Kein Eckstrom
Kein Eckstrom is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Kein Eckstrom
Conservative Catholics on Watch for Questions on Nominee’s Faith
By Kein Eckstrom — July 21, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Catholic groups on Wednesday (July 20) said they would guard against any attempt to use religious faith to derail the nomination of Judge John Roberts, a devout Catholic, to the U.S. Supreme Court. To make the point explicitly clear, they pointed to the very Constitution that Roberts would […]
Galileo’s Ghost Haunts Catholics in Stem Cell Debate
By Kein Eckstrom — July 20, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Richard Doerflinger, the Catholic bishops’ pointman on bio-ethics and “pro-life” causes, has heard all the stereotypes too many times to count. The church is anti-science. The church is old-fashioned. The church cares more about an embryo than an Alzheimer’s patient. “Opponents have a vested interest in portraying us […]
United Church of Christ Endorses `Economic Leverage’ Over Divestment in Israel
By Kein Eckstrom — July 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The United Church of Christ has decided not to join a growing movement to divest in companies operating in Israel _ at least for now _ but has promised to use “economic leverage” in pursuit of Middle East peace. On Tuesday (July 5), delegates at the UCC’s General Synod […]
Other Denominations Not Likely to Follow UCC in Supporting Gay Marriage
By Kein Eckstrom — July 7, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Members of the United Church of Christ, like their freedom-loving forebears in New England, cherish their local sovereignty and penchant for independent thinking. Their ancestors, for example, were among the first to work against slavery, and in 1773 helped spark the Boston Tea Party. They were the first U.S. […]
Other Denominations Not Likely to Follow UCC in Supporting Gay Marriage
By Kein Eckstrom — July 6, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Members of the United Church of Christ, like their freedom-loving forebears in New England, cherish their local sovereignty and penchant for independent thinking. Their ancestors, for example, were among the first to work against slavery, and in 1773 helped spark the Boston Tea Party. They were the first U.S. […]
Supreme Court Opening Will Test Strength of Religious Conservatives
By Kein Eckstrom — July 2, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ For the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the battle to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor isn’t quite Armageddon, but almost. “This is do or die,” Falwell said Friday (July 1). For religious conservatives who have spent more than 25 frustrating years toiling in the political vineyards only […]
Caught Between the Cross and the Comma: UCC Denomination Addresses Identity
By Kein Eckstrom — June 30, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The glitzy “God is Still Speaking” ad campaign by the United Church of Christ features a giant black comma with a quote from comedian Gracie Allen _ “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.” Some conservatives, however, worry that a punctuation mark has pushed aside the […]
Bishops Reject Dropping Familiar “Christ Has Died, Christ Has Risen … ‘’
By Kein Eckstrom — June 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ Catholic bishops on Friday (June 17) voted to retain 10 familiar words in the Catholic Mass _ “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again” _ but the phrase could eventually disappear if Vatican officials have their way. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops defeated an […]
Despite Concern of `Zero Tolerance,’ Catholic Bishops Renew Sex Abuse Policies
By Kein Eckstrom — June 18, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops voted Friday (June 17) to renew policies to combat clergy sexual abuse, maintaining a three-year “zero tolerance” pledge to root out abusive priests. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a revised package of policies that removes any predatory priest who is found […]
Catholic Bishops May Remove Familiar Words from Mass
By Kein Eckstrom — June 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ Ten of the best-known words in the Roman Catholic Mass _ “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again” _ may soon be banned from U.S. churches under a policy being considered by Catholic bishops. The bishops’ liturgy committee said the phrase is bad theology because […]
Critics Worry About Independence of Lay Panel Reviewing Catholic Sex Abuse
By Kein Eckstrom — June 17, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ When the nation’s Catholic bishops adopted new policies to clamp down on clergy sexual abuse in 2002, they appointed a review board of prominent lay Catholics to help monitor the bishops’ progress. But three years later, as the bishops meet here this week to renew those same policies, […]
Catholic Bishops Expected to Renew Abuse Policies
By Kein Eckstrom — June 10, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are expected to renew three-year-old sexual abuse rules when they meet next week (June 16-18) in Chicago, with no major changes planned for now to the “zero-tolerance” policy against abusive priests. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is likely to keep mostly intact the […]
Absence of Black Church Representation Postpones Launch of Ecumenical Group
By Kein Eckstrom — June 8, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A new group that aims to bring U.S. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians together for the first time has been postponed because the effort has received little interest from black churches, leaders said. The fledgling group, Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT), has struggled to recruit historically black […]
Preservationists Put Mass. Catholic Churches on `Endangered’ List
By Kein Eckstrom — June 3, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) More than three dozen Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Boston that are slated to be closed were placed Thursday (June 2) on a national endangered species list of historically significant buildings. The Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation called for the protection of about half of the nearly […]
Religious Conservatives Threaten Brokers of Filibuster Compromise
By Kein Eckstrom — May 25, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Richard Land, James Dobson and Paul Weyrich are angry _ angry at “activist” judges who they say are legislating from the bench, angry at Democrats who try to derail judicial nominations and angry at Republicans who are allowing the filibuster to survive. But these leaders of the Christian […]
