Wednesday's News & Ideas

Putting the Episcopal rift in a historical context

Los Angeles Times: The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church says the current controversy over gays mirrors past conflicts that the global church has managed to overcome.

Archbishop swaps his pulpit for the pub

South Wales Echo: It was an unlikely scene -- the head of the Church of England sitting in a Cardiff pub. But the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke at a bar last weekend and stressed society’s need to help itself.

Saddleback founder Warren driven to expand his reach

USA Today: Could California pastor Rick Warren possibly be everywhere at once? There may be no escaping his new campaign to stamp his vision of civil Christian discourse and social action on world culture.

The obnoxious champion

The Economist: New ideas meet so much resistance that they're often smothered at birth -- unless a hero steps in to press the cause.

The Spark

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Holiday music is inescapable. In the Wall Street Journal, psychology professor and former CBS records executive Daniel J. Levitin writes about the ancient drive to listen to familiar songs, the psychological effects of music and why 'Little Drummer Boy' is so annoying.