Elizabeth Backstrom

I really do like keeping up on the news, the vital (Syria updates) and not so vital (latest trends in planking.) Whether or not you agree with me, you may have been surprised to learn the extent of the National Security Agency's sharing of our communications, including phone calls, emails and Internet use, with little to none of the protections we thought we were afforded. The recent revelations made by Edward Snowden are nothing if not unnerving, and they keep coming.

If you didn't have anything better to do Sunday night, like watch Duck Dynasty or read the latest funny Amazon product reviews, you may have been doing what 10.1 million other American viewers were doing around 9 pm EST: watching the Video Music Awards.

About the time cute little Miley Cyrus jumped out of the mouth of the Pedobear wearing her animal unitard, your jaw may have dropped a little.

In my opinion, chaplains exist to disciple and promote faith of some sort, usually in a deity.

Atheists, at least broadly, reject belief in deities

The Rev. Paul Lebens-Englund loves the ministry of coffee shops and greenways, barstools and dining room tables. Anywhere people are making conversation and living life is somewhere he likes to be.

Spokane’s East Central neighborhood in late July is deceptively quiet. A few people brave the 90-degree heat and scorched sidewalks, but most stay inside with their swamp coolers. At the corner of Greene and Fifth, however, there’s a party going on. The Rev. Percy Happy Watkins and the Tuesday night men’s group are getting their grill on, frying chicken and other barbeque goods in spite of the heat while they catch up on the week’s happenings.

It was 12 p.m. on July 2, and the 98-degree heat radiated off the asphalt basketball court in Liberty Park. Pastor Tommy Williams, wearing a neon yellow shirt labeled “COACH” blew a whistle.

House representatives voted down the controversial 2013 Farm Bill Thursday afternoon. President Obama has threatened to veto the massive bill in its current state, based on its cuts to what he considers vital social programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps, saying they are a "cornerstone of our nation's food assistance safety net."