Monthly Archives: March 1996
NEWS STORY: Abortion foes call for more debate
By Adelle M. Banks — March 19, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-Leading figures in the anti-abortion movement have issued a statement outlining their opposition to abortion and challenging Americans to further debate on the divisive issue.”The America We Seek: A Statement of Pro-Life Principle and Concern”appears in the March 25 issue of National Review, a conservative opinion journal.”Our goal is simply […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Carl Anderson — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Jewish groups, Clinton criticize anti-terrorism bill as too weak (RNS)-President Clinton and a host of Jewish groups are sharply criticizing a House-passed measure aimed at countering terrorism in the United States and abroad because most of the central features of the bill were removed.”If we’re going to have a bill, […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND MONEY: What God giveth the IRS taketh away
By RNS Blog Editor — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service HARTFORD, Conn. (RNS)-Fed up with filling out tax forms? Try this: Join a religious order whose members take a vow of poverty. Priests, nuns, monks and brothers who take vows of poverty don’t pay taxes as long as they work for a church institution. They rely on their superiors for […]
COMMENTARY: A pope should be chosen without secrecy
By RNS Blog Editor — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and sociologist at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. His home page on the World Wide Web is at http://www.greeley.com. Or contact him at his e-mail address: agreel(at sign)aol.com. Check RNS Online for a photo of Andrew Greeley.) […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Religion scholar Huston Smith graces PBS series
By Ira Rifkin — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Scholar Huston Smith literally wrote the book on world religions. It can also be said that his life story reads as if it was lifted from the pages of his most enduring work. Smith’s”The Religions of Man”-first published in 1958 when he was just 38, and since reissued as”The […]
Basketball flap: One man’s understanding of Islam
By RNS Blog Editor — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED)-Basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s reluctance to stand for the national anthem says more about his experiences as an African-American than it does Islam, according to a leading scholar of the African-American Muslim scene.”There is an attitude that exists among African-American Muslims that uses Islam as a battering ram against the […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Carl Anderson — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Evangelical leader optimistic about New Era settlement (RNS)-A spokesman for evangelical ministries hit last year by a scandal involving the now-bankrupt Foundation for New Era Philanthropy is optimistic that a settlement can be reached that will prevent years of litigation.”We believe we have an agreement in principle which must now […]
At First United, black and white Baptists share a spiritual home
By Bruce Nolan — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS-It has been 30 years since that memorably dreadful day when Doris Viverito watched in shamed silence as the white deacons evicted a black woman who’d come to worship at Central Baptist Church. She was in her 20s then and Central Baptist, all-white and Southern Baptist, stood at the […]
Churches raise a stink about too-fragrant worshipers
By RNS Blog Editor — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service SAN FRANCISCO (RNS)-On bended knee and with folded hands, Christians traditionally worship their God. Many also come to church bearing unwelcome gifts of overpowering personal fragrance-Chanel No.5, Obsession, White Shoulders or Brut. Now, in the dawning age of”multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS),”a Sunday-morning ablution in after-shave or cologne could become a […]
COMMENTARY: Try a V-chip on the Bible
By James Rudin — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-Installing V-chips in televisions to filter out objectionable programming is the latest idea to protect youngsters from programs containing violence and sex. Politicians-including President Clinton-may favor installing the device, but the V-chip won’t work because it’s another futile attempt to use technology to solve moral problems, something we can only […]
NEWS FEATURE: Author says `integrity’ key to good citizenship
By Carl Anderson — March 14, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Stephen Carter is looking for a presidential candidate who will give the same speech to the business-oriented U.S. Chamber of Commerce and labor advocate AFL-CIO. That, says the Yale University law professor and intellectual provocateur, would be a sign of integrity. Integrity is what’s missing from the current political […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 14, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Muslim leaders protest upcoming film depicting Islamic terrorists (RNS)-U.S. Muslim leaders said this week that”Executive Decision,”an upcoming film from Warner Bros., is likely to inflame anti-Muslim sentiments by depicting terrorists who use the Koran, Islam’s holy book, to justify their violent acts. The film depicts terrorists of Islamic heritage from […]
COMMENTARY: Signs of spring in Sarajevo
By Dale Hanson Bourke — March 14, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is publisher of Religion News Service and a member of the board of World Vision. She recently returned to the former Yugoslavia to see how life has changed since the Dayton Peace Accord.) SARAJEVO (RNS)-Snow lies like a soft blanket over the ruins of this battle-scarred city. […]
TOP STORY: JUDAISM: Jewish outreach joins the Exodus as a Passover topic this year
By Ira Rifkin — March 14, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-This Passover, Susan V. Gelmis-the daughter of a Catholic father and a Jewish mother who raised her as a Christian-will again host a Seder at her home in Berkeley, Calif. As always, she will make it a point to invite Jewish friends who have little connection to their religious roots. […]
TOP STORY: TERROR IN ISRAEL: U.S. Jews harden their stand in wake of bombings
By Ira Rifkin — March 13, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-The recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel has considerably hardened American Jewish attitudes toward the Middle East peace process. Frustration has replaced optimism, and anger has replaced whatever sympathy there was for Palestinian concerns. American Jewish leaders said Israel should retaliate against Hamas terrorists, even if that […]
