Monthly Archives: December 2006
As a White Church Dies Off, a Black Church Gets a `New Beginning’
By Greg Garrison — December 30, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Midfield First Baptist Church, which had dwindled to about 40 mostly elderly, white worshippers, recently held its last service in the church building it had called home for nearly 50 years. A week later, it handed over the keys _ and its $1.8 million property _ to […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 30, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Archbishop of Canterbury Slams `Flaws’ in Iraq War LONDON (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on Friday (Dec. 29) attacked the decision by the United States and Britain to go to war in Iraq as having “moral and practical flaws,” and said he wonders whether he could have done more […]
Ford Funeral to Follow Episcopal Burial Rites
By Daniel Burke — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The funeral service for former President Gerald Ford at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday (Jan. 2) will follow the formal burial rites of his Episcopal faith, feature Bible readings by his children and remembrances by President Bush and former President George H.W. Bush. Ford, 93, died Tuesday (Dec. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Ford Praised for Steady Hand, Support for Jews (RNS) Religious leaders are lauding former President Gerald Ford, who died Tuesday (Dec. 26) at age 93, praising his common decency, his steady hand in turbulent times and his support for Jews living in the former Soviet Union. Evangelist Billy Graham called […]
In Amish Country, `Christian Broadway’ is Big Business
By RNS Blog Editor — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service STRASBURG, Pa. _ Few signs beckon pilgrims seeking the Millennium Theatre. They know the way, or at least their bus drivers do. “Our audience doesn’t have any trouble finding us,” public relations manager Pamela Evans said, explaining the paucity of billboards along the Lancaster County roads leading to the 2,000-seat […]
On `Christian Broadway,’ Nothing is Amateur
By RNS Blog Editor — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service STRASBURG, Pa. _ The sprawling stage at Millennium Theatre is more than 300 feet long, wrapping around both sides of the 2,000-seat theater. The sets are gigantic, the lights brilliant, the music thunderous. At any moment, dozens of actors and live animals might be swirling across the stage or up […]
Michigan Church Has Been Preparing for Ford Funeral
By RNS Blog Editor — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ “Peace Be Unto You” is chiseled into the brick entryway to Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids. But the church wasn’t a house of serenity on Wednesday (Dec. 27). Phones rang with queries from reporters. Interim rector Nixon McMillan, vacationing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, […]
COMMENTARY: Anybody Have a Cure for MEGO Disease?
By James Rudin — December 29, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Despite the best attempts to immunize myself, each December I contract the dreaded MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) illness. MEGO is brought on by reading the many year-end neatly typed single-spaced “Family Letters” received from friends. These cheery familial reports usually feature overachieving whiz kids accompanied by warm fuzzy […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Graham Cited `Most Admired’ in Gallup Poll for 50th Time (RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham has been named in the Gallup Poll’s top 10 “most admired” men list for a record 50th time. In a poll taken in mid-December, the 88-year-old evangelist came in fifth. Ranked before him, in order, were […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Carter, in Letter to U.S. Jews, Defends Use of `Apartheid’ in Book (RNS) Former President Jimmy Carter, under fire from Jewish leaders for describing Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands as “apartheid” in a new book, has written an open letter to U.S. Jews to defend and clarify his use of […]
COMMENTARY : Between a Rock and a Hard Place
By Frances Kennedy — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The atheists who claim they just want organized religion to let them alone cannot seem to let organized religion alone. Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have replaced the old lump of coal in our Christmas stocking with books that denounce religion and advocate atheism. New York Times columnist Nicholas […]
10 Minutes With … Phyllis Tickle
By RNS Blog Editor — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Every few months, it seems Phyllis Tickle is at it again, with a new book on the cycles of prayer _ called the Daily Offices, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Divine Hours or, as Tickle calls it, “Fixed-Hour Prayer.” The idea is stopping every three hours for scripted […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Always Winter and Never Christmas
By RNS Blog Editor — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As I recently watched “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” with my sons, I reached a disturbing conclusion: The White Queen of Narnia is taking over the world. People who have read the book or seen the film know that, when the enchanted realm […]
In a Year Dominated by Elections, Americans Voted Against the Status Quo
By Kein Eckstrom — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Elections, the late columnist Franklin P. Adams once said, “are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.” And whatever Americans were voting for in 2006, it seems clear that what they were voting against was the status quo. Episcopalians, for […]
What’s a Jew to Do on Christmas Eve?
By RNS Blog Editor — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Round midnight last Christmas Eve, Joshua Neuman killed any doubts he had about the success of Heebonism 2005, the party-like-you-mean-it bash his Jewish cultural magazine throws every Dec. 24. About 1,500 sweat-drenched scenesters were mobbing the dance floor and he was squished into a corner with a […]
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