Monthly Archives: October 2006
GUEST COMMENTARY: The Occult Isn’t Just a Batty Idea in America’s Attic
By Ben Horowitz — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It was a moment made for C-SPAN, though television sets would not reach American living rooms for another century. In 1854, Sen. James Shields of Illinois, one of the most respected voices in the Senate and the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, rose to present his colleagues […]
COMMENTARY: Lessons on Church Growth From Those Who Need It
By Tom Ehrich — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS _ We sped past the 66-foot statue of statesman Sam Houston, leader of the Texas Revolution, who retired here rather than violate his unionist principles when the State of Texas seceded in the Civil War. We drove more sedately past the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, whose execution […]
Separation of Church and State
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2006
Quote of the Day: Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder “We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated. But we fail to recognize that in the U.S.A., the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar […]
COMMENTARY: For Passover, Consider King Tut’s Use of Hebrew Slaves
By RNS Blog Editor — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In February, I visited the world-famous King Tut exhibit in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It’s on display until April 23 when it moves to Chicago and then Philadelphia. The extraordinary artifacts from an ancient royal Egyptian tomb will remain in the United States until September 2007, and if the large […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Kidnapped Christian Aid Workers Released in Iraq TORONTO (RNS) Two Canadian Christian aid workers and a British colleague held hostage in Iraq for nearly four months were freed Thursday (March 23) in a daring morning raid by coalition forces. Jim Loney, 41, of Toronto, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, formerly […]
Torah Cover That Survived Nazis to Return to New York Family
By RNS Blog Editor — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Gavriel Wesel came safely home to Vienna, Austria, after World War I, his wife, Miriam, sewed a cover for a Torah scroll at their synagogue to give thanks to God. On Monday (March 27), 87 years later, the cover will be returned to the New York grandchildren and […]
At Theater Churches, the Early Matinee Is Rated `G’ for Gospel
By RNS Blog Editor — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. _ Pastor Reford Mott looks into two cameras as he stands at a makeshift pulpit on a temporary stage. Behind him, Mott’s image fills a large movie screen where an R-rated film will start in less than two hours. Churchgoers in the top rows of the stadium-style […]
They See Their Savior in Buckling Drywall
By RNS Blog Editor — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service SARALAND, Ala. _ Church members say a buckling of drywall in their flooded sanctuary resembles a crucifixion and works miracles. “You never know how he is going to come,” said Ella Roberts, pastor of the Triumph Learning and Worship Center for Life. “You can’t explain it. It just is what […]
Last Rites …
By Kevin Eckstrom — October 24, 2006
It sounds like the set-up to a bad joke: three Catholic priests are riding in a car when they get in an accident … But the Italian car accident that claimed the life of a Pennsylvania priest and injured Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore wasn’t funny at all. Keeler, 75 and nursing a broken ankle, […]
Red, White and God: What We Believe
By Kevin Eckstrom — October 24, 2006
David van Biema over at Time magazine, one of the best in the biz, has an interesting take out on what America believes and why, based on the recent Baylor survey on America and religion. There’s a cool interactive graphic based on the 2000 Glenmary survey, as well as a snazzy graphic that shows America’s […]
Shattering the Stained-Glass Ceiling
By Kevin Eckstrom — October 24, 2006
The Christian Century has Adelle Banks’ report on the milestones-and continued resistance-faced by women clergy in mainline Protestant denominations: Adair Lummis, a sociologist of religion and an expert on women clergy at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, applauds the new steps by mainline Protestant churches. But she offers a “don’t just relax” caution. “Just because you […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — October 24, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Kurt Carr, Take 6 Among New Inductees for Gospel Hall of Fame (RNS) Gospel musicians Kurt Carr and Take 6 are among the new inductees to the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum. A ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of awards sponsored by the Detroit-based hall of fame […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Big Faith on the Silver Screen
By James Martin — October 24, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Rare is the saint’s biographer who can avoid these words in the first few pages of the book: “His life would make a great movie!” or “Her story was like something out of a Hollywood film!” So with Nov. 1 _ All Saints Day _ nearly upon us, here […]
Cop Patrols the Streets and Then Preaches From the Pulpit
By Greg Garrison — October 24, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Police Officer Marvin Anthony Neal patrols the streets of Birmingham on most mornings, but on Sundays he patrols the pulpit at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Alabaster. Neal became pastor in August but works as a patrol officer on the 11 p.m.-7 a.m. shift in the city’s […]
Food Stamps a Hard Sell Among Ohio’s Amish
By Greg Horton — October 24, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service CLARIDON TOWNSHIP, Ohio _ Tim Taylor’s job calls for finding ways to distribute food stamps to the Amish in Geauga County. He might as well be trying to sell them cars. The horse-and-buggy crowd philosophically opposes the support program overseen by Taylor’s agency, the Geauga Department of Job & Family […]
