconic pendants that you can dangle from a chain are par for the course for anyone who grows up an Italian Catholic–namely, me–or, I’d guess, just plain Catholic regardless of ethnicity. In my house you didn’t have to…

A British singer borrows an American president’s phrase when painting graffiti on Israeli property that is characterized by Palestinians as a land grab. I’m not sure what I am more struck by: the scope of history, politics, music, and culture that came together in that one act, or the fact that some graffiti on a…

And so the dream has died, with the United States’ loss to Ghana yesterday (2-1) in the World Cup competition. Even though Italy did its part by beating Czechoslovakia (2-0), the U.S.’s loss cemented its shameful exit from the first round of the 2006 World Cup. I guess all my “bismillahs” as the U.S. maneuvered…

No need to wake early and drink warm beer to enjoy the World-Cup-time flap over English soccer star Wayne Rooney’s new billboard for Nike, left, which has scandalized churchmen in the Sceptred Isle because it recalls the Crucifixion. “‘The trivialization of Christ’s suffering is highly offensive to Christians and to God,” says one cleric. “This…

It’s not often I get to (a) see a movie star up close and (b) see a Broadway show. But on my first –and hopefully not last–whirlwind trip to New York, I was able to do both in one afternoon. I sat in my seat mesmerized as Ralph Fiennes (“The English Patient,” “Schindler’s List”), wearing…

Tyler Perry–and his large black-woman alter-ego, Madea–have conquered stage, screen, and more recently, page, with the best-selling “Dont Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings.” Now, to coincide with the DVD release of his “Madea’s Family Reunion,” the Hollywood darling is giving something back to his (or her?) fans by helping you create your…

Steve Skelton–an author and minister–has been going around telling anyone who’ll listen that Superman is a Christ figure. He’s got a good point, what with the whole “only son sent to earth as a savior” angle. Now The Advocate tells us that the Man of Steel might be gay, or at least is an icon…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners