Faith

When my parents decided to leave their war-ravaged homeland of Afghanistan in the 1980s, they had the option of migrating to a number of different countries, but sought one that they could make their "home. " You see, my father was a government official in the Afghan Education Ministry, before the Russian invasion and the subsequent takeover by the Taliban. He was tasked with modernizing the Afghan educational system while also ensuring that core, centuries-old Afghan values were preserved.

Facing new penalties if they lowball estimates of upfront mortgage costs, lenders and brokers appear to be coming clean about how much borrowers will pay. As a result, the so-called good-faith estimates that mortgage providers must give to prospective customers show closing costs soaring 36% this year, interest-rate tracker Bankrate.com said in a report this week. The main reason for the increase, according to Bankrate: Lenders are giving more accurate estimates because they now must pay to cover the difference if they underestimate the costs, according to Bankrate.

Who could have foreseen what would happen between the Mormon filmmaker and the lesbian priest? Not Douglas Hunter, even after he took a leap of faith and trained his camera on the Rev. Susan Russell. And maybe not even Russell, who had undergone a remarkable transformation from onetime suburban soccer mom to priest and outspoken champion of gay rights.

America by Heart Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag Sarah Palin Harper: 276 pp., $25.99

WEST, Texas - The crowd that had gathered - lighting candles, offering prayers, crying as they tightly embraced family and friends - had streamed from the dimly lit sanctuary of Assumption Catholic Church, but Kelly Nelson lingered behind. “The people who we lost, these are people I know, I see on a daily basis,” Nelson said. “Knowing that I'm never going to see these people on the earth again is very difficult for me to handle.” On Wednesday night, a blast at the West Fertilizer Co. plant had rocked this small town.

What hath God wrought? In the Bible, that's an exclamation, not a question (Numbers 23:23). Still, it's a common response to any natural disaster, especially one on the scale of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, now compounded by the unnatural disaster of a nuclear crisis. If there is a God, and if He (for the sake of convention) is all-powerful, what in God's name was He thinking? This is perhaps the oldest of theological questions ? the one that may, in fact, explain the nearly universal human yearning for faith, what evolutionary psychologist Jesse Bering calls "the belief instinct.

"Faith," wrote the theologian and Christian existentialist Paul Tillich, "is the state of being ultimately concerned." But does that concern express itself most authentically in certainties or questions? Eric Lax's "Faith, Interrupted: A Spiritual Journey" suggests that, sometimes, the answer is both -- though both may be unexpected. Lax is perhaps best known as Woody Allen's discerning biographer, yet his eight previous books include not only intelligently empathetic works on actors and comedy but also lucid explorations of pivotal medical advances.

With a minute left before the deadline, Mike Cahill raced along Burbank's Providencia Avenue to get to Media City Church on time. He was rushing to get his short film, "In the Company of Sinners," into the 168 Film Festival, the culmination of a faith-based competition that helps Christian filmmakers break into the mainstream movie business. "I made it. Yes!" Cahill yelled, raising his clipboard above his head. Seconds later, Adekunle Ilori, who had fought traffic all the way from Lancaster, became the last of 73 competitors to qualify.

WEST, Texas - The crowd that had gathered - lighting candles, offering prayers, crying as they tightly embraced family and friends - had streamed from the dimly lighted sanctuary of Assumption Catholic Church, but Kelly Nelson lingered behind. “The people who we lost, these are people I know, I see on a daily basis,” Nelson said. “Knowing that I'm never going to see these people on the Earth again is very difficult for me to handle.” On Wednesday night, a blast at a fertilizer plant rocked this small east-central Texas town.