By TERRY MATTINGLY, Scripps Howard News Service

The joke was old, old, old and Rush Limbaugh knew that when -- tongue firmly planted in cheek -- he tweaked it for his flock at the Conservative Political Action Convention.
So Larry King dies and goes to heaven, where the CNN star urgently asks St. Peter: "Is Rush Limbaugh here?" Not yet, says his host.

Some of the seminarians in the Bible-Belt chapel were shaken when Dr. Louis McBurney described -- in gentle, but clear terms -- the hurdles and pitfalls that awaited them in their first churches.

Some of the seminarians in the Bible-Belt chapel were shaken when Dr. Louis McBurney described -- in gentle, but clear terms -- the hurdles and pitfalls that awaited them in their first churches.

Some of the seminarians in the Bible-Belt chapel were shaken when Dr. Louis McBurney described -- in gentle, but clear terms -- the hurdles and pitfalls that awaited them in their first churches.

The hero is stranded on a dying planet, lonely and yearning for companionship.

The upperclassman sat across the cafeteria table from freshman Joe Carter and, in a matter of minutes, asked The Big Question -- a question about eternal life and death.

Welcome to the church-state battlefield, President Obama.
Consider this hypothetical landmine: Would it be discrimination for a Christian AIDS hospice to refuse to hire a worker who believes AIDS is a sign of God's wrath?

Times were hard for the single mother and her 4-year-old son, so she did what hurting people often do -- she joined a church seeking solace and support.
But there was a problem, one that drove her right back out of the pews.
"Everyone told me what to do as a parent," she told pollster David Kinnaman, "but no one bothered to help."

Phyllis Tickle tried to pay close attention to the prayers at the inauguration of President Obama, which isn't surprising since she has written a whole shelf of books on rites of public and private prayer.

As Aretha Franklin finished singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," the Queen of Soul did what she has done for decades -- she improvised.
The result was a soaring bridge between the inauguration of President Barack Obama and a sermon 45 years ago at the Lincoln Memorial.