Bridget MacDonald
Bridget MacDonald is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Bridget MacDonald
Catholic Cardinals Crack Open the Gospel According to YouTube
By Bridget MacDonald — May 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) America’s Roman Catholic bishops have earned reputations as aging men willing to defend traditional viewpoints, no matter how unpopular they might be in a rapidly changing world. Now, however, these old-guard heavyweights are looking to don a new, much less familiar moniker: pioneers of the new media age. From […]
Films, Book Explore Mormons’ Darkest Hour
By Bridget MacDonald — April 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) One hundred fifty years ago, a glorious September morning in the Utah mountains morphed into Mormonism’s darkest hour when a skittish militia opened fire on a wagon train, leaving more than 120 men, women and children dead in a flowery field. Now the “Mountain Meadows Massacre” is becoming more […]
Arkansas Jews Get a Lesson in Wandering Toward a Permanent Home
By Bridget MacDonald — March 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) For the past 26 years, members of the tiny Temple Shalom synagogue in Fayetteville, Ark., have celebrated Passover without a building to call their own. But that’s about to change, thanks to an uncommon act of charity that stands to infuse their holiday with new significance and, members hope, […]
Arkansas Jews Get a Lesson in Wandering Toward a Permanent Home
By Bridget MacDonald — March 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) For the past 26 years, members of the tiny Temple Shalom synagogue in Fayetteville, Ark., have celebrated Passover without a building to call their own. But that’s about to change, thanks to an uncommon act of charity that stands to infuse their holiday with new significance and, members hope, […]
10 Minutes With … James Hudnut-Beumler
By Bridget MacDonald — March 1, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) American Protestant churches are always asking for money. That much hasn’t changed in the past 200 years. But how they ask and how they spend have evolved so dramatically as to reshape understandings of what it means for the church and its supporters to be faithful. That story of […]
Proposed Bush Library Divides U.S. Methodists
By Bridget MacDonald — January 31, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When United Methodists weigh what’s at stake in a plan to put a George W. Bush presidential library and policy institute at Southern Methodist University, they see a lot more than politics. For the faithful on both sides of this hot-button issue, it’s about the integrity of the church. […]
Carter Defends Palestine Book, Answers Critics at Brandeis
By Bridget MacDonald — January 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WALTHAM, Mass. _ Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday (Jan. 23) faced critics at predominantly Jewish Brandeis University, apologizing for failing to make clear in a new book that terrorism is never justified as a political tool. But Carter defended his book’s controversial title _ “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” _ […]
Heretic of Prophet? Armstrong Legacy Stirs Debate
By Bridget MacDonald — January 4, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Stephen Flurry is on a mission to restore trust in a dead man who regarded the United States as a lost tribe of Israel, denounced the celebration of birthdays and predicted the world would end in 1975. And he’s making progress. At stake is the legacy of the late […]
Chrysler Test-Drives Marketing to Black Churches
By Bridget MacDonald — December 13, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Auto maker DaimlerChrysler is finding redemption _ and a valuable new venue for showcasing its vehicles _ in the African-American megachurch. Four of the nation’s largest black megachurches are breaking new ground in the worlds of marketing and religion by hosting test drives for Chrysler vehicles this fall. So […]
Despite Revived Left, Religious Magazines Wither
By Bridget MacDonald — December 5, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It’s never been easy to make ends meet while putting out a progressive Christian publication. But in an ironic twist, a re-energized religious left may be making a tough task even harder. That’s one key observation from watchers of liberal Christianity who are trying to explain why progressive magazines […]
Despite Revived Left, Religious Magazines Wither
By Bridget MacDonald — December 5, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It’s never been easy to make ends meet while putting out a progressive Christian publication. But in an ironic twist, a re-energized religious left may be making a tough task even harder. That’s one key observation from watchers of liberal Christianity who are trying to explain why progressive magazines […]
Despite Revived Left, Religious Magazines Wither
By Bridget MacDonald — November 30, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It’s never been easy to make ends meet while putting out a progressive Christian publication. But in an ironic twist, a re-energized religious left may be making a tough task even harder. That’s one key observation from watchers of liberal Christianity who are trying to explain why progressive magazines […]
10 Minutes With … Matthew Dowd
By Bridget MacDonald — November 14, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As chief strategist for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, Matthew J. Dowd helped eke out a victory despite surveys that depicted an electorate uneasy over Iraq, the economy and where the nation was headed. Now Dowd says churches can apply the same techniques that worked for Bush. “Whether your […]
Boycott of eBay Targets Online Sale of Relics
By Bridget MacDonald — October 25, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A coalition of Christians, angered by the marketing of deceased saints’ body parts over the Internet, is calling for a boycott of eBay until the company gets more vigilant about ending the practice. The Los Angeles-based International Crusade for Holy Relics (ICHR), an independent group with about 200 members, […]
10 Minutes With … Roy Ratcliff
By Bridget MacDonald — October 12, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) On April 6, 1994, Wisconsin pastor Roy Ratcliff received an extraordinary phone call. Would he baptize Jeffrey Dahmer, the “Milwaukee Monster” who had killed and dismembered 17 victims before storing their body parts in his apartment and often eating the remains? After a brief meeting with the infamous killer […]
