faith Archives

Loving Your Neighbor Includes Public Policy Involvement

There’s no way around it: our nation’s laws impact families. The question is, will the influence be beneficial or harmful to our marriages and children?

Today I’m highlighting my recent interview with Citizen, Focus on the Family’s magazine devoted to public policy news and trends. In it, I share why I believe our faith mandates cultural engagement – and why that engagement includes politics. –JD

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A Political Conversation

With a major election approaching, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly takes time to articulate his views on public policy and Christian responsibility.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: faith, policy, religious liberty September 30, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

“The Song” Movie a Great Date Night for Couples

“The Song” debuts today, and it’s a great date night movie option for couples looking to be both entertained and edified.

The film gives a unique, modern take to the ancient texts of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. It follows fledgling musician Jed, son of the late, great David King, as he tries to make a name for himself apart from his famous dad. Along the way, Jed falls in love, gets married, and faces some tough temptations.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: entertainment, faith, marriage September 26, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Four Best Places to Raise Your Kids

MONEY magazine recently released its list of “Best Places to Live in America” for 2014, and Castle Rock, Colo., a town just north of Colorado Springs, was number four on the list.

How do they determine which cities make the top ten?

MONEY starts with 781 cities and whittles down the list by looking at factors such as median family income, racial diversity, quality of education, economic opportunity, and even the residents’ level of happiness.

That got me to thinking.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting September 24, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How Mental Illness Impacts Families

Many of you commented on and shared my recent blog post, “Could Robin Williams’ Faith Have Prevented His Suicide?”

That’s not surprising because mental illness directly impacts about one in four individuals… yet sadly, it sometimes seems that the Christian community doesn’t talk about the issue as often and as thoroughly we should.

Focus on the Family is hoping to help change that by helping families and churches better understand topics related to mental health – things like depression, bipolar and schizophrenia.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, church, faith, family, friendship September 18, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

University Christian Clubs Not Allowed to Require Leaders to be Christian

It’s a disturbing trend taking place on university campuses around the nation. Thanks to a 2010 Supreme Court decision, state universities are now allowed to restrict “belief organizations from requiring belief.”

The way this is playing out in real life is that Christian clubs are no longer allowed to require their members and leaders to be Christian.

Yes, you read that correctly. Pretty much defeats the purpose of having the club, doesn’t it?

And yet, in the name of inclusiveness, some state universities (like the California State University system) are choosing to impose this nonsensical restriction, and private schools like Vanderbilt University are following suit.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, pop culture, religious liberty September 15, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

God in the Middle of Pain and Suffering

Few events in modern America’s collective consciousness embody pain and suffering like the terror attacks we experienced on Sept. 11, 2001. It was this generation’s Pearl Harbor, a day so unthinkable and awful that we spent months reeling from the shock of it. We ached as a nation. We grieved with moms and dads, husbands and wives, children and friends who had lost loved ones.

Where was God in the middle of all that heartache?

It’s a question many people asked themselves in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and understandably so.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith, news September 11, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Remembering Chick-fil-A Founder S. Truett Cathy

By now you likely know that S. Truett Cathy, the beloved founder of the popular Chick-fil-A restaurants, died this morning. He was 93.

With more than 1,800 stores and $5 billion in annual sales, Truett will be remembered by many as an entrepreneurial genius, a fast-food pioneer and an astute man of business. His rags-to-riches story should inspire anyone. Opening a diner in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946, Mr. Cathy launched the now iconic brand on a shoestring.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, news, pop culture September 8, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Heal Old Wounds

Do certain memories from your past still haunt you after all these years?

Every day Focus hears from good people who have faced difficult, even tragic, circumstances. Many endure life with a sense of agony few of their family and friends are even aware of.

In some cases, these folks refuse to seek help because they don’t believe it’s possible to overcome problems from so long ago. “Why bother?” they think. “What’s done is done. We can’t change the past.”

Strictly speaking, that’s true, of course.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith September 4, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

17 Pearls of Wisdom

I asked several of my colleagues here at Focus for their best dose of homespun parenting counsel. It should be a given that we’re to introduce our children to the Lord and disciple them throughout their childhood and beyond. I was mainly asking them for some very practical nuggets of wisdom.

Here is what they told me they regularly tell their children:

It’s never as good as you hear or as bad as you feel.
Learn to remember names.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting August 29, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Praying for Our Christian Family in Iraq

If you’ve had an eye on the news lately, you’ve no doubt heard reports about the terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), more recently known as “The Islamic State.”

They’re a well-armed Muslim extremist group sweeping throughout Iraq, exercising both military and political control over the regions they conquer.

Just the other day we saw grisly images of the beheading of the American journalist, James Foley. ISIS claimed responsibility for his murder.

Beyond the political complications usually addressed on the nightly news are disturbing accounts that hit much closer to home for all of us who profess the name of Christ.

Topics: Current Events Tags: broadcast, church, faith, news, religious liberty August 22, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura