Monthly Archives: October 2008
99 bottles of beer in the wall…
By Daniel Burke — October 29, 2008
Buddhist monks in Thailand have built a temple out of beer bottles. It’s actually quite nice. My only question is: Who drank all that beer?
From the White House to Baylor
By Adelle M. Banks — October 28, 2008
Jay Hein, who recently resigned after two years as the director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, has landed at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. Hein will lead the institute’s effort to encourage new ways to address social problems through faith-based groups, the Baylor announcement says. h/t: Religion Blog […]
The Apocalypse
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
News that the Christian Science Monitor is killing off its print edition put me in mind of a story my late father used to tell. It was just after World War II, and freshly demobilized from the Army he was traveling around war-torn (as they said) Europe stringing for the Monitor. He had a purple […]
FL v. OH Evangelicals
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
According to the latest LAT/Bloomberg poll of OH and FL (Obama up 49-40 and 50-43 respectively), two-thirds of white evangelicals in FL support McCain and a quarter Obama, while in OH McCain has just 58 percent and Obama better than 30 percent. The OH number for McCain is exactly what the Rasmussen poll found last […]
Answering the call at the Vatican
By Francis X. Rocca — October 28, 2008
Good thing for these nuns’ job security that they don’t speak Italian in Bangalore.
I hate it when they do that
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
White House tells banks to stop hoarding money (AP)
What moderates?
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
Peter Wallsten writes in today’s LAT: The social conservatives and moderates who together boosted the Republican Party to dominance have begun a tense battle over the future of the GOP, with social conservatives already moving to seize control of the party’s machinery and some vowing to limit John McCain’s influence, even if he wins the […]
Undecided evangelicals
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
According to Pew, over the past three weeks white evangelicals have gone from 74-18 for McCain to 67-22, to 65-22. McCain’s shedding them mostly into the undecided column, which now is up to 13 percent. Whether they return to their Republican roots in a week is the question. The Obama campaign is presumably hoping to […]
Evangelicals on the move?
By Mark Silk — October 28, 2008
The cross tabs from the latest Rasmussen battleground polls (available to premium customers only) show evangelicals in some states sliding toward Obama. Not in CO and NC, where the numbers remain within hailing distance (71, 69) of the Bushian range. But in VA, FL, MO, and OH, Obama’s breaking 30. In OH, that critical Midwest […]
Secular group challenges Catholic Church’s hold on Italian life
By Frances X. Rocca — October 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI frequently decries what he sees as the widespread godlessness of European society. But for a small group of citizens in the pope’s own backyard, at least one European country is still not godless enough. Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR), the country’s […]
Schullers part ways at Crystal Cathedral’s `Hour of Power’
By Adelle M. Banks — October 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) On upcoming broadcasts of the “Hour of Power” from the glistening Crystal Cathedral in Southern California, the face that will appear in the pulpit won’t always be that of Robert A. Schuller, the son of founder Robert H. Schuller. The elder Schuller, 82, announced Sunday (Oct. 26) that differences […]
Gay marriage fight drives a wedge between Mormons
By Tracy Gordon — October 28, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is waging a high-stakes battle to pass California’s Proposition 8, which would define marriage as between a man and a woman. The highly coordinated effort has split some Mormon congregations in the Golden State.
College free speech lawsuit settled
By Tracy Gordon — October 28, 2008
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.-Shippensburg University and a religious student group have settled a lawsuit over alleged violations of free speech rights at the state-owned university.
Dalai Lama has `given up’ on Tibet talks with China
By Tracy Gordon — October 28, 2008
The Dalai Lama will abandon efforts to persuade China to allow autonomy in Tibet, the exiled Tibetan leader said Saturday (Oct. 25).
British government sees room for minimal Islamic law
By Tracy Gordon — October 28, 2008
LONDON-The British government has ruled that some aspects of Islamic sharia law can be accepted into the country’s legal framework, provided they comply with standard practices of jurisprudence.
