Monthly Archives: January 2009
Steele It Is
By Mark Silk — January 30, 2009
It’s over. No doubt there will be plenty of effort expended trying to make the social conservatives happy. But Steele’s agenda is going to be big-tent, which will mean an official welcome mat for pro-choice Republicans. And that will not make the Dobson wing happy. At all.
The Paine Wink
By Mark Silk — January 30, 2009
I spent last evening at the Connecticut Forum, where Christopher Hitchens, Peter Gomes, and Harold Kushner spent a couple of hours amusing the crowd with quips and barbs about God, religion, faith, and reason. On the anti-God side, Hitchens believes he has a new ally in the White House; to wit, that Obama is a […]
Former Bush liaison gets new focus
By Adelle M. Banks — January 30, 2009
Former Bush administration liaison Tim Goeglein has a new job: vice president of external relations for Focus on the Family Action. “He will be our eyes and ears in Washington, helping ensure people of faith continue to be heard on the important issues facing our nation,” said Jim Daly, president and CEO of the Colorado […]
Flashback to 1981
By Kevin Eckstrom — January 30, 2009
OK, so this isn’t about religion, but it is about the other half of our lives here at RNS: journalism. My favorite part: the reference to the “2,000 or 3,000 residents of the Bay Area who own personal computers.” (h/t: Andrew Sullivan)
Update: Palin’s burned church to reopen
By Tracy Gordon — January 30, 2009
(RNS) An Alaska evangelical church attended by former Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin that was seriously damaged by a December fire is set to hold services in its building again on Sunday (Feb. 1). “Our building is looking more like a new construction every day, and less like a fire-damaged building,” reads an […]
Oral Roberts University names new president
By Tracy Gordon — January 30, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY (RNS) More than a year after Richard Roberts resigned as president of Oral Roberts University amid allegations of lavish spending, the charismatic Christian university in Tulsa has hired a new president. Mark Rutland, president of Southeastern University, a Christian liberal arts college in Lakeland, Fla., since 1999, will take the helm of ORU […]
Jewish coalition calls for immigration reform
By Tracy Gordon — January 30, 2009
(RNS) Jewish groups are asking the Obama administration to make immigration reform a priority for the new president’s first 100 days, by suspending raids on businesses and private homes and developing a path to citizenship for undocumented families. Progress by Pesach, named for the Jewish holiday also known as Passover, which begins April 9 this […]
Anglicans set to consider rival U.S. church
By Tracy Gordon — January 30, 2009
(UNDATED) Conservative Anglicans say they do not expect their new North American church to receive official approval from Anglican archbishops who will convene next week (Feb. 1-5) in Alexandria, Egypt. “We do expect that our situation will be discussed,” said the Rev. Peter Frank, a spokesman for the newly established Anglican Church in North America […]
Bishop Williamson again
By Francis X. Rocca — January 29, 2009
Seems that Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop whose excommunicaton Pope Benedict canceled last week, just can’t help himself. On Tuesday, his superior announced that he’d forbidden Williamson from speaking publicly “on political or historical questions.” But the very next morning, an Italian newspaper quoted Williamson insisting: “There is no proof that there were gas […]
China detains 80 Tibetans
By Daniel Burke — January 29, 2009
Chinese authorities have begun a security sweep in Tibet ahead of the region’s most sensitive anniversary in years, with state media saying at least 81 people have been detained.
DuBois to lead FBI
By Daniel Burke — January 29, 2009
That’s faith-based initiative, not Federal Bureau of Investigation (o how Washington loves its acronyms). The New York Times is reporting that Joshua DuBois, who led the faith outreach component of Obama’s campaign, has been tapped to head a revamped version of the White House office.
Survey finds God big in Mississippi, not so much in Vermont
By Tracy Gordon — January 29, 2009
WASHINGTON-Want to be almost certain you’ll have religious neighbors? Move to Mississippi. Prefer to be in the least religious state? Venture to Vermont. A new Gallup Poll, based on more than 350,000 interviews, finds that the Magnolia State is the one where the most people-85 percent-say yes when asked “Is religion an important part of […]
COMMENTARY: Do not pass go. Do not recant. Do not apologize.
By Tracy Gordon — January 29, 2009
(UNDATED) Sometimes life imitates art, and sometimes life imitates Monopoly. That’s what happened recently when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of Richard Williamson, a British-born breakaway bishop. It was as if Williamson received the Vatican version of a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card. Do not pass go. Do not recant. Do not apologize. […]
Muslims hopeful but wary about life under Obama
By Daniel Burke — January 29, 2009
Many American Muslim leaders are eager to help President Barack Obama improve the U.S. image in the Islamic world, but they worry that their contribution might not always be welcome.
