I'm not against the Bible. I'm an ordained Baptist minister, professor of biblical studies, academic dean of a theological seminary and a lifelong student of the Bible.

I'm also enough of a skeptic to worry that religious fervor and political opportunism have played an inordinate role in the passage of a bill in the Kentucky Senate that would lead to the establishment of Bible courses in our public schools.

My fear is that the expectations stirred up in many proponents of this bill do not match the actual content of the bill, which has been carefully worded to pass constitutional muster.

The story of the gospel has been told for centuries, and it has influenced and impacted people’s lives from the very beginning. The gospel is God’s story of God’s incarnation into human history so that a relationship between God and humanity could be re-forged. The gospel goes where people are and touches us in the midst of our lives. Sometimes God’s presence catches us by surprise, and at other times it comes just when it is needed. In all of life God is present. One of the questions for the church is how to communicate the presence and grace of God such that people can hear and understand it.

Nearly 100 religious blogs were surveyed for a new study that looks at the influence of such blogs on current religious discourse. From ABP's report on this new study from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC):

Blogs are a growing but still relatively underutilized influence on today's religious discourse, according to a study of the religious blogosphere by the Social Science Research Council.