Monthly Archives: December 2008
Cradles of democracy
By Francis X. Rocca — December 22, 2008
It’s a seasonal tradition in America to argue over the propriety of nativity scenes in the public square. But craftsmen in Naples, Italy, have no qualms about bringing the public square into their nativity scenes, in the form of political creche figurines representing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others.
I can get it for you wholesale; or
By Mark Silk — December 22, 2008
If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart? In one of the dopier letters to the editor I’ve seen in the New York Times, American Jewish Congress executive director David Harris takes the Gray Lady to task for emphasizing Bernard Madoff’s Jewishness: Yes, he is Jewish. We get it. But was this relevant to his […]
McCurrying Favor
By Mark Silk — December 22, 2008
My oh-so-good (if sometimes intemperate) twin Pastordan can’t seem to stop fretting about Mike McCurry’s (and my, and now Adventus’) readiness to acknowledge something like the standard narrative of a Democratic party gone increasing secular if not a- or anti-religious over the past generation. Let me just add a couple of points to a discussion […]
Pastor to the President
By Mark Silk — December 21, 2008
Once upon a time, presidents tended to choose their own pastors, or reasonable facsimiles thereof, to give the invocation at their inaugurations. The idea was: Here’s the guy who presides over my religious life, the guy I go to for spiritual counsel, and so I’m going to honor him by letting him say the prayer […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News ServiceVatican calls for homosexuality to be decriminalizedVATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Friday (Dec. 19) called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, but said a proposed United Nations declaration on gay rights is vague and excessively far-reaching.The statement by the Holy See’s UN delegation was a response to the “Declaration on Human […]
Warren picked for inauguration
By RNS Blog Editor — December 20, 2008
WASHINGTON _ President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of megachurch pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration shows one man reaching out and the other reaching new heights. The choice demonstrates that Warren is the next Billy Graham, succeeding the evangelist who prayed at many previous Republican and Democratic inaugurations, according to some evangelicals. […]
Keeping St. Nick, the man not myth, alive
By Kim Lawton — December 20, 2008
c. 2008 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly(UNDATED)`Tis the season of Christmas and Santa Claus, it seems, is everywhere. Children anxiously await his gift-bearing arrival, but some Christians are worried that most of those children _ and their parents _ don’t know who “jolly old Saint Nicholas” really was.“St. Nicholas was a real person. Not a fairy, […]
Huge nativity scene graces Ohio family room
By Adelle M. Banks — December 19, 2008
Over the years, Doris Weaver of Painesville Township, Ohio, has created a nativity scene in a big way in her condo, reports columnist Susan Condon Love in the Plain Dealer. What started with a small fence 75 years ago has become an 800-piece extravaganza of figurines and accessories that takes over her family room each […]
Jews Rule, Unaffiliateds Drool
By Mark Silk — December 19, 2008
That is, according to the Pew’s new toting up of the religious identities of members of the next Congress, Jews are the most overrepresented, with 8.4 percent of the representatives and senators as opposed to just 1.7 percent of the U.S. adult population. That beats out those pillars of mainline Protestantism, the Anglican/Episcopalians and the […]
Dialogue on Divorce
By Mark Silk — December 19, 2008
Over at Religion in American History a few days a ago, Matt Sutton was inspired by the Newsweek brouhaha to put up a post calling out evangelicals for taking the hard line on gay marriage while being pretty squishy (these days) on divorce. Matt’s point is that if evangelicals are going to to nix the […]
Architect of religious right passes away
By Adelle M. Banks — December 19, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Paul Weyrich, a man who worked away from the limelight to galvanize conservative Christian political advocacy, died Thursday (Dec. 18). Weyrich, 66, co-founded the now-defunct Moral Majority with the late Jerry Falwell and served as the first president of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank. “He […]
Black churches struggle to blend youth, tradition
By RNS Blog Editor — December 19, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service CLEVELAND _ A battle between good and evil, God and Satan, is taking place at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Halloween night. In the front of the sanctuary, teenage dancers act out a story of young people overcoming the temptations of the streets. One by one, they resist drugs, sexual advances […]
Focus on the Family’s special delivery to Bush
By Adelle M. Banks — December 19, 2008
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and readers of his ministry’s CitizenLink publication have thanked President Bush for his anti-abortion stand by sending the White House more than 4,500 expressions of gratitude. The online version of CitizenLink reports that two binders of e-mails from readers were delivered to the White House on Wednesday, along […]
Call to worship
By Francis X. Rocca — December 18, 2008
Unless BlackBerry acts fast, this prayer book application could lock up the practicing-Catholic smartphone market for the iPhone. Of course, as Umberto Eco observed long ago, Catholics tend by nature to be Apple people.
Now let every tongue adore thee
By Francis X. Rocca — December 18, 2008
The new head of the Vatican’s liturgical office, known in his native Spain as the “Little Ratzinger,” has praised the traditional practice of receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling-a practice that Pope Benedict has made the norm at papal liturgies. According to Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, receiving Communion this way “means adoration … respect … […]
