Monthly Archives: April 2006
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 19, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Editors: To obtain a file photo of James Towey, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (Towey). White House Faith-based Initiatives Director to Lead Catholic College (RNS) Jim Towey, the director of the White House Office of Faith-based […]
For Bodywashers of Iraq, an Endless Stream of Corpses
By James Palmer — April 19, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service BAGHDAD, Iraq _ The wooden coffins are secured on the roof racks of new minivans, battered compact cars and in the beds of pickup trucks. The vehicles line a narrow, pock-marked dirt alley that leads to a body-washing parlor, where the deceased are cleansed before burial. Inside, Mohammed Rozki carefully […]
Museum Puts Biblical Archeology on Display
By RNS Blog Editor — April 19, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service BEACHWOOD, Ohio _ Stand as Jews did 2,000 years ago before a stone inscription from the Temple Mount. Imagine the place where priests announced the beginning and the end of the Sabbath with trumpet blasts that could be heard throughout Jerusalem. Gaze at a large stone table filled with first-century […]
COMMENTARY: How to Silence Scripture-Quoting Partisans
By Tom Ehrich — April 19, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The next time a Christian partisan shouts a Bible verse at you _ as if citing Leviticus 18:22, Exodus 20:13 or 1 Corinthians 7:4 ended all discussion of homosexuality, abortion or women’s rights _ shout back, “Acts 4:32-35!” Oops! Yes, that is the passage that might have inspired Karl […]
Pastors Discover Christians Have Funny Bones
By RNS Blog Editor — April 18, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ Dr. O. Wendell Davis writes no-nonsense sermons. “I write as seriously and with as much passion as I can,” said Davis, pastor of Union Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. He reduces those scripts to outlines. He prays. He prepares to move into the pulpit on the wide platform […]
After a Year as Pope, Retirement Could Be Benedict’s Toughest Decision
By By David Gibson — April 18, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It is a week of obvious milestones for Pope Benedict XVI: his first Easter as the Roman Catholic pontiff, and the first anniversary _ on Wednesday (April 19) _ of his election as pope following the death of John Paul II. But a more personal marker, also on Easter, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 18, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Pope Marks 500th Birthday of St. Peter’s Basilica VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday (April 17) paid tribute to the inception of St. Peter’s Basilica, which will mark its 500th anniversary on Tuesday (April 18). Benedict said that the basilica’s first stone was laid on April 18, 1506, […]
SIDEBAR: Churches Worship for Laughs on `Holy Humor Sunday’
By RNS Blog Editor — April 18, 2006
c. Religion News Service (UNDATED) In 1988, the founder of the Fellowship of Merry Christians began urging churches to tell jokes and inject humor into their services on the Sunday after Easter. Cal Samra dubbed that day “Holy Humor Sunday.” The idea is to boost attendance, which tends to dip dramatically a week after the […]
COMMENTARY: How One Man Sparked a Worldwide Pentecostal Movement
By RNS Blog Editor — April 18, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) On April 25-29, tens of thousands of people will gather in Los Angeles for the Azusa Street Centennial _ the celebration of a revival in 1906 that launched the modern Pentecostal/charismatic movement worldwide. But this event is more than a celebration for one group of Christians, and it is […]
Vatican Denounces `Da Vinci Code,’ `Gospel of Judas’ as Media Hype
By RNS Blog Editor — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ A Vatican official, preaching in front of Pope Benedict XVI at a Good Friday service, denounced “The Da Vinci Code” novel and a highly publicized “Gospel of Judas” as examples of profit-driven propaganda aimed at exploiting Christianity. The comments were a rare instance of the Vatican directly […]
COMMENTARY: Outrageous and Anti-Semitic, Gnostics Penned More Than `Gospel of Judas’
By RNS Blog Editor — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) From all the hullabaloo in the press over the “Gospel of Judas,” one might easily conclude that something like the plot of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” had suddenly been demonstrated as historical fact rather than fiction. Much of the mainstream media coverage of the “Gospel of Judas,” […]
COMMENTARY: How a Muslim Physician Squares Evolution With Creationism
By RNS Blog Editor — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It was an amazing find: Paleontologists recently announced the discovery of an ancient fish that provides the “missing evolutionary link” between fish and the first mammals that crawled onto land from the sea. Published in the science journal Nature, scientists described the animal, called Tiktaalik roseae, as having not […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service PETA Ad Claims Pope Opposes Animal Farming; Vatican Official Objects VATICAN CITY (RNS) A new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ad campaign depicts Pope Benedict XVI as an opponent of animal farming and an advocate for vegetarianism, but a Vatican official is challenging its accuracy. The advertisement, […]
Church says Jesus Image in Drywall Continues to Attract, Heal
By RNS Blog Editor — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service SARALAND, Ala. _ The congregation thanked the Lord for a miracle granted two days before, prayed that a godly intervention would stop a case of colon cancer and welcomed a new member to the Triumph Learning and Worship Center for Life. That’s the way things have been going at this […]
Priest’s Trial in Chapel Death of Nun to Include Talk of Rituals, Cults
By James Ewinger — April 15, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service TOLEDO, Ohio _ There are no little murders. But Gerald Robinson is about to go on trial in Toledo for one that is unusually large, judging by the interest. He is a Roman Catholic priest. The victim, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, was a nun, and the slaying occurred more than […]
