Monthly Archives: September 2004
COMMENTARY: If Today’s Brain-Numbing Political Coverage Happened to the Bible
By James Rudin — September 10, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin, American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.) (UNDATED) Television’s 24/7 news cycles are now a permanent feature of America’s presidential election campaigns. As a result, the networks have an insatiable need to fill the TV screen with high-pitched verbal skirmishes between […]
NEWS FEATURE: After Sept. 11, Pacifist School Seen as Unpatriotic
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service KIDRON, Ohio _ Central Christian School does not display the stars and stripes above other flags or play the national anthem before sporting events. The Mennonite school also does not have as many students or employees as it did two years ago. The latter is connected to the former, said […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Third Federal Judge Strikes Down `Partial-Birth’ Abortion Ban (RNS) A third federal judge ruled Wednesday (Sept. 8) that a law against “partial-birth” abortions is unconstitutional because it ignores parameters set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln, Neb., agreed with two other federal […]
COMMENTARY: Sept. 11 Has Taught Us to Kill or Be Killed
By David P. Gushee — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (David P. Gushee is the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.) (UNDATED) I made a commitment to read the report of the Sept. 11 commission before the third anniversary of those horrible attacks arrived. Two movie images came into my mind as I read the […]
NEWS FEATURE: To Save Souls, This Southern Baptist Leader Takes the Bus
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service PHILADELPHIA _ Standing outside his red, white and blue tour bus, wearing a freshly ironed blue shirt, the Rev. Bobby Welch appeared ready to take his message of energized evangelism to three churches in three states _ all in the same day. The white-haired president of the Southern Baptist Convention […]
NEWS STORY: Pope Prays for Young Victims of Adult Violence, Urges Hostage Release
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope John Paul II prayed Wednesday (Sept. 8) for the children of Beslan, Russia, subjected to “a cruel fanaticism and insane contempt for human life,” and for all young victims of adult violence. He also called on militants to free unharmed two Italian female aid workers taken […]
NEWS STORY: Some Take Offense When They See Christian Crosses at GOP Lectern
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service NEW YORK (RNS) Some offended observers saw Christian crosses in the wood panels of lecterns at the Republican National Convention, but others say these critics are cross-eyed. The debate intensified Thursday when The New York Times ran a front-page photo of Vice President Dick Cheney standing behind a lectern that […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 9, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Pope Asks Bishops to Support Priests Who Suffered From Scandals VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II called on bishops from the Boston and Hartford, Conn., areas to give strong support to priests in their dioceses, who “suffered deeply” from the effects of the pedophile scandals. “In a word, tell […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 8, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Pope Prays for Victims of Russian School Terrorism (RNS) Pope John Paul II prayed for the victims of the “vile and ruthless” siege of Middle School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia, and religious groups around the world expressed condolences and mobilized relief efforts. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Saturday (Sept. […]
COMMENTARY: The `Good Old Days’ of the 1950s Weren’t So Good, or Simple
By Tom Ehrich — September 8, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Four parents serve dinner at our church’s youth group meeting. I observe hesitant sixth-graders looking panicked, hopeful seventh-graders withering before 11th-graders, older boys and girls connecting while middle-schoolers choose his-or-her tables. I am reminded that, along about adolescence, life starts to seem confusing. And life remains confusing from that point […]
NEWS FEATURE: Threat of Violence Slows Pace of Biblical Archaeology
By Michele Chabin — September 8, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ Since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago, local archaeologists, many of them working on sites alluded to in the Bible, have had to scale back or even cancel their digs. That’s because the threat of continued violence has kept foreign professors and students from providing […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 4, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Democratic Members of Congress Seek Dismissal of Military Official (RNS) Eleven Democratic members of Congress have written to President Bush urging him to dismiss Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, a defense undersecretary who was investigated after comparing the war on terrorism to a religious battle. “While General Boykin is […]
NEWS FEATURE: Reformed Church in America Looks to Past and Future
By Chris Meehan — September 4, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service KALAMAZOO, Mich. _ John Veld enjoys the mix of traditional and contemporary elements offered in Sunday services at Third Reformed Church in Oshtemo, Mich. Barbara Barrett is equally satisfied with the lively, spirit-filled activity that takes place at The River, a newly opened “post-modern” church in Kalamazoo. And Lon Bouma […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 3, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service McCartney Moves From Men’s Movement to Effort to Support Messianic Jews (RNS) Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney has announced a new effort to reach out to Messianic Jews. McCartney, who resigned in 2003 as president of the Denver-based evangelical men’s ministry, said “The Road to Jerusalem” movement aims to link […]
NEWS STORY: Abortion Opposition, Off Center Stage, Still at Heart of GOP Activists
By RNS Blog Editor — September 3, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Barely mentioned in the Republican National Convention’s prime-time speeches, restricting abortion remains at the heart of what motivates religious conservatives, said attendees of the convention’s anti-abortion events. Most such events, sprinkled throughout the week, were away from the television cameras that captured a prime-time lineup of moderate […]
