Monthly Archives: January 1999
NEWS STORY: Bishops urge end to Iraq sanctions, criticize Nazareth mosque plan
By Carl Anderson — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops opened their annual fall meeting Monday (Nov. 15) calling for an end to the economic embargo of Iraq and criticizing plans to build a mosque near a historic Christian church in Nazareth. In the statement on Iraq, issued over the name of Bishop […]
COMMENTARY:
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service (Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. Check out his home page at http://www.agreeley.com or contact him via e-mail at agreel(at)aol.com.) (UNDATED) Last week Americans got a chance to see just how corrupt and hypocritical 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 June 14, 1999 Pope to visit ailing Armenia patriarch (RNS) _ Pope John Paul II will make a hastily arranged”ecumenical pilgrimage”to Armenia to visit the seriously ill Orthodox Patriarch Karekin I at the end of his current trip to Poland, the Vatican said Monday (June 14). In a virtually unprecedented […]
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 […]
NEWS FEATURE: Tunisia’s last Jews fight for survival
By Elizabeth Bryant — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service TUNIS, Tunisia _ It is a typical Friday evening at the elegant apartment of Michele Lycia and her husband. Half a dozen middle-aged Tunisians are gathered for dinner. They are old friends, these guests who dine on steaming bowls of couscous, clink glasses of scotch and greet each other with […]
NEWS FEATURE: Walking a labyrinth for spiritual renewal, transformation
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Carefully stepping amid flickering candles and soothing music, easing past other walkers, Marilyn Cromartie maneuvers slowly through a labyrinth in search of a confirmation of a spiritual calling. Cromartie, a physical therapist who had never walked a labyrinth before, says she felt called to look into initiating a […]
NEWS STORY: Senators, clergy urge post-impeachment reconciliation
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ As Congress struggles to put behind the long and bitter impeachment process and get back to its more normal daily business of passing bills and making laws, two senators, accompanied by a handful of clergy, Thursday (Feb. 25) urged healing and cooperation between politicians.”For the past year, our […]
NEWS STORY: Religious leaders seek ways to restore civility to public discourse
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ As politicians are in the throngs of the battle _ sometimes partisan and bitter _ over the issue of impeachment, a range of religious leaders and members of Congress met Tuesday (Jan 26) to see if they could fashion a way to restore civil discourse to the political […]
NEWS FEATURE: Dr. Ben Carson, neurosurgeon and author, reflects on faith and medicine
By Adelle M. Banks — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ In the ongoing debate about whether medicine and religion can or should mix, Dr. Ben Carson is an example of someone who seamlessly blends the two every day. The renowned pediatric neurosurgeon _ known most for his separation of Siamese twins joined at the head _ prays before […]
NEWS STORY: Religious groups pushing G-7 on debt cancellation for poor nations
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ As the leaders of the world’s major industrialized nations _ the G-7 _ and Russia prepare to meet Friday (June 18) in Cologne, Germany, high on the agenda _ along with the war in Kosovo _ will be proposals to reduce if not slash the debt of some […]
NEWS FEATURE: Artists explore African origins, connections in African-American religion
By Adelle M. Banks — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Meg Henson Scales stepped up to the podium with her”hand-held visual object,”her personal symbol of the merging of African-American art and spirituality.”I realize that offering a prayer for someone is one of the nicest things that one can do for another person,”she said at a recent conference on […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Christian Coalition may be down, but don’t count it out
By Ira Rifkin — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Larry Miller is a true-blue supporter of the Christian Coalition who co-chairs the organization’s Polk County, Iowa, chapter. He makes no effort to hide his concern over what’s happened to the religious right’s premier political powerhouse.”I’d say the coalition has plateaued, hopefully no worse,”the 36-year-old data processing worker […]
NEWS STORY: Religious leaders urge civility in impeachment debate
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ As the Senate prepares to begin the trial phase of the impeachment of President Clinton, religious leaders from three of America’s largest faith groups Tuesday (Jan. 5) called for fairness, integrity and civility as the process unfolds. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders, at a news conference sponsored by […]
HOLIDAY FEATURE: American Muslims say their acceptance grows despite ongoing problems
By Ira Rifkin — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ As American Muslims prepare to mark Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, what recent progress they have made in gaining increased public acceptance might well be described as a case of one step backward for every two taken forward. On Capitol Hill, for example, weekly Muslim prayer services and […]
