Clergy & Congregations
TOP STORY: RELIGION IN AMERICA: Catholics immersed in a centuries-old baptismal ritual
By RNS Blog Editor — June 12, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service LOS ANGELES (RNS)-Converts to Catholicism are increasingly being baptized by immersion, an historic shift by the church back to ancient ways of initiation. The change is taking place so gradually that many Catholics are unfamiliar with the splashy ritual.”You will get very wet,”Msgr. Gerald Wilkerson, a pastor in suburban Encino, […]
CHURCH FIRES: Black clergy demand stronger action on church arsons
By Adelle M. Banks — June 11, 1996
In 1996, Black leaders called for federal action after 30 Black church fires in 18 months.
TOP STORY: CHURCH FIRES: Black clergy demand stronger action on church arsons
By Adelle M. Banks — June 11, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-African-American church leaders called Monday (June 10) for more aggressive federal action to solve a string of more than 30 arsons of black southern churches during the past 18 months. They suggested that the nation’s fragile racial climate could erupt in”war”in the absence of greater legal enforcement and police […]
TOP STORY: CHURCH FIRES: Church arsons in South heighten fear of militant racism
By Adelle M. Banks — May 21, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Arsons that have damaged or destroyed dozens of black churches in the South are rekindling fears of militant racism in the United States and leading some church and civic leaders to compare the incidents to the violence of the civil rights era of the 1960s, when churches were burned […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION IN AMERICA: Megachurches at the epicenter of African-American middle class
By Adelle M. Banks — May 14, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service BRANDYWINE, Md. (RNS)-The Rev. C. Anthony Muse sprinkles apologies about the inconvenient seating arrangement throughout his welcome to congregants of his growing Gibbons United Methodist Church in this suburb of Washington, D.C. Surveying the crowded sanctuary, he reminds everyone that they’ll soon be in a bigger, $4.5 million building, the […]
NEWS STORY: Evangelical group issues harsh self-criticism
By Adelle M. Banks — May 2, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-More than 100 evangelical leaders meeting recently in Cambridge, Mass., have issued a document harshly critical of their Protestant movement, saying some members have strayed so far from basic biblical tenets that the word evangelical has lost its meaning.”The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Greek Cypriots see Turkish threat to Orthodox legacy
By RNS Blog Editor — May 2, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NICOSIA, Cyprus (RNS)-On a busy corner in the northern part of Nicosia’s old city, the Mosque of the Martyrs is at once conspicuous. At a glance, its gated courtyard, high facade and arched entrance tell that it once was a church. In place of a minaret, the loudspeakers that call […]
NEWS STORY: Christian youth gather for two-day `Washington for Jesus’ rally
By RNS Blog Editor — April 30, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Armed with picnic coolers, Bibles and”Jesus”pennants, thousands of Christian youth gathered for a”Washington for Jesus”rally at the U.S. Capitol Monday, rejoicing that they were not alone in their faith.”Sometimes I get discouraged, thinking there are not other Christians,”said Ben Blemahdoo, 16, of Calvary Gospel Church Conqueror’s Club Gospel Team, […]
NEWS STORY: Christian Coalition offers reward in church arsons
By Adelle M. Banks — April 23, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-The Christian Coalition today (April 22) offered a $25,000 reward to anyone who can prove that racism motivated a series of arsons of African-American churches in the South and called on government officials to strengthen their probes of the fires.”Terrorism practiced against the church-any church-is the ultimate act of […]
Evangelist Palau promotes racial reconciliation
By RNS Blog Editor — April 13, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service CHICAGO (RNS)-Doug Hansen first realized that he contributed to, and must repent of, racism at a prayer meeting for evangelist Luis Palau’s “Say Yes, Chicago” crusade. To prepare for the crusade, which began last week, about 75 pastors-half of them black, the rest white-gathered late last year at a church […]
NEWS FEATURE: Evangelist Palau promotes racial reconciliation
By RNS Blog Editor — April 12, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service CHICAGO (RNS)-Doug Hansen first realized that he contributed to, and must repent of, racism at a prayer meeting for evangelist Luis Palau’s “Say Yes, Chicago” crusade. To prepare for the crusade, which began last week, about 75 pastors-half of them black, the rest white-gathered late last year at a church […]
TOP STORY: AFTERMATH OF APARTHEID: Searching for the truth in a hate-scarred land
By RNS Blog Editor — April 11, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (RNS)-Wellington Moluli wore sunglasses in the dark sanctuary of the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg. Twig-thin with a slight tremor, Moluli spoke haltingly as he described his time in solitary confinement as a political prisoner.”I was a youth organizer for the ANC (African National Congress) in […]
Newsday religion writer wins Pulitzer Prize
By RNS Blog Editor — April 10, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-When the 1995 Pulitzer Prizes were handed out Tuesday (April 9) religion was a big winner. Newsday religion writer Bob Keeler won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting for a year-long look at a Roman Catholic parish on Long Island, Columbia University School of Journalism announced. And in the arts […]
TOP STORY: THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION: World Council of Churches leader on a mission of ecumenism
By Carl Anderson — April 10, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NEW YORK (RNS)-It’s unlikely that the Rev. Konrad Raiser, the soft-spoken general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will ever become a household name. But the 58-year-old Raiser, a tall, slim former university professor and pastor to factory workers in Germany, may, more than most people, shape the […]
COMMENTARY: A resurrection in Cleveland
By RNS Blog Editor — April 6, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dick Feagler is a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND (RNS)-John Adams High School, my late lamented alma mater, has gone to God. God got a real bargain. Five thousand dollars down and a balance of $94,000 delivered about a square mile of school building, grounds and attached football […]
