Monthly Archives: May 2007
COMMENTARY: Happy Birthday, Father Hesburgh
By Frances Kennedy — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) At this time when many observers bewail the lack of great leaders, a truly great one, Father Theodore Hesburgh, is celebrating his 90th birthday (May 25). Now president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, which he led for 35 years, Hesburgh could still take on the papacy or […]
Poll Finds Muslims Satisfied, Opposed to Islamic Terrorism
By Laura Turner — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Most Muslim Americans are largely assimilated in the culture, happy with their lives and embracing the American dream, according to a comprehensive study released Tuesday (May 22) by the Pew Research Center. The Pew study, conducted between January and April, was based on interviews with 1,050 Muslim American […]
Graham’s Global Impact Felt at New N.C. Library
By Ken Garfield — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Consider it Billy Graham’s last crusade, one that will draw the faithful long after America’s most famous religious figure is gone. On a wooded site in his hometown _ just off Billy Graham Parkway, no less _ the Billy Graham Library will be dedicated May 31 at […]
COMMENTARY: Gentlemen (and Ladies), Start Your Engines
By Tom Ehrich — May 23, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When this year’s Day of Pentecost comes around on May 27, I will be seated in row 69 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, near the start-finish line, for the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. Around our family group will be some 400,000 race fans _ “all together […]
Woman Finds New Use for All Those Old Church Bulletins
By RNS Blog Editor — May 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ Although quite by accident, Lanky Petras was ahead of her time. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that,” she says as she dips another half-inch-long paper cylinder into a bottle of clear nail polish. ”This makes it all shiny. When it dries, it’s ready to string.“ Petras, […]
How to Make Beads from Old Church Bulletins
By RNS Blog Editor — May 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) 1. Collect a variety of church bulletins and inserts, particularly those with color and pattern. It usually takes three to five bulletins to make enough beads for a necklace. Cut at least 36 strips, about 5 inches long, tapered from one-half inch at one end to one-third inch at […]
RNS Daily Digest: 1,100 words
By RNS Blog Editor — May 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Government Rescinds Fine Against Baptist Group WASHINGTON (RNS) A moderate Baptist group will not have to pay a fine related to alleged violations by members of affiliated churches who traveled to Cuba, the Treasury Department has decided. In 2006, the Washington-based Alliance of Baptists received a notice that it could […]
Was College Predestined to Receive Calvin’s Book?
By RNS Blog Editor — May 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ The nibbles of a bookworm are evident in the ancient volume, but only at the margins, not in the text itself. Serendipitous? Or providential? Judging the book by its cover _ and its author _ it’s probably the latter. Calvin College recently acquired a 16th century […]
Nazi Translator a Last Living Witness to History
By Jeff Diamant — May 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service TENAFLY, N.J. _ Most people know what they know about high-ranking Nazi leaders from books, articles and documentaries. Richard Sonnenfeldt, an American Jew who now lives on Long Island, learned about them face-to-face. As chief interpreter for prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials 61 years ago, he came to know the […]
Rome Has Seven Hills; This Church Has Seven Domes
By Greg Garrison — May 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ People driving by Faith Chapel Christian Center might get the feeling they’re passing a futuristic alien colony now that the church has built its seventh dome, giving the 137-acre campus an otherworldly appearance. Faith Chapel started with a $15 million, 3,000-seat sanctuary under a dome in 2000. […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: The Church’s Feminine Mistake
By RNS Blog Editor — May 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Last February, Pope Benedict XVI spoke feelingly about early Christian women leaders: “The history of Christianity would have developed quite differently without the generous contribution of many women,” he said. The pope even acknowledged that, unlike the apostles, women “did not abandon Jesus at the hour of his passion. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 18, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Dobson: `I Cannot, and Will Not, Vote for Rudy Giuliani’ (RNS) Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, writing his personal views in an online commentary, has declared that he will not vote for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a presidential election. “Speaking as a private citizen and […]
COMMENTARY: Jerry Falwell and the Crisis of Evangelicalism
By Dick Staub — May 18, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell is prompting evangelicals to re-evaluate his impact on their movement. As a result, some are concluding it is time to divorce themselves from the style and narrow political agenda of fundamentalists. To his credit, Falwell inspired million of evangelicals to take more […]
T.D. Jakes Preaches U-Turns on the Road to Success
By Greg Garrison — May 18, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In his new book, TV evangelist, megachurch pastor and best-selling author Bishop T.D. Jakes advises his readers to transform themselves and move into a new stage of life. The book, “Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits,” also appears to be part of Jakes’ own strategy of remaking himself as […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Jerry Falwell and Me
By Deborah Caldwell — May 18, 2007
c. 2007 Beliefnet (UNDATED) In the mid-1970s, as Jerry Falwell built his empire in Virginia, I was a child in rural Pennsylvania, a place often described as the northern Bible Belt. Many a night, my family drove along the back roads listening to AM radio as it picked up signals from all over. Sometimes we […]
