Daniel Burke
Daniel Burke worked for Religion News Service from 2006-2013. He now co-edits CNN's Belief Blog.
All Stories by Daniel Burke
Theme and Logo for Pope’s Trip Announced
By Daniel Burke — December 21, 2007
I knew that papal visits usually had a theme, but a logo? The pope is coming to visit New York and Washington April 15-20. Anyway the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released both the theme and the logo this week. Theme: Christ our Hope, a reflection of Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical “Spe Salvi.” Logo […]
Infamous Irish Priest Faces New Sex Charge
By Daniel Burke — December 20, 2007
Oliver O’Grady, the Irish-born priests whose rape of children in California was documented in the Oscar-nominated film “Deliver Us From Evil,” now faces a new legal challenge, according to the Stockton Record. Says the Record: A new lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Stockton alleges that former priest sexually abused another child while serving in […]
Muslim Car Talk
By Daniel Burke — December 20, 2007
According to Catholic World News, an Iranian company is making a new vehicle specifically for Muslims. The car will be adorned with Islamic symbols and have a compass pointing toward the Muslim holy city of Mecca. There’s probably a good joke in there somewhere but I’ll let you make it. Read the brief here.
Black Churches Struggle Over Clinton vs. Obama
By Daniel Burke — December 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service COLUMBIA, S.C. _ If it’s true that a house divided cannot stand, then black churches across South Carolina should be shaking. Take, for instance, this city’s Bible Way Church of Atlas Road. The black megachurch’s pastor, the Rev. Darrell Jackson Sr., is a paid consultant for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential […]
Across the Universe
By Daniel Burke — December 19, 2007
The Washington Post has a groovy story about this American cat called Maggie O’Hara (a former actress) who wants to restore the ashram where The Beatles hid out with the Maharishi in 1968 to do some transcendental meditating. O’Hara has lived in India running schools for the poor for the past 30 years, has submitted […]
Good News for Black Catholic Jewish Hispanic Mormon Female Homosexuals
By Daniel Burke — December 19, 2007
Gallup made a great poll available to reporters late last week detailing long term trends in who Americans would be willing to vote as president. The categories are Catholic, Black, Jew, woman, Hispanic, Mormon, homosexual, and atheist. For example, 93 percent of Americans said in December, 2007 that they would vote for a Catholic president, […]
Episcopal Bishop: Yep, We’re Gone
By Daniel Burke — December 18, 2007
Earlier this month, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a letter to San Joaquin bishop John-David Schofield, asking if he and his dioceses had officially abandoned the Episcopal Church. Today, Episcopal News Service, has his reply. In a pastoral letter intended to be read December 16 in the congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of […]
Did Episcopal Bishop Pressure Priests?
By Daniel Burke — December 12, 2007
Episcopal News Service is reporting that Bishop John-David Schofield pressured priests to vote “yes” on secession from the Episcopal Church or face financial penalties. According to ENS “Schofield threatened the personal livelihoods and congregational finances of priests who opposed his efforts to lead the diocese out of the Episcopal Church.” The news service, which serves […]
Episcopal split was a long time coming, and will take time to resolve
By Daniel Burke — December 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Bishop John-David Schofield of San Joaquin, Calif., struck an urgent tone on Saturday (Dec. 8) when he urged his Fresno-based diocese to defect from the Episcopal Church. “God’s timing is essential,” he said before the decisive vote to cut ties with the American church and align with the Argentina-based […]
More on Obama, the non-Muslim
By Daniel Burke — December 10, 2007
The Clinton campaign has canned a second official for forwarding a hoax e-mail that said Barack Obama is a Muslim intent on destroying the U.S. Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ. He’s never been a Muslim, according to his autobiography. Neither was his father, nor his step-father, nor his Kansan-born mother. […]
Bush Speaking Less About Faith?
By Daniel Burke — December 8, 2007
As candidates’ faith increasingly becomes a major story on the presidential campaign trail, the man who has the job they all want has quietly dropped speaking about his own faith, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Julie Mason. Bush is not talking about his faith anymore, Mason writes. Once a central theme to much of his […]
Baptists and the Pope
By Daniel Burke — December 8, 2007
Pope Benedict XVI met privately with more than 20 Baptist leaders, including at least one representative from the U.S. on Thursday, according to Catholic News Service. The meeting was cosponsored by the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Benedict said he hopes a dialogue between the two “will bear abundant […]
Bible & Quran Side- by-Side
By Daniel Burke — December 7, 2007
A new Dutch Web site, with text in English, Dutch and Arabic, is believed to be the first to offer integral texts of the Bible and the Quran. The website makes it possible for anyone to access the two books anonymously. A universal search function makes it possible to search the texts using any word […]
Effort helping reluctant pastors tackle tithing time
By Daniel Burke — December 7, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Rev. Stephen Gray always considered himself one tough S.O.B _ son of a banker. Still, when it came time for the minister to talk dollars and cents with his former congregation in Nashville, Tenn., he blanched. “I wanted nothing to do with money,” said Gray, 60, who now […]
A Catholic Fantasy
By Daniel Burke — December 6, 2007
This year has been awash with fantastical tales: The ending of the Harry Potter series, the movie versions of “Beowulf” and “The Golden Compass.” None of them compare with this: “An American bishop gets kidnapped outside his cabin in the High Sierras one snowy morning in November 2008 by three liberation theologians who look like […]