Monthly Archives: January 2011
SIDEBAR: The Films At Sundance Exploring Religion
By Tracy Gordon — January 19, 2011
(RNS) Following is a brief synopsis of the major films dealing with faith, religion or spirituality at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival: “Abraxas” — A depressed Buddhist monk tries to reconnect with his punk rock past. “The Catechism Cataclysm” — A young priest who’s lost touch with his flock reconnects with a high school acquaintance […]
Religious leaders praise new Obama policy on Cuba
By Tracy Gordon — January 19, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Faith leaders with long-term ties to Cuban organizations are hailing a change in White House policy that reduces limits on religious travel to the island nation. The White House announced Friday (Jan. 14) that President Obama had directed changes that include permitting religious organizations to sponsor trips through a general license. The administration […]
Three Anglican bishops ordained as Catholic priests
By Tracy Gordon — January 19, 2011
LONDON (RNS) Three former Church of England bishops, disaffected by their church’s ordination of women, have been ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church under a new special section created by the Vatican. Their ordination as Catholic priests at London’s Westminster Cathedral was confirmed Saturday (Jan. 15), two weeks after they were formally received […]
Russian Orthodox leader chides faithful over sloppy dress
By Tracy Gordon — January 19, 2011
(RNS) A top official of the Russian Orthodox Church has called for an official dress code to encourage propriety after previously suggesting that provocatively dressed women provoke immorality and violence. “Vulgar external appearance and vulgar behavior is a straight path to misery,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said in an open letter published on the site of […]
Faith gets star treatment at Sundance
By Tracy Gordon — January 19, 2011
(RNS) Celebrity sightings and up-and-coming indie flicks are a given at the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, but this year something else is drawing attraction on the red carpet: faith on film. A small but noticeable number of films at Sundance — where crossover movies like “Reservoir Dogs” and “Little Miss Sunshine” […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — January 18, 2011
Hope everyone had a nice Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Speaking of King, a Defense Department official raised some eyebrows by claiming that the famed civil rights activist would support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As he did last year, President Obama spent the Sunday before MLK day in a historically black church […]
Rosa Parks enshrined in stone at National Cathedral
By Tracy Gordon — January 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Six feet above the vaulted entranceway to Washington National Cathedral, the rough contours of Rosa Parks' face are taking shape. Using a motorized hammer and chiseling tools that date back centuries, stone carver Sean Callahan is patiently working on a new bust of the civil rights heroine. “I have to be aware of […]
COMMENTARY: Agreeing to disagree agreeably
By Tracy Gordon — January 18, 2011
(RNS) My 19-year-old son and I have spirited discussions about rock music from the pivotal years of Elvis to the Beatles. He is remarkably well informed about seminal performers like the Coasters and the Drifters and one-hit-wonders like the Cadillacs, as well as the Fab Four’s progression from bubblegum pop to “Sgt. Pepper.” He thinks […]
MLK Day
By Daniel Burke — January 17, 2011
Religion News Service is off today, honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In the roundup’s absence, we offer King’s “I have a dream” speech from 1963.
Comparative Martyrology
By Mark Silk — January 16, 2011
Anent Sarah Palin’s claim of blood libel and the Washington Times‘ editorializing about an “ongoing pogrom against conservative thinkers,” Michael Sean Winters astutely asks, “Why is it that conservatives have a fetish for identifying their so-called ‘persecution’ with the persecution, the real persecution, without quotation marks, of the Jews?” The answer, perhaps, is that just […]
Poll: Americans of all faiths see a civility problem in U.S. politics
By Tracy Gordon — January 15, 2011
(RNS) Whether they rally behind Fox News’ Glenn Beck to “Restore Honor” or Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart to “Restore Sanity,” Americans agree on one thing: our political system has a civility problem. Four out of five Americans, regardless of party or religious affiliation, think the lack of respectful discourse in our political system is a […]
Clergy answer King’s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail
By Tracy Gordon — January 15, 2011
(RNS) A coalition of Christian churches answered the Rev. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” conceding that Americans have often have chosen to be comfortable rather than “prophetic” on racism. Leaders of Christian Churches Together in the USA, meeting in Birmingham, Ala., said they were “chastened by the unfinished nature” of overcoming racism […]
British study links spread of faith to `believer gene’
By Tracy Gordon — January 15, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A British university study suggests that people of strong faith can spread religion through a “believers’ gene” that is part of their DNA. Cambridge University economics professor Robert Rowthorn theorizes a “predisposition toward religion” in a paper published in “Proceedings of the Royal Society B,” a prestigious journal of Britain’s Royal Society of […]
Pa. school district takes street preacher to court
By Tracy Gordon — January 15, 2011
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) Should a street preacher be banned from approaching students at a bus stop? Dauphin County, Pa., Judge Jeannine Turgeon is weighing that question regarding Stephen Garisto, who says he has a constitutional right to evangelize to the students. Turgeon didn’t make a final ruling after a hearing Thursday (Jan. 13) on a […]
