(RNS1-NOV20) Students at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., swing dance at an unofficial student-led dance party because the Southern Baptist campus officially prohibits dancing. For use with RNS-CHRISTIAN-SWING, transmitted Nov. 20, 2009. Religion News Service photo by Angela Abbamonte. | Download/Purchase this photo
Christian colleges get into the swing
By Angela Abbamonte
(RNS) Classes are done for the day. Meetings and work are winding down, and Facebook can provide a study break for only so long. So what’s a restless Christian college student to do?
For undergrads at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., a walk down to the campus theater provides one solution: dancing to the tunes of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.
Inside, young men offer their hand to available girls and take them to the middle of the hopping dance floor. Beginners practice basic steps while more advanced dancers take on the more complicated moves, flipping their …
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday’s religion round-up
Ann Rodgers reads the tea leaves from the Catholic bishops' meeting this week and finds that "the majority of bishops favor tact and diplomacy over confrontation and condemnation when they address difficult issues." Speaking of confrontation, some 145 conservative religious types will release their "Manhattan Declaration" today pledging civil disobedience at laws aimed at abortion or same-sex marriage. AP says the bishops are on a "collision course" with the White House over health care reform.
Both sides in the DC/Catholic fight over gay marriage say they're looking for common ground, while Orthodox Jewish …
RNS CALENDAR HISTORY (RNS1-OCT18) The Gregorian calendar commonly used around the world today is named for Pope Gregory XIII, whose 16th century reforms adapted the old Roman calendar to Christian needs. Religion News Service file photo courtesy of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, The Catholic University of America Libraries.
(RNS2-NOV18) An image by artist Shepard Fairey depicts one of his several illustrations of Muslim women. For use with RNS-10-MINUTES, transmitted Nov. 18, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy Studio Number One. | Download/Purchase this photo
10 minutes with … Shepard Fairey
By Omar Sacirbey
(RNS) Shepard Fairey was a thriving underground artist when his iconic “Hope” image of President Obama catapulted him into the national spotlight last year.
His first solo exhibit, at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, shattered museum attendance records, and has since moved to Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, before heading to Cincinnati’s Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art next February.
Among the images are several featuring Muslim women. Usually portrayed as victims of Taliban or Saudi misogyny, the Muslim women in Fairey’s portraits—veiled, unveiled, peering through curtains with fear, posing with flower-tipped AK-47’s—belie simplification. They’re …