Monthly Archives: August 2004
NEWS STORY: Targetting Democrats Raises Profile of Catholic League
By Kein Eckstrom — August 11, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Bill Donohue, the bombastic head of the Catholic League, has never met Mara Vanderslice or Brenda Bartella Peterson, but he knows enough about them to know that he doesn’t like either one. Both women were charged with overseeing election-year “religious outreach” _ Vanderslice for the Kerry campaign, Peterson […]
COMMENTARY: Changing Times
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 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) One last swim, one last weeknight free of homework, and now back to school. As my son begins seventh grade, it is tempting […]
NEWS FEATURE: Evangelist Offering New Episode in Drama of Jesus Christ, Movie Star
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service CLEVELAND _ Is America ready for another R-rated Jesus flick? Bishop T.D. Jakes, an evangelist who is frequently mentioned as a leading contender to replace Billy Graham as America’s preacher, is betting on it in a new film that includes intense scenes of child rape, drug use, domestic violence and […]
NEWS FEATURE: Ekklesia Project Looks at What God Is Not
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ Contrary to popular belief, God is not an American, one of us, religious, or a capitalist. He’s not very nice either, says D. Stephen Long. Unfortunately, says Long, too many Christians prefer “the nice god” to the God of the Bible. Long, who teaches systematic theology at Garrett […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 10, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Survey: Most Community Foundations Fund Faith-Based Organizations (RNS) Most U.S. community foundations fund faith-based social services but the majority do not permit their grants to support explicit religious activities, a new study shows. Sixty-eight percent of 215 foundations responding to a survey from the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare […]
NEWS FEATURE: Need Legal Advice? This Lawyer Has Nun
By Kate Coscarelli — August 10, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service POMPTON PLAINS, N.J. (RNS) At Rosemary McSorley’s law office, pictures of religious tableaus adorn the walls next to bar meeting notices and quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. The legal advice here is cheap by trade standards. If you like, McSorley also will pray with you. And every session ends […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 7, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service New Catholic Priests Are Slightly Older, More International WASHINGTON (RNS) The 2004 class of new Catholic priests is older and increasingly foreign-born, according to statistics released Friday (Aug. 6) by Catholic bishops. The average age of new priests inched up slightly to 37, up from 36.8 last year and 34.8 […]
NEWS FEATURE: `Sunday Best’ Changing as Casual Creeps Up on Church-Going Clothing
By Kristen Campbell — August 7, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service MOBILE, Ala. _ Seersucker and see-through, suits and ties and tie-dyed, feathered hats and baseball caps: On Sunday morning, you can see it all. And it marks a change for Mary “Mickie” Jernigan, who recalls when church fashions were different. These days, Jernigan, who is in her 70s, said she […]
NEWS STORY: Vatican Warns Against Feminism, Asserts Essential Difference of Sexes
By RNS Blog Editor — August 6, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Asserting an inherent difference between the sexes, the Vatican on Saturday restated its ban on the ordination of women and attacked feminist attempts to minimize biological differences between men and women. “From the moment of their creation, man and women are distinct, and will remain so for […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 6, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Diverse Religious Groups Unite Behind Aid for Sudan WASHINGTON (RNS) An unusually broad coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and evangelical groups has come together to urge intervention by the United States and the United Nations in war-torn Sudan. The Save Darfur Coalition is comprised of more than 70 religious and […]
NEWS FEATURE: New Book Explores the Ethics, Morality of Vampire Slayer Buffy
By RNS Blog Editor — August 6, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The TV series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” becomes much more than one young woman stalking the undead in a new book exploring the show’s spiritual values. “What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide” (Jossey-Bass) by Jana Reiss deftly portrays the TV show as challenging media stereotypes […]
NEWS STORY: Housed at a Terrorist Target, Church Carries on Its Work, Worship
By Christ Herlinger — August 6, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Long a landmark and destination because of its famous “jazz ministry” and its sleek, elegant modern architecture, Saint Peter’s Church in midtown Manhattan is now gaining unwanted attention because of its locale: It is surrounded by the Citigroup Center, one of a number of New York financial […]
COMMENTARY: Sen. Kerry, Listen to My Aunt Margaret
By Frances Kennedy — August 6, 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) Everybody should have an Aunt Margaret who saw things as clearly as mine did. […]
COMMENTARY: After Thirteen Years
By James Rudin — August 6, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University. He can be contacted at Jamesrudin(at)aol.com.) (UNDATED) I wrote my first Religion News Service commentary in August 1991, and to my amazement more than 670 others have followed. Although this weekly column has […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 5, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Finnish Theologian Forced to Leave U.S. Under New Visa Regulations (RNS) A renowned Finnish theologian and tenured professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., has been forced to leave the United States because he did not qualify under new visa regulations for religious professionals. In what may be one […]
