More than 1,200 Lutherans disaffected by the recent vote favoring openly gay clergy have assembled in Indianapolis on Friday to begin creating an alternative fellowship for conservative Lutherans.

"We intend to initiate a process that we hope will lead to a reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism," said Paull Spring, chair of Lutheran CORE and the retired bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod. "The convocation is for all who care for the future shape of orthodox Lutheranism."

Lutheran CORE is leading the Sept. 25-26 convocation. While the group has served as a coalition for reform for conservative Lutherans within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it is now shifting its focus from efforts to reform the ELCA to efforts to enable traditional Lutherans to work together both within and outside of the denomination. more >>

When it comes to churches using a bit of creativity in their worship services and outreach, Granger Community Church in Indiana may be one of the most well-known innovative churches in the country.

But are their ideas original?

One Granger pastor says, "Who gives a rip?" more >>

Atheist messages have hit the third largest city in the country.

"In the beginning, man created God," read ads posted on 25 Chicago buses.

The slogan "espouses the idea that man created God as well as all religions, and encourages public and critical examination of the merits of religious belief," according to Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. more >>

Following weeks of protests and outcries, President Barack Obama stepped onto the platform at the University of Notre Dame acknowledging the controversy around his invitation.

Addressing the abortion debate head on, Obama conceded that at some level, the views of the pro-life and pro-choice camps are "irreconcilable" and that they cannot "fudge" the debate no matter how much they may want to.

"Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction," he said Sunday at the South Bend, Ind., campus. "But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature." more >>

A high-ranking bishop who heads the Vatican's supreme court said Friday that the decision by Notre Dame University's plans to honor President Obama at its upcoming commencement ceremony is a scandal.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court, told attendants at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast that Catholic should not honor those who have publicly violated "moral law."

"The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to a president who so aggressively advocates an anti-life and anti-family agenda is rightly the source of the greatest scandal," Burke told the crowd at the Washington D.C. event. more >>

INDIANAPOLIS – Christian pollster George Barna reached out to members of the Christian press Wednesday night, insisting that United States is being destroyed from the inside and that the way to restore the country is through returning Americans to their core values.

The once great United States is decaying, declared Barna to hundreds of Christian journalists on the opening night of the joint annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

America's rates of divorce, abortion, STD transmission, spousal abuse and crime are the highest or among the highest compared to other developed nations, he added. And the percentage of students graduating from high school on time has not changed in 32 years. more >>