Kristen Campbellwrites in Monday’s RNS report about alternatives for those who can’t make it to worship at church: Maybe you’re vacationing on a desert island. Perhaps you have to travel at an inopportune time. Perchance the dog ate your alarm clock. Bottom line: You can’t make it to congregational worship. What’s a believer to do? For starters, some say, don’t sweat it. “The Sabbath was, as Jesus said, made for us to rest, and that includes going on vacation,” said the Rev. Bruce Hanson, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Mobile, Ala. “You can take God with you wherever you go.”
Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid is calling for a cleansing of Islam, reports Peter Sachs: Indonesia’s first elected president on Monday (June 26) called for a “spiritual regeneration” within Islam to counteract extremists who have given Muslims a bad reputation in the world. “The world today faces a crisis of understanding that threatens all of humanity,” Abdurrahman Wahid said. “The crisis afflicts Muslims and non-Muslims alike with tragic consequences.” The first democratically elected president in Indonesia, Wahid loosened restrictions on press freedoms, decentralized the national government and eliminated discriminatory laws during his term from 1999 to 2001 before being impeached and removed from office amid charges of corruption.
