sports
Author finds faith and fanaticism in South’s football god
By Tracy Gordon — October 5, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. (RNS) Chad Gibbs has been on a pigskin pilgrimage throughout the South, searching for spiritual truth in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Gainesville and Fayetteville. He grew up a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide and switched allegiance to his alma mater — and the University of Alabama’s archrival — Auburn University. For a while, […]
Tuesday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — July 27, 2010
A judge sentenced a Tennessee mother of three to 42 months in the clink for taking money and services for five years to battle breast cancer — which she never had. Filmmaker Oliver Stone angered Jewish groups by seeming to defend Hitler, and also digging up the old Jews-control-the-media trope (he later says he’s sorry). […]
U.S. nun creates impromptu oasis to heal Haitian bodies and souls
By Tracy Gordon — July 20, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (RNS) Wearing a bright, floral blouse and pink shorts, Mita Jean Louis stares into a mirror, unmindful of the people around her. She is smiling, and someone asks if she’s smiling because she sees the reflection of such a beautiful young woman. The smile vanishes. “I don’t know,” says the 19-year-old, instantly shy. […]
Church coach accused of bribing refs
By Tracy Gordon — May 15, 2010
ENOLA, Pa. (RNS) A Pennsylvania church-league basketball coach has been accused of trying to pay a $2,500 bribe to two basketball officials to throw games, state police said. Michael Kman, 45, of Enola, is the coach for the Our Lady of Lourdes team in the Harrisburg CYO youth league. Kman is accused of sending several […]
COMMENTARY: Into the great hereafter
By Tom Ehrich — April 27, 2010
(RNS) In the hothouse world of a high school gymnasium, one basketball player in my class seemed to float through the air. He was tall, thin, elegant, with an imperturbable expression on his face. Game after game, in a city and state where basketball meant so much, a full house shouted his praise. Although I […]
Spring marks the opening of the `Church of Baseball’
By Tracy Gordon — April 9, 2010
(RNS) Megachurch pastor Rick Warren stood on the mound at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., last Easter Sunday and delivered his pitch. “Baseball is a game of numbers in which every player falls short of perfection,” said the best-selling author and evangelical powerhouse. “Similarly, in life, while we have all had a few hits or […]
COMMENTARY: The virtue of virtue
By Cathleen Falsani — March 10, 2010
(RNS) Last winter, while on a trip to Southern California, theologian N.T. Wright spent some time strolling through Laguna Beach, the seaside village I happen to call home. He wandered into one of our many charming boutiques — he called it, perhaps more accurately, a “junk shop” — and saw a sign that piqued his […]
COMMENTARY: The Christmas gift you can give to yourself
By Cathleen Falsani — December 23, 2009
(RNS) The following is an actual exchange, unedited, except to remove the profanity. The setting: Mid-morning at a suburban gift boutique. The time: The week before Christmas. The players: The pleasant store clerk, a 40-something soccer mom-type and me (browsing for stocking stuffers). Enter the frazzled soccer mom. “Some people are unbeLIEVEable!” she says, to […]
Church scores with men on a football Sunday
By Tracy Gordon — December 1, 2009
EAST ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) The Rev. Dwight Gill figures if there is one thing that will bring more men to church, it’s football. So Sunday (Nov. 29) at New Hope Baptist Church, NFL didn’t stand for National Football League, but rather for New Found Life — as in the church’s annual NFL service and celebration. […]
Amish sharks (via The Onion)
By Daniel Burke — September 16, 2009
From the Onion: Amish Woman Knew She Had Quilt Sale The Moment She Laid Eyes On Chicago Couple LANCASTER, PA _Repeatedly referring to them as “easy money,” Amish quilt shop proprietor Mary Stolzfus, 43, said Monday that as soon as she noticed Tom and Helen Foreman’s matching Chicago Cubs baseball hats, she knew she’d be […]
Rivals find common ground on religious grounds
By Adelle M. Banks — September 3, 2009
It took, of all things, a Mets fan, to resolve a religious conflict that surfaced around an upcoming Red Sox-Yankees game. Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it will move back the Sept. 27 game between the famous rivals to a 1 p.m. start to accommodate Yom Kippur, which begins that evening. “As a Mets […]
United Church of Canada: No churchwide boycott of Israel
By Tracy Gordon — August 15, 2009
(RNS) The United Church of Canada General Council adopted a resolution Thursday (Aug. 13) that denies calls for a churchwide boycott of Israel, but encourages church members to consider boycotts to help resolve to the Middle East conflict. “The United Church has not begun or approved a boycott at the national level,” said the Rev. […]
COMMENTARY: Hey, religious partisans, relax
By Tom Ehrich — August 11, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Which is the “real” San Francisco? The city we saw from the sky, or the son who greeted us with a big smile and big hugs? We’re here to see our son, of course, so the rest was real estate. Maybe the “real” San Francisco was the epic downtown that suddenly swung […]
Faith in Football?
By RNS Blog Editor — July 24, 2009
Looks like Florida Gators’ quarterback Tim Tebow is tackling prison inmates and other potential believers with his faith. Sports Illustrated profiled Tebow using his force off the field as a Christian missionary man. From the story: “Watching Tebow zip passes into the seams of opposing defenses, lower his shoulder in short yardage and exhort his […]
I Belong to Jesus
By RNS Blog Editor — July 13, 2009
The Brazilian football (or soccer for those of us Americans) team was chastized by FIFA, world football’s governing body, for bearing their souls and chests during the finals of the Confederations Cup last month. Stripping out of their jerseys to show T-shirts that read “I Belong to Jesus” and “I Love God,” some members of […]
