Christa Brown
Christa Brown is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Christa Brown
NEWS FEATURE: Kosovo’s Gypsies _ Forgotten Victims of War
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service KRAGUJEVAC, Yugoslavia _ Among the 4,000 Roma (Gypsies) homeless from Kosovo living in this destitute, jobless city, there is a feeling of abandonment by the Yugoslav government, by Serbian charities and by the Western powers whose bombing turned Kosovo upside down but left the Yugoslav president in place. “The mistake […]
NEWS FEATURE: Kosovo’s Gypsies _ Forgotten Victims of War
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service KRAGUJEVAC, Yugoslavia _ Among the 4,000 Roma (Gypsies) homeless from Kosovo living in this destitute, jobless city, there is a feeling of abandonment by the Yugoslav government, by Serbian charities and by the Western powers whose bombing turned Kosovo upside down but left the Yugoslav president in place. “The mistake […]
NEWS STORY: Russian Religion Law Deadline Extended
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service MOSCOW _ Thousands of religious organizations faced with possible “liquidation” under a controversial religion law now have until the end of the year to re-register with Russia’s Justice Ministry. The one-year extension of the Dec. 31 1999, deadline became law March 30 after easily clearing both houses of Russia’s parliament […]
NEWS STORY: Serbian Orthodox Bishop Struggles to Find Path to Peace
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service GRACANICA, Yugoslavia _ Early on a recent Friday morning, Kosovo’s Bishop Artemije prayed, as he usually does, with a couple dozen nuns and monks inside Gracanica Monastery. As rays of morning sunshine caught particles of incense, the nuns sang in Old Church Slavonic and two burly priests chatted blithely away […]
NEWS FEATURE: Salvation Army on the Front Lines in Aid to Chechnya
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service GROZNY, Russia _ To reach this obliterated city, humanitarian aid truck convoys run a gantlet of a half-dozen Russian military checkpoints where surly soldiers check documents, affect menacing looks and sometimes extort minor bribes. It is a well-choreographed, monotonous routine performed dozens of times a day. It all falls to […]
NEWS FEATURE: Montenegro’s Breakaway Orthodox Church Leads Independence Movement
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service CETINJE, Yugoslavia _ A successful independence movement absolutely requires political brains and some brawn. But it helps, too, to have God on your side, to have a spiritual rationale for temporal claims. In the case of the tiny republic of Montenegro, Serbia’s last remaining partner in Yugoslavia, the capital city […]
NEWS STORY: Serbian Orthodox Bishop Struggles to Find Path to Peace
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service GRACANICA, Yugoslavia _ Early on a recent Friday morning, Kosovo’s Bishop Artemije prayed, as he usually does, with a couple dozen nuns and monks inside Gracanica Monastery. As rays of morning sunshine caught particles of incense, the nuns sang in Old Church Slavonic and two burly priests chatted blithely away […]
NEWS FEATURE: Salvation Army on the Front Lines in Aid to Chechnya
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service GROZNY, Russia _ To reach this obliterated city, humanitarian aid truck convoys run a gantlet of a half-dozen Russian military checkpoints where surly soldiers check documents, affect menacing looks and sometimes extort minor bribes. It is a well-choreographed, monotonous routine performed dozens of times a day. It all falls to […]
NEWS FEATURE: Kosovo Election a Mixed Blessing for Churches
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Recent election results in Kosovo and the dramatic rise of Vojislav Kostunica to the Yugoslav presidency are mixed blessings for the breakaway region’s faiths, local religious leaders and analysts say. But Kosovo’s Serbian Orthodox Church, with its dynamic, politically moderate bishop, is one of the few clear beneficiaries of […]
COMMENTARY: An International 911
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (Larry Brown is president of the Feed the Children, the international humanitarian aid group.) (UNDATED) Who defines compassion or what moves us to act? Who would stop our hand when we reach to dial 911? I have just returned from Ethiopia, ground zero for countries in the Horn of Africa […]
NEWS FEATURE: Montenegro’s Breakaway Orthodox Church Leads Independence Movement
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service CETINJE, Yugoslavia _ A successful independence movement absolutely requires political brains and some brawn. But it helps, too, to have God on your side, to have a spiritual rationale for temporal claims. In the case of the tiny republic of Montenegro, Serbia’s last remaining partner in Yugoslavia, the capital city […]
NEWS FEATURE: Kosovo Election a Mixed Blessing for Churches
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Recent election results in Kosovo and the dramatic rise of Vojislav Kostunica to the Yugoslav presidency are mixed blessings for the breakaway region’s faiths, local religious leaders and analysts say. But Kosovo’s Serbian Orthodox Church, with its dynamic, politically moderate bishop, is one of the few clear beneficiaries of […]
COMMENTARY: An International 911
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (Larry Brown is president of the Feed the Children, the international humanitarian aid group.) (UNDATED) Who defines compassion or what moves us to act? Who would stop our hand when we reach to dial 911? I have just returned from Ethiopia, ground zero for countries in the Horn of Africa […]
NEWS FEATURE: Orthodox Church Plays Controversial Role in Russian Politics
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service MOSCOW _ When President Boris Yeltsin resigned and made his dramatic New Year’s Eve transfer of power to Vladimir Putin, the historic event was witnessed not by the heads of the legislative or judicial branches of Russian government. Instead, the solitary, robed figure of Patriarch Alexii II, leader of the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Russian Army, Orthodox Church Cementing Patriotic Relationship
By Christa Brown — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia – At the close of the final service on the most important day in the Orthodox Christian calendar, Father Vladimir Samoilenko stood before hundreds of parishioners dressed in their Easter best. In a broad baritone somewhere between a shout and a roar, he delivered a blessing. “This great […]
