Monthly Archives: March 2009
Bishop to skip Notre Dame commencement over Obama
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 25, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS — The Roman Catholic bishop whose diocese includes the University of Notre Dame says he will boycott President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the Catholic school because Obama’s policies on stem cell research and abortion run counter to church teaching.
Israeli army rabbis criticized for stance on Gaza assault
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 25, 2009
Reporting from Jerusalem — The winter assault on the Gaza Strip was officially portrayed in Israel as an attempt to quell rocket fire by militants of Hamas. But some soldiers say they also were lectured about a more ambitious aim: to banish non-Jews from the biblical land of Israel.
Obama uplifts service – and worship
By Adelle M. Banks — March 25, 2009
Without specifically naming his former Trinity United Church of Christ, President Obama, writing in a Time magazine commentary, credited his work as a Chicago community organizer with leading him to a congregation he could call his own. “… Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t just helping other people — through service, I also found a […]
OFANP Redux
By Mark Silk — March 25, 2009
Whatever happened to the president’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships? After being created with considerable fanfare and three-fifths of its outside advisory council on February 5, it retreated into the White House woodwork. Director Joshua DuBois, administration factotum for all things religious, was charged with helping the First Family find a church. (Still waiting […]
PCUSA committee to consider removal of ‘homosexual perversion’ from document
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 25, 2009
Members of a committee in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will gather this week to consider proposed changes, including the removal of a negative reference to homosexual behavior, to a historic document.
A prayer circle around The Oval
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 25, 2009
CNN is taking note of our earlier story by Adelle Banks on the the bipartisan nature (or not) of the Presidential Prayer Team. Money quote, from PPT president John Lind, when asked if these prayers for POTUS work or not: “There are things we’re not going to know, this side of heaven.”
Blasphemy doesn’t pay
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 25, 2009
A Pennsylvania blasphemy law originally passed in 1977 is prohibiting a filmmaker in Pennsylvania from starting a company with the ever-so-colorful name “I Choose Hell Productions.” George Kalman, who tried to start the company, is teaming up with the ACLU to get the law overturned. Moneyquote: “They’re actually imposing their religious beliefs on me. They’re […]
French cardinals blast Holocaust denial
By Tracy Gordon — March 24, 2009
NEW YORK (RNS) In the wake of an embarrassing Vatican response to a Holocaust-denying bishop, French Catholic cardinals on Monday (March 23) publicly and unambiguously expressed their opposition to Holocaust denial. “Let this be another opportunity to recall — whether the time is right or not — that being a Catholic is radically incompatible with […]
Pioneering Episcopal priest named to top judgeship
By Tracy Gordon — March 24, 2009
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama has named Emily C. Hewitt, one of the first women to be ordained a priest by the Episcopal Church, as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In a statement on Monday (March 23), the White House hailed Hewitt as “a leader of the effort to open Episcopal ordination […]
Vermont moves to legalize gay marriage
By Tracy Gordon — March 24, 2009
(RNS) The Vermont state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Monday (March 23) to allow same-sex marriage, putting the state one step closer to becoming the first to approve same-sex marriage by legislative means. The Democratic-dominated state Senate voted 26 to 4 in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. House Speaker Shap Smith, a Democrat, predicted to […]
Democrats stake a claim on Pat Robertson’s campus
By Tracy Gordon — March 24, 2009
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It’s not as daring as, say, Pat Robertson’s Republican run for the White House in 1988. But there’s no denying that starting a Democratic student group at Robertson’s Regent University seems a bit audacious. “Here, it is definitely a startling idea,” said Kalila Hines, a government major and one of the […]
“The Anti-Bono”
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 24, 2009
Newsweek has a story about former Goldman Sachs banker and economist Dambisa Moyo whose new book, “Dead Aid,” challenges the message of Bono and of other celebrities in favor of sending Western aid to the impoverished nation of Africa. Western aid to Africa is actually detrimental and kills any potential for the nation to flourish […]
Will Osteen wear pinstripes?
By Adelle M. Banks — March 24, 2009
Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen usually preaches in a former basketball stadium but in late April, he’s going to bring his inspirational message to a new baseball venue – Yankee Stadium. ”We are grateful to the New York Yankees organization for the honor of holding the first nonbaseball event in the stadium and for this […]
Saudi religious police drawing more criticism
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 24, 2009
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Currently the force, run by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has nearly free rein to enforce the kingdom’s strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic law.
Catholic Jurists R’ Us
By Daniel Burke — March 24, 2009
The keynote speaker at the Sixth Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast here in D.C. will be none other than Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly of St. Louis, now of the Vatican’s supreme court. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will be a special guest speaker at the May 7 event. Burke (no realation) is famous, perhaps […]
