September 2011 Archives

True love doesn't wait after all.

That's the implication in the upcoming October issue of an evangelical magazine that claims that young, unmarried Christians are having premarital sex almost as much as their non-Christian peers.

 
Pictured: Debris litter the scenic Roxas boulevard near a seawall in Manila after Typhoon Nesat battered the capital and other parts of northeastern Philippines Tuesday Sept. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Forecasters sounded alarms over a new storm headed for the Philippines Wednesday, even as workers repaired seawalls demolished by a typhoon that killed at least 21 people and left scores stranded in swamped communities.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee assesses the president's "stop complaining" comment in a speech given to a Congressional Black Caucus audience last weekend.

It's been a dizzying month for Facebook users.

 
Pictured: The Macedonia Church of God in Christ was rebuilt on the site where it was destroyed in a hate-fueled fire. More Photos »

In the hours after the 2008 election of the country's first African-American president, three white men crept up to a predominantly African-American church being built here in Springfield, blessed it corruptly with gasoline -- and faded into the fresh November night.

 
Pictured: Residents living beside a river carry belongings as they evacuate to higher grounds in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines, as Typhoon Nesat hits the country. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)

Manila residents waded through waist-deep floodwaters and dodged flying debris Tuesday as a powerful typhoon struck the country, killing at least 12 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.

Starting Sunday, September 25, 2011, the National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is officially inviting African American men back to church.  NBCI is working to make sure 10 million black males return to church over the next 10 years.

One of Atlanta's prominent religious leaders took to the pulpit Sunday and argued that that the battle against the death penalty should not die with this week's execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis.

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died after a long struggle with cancer, the environmental organization she founded said Monday. She was 71.

In a recent blog post for CNN, Middle East expert and evangelical Christian, Carl Medearis, wrote a piece arguing that Jesus would support a Palestinian state.

BET and Centric will air a news special featuring a one-one-one White House interview with President Barack Obama on Sept. 26.

While Sam Childers travels around North America promoting Machine Gun Preacher, a movie opening tomorrow based on his life story, the orphanage he founded in South Sudan is under fire from the community and local government for alleged neglect of the nearly 150 children who live there.

The world's major economic powers are pledging to launch a bold effort to deal with a chronic slowdown in growth and a European debt crisis threatening to push the global economy into another recession. But it was unclear whether their strong words would be backed up by equally strong actions.

A startling find at one of the world's foremost laboratories that a subatomic particle seemed to move faster than the speed of light has scientists around the world rethinking Albert Einstein and one of the foundations of physics.

The social media wars are escalating -- Facebook will roll out a redesigned Web site and new features tomorrow, while Google tried to steal its thunder yesterday, opening Google Plus to everyone and releasing new features of its own.

While American churches overall have declined in attendance, Black churches thrive and encourage entrepreneurship, outreach, and profit-making.

The suicide bomber who assassinated former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani insisted on meeting face-to-face with the ex-president and waited in Kabul for days to talk with him about brokering peace with the Taliban, an associate of Rabbani's said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama warned Monday that the United States is headed down a "perilous path" if its leaders cannot move quickly and responsibly to help people get back to work.

Google's Wallet is getting thicker. The company is adding Visa, American Express and Discover to its payment system, which aims to make cellphones the credit cards of tomorrow.

 
Pictured: Pro-Israel demonstrators blow the 'shofar', a ram's horn, during a demonstration against the possible division of Jerusalem, in Brussels, Sept. 19

Israelis are greeting the Palestinian bid for U.N. membership with a mix of fatalism and wariness, resigned to the fact that they face a serious diplomatic setback at the world body -- but also increasingly angry and nervous about the country's deepening isolation.

 
Pictured: Governor Deval Patrick took a tour yesterday of the newly restored African Meeting House. (Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)

The nation's oldest existing black church building is nearing completion of a four-year, $9.5 million restoration project done with the help of federal stimulus funds.

The prospect of consumers and employees physically losing information-packed mobile devices, or getting them hacked, is driving a red-hot sector of the tech industry: supplying mobile security.

New Destiny Christian Center ended its month of mourning Sunday, following the unexpected death of Pastor Zachery Tims Jr., on Aug. 12.

 
Pictured: Protesters hold placards during the anti-nuclear march Monday in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)

Chanting "Sayonara nuclear power" and waving banners, tens of thousands of people marched in central Tokyo on Monday to call on Japan's government to abandon atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The poverty rate for African Americans has reached 27.4 percent, the highest level in four years, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau this week.

The young people in the ad look dissatisfied and pouty. Barack Obama's voice and the words "winning the future," from one of his old campaign speeches, echo in the background.

More than 2,000 activists chanting and toting banners joined a march and rally on Friday to oppose the execution of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, convicted of the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer.

Deion Sanders may be in quite a mess because MediaTakeOut claims he been cheating on his beautiful bride Pilar Biggers with a 19-year-old girl.

 
Pictured: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011. (AP)

In a direct challenge to the United States, the Palestinians said Thursday they will ask the Security Council next week to accept them as a full member of the United Nations, even though Washington has promised to veto the measure.

 
Pictured: Maine McNair , mother of 1963 bombing victim Carol Denise McNair, leans forward in her wheelchair to see her daughter's name on the marker in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday.

