Monthly Archives: August 2004
NEWS STORY: Probe Faults Military Official for Religious Speeches
By Adelle M. Banks — August 20, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A Defense Department investigation of an undersecretary who said the war on terrorism was a religious battle has concluded that military officials should take “corrective action” against him for violating department rules. The report from an inspector general, obtained by The Washington Post and Reuters, states that Lt. Gen. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 19, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Sikh Official Declines Invitation to White House Event (RNS) A top official of a Sikh organization has declined an invitation to a White House event because he would not have been able to bring a kirpan, or small dagger traditionally worn by Sikhs, into the event. Kuldeep Singh, chairman of […]
NEWS FEATURE: Health Ministry Reaches Beyond Healing to Wellness
By Greg Garrison — August 19, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service HOMEWOOD, Ala. _ When people visit Dawson Memorial Baptist Church here, they often go to run, lift weights and work out their bodies, as well as their worship and prayer lives. They also come to find out if they have cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure. Dawson Baptist has placed […]
NEWS DIGEST: Religion in Canada
By Ron Csillag — August 19, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Fix System, Not Sanctuary, Church Leaders Urge TORONTO (RNS) Canadian church leaders have condemned remarks of federal immigration and citizenship minister Judy Sgro, who earlier this summer called on churches to abandon the time-honored practice of providing sanctuary to people under the threat of deportation. In the wake of several […]
COMMENTARY: Why I Keep My Hair Under Wraps
By RNS Blog Editor — August 19, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Judy Gruen’s latest book is “Till We Eat Again: Confessions of a Diet Dropout,” published by Champion Press. Visit her Web site at http://www.judygruen.com.) (UNDATED) A few weeks ago I found myself spellbound while watching the movie “Girl With the Pearl Earring.” The movie, based on the excellent Tracy Chevalier […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 18, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Explorers Unearth Cave That May Have Been Used by John the Baptist (RNS) Archaeologists have uncovered a cave they believe was used by John the Baptist for ritual immersions, one of the first discoveries linked to the distant relative of Jesus. The cave is located on a kibbutz about two miles […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 18, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Vatican Offers to Mediate Conflict in Iraqi Holy City VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican offered Tuesday (Aug. 17) to mediate a cease-fire in the Iraqi city of Najaf if both the U.S. military and rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are willing to “embark on peaceful ways” to end their conflict. […]
NEWS FEATURE: Hindus Wage Legal Battle for Control of Temple
By Judilee King — August 18, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The next chapter of an entrenched legal battle for control of one of the largest Hindu temples in North America will be written in federal court. The twisting tale of the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing, N.Y., is one of disputed bylaws, an authoritarian board of […]
COMMENTARY: Conflicting Paradigms
By Tom Ehrich — August 18, 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) It is 6 p.m., a bad time for grocery shopping. Long lines, full baskets, and in my lane a slow clerk. The store […]
NEWS FEATURE: N.C. Scholar of Islam Continues Embattled Approach
By Yonat Shimron — August 18, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ At 7 a.m. on a spring morning, religion professor Carl W. Ernst was nudged from his sleep by a long-distance phone call. The woman on the line asked if he would accept the Cairo-based Bashrahil Prize for Outstanding Cultural Achievement in the Humanities. “The what prize?” […]
NEWS FEATURE: Modern Pagans Reviving the Polytheistic Religions of the Ancients
By Kimberly Winston — August 17, 2004
c. 2004 Beliefnet.com (UNDATED) This year, Andrea Berman is watching the Olympics for the first time in her life. But she doesn’t care who jumps the highest, runs the farthest or swim the fastest. She is watching the games _ being held this year in Greece, their ancestral home _ for any mention of Zeus, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 17, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Christian Leaders Call for Separation of Church and Politics (RNS) A dozen Christian leaders from various theological perspectives have issued a statement urging the U.S. presidential candidates to “respect the integrity of all houses of worship.” The statement, called “Playing Politics With Church,” was spearheaded by Wake Forest University Divinity […]
ESSAY: Mercury Retrograde: Old God Has New Meaning for Modern Times
By RNS Blog Editor — August 17, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Now that the Olympic Games have returned to their birthplace in Greece, the world is again reminded of the colorful gods and goddesses who centuries ago reigned over the pre-Christian Mediterranean world. Once-glorious deities such as the mighty Zeus and the beautiful Aphrodite have long since fallen from their […]
NEWS STORY: Both Campaigns Set Their Sights on Catholic Voters
By Bruce Nolan — August 17, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When President Bush appeared this month before a Catholic men’s organization, he basked in the approval of an enthusiastic subset of Catholic voters that both he and Sen. John Kerry covet _ but which neither can definitively claim. In an election year in which voters appear closely divided and […]
NEWS STORY: Pope AppealS to World to Respect `Sacred Gift of Life’
By RNS Blog Editor — August 16, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A frail Pope John Paul II, celebrating an outdoor Mass in honor of the Virgin Mary at the French shrine of Lourdes, made an urgent appeal to the world Sunday (Aug. 15) to respect “the sacred gift of life.” John Paul spoke four days after the British government announced […]
