Tom Heneghan
Tom Heneghan is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Tom Heneghan
VW’s ‘dieselgate’ poses ethical challenge for German Protestants
By Tom Heneghan — May 23, 2017
(RNS) 'Kein Ablass für Abgas!' (No indulgences for exhaust fumes), a pastor wrote about the German carmaker providing the official vehicle fleet for a biannual church assembly.
French clerics’ stands on Le Pen populism range from resistance to reserve
By Tom Heneghan — May 4, 2017
PARIS (RNS) Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders — representing religious minorities in France — have come out against anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen. The Roman Catholic Church remains officially neutral.
Turkish-financed mosques in Europe allegedly spying for Erdogan
By Tom Heneghan — April 19, 2017
PARIS (RNS) European lawmakers are calling for tighter restrictions on the mosques, which critics say keep diaspora Turks from fully integrating.
Paris conference on deposing a heretical pope looks to the past, not the present
By Tom Heneghan — April 3, 2017
PARIS (RNS) It looked as if the two-day meeting in Paris could be the place where the next steps in the campaign against the pope were being worked out. It turned out to be nothing of the sort.
Religion emerges in secular French politics as presidential campaign heats up
By Tom Heneghan — March 24, 2017
PARIS (RNS) Playing the religion card openly is rare in France, where secularism is normally taken so seriously that politicians rarely if ever mention their faith in public. But this election is not taking place in normal times.
ISIS’s intriguing silence about Donald Trump’s approach to Muslims
By Tom Heneghan — March 17, 2017
PARIS (RNS) With his anti-Muslim rhetoric and planned travel bans, you’d think President Trump would be a favorite target for Islamic State’s propaganda. Well, think again.
Trump’s wish to ban Muslim immigration is widely shared in Europe
By Tom Heneghan — February 14, 2017
PARIS (RNS) Majorities across Europe are deeply concerned about Muslim immigration and support an immediate end to it, even as voters think the Muslim populations in their countries are much higher than they really are.
How a toy figure of Martin Luther sparked accusations of anti-Semitism
By Tom Heneghan — January 4, 2017
(RNS) This was not at all supposed to be what the cute little figure was about.
Catholic priest’s appointment as university president stuns French
By Tom Heneghan — December 22, 2016
PARIS (RNS) Almost anywhere else in France, a theologian could not have even been hired as a lecturer, much less rise to become a university president.
France will soon have a new crime: online obstruction of abortion
By Tom Heneghan — December 14, 2016
PARIS (RNS) The bill would allow abortion rights activists to sue websites that promote alternatives to ending a pregnancy or discuss abortion's possible psychological effects.
German Protestants officially renounce converting Jews to Christianity
By Tom Heneghan — November 17, 2016
(RNS) Abandoning the 'Judenmission,' which effectively ended in the decades after the Holocaust, should have been a formality.
Germans consider Protestant bishops, Muslim writer for their next president
By Tom Heneghan — November 7, 2016
(RNS) Germans want their president to be a moral leader willing and able to speak about the state of the nation’s soul. Pundits like to call this the 'preacher in chief' aspect of the job.
Biryani becomes latest issue in India’s struggle over religion, caste, politics
By Tom Heneghan — September 15, 2016
NEW DELHI (RNS) The popular rice dish has become the latest wedge issue by India’s Hindu nationalist government to impose its religious standards on the officially secular country.
Indonesian priest attack inspired by murder of French Catholic cleric
By Tom Heneghan — August 31, 2016
Police say the attacker was self-radicalized, but also working with an associate in the so-called Islamic State.
France and Germany search for solutions to Islamist challenge
By Tom Heneghan — August 10, 2016
PARIS (RNS) Pressure is mounting there because of last year's rapid influx of refugees from the Muslim world, which has challenged state and local authorities to integrate them better.
