Monthly Archives: June 2011
Conservatives want senator to resign after affair
By Tracy Gordon — June 22, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The president of the Christian conservative Family Policy Network sent Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a letter Monday (June 20) calling on him to follow the lead of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and resign rather than leave Republicans and conservatives open to charges of hypocrisy. Vitter admitted to a “serious sin” in 2007 […]
Orthodox basketball play allowed to cover her arms
By Tracy Gordon — June 22, 2011
JERUSALEM (RNS) The international basketball federation has decided to permit an Orthodox Jewish basketball player to cover her arms during competitions in accordance with her religious beliefs. FIBA made the decision several weeks after point guard Naama Shafir, a member of the Israeli national women’s basketball team, said she would be unable to play in […]
Religious order vows to end paddling at New Orleans school
By Tracy Gordon — June 22, 2011
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) The religious order that runs the last remaining Catholic school in the country to use corporal punishment says it will no longer allow the practice, putting it in line with the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The new administration of the Josephites order also affirmed the recent decision to transfer the Rev. John […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — June 21, 2011
Today’s Wordsmith word of the day is Laodicean, which means lukewarm or indifferent, especially regarding religion. As in, many American newspaper editors display a laodicean attitude toward people of faith. The word derives from Laodicea, a city in Asia Minor whose apathetic citizens were rebuked in the Book of Revelation. Enthusiastic pagans and New Agers […]
Pawlenty’s prominent pastor not a political pawn
By Tracy Gordon — June 21, 2011
(RNS) When GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty goes to church, he knows he’ll hear a 27-minute sermon — never longer, never shorter. But whether he’ll hear a biblical endorsement of the Republican platform is far less certain. Pawlenty gets his spiritual guidance from Leith Anderson, senior pastor at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., and […]
Report: Mercedes to unveil new eco-friendly popemobile
By Tracy Gordon — June 21, 2011
BERLIN (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI has a lot of ground to cover when he heads back home to Germany this September, but thanks to a new popemobile from Mercedes, at least 30 of those kilometers (18.5 miles) will be on the greener side. The Vatican has contracted with Mercedes for the first-ever hybrid popemobile, according […]
COMMENTARY: Muzzled by Mammon
By Tracy Gordon — June 21, 2011
(RNS) “Leave politics to the politicians,” an irate churchgoer said after his pastor waded into political issues. “Don’t write about something you know nothing about,” an irate reader said when a Christian blogger ventured into political issues. Another said the same when a preacher commented on shabby corporate ethics. Don’t imperil our not-for-profit tax status, […]
Anti-Mormon Dems
By Mark Silk — June 21, 2011
Curiously enough, Democrats are now significantly more likely than Republicans to say they wouldn’t vote for a Mormon for president, according to the latest Gallup survey. In December of 2007, the numbers were 18 percent for both parties (19 percent for Independents); today the Republican naysayers are still at 18 percent, while the Dems have […]
J Street in Hartford
By Mark Silk — June 21, 2011
If all politics is local, Jewish politics is hyper-local. Well, hyper anyway. So it happens that last week the Hartford Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) sponsored a talk by Colette Avital, former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and Israeli consul in New York. These days, Avital is serving as a senior adviser to the dovish […]
Lesbian minister to face Methodist church trial
By Tracy Gordon — June 21, 2011
(RNS) United Methodists will begin a trial Tuesday (June 21) against a Wisconsin minister who’s accused of breaking church rules by celebrating a same-sex marriage and being in a lesbian relationship. The Rev. Amy DeLong, 44, of Osceola, Wis., could be defrocked if the 13-member jury composed of local clergy finds her guilty of either […]
Van Impe leaves TBN over `Chrislam’ remarks
By Tracy Gordon — June 20, 2011
(RNS) Jack Van Impe, a popular End Times broadcaster, has ended his decades-long run on Trinity Broadcasting Network after a dispute over naming ministers that he accuses of mixing Christian and Muslim beliefs. Earlier this month, Van Impe named California megachurch founders Rick Warren and Robert H. Schuller as proponents of “Chrislam,” which he defined […]
Church of England to allow gay bishops—sort of
By Tracy Gordon — June 20, 2011
LONDON (RNS) The Church of England has issued a set of “legal guidelines” that pave the way for openly gay clergy to become bishops — so long as they are and promise to remain celibate. Details of the internal report, entitled “Choosing Bishops,” were carried by Christian Today, an independent London-based publication, on its website […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — June 20, 2011
There’s a Buddhist parable that compares the world and its manifold sensory pleasures to a burning house. We’re so preoccupied playing with our toys, the lesson goes, we don’t notice the flames blazing around us. The NYT reports that 39 Buddhists are continuing their three-year-long meditation retreat in Arizona despite fast-approaching wildfires that have incinerated […]
All Southern Baptist eyes on black New Orleans pastor
By Tracy Gordon — June 20, 2011
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Even before the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Fred Luter to national office, there was already widespread speculation that Luter is poised to become the denomination’s first African-American president. Representatives of 16 million Southern Baptists overwhelmingly elected Luter first vice president on June 14 at their annual meeting in Phoenix. By […]
COMMENTARY: Be sure to read the warning labels
By Tracy Gordon — June 20, 2011
(RNS) It’s hard to escape the barrage of TV ads that praise the benefits of various medications and then conclude with a rapid-fire list of the drug’s potentially harmful side effects. But one widely used drug needs no advertising. Its use has spiked religious fanaticism throughout the world — an unregulated medication driving people to […]
