Monthly Archives: August 2006
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 12, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service American Academy of Religion Announces Reporting Awards (RNS) Writers for The Boston Globe, The Clarion-Ledger and The Wall Street Journal were named winners of the 2006 American Academy of Religion Awards for Best In-Depth Reporting on Religion. Charles A. Radin of the Globe won in the category for journalists at […]
Domestic Missionaries Aim to Save Dying Churches
By Charles Honey — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service WAYLAND, Mich. _ The remains of 18 soldiers and civilian contractors were scattered across a farmer’s field in Afghanistan, lying amid the wreckage of a helicopter crashed by a sandstorm. The Rev. Tim Mattison’s chopper had narrowly escaped the same fate. Now, having returned to the scene to recover the […]
Bibles instead of bombs
By Tracy Gordon — August 11, 2006
Quote of the Day: Johnny Hunt, spokesman for Muslim Bible Day “The terrorists sent bombs and bullets. … Let’s respond with Bibles.” -Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., and a national spokesman for Muslim Bible Day, a project that distributes Bibles in Muslim countries. Quoted on the Muslim Bible Day Web […]
COMMENTARY: A Misplaced and Dangerous Analogy
By David P. Gushee — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic primary on Tuesday (Aug. 8) marks yet another indication of the triumph of partisanship and the disappearance of statesmanship in the United States. The extremes prevail while the middle ground disappears. It is deeply discouraging. Lieberman is a politician that […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Where Are the Churches? We’re Right Here
By Dan Webster — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A seminary professor this week (Aug. 9) issued a challenge to U.S. Christian churches. He called for our churches to speak out against the current Mideast war in a way that was more than a lament. “Where are the U.S. churches?” wrote the Rev. Mark Lewis Taylor, a professor […]
Politicians and God’s wrath; Benedict and evolution
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2006
In Thursday’s RNS report we offer a news analysis on politicians and “judgment talk.” G. Jeffrey MacDonald says that these days public figures are criticized when they invoke an angry god: As Campaign 2006 heats up, politicians are leveraging the power of religious rhetoric while adhering to what’s become the cardinal rule for public religious […]
Just Say No … to Hezbollah Hashish
By Kevin Eckstrom — August 11, 2006
Never mind, says Jerusalem resident and self-admitted hashish smoker Dan Sieradski, the calming effects of toking up during war time. Forget what he calls health benefits. “It’s probably one of the only things keeping folks here from freaking out,” he says. No, the real reason to put down the hashish, he says, is because Hezbollah […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service U.S. Catholic Population Dropped in 2005 (Embargoed against use before Friday, Aug. 11) (RNS) While the number of Roman Catholics worldwide has increased in recent years, the U.S. Catholic population dropped in 2005, according to researchers at Georgetown University. The U.S. Catholic population was about 67 million in 2005, a […]
Politicians Find Judgment Talk Doesn’t Fly on the Stump
By Bridget MacDonald — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As Campaign 2006 heats up, politicians are leveraging the power of religious rhetoric while adhering to what’s become the cardinal rule for public religious speech in the 21st century: never say God gets angry. After the emergence of so-called “values voters” in 2004, political figures on both the left […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Spiritual Terrorism
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In insecure times, human beings look for a clear enemy upon whom to hang their fears. This reality has often resulted in spiritual terrorism against gay men and lesbians. In 2006, the war continues. Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are preparing to attend WorldPride, a series […]
COMMENTARY: The Death of Two Ecumenical Giants
By James Rudin — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The recent deaths of Cardinal Johannes Willebrands and Sister Rose Thering, two religious giants who were also my personal friends, closed a remarkable chapter in the story of how the Roman Catholic Church changed its often prejudicial 2,000-year-old relationship with Jews and Judaism. Willebrands and Thering were leaders of […]
Pope to Dissect Evolution With Former Students
By RNS Blog Editor — August 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI will conduct a weekend seminar in early September examining Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and its impact on Roman Catholicism’s teaching of Creation. The seminar, titled “Creation and Evolution,” is sure to attract the attention of supporters of “intelligent design” _ the idea that […]
Are Churches Too Silent … Or the Media?
By Kevin Eckstrom — August 10, 2006
Mark Lewis Taylor, a professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, blamed U.S. churches for not calling Israeli aggression what it is-in his terms, “slaughter.” In a guest commentary published Thursday by RNS, Taylor says: “With few exceptions (a statement from the United Church of Christ, and occasional notes about Israel’s “disproportionate” response […]
Strange Bedfellows
By RNS Blog Editor — August 10, 2006
Mormons, Muslims Team Up on Overseas Aid Projects RNS’ Adelle M.Banks reports on the cooperation between Mormon and Muslim groups to provide aid to those affected by the Lebanese conflict, in this week’s full-text article, linked above. Quote: Mormons, who have a long history of disaster preparedness, have the supplies. And Muslims, who consider charity […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: It’s Time for U.S. Churches to Condemn the Slaughter
By Christopher S. Taylor — August 10, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Yes, Israel and its peoples have a right to live in peace. Yes, Hezbollah should stop firing rockets into Israeli civilian communities. Yes, nearly every site of conflict today is complex, marked by ambiguities that make taking sides too simplistic. Denunciations of one side as wrong, the other right, […]
