Islam
NEWS STORY: Report: Women prime target of anti-Muslim bias
By Ira Rifkin — April 20, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-On the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, an Islamic watchdog group reported an”alarming”pattern of anti-Muslim incidents-many involving women-in the year since initial speculation blamed Muslim militants for the blast. Almost 300 incidents of anti-Muslim bias, harassment, violence and threats of violence were noted in the report released […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: The pendulum of Islam swings anew in Turkey
By RNS Blog Editor — April 17, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service ANKARA, Turkey (RNS)-In Turkey, it’s nearly impossible to escape the steely glare of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), the father of the modern Turkish republic. His grainy black-and-white portrait adorns schools, shopping centers, post offices and bath houses. Every Turkish village, no matter how small, has at least one street bearing […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Southern Baptists, largest Protestant denomination, keep growing (RNS)-The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, continues to grow, with a slight increase in membership and a 4 percent increase in baptisms last year. Newly released statistics show that church membership reached 15,668,077 in 1995, an increase […]
TOP STORY: ISLAM IN EUROPE: In France, terrorist attacks cast shadow over Arabs’ future
By RNS Blog Editor — April 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service PARIS (RNS)-Like thousands of other immigrants, Slimane Lahiane is never caught without his French residency permit. But the document is not foolproof insurance against trouble.”I get asked for my papers all the time, and once I was beaten by a cop for no apparent reason,”said the 21-year-old, who like many […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 11, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Bishop’s doctrine committee criticizes third edition of Catholic textbook (RNS)-The U.S. Catholic Bishops’ doctrine committee is criticizing the latest edition of the textbook”Catholicism,”saying it could prompt dissent. The popular textbook, by the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, is used in Catholic and Protestant educational institutions as well as in parish settings. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — April 2, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Mother Teresa fractures collarbone in fall (RNS)-Mother Teresa, known as”the Saint of the Gutters”for her work among the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India, fractured her left collarbone in a fall off a bed at her Missionaries of Charity headquarters and was hospitalized, wire services reported Monday (April 1).”The […]
TOP STORY: TIBETAN BUDDHISM: A sea change in Tibetan Buddhism’s links to the past
By Tim Murphy — April 2, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service DHARAMSALA, India (RNS)-When the Dalai Lama seeks insights into the future, he consults his oracle, a medium who wears an elaborate costume and headpiece that together weigh more than 100 pounds. The use of oracles, on the face of it, would appear to show that the mystical side of Tibetan […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 28, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Orthodox dispute prompts WCC concern (RNS)-World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary Konrad Raiser says the world body is watching with”profound concern”the dispute between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul over the status of the Orthodox Church in Estonia. Raiser, an ordained minister of the Evangelical […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Newspaper says Hickey blocked Jesuit from school post (RNS)-Vatican officials have barred a provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Maryland from becoming president of the Jesuit Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., according to the National Catholic Reporter. The Reporter, an independent liberal Catholic weekly, said in […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 22, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Grahams to receive Gold Medal on National Day of Prayer (RNS)-Evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, are scheduled to receive the Congressional Gold Medal on May 2, the National Day of Prayer. The joint meeting of Congress will be held at 2 p.m. in the Capitol Rotunda to honor […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND MONEY: What God giveth the IRS taketh away
By RNS Blog Editor — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service HARTFORD, Conn. (RNS)-Fed up with filling out tax forms? Try this: Join a religious order whose members take a vow of poverty. Priests, nuns, monks and brothers who take vows of poverty don’t pay taxes as long as they work for a church institution. They rely on their superiors for […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION AND CULTURE: Religion scholar Huston Smith graces PBS series
By Ira Rifkin — March 16, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Scholar Huston Smith literally wrote the book on world religions. It can also be said that his life story reads as if it was lifted from the pages of his most enduring work. Smith’s”The Religions of Man”-first published in 1958 when he was just 38, and since reissued as”The […]
Basketball flap: One man’s understanding of Islam
By RNS Blog Editor — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED)-Basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s reluctance to stand for the national anthem says more about his experiences as an African-American than it does Islam, according to a leading scholar of the African-American Muslim scene.”There is an attitude that exists among African-American Muslims that uses Islam as a battering ram against the […]
Churches raise a stink about too-fragrant worshipers
By RNS Blog Editor — March 15, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service SAN FRANCISCO (RNS)-On bended knee and with folded hands, Christians traditionally worship their God. Many also come to church bearing unwelcome gifts of overpowering personal fragrance-Chanel No.5, Obsession, White Shoulders or Brut. Now, in the dawning age of”multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS),”a Sunday-morning ablution in after-shave or cologne could become a […]
COMMENTARY: A squandered opportunity for leadership
By James Rudin — March 8, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) (RNS)-During last October’s Million Man March in Washington, I heard several black Christian ministers suggest that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan had”reformed”and become a”serious leader of Black America.” Any hope for Farrakhan to remake himself into […]
