Arts & Media

BODY & SOUL: Winning isn’t necessarily good for the soul

By RNS Blog Editor — July 31, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Body & Soul is a regular column exploring the interplay between spirituality and psychology. Pythia Peay is the author of”Putting America on the Couch,”to be published by Riverhead Books in 1997.) (UNDATED) Athletic excellence never fails to inspire awe. Everyone loves a winner, whether it’s the image of an ancient […]

Girls find comfort in teen magazines

By RNS Blog Editor — June 20, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-For as long as there have been teen idols, there have been teen idol magazines, bridging the chasm between fame and obscurity, girlhood and womanhood. A 12-year-old may be unable to approach the cutest boy at school or the most popular girl in class, but she knows she will always […]

Celebrity crushes seen as safe rite of passage for girls

By RNS Blog Editor — June 20, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-His eyes are long-lashed and baby blue. His surfer-boy hair is mussed. He’s got a dog named Mac and a cat named Samantha. His ideal date would be an afternoon of fishing and dinner at a Mexican vegetarian restaurant. His name is Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and his poster hangs on […]

TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Ceremonial voodoo flags now are sought-after art

By RNS Blog Editor — May 11, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (RNS)-As barefoot toddlers, skinny dogs and squawking chickens dodged honking cars a few feet away, Edgar Jean-Louis stood solemnly in the doorway of his house and business in this Caribbean capital’s impoverished Bel Air neighborhood. “There hasn’t been much work lately,”Jean-Louis, 75, said in Creole as he led […]

COMMENTARY: Nirvana is here, right now

By Byron Kaye — May 3, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Les Kaye is abbot of the Kannon-do Zen Center in Mountain View, Calif.) (RNS)-A student once asked Zen master Shunryu Suzuki,”What is Nirvana?”He replied,”Seeing one thing through to the end.” Suzuki-roshi, as he was known, (roshi means teacher) came to this country from Japan in the mid-1950s and established Zen […]

Graham takes a cue from MTV

By Adelle M. Banks — April 5, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-Evangelist Billy Graham hopes to reach his largest audience ever with a one-hour program aimed at viewers who would not normally watch religious programming.”The Billy Graham World Television Series”features a message from Graham intercut with fast-paced videos of Christian music celebrities and ordinary people in a one-hour program that will […]

NEWS STORY: Advocacy group says Christian Right censored arts

By Kristen Campbell — April 4, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Conservative religious or political groups instigated dozens of incidents last year in which paintings, movies, plays and other artistic displays were altered or kept from public view, according to People For the American Way, a liberal advocacy group that monitors the actions of the Religious Right. In its fourth […]

TOP STORY: MEDICINE AND ETHICS: Physicians’ classic anatomy work used victims of Nazi murders

By RNS Blog Editor — March 23, 1996

c. 1996 The Jerusalem Report (RNS)-One day in April 1993, Dr. Howard Israel, an oral surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, prepared for an operation by doing what he always did beforehand: Reviewing the terrain in his trusted copy of”Pernkopf’s Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy,”considered a classic reference work for surgeons, […]

COMMENTARY: A V chip? How about an E chip—for `Embarrassing?’

By Dale Hanson Bourke — February 29, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and the publisher of Religion News Service.) (RNS)-With the rating system for television programs gaining momentum, even the Europeans are getting into the act. According to Variety, the European Union is considering legislation to fit TV sets in Europe with a […]

NEWS FEATURE: Former `Sanford and Son’ star trades studio for pulpit

By Cecile Holmes — February 3, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service MOBILE, Ala. _ When former television star Demond Wilson stands behind the pulpit, as he did recently at a small church here, he preaches the Gospel like any other fiery, charismatic evangelist. “I love the Word,” he shouted. “If you got your sword, hold it up.” The worshipers lifted their […]

TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Baltimore museum is a window on the soul of `visionary art’

By Ira Rifkin — January 31, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service BALTIMORE (RNS)-Gerald Hawkes is an artist whose internal dialogue prompts him to paste together thousands-sometimes millions-of painted wooden matchsticks, producing creations he said reflect a struggle between God and Satan to speak through him. Each matchstick, said the 52-year-old Hawkes, a former printer left partially disabled by a mugging some […]

Gospel, New Age Grammy nominees announced

By RNS Blog Editor — January 5, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-More than two dozen gospel and New Age artists were among the Grammy award nominees announced Thursday by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The winners in 88 categories of music will be announced Feb. 28 at a ceremony in Los Angeles that will be broadcast on CBS. […]

COMMENTARY: God’s unfathomable ways prompt a cosmic `why?’

By James Rudin — January 1, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the National Interreligious Affairs Director of the American Jewish Committee.) (UNDATED) Recent news reports of the bizarre and untimely deaths of Nobel Prize-winning economist William Vickrey and wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino make me wonder whether God takes perverse pleasure in reminding us just how frail and ambiguous […]

Presents of mind and spirit: Books and music for the holidays

By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1996

c. 1996 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Everyone know’s it’s better to give than to receive. And better still, during the holiday season is to give something of value, something with meaning, a gift that will last long after the celebrations have concluded. So here’s a sample of this year’s best inspirational and thought-provoking books […]

NEWS STORY: LOOTED TREASURES: Auction of looted art leads Austria to face a sordid past