The oft-cliched Christian notion of heaven has no basis in the Bible and would have sounded bizarre to Jesus and his early follow- ers,scholars on the right and left increasingly say.

It isn’t exactly “Green Acres,” but a rooftop farm at a New York City church is making the improbable a reality.The garden consists of 52 soil-filled kiddie pools that serve as planting beds atop Metro Baptist Church in Manhattan.

Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition is trying to corral what might be called “NASCAR Christians” in hopes that social conservatives, especially in the Mid-Atlantic, will give Mitt Romney a crucial boost in November.

The name Jesus Christ doesn’t appear in The Voice, a new translation of the Bible, which renders it “Jesus the Anointed One” or the “liberating king.” That’s a more accurate translation for modern readers, said translator David Capes.