This web site serves as an archive of posts from the years 2005-2007. It is no longer maintained. You may find current NE events at uniteboston.com and at churchline.com.
Boston Globe: Harvard panel sets aside plan on religion Professors designing a new curriculum for undergraduates at Harvard University have rescinded their proposal that all students take a class dealing with religion.
Instead, the faculty task force suggested a different, broader category, "what it means to be a human being," in a revised proposal released late last week.
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Boston Globe: Gordon College helps the city of Lynn Gordon College recently opened a $1 million dormitory on Oxford Street in Lynn. The new dorm marks a milestone for "Gordon-in-Lynn," an urban education program launched four years ago to link the college with the inner city. About 500 Gordon students are rolling up their sleeves for more than two dozen organizations, including the public schools, youth groups, and literacy programs. "As Christians, we are called to serve others," said R. Judson Carlberg , president of Gordon.
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Associated Press: Is religion making a comeback into Harvard's core curriculum? Harvard University, founded 370 years ago to train Puritan ministers, should again require all undergraduates to study religion, along with U.S. history and ethics, a faculty committee is recommending.
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Parental Rights: Introduction to statewide opt out info and forms Janet Aldrich writes: I want to give you an update on the opt out forms for opt out Bill H1050...the opt in Bill H1445, and the gays confusing attempt to make compulsive the following health curriculum H1641 of which you need to check out for yourselves...if you have been listening to the news it seems the parental rights subject is being addressed in the courts and will sever all parental rights at the schoolhouse door if we do not react soon and very soon to this problem.
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Boston Globe: Children learn better from teachers of the same sex A new study concludes that boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women. The conclusion leads Dom Bettinelli to ask: If male teachers are so important for male students, how much more important are fathers to their sons? Is a girl raised by two homosexuals or a boy being raised by lesbians in the best environment?
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Los Angeles CA (May 13, 2006) California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl introduced a bill to assure that lesbians and gay men get what she feels is their due in California textbooks. The bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday and is now headed to the Assembly, would forbid the teaching of any material that "reflects adversely on persons due to sexual orientation," and add the "age appropriate study of the role and contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender."
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Harvard Crimson: Number of Christians at Harvard has doubled in last decade Harvard United Ministry chaplain Jeffrey K. Barneson says Harvard has a reputation for being irreligious. “I get these calls from people saying, ‘Oh I’ve heard that Harvard is a godless place,’” he says. This reputation may soon be no more. According to University President Lawrence H. Summers, the evangelical Christian community here at Harvard has grown significantly.
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Boston MA (April 21, 2006) Governor Mitt Romney yesterday announced that the state will funnel nearly $1 million in federal funds to a faith-based organization to teach abstinence to public middle school students in a dozen more communities across the state. ''We teach sex education, but there's no portion of sex education which talks about the advantages of waiting. . . ." said Romney. ''We're saying let's provide an opportunity for parents and school districts to add abstinence to the curriculum. It's not abstinence only. It's abstinence also."
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Agape Press: Christian educators and homosexual activist group cooperate on school sexual orientation guidelines The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) have worked together to publish guidelines on how educators, parents, and teachers should handle the issue of sexual orientation in the classroom and other school settings. The two groups helped draft a document, which recommends that schools not adopt a certain organization's agenda, but rather invite all stakeholders to the table when discussing sexuality.
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Asbury college today changed its home page reporting on breaking news. Apparently, revival is breaking out.
Wilmore, KY (Feb.8, 2006) Praise, worship and release continue as students are still gathered around the altar in Hughes Auditorium where they have been since Monday (Feb.6, 2008). After today’s powerful chapel celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit on the Asbury College campus, God’s work carries on.
