Monthly Archives: August 2013
10 years after Gene Robinson, African Anglicans to take stock
By Fredrick Nzwili — August 27, 2013
(RNS) In addition to the consecration of gay bishops, the African primates are concerned with the growing acceptance of same-sex unions in the West. They say attempts to discipline the Episcopal Church were not successful, and, as a result, a "spiritual cancer" has spread to other provinces.
COMMENTARY: Change at the top
By Tom Ehrich — August 27, 2013
(RNS) Many congregations feel obliged to have long interim periods between pastors, during which all vestiges of the departed incumbent are erased, as if the transition were a traumatic divorce and remarriage, rather than a normal fact of institutional life.
Atheist Parolee * YU Shame * The March: Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Lauren Markoe — August 27, 2013
An atheist parolee rejects religious rehab. Yeshiva U is shamed by a sex abuse report. And we've got the March on Washington covered.
Two-Thirds of Americans Want the Bible in Public Schools
By Religion News LLC — August 27, 2013
NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2013 – The place of the Bible in public schools has been debated since the 1963 Supreme Court ruling in the consolidated cases of Abington School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett. The debate continued earlier this year with the Texas Freedom Network findings, “Reading, Writing and Religion II.” But […]
Liguori Publications Announces Highlights of Its Fall Season
By Religion News LLC — August 27, 2013
Liguori, Mo., (August 2013). Liguori Publications, a leading Catholic publisher, is pleased to announce its fall 2013 collection of spiritually inspiring, as well as some visually exciting, titles for adults and children. Masterpieces from the Vatican Museums will grace the pages of an exquisite hardcover book, Meditations on Vatican Art, authored by Mark Haydu, LC, STL, […]
Connecticut slave to get a long overdue church funeral
By Ann Marie Somma — August 27, 2013
(RNS) The slave's master, a Waterbury bone doctor by the name of Preserved Porter, stripped his skin, boiled his bones and used the skeleton as a medical specimen.
Photo Slideshow: “Realize the Dream” – a glimpse into the March on Washington 50th anniversary commemoration
By Adelle M. Banks — August 26, 2013
(RNS) Tens of thousands of people -- led by clergy, civil rights veterans and activists -- gathered in the nation's capital on Aug. 24, 2013 to remember the 1963 March on Washington. These photos give a glimpse of what it was like to be there.
Court says atheist was wrongly jailed over religious rehab
By Kimberly Winston — August 26, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) In a move that could have wider implications, a federal appeals court ordered a lower court judge to consider preventing state officials from requiring parolees to attend rehabilitation programs that are focused on God or a “higher power.”
7 Questions: keeping college students Catholic
By Michael J. O'Loughlin — August 26, 2013
An interview with Katie Diller, who runs a program aimed at keeping college students Catholic.
Secretary denies God told Benedict XVI to resign
By Alessandro Speciale — August 26, 2013
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The personal secretary of former Pope Benedict XVI said the pontiff didn't resign because of a "mystical experience" with God, saying "There is nothing true in that story."
N.C. governor allows anti-Shariah bill to become law
By Omar Sacirbey — August 26, 2013
(RNS) North Carolina became the seventh state to prohibit its judges from considering Islamic law after Gov. Pat McCrory allowed the bill to become law without formally signing it.
Our Corner | Is King’s Dream Still Alive?
By Robert P. Jones — August 26, 2013
In my latest for the Washington Post, I explore race relations in America 50 years following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech.
N.Y. Freethought Trail traces nonbelievers who chartered a historic course
By Kimberly Winston — August 26, 2013
SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (RNS) Settlers transformed West-Central New York into a hotbed of radical social and religious ideas, including Mormonism and Spiritualism. A new Freethought Trail highlights the prominent atheists and agnostics who also called the region home.
N.J. gay conversion therapy ban challenged in federal court
By Susan K. Livio — August 26, 2013
(RNS) New Jersey's newly enacted ban on gay-to-straight conversion therapy for minors violates a licensed therapist's obligation to "respect the rights of clients to make decisions," according to a federal lawsuit filed by a Christian counselors group.
COMMENTARY: Change is still going to come
By Joseph Lowery — August 26, 2013
(RNS) We've marched too long, prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.
