Monthly Archives: May 2008
S.C. moves closer to crosses on license plates
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 23, 2008
The South Carolina legislature is moving closer to putting a Christian cross on license plates.
Ned Flanders: America’s best-known evangelical
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 23, 2008
The Gospel According to Ned Flanders, America’s best-known evangelical.
250,000 free Bibles for Pittsburgh
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 23, 2008
A Pittsburgh couple plans to give out 250,000 free Bibles in the local newspaper.
And then there were none
By Mark Silk — May 23, 2008
And so, in one day, McCain has rid himself of the two troublesome clerics, disendorsing both John Hagee and Rod Parsley because he was shocked, shocked, at what had escaped their lips. To be sure, he did it gracelessly. He adjured one and all not to indulge in any moral equivalence by equating the vile […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 23, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service Lay group honors controversial Australian bishop (RNS) A prominent lay Catholic group is presenting an award to retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, whom U.S. bishops have barred from speaking on church property for questioning the church’s authority. Voice of the Faithful, a reform movement spawned by the Catholic sexual abuse […]
COMMENTARY: Another look at the Ten Commandments
By James Rudin — May 23, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Jewish holiday of Shavuot (the Hebrew word for “weeks”) begins at sundown on June 8 and concludes 48 hours later. Shavuot occurs seven weeks and one day after Passover, and commemorates when Moses received the Torah, including the Ten Commandments, on Mount Sinai 50 days after the Exodus […]
RNS Religion Best-Sellers List
By RNS Blog Editor — May 23, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service RELIGION BEST-SELLERS (Editor’s note: This April list is compiled by Publishers Weekly magazine from data received from general independent bookstores, chain stores and wholesalers within the month of March. Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly. Distributed by Religion News Service.) HARDCOVER 1. “Mistaken Identity,” by Don & Susie Van Ryn and Newell, […]
9/11 families sue for right to religious burials
By Benedicta Cipolla — May 23, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ After the memorial Mass on Oct. 26, 2001, for her son Christian, a probationary firefighter who died in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Sally Regenhard didn’t proceed to a cemetery. There was no cemetery because there was no body. Christian’s remains were never […]
COMMENTARY: America’s own golden calf
By Tracy Gordon — May 23, 2008
The Jewish holiday of Shavuot begins on June 8 and concludes 48 hours later. Shavuot occurs seven weeks and a day after Passover, and commemorates when Moses received the Torah, including the Ten Commandments, on Mt. Sinai. Shavuot is an annual reminder of the Jewish people’s “irrevocable covenant”-using Pope John Paul II’s words-with God. In […]
McCain denounces Hagee as pastor withdraws endorsement
By Tracy Gordon — May 23, 2008
WASHINGTON-Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has renounced his endorsement from Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee after the minister again came under fire for controversial comments. Barely 30 minutes after McCain renounced Hagee’s endorsement, the minister in turn withdrew his endorsement of McCain and vowed to no longer take “any active role” in the 2008 campaign. […]
Court backs Oregon gay marriage ban
By Tracy Gordon — May 23, 2008
PORTLAND, Ore.-The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday (May 21) upheld the ban on gay marriage that state voters approved by a wide margin in 2004.
Lay group honors controversial Australian bishop
By Tracy Gordon — May 23, 2008
A prominent lay Catholic group is presenting an award to retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, whom U.S. bishops have barred from speaking on church property for questioning the church’s authority.
Sally Quinn doesn’t get it
By Kevin Eckstrom — May 23, 2008
The folks over at The Washington Post’s On Faith blog opened a cybercan of worms when On Faith hostess Sally Quinn weighed in on the gay marriage debate and asked what the big deal is all about: “Homosexual couples are simply two people who love each other. Please explain to me how that can be […]
And in Paris they dance
By Daniel Burke — May 22, 2008
Last week I wrote about the Burmese people’s response to Cyclone Nargis, which has devastated large sweeps of the country and left as many as 100,000 dead. Basically, scholars told me, Buddhists there believe that weather is intimately tied to karma and the rulers’ behavior. When the people in charge do bad things, like round […]
What’s up with … the Karmapa Lama?
By Daniel Burke — May 22, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When many Americans think of Tibetan Buddhism, one man comes to mind: the Dalai Lama. The jet-setting, best-selling, Nobel Prize-winning 72-year-old monk has become the most recognizable Tibetan in the world. But another charismatic Tibetan monk, the Karmapa Lama, 22, may be the face of Tibet’s future. Many Americans […]
