(RNS1-JUL29) Beth Lewis, CEO of Augsburg Fortress Publishers, said terminating the company's pension program was a more ``equitable'' solution than letting funds run out within five years and leaving most stakeholders with nothing. For use with RNS-PENSION-SPAT, transmitted July 28, 2010. RNS photo courtesy Karen Dersnah/ELCA News Service. | Download/Purchase this photo
Pension fight raises moral and legal concerns for ELCA, publisher
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
(RNS) As the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) fights to stay out of a legal battle over unpaid pension benefits, all sides agree on at least one point:
More is at stake than the millions of dollars owed to some 500 pensioners of Augsburg Fortress, the ELCA’s publishing arm.
Last month, the ELCA asked a federal court to be dropped from a suit filed by stakeholders in Augsburg’s recently dissolved pension plan. The ELCA contends it bears no responsibility under the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act because Augsburg Fortress’ pension program is a “church …
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
July 28, 1989
It's really a great experience to look back and see what was happening in times gone past. Here at RNS, we've got some archives from past years, so I will occasionally pick up and look to see what was happening on a given date in, say, 1989, or maybe 1994. I don't have links to any of them, of course, but I do have some of the highlights from the stories that I will share.
In July 1989, the world had finally gotten somewhat accustomed to that wall that split …
RNS LOWER GAZE (RNS6-JUL12) Laila Al-Marayati, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based Muslim Women's League, says Muslim men often ignore the Quran's guidance to "lower their gaze" while chastising women for not covering their heads. For use with RNS-LOWER-GAZE, transmitted July 12, 2010. RNS photo courtesy Laila Al-Marayati.
(RNS2-JUL28) Mormon sculptor Andrew Kosorok, seen here creating a "Merciful" sculpture, is creating 99 glass sculptures to represent Islam's 99 names for God. For use with RNS-10-MINUTES, transmitted July 28, 2010. RNS photo courtesy Andrew Kosorok. | Download/Purchase this photo
10 minutes with … Andrew Kosorok
By Alfredo Garcia
(RNS) Sculpture professor Andrew Kosorok certainly has his hands full for the next three years making representations of the names of God—all 99 of them.
Having gained an interest in Islam after 9/11, Kosorok found that many parallels between his Mormon faith and Islam. Islam’s traditional 99 names for God—“The Provider,” “The Compassionate”—inspired Kosorok to dive deeper into Islamic theology.
Kosorok, who teaches at Brigham Young University, aims to produce one glass sculpture for each of the 99 names, and one final piece to represent all the names together—100 installations in all. So far, he’s finished …