Monthly Archives: August 2011
Vatican blasts New York’s sex ed program
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican took a swipe at new sex education classes in New York City schools on Wednesday (Aug. 31), saying teaching middle school students how to use a condom is “useless, and even harmful.” The front-page editorial of the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, criticized all mandatory sex ed classes in public […]
Muslim lawmakers appeal for Israeli soldier’s release
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Two Muslim congressmen and other prominent Muslims have urged Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid five years ago and has been held ever since in the Gaza Strip. Their hope is that Shalit’s release will spark more goodwill gestures between the militant Palestinian group and […]
Czech government agrees to turn over seized churches
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
WARSAW, Poland (RNS/ENInews) A prominent Czech church leader has welcomed an agreement that would allow churches to reclaim land and buildings seized under communist rule, but forfeit state subsidies in return. A draft settlement was finalized in Prague on Aug. 25 that allows religious groups to retrieve assets that were confiscated after the 1948 communist […]
Bogus defense of vets’ religious liberty
By Mark Silk — August 31, 2011
Here’s what’s claimed by an outfit called the Liberty Institute: Obama administration-backed officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Houston National Cemetery are continuing to deny the use of Christian words or phrases at veterans’ funerals. Stated simply, Jesus is not welcome at gravesides. Even VFW honor guards are no longer able […]
Does religion cause terrorism? It’s complicated
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
(RNS) The shock of the 9/11 attacks was so great, and the personal losses so deep, that many people understandably sought simple answers for such overwhelming malevolence. What, they asked, would cause someone to hijack a plane of innocent civilians and fly it into a building? Since Osama bin Laden’s holy warriors carried out the […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — August 31, 2011
Muslims across the globe are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day feast that concludes Ramadan. For many, the Arab Spring adds new emotions to the holiday. In Yemen, Libya and Egypt – where they are dropping “Mubarak” from the customary salutation “Eid Mubarak” (a blessed Eid) – joy and optimism run high. In Syria and Pakistan, […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: How far we’ve come, how far we’ve yet to go
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
(RNS) A fascinating exchange recently took place in the pages of the Vatican’s newspaper between the chief rabbi of Rome and the Vatican’s chief representative to the Jewish people. Their conversation reflected just how far we’ve come in Christian-Jewish relations — but also how far we have yet to go. It started when L’Osservatore Romano […]
C’mon pollsters
By Mark Silk — August 31, 2011
This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts. Yesterday PPP released a poll on the GOP presidential primary in South Carolina with a lot of very interesting crosstabs on views (e.g. evolution, global warming) and candidate preferences, including Tea Party support–but no religious breakdown whatsoever. With two Mormon candidates (including one frontrunner), a […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Shame on you, Dick Cheney
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
(RNS) Dear Vice President Cheney: As one of those Americans who voted for you in two elections, the excerpts from your new book and recent interviews you’ve given remind me of what has caused me the most regret. You sullied the good name of the United States of America around the globe when you authorized […]
Survey: Muslim Americans have moderate views
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
(RNS) Almost half the nation’s estimated 2.8 million Muslims fault their leaders for not speaking out against Islamic extremists, but a vast majority are far more satisfied than Americans overall with the way things are going in this country, according to a major survey of U.S. Muslims released Tuesday (Aug. 30). The Pew Research Center […]
Americans flunk question on Captain America vs. Bible
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2011
(RNS) Pop quiz: Who said “We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up”? According to a recent poll, more Americans attributed the passage to comic book hero Captain America, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and former President George W. Bush than its […]
At 39, Gordon president leads evangelical up-and-comers
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2011
WENHAM, Mass. (RNS) For the past decade, sociologist D. Michael Lindsay has been living the very phenomenon he’s studied in depth: evangelicals climbing the ranks of secular institutions and becoming American elites. Yet in a surprise move, this 39-year-old rising star has traded a tenure-track position at Rice University to become president of Gordon College, […]
COMMENTARY: 10 years later, the failure of terrorism
By Tom Ehrich — August 30, 2011
NEW YORK (RNS) Last weekend, we were all about Hurricane Irene. Before that, it was the earthquake. Now starts the run-up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Is there a theme here? Well, yes three themes. Fear is one theme, or rather the determination of New Yorkers not to live in fear. Not that folks […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Lauren Markoe — August 30, 2011
Security forces killed at least seven people in Syria as they emerged from a mosque after prayers marking the end of Ramadan, according to activists. The sculptor of the controversial statue of the late Pope John Paul II that now stands at Rome’s main train station says he’s open to making minor changes in the […]
Listening to Ralph Reed
By Mark Silk — August 30, 2011
When Ralph Reed talks, I listen. On the religious right, truer words were never spoken than when he told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot 20 years ago, “You don’t know it’s over until you’re in a body bag. You don’t know until election night”–and if you don’t believe that, unzip the body bags of the 2002 leaders […]
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