Monthly Archives: December 2009
Israel’s Messianic Jews wary of stepped-up persecution
By Tracy Gordon — December 23, 2009
ARIEL, West Bank (RNS) After their teenage son was nearly killed last year by a bomb disguised as a holiday gift basket, few people were as eager for Ya’acov Teitel to see justice as Leah and David Ortiz. Teitel, an Orthodox Jewish loner who confessed to placing the package in the family’s stairwell said he […]
Tuesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — December 22, 2009
The health care bill passed second procedural hurdle in the Senate early Tuesday morning, but the compromise on insurance coverage of abortion continues to be criticized by both sides of the debate. The USCCB’s point man calls the legislative compromise “crazy”; it certainly is complicated. The attorney for accused Fort Hood killer, Maj. Nidal M. […]
Church finds hope, promise in season of rebirth
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) On just another Sunday morning at St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, the Rev. Sara Fischer preaches about the season of Advent, the coming of Jesus Christ and what this holiday season really means. “People who’ve been around me a long time know that I’m always saying this or that season or […]
COMMENTARY: Good tidings of great freedom
By Tom Ehrich — December 22, 2009
NEW YORK (RNS) We awakened to eight inches of snow last Sunday and, once the year’s shortest day had dawned, went straight to Central Park for a walk in what amounts to this city’s snowy “countryside.” There we found proof that the urge to be free can overcome almost anything. Despite grumbles from runners who […]
Attacking J Street: the old playbook
By Mark Silk — December 22, 2009
In 1973, in the wake of the Yom Kippur war, more than 100 Reform and Conservative rabbis plus a number of leading Jewish intellectuals formed Breira: A Project of Concern in Diaspora-Israel Relations. The organization, which at its height numbered over 1,500 members, was dedicated to finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the […]
Churches blast Copenhagen summit for lack of agreement
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
GENEVA (RNS/ENI) Faith groups have expressed disappointment and anger over the outcome of the United Nations talks on climate change that have ended in Copenhagen, pledging to continue to press for climate justice. “With a lack of transparency, the agreement reached this past week by some countries was negotiated without consensus but rather in secret […]
Church shuns decorations to help the poor and needy
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (RNS) Passers-by have called Redeemer Covenant Church the “church of lights” for its magnificent outdoor and indoor displays during the holidays. But this year’s decorations are all on the inside: canned goods, lining the steps leading to the altar along with large piles of hats, gloves and scarves. The Rev. Jack Brown […]
Survey: Southerners lead U.S. in religious devotion
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
WASHINGTON (RNS) There’s a reason the South is known as the Bible belt: A survey shows that Southerners — and Mississippians in particular — are most active in their religious practices and beliefs. Residents of Mississippi ranked first among Americans in all four measures of a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public […]
Catholics urge collection plate boycott to protest closings
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
CLEVELAND (RNS) A grassroots group that’s fighting the ongoing closing of churches in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese is urging parishioners to boycott Sunday collections. The group, Endangered Catholics, has begun circulating forms that parishioners can fill out, saying they are withholding their money until Bishop Richard Lennon reconsiders some of the closings. The form, to […]
Jews angry after pope moves Pius XII closer to sainthood
By Tracy Gordon — December 22, 2009
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Jewish leaders warned of new strains in Catholic-Jewish relations after Pope Benedict XVI moved his controversial wartime predecessor, Pope Pius XII, one step closer to possible sainthood. Benedict signed a decree on Saturday (Dec. 19) recognizing Pius’ “heroic virtues” and declaring him “venerable.” That new status makes the late pope eligible for […]
New Merton book stirs up controversy
By Tracy Gordon — December 21, 2009
(RNS) Rarely has a romance seemed so star-crossed. He was 51, she 25. She was a pretty, petite student-nurse; he was stocky and bald, with a roving intellect and a boisterous laugh. He was also the most celebrated Catholic monk in America. Margie Smith had read at least one of the books that made Thomas […]
Monday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — December 21, 2009
Senate Democrats scored a major health-care victory early Monday morning, as they brokered a compromise on abortion and broke through a Republican filibuster. No one seems very happy with the abortion compromise, with NARAL, NRLC, and the Catholic bishops all denouncing it. The bishops said the bill “should not move forward in its current form.” […]
Religiosity by state
By Mark Silk — December 21, 2009
Pew has a cool new study out on religiosity by state according to four scales: importance of religion to the individual, worship attendance, frequency of prayer, and belief in God. The national average for those who say religion is very important in their lives is 56 percent. Among the 22 states (plus D.C.) above the […]
Day of Judgment
By Mark Silk — December 21, 2009
I’m sorry, but sometimes the truth overwhelms my desire to maintain at least some small measure of academic disinterestedness in this blog. Whitehouse has it right, not least about the return of the Hofstadterian right-wing paranoid style of the 1950s. And it’s time for the comfortable pundits of the Beltway to wake up and see […]
Stupak’s crowd
By Mark Silk — December 21, 2009
In his wrap-up of the Great Senate Abortion Compromise on Politics Daily, David Gibson suggests that Bart Stupak’s opposition spells doom for the compromise in conference committee: “The reality, however, is that the House is not likely to pass a bill that Stupak does not support.” That seems to me a misreading of the situation. […]
