Monthly Archives: July 2005
What is Scientology?
By RNS Blog Editor — July 19, 2005
RNS starts off the week with a feature on Scientology, which has been in the spotlight since actor and practitioner Tom Cruise espoused its antagonism toward psychiatry in an appearance on the “Today” show. From its launch in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, to its current popularity with celebrities, Scientology is still […]
What is Scientology?
By RNS Blog Editor — July 19, 2005
RNS starts off the week with a feature on Scientology, which has been in the spotlight since actor and practitioner Tom Cruise espoused its antagonism toward psychiatry in an appearance on the “Today” show. From its launch in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, to its current popularity with celebrities, Scientology is still […]
Mega-chapel
By RNS Blog Editor — July 18, 2005
Airport Chaplain David C. Southall “I like to joke that my church has 17,000 members and 24 million visitors.” -The Rev. David C. Southall, senior chaplain of Dulles International Airport’s interfaith chapel, referring to the number of employees at the Virginia airport and the number of travelers who pass through the airport each year. Southall […]
Mega-chapel
By RNS Blog Editor — July 18, 2005
Airport Chaplain David C. Southall “I like to joke that my church has 17,000 members and 24 million visitors.” -The Rev. David C. Southall, senior chaplain of Dulles International Airport’s interfaith chapel, referring to the number of employees at the Virginia airport and the number of travelers who pass through the airport each year. Southall […]
Door-to-door with 15 eternal questions
By Tracy Gordon — July 16, 2005
Today RNS takes a look at a new low-budget film being produced by three guys and a mail-order video camera. “The filmmakers went knocking on the doors of some of the world’s most admired spiritual thinkers and-far more than they had any reason to hope-were welcomed with open arms and minds. The final product concentrates […]
Door-to-door with 15 eternal questions
By Tracy Gordon — July 16, 2005
Today RNS takes a look at a new low-budget film being produced by three guys and a mail-order video camera. “The filmmakers went knocking on the doors of some of the world’s most admired spiritual thinkers and-far more than they had any reason to hope-were welcomed with open arms and minds. The final product concentrates […]
A New Way of `Doing Church’ Emerges, With Some Controversy
By Kim Lawton — July 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly (UNDATED) In a dark sanctuary filled with votive candles, fast-paced images flash across video screens. Participants file forward to write their names on a wooden cross on the floor, while at the altar, a DJ with a computer mixes new age music to set the mood. Welcome to worship […]
Low-Budget Film Asks Experts Eternal Questions
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Can three guys kicking around the country with a mail-order video camera open doors on the wisdom of the universe? It’s beginning to look like a possibility to viewers of a low-budget film produced in Michigan by Chad M. Powers, an attorney, and friends Chad Munce and Scott Carter. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Methodist Minister Disciplined for Refusing Gay Man as Member (RNS) A United Methodist minister in South Hill, Va., has been put on involuntary administrative leave for refusing to allow an openly gay man to become a church member. The Rev. Ed Johnson, senior pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church, […]
COMMENTARY: Church Fire Reveals Two Kinds of Christians
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Any person who’s found solace in a house of worship knows why this is a wound that hurts an entire congregation. St. John’s Reformed United Church of Christ is a 225-year-old church in rural Middlebrook, Va. On Wednesday (July 13), the outgoing message on the church phone still invited […]
COMMENTARY: A Glimpse of All That Is Good About Religion
By RNS Blog Editor — July 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CLEVELAND _ One by one, they knelt down and washed one another’s feet. The man from the homeless shelter washed the feet of a suburban woman who in turn washed the feet of a mentally disabled man. By the time the water and sponge reached 54-year-old Sue Colson, the participants […]
Pope Benedict XVI concerned by Harry Potter series
By Tracy Gordon — July 15, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI “It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions which act unnoticed, and by this deeply destroy Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.” -Pope Benedict XVI, in a 2003 letter to a German author while he was still known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, […]
Pope Benedict XVI concerned by Harry Potter series
By Tracy Gordon — July 15, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI “It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions which act unnoticed, and by this deeply destroy Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.” -Pope Benedict XVI, in a 2003 letter to a German author while he was still known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, […]
Canada and Same-Sex Marriage
By Kevin Eckstrom — July 15, 2005
Ottawa Citizen – canada.com network An interesting take on how Canadian churches are chaffing under the country’s new gay marriage laws. Money quote: “The example highlights the problem churches are set to face due to the same-sex marriage law, even though a host of witnesses assured the Senate committee that the freedom of religion guarantees […]
Canada and Same-Sex Marriage
By Kevin Eckstrom — July 15, 2005
Ottawa Citizen – canada.com network An interesting take on how Canadian churches are chaffing under the country’s new gay marriage laws. Money quote: “The example highlights the problem churches are set to face due to the same-sex marriage law, even though a host of witnesses assured the Senate committee that the freedom of religion guarantees […]
