Monthly Archives: January 2005
NEWS FEATURE: Inmates Raise Thundering Voices in Gospel Choir
By RNS Blog Editor — January 11, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ Down a hall in Municipal Auditorium, inside a room about the size of a prison cell and just as drab, things were falling apart for the seven men known as the Voices of Thunder. First, they were nervous. They had missed their notes during the sound check, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 11, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Muslim Group Creates Hotline for Fingerprinted Hajj Returnees (RNS) A Muslim advocacy group has created a 24-hour hotline for Muslims who may face fingerprinting or detention upon their return from the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) set up the hotline following reports that dozens […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 8, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Atheists Mull Appeal of Decision Allowing Ten Commandments Monument (RNS) An atheist group is considering an appeal after a federal appeals court ruled that a Ten Commandments monument may remain in a La Crosse, Wis., park. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday (Jan. 3) that the city […]
NEWS FEATURE: Forget `The Talk’ _ Experts Say to Discuss Sex Incrementally With Your Kids
By RNS Blog Editor — January 8, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Bob Pastorio remembers feeling woozy when his children sprang out-of-nowhere questions related to sex. Even so, he said, he always answered honestly. “We never used euphemisms, and we never used baby talk,” said Pastorio, 63, a Swoope, Va., father of four. “They notice stuff; they synthesize understanding from that.” […]
NEWS STORY: Rebel Editor Campaigns as Sadr Champion
By RNS Blog Editor — January 8, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service BAGHDAD, Iraq _ As editor of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s newspaper, Fattahlah Ghazi al-Esmaili wrote articles championing Iraq’s Shiite uprising against U.S. occupation forces. As a candidate for the Iraqi parliament, the 38-year-old spends his days shaking hands, speaking to potential voters and meeting with Iraqi leaders. He has traded […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2004 Religion News Service Bush’s Re-Election, Gibson Film Tie as Top Religion Stories of 2004 (RNS) The role of faith in President Bush’s re-election and Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” tied as the top stories of 2004 in a survey of religion newswriters. The online survey of Religion Newswriters Association members was […]
NEWS STORY: Good Karma: 9/11 Families Return Favor to Buddhists Through Tsunami Relief
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A few weeks after losing her husband at the World Trade Center in 2001, Holly Ann Miller was wandering among charity booths at Pier 94 in Manhattan when one of several traditionally dressed Buddhist women from Sri Lanka touched her shoulder, looked into her eyes and dropped an envelope […]
NEWS STORY: Illustrating National Trend, Students Pack Arena for Christian Worship
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ With a pop band on stage and more than 11,000 young adults singing along, the scene looked more like a concert than a worship service. But the band and audience were singing praises to God at Passion ’05, a four-day event in this city known as the […]
COMMENTARY: Birthed by the Sea, a Mighty Storm Came to Pass
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Now it came to pass in the last week of the year _ in the month when hosts of people rejoiced in festivals of light _ in that self same month and week a mighty storm began under the sea in a place so deep that the eyes of […]
NEWS STORY: Catholic Republicans Gain Strength in New Congress
By Kein Eckstrom — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The 109th Congress that opened this week contains not only solid Republican majorities in both the House and Senate, but also a record number of Catholic lawmakers, especially Republican Catholics. There are 154 Catholics in the new Congress _ an all-time high _ including 87 Democrats and 67 […]
COMMENTARY: Perhaps Unwittingly, Media Chronicle Real Religion in Tsunami Coverage
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The waters of the tsunami have washed across all of us and we cannot seem to break the surface of this overwhelming disaster. What we look on as the waters recede _ the clothing and the toys, the vacation baggage, the shaky visions from home videos _ speak with […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Pope Condemns Trafficking of Children, Prays for Tsunami Victims VATICAN CITY (RNS) Marking the Feast of the Epiphany, which Italians devote to children, Pope John Paul II on Thursday (Jan. 6) condemned child trafficking as “despicable” and prayed for young victims of the tsunami disaster in southern Asia. “While I […]
NEWS FEATURE: Kochi Jews Persevere in India’s `Jew Town’ Despite Dwindling Numbers
By RNS Blog Editor — January 6, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service KOCHI, India _ Hundreds of people pass barefoot through the wooden doors of the Paradesi Synagogue each day, but on many Friday nights there are not enough people to hold a service. At a recent Sabbath service, Jews from Israel, Germany and the United States came to the ancient synagogue, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 6, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Jewish, Muslim Groups React to Report of Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe (RNS) A U.S. State Department report to Congress detailing a rising number of incidents of anti-Semitism in Europe is being applauded by U.S. Jewish groups as an important example of American leadership. Muslim groups, however, are disappointed that the […]
COMMENTARY: Oil-Rich Nations Fail to Deliver for Muslims
By John Farmer — January 6, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The tsunami that struck southern Asia has cast an unflattering light on the Muslim world and its mindless hatred for the West. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation on the globe, was hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami that convulsed the Indian Ocean basin, suffering at least 90,000 […]
