Islam
COMMENTARY: When you wish upon a store
By James Rudin — May 31, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) (RNS)-A charismatic cult is on the rise, threatening the moral integrity of America. I speak of the Cult of Disney. Do not misunderstand me. I’m no latter-day Scrooge who says”Bah, humbug!”to the amusements of contemporary society. Nor […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 29, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Treasury department releases seized Cuba-bound computers (RNS)-The U.S. Treasury Department late Friday (May 24) released some 374 Cuba-bound computers seized earlier this year from Pastors for Peace, a clergy and lay activist group that opposes U.S. policy toward Cuba. The computers, to be used in Cuba’s faltering health-care system, were […]
Portraits of compassion in words and pictures
By RNS Blog Editor — May 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-In boldface below is caption information for six photographs by Phil Borges. Following each, in quotes, are comments by the Dalai Lama on the nature of compassion that accompany Borges’ portraits, in”Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion,”a new book they co-authored, published by Rizzoli Press. 1. Tenzin Gyatso, 59 At […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 24, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Prosecutor won’t use confession given to Catholic priest (RNS)-An Oregon district attorney says he will not use a tape of a jailhouse confession given to a Roman Catholic priest by a murder suspect. Lane County prosecutor Doug Harcleroad said Wednesday (May 22) that he was”wrong to authorize the taping of […]
NEWS FEATURE: India’s Zoroastrians live and die by ancient beliefs
By RNS Blog Editor — May 23, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service BOMBAY, India (RNS)-Soaring above luxury apartments in an exclusive section of Bombay, vultures swoop toward the Parsi Towers of Silence on Malabar Hill. It is time for another”burial”at the”vultures cemetery.” Parsis, Indian followers of the ancient faith of Zoroastrianism, believe fire, earth and water are sacred. Thus they will not […]
TOP STORY: FATHERHOOD: Religious leaders examine issue of absent fathers
By Adelle M. Banks — May 20, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service HERNDON, Va. (RNS)-In 1960, about 7 million U.S. children lived in homes without a father. That figure now stands at nearly 23 million. At an”Interfaith Summit on Fatherhood”convened by the National Fatherhood Initiative, a 3-year-old advocacy group, Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders and others drew attention today (May 17) to […]
NEWS FEATURE: Books on ethics and values are flooding American bookstores
By Mark J. Seitz — May 18, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-From Hillary Rodham Clinton’s”It Takes a Village”to Jim Lichtman’s”The Lone Ranger’s Code of the West”to William J. Bennett’s”The Moral Compass,”books on ethics and values are flooding American bookstores, warning us that society is plummeting to perdition and begging us to mend our ways. Whether the authors are religious or secular, […]
TOP STORY: ISLAM IN AMERICA: For Muslim voters in presidential race, party lines are nothing sacred
By Ira Rifkin — May 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Ask Earl El-Amin about his choice for president and he’s quick to say that party labels have little to do with his selection process.”I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. I’m a Muslim. That means if the candidate is aligned with my religious beliefs, I vote for them,”said El-Amin, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 11, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service African-American Muslim leader backs Clinton’s re-election (RNS)-Imam W. Deen Mohammed, leader of the largest African-American Muslim organization in the United States, has indicated he favors Bill Clinton over Bob Dole in this year’s presidential campaign. The Muslim leader voiced his support for President Clinton at a recent news conference in […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND POLITICS: A reader’s guide to the Religious Right
By Steve Rabey — May 7, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-Just in time for the upcoming election season, a number of new books by conservative religious leaders-and some of their critics-raise intriguing questions about the power of the Religious Right and the popular appeal of its agenda.”Active Faith”by Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed is the most eagerly awaited book […]
NEWS FEATURE: In India, Gandhi is out, Michael Jackson is in
By Tim Murphy — May 3, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service AHMEDABAD, India (RNS)-On the eve of national elections in India, someone hurled mud over a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the storied advocate of non-violent disobedience who led his country to independence from Great Britain. It was not the first time that Gandhi monuments, found throughout India, have been treated with […]
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 […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Southern Baptist relief group to help feed North Koreans (RNS)-A Southern Baptist relief agency plans to feed a flood-ravaged area in North Korea for the next six months after North Korean officials asked for help.”We were asked to help from now until October in the rescue of a city,”said Bill […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND MEDICINE: Israeli researchers take a new look at an ancient healing traditio
By Elaine Fletcher — April 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service JERUSALEM (RNS)-In antiquity, health and healing were the domain of monks, shamans and priests. But that intimate link was broken long ago in most parts of the world. One exception was the Tibetan highlands, where geographical isolation from the West helped preserve a 1,700-year-old medical tradition that combined spiritual healing […]
NEWS FEATURE: Missionary in India lives in fear of Hindu extremists
By Tim Murphy — April 23, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NEW DELHI (RNS)-American Christian missionary Max Strong has been stalked by tigers and rogue elephants, and had to kill a 13-foot king cobra while clearing 100 acres of jungle in a malaria-infested district on the India-Nepal border. But Strong, 81, says the greatest danger he has faced has not been […]
