The Columbia Partnership

Free Broadcast TV May Go Way of the VHS Tape [MSNBC]

updated 9:29 a.m. ET, Tues., Dec . 29, 2009

NEW YORK - For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.

The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft.)

Small Offering Produces Huge Return at Vine Street Christian Church

A small package was put in the offering plate at Vine Street Christian Church on one of the first Sundays of Advent.

It was wrapped in plain white paper and secured with clear tape. The anonymous giver conveyed his or her wishes in simple, clear print: "Sell this and use the money for Vine Street's support of the poor & homeless."

Inside was a shiny Liberty $50 one-ounce gold coin.

"We opened it, unwrapped it, and bang! There comes this big coin," said Thomas Kleinert, senior minister at Vine Street.

Gold prices are through the roof right now. Church leaders quickly found a coin shop willing to pay them $1,070, slightly less than face value. But then somebody had a bright idea.

"We were just talking," he said. "Maybe someone would like to have that coin rather than the coin dealer."

So, on a whim and with nothing to lose, Vine Street set up an online auction form and put it on the church Web site. They sent word out on their mailing list to members and friends.

In Detroit, Some See Grounds for Church Planting

By ALEX P. KELLOGG

DETROIT -- Crime, unemployment and the housing crisis have chased thousands of people out of this city. But those are the very reasons Eric Russ moved in.

Mr. Russ is "lead visionary pastor" and one of the founders of the Mack Avenue Community Church, named for a long thoroughfare that cuts across the east side of Detroit. He and his congregation at "Mack Ave." represent a small, young corps of church organizers trying to spark a revival -- both spiritual and economic -- in this battered city.

Photos: Detroit's Spiritual Revival

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Stephen McGee for The Wall Street Journal

Religious Independents: God Without the Religion [WSJ, December 17, 2009]

This is the season for traditions: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, carolers on the doorstep, and the endless argument about the secularization of Christmas. This isn't the usual complaining about the toy and greeting card companies commercializing the holidays, but a much broader trend involving the secularization of religion around the country.

We are still a nation whose coins say "In God We Trust," where most witnesses in U.S. courts swear "so help me God," and where our school kids pledge allegiance to "one nation, under God, indivisible."

But God, as we have traditionally known Him, is evolving for more and more worshippers. Belief in the God revered by most mainstream religions -- a highly specific, paternalistic deity with an agreed-upon history and behaviors -- is on the decline.

You Can't Buy the Real Gifts of Christmas: USAToday Opinion Column, On Relgiion, December 21, 2009

via blogs.usatoday.com

One of many reflection articles to ponder during this Christmas week.

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