Tim Murphy
Tim Murphy is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Tim Murphy
Inmates go kosher—and not just the Jewish ones
By Tim Murphy — September 5, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The request was an odd one, coming from Norman Lee Toler. Toler, then 25, had spent most of his adult life in prison on charges ranging from writing bad checks to statutory rape. It was that last conviction that landed him in the Northeast Missouri Correctional Center, where he […]
Is voting a Christian rite or right?
By Tim Murphy — August 26, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Jason Ford, 29, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., will be spending Election Day at home this year. A self-identified evangelical Christian, Ford cast his vote for President Bush in 2004, but says he and his wife plan to stay away from the polls Nov. 4, rather than vote for Sen. John […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Tim Murphy — August 21, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Tensions in the seaside hamlet of Westhampton Beach, N.Y., have reached a boiling point this summer over allegations of anti-Semitism and religious encroachment. Rabbi Marc Schneier’s request in April to build an eruv around his synagogue triggered a backlash from some in the community, a vacation hotspot for wealthy […]
New Bible carves up stories along historical timeline
By Tim Murphy — August 13, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Bob Sanford wanted to create a Bible that would bring order and clarity to the text. Instead, he’s waded right into one of the great debates of biblical scholarship. “The Chronological Study Bible” will be released this fall in the midst of a Bible-publishing boom in the United States. […]
Straight from 1908, it’s the Church Basement Roadshow
By Tim Murphy — August 7, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ In his carefully cocked black bowler hat, knee-length frock coat and wrap-around bow tie, Mark Scandrette, the preacher from another century, makes his sales pitch. “Some balm in your palm will help you stay calm,” he bellows, placing heavy emphasis on the rhyme, as if even the most […]
Catholics fret for a new immigrant group: Iraqis
By Tim Murphy — August 1, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ At this week’s National Migration Conference, participants hit on a list of familiar issues: federal raids, deportation and child-care, while Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said comprehensive immigration reform must be a major issue in the November elections. But amid the discussion of undocumented workers and economic […]
Creator of shirtless Mormon calendar excommunicated
By Tim Murphy — July 15, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The creator of a controversial calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries has been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after meeting with a disciplinary committee on Sunday (July 13). Chad Hardy said the “Men on a Mission” calendar was intended to provoke discussion among Mormons, but […]
U.S. pilgrims anxious to meet pope in Australia
By Tim Murphy — July 11, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) For 17-year-old Karis Tsolomitis, next week’s World Youth Day in Australia will bring to an end three years of anticipation. The Bainbridge Island, Wash., resident has been looking forward to the trip down under ever since her older brother returned from the 2005 World Youth Day in Germany, with […]
`Magic’ mushrooms have spiritual benefits, study says
By Tim Murphy — July 8, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Hallucinogenic mushrooms, long valued by Central American cultures for their mystical qualities, may enhance the spirituality of people of faith, according to a new study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Volunteer subjects reported conversing with God, experiencing “ultimate transcendence,” and being suspended in a “tactile field of light.” According […]
What’s behind the Saudi monotheism summit?
By Tim Murphy — April 9, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service RIYADH, Saudi Arabia _ A group of visiting Japanese scholars was making a routine courtesy call recently on King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz when the monarch raised a subject that, as he put it, had “obsessed me since two years ago.” Distressed by what he described as disintegrating family ties, […]
Amish Limit Schooling to Keep Community Intact
By Tim Murphy — October 4, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service HARRISBURG, Pa. _ Picture the one-room schoolhouse that Laura Ingalls attended on television’s “Little House on the Prairie.” The setting of a modern Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County is not much different, experts in Amish culture say. About a hundred of these schools dot the county’s countryside, said Kim Fortney, […]
TOP STORY: MOTHER TERESA: Mother Teresa has left her mark on Calcutta and the world
By Tim Murphy — August 24, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service CALCUTTA, India _ It was nearly 50 years ago that Mother Teresa rescued the first emaciated woman from the filth-strewn streets of this city. The woman was lying face-down in the gutter. Half her face had been eaten away by insects and rats. Far worse horrors are the norm here […]
NEWS FEATURE: “City of Joy”priest continues quiet work among the poor
By Tim Murphy — June 6, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service CALCUTTA, India (RNS)-In his classic 1985 work,”City of Joy,”author Dominique Lapierre profiled Polish priest Stephan Kovalski, who set out to live among the poorest of Calcutta’s poor. But Kovalski’s real identity is the Rev. Francis Laborde, who, more than 30 years after he eschewed the comforts of the West to […]
NEWS FEATURE: In India, Gandhi is out, Michael Jackson is in
By Tim Murphy — May 3, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service AHMEDABAD, India (RNS)-On the eve of national elections in India, someone hurled mud over a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the storied advocate of non-violent disobedience who led his country to independence from Great Britain. It was not the first time that Gandhi monuments, found throughout India, have been treated with […]
NEWS FEATURE: Missionary in India lives in fear of Hindu extremists
By Tim Murphy — April 23, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NEW DELHI (RNS)-American Christian missionary Max Strong has been stalked by tigers and rogue elephants, and had to kill a 13-foot king cobra while clearing 100 acres of jungle in a malaria-infested district on the India-Nepal border. But Strong, 81, says the greatest danger he has faced has not been […]
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