From the Culture Desk...

At issue, Church vs. State once again. Read the latest from the LA Times:

Churches Putting Town Out of Business

Stafford, Texas, has 51 tax-exempt religious institutions and wants no more: 'Somebody's got to pay for police, fire and schools.

'By Lianne Hart
Times Staff Writer
July 31, 2006

STAFFORD, Texas — They are not the words one expects to hear from a politician or a Southerner, and Leonard Scarcella is both: "Our city has an excessive number of churches.

"Scarcella is mayor of this Houston-area community, which has 51 churches and other religious institutions packed into its 7 square miles.

With some 300 undeveloped, potentially revenue-producing acres left in Stafford, officials are scrambling to find a legal way to keep more tax-exempt churches from building here.

"With federal laws, you can't just say, 'We're not going to have any more churches,' " Scarcella said. "We respect the Constitution, but 51 of anything is too much."

Read the whole thing

ME: Can't say I care too much for the headline. I really didn't care much for this sentence:

"Lawyers researching ways to stop church growth here will report back to city leaders in about six weeks, Scarcella said."

Is this really what passes for responsible representative government? I wonder what the city is actually doing in the way of recruiting new businesses? Seems like that would be a better use of resources.

I have a feeling, however, this will not be an isolated case. The pro-tax crowd has threatened churches' tax-exempt status for years. Reversing that status could have a significant impact on churches' ministry resources. Let's pray it doesn't come to that.

Baptist Group Offers Itself as Resource to Churches Starting a School

By Allie MartinJuly 12, 2006

(AgapePress) - The executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (SBACS) is trying to help pastors nationwide organize viable alternatives to public school education.

[...]

A proponent of home schooling and Christian education, Gamble says the time for Southern Baptist churches to offer the public a new alternative education system is long overdue.

Read the whole thing.

ARB: We agree that something like this is overdue and hope to see such efforts go forward.

"A recent study has found that as many as one in five U.S. residents attends a house church at least once a month."

Here's a really interesting article about a new research study on the growth of house churches.

As usual, feel free to discuss and offer thoughts, experiences, etc. in the comments.

In what I assume is another effort of Howard Dean's ongoing campaign to reach out to...er, alienate conservative Christians, the values of the Vermont physician have once again been publicly affirmed.

In his latest press statement, ahem...salvo, he launches yet another verbal attack he'll soon regret.

Responding to a NY Court of Appeals determination that the state constitution does not guarantee the right to marriage by same-sex couples, Dean said such a belief "relies on outdated and bigoted notions of families".

Nice. So...just to clarify, Howard Dean thinks that the oldest societal institution known to man, the traditional marriage of a man and a woman, first ordained by God Himself, no less, is an "outdated and bigoted notion".

Wow. When this guy sets out to offend people, he really cuts a wide swath!

It seems Chairman Dean is wedded to ignorance.

(Hat tip: The Corner)