Monthly Archives: January 1999
NEWS FEATURE: New post-denominational seminary will span spectrum of Christianity
By Yonat Shimron — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. _ The first institute to train Baptist pastors in North Carolina was opened 160 years ago. But, as classes begin in earnest at Wake Forest University’s new divinity school, the seminary’s Baptist roots and heritage will be overshadowed by a post-denominational, ecumenical approach to training clergy. As one […]
NEWS FEATURE: T.D. Jakes takes his ministry, message to the prisons
By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ With an estimated 150,000 inmates watching from behind the secured walls of 120 prisons across the nation, Bishop T.D. Jakes seemed determined to deliver a message of survival that would set their souls free.”For those of you behind prison walls tonight, you may feel cursed, you may be […]
NEWS FEATURE: Israel’s non-Orthodox movements make a Jewish High Holy Days pitch
By Elaine Fletcher — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _”There is more than one way to be a Jew”proclaim the billboards decorated with a multi-colored Star of David, which have appeared around central Israel in recent days. The slogan is the theme of a controversial new campaign by Israel’s tiny Masorti (Conservative) and Reform Jewish movements to draw […]
NEWS STORY: Court will hear key school aid case
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Waiting in early morning darkness 14 years ago for the bus to Roosevelt Middle School in Kenner, La., Amy Helms stood at the beginning of a legal odyssey that will extend Wednesday (Dec. 1) to the Supreme Court. The 13-year-old girl’s mother, Neva Helms, worried about children being […]
NEWS FEATURE: Europe’s leper colonies dwindling
By Chris Smith — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service TICHILESTI, Romania _ When he worships in the Orthodox chapel here in his small, isolated village in eastern Romania, Cristache Tatulea finds special significance in certain Scriptures.”I can’t read the Bible because I don’t see well,”said Tatulea, 67.”But I heard in church about how Jesus Christ helped the lepers, and […]
YEAR-END REVIEW: Conflict, reconciliation marked the year in religion
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The mundane, worldly rhythms of life and death, conflict and reconciliation seemed more pronounced in the religious world in 1999, a year in which no single event such as 1998’s impeachment of President Clinton dominated the moral and ethical news. At the start of 1999, it appeared the […]
COMMENTARY: The death penalty: A biblical view
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service (Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.) UNDATED _ In New Jersey, on Sept. 22, convicted murderer John Martini is scheduled to be put to death for the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Saints’ popularity diminishing among younger Catholics
By Kein Eckstrom — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service STUART, Fla. _ When Peggy Meissner wanted to sell her home here, she buried a small statue of St. Joseph in the yard and prayed for his assistance. She says it worked. Whenever Dan Hadlock, also of Stuart, finds himself in a bind, he shoots a prayer off to St. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service Cardinal Hume buried in London (UNDATED) (RNS) Roman Catholic Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the church in England and Wales, was buried Friday (June 25) following a funeral Mass in which he was praised as an ecumenical pilgrim in overcoming religious divisions. The two-hour funeral was broadcast live by BBC […]
COMMENTARY: King Hussein: a true original
By James Rudin — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service (Rabbi A. James Rudin is national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) UNDATED _ King Hussein of Jordan is another vivid reminder that warriors-turned-peacemakers are always more revered in death than the world’s greatest soldiers. His passing on Feb. 7 robs the world, and especially the Middle East, […]
NEWS FEATURE: Sabbath vs. the millennium: Jews debate which to celebrate
By Ira Rifkin — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service UNDATED _ For Jews, the”December Dilemma”usually means getting through Christmas without being overwhelmed by the holiday’s pervasiveness. This year there’s more: What to do about New Year’s Eve and millennium madness. That’s because Dec. 31 falls on a Friday night, the start of the Jewish Sabbath. Traditional Jewish Sabbath observance […]
Relief worker charged with vehicular manslaughter awaits trial
By Christa Brown — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service TBILISI, Georgia _ An American Catholic Relief Services worker facing charges of vehicular manslaughter believes this week’s papal visit to this former Soviet republic may help his case.”I work for a Catholic organization and I would hope that it would be brought to his attention,”said Loren Wille, 54, of Golden, […]
COMMENTARY: Heeding anti-cult warnings
By James Rudin — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the National Interreligious Affairs Director of the American Jewish Committee.) (UNDATED) On Nov. 18, 1978, nearly 1,000 people were murdered in the People’s Temple commune in Jonestown, Guyana. Among the victims was Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., who had come to the cult compound to investigate charges […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service Poll: Most South African Jews to stay despite gloom over future (RNS) Despite a gloomy view of South Africa’s long-term prospects, more than half of that nation’s Jews say they are likely to remain in the country, according to a new survey published Sunday (Aug. 29) by the London-based Institute […]
NEWS FEATURE: Museum show offers another dimension to Kevorkian
By Chris Smith — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WATERTOWN, Mass. _ A horrified man clings to life with frayed fingers as the abyss of death yawns below. Santa Claus, descending a chimney, plants his boot on the Christ child. A decapitated man devours himself as the Roman god of war Mars looks on approvingly. They’re bright, brazen and […]
