Monthly Archives: January 1999
NEWS STORY: `Pennies a Day’ Could Sharply Cut Hunger in America
By Shelvia Dancy — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ One in 10 U.S. households cannot afford food, and in the last 50 years more people around the world have died of hunger and poor sanitation than were killed in all the wars of the 20th century, according to a new report issued by Bread for the World […]
NEWS FEATURE: Christian Singer on the Verge of Stardom
By Ed White — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service ATHENS, Ala. _ Debbie White was ecstatic as she walked out of the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville after performing in front of a crowd of several thousand people and millions of television viewers for the Christian Country Music Association’s annual Awards Show in November. Out of the view of […]
NEWS FEATURE: Fixed-hour Prayer Moving Out of the Monastery
By Shelvia Dancy — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The admonition is a simple one: “Pray without ceasing,” Paul advises in the New Testament book of Thessalonians. For centuries, Christians have honored that call to prayer through the practice of fixed-hour prayer _ the recitation of psalms, hymns, scripture readings and prayer at specific times of the […]
NEWS STORY: Pope visits site of the Annunciation, Gethsemane, holds ecumenical meeting
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service JERUSALEM, March 25 (RNS) – Pope John Paul II took his spiritual pilgrimage Saturday (March 25) to Nazareth to celebrate the Annunciation of Jesus’ birth and to the garden of Gethsemane to mourn his betrayal. Later, he appealed to leaders of other Christian churches to end “scandalous squabbling over holy […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service Religious groups react to passage of teen abortion bill (UNDATED)(RNS) Religious groups cheered and condemned the House of Representatives’ approval of a bill that aims to restrict the transportation of minors to other states to seek an abortion. The Child Custody Protection Act passed Wednesday (June 30) by a vote […]
NEWS FEATURE: Book raises questions about Pope Pius XII’s wartime role
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Services UNDATED _ In the two decades since his coronation, Pope John Paul II has ushered in an unprecedented thaw in relations between Catholics and Jews _ a nearly unbelievable mend, given the centuries of ugly and sometimes murderous behavior by the majority faith. The first pope to visit a synagogue […]
NEWS STORY: Pope’s Apology for Past Errors Greeted with Applause, Perplexity
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope John Paul II’s unprecedented public apology for sins committed in the name of the Roman Catholic Church over the past two millenniums was greeted Monday (March 13) with applause and with perplexity. “To recognize the deviations of the past serves to reawaken our consciences to the […]
NEWS FEATURE: A Contemporary Craftsman Renews an Ancient Art
By Shelvia Dancy — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Alexander Sokolov was 17 years-old when he stumbled upon a crossroads for his love of art and Orthodox Christianity, his newly adopted religion: painting religious icons. “When I first started making them, they were for me an image of another world, a spiritually rich world,” said Sokolov. “When […]
NEWS FEATURE: Study into Religious Melancholy Turns Into an Adventure
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service HARTFORD, Conn. _ Julius Rubin is joyful these days, a welcome change for a sociologist whose research into “religious melancholy” led to some depressing consequences. He has had to endure a federal lawsuit, threatened legal action against his English publisher and harrassing telephone calls from persons known and unknown _ […]
NEWS STORY: Adults urged to keep sending the message on teen sex
By Bruce Nolan — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ Amid falling teen pregnancy rates, a national advocacy group is telling religious organizations to stick with their message on teen sexuality, whether it’s condoms or abstinence _ because against all expectations, teens seem to be listening. Parents and pastors may feel overwhelmed by the celebration of early […]
RNS DAILY Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service Presbyterians again pondering gay ordination issue (RNS) A key committee at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to recommend striking the so-called”fidelity and chastity”amendment to the denomination’s rule book, the Book of Order. If approved by the full assembly, the action could open the way for […]
NEWS STORY: Physicist Freeman Dyson Named Templeton Prize Winner
By Bart Worden — January 1, 1999
c. 2000 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Freeman Dyson, a world-renowned physicist and author who for more than 50 years has worked to make science a tool for social justice, on Wednesday (March 22) was awarded the 2000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. Dyson, 76, a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced […]
NEWS FEATURE: Priest fights School of the Americas on behalf of the poor
By Bruce Nolan — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ Shortly after becoming a Catholic priest and missionary in 1972, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois shipped to La Paz, Bolivia, and took a room in a city slum to work with the poor. His quarters had no running water; light came from a single naked bulb. Yet, he […]
NEWS FEATURE: Vegas star Lola Falana shuns show business, embraces religion
By Bruce Nolan — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ The big, doelike eyes are still long-lashed and beautiful. But the sleek Bob Mackie gowns that helped shape Lola Falana’s sexually charged Las Vegas stage persona 15 years ago have given way to a plain white cotton shift and sandals. A heavy crucifix around her neck has […]
NEWS FEATURE: Israel’s non-Orthodox movements make a Jewish High Holy Days pitch
By Elaine Fletcher — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _”There is more than one way to be a Jew”proclaim the billboards decorated with a multi-colored Star of David, which have appeared around central Israel in recent days. The slogan is the theme of a controversial new campaign by Israel’s tiny Masorti (Conservative) and Reform Jewish movements to draw […]