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Boston Globe: Romney assails racial divide Boston MA (Jan.17, 2006) Governor Mitt Romney struck an untraditional theme yesterday at Boston's annual breakfast honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King by saying the state's teachers union had fought his efforts to close an ''achievement gap" between white students and those of color. Romney has proposed merit pay for teachers tied to student achievement, but the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers has opposed that plan. [COMMENTS]
Boston Globe: Higher power point presentation - Technology and religion merge to facilitate spiritual growth Every Wednesday night, youth pastor Christopher Ziegler faces the formidable challenge of getting 50 Haverhill teenagers with no church background to stand and sing praise songs for half an hour. He succeeds, he says, thanks in large part to a presentation software program designed specifically for religious settings. Annual sales of religious software have reached the $80 million mark, according to a 2004 report from Packaged Facts, a market research company that tracks religious publishing. More than 60 percent of Protestant congregations now use large-screen projection systems, many computer-driven, and show video clips during worship. [COMMENTS]
Boston Globe: MA to push abstinence in schools The Romney administration plans to introduce a new abstinence education program in Massachusetts schools beginning next month, the state's most aggressive effort yet to use a controversial method of teaching Bay State teenagers about sex. The campaign, scheduled to last through June 2007, will only target certain schools and will be aimed especially at teens in black and Hispanic communities, who tend to have higher rates of sexual activity. [COMMENTS]
CBN News: Ivy League Campuses Experience Spiritual Awakening Over the last 20 years, the number of students involved with Campus Crusade for Christ has increased 163 percent at Brown, more than 500 percent at Harvard, and more than 700 percent at Yale. Other groups like the Navigators and InterVarsity have experienced similar growth. [COMMENTS]
Boston Globe: Religous clubs are a growing presence in public schools As some principals are banning Christmas trees, menorahs, or Halloween costumes, others are warming to the presence of religious clubs in their schools. They say the clubs' regular dose of religion is improving discipline among younger students and giving older students of minority religions a sense of camaraderie. ''I certainly welcome it," said Deborah Dancy, principal of William Ellery Channing Elementary School in Hyde Park, where Child Evangelism Fellowship opened a Good News Bible Club this year. ''The children who participate in the program are much more courteous, cooperative, and respectful. Anything we can do to reduce discipline problems and develop character we are willing to do at this school." [COMMENTS]
Boston MA (Oct. 31, 2005) Religious leaders gathered at the State House on Monday to promote the In-State Tuition Bill, which would allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates for public universities. Currently, students without legal citizenship documentation pay nearly triple the amount for out-of-state tuition rates, leaving most without any hope of attending college.
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Inside Higher Ed: Black freshmen are more religious than their peers, survey finds (Oct. 6, 2005) In April, a team of education researchers released data showing that most freshmen at four-year colleges are on a spiritual quest in college, not just an educational quest. Today, the team is releasing data breaking down the data by race and gender. The figures that stand out most dramatically are those about black students, who are by far more religious than other students on a number of measures. Significantly larger percentages of black students than other students believe in God, pray and regularly attend religious services, according to the new information released by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles [COMMENTS]
Real Life Boston: Evangelical student group created at Suffolk University
Kayla Hicks from Suffolk University reports: Up until this past semester, Suffolk University was without an Evangelical student group on campus. After years of praying and waiting, a small group of us students finally filed the paperwork to become an official school club. We call it BLING, which stands for Believers Living In Grace, and as members we strive to network with fellow believers at Suffolk, creating a supportive community while sharing the love of Christ with others.
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Tammy McLeod writes: We at Real Life Boston think the gospel is a story that matters. And we think it's worth talking about. Here in Boston, we've got 200,000 students at 47 of the top schools in the country. We want to give every student in Boston the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in the most relevant way possible. We believe that perhaps the best way for people to understand the gospel is to see it lived out in community.
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Boston Globe: For college students, evangelism is the new big thing. Even at Harvard and MIT.
Boston, MA (Nov.30, 2003) It's the fall student activities fair at MIT, and the place is packed. To find the big, engaged crowds, you have to go to the corner of the gym, where there is a sea of black T-shirts that read "I once was lost, but now am . . . FOUND." The students wearing them are evangelical Christians, part of a tradition that is more Bible Belt than Boston Brahmin. They are not shy about telling you how beginning a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can change your life, the same way it changed theirs. And how much fun this whole God thing can be.
