Monthly Archives: December 2005
Teaching intelligent design ruled unconstitutional; Kirtland, historic place of Mormon revelations
By RNS Blog Editor — December 21, 2005
Adelle M. Banks and Bill Sulon report today on Tuesday’s ruling in Dover, Pa., calling intelligent design unconstitutional: A federal judge dealt a setback to the teaching of intelligent design Tuesday (Dec. 20) by ruling a Pennsylvania school district’s policy promoted an unconstitutional variation of creationism, a religious theory. U.S. Middle District Judge John E. […]
Worried over “Peanuts”
By Tracy Gordon — December 20, 2005
Quote of the Day: “Charlie Brown Christmas” Producer Lee Mendelson “We told Schulz, `Look, you can’t read from the Bible on network television.'” -Lee Mendelson, executive producer of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” about initial fretting over “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz’s insistence that the program include the reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of […]
Travel Can Be a Spiritual Journey
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Regina Brandes finds spiritual renewal in travel and nature. She has wondered why the thousands of sheep on steep mountain slopes in Queenstown, New Zealand, don’t stumble. The Twinsburg, Ohio, retiree describes the Dolomites, mountains in the eastern Alps in Italy with deep, spectacular gorges and huge jagged pinnacles, […]
COMMENTARY: A Christian Musician Battles an Addiction to Pornography
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) If the statistics are right, the pornography industry brings in more money than the combined revenues of all professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises. Money from U.S. porn also exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC. Child pornography alone generates an estimated $3 billion annually. Someone is […]
COMMENTARY: Abuse of Palestinian Christians Goes Unchecked
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) These are acutely trying times for the Christian remnant residing in areas “governed” by the Palestinian Authority. Tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to move abroad, while those that remain do so as a beleaguered and dwindling minority. Christians, who used to comprise the […]
In Case You Become Pontiff, a Clever Guide to the Vatican
By Nancy Haught — December 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Obviously, the position has been filled. But you still might want to file away a copy of “How to Be Pope” (Chronicle Books, $10.95, 127 pages) for future reference. Piers Marchant’s collection of truly useful tips, subtitled “What to Do and Where to Go Once You’re in the Vatican,” […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Pope: French Riots a `Message’ From Muslim Youth VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday (Dec. 19) called the chain of riots that recently roiled France a “message” from French youth that underscores the need to integrate Muslim minorities more effectively. Addressing France’s new ambassador to the Holy See, […]
Roman Catholic Spokesman on Rev. Ned Reidy
By Tracy Gordon — December 20, 2005
Quote of the Day: Roman Catholic Spokesman Howard Lincoln “What this is not is a Galileo trial of 1633. This is based on revised canon law of 1983. No one’s going to be burned at the stake.” -The Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., on the church’s charges of heresy […]
Bishop Receives a Gift of `Mercy’ for Christmas
By Kevin Eckstrom — December 19, 2005
Bishops, in church-speak, are supposed to be the good shepherds who look out for the flock. But in South Dakota, it seems one of the sheep is looking out for the shepherd. Episcopal Bishop Creighton Robertson found the new kidney he desperately needed from one of his priests, the appropriately named Rev. Mercy Hobbs. The […]
Gay Priest-Pedofilia Link is `Seriously Mistaken,’ new Archbishop Says
By Kevin Eckstrom — December 19, 2005
The pope’s pick to be the next archbishop of San Francisco says people who want to link the clergy sex abuse scandal to gay priests are “seriously mistaken.” Archbishop-elect George Niederauer, who is a former seminary rector, also seems to leave the door wide open for gay men to be priests: Intermountain News
Hanukkah an Opportunity to Address Pitfalls of Gambling
By RNS Blog Editor — December 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) At a time when gambling has become increasingly popular, with poker matches online and on television, some in the Jewish community say Hanukkah can be an opportunity to address the addictive dangers of wagering. Among the festivities associated with the eight-day holiday is the children’s game of dreidel, a […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Pope Says Mental Illness Caused by Erosion of Moral Values VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday (Dec. 16) described mental illness as a worldwide “emergency” caused by global instability and a general erosion of moral values in industrialized countries. In a message prepared for World Day of the […]
Persistence Pays Off for Lawyer Suing Vatican
By Ashbel S. (Tony) Green — December 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ Process servers have crashed celebrity parties, donned disguises and engaged in car chases _ whatever it takes to put legal papers into the hands of reluctant defendants. But rough-and-tumble tactics won’t work against the Vatican, an independent country located within the city of Rome. To sue a […]
Hollywood Always Has Faith in the Profit, If Not the Prophet
By RNS Blog Editor — December 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A mysterious visitor arrives from the heavens to walk among us. At first, hardly anyone believes in his existence. Gradually, though, more and more people come to know and follow him, as he teaches lessons of love to the meek and powerless. The powerful consider him a threat, however, […]
COMMENTARY: What $20 at Christmas Meant to a Young Girl Freed from Dachau
By RNS Blog Editor — December 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In 1913, my grandmother left Yugoslavia at age 16 and traveled the immigrant’s voyage across the ocean to America. Here she created a legacy in what she liked to call “her adopted homeland,” but her choice meant that she would never see her Slovenian family again. Her sister Ancka […]
