Monthly Archives: March 2008
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service Gorbachev denies Christian conversion VATICAN CITY (RNS) Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev debunked reports, based on his recent visit to the shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, that he had become a Roman Catholic. “Some media have been disseminating fantasies _ I can’t use any other word _ about my […]
Lamott’s life an open book
By Jeff Diamant — March 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ The carpet guy, as Anne Lamott calls him in an essay, cheated her out of $50 for a moldy church rug she returned to his store. He did this with a smugness that infuriated her, and she cursed and threatened him. Finally, days later, the carpet guy […]
COMMENTARY: Anti-Semitism, all too alive and well
By James Rudin — March 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The late Rev. Edward Flannery, appointed in 1967 as the U.S. Bishops’ first director of Catholic-Jewish relations, wrote that anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jews and Judaism, was history’s “oldest pathology.” Anti-Semitism, he said, must be constantly exposed and vigorously opposed lest it become a global peril that threatens not […]
Why the Dalai Lama Matters
By Daniel Burke — March 27, 2008
Robert Thurman, an expert on and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, personal friend of the Dalai Lama, and father of Uma, weighs in on why China needs the Dalai Lama. “We are at a moment of great significance for humanity, ” Thurman says here, “at the beginning of this new century, which could be either a […]
Did He or Didn’t He?
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 27, 2008
There have been mixed reports out of Italy and Russia that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has either a) converted to Christianity; b) was a closet Christian all along; or c) was not, is not and will not be a Christian. Gorbachev visited the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi and supposedly spent 30 minutes […]
Pennslyvania On My Mind
By rvineis — March 27, 2008
With Pennsylvania’s upcoming contest looming (April 22), attention has turned to winning over one of the state’s crucial religious blocs. No, its not the Quakers, but the Catholics who are being courted by Obama and Clinton. Recent polls have Clinton leading among Catholics, but Obama is not conceding this crucial Keystone constituency. Some are speculating […]
Still a Christian
By rvineis — March 27, 2008
Barack Obama reiterated his commitment to his Christian faith in Greensboro, NC yesterday. When a member of a town hall meeting asked the Senator about the role Jesus plays in his life, Obama said “I’m a Christian. What that means for me is that I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and, uh, and, […]
Post Speech Poll
By rvineis — March 27, 2008
A new NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll has some interesting numbers. Besides showing that Americans are reticent to elect AARP members president, the poll revealed strong insight into the Rev. Wright fallout. First, most Americans followed the Rev. Wright controversy somewhat or not too much (37 and 19). Thirty five percent of respondents said that […]
Two Martins
By Mark Silk — March 27, 2008
In the public intellectual department, gray eminences are pretty few and far between these days, but two of them, Martin Marty and Martin Peretz have weighed in on the Obama/Wright affair, both in the cause of the defense. In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Marty paints a sympathetic portrait of Wright, his former student at […]
Interview with head of United Church of Christ
By Daniel Burke — March 27, 2008
It’s been a tumultuous last six weeks or so for the Rev. John Thomas, who heads the United Church of Christ, and his 1.2-million member denomination. There’s the IRS looking into the church’s possibly improper politicking on behalf of UCC-member Sen. Barack Obama, the brouhaha surrounding controversial sermon bits from UCC-pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. All […]
40 years later, King’s legacy back in focus
By RNS Blog Editor — March 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was a brand new pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. From that pulpit, King, with other like-minded pastors and activists, would […]
10 minutes with … John Thomas
By Daniel Burke — March 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Even by the standards of his frequently controversial church, it’s been an eventful few weeks for the Rev. John Thomas, president and general minister of the United Church of Christ. In February, the UCC announced it was the subject of an Internal Revenue Service investigation over a speech by […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service Poll: Pope unknown to most Americans WASHINGTON (RNS) Most Americans hold a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, but the vast majority confess they don’t know much about the pontiff, according to a new poll. Just weeks before Benedict’s first trip to the U.S. as leader of the Roman Catholic […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Karin Hamilton — March 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service GRANDVILLE, Mich. _ The Rev. Rob Bell hops up onto the circular stage in his tennis shoes, his headset microphone in place. “Hi,” he says. “Good morning. If you’re coming in late, we still love you. Make yourself at home.” It’s Sunday morning at Mars Hill Bible Church, and Bell […]
Conversions and conversations
By Phyllis Zagano — March 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Just days after a prominent Muslim journalist publicly converted to Christianity, the king of Saudi Arabia called for interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Two events: one dangerous, one hopeful. At the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI baptized Magdi Allam, deputy editor of Italy’s […]
