Monthly Archives: July 1996
NEWS STORY: Pentecostal group gives women ministers added authority
By Adelle M. Banks — July 19, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Rev. Catherine Payne has traveled the globe, representing the Church of God of Prophecy and preaching in pulpits from India to Bulgaria to Ukraine. But wherever Payne preached, she could not baptize converts, officiate at Holy Communion services or perform weddings. However, thanks to an historic vote taken […]
NEWS STORY: Episcopal church treasurer gets five years for embezzlement
By Carl Anderson — July 19, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Ellen F. Cooke, the high-living former treasurer of the Episcopal Church who admitted embezzling more than $1.5 million from the church, was sentenced Wednesday (July 10) to five years in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Maryanne Trump Barry in Newark, N.J., said that Cooke”systematically looted”the denomination. Barry dismissed as”spurious”Cooke’s […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND POLITICS: When `evangelical’ doesn’t necessarily mean `conservat
By Julia Lieblich — July 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When the progressive civil liberties group People For the American Way was considering civic activist and philanthropist Carole Shields for its presidency, board members liked the idea of a religious Christian at the helm. “Somebody said, `Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Baptist preacher’s kid as president of […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Does prayer help the medicine go down?
By RNS Blog Editor — July 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _”I’m an honest-to-God doctor,”said Larry Dossey, grinning at his pun. Dossey _ a physician, best-selling author and executive editor of the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine _ is a proponent of synthesizing spirituality and science.”Faith empowers science,”he said during a recent visit to Washington.”If you join reason […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Religious leaders want ban on CIA use of missionaries (RNS) A panel of religious leaders told a Senate committee Wednesday (July 17) that an absolute ban on the use of clergy by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was necessary to protect the lives of missionaries in foreign countries. But CIA […]
COMMENTARY: Good deeds are like old cars; they can both backfire
By RNS Blog Editor — July 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dick Feagler is a columnist for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland) (UNDATED) Sometimes you hear people say that no good deed goes unpunished. But that’s pretty cold and cynical. It’s warmer and fuzzier to say that good deeds are like old cars. They often backfire when you least expect it. […]
COMMENTARY: Living in a material world
By Dale Hanson Bourke — July 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and publisher of Religion News Service.) (UNDATED) The two stories ran 13 pages apart in the Sunday New York Times. The first, just four pages into the first section, told the heartbreaking story of men and women who live in steel […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 17, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Churches urge U.S. action on environment (RNS) The National Council of Churches and a dozen Protestant and Orthodox bodies called Tuesday (July 16) for greater U.S. leadership in reducing the emission of”greenhouse gases”that many scientists believe are changing the Earth’s climate.”These are profound issues of global justice,”the Rev. Joan Brown […]
BODY & SOUL: Gambling is a poor bet for satisfying the soul
By RNS Blog Editor — July 17, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Body & Soul is a regular column exploring the interplay between spirituality and psychology. Pythia Peay is the author of”Putting America on the Couch,”to be published by Riverhead Books in 1997.) (UNDATED) As his mother lay dying, Alex Walters’ father was nowhere to be found. Panic-stricken, Walters drove by his […]
TOP STORY: THE BUSINESS OF RELIGION: Catholic Church’s aggressive marketing reaps rewards
By RNS Blog Editor — July 17, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ It has a recognizable name. Revenues have jumped 400 percent in four years and companies come begging for exclusivity rights. Business is so brisk that it’s planning to tap the Internet to expand its market reach. With results like these, who needs a miracle? Certainly not the […]
FEATURE STORY: Modern-day Moses carves Ten Commandments
By Corrie Mitchell — July 17, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments carved in stone. Steve Williams stepped down from his Safeway semi-truck with the same religious edicts etched in two types of marble and slate. Tradition holds that Moses received the commandments directly from God. Williams’ inspiration came […]
Best-selling religion books
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 1996
(Editor’s note: This list is compiled by Publishers Weekly magazine from data received from general independent bookstores, chain stores and wholesalers within the month of June. Copyright 1996 Publishers Weekly. Distributed by Religion News Service. Check RNS Online for the list in a graphic format.) HARDCOVER 1. The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris. (Riverhead, $23.95) […]
NEWS STORY: Yancey wins Christian Book of the Year prize
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED)”The Jesus I Never Knew”by Philip Yancey (Zondervan Publishing House) has won the Christian Book of the Year Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. The fifth annual award, presented jointly with the Christian Booksellers Association, was given Saturday (July 13) to Yancey, a best-selling author and editor-at-large for Christianity […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service World Council of Churches faces severe financial crisis (RNS) The World Council of Churches (WCC) is facing severe financial difficulties and only”drastic action”on the part of the international ecumenical agency’s 330 member churches can end the crisis, the Rev. Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary, has told members.”By the end of […]
COMMENTARY: Witnesses to slavery
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Charles W. Colson, former special counsel to Richard Nixon, served a prison term for his role in the Watergate scandal. He now heads Prison Fellowship International, an evangelical Christian ministry to the imprisoned and their families. Contact Colson via e-mail at 71421.1551(AT)compuserve.com.) (UNDATED) One could charitably say that Louis Farrakhan […]
