Harold Camping speaks during a taping of his show "Open Forum" in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. (Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP) Harold Camping, the end of the world prophet whose initial rapture prediction last May proved false, is back with a message for his remaining followers: The end is “probably” still coming on October 21st, 2011.

Camping’s most recent prediction was that believers would be raptured, or swept into heaven, on May 21, 2011 while the rest of the world would enter a time of judgment before a day of final destruction on October 21. On Faith gave details of his calculations in May. While many Christians have similar beliefs about end times, mainstream Christian teaching says that the actual date cannot be known.

When no one was raptured on the appointed date, the 90-year-old founder of Family Radio said he was “flabbergasted” but maintained that a “spiritual” rapture had occurred. The Family Radio Web site offers an official interpretation:

“What really happened this past May 21st? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment.”

That interpretation offered little consolation to some who believed Harold Camping and gave money for his cause. There were enough dedicated followers of Camping to help post at least 2,000 billboards around the United States to warn of the coming judgment. A number of them quit their jobs, and spent their savings spreading the word in anticipation of the May rapture.

Camping had a stroke on June 9th, but he has recently returned from the hospital. “I am still a long ways away from being healed but there is progress being made,” Camping said.

A Nigerian on a terrorist mission for al-Qaeda prayed, washed and put on perfume moments before trying to detonate a bomb in his underwear to bring down a jetliner on Christmas 2009, a prosecutor told jurors as the man's trial opened Tuesday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the Underwear Bomber, pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight charges including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for his attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing of an airplane over Detroit.

In a statement reported by the Detroit Free Press, Abdulmutallab said he was “guilty under U.S. law, but not under Islamic law,”and stated his belief that “committing jihad against the United States is one of ’the most virtuous acts' a Muslim can perform.”

The Ni­ger­ian man told the FBI he was acting in retaliation for U.S. intervention in Muslim nations, and under the influence of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American imam killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last month.

Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said Texas Gov. Rick Perry is “a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Michael Nagle - GETTY IMAGES) An influential evangelical pastor threw his support behind Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry during the Values Voter Summit Friday, drawing a distinction between Perry, a “follower of Christ,” and that other candidate, Mormon Mitt Romney.

As he introduced Perry, Robert Jeffress, pastor of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, said:

“When the smoke clears in several months, those of us who are evangelical Christians are going to have a choice to make, and the choice is going to be this. . . . Do we want someone who is a conservative out of convenience or one who is a conservative out of conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person, or one who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Rick Perry is a proven leader,a true conservative and a committed follower of Christ.”

Jeffress never mentioned Romney’s name or said the word Mormon, but he did not have to.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket every Sunday at a city park near their church in Topeka, KS. (Michael S. Williamson - THE WASHINGTON POST) Westboro Baptist Church announced plans Wednesday night to protest Steve Jobs’s funeral, sending the message out. . .wait for it. . . via Twitter for iPhone.

Margie Phelps, daughter of the small church’s founder and the lawyer who represented the church during their First Amendment case at the Supreme Court, (which Westboro won,) was among the Phelps family members to use Apple products to Tweet about the death of the Apple co-founder.

“Westboro will picket his funeral.He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin,” Margie tweeted Wednesday night on her iPhone.

The Topeka, Kan. based church is mostly made up of Phelps family members but has risen to international infamy because of their funeral protests of celebrities and American soldiers. The church’s members believe that God punishes America for its tolerance of sin, including acceptance of homosexuality.

Bristol Palin poses for photographers on the red carpet during an event to promote National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day Wednesday, May 6, 2009 in New York. Unwed mother Bristol Palin said Wednesday that abstinence is a realistic way for teens to avoid unwanted pregnancy --a view not shared by the father of her infant son. (Mary Altaffer - ASSOCIATED PRESS) Relevant Magazine, an evangelical Christian publication, made ripples in religious circles with their recent article titled “(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It” about some “surprising” findings on evangelicals and sex.

The October issue article cited research showing that unmarried evangelicals are having sex almost as frequently as everyone else. While 88 percent of all young people (ages 18-29) said they have had sex, 80 percent those who self-identify as “evangelical” had.

The research was conducted by the National Campaign to prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies.

Tyler Charles, author of the article and a campus minister with the Coalition of Christian Outreach, said that he found the data “surprising, but not shocking,” in an interview with On Faith. Charles was quick to note that he is not a specialist or scholar on this matter, but strongly believes in “the need for honest conversations and creating an atmosphere where people can ask honest questions.”

“If the church can do more to foster an environment where these sorts of things can be discussed honestly and with a message that extends beyond just ‘don’t do it because it’s wrong’ but is willing to really wrestle through the issues with people, I think that would be a huge step and a great thing for the church at large,” said Charles.

Charles cites Christian writer and theologian Scott McKnight on the cause of such a high rate of sex among Christians who are taught that it is reserved for marriage. Writes McKnight: “If young Christians no longer deem marriage a worth-while endeavor -- or see it as a temporary thing (proven to them by the brevity of their parents' marriages and the prevalence of divorce in Western culture), then sex within marriage certainly loses some of its profundity -- and sacredness.”

One way that churches are responding to what they see as way-faring couples is by marrying them. A recent poll by the Christian research group LifeWay indicates that 58 percent of Protestant pastors would perform marriages for couples who are sleeping together or living together.

Mark Regnerus, a sociologist at the University of Texas, has been beating the “early marriage”drum for years, calling for couples to marry younger in order to avoid temptation, and has recently remade the argument in his new book on premarital sex.

