Monthly Archives: September 2010
Poll: Glenn Beck the wrong leader to head religious movement
By Tracy Gordon — September 16, 2010
(RNS) Glenn Beck’s recent “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington focused more on faith than politics, but most Americans don’t consider the conservative broadcaster the right person to lead a religious movement — or even know what religion he follows, according to a new poll. Fewer than one in five Americans (17 percent) believe Beck is […]
The Family and the Tea Party
By Mark Silk — September 16, 2010
The Family–the secretive Jesus-centric cult that runs the National Prayer Breakfast and solicits the engagement of Washington and world’s high and mighty–is creeping back into the news. The New Yorker‘s Peter J. Boyer has delivered himself of an extended report, while another book on the subject from the redoubtable Jeff Sharlet waits in the wings. […]
Indictment revised against defendant in priest’s slaying
By Tracy Gordon — September 16, 2010
CHATHAM, N.J. (RNS) A grand jury on Tuesday (Sept. 14) issued a revised indictment against a former church custodian who stands accused of murdering a Catholic priest. The new seven-count indictment is substantially the same as the original six-count document but removes a reference to defendant Jose Feliciano’s possible “depravity of mind” and adds a […]
Cardinal under fire for calling Britain a `Third World country’
By Tracy Gordon — September 16, 2010
LONDON (RNS) A senior Vatican cardinal withdrew from Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Britain, after comparing it to a “Third World country” and saying it was marked by a “new and aggressive atheism.” The Vatican announced on Wednesday (Sept. 15) that Cardinal Walter Kasper would not be part of the papal entourage that leaves Thursday […]
Calvin withdraws invitation to New Pornographers band
By Tracy Gordon — September 16, 2010
(RNS) Calvin College has canceled a scheduled Oct. 15 concert by the Canadian indie rock band New Pornographers after the band’s name prompted complaints from the local community. “After weeks of discussion and consideration, the irony of the band’s name was impossible to explain to many. The band’s name, to some, is mistakenly associated with […]
Imam’s other problem: disgruntled tenants
By Tracy Gordon — September 16, 2010
UNION CITY, N.J. (RNS) In the third-floor apartment where Paola Leiva and Wendy Lopez live, the back wall of the tiny shower is stripped of its tiles and covered by a black garbage bag. Mold is everywhere. There’s a hole the size of a fist in the ceiling. “It’s from leaking in the bathroom,” Leiva […]
10 minutes with … Mark St. Germain
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
NEW YORK (RNS) In playwright Mark St. Germain’s new off-Broadway play, “Freud’s Last Session,” the existence of God is on trial. For the defense: 40-year-old Oxford professor C.S. Lewis, a recent convert to Christianity. For the prosecution: 83-year-old Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis and determined atheist. They meet in Freud’s London study on Sept. 3, […]
Pope sees future of Europe in Britain’s small Catholic flock
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
LONDON (RNS) Inside Westminster Cathedral, the mother church of Catholicism in England and Wales, bronze plaques commemorate the leaders of English Catholicism since the year 314. The plaques are a pointed reminder that the Catholic Church is by far Britain’s oldest existing institution, preceding even the monarchy by at least half a millennium. The cathedral, […]
COMMENTARY: It will take more than Muslims to rehab Ground Zero
By Phyllis Zagano — September 15, 2010
EW YORK (RNS) Andrew Kelly was driving drunk the night his Jeep hit Vionique Valnord-Kassime in Brooklyn about a year ago. She was trying to hail a cab. He was speeding by. She died. He lived. The details are horrifyingly similar to the sad tales repeated every day in other places. In this case, a […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — September 15, 2010
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer waded into the Quran-burning debate on Tuesday, telling “Good Morning America” that such conflagrations would not necessarily be protected by the Constitution. Previous justices have found that the First Amendment “doesn’t mean you can shout `fire’ in a crowded theater,” Breyer said. “Because people will be trampled to death. And […]
Muslims invited, disinvited to pray in Hartford
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
(RNS) Hartford, Conn., is the newest flashpoint in a culture war pitting Muslims’ First Amendment rights against opponents who say displays of the Muslim faith around 9/11 disrespect the victims of the 2001 attacks. Hartford City Council President rJo Winch on Friday (Sept. 10) disinvited two Muslim imams who were scheduled to open council meetings […]
Ground Zero imam hit with suit over shoddy rental properties
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
UNION CITY, N.J. (RNS) A lawsuit filed by Union City charges that Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the controversial proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, has failed to address complaints about moldy bathrooms and fire hazards in two apartment buildings he owns. The suit, filed Monday (Sept.13), identifies Rauf as the sole officer of […]
Parents accused of withholding evidence in faith-healing death
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Prosecutors on Monday (Sept. 13) accused members of a controversial faith-healing church of tampering with evidence after the death of a premature infant last year. The parents, Dale and Shannon Hickman, are accused of second-degree manslaughter in the death of their newborn son, David, last year. Attorneys for the Hickmans asked […]
Ga. church named nation’s fastest-growing
By Tracy Gordon — September 15, 2010
(RNS) A megachurch in Lawrenceville, Ga., was named the fastest-growing Protestant church in America in Outreach magazine’s annual ranking, while Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston remains the nation’s largest. In the past year, 12Stone Church in suburban Atlanta increased its attendance by 30 percent and gained 2,226 attendees, boosting total attendance to 9,636. The […]
