Julia Lieblich

Julia Lieblich is an author at Religion News Service.

All Stories by Julia Lieblich

France’s ‘hip’ female rabbi draws Muslims, Christians and Jews in a time of crisis

By Julia Lieblich, Luc Vachez — June 29, 2020

(RNS) — One of only four female rabbis in France, Delphine Horvilleur calls herself a storyteller, and one who believes that ‘God has a good sense of humor.’

Learning how to mourn among the Maya

By Julia Lieblich — April 11, 2019

(RNS) — The Maya have taught me how to honor the dead, naming and remember the people some politicians would have them forget.

Instant messages from hell

By Julia Lieblich — August 28, 2017

CHICAGO (RNS) — Twelve years have passed since Ambrose Ndoinje drove me in his taxi during my trip to Sierra Leone. But he still sends instant messages telling me that Jesus loves me and news of the latest disaster to befall his Godforsaken place.

Guest commentary: 20 years after Bosnia, finding meaning after terror

By Julia Lieblich — May 4, 2012

(RNS) Esad Boskailo is a Bosnian Muslim and I am a Jew, but when we decided to write a book together about finding meaning after terror, we were determined to avoid easy answers about suffering and religious language. By Julia Lieblich.

Guest Commentary: Rallying around the sisters

By Julia Lieblich — April 26, 2012

CHICAGO (RNS) When the Vatican ordered a crackdown on the largest group of U.S. sisters, accusing them of spending too much time "promoting issues of social justice," I was stunned, though perhaps I shouldn't have been, given Rome's historic failure to support its best and brightest. By Julia Lieblich.

NEWS FEATURE: American atheists a diverse, fractious lot

By Julia Lieblich — March 12, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service POCOPSON, Pa. _ Margaret Downey says her friends tell her she looks so wholesome she could crash a Christian Coalition meeting, and the mere mention of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the nation’s best-known atheist, who disappeared in 1995, makes her recoil. “Mad, mad Madalyn,” she said. O’Hair, Downey believes, bullied her […]

NEWS FEATURE: Looking for God along a psychedelic drug trip

By Julia Lieblich — January 22, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ When Lewis Carroll’s Alice swallowed magical cake, she was “delighted to find that she began shrinking directly.” So was Kate Chapman, 23, a modern-day Alice on LSD. “I became smaller and smaller and smaller until I felt the molecules, subatomic particles, the quarks,” said Chapman of a memorable […]

NEWS FEATURE: Dealing with the burden of failing God in the fallout of divorce

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service WORCESTER, Mass. _ Barbara Roy is a devout, church-going Christian who doesn’t believe in divorce. She’s convinced God condemns divorce. And she’s been divorced three times. Matrimonial failure has taken its toll. A real-estate broker and popular cable TV host in central Massachusetts, Roy makes self-effacing jokes about her marital […]

NEWS STORY: Guatemalan bishop’s slaying seen as bid to hid rights atrocities

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ A 1996 peace accord ended 36 years of civil war in Guatemala. But the murder Sunday (April 26) of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading human rights activist, reminded survivors of a harsh reality: those responsible for torturing and killing tens of thousands during the war have never […]

NEWS FEATURE: Christian diets may be mixed blessing

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ “Pray Your Weight Away,” Presbyterian minister Charles Shedd urged readers in the 1957 diet book that launched today’s multimillion-dollar Christian weight-loss industry. Now, a Purdue University study confirms what diet gurus have long preached: “Firm believers do not have firm bodies.” Indeed, Christians who are most active in […]

NEWS FEATURE: Tibetan Buddhist nuns: peace, harmony and a tortured past

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Kathy Hoffman and her son were standing in front of the Washington Monument when they spotted a group of sightseers with shaved heads, their bodies draped in maroon robes. “Are you men Buddhist?” Hoffman asked. “We’re Tibetan Buddhist nuns,” Tenzin Dechen replied. “May I ask you a question?” […]

NEWS FEATURE: Spreading the word meets increasing resistance

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The Mormons promise to treat Southern Baptists with kindness when they come to Salt Lake City in June for an unprecedented door-to-door evangelizing blitz. But such welcomes are increasingly rare. American Jewish leaders have shunned the Southern Baptists for their resolution to focus on converting Jews. The Russian […]

NEWS FEATURE: Mixing dollars with the divine in gospel music industy

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Seventeen-year-old Candi Pearson stood in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel late last month and stared unabashedly at the performers. “He’s awesome,” she said as a hunky guy with spiked hair got off the elevator. She didn’t remember the name of a bleached-blond singer in 4-inch platforms, […]

NEWS FEATURE: Rastafarianism more than reggae, dreadlocks: It’s a religion

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ “Beware of the imposta’ Rasta.” So warned Dave Simon, 25, who said it takes more than dreadlocks and ganja to make a Rastafarian. “You can grow your hair and not live the life of a Rastaman,” said Simon, sitting in the backyard of the Olive Branch, the […]

NEWS ANALYSIS: Political nuns face more than physical danger

By Julia Lieblich — January 1, 1998

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The admission was a long time coming: Four former Salvadoran guardsmen said they had not acted alone in the killing of three North American nuns and a church worker 17 years ago. They took their orders from higher military authorities, they said. At the time of the murders, […]

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