Mark A. Kellner
Articles by Mark A. Kellner
Postal Reform Act clears Senate, heads to Biden’s desk for stamp of approval
The U.S. Postal Service is waiting for President Biden's signature to take advantage of legislation designed to relieve some financial burdens that have been on the balance sheet for more than a decade. Published March 8, 2022
Christian music radio offers balm for the soul, with a contemporary beat
Contemporary Christian music is reaching an audience beyond the pews, a top broadcasting executive says. Published March 6, 2022
Nearly 3 in 4 Protestant pastors say identifying as transgender ‘morally wrong’
Nearly 3 in 4 U.S. Protestant pastors say it's morally wrong to "identify" as a gender different than that one is biologically born with, a Lifeway Research survey reported Friday. Published March 4, 2022
United Methodists postpone divorce-setting general conference to 2024
A convention at which the 6.3 million-member United Methodist Church was expected to finalize the terms under which so-called "traditionalist" congregations could amicably leave has been delayed again, this time to 2024, denominational officials said late Thursday. Published March 3, 2022
Faith-based groups fund relief, evacuation efforts in Ukraine
More than 200 Jewish refugees from war-torn Ukraine are expected to be greeted as immigrants in Israel Sunday by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a Jerusalem-based relief official said Thursday. Published March 3, 2022
Hundreds of Russian Orthodox clerics sign letter calling for end to Ukraine invasion
At least 272 clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church -- the faith often aligned with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin -- have signed an online letter calling for an immediate end of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the withdrawal of all troops and weapons. Published March 3, 2022
Praying high school football coach gains support from NFL QBs Cousins, Foles
Eight current and former National Football League players, including quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, have filed a friend of the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Washington state high school coach who was fired for praying on the 50-yard line. Published March 3, 2022
Church openings approach pre-pandemic levels, but attendance levels stall, survey says
America's Protestant churches are gathering in person at a rate far greater than the beginning of 2021, a new survey from Lifeway Research reports. Published March 2, 2022
Southern Baptist president won’t seek second term, breaking decades of precedent
The Rev. Ed Litton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Tuesday he would not seek a second consecutive term as head of America's largest Protestant denomination. Published March 1, 2022
Alabama governor blasts high school sports association over inflexible playoff schedule
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican and self-identified Baptist, has sided with athletes from a Seventh-day Adventist high school that had to forfeit a game when the state's high school sports association balked at rescheduling a playoff game. Published March 1, 2022
Washington National Cathedral embraces global reach via web streaming, pastoral care
The District of Columbia's newest megachurch doesn't have a smoke machine, praise band or rock concert-style musical numbers. Published March 1, 2022
Catholic school parents ask D.C. mayor to drop mask mandate for religious schools
Five parents of students at parochial schools operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington are asking Mayor Muriel Bowser to lift mandates requiring masking at school. Published February 28, 2022
Russian-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox Church leader joins opposition to Putin’s invasion
Metropolitan Onufriy, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, an Eastern Orthodox body aligned with the Russian Orthodox leadership, ordered his clergy in the besieged nation to pray Sunday for Russia's defeat. Published February 28, 2022
Eastern Orthodox faith leader joins Pope in condemning invasion
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, on Sunday condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "beyond every sense of law and morality," according to a message posted online by his office in Istanbul, Turkey. Published February 27, 2022
Eastern Orthodox spiritual leader condemns Russian invasion
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, has condemned Russia's invasion in a phone call to the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the independent Orthodox Times website reported. Published February 25, 2022
Museum of the Bible exhibit to probe Shroud of Turin’s controversial history
The Museum of the Bible will open a major exhibit on the Shroud of Turin on Saturday, but its top curator says the genuineness of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus isn't the point. Published February 24, 2022
Christian docs’ group: Calif. law an attempt to make morally opposed physicians assist in suicides
A group of Christian physicians sued California Tuesday claiming last year's revisions to the state's 2015 assisted suicide law will force medical personnel to violate their conscience and participate in procedures they oppose on religious grounds. Published February 22, 2022
Russia faces fine for violating ‘fundamental rights’ of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Russia's mistreatment of 14 Jehovah's Witnesses more than a decade ago violated their "fundamental rights to freedom of religion and liberty," the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday. Published February 22, 2022
Scandal, secularism eroding trust in America’s pastors, surveys find
America's clergy have lost the confidence of millions, according to two recent surveys, and experts say pastors will have to confront some harsh truths to regain that trust. Published February 18, 2022
Atheist group sues West Virginia school district over ‘mandated’ Christian assembly
A lawsuit seeking to stop a West Virginia school district from sponsoring in-school religious assemblies was filed Thursday by attorneys representing the Freedom From Religion Foundation and 11 parents and students at the school. Published February 17, 2022