Members of an Alabama church that was bombed early in the civil rights movement observed the 48th anniversary of the attack Thursday by dedicating a stone marker at the site of the blast that killed four black girls.

 
Pictured: In this photo taken Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, Lexine Green picks black eyed peas at the demonstration farm in Fresno, Calif,. run by the African American Farmers of California. (AP Photo/GosiaWozniacka)

As the sun rises on tilled soil on the outskirts of Fresno, Calif., Mori Vance bends to pick black eyed peas, then disappears among towering okra bushes. Vance, who is African-American, is harvesting her first crop with several other novice black farmers, all hoping to make it their life's work.

The first African-American to lead an Ivy League university is stepping down.

A black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago was at least temporarily spared from lethal injection when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review his lawyers' claims that race played an improper role in his sentencing.

A new museum in the works for Nashville will aim to expand the public's idea of what makes the town Music City.

The number of Americans living under the poverty line in the U.S. hit a 52-year-high, according to the new U.S. Census.

Like most readers of this article I have seen the president of South Africa, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, on my television screen. And like some of you, I came closer to him when I attended a function where he was the special guest.

A 101-year-old woman who was evicted from her longtime Detroit home after her 65-year-old son failed to pay the mortgage is getting it back, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Wednesday.

Attorneys for a man scheduled to be put to death in Texas on Thursday are asking Gov. Rick Perry to halt the execution amid questions about the role race played in the sentencing.

Mitt Romney's dogged professionalism has mostly been a problem for him in the political world. The same smooth, practised charm - unleavened with not-obviously-practised sense of humour - that reassures investors can strike voters as forced and fake.

Organizers have set a new date in October to dedicate the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial after Hurricane Irene forced them to postpone the event in August, days before 250,000 people were expected to attend.

 
Pictured: Kali Cuffee and children, from bottom, Cyrus, 3, Grace, 7, Faith, 10, and De'Maurier, 18, sit outside their south Sacramento apartment. The family used to live in a nearby four-bedroom home Cuffee bought in 2003. But the recession hit both her hairstyling business and the home's value. And the bank took it back. "I have faith that one day I'll be able to put my children back in a home again," she said. (Randy Pench)

Their homes are gone, their credit is shot and their rent is often more expensive than a mortgage payment.

The American Jobs Act reflects a commitment to strengthen the recovery and help increase access to jobs for all Americans.

Republican lawmakers are lining up black support for a constitutional referendum to ban same-sex marriage.

Two of my heroes who promoted racial reconciliation after the civil rights movement are J. Deotis Roberts and John M. Perkins. In different ways these two men both wanted to see the church of Jesus Christ provide a post civil rights era image of racial unity and peace. While there has been much progress, many of their dreams have yet to come true.

 
Pictured: President Barack Obama speaks as he honors Jimmie Johnson for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship in the East Room the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

With millions of Americans out of work and out of patience, President Barack Obama is going before a skeptical Congress to pitch an economic plan aimed at creating jobs urgently and forcing Republicans to own the problem with him.

 
Pictured: President Barack Obama waves before speaking after the annual Labor Day parade in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The economy weak and the public seething, President Barack Obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending Thursday night to get Americans working again. Republicans offered Tuesday to compromise with him on jobs -- but also assailed his plans in advance of his prime-time speech.

Serita Jakes was born a coal miner's daughter. As a little girl she played alone with imaginary friends and had tea parties for doll babies.

President Barack Obama this week will try to launch a political comeback amid the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and a growing sense of economic foreboding here and across the country among voters who are increasingly questioning their president's skills and priorities.

 
Pictured: Parish crews placed sand bags along a flooded street in Lafitte, La., on Sunday. Lee dumped more than a foot of rain in parts of Louisiana and may have spawned tornadoes elsewhere before weakening to a tropical depression Sunday night. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

While Lee's winds have lost some of their punch, forecasters warn that its slow-moving rain clouds pose a worse flooding threat to inland areas with hills or mountains in the coming days.

 
Pictured: A memorial for James Craig Anderson remains outside Metro Inn in Jackson, Miss., after an Aug. 14 vigil to promote racial harmony in the city. (By Barbara Gauntt, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion Ledger via AP)

James Craig Anderson, a middle-aged African American, and Deryl Dedmon, a white teenager, shared at least one belief: They were made in the image of God.

President Barack Obama is celebrating Labor Day in Detroit, previewing his ideas for job creation and economic growth at a rally with thousands of supportive labor union members.

A provocative new book suggests black women would benefit both themselves and the black race if they crossed class lines less and race lines more.

FIGHTERS for Libya's new rulers began an assault on a bastion of Muammar Gaddafi yesterday, as secret files shed light on his fallen regime's links to US and British spy agencies.

The center of Tropical Storm Lee lurched across Louisiana's Gulf Coast early today, dumping torrential rains that threatened flooding in low-lying communities in a foreshadowing of what cities further inland could face in coming days.

 
Pictured: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Londonderry, N.H., October 2008.

The next time you see Barack Obama gliding into a White House press conference, take note of that jazzy walk. It is a dead ringer for the strut that was the bearing of choice among ­inner-city cool guys in the 1960s, when Barry Obama was still a tyke growing up in the exotic precincts of Hawaii and Indonesia.