Judaism
OP STORY: SOUTH AFRICA: Lembas of South Africa stake claim to Jewish heritage
By RNS Blog Editor — May 10, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (RNS)-In a wasteland in the northeast corner of South Africa called Venda and in the teeming township of Soweto outside Johannesburg is a scattering of people who claim they are a lost tribe of Israel. They are a hard-working, politically active group who place a high emphasis […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 10, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Catholic leaders demand destruction of tape of inmate’s confession (RNS)-Roman Catholic leaders are demanding that a recording of a confession made by an Oregon inmate to a priest be destroyed, saying it is a sacred exchange that should remain private. The Rev. Timothy Mockaitis heard the Catholic confession from Conan […]
COMMENTARY: Whistling while we worship
By Dale Hanson Bourke — May 9, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the publisher of Religion News Service and author of”Turn Toward the Wind.”) (RNS)-When my husband went to pick up our youngest son after church last week, he found him interrogating his Sunday school teacher. The second graders are learning the church creeds, and Tyler is a […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 8, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Child victims of Nazi experiments laid to rest (RNS)-Fifty-one years after the end of World War II, the brains of mentally handicapped children whom the Nazis considered”unworthy of life”will be buried Wednesday in a memorial grave at Vienna’s central cemetery. They are the remains of hundreds of German and Austrian […]
NEWS FEATURE: Death penalty divides those in pulpit and pews
By Cathleen Falsani — May 7, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service CHICAGO (RNS)-In the 30 years since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, a bitterly emotional debate has preceded each of the 328 executions that have occurred in prisons around the country. The issue: Is killing a morally defensible punishment for murder? It is a question no less contentious […]
COMMENTARY: Father of the bride
By Brendan Kirby — May 7, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Eds: Robert Kirby is a Mormon humorist and columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune. Check RNS Online for his photo.) (RNS)-My Mormon ancestors were polygamists, but lately I’ve been wondering how they could afford to get married more than once. I just finished marrying off my daughter, and it cost […]
NEWS STORY: Conservative Jewish leaders condemn intermarriage
By Ira Rifkin — May 7, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-The united leadership of Judaism’s Conservative movement has issued its strongest condemnation ever of interfaith marriage, urging Jewish parents and young people to recognize the threat that the growing number of Jews marrying non-Jews poses to the faith’s continued survival.”We want Jews to marry other Jews,”the 2,000-word policy statement bluntly […]
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 […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — May 7, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Wallenberg helped U.S. espionage efforts, magazine says (RNS)-Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency documents and other files indicate that Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 20,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi persecution, was also active in U.S. espionage efforts, according to U.S. News and World Report. An investigative report published in the […]
NEWS STORY: Fears mount that Moscow is halting Jewish emigration
By RNS Blog Editor — May 3, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (RNS)-The head of Israel’s Jewish Agency conferred with American Jewish officials Thursday (May 2) about the possibility of rallying diplomatic pressure against Russia following mounting concerns that Moscow may be about to limit the emigration of Russian Jews to Israel. The concerns were prompted by the unexpected cancellation last month […]
COMMENTARY: The birth of a nation
By James Rudin — May 3, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) (RNS)-Etched in America’s collective memory is the image of Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock and the other founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Our newborn nation was at war against Britain, but we […]
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 […]
TOP STORY: RELIGION IN AMERICA: Christian rally puts `evils’ on trial
By Adelle M. Banks — May 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS)-Thousands of evangelical Christians, gathering at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday (April 30) for a rally dubbed”Washington for Jesus,”declared the United States”guilty”of a variety of”sins,”ranging from abortion to AIDS to racism.”We face the 21st century a great nation with a great heritage, but living today in the shadow of the […]
RNS Daily Digest
By Carl Anderson — May 1, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Protestant, Jewish leaders back Clinton abortion veto (RNS)-More than two dozen top Protestant, Jewish, Unitarian and humanist leaders Tuesday (April 30) voiced their support for President Clinton’s veto of legislation banning a controversial late-term abortion procedure.”We fully support the president’s action in standing with women and their families who face […]