Monthly Archives: August 2005
COMMENTARY: Why the Christian Right’s Fight Over Evolution Isn’t About Evolution
By Tom Ehrich — August 24, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Religious bullying makes for colorful politics, but does little for faith or culture. As we saw in Rome’s lamentable denunciation of Copernicus and Galileo for discoveries that threatened the Church’s franchise, religious bullies can rile the faithful, intimidate secular leaders and offer easy escapes from a confusing world. But […]
Faith in the community
By Tracy Gordon — August 23, 2005
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Gardner Taylor, past president, Progressive National Baptist Convention “God moves in a mysterious way and, if you’re not careful, you’ll miss that movement. It is our job as preachers and teachers to identify the footprints of God in human affairs.” -The Rev. Gardner Taylor, past president of the Progressive […]
Black Churches Taking Lead on Pressing Sudan Issue
By Kim Lawton — August 23, 2005
c. 2005 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly CHICAGO _ A decade ago, when evangelicals made advocacy on Sudan a centerpiece of their campaign against religious persecution, many African-American churches were reluctant to join in. Today, however, black churches are increasingly at the forefront of the grass-roots momentum to end what the United States calls “genocide” in […]
Christian Magazines, Like Musicians, Try to Tap Secular Market
By Adelle M. Banks — August 23, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Look around the magazine racks at your local Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble or Rite Aid and you may see some new titles amid the regulars. Charisma, a magazine principally aimed at Pentecostal Christians, this summer launched a concerted effort to cross over into the general market, following in the […]
COMMENTARY: Religious Freedom Has Gone AWOL in the Air Force
By RNS Blog Editor — August 23, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When it comes to America’s cherished right of religious freedom, the U.S. military is the proverbial canary in the mine shaft. Sadly, the Air Force continues to allow this canary to asphyxiate in the toxic air of religious intolerance. Nowhere in American society do individuals from so many different […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 23, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Appeals Court Cites Supreme Court in Allowing Ten Commandments Display (RNS) In a decision influenced by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Ten Commandments, a federal appeals court ruled Friday (Aug. 19) that a monument to the biblical laws can remain in a Nebraska park. The Plattsmouth, Neb., […]
Christian magazines expand audience; Black churches take lead on Darfur
By RNS Blog Editor — August 23, 2005
Monday’s RNS report starts off with a feature by Adelle M. Banks about Christian magazines crossing over into the secular market: “As a publisher we would like to get our message out to a broader and broader audience,” Stephen Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, said in an interview. “There’s a new receptivity.” Kim Lawton of […]
Confessed “BTK” killer speaks
By Tracy Gordon — August 23, 2005
Quote of the Day: Confessed BTK Killer Dennis Rader “Hopefully, someday God will accept me.” -Dennis Rader, the confessed “BTK” killer in Wichita, Kan., at his sentencing on Thursday, Aug. 18. Rader, a former president of the church council at his Lutheran church, also thanked his pastor, the Rev. Michael Clark, for his support.
NEWS STORY: Catholic Youth Offer Pope a Chance to `Make His Case’
By Eric J. Lyman — August 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service COLOGNE, Germany _ It is probably too early to know whether Pope Benedict XVI, the new shepherd of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, will be able to establish the kind of popular appeal his predecessor had with young believers. Early indications from the church’s World Youth Day festivities here, however, […]
COMMENTARY: Ten Commandments Belong in Our Lives, Not on Public Squares
By Charles Honey — August 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Like most Americans, I like monuments. They’re big, they’re solid and they last. Mount Rushmore is ridiculously massive, but it is spectacularly American and looks great on a postcard. But do I really want to see a monument of the Ten Commandments springing up on every courthouse and state […]
Meet St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of Real Estate
By Tanveer Ali — August 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) At the Saint Jude Shop in Somerville, N.J., the shelves are stocked with Catholic supplies such as rosaries, Communion dresses, Bibles, gifts and crucifixes. But one of the hottest-selling items _ particularly these days with so many “For Sale” signs planted on suburban lawns _ is a 4-inch statue […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Jews Looking for a Few Good Shofar Players (RNS) It sounds like a biblical brand of “American Idol.” The “Great Shofar Blast Off” is seeking the best rendition of Hebrew notes on the shofar, or ram’s horn, which is blown on the Jewish high holidays to awaken Jews to new […]
Prioritizing faith
By RNS Blog Editor — August 19, 2005
World Youth Day Participant Angela Kopp of Minneapolis “It is hard to defend your faith a lot of times because I feel we’re under attack as young people. We have a lot of pressure from the culture to be worldly rather than have our faith as our No. 1 priority.” -Angela Kopp, 18, of Minneapolis, […]
COMMENTARY: August Is No Slow-News Month for Jews
By James Rudin — August 19, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) August, the “dog days of summer,” is supposedly a slow time for hard news. But it’s not true. World War I began in August 1914, atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August 1945 ending World War II, and Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in August 1974. This month, […]
RELIGION BEST-SELLERS
By RNS Blog Editor — August 19, 2005
(Editor’s note: This August list is compiled by Publishers Weekly magazine from data received from general independent bookstores, chain stores and wholesalers within the month of July. Copyright 2005 Publishers Weekly. Distributed by Religion News Service.) HARDCOVER 1. Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen. (Warner Faith, $19.95) 2. The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren. […]
