Monthly Archives: August 2011
Wednesday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — August 11, 2011
So apparently the music director at an Alabama church had to be let go. Sad, yes? Equally sad is the way he reportedly handled it: by pulling out a Taser and starting a massive brawl that put several people (including his momma) in the hospital. “‘The deacons and myself said we were not going to […]
Charity group brings dollars, and controversy
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
(RNS) Shopping for a flat screen TV typically isn’t that controversial. Arguments may ensue over the best size, brand or price, but those quarrels are usually short-lived. The Charity Give Back Group, or CGBG, is changing that. CGBG, formerly known as the Christian Values Network, or CVN, is an online hub that allows consumers to […]
Priest won’t stop push for women’s ordination
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
(RNS) The Roman Catholic priest who faces expulsion from the priesthood and his religious order for advocating for women to be ordained as priests is refusing to recant and has hired a church lawyer. “What they’re asking me to do is lie,” the Rev. Roy Bourgeois said in an interview on Tuesday (Aug. 9) from […]
Peace service held amid London riots
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
LONDON (RNS/ENInews) The annual peace service at Westminster Cathedral acquired fresh significance on Tuesday evening (Aug. 9) as Londoners gathered to pray for their city and other British communities torn by rioting. A fourth night of unrest brought total arrests in London to more than 700, according to police, and looting and arson continued to […]
Bats in belfry plague British church
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A beleaguered 11th-century church in England is losing its worshippers and has been forced to suspend services indefinitely because of bats in its belfry. Bats are a protected species in Britain, and the Anglican St. Hilda’s Church in Ellerburn, North Yorkshire, is trying — so far with no luck — to get a […]
N.Y. Catholic church raising funds for statue of gay `9/11 saint’
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (RNS) Like most Americans, Brother Edmund Dwyer was stunned by early coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. As he struggled to grasp the scope of the carnage, scrolling type alone the bottom of his television screen announced the death of Rev. Mychal Judge, a legendary New […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Lauren Markoe — August 10, 2011
Muslims tired of other Americans making assumptions about their religion have erected 50 billboards along the nation’s highways inviting anyone to have actual Muslims answer their questions about Islam. A capsule containing the blood of Pope John Paul II will make 100 stops on a trip to Mexico, where the Catholic Bishop’s Council hopes the […]
Tuesday Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — August 10, 2011
So with the bad economy hanging over everyone’s heads, The Washington Post’s On Faith blog thinks it might helpful to know how some believers are keeping the faith (or not) in the midst of unemployment: “When things started going south for me, lots of friends told me they were praying for me. I became a […]
Religious restrictions increased for 2 billion, study says
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
(RNS) A third of the world — about 2.2 billion people — live in nations where restrictions on religion have substantially increased, according to a new report. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study, released Tuesday (Aug. 9), also shows intolerant countries growing more hostile to religious freedom, and tolerant ones growing more […]
Is the Islamic terrorism threat overblown?
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
(RNS) After a car bomb detonated on Wall Street one minute past the noon lunch hour killing 38 people, federal investigators came up with a possible link to an overseas group. Islamic terrorists? Al-Qaida? No, Italian anarchists. The year was 1920, and in those days anarchists were the equivalent of today’s terrorists, waging acts of […]
Catholic priest faces expulsion for supporting women’s ordination
By Tracy Gordon — August 10, 2011
(RNS) A Roman Catholic priest who has campaigned for the ordination of women has been told he will be expelled from his religious order if he does not publicly recant. The Rev. Roy Bourgeois was issued a “second canonical warning” on July 27, and told that he would be dismissed from the Maryknoll order within […]
COMMENTARY: Using fear as a weapon violates the gospel
By Tom Ehrich — August 9, 2011
(RNS) On a visit to southern Spain, I came across a centuries-old Roman Catholic church that had a large stone post with iron rings placed beside the church door. It was the whipping post, where targets of the Spanish Inquisition were tortured in public and their blood stains left to frighten others into obedience. Whipping […]
American Crusade
By Mark Silk — August 9, 2011
“For God and Country” (Pro Deo et Patria) is the motto of the Army Chaplain Corps, and for years its use in the media (including in this World War II training film featuring Ronald Reagan) was reserved for the military chaplaincy. So it is striking, to say the least, to discover (in Nicholas Schmidle’s recent […]
Follow community site SpokaneFAVS around the web
By Religion News LLC — August 9, 2011
Religion News LLC is readying its first community site, based in Spokane, Wash., under editor Tracy Simmons. SpokaneFAVS.com, coming in 2012, will be Spokane’s source for faith news. But you can start following SpokaneFAVS now. Follow, befriend and check in with Spokane on: Facebook @SpokaneFAVS on Twitter Foursquare Google+ and Flickr More sites are coming, […]
Lizza on Bachmann
By Mark Silk — August 9, 2011
Ryan Lizza’s profile of Michelle Bachmann in the latest New Yorker focuses correctly on the candidate’s ideological formation within the Christian Right, not least through her exposure to the works of Francis Schaeffer, the Switzerland-based writer who almost single-handedly made opposition to abortion the centerpiece of the political project of American evangelicals. In his final […]
