Monthly Archives: May 2010
Kibbutz-style living fills a void for young Jews
By Tiffany McCallen — May 25, 2010
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (RNS) Raychel Bone, Sam Selker, Naima Cohn and Taliesin Haugh sat on their front porch and mulled the surprising successes of the venture that teaches young Jews how to live together, laugh together, split the rent and, above all, share the faith. Movie night in the backyard brought over the neighbors. The […]
COMMENTARY: Seeing beyond today, dreaming into tomorrow
By Tom Ehrich — May 25, 2010
(RNS) As politicians dig into Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s graduate school writings to find ammunition against her Supreme Court nomination, I shudder at their deceitful quest. As St. Peter told the people of Jerusalem, the young are supposed to “prophesy” about a world they barely know and “see visions” of a future for which they […]
Tuesday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 25, 2010
The Obama administration has sided with the Vatican in a lawsuit over abuse claims, saying that the law that protects foreign governments from liability lawsuits trumps abuse claims. The head of the Italian bishops conference is asking Catholic families to “trust” the church to do the right thing in handling the abuse scandal. Victims’ advocates […]
Six Scotus Recusals?
By Mark Silk — May 25, 2010
Let’s suppose, hypothetically, that you were a municipal court judge in a small town, and someone sued the, oh, Baptist church you belonged to for monetary damages. You’d recuse yourself from hearing the case, wouldn’t you? Well, the Obama Administration has now filed a brief in Doe v. Holy See, an Oregon case that seeks […]
Faithless Democrats
By Mark Silk — May 25, 2010
Yesterday, WaPo’s Michelle Boorstein drew back the veil on the Democratic Party’s much vaunted commitment to religious outreach and revealed, whoops, that the Democratic National Committee has no vestments. Howard Dean donned them, not only to considerable fanfare but also, in important races around the country, to considerable effect. You’d have thought that Tim Kaine, […]
Ga. removes Orthodox dominance on kosher labeling
By Tiffany McCallen — May 25, 2010
(RNS) Prompted by an ACLU lawsuit, Georgia has repealed its religious food labeling law and replaced it with legislation that doesn’t define kosher by solely Orthodox standards. The state’s previous Kosher Food Labeling Act had prevented non-Orthodox rabbis from certifying food. Similar laws have been amended in other states, most recently in New York after […]
Unitarians move investments over Sudan conflict
By Tiffany McCallen — May 25, 2010
(RNS) The Unitarian Universalist Association is moving its retirement plan from Fidelity Investments to TIAA-CREF because of differing views on the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. The church’s estimated 2,800 retirement accounts — totaling $173 million in investments — will be moved to TIAA-CREF, a company with similar business values to the Boston-based UUA, said […]
German Protestant churches investigate abuse claims
By Tiffany McCallen — May 24, 2010
GENEVA (RNS/ENInews) In the wake of sexual abuse allegations in Germany’s Catholic Church, two regional Protestant churches say they are investigating abuse allegations filed against pastors or church workers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover reported five new cases of the sexual abuse of minors dating back several decades, the German Protestant news agency EPD […]
Gallup: Opposition to gay marriage shows slight decrease
By Tiffany McCallen — May 24, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) A slight majority of Americans continue to oppose same-sex marriage, but their opposition has decreased slightly in recent years, according to a new Gallup Poll. Fifty-three percent of Americans polled oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, compared to 44 percent who favor it. But the opposition tied with the lowest rate ever measured by Gallup, […]
Blacks, mirroring larger U.S. trend, `come out’ as nonbelievers
By Tiffany McCallen — May 24, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Standing before a room full of fellow African-Americans, Jamila Bey took a deep breath and announced she’s come out of the closet. Her soul-bearing declaration is nearly taboo, she says. “It’s the A-word,” said Bey, 33, feigning a whisper. “You commit social suicide as a black person when you say you’re an atheist.” […]
Firing squad sparks talk of Mormon `blood atonement’
By Tiffany McCallen — May 24, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) After convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner announced his intention to be executed by firing squad, national and international reporters suggested it was a throwback to the wild, wild West. Some Utahns, though, had a different explanation for why such an anachronistic execution technique remained an option in the 21st century: “blood […]
Monday’s religion roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 24, 2010
An Australian Catholic bishop blamed the sex abuse scandal on the Catholic Church’s focus on “sin and forgiveness rather than crime and punishment.” A Polish priest has turned himself into police in Brazil after authorities said transformed his rectory into an “erotic dungeon.” The AP says Maronite Christians in Cyprus (AP photo, left) see the […]
Suing the Pope
By Mark Silk — May 24, 2010
Take a look at John Allen’s recent recapitulation of the Vatican’s response in O’Bryan vs. the Holy See, the Kentucky case in which the plaintiff is seeking to prove that American bishops are employees of Rome, and were following Vatican orders in covering up cases of sexual misconduct by priests. And that therefore the Vatican […]
Is there an app for this?
By Mark Silk — May 22, 2010
Because of a rash of suicides, Apple’s giant Chinese manufacturer Foxconn has hired 30 Buddhist monks to free the souls of those who killed themselves from Purgatory. As for working hours, they’re staying the same.
Malawi church welcomes sentence for gay couple
By Tiffany McCallen — May 22, 2010
BLANTYRE, Malawi (RNS/ENInews) A Presbyterian church in Malawi has welcomed a 14-year jail sentence for two Malawian men who held a traditional engagement ceremony in a country where same-sex relationships are a crime. “As a church we don’t support homosexuality or same-sex marriages. That is both un-African and un-Christian,” the Rev. Levi Nyondo, general secretary […]
