Monthly Archives: March 2011
Why Tea Partiers oppose DOMA. Not.
By Mark Silk — March 17, 2011
Over at ReligionDispatches, Sarah Posner uses the list of anti-DOMA members in the House of Representatives to show (again, correctly) why it’s a mistake to see Tea Partiers as economic rather than social conservatives. I’d just add that there’s a longstanding reason why the Tea Party has become the movement of the moment for social […]
Excerpts from âÂ?Â?Love Wins’
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
(RNS) Excerpts from Rob Bell’s “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived.” “A staggering number of people have been taught that a few select Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and […]
Justice department backs Sikh inmate
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
(RNS) The Justice Department has filed suit against California prison officials on behalf of a Sikh inmate who says his religious freedom was violated when officials punished him for not cutting his beard. Sukhjinder Basra, incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo on a drug offense, was punished for refusing to shave […]
Anglican priest arrested on marriage charges
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A Church of England vicar has been arrested in Britain’s second major police investigation in as many years into bogus marriages staged to help immigrants win residents’ visas. The church immediately suspended the Rev. Canon Patrick Magumba amid claims he was involved in scores of sham weddings at three churches in northeast England. […]
Critics heated up by Bell’s hell
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
(RNS) Talk about hellfire! One of the nation’s rock-star-popular young pastors, Rob Bell, 40, has stuck a pitchfork in how Christians talk about damnation. Pastor Bell’s “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived,” arrived in stores Tuesday (March 15). Critics pounced before the book was even […]
Co-creator shares genesis of Mormon musical
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
(RNS) Matt Stone, one half the “South Park” writing duo, is not now, nor has he ever been, a Mormon. Neither is his creative partner, Trey Parker. They don’t have Mormons in their family trees, despite rumors to the contrary circulating madly online and in Mormon circles. “If we did have that,” Stone said in […]
‘Book of Mormon’ musical called surprisingly sweet
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
NEW YORK (RNS) A Ugandan villager in the new Broadway musical from the creators of “South Park” offers a plaintive love song about paradise — and the object of her yearning is none other than Utah's capital. “Salvation has a name – Salt Lake-y City,” croons Nabalungi (played by Nikki M. James) in “The Book […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — March 16, 2011
The governor of Tokyo apologized yesterday for saying the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan and left thousands dead were divine punishment for the country’s “egoism,” CNN reports. Meanwhile, Mormon church officials say as many as 200 missionaries are moving farther away from a nuclear power plant where elevated radation levels have been detected, according […]
Adventists grow as other churches decline
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
(RNS) Rest on the Sabbath. Heed Old Testament dietary codes. And be ready for Jesus to return at any moment. If these practices sound quaint or antiquated, think again. They’re hallmarks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the fastest-growing Christian denomination in North America. Newly released data show Seventh-day Adventism growing by 2.5 percent in North […]
GOP betting line: Huckabee v. Romney
By Mark Silk — March 16, 2011
According to the latest WaPo/ABC poll, Mike Huckabee is the top choice for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Mitt Romney is a close second. The Post‘s lede this morning is that Sarah Palin’s numbers among Republicans are heading south, which is a good story. But I’ve yet to see Beltway political scribes giving Huck serious […]
Nearly 1,000 Anglicans converting to Catholicism
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
LONDON (RNS/ENInews) More than 900 Anglicans formally expressed a desire to convert to Catholicism at special services held at Westminster Cathedral — including the first Anglicans to join a new branch of the Catholic Church. The annual ceremonies held last weekend (March 12-13), included 62 adults who will become Catholics as part of the Personal […]
Alaska Airlines apologizes for Jewish prayer mix-up
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
SEATTLE (RNS) Alaska Airlines has issued an apology for misinterpreting the devotional behavior of three Orthodox Jewish men on a flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles on Sunday (March 13). The men had strapped on tefillin — black leather bindings and boxes worn on arms and heads during ritual prayer by some Jews — […]
Museum restores Jefferson’s unique Bible
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
(RNS) A Smithsonian museum is restoring the “Jefferson Bible,” a unique volume the third president cut and pasted himself — omitting lots of theology — from portions of the New Testament. Thomas Jefferson assembled the book in 1820 when he retired after two terms as president. “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” resembles […]
From professorial pope, a lengthy paper trail
By Tracy Gordon — March 16, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Any book with an initial printing of 1.2 million copies in eight languages qualifies as a global publishing event, regardless of its author. But the release last week (March 10) of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest tome was especially remarkable. More to the point, “Jesus of Nazareth — Holy Week,” is the latest […]
Japanese look to ancient traditions for strength
By Tracy Gordon — March 15, 2011
(RNS) When uncounted thousands have died in a disaster such as last week’s earthquake and tsunami, where will the Japanese people find spiritual strength? Experts on Japanese culture say they’ll find it in the critical, comforting rituals of religion. They will rely on centuries-old traditions of a distinctive Buddhist culture and the ancient Shinto beliefs […]
