Another group of Valley religious leaders is speaking out about immigration issues and calling for an end to the "hateful rhetoric" they say is being directed to those in this country without legal documents.

While it may not be a mainline denomination yet, there is a consistent set of beliefs that is rising up within the church.

While it may not be a mainline denomination yet, there is a consistent set of beliefs that is rising up within the church.

Trustees of Cook School for Christian Leadership have voted to sell their 16-acre campus in west Tempe and use the proceeds to create the Charles H. Cook Foundation to continue its nearly 100-year mission of training American Indians for leadership in their churches and communities.

Cook College and Theological School is one of a handful of Christian Indian colleges, but this fall only about 25 students are studying on its 17-acre campus in northwest Tempe.

With its combination name, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that seeks to keep a balance between strong adherence to Bible teachings and affording broad freedoms to people to discern theological truth for themselves.

With its combination name, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that seeks to keep a balance between strong adherence to Bible teachings and affording broad freedoms to people to discern theological truth for themselves.

DENVER — The Christian book business, optimistic that a little literary escapism might be an antidote for readers in hard times, is turning to bonnets, buggies and bloodsuckers.

They’ve long since kicked the road dust from their shoes, but the small band who walked 2,500 miles from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., last year in CrossWalk America for a new vision of Christian faith is taking it to America again with a book, “Asphalt Jesus,” and a documentary film, “Asphalt Gospel.”

“We have not been called by Christ to be a doormat,” said Cass, executor director of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission and author of “Christian Bashing: The Last Acceptable Bigotry.”

Remember when summer films were about Wookiees or Spider-Man? Or Bill Murray, sliming ghosts in a sarcastic way? On Friday, the long awaited film version of “The Da Vinci Code” — Dan Brown’s record-breaking bestselling novel that reveals a secretly married Jesus, hidden Christian bloodlines, a brutal Catholic goon squad and two millennia of cover-ups — hits East Valley cinemas.

American Indians aren’t beating a path to Christian colleges, so Cook College and Theological School in Tempe, with 95 years of educating Indians, is reinventing itself. Now called Cook School for Christian Leadership, its administrators and board say they recognize some harsh realities: Opportunities today for Indians for education with scholarships at community and four-year colleges are tough to compete with.

The letter authored by Edward F. Murphy took my breath. It is rare to see such open hostility on the printed page. I can only assume that Mr. Murphy is the epitome of righteousness who has never transgressed his own moral values. If that is true, he is himself not a hypocrite. If not, he should be ashamed.

Black churches are facing a threat to their very existence. A few years ago, there were unsubstantiated fears of a campaign of physical destruction by arsonists. There is also the danger every election year of liberal politicians using black pulpits as soapboxes in violation of tax law.

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI marked the 40th anniversary of a landmark Vatican document on relations with Jews by calling Thursday for a renewed commitment for Catholics and Jews to deepen their bonds and work for the good of all humanity.

To the individuals who burned a cross in the Gilbert yard on Christmas Eve: If you think you will intimidate or scare those of us who are in interracial relationships and marriages to relocate, you are dead wrong! My husband and I have been through your intimidation in the 60s and 70s. 

Millenials, Generation Y, or simply, teenagers and the 20- to 30-something population has seemed to slip through the “grasp” of the church’s hand.

I’ve said this before, but I must say it again: We’ve got something good going on here in the East Valley. And I wish the rest of the country had it.

A monthlong study called "Christian Hospitality: Creating a Free and Fearless Space" begins today and continues through Feb. 24 at University Presbyterian Church, 139 E. Alameda Drive, Tempe.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he would resign Feb. 28 because he is simply too old to carry on. Here is the text of his announcement, delivered to cardinals gathered for a ceremony to name three new saints.

An honors student at Higley High School is asking administrators for an explanation after the word “God” was edited out of his biography in the school’s yearbook.

March 5, 2005

The release of a new book by Bart Ehrman, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's pre-eminent New Testament scholar, has long been an unnerving and occasionally intimidating time for evangelical Christians on campus.