Beliefs
ESSAY: GOD AND THE BIG BANG: As time goes by, neither God nor the Big Bang are far away
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service UNDATED _ If, for Jews, Jesus was not the Messiah, then who is? Is the Messiah a being, a divine hero coming to redeem us from alienation and mortality? This illusion is the corollary of an even more fundamental illusion: Someone out there has it all planned out. Maybe, as […]
God and the 105th Congress: Religious activists set their agendas
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service UNDATED _ As the 105th session of Congress convenes Jan. 7, political activists of all stripes are readying for another contentious year, and religious groups _ liberal, moderate and conservative _ will be included in the fray. Here, in capsule form, are the major issues of concern to religious groups: […]
An elusive term with many meanings to pundits, press and people in the pews
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Three recent polls underscore the difficulty of determining just who is an evangelical and what he or she might think politically. A study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released June 25 found that 33 percent of white evangelicals were planning to vote for […]
NEWS STORY: Abolitionists call on U.S. to help end African slave trade
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ A coalition of modern-day abolitionists and church leaders has called on the U.S. government to help end the buying and selling of Africans in a thriving chattel slavery market. The headline could have been written 150 years ago, but in fact, the events took place Tuesday (Dec. 17) […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: 105th congressional battles will take up where 104th left off
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ It all seems strangely familiar. From the White House, President Bill Clinton battles a Republican-dominated Congress over a balanced budget, abortion and welfare reform. Members of the religious right try to capitalize on political clout gained by helping to elect conservative Republicans, while religious moderates and liberals try […]
NEWS STORY: Rights group raises case of detained U.S. Christian in Vietnam
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Freedom House, a New York-based human rights group, has asked President Clinton to personally intervene in the case of an American woman who has been detained in Vietnam and accused of”illegal religious propaganda”for distributing pens with Christian crosses on them. Man Thi Jones, a 54-year-old nurse from Sacramento, […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION: Mission impossible? Religious persecution panel faces formidab
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The mission of a new U.S. State Department committee sounds noble indeed: recommending policies to help religious believers around the world who suffer persecution because of their faith. But putting that plan into action, some religious leaders say, is fraught with huge challenges and potential pitfalls. On Nov. […]
NEWS STORY: PERSECUTION CONCERNS: U.S. condemns Iran for ongoing persecution of religious minorities
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Amid new reports of persecution against religious minorities in Iran, the U.S. State Department has called on the Islamic republic to grant full religious liberty to members of all faiths. The State Department condemned a death sentence imposed on Musa Talibi, an Iranian member of the Baha’i faith […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND POLITICS: What’s an evangelical? It depends on who you ask
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Margaret and William Young have a deep faith in Jesus and they believe they should share their faith with others. Margaret, an office manager, frequently listens to the popular evangelical radio program”Focus on the Family”hosted by psychologist James Dobson. She says the show provides valuable insights for raising […]
TOP STORY: THE ETHICS OF VOTING: Hold your nose, pull the lever: For some, it takes two hands to vot
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ In rural Northern Virginia, Judie Brown has made the fight against abortion her personal crusade. An hour’s drive away in inner-city Washington, D.C., Carol Fennelly is a veteran advocate for the homeless. The two women are activists on radically different ends of the political spectrum, but on Election […]
Religious groups fear `open season’ on tax-exempt status
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ When Colorado voters go to the polls next week, they may hold the tax status of churches, synagogues and mosques across the nation in their hands. Up for grabs on the Colorado ballot is Amendment 11, an unprecedented initiative that would change the state constitution to require most […]
TOP STORY: MEDITATION: Embracing his own death, Bernardin puts Kevorkian to shame
By Frances Kennedy — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Eugene Kennedy is a writer living in Chicago.) CHICAGO _ Cardinal Joseph Bernardin dresses conventionally, speaks in a zephyr-gentle voice and has spent most of his life as a priest and a bishop behind a desk. He has never led a demonstration, picketed an abortion clinic, spilled animal blood at […]
MEDITATION: Embracing his own death, Bernardin put Kevorkian to shame
By Frances Kennedy — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Eugene Kennedy is a writer living in Chicago.) CHICAGO _ Cardinal Joseph Bernardin dressed conventionally, spoke in a zephyr-gentle voice and spent most of his life as a priest and a bishop behind a desk. In his 68 years on earth, he never led a demonstration, picketed an abortion clinic, […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION REACTS TO GAY MARRIAGE RULING: Blessing or curse? Religious leaders react to gay
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ For Lutheran laywoman Judy Bond, there was”a moment of breathlessness”Wednesday (Dec. 4) when she read the newspaper headlines reporting that a court in Hawaii had opened the way for legal recognition of same-sex marriages.”It was a moment of celebration but also one of anticipation of the tidal wave […]
NEWS STORY: State Department names religious freedom advisory committee
By Kim Lawton — January 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The U.S. State Department Tuesday (Nov. 12) formally announced the formation of a special advisory committee to study religious persecution around the world and recommend U.S. foreign policy responses. The panel is comprised of 20 members from across the religious spectrum and is chaired by Assistant Secretary of […]
