Monthly Archives: July 2004
NEWS STORY: Democrats Aim to Change Perception of `GOP: God’s Official Party’
By Kein Eckstrom — July 23, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Bible is full of stories of squabbling sons fighting to be declared their father’s rightful heirs: Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Ishmael, the prodigal son and his jealous brother. The same might be said for Republicans and Democrats this election season as they compete for God’s blessing _ […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 23, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service United Methodists Elect 21 New Bishops (RNS) The United Methodist Church has elected 21 new bishops to serve in the United States, including three African-Americans, four Asian-Americans, a Hispanic woman and five white women. The new bishops were elected during five regional meetings last week (July 12-17) to serve at […]
COMMENTARY: Joseph Harris Says Catholicism Neither Adrift nor Foundering
By Frances Kennedy — July 23, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Eugene Cullen Kennedy, a longtime observer of the Roman Catholic Church, is professor emeritus of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and author of “Cardinal Bernardin’s Stations of the Cross,” published by St. Martin’s Press.) (UNDATED) Catholics everywhere worry about whether there will still be a Catholic Church to serve […]
COMMENTARY: Troubling Signs Among the Presbyterians
By RNS Blog Editor — July 23, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin, American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.) (UNDATED) What’s up with the Presbyterian Church (USA)? At the church’s recent General Assembly in Richmond, Va., delegates passed resolutions that refused to shut down funding for deceptive missionary campaigns aimed at Jews, and […]
NEWS STORY: Differences Within Parties Push Abortion to Background in Campaign 2004
By RNS Blog Editor — July 23, 2004
c.2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ With significant shares of both Republicans and Democrats disagreeing with their parties’ stands on abortion, President Bush and his challenger, John F. Kerry, are soft-pedaling the issue where national audiences are concerned. Neither candidate has aired a national television ad on the subject. And neither seems troubled that same […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 22, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Poll: Protestant Numbers Shrinking, May Lose Majority Status (RNS) Protestants could cease to be the majority religious group in the United States within the next year and their numbers already may have dipped below 50 percent, a new study by the National Opinion Research Center says. From 1972, when the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Boston Archdiocese Averted the Bankruptcy that Portland Later Sought
By RNS Blog Editor — July 22, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service BOSTON _ By December 2002, the threat of priest-abuse claims had forced the Archdiocese of Boston into financial straits that seemed so desperate its leaders saw just one way out: seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. Cardinal Bernard Law, then head of the archdiocese, received grudging permission from the Vatican […]
NEWS FEATURE: Baptist Seminary Part of Reform Effort at `America’s Worst Prison’
By RNS Blog Editor — July 22, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service BATON ROUGE, La. _ Most people call it Angola. Some simply refer to it as “the farm.” In 1954, Collier’s magazine called it “America’s worst prison.” And to those who’ve been there long enough to remember the way Louisiana State Prison used to be, it was hell on earth. In […]
NEWS STORY: Greek Orthodox Prepare for Contentious Assembly in New York
By Kein Eckstrom — July 22, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Call it My Big Fat Greek Charter Dispute. An ongoing tug-of-war between Greek Orthodox Church leaders and restive parishioners is poised to heat up next week when clergy and lay delegates converge on New York City for a biennial legislative assembly. On the surface, the scuffle may seem little […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 21, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Ten Commandments Monument Hits the Road MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) Motorcycle police with blue lights flashing led former Chief Justice Roy Moore’s controversial Ten Commandments monument out of town on the back of a flatbed truck Monday. A few dozen spectators and almost as many police and reporters watched as workers […]
NEWS STORY: Religious Groups, Others Urge Court to End Juvenile Death Penalty
By Daniel Burke — July 21, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ A wide array of nearly 30 religious groups have called on the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw the execution of minors. The high court is expected to hear oral arguments for Roper v. Simmons, a juvenile death penalty case, when its new term opens in the fall. On […]
NEWS FEATURE: For Many, Crafts Are a Kind of Prayer, Aid for Needy
By Kimberly Winston — July 21, 2004
c. 2004 Beliefnet (UNDATED) On Sunday, some people go to church to worship. On Saturday, some go to church to knit. “We are knitting prayers into shawls to bless those who will receive them,” said Julie Tampa, one of 40 women who show up, knitting needles in hand, to spend two hours each weekend knitting […]
NEWS FEATURE: John Perkins Speaks Out on Race, Poverty
By Adelle M. Banks — July 21, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The Rev. John M. Perkins, 74, chairman emeritus of the Christian Community Development Association and civil rights veteran, grew up amid serious poverty in Mississippi. As a teen, he moved to California where he was converted in a Holiness church. Perkins returned to his home state, where he […]
COMMENTARY: Time to Get Serious
By Tom Ehrich — July 21, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. Visit his Web site at http://www.onajourney.org.) (UNDATED) Michael Moore’s documentary film “Fahrenheit 9/11” isn’t for everyone. For some, it preaches to the choir, adding fuel to their dismay over President […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 20, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Religious Groups Chide Congress for Not Passing Welfare Reform WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of Christian and Jewish groups urged Congress to stop keeping welfare alive with temporary extensions and instead move to a long-term overhaul of the program. Ten mainline Protestant churches were joined by anti-hunger groups, Jewish organizations and […]
