B. Denise Hawkins

B. Denise Hawkins is an author at Religion News Service.

All Stories by B. Denise Hawkins

Leontine T.C. Kelly, pioneering African-American woman bishop, dies at 92

By B. Denise Hawkins — June 29, 2012

(RNS) Retired United Methodist Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly, the first African-American woman elected to the episcopacy by a major religious denomination, died Thursday (June 28). The teacher, pastoral leader and activist was considered a pioneer for her ministry of more than two decades. She was 92. By B. Denise Hawkins.

NEWS FEATURE: T.D. Jakes takes his ministry, message to the prisons

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1999

c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ With an estimated 150,000 inmates watching from behind the secured walls of 120 prisons across the nation, Bishop T.D. Jakes seemed determined to deliver a message of survival that would set their souls free.”For those of you behind prison walls tonight, you may feel cursed, you may be […]

NEWS FEATURE: Exhibit sparks debate on Jefferson’s church-state views

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ A major Library of Congress exhibit of more than 200 items examining the role of religion in early American life has sparked a new church-state debate even as it winds up its Washington stay and prepares to visit a number of major U.S. cities. On Thursday (July 30), […]

NEWS STORY: Success of welfare reform to be measured by future soup lines

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Some state welfare rolls may be shrinking, but the debate over reform is just beginning, and the success of reform will be measured by the numbers in future soup lines and shelters, declared the leaders of some of the nation’s largest religious and charitable organizations. President Clinton has […]

NEWS FEATURE: Scientists being won over in the spirit-health debate

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ When 70 of the nation’s leading medical and social science researchers set out to study how spirituality and health intersect, the panel’s coordinator decided to open its first meeting with prayer. Many _ but not all _ of his colleagues bristled at the imposition of group prayer, and […]

NEWS FEATURE: New breed of worker bringing new kind of spirituality to workplace

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ John Lackey, sitting in a circle with 18 other people in one of the two rooms of the year-old Center for Visionary Leadership, is beaming as he talks about the”spiritual transformation that is beginning to sweep through corporate America.” Lackey was a successful corporate manager before being downsized […]

NEWS STORY: Complaint filed against Methodist pastor over gay union ceremony

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ To the Rev. Jimmy Creech, it was”a very simple and very meaningful service.”But to others, the ceremony uniting two lesbian members of his United Methodist congregation was a slap in the face of church policy. Since performing the”covenanting”ceremony Sept. 14, a member of Creech’s congregation has filed a […]

NEWS STORY: NAACP, People For launch campaign against school vouchers

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service BALTIMORE _ The NAACP and People For the American Way Thursday launched what they said will be a national campaign to fight school voucher initiatives that provide tax funds to aid parents of students attending private and religious schools.”In 1997, we find ourselves facing an issue which is in some […]

NEWS STORY: Bread for the World hits global gap between rich and poor

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The global economy has benefited countless people _ many have better jobs, higher standards of living and, sometimes, the ability to buy low-cost products. At the same time, however, the globalization of the economy is leaving many people behind and, in its wake, casting a worldwide web of […]

NEWS STORY: Breaking the black church’s silence on sexuality

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ For a year, the Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, acting director of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), worked the telephone seeking to bring together African-American pastors and laity to”break the silence”on the long-taboo subject of black sexuality. For a long time, many on the voices on the […]

NEWS STORY: Urban `sacred space’ vital in delivering human services

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ For years, tens of thousands of older, once-grand city congregations _ many now with diminished congregations, crumbling steeples and deteriorating interiors _ have been vital community centers, quietly delivering a host of social and human service programs benefitting the public. Generally, these aging churches and synagogues have been […]

NEWS STORY: Catholic bishops urge acceptance of gay orientation

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Steering clear of a debate about the origins of homosexuality, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops Wednesday (Oct. 1) extended to parents and families of gay and lesbian children an”outstretched hand”of support but reaffirmed church teaching saying homosexual activity is a sin. The 20-page pastoral statement,”Always Our Children: A Pastoral […]

NEWS STORY: Tiny group of protesters accuse Promise Keepers of political agenda

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ A little more than 200 supporters of the National Organization for Women filled a grassy corner on the edge of the vast Promise Keepers rally Saturday (Oct. 4) to denounce the leaders of the evangelical men’s movement as”wolves in sheeps’ clothing.” But just a few feet away, another […]

NEWS STORY: Pentecostals report slow progress in healing racial divisions

By B. Denise Hawkins — January 1, 1997

c. 1997 Religion News Service FORT WASHINGTON, Md. _ It’s been three years since the nation’s largest African-American and white Pentecostal denominations decided to end decades of racial division and seek to overcome the barriers of sex and class in their churches. In October 1994 in Memphis, Tenn., the world watched as white and black […]

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