Is it unrealistic to expect true love to wait?

(LINDA WHEELER - TWP) Mike Otterson, writing this week for On Faith, gives some background on the twice-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which begins Saturday morning and can be viewed live in the embedded video below.

“General Conference - all five two-hour sessions of it - is a collection of sermons,” that will be delivered after prayerful discernment by church leaders. Writes Otterson:

“There will be no great debates, no huge policy changes to announce to the general membership. You can be certain that there will be no political addresses from the podium, and it’s highly unlikely anyone will mention even indirectly the two Latter-day Saints running for president of the United States.”

If you’re interested in getting a sense of what the gathering is like, you can watch via embedded video below or follow the conversation on Twitter at #LDSCONF.

The White House released a statement Thursday on Iran’s conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. The Christian minister has been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for refusing to to deny his faith.

The Obama administration’s statement:

“The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people.”

“That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations. A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities’ utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran’s continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion.”

The White House statement follows the condemnations of other top American leaders, including Speaker of the House John Boehner, and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

A part of the Isaiah Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is seen inside the vault of the Shrine of the Book building at the Israel Museum on September, 26, 2011. in Jerusalem, Israel. (Lior Mizrahi - GETTY IMAGES) The Dead Sea Scrolls are now online for all to see, thanks to Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The ancient texts have only been on the Internet for a few hours, and already biblical scholars and religious leaders are buzzing with excitement about the new possibilities offered by this technology.

"They are of paramount importance among the touchstones of monotheistic world heritage,” said James Snyder, the director of the Israel Museum.

Discovered in the mid-20th century in caves along the shore of the Dead Sea, the scrolls contain the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible, and other documents from the time surrounding the birth of Christianity.

Until now, the documents have been accessible only to a small number of scholars and specialists. Since the original authors of the scrolls have been highly debated, many are hoping that this new public resource will open up that conversation.

“Of course, this is still not like being in the room with the scrolls, but it is a huge step forward for making the scrolls more accessible,” wrote Associate Professor of New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary at his blog, The Biblical World.

The Dead Sea Scrolls project is just the latest example of how religious leaders and scholars have put modern technology at the service of ancient texts and truths.

Today, the faithful have a host of new ways to access Scripture and spiritual wisdom. Comparing translations, viewing commentaries and studying the texts in the original languages are all now possible with software such as Logos and Accordance. There are even interactive digital versions of ancient maps for study. It’s not unusual for the new generation of religious teachers and preachers to bring an iPad to the pulpit.

(Image via YouTube.com/ Aish.com) Rosh Hashanah begins this week at sundown Wednesday. During the holiday, Jews celebrate their new year--this week welcoming the year 5772 --and kick off 10 days of observances, concluding with Yom Kippur, the somber “Day of Atonement.”

Not quite in the Rosh Hashanah mood yet? Your friends at Aish.com are here to help. Their ‘Rosh Hashanah Rock Anthem,’ to the tune of the song by LMFAO, has gone viral. Watch the video below and not only can you listen to an adaptation of the popular dance song, you can learn some of the history of the Jewish High Holidays.

Verizon's "How Sweet The Sound" at Verizon Center on September 21, 2011 in Washington, DC. Regional winner James E. Jordan, Jr. Adult Choir performs “The Lord is Blessing Me.” (Michael Loccisano - WIREIMAGE FOR VERIZON) It was part competition, part lovefest, but mostly worship experience Wednesday night at the Verizon Center in D.C.

A night of gospel music was punctuated by soul-stirring performances, candid testimonies from the judges and praise breaks shared between choir directors, the hosts and gospel music fans with many waving their hands and rejoicing God’s impact in their lives throughout the night.

Verizon’s How Sweet the Sound is a search for the nation’s best choir and the latest stop was in the nation’s capital. Eight choirs from the mid-Atlantic region competed in two categories for small and large groups. Participants across the country are eligible to compete for up to $16,000 and the chance to perform in the grand finale in Los Angeles and up to $50,000. Each local choir receives $3,000.

The event pays tribute to the genre and showcases the work of local churches, said Verizon’s vice president of corporate communication Marquett Smith.

Host Donald Lawrence stands beside a choir director as judges Marvin Sapp, Shirley Caesar and Fred Hammond assess his group’s performance as part of the Verizon's "How Sweet The Sound" at Verizon Center on September 21, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Michael Loccisano - WIREIMAGE FOR VERIZON) Acclaimed recording artists CeCe Winans and Donald Lawrence co-hosted the event. Judging the contestants were award-winning producer/composer/recording artists the Rev. Dr. Marvin Sapp and Fred Hammond as well as iconic Pastor Shirley Caesar, who is poised to work on her 50th recording. Other gospel star judges throughout the nine-city tour include Byron Cage; Beverly Crawford; James Fortune and FIYA; Kurt Carr; Dorinda Clark Cole; Richard Smallwood; Ricky Dillard; Mary Mary and Israel Houghton.

And fans repeatedly shouted how they loved each of them or dashed in front of the stage to take pictures using cameras and mobile devices. In attendance were individuals prominent in the local gospel industry including Maurette Brown Clark , Cheryl Jackson of PraiseDC/104.1 FM radio station, Sunday Best 2 winner Y’Anna Crawley, and media personality/lifestyle reporter Jawn Murray.

Grammy Award-winning arranger/producer/songwriter/singer Andrae’ Crouch received the Living Legend Award; he appeared in a video to accept the honor.