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Rasheed Baron comes to Wenham every weekday afternoon to "hang" with Gordon College students. He gets help with his homework, plays team games in the gym, and tries the ropes course. Rasheed is one of more than a dozen Lynn kids who benefit from a collaborative program established between the College and the Lynn Housing Authority.
Rasheed's experience is the tip of an iceberg. There are about 20 "Community Partners" -- organizations in Lynn -- that are served by the College. The many service projects are collectively called the "Lynn Initiative." As many as 400 Gordon students are involved in relationships with members of the city's multi-cultural urban population, which is over 20% foreign-born.
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Boston Globe: Boston church will aid 2 public schools Boston, MA (Oct. 1, 2005) Celebrating its bicentennial, Peoples Baptist is honoring its educational heritage with an initiative to improve two Boston elementary schools, Henry L. Higginson in Roxbury and Mattahunt in Mattapan. During this academic year, Peoples Baptist and a partner church, North River Community Church in Pembroke, plan to donate clothing and school supplies, paint classrooms, and put up murals and install a playground at Higginson. ''We are adopting them in order to do everything that the schools need so that they can move forward," says the Rev. Wesley A. Roberts, the pastor at Peoples Baptist. ''We want to show our interest in education, and this has been a part of the black church legacy down through the centuries." [COMMENTS]
Pat McLeod: "In Boston, we have got 200,000 students at 47 of the top schools in
the country. We want to give every student in Boston the chance to hear the
gospel of Jesus Christ in the most relevant way possible. We believe that
perhaps the best way for people to understand the gospel is to see it lived out
in community. That's why we want to see spiritual movements of the gospel on
every campus and in every part of the city so that everyone knows someone who
truly follows Jesus Christ." [COMMENTS]
Christian Post: Convocation Speech with Jesus Reference Sparks Controversy at Dartmouth College A convocation speech made last Tuesday (Sep.20, 2005) by Dartmouth College's Student Body President with references to Jesus has sparked controversy on the Ivy League campus, leading to the publishing of a retaliating cartoon and the resignation of the Assembly's Vice President. Addressing Dartmouth students at the university's convocation, Student Body President Noah Riner delivered a speech on the importance of character. "Character has a lot to do with sacrifice, laying our personal interests down for something bigger. The best example of this is Jesus," continued Riner, praising Jesus' decision to take up the cross despite the consequences. [COMMENTS]
Concerned evangelical parents call Pat McLeod all the time to ask if their children's faith will survive Harvard. The Campus Crusade for Christ staffer even has a standard response. "There is a thriving evangelical movement at Harvard," he explains. "Our movement has more than doubled in size, from 70 in the fall of 1999 to 150 this year."
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Boston Globe: New head of Quincy college aims to train 'people of value' What happens at Nazarene College (ENC), reverberates across the country. The Christian college tucked in the city's Wollaston neighborhood has emerged as something of a trendsetter among the Nazarene schools, according to board of trustees chairman Daniel C. West. ENC appointed its first female vice president 15 years ago, only to be followed by other schools. It also leads the pack in diversity with a 20 percent minority student population. [COMMENTS]
Boston Globe: State grants eyed for private students Catholic and Jewish school parents are joining Governor Mitt Romney in a push to give students in private schools the same chance as those in public schools to take the MCAS and win a scholarship to a state college or university. [COMMENTS]
It’s a Wednesday night, sometime around 8:00, at 77 Massachusetts Avenue. The flow of students and staff through the Infinite Corridor is slowing down, and most of the offices are dark. However, 5-231 is humming with voices. About 20 students sit around a wooden table in this narrow room where, in true academic fashion, a chalkboard covered with esoteric scribble spans an entire wall. The overhead light flickers a cold fluorescence, and the table is littered with plastic water bottles and Styrofoam take-out containers. There’s certainly nothing spiritual about this décor, no sense of “sacred space,” but the humming of voices is the sound of religious fervor.
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California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (Credit: AP)
Boston Globe 'Housing first,' a radical new approach to ending chronic homelessness, is gaining ground in Boston
