pagan
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Group urges boycott of nun dolls (RNS) The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), a Chicago-based group of Roman Catholic sisters, has called on church members and others to boycott a line of museum-quality”nun dolls”being produced by Michigan-based Blessings, Expressions of Faith. According to NCAN, the company _ which is […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Richard Rehm case sent back to local conference for investigation (RNS) There was a new twist this week in the tangled case of the Rev. Richard Rehm, pastor of one the largest congregations in the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and a source of controversy for his views on salvation […]
COMMENTARY: Hanukkah, Christmas meaning lost in mushy mix of”the holidays”
By James Rudin — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the National Interreligious Affairs Director of the American Jewish Committee.) UNDATED _ The eight day Jewish festival of freedom, Hanukkah, begins on Tuesday night, Dec. 23. Unfortunately, in our over-heated consumer society, Hanukkah is frequently lumped together with Christmas as part of the ubiquitous winter season of […]
COMMENTARY: Give me that old time millennialism
By Dale Hanson Bourke — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is author of “Turn Toward the Wind” and publisher of Religion News Service.) UNDATED _ For many people, all this talk about the millennium simply means a great excuse for a party. Others see it as a marketing opportunity. And the computer wizards among us find one […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Clinton bars use of federal funds for human cloning research (RNS) President Clinton, warning scientists against”trying to play God,”Tuesday (March 4) issued an executive order banning the use of federal funds to pay for human cloning research.”Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science,”Clinton […]
NEWS STORY: Southern Baptists, Jews exchange harsh letters on conversion
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Southern Baptist-Jewish relations have reached an angry new low following an exchange of sharply worded letters underscoring how differently the two faith groups approach the subject of Christian evangelization of Jews. The letters, written over a three-month period ending in March, began with an attempt by Southern Baptists […]
NEWS STORY: Castro has hands full in upcoming papal trip
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Cuban President Fidel Castro has his hands full. From the mundane to the nettlesome, the aging communist leader is being put to the test by the preparations for the upcoming five-day visit of Pope John Paul II. But according to the pope’s spokesman, who just completed a […]
NEWS STORY: Pope denounces anti-Semitism in Catholic teachings
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope John Paul II on Friday (Oct. 31) forcefully condemned anti-Semitic interpretations of the New Testament and for the first time drew a link between those views and the failure of Roman Catholics to defend Jews during the Holocaust. Although he did not apologize for Catholic treatment […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Donations to aging nuns’ retirement needs hit $26 million in 1996 (RNS) An annual nationwide collection to support aging Roman Catholic nuns and priests took in more than $26 million last year, the second highest total ever. The Retirement Fund for Religious supports sisters, brothers and priests who have dedicated […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Church-state separation group asks IRS to question Falwell (RNS) A public policy group concerned with church-state issues has called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a”church-based partisan political campaign”pushed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and other Virginia pastors who supported a candidate for state attorney general. Falwell, in a […]
NEWS FEATURE: Greek Orthodox holiday sheds light on evolution of religion
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ On clear, summer nights, according to Greek Orthodox tradition, the biblical prophet Elijah _ standing upright in a flaming chariot drawn by four horses _ can still be glimpsed roaring across the sky. Indeed, in Greece and wherever Greek Orthodox churches are named after him, Sunday (July 20) […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Assisted-suicide bill passes Senate (RNS) A bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for doctor-assisted suicide Wednesday (April 16) breezed through the Senate _ 99-0 _ and is expected to be signed into law by President Clinton. The bill passed last week in the House on a 398-16 vote. Democrats […]
NEWS FEATURE: Debate on the Bible and gays comes to middle America
By Charles Honey — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Serive GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ As the Rev. Robin Scroggs sees it, the increasing controversy in churches over homosexuality has produced at least one positive benefit: It’s got people reading the Bible.”This is really an amazing situation,”said Scroggs, a Biblical studies professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.”In our culture […]
NEWS FEATURE: Indians, pagans, anthropologists tussle over 9,200-year-old bones
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service KENNEWICK, Wash. _ A battle is raging here on the banks of the Columbia River over the right to venerate, study, or bury forever, a 9,200-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man. The combatants are Native American religionists, who claim the bones as the sacred remains of an ancestor who deserves […]
COMMENTARY: The transforming power of forgiveness
By RNS Blog Editor — December 24, 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.) UNDATED _ Cultural critics complain, with some justification, […]
