Tiffany McCallen
Tiffany McCallen rejoins the RNS team in 2014 as the Interactive and Engagement Editor. Prior to that she was the National Community Manager for the Faith & Values (FAVS) community website project.
All Stories by Tiffany McCallen
After months of wrangling, occupiers evicted from St. Paul’s Cathedral
By Tiffany McCallen — February 28, 2012
LONDON (RNS) Police on Tuesday (Feb. 28) evicted scores of demonstrators from a makeshift tent city they had erected outside historic St. Paul's Cathedral more than four months ago as part of a global protest against capitalism.
Experts say Quran burning ‘tailor-made’ for Taliban
By Tiffany McCallen — February 28, 2012
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Taliban is attempting to capitalize on the outbreak of violence that followed the inadvertent burning of a Quran by NATO troops by characterizing the war as a conflict between infidels and Islam, analysts said.
COMMENTARY: Abortion as a cover war
By Tiffany McCallen — February 28, 2012
(RNS) Anti-abortion zealots are behaving like radical Islamists: trying to balance society's moral ledger by scapegoating women and taking away their freedom. The abortion debate isn't about the unborn, it's about insecure men demanding the right to control women's lives.
10 Commandments judge seeks his old job back
By Tiffany McCallen — February 28, 2012
MOBILE, Ala. (RNS) Republican Roy Moore's forced exit, almost a decade ago, as Alabama's chief justice position over a Ten Commandments monument is barely mentioned as he seeks to reclaim the job. Voters don't ask about it, and the two men running against him never mention it.
Will evangelical endorsement fuel Santorum surge?
By Tiffany McCallen — January 18, 2012
(RNS) The Iowa caucuses revived Rick Santorum’s underdog presidential campaign. Now an influential assortment of Christian conservatives has moved to consecrate it. On Saturday (Jan. 14), the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania sewed up the endorsement from a coalition of prominent national evangelical leaders. And he has basked in the glow of their affirmation. “Every […]
COMMENTARY: Special treatment hurts both church and state
By Tiffany McCallen — January 17, 2012
(RNS) It’s time for religion to lose its special treatment in the Constitution and in tax codes. Not because religion has ceased to matter, but because it matters more than ever in our increasingly unethical society, and the special treatment ends up hurting both religion and state. Three examples: hiring practices, tax-exempt property, and tax-deductible […]
Muslims say Ron Paul is their kind of Republican
By Tiffany McCallen — January 17, 2012
(RNS) Growing up in rural parts of the American West, Nadja Adolf’s libertarian streak developed early on. “When you come from a countryside that can kill you,” said Adolf, a Muslim convert in her late 50s, “there is a strong emphasis on individual rights, a strong emphasis on self-reliance, and an emphasis on helping each […]
Appeals court rules Oklahoma Shariah ban unconstitutional
By Tiffany McCallen — January 11, 2012
(RNS) Oklahoma’s referendum against state judges considering Islamic law is unconstitutional, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday (Jan. 10), upholding a lower court ruling that had blocked the measure. The ruling could affect more than 20 other states where laws against Shariah are under consideration. In a 37-page ruling, the 10th […]
New White House staffers have Catholic, Jewish ties
By Tiffany McCallen — January 11, 2012
(RNS) President Obama on Tuesday (Jan. 10) named an immigration expert with longstanding ties to the Catholic Church as his top domestic policy official, continuing a campaign-year makeover of White House staff. The hiring of Cecilia Munoz, along with the appointment on Monday of Jacob Lew, an Orthodox Jew, as White House chief of staff, […]
COMMENTARY: Power vs. freedom in the palm of your hand
By Tiffany McCallen — January 10, 2012
(RNS) The future broke in like a sunburst last week, when a sign appeared in the window of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, one of the nation’s premier research and lending libraries. The sign offered help in setting up e-readers to access the library’s collection. Regular folks could bring in their iPads […]
New saint’s work started small, left big legacy
By Tiffany McCallen — January 10, 2012
(RNS) Barbara Koob moved from Utica, N.Y., to nearby Syracuse in the summer of 1862, when she was 24, to enter the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis. Twenty-one years later, the woman the world now knows as Saint Marianne Cope left Syracuse to work as a missionary among the lepers in Hawaii. Even […]
Rob Bell says goodbye to Michigan megachurch
By Tiffany McCallen — January 10, 2012
GRANDVILLE, Mich. (RNS) For years, Rob Bell closed his Sunday teachings at Mars Hill Bible Church with a simple statement: “Grace and peace be with you.” Thousands would respond in unison: “And also with you.” On Sunday (Jan. 8), on Bell’s last day at the megachurch he founded 12 years ago, only one voice sounded […]
Pope tells diplomats that economy needs ‘new rules’
By Tiffany McCallen — January 10, 2012
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The world economy needs “new rules” to overcome the current financial crisis and to ensure that “all can lead a dignified life,” Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican diplomats on Monday (Jan. 9). Benedict’s New Year’s address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See traditionally presents the Vatican’s views on global affairs. The […]
Would Mormons try to influence a Romney White House?
By Tiffany McCallen — January 10, 2012
WASHINGTON (RNS) When Switzerland passed new employment rules that ban foreign religious groups from sending unpaid missionaries, 13 Mormon members of Congress pleaded with the Swiss ambassador for an exception. The Swiss ambassador sent a respectful, yet perfunctory, letter in response, and while some meetings took place, the rules went forward. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a […]
Anti-Mormon bias persistent in presidential politics
By Tiffany McCallen — November 29, 2011
(RNS) On June 27, 1844, vigilantes cornered a man who claimed to receive messages from God and gunned him down in an Illinois jail after his arrest. At the time of his death, Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was an announced candidate for president of the United […]
