Judaism
TOP STORY: ELECTION CROSSROADS: Religious-party gains show deep split on Israel’s future
By Elaine Fletcher — June 6, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service JERUSALEM (RNS)-It was like a tent-meeting revival-Israeli-style. A crowd of plainly-dressed men and women crowded into a large hall, stood up and publicly pledged their vote to the”holy Shas Party, and then were blessed by a charismatic rabbi who promised them long life, health and marital bliss. That kind of”down […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 5, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Black church burns in rural Alabama, adding to list of Southern fires (RNS)-Another black Southern church has burned, adding to the list of at least 25 other African-American churches that have been the victims of fire since January 1995. Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 5, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Black church burns in rural Alabama, adding to list of Southern fires (RNS)-Another black Southern church has burned, adding to the list of at least 25 other African-American churches that have been the victims of fire since January 1995. Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION IN RUSSIA: Orthodox clergy rally against Communist resurgence
By Sophia Kishkovsky — June 5, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service MOSCOW (RNS)-Gennady Zyuganov insists the Communist Party of Russia bears no responsibility for the crimes of the Soviet era, including the mass destruction of churches and the persecution of believers.”We’re not guilty of anything,”the stocky, balding Communist leader and presidential contender grumbled recently before an audience of rapt pensioners in […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Carl Anderson — June 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service President, Mrs. Clinton hit the road to stress the needs of the young (RNS)-It was”children’s hour”Thursday (May 30) for the White House as President and Mrs. Clinton hit the road to talk about the plight of young people before audiences representing a diversity of America’s religious faiths. The president, speaking […]
NEWS STORY: Lutheran synod reports $740,000 in endowment money missing
By RNS Blog Editor — June 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-In the wake of embezzlements of large sums of money reported recently in other major churches, the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America announced Thursday (May 30) that $740,000 is missing from its endowment funds. Church officials have asked Connecticut authorities to investigate what happened to […]
ANALYSIS: TOP STORY: THE ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL Netanyahu victory could affect Israel’s ties with
By Ira Rifkin — May 31, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent election victory in Israel could well lead to political and religious conflict between any right-wing government he is likely to form and a sizeable segment of the leadership of the American Jewish community. At least for now, the mainstream leadership of the American Jewish community-despite its generally […]
NEWS STORY: Survey says most U.S. Catholics want liberal reforms
By Adelle M. Banks — May 31, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-The next pope should allow women priests, married priests and more lay pontifical advisers, according to a poll of U.S. Catholics released today (May 30). The survey, conducted by the Gallup Organization, was commissioned by sociologist and author Andrew M. Greeley of the University of Chicago and Michael Hout, a […]
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 […]
NEWS FEATURE: Dockside chaplain works to keep sailors’ faith afloat
By Tom Gordon — May 30, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service NEWARK, N.J. (RNS)-Keeping up a brisk line of chatter, the Rev. Mario Balbi tooled his big red Dodge van through the truck-choked streets of Port Newark-Elizabeth, heading for the big Taiwanese container ship, Ming America, tied up at the Maher Terminal. On this clear, wind-whipped day, the Ming America was […]
COMMENTARY: Remembering my father, with sadness and joy
By RNS Blog Editor — May 30, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, of Sudbury, Mass., is the author of nine books. The following commentary, suitable for Father’s Day, is taken from his latest book,”Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary,”published by Jewish Lights Publishing of Woodstock, Vt. (RNS)-My father was, among many things, a sign painter. I […]
TOP STORY: SOUTH AFRICA: Once backer of apartheid, South African party now espouses family values
By RNS Blog Editor — May 29, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (RNS)-A few days after it announced it was withdrawing from the coalition government formed with the African National Congress, the National Party and its leader, F.W. de Klerk, uttered a message central to its new opposition stance: Family values. What emerged from the collapse of the coalition, […]
COMMENTARY: An anatomical argument for the existence of God
By Ashbel S. (Tony) Green — May 29, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Frederica Mathewes-Green is a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is the author of the recent book”Real Choices”and a frequent contributor to Christianity Today magazine.) (RNS)-I found out the other day I have a pancreas. Not that I would have ever denied it; I know that the existence of […]
COMMENTARY: A beach bum’s guide to great literature
By RNS Blog Editor — May 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Charles W. Colson, former special counsel to Richard Nixon, served a prison term for his role in the Watergate scandal. He now heads Prison Fellowship International, an evangelical Christian ministry to the imprisoned and their families. Contact Colson via e-mail at 71421.1551(AT)compuserve.com.) (RNS)-Many of us vacation with our families, but […]
TOP STORY: BUDDHISM AND ART: Compassion visible: Portraits from Tibet
By RNS Blog Editor — May 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-When Seattle photographer Phil Borges focused his camera’s eye on the people of Tibet, he perceived many things. Suffering. A deep stillness. A capacity for laughter to coexist with tears. But above all else, engraved in Borges’ mind and in the photos he made is the Buddhist principle of compassion. […]
