Monthly Archives: July 1996
NEWS STORY: Jewish leaders miffed at Clinton’s avoidance of Pollard denial
By Ira Rifkin — July 27, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ President Clinton’s decision to again deny clemency to convicted spy Jonathan Pollard surprised and angered American Jewish leaders Friday (July 26), who were meeting with Clinton even as spokesman Mike McCurry was announcing the decision to reporters elsewhere on the White House grounds. Clinton never mentioned his decision […]
COMMENTARY: An exercise in political correctness taken to extremes
By James Rudin — July 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) (UNDATED) For far too long, college and university courses about Jews, blacks, women, Hispanics and American Indians were systemically excluded from the academic scene. While members of these communities have often been a visible presence as students, […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: GOP moderates seek to ignore platform abortion rhetoric
By Ira Rifkin — July 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Republicans seem sure to emerge from the upcoming San Diego convention with their party’s tough anti-abortion stand intact, including the call for a constitutional amendment that would outlaw virtually all abortions. That’s because Bob Dole _ no matter how much he may want to broaden his support among […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service World Council of Churches urges international action on Burundi (RNS) A top World Council of Churches official Thursday (July 25) called on the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to”speed up their efforts to provide the protection for the most vulnerable people”in Burundi […]
TOP STORY: Religion or ethics: German schools in a quandary
By RNS Blog Editor — July 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service POTSDAM, Germany _ High school students beginning a new academic year here this fall will be studying ethics and philosophy in a controversial course that has become a battleground between secularists and the nation’s established churches. The Evangelical Church of Germany and the Roman Catholic Church have joined forces with […]
PHOTO ESSAY: Glimpsing Nazi Germany through lens of sport
By RNS Blog Editor — July 26, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Olympic competitions have always been a platform to display the pride and ambitions of a nation. As the games continue this week in Atlanta, a photo exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum looks back to the Olympic games of 60 years ago in Berlin, when the international […]
TOP STORY: SPORTS, DEITY AND THE STATE: Ancient Olympics an imperfect homage to human perfection
By RNS Blog Editor — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The race had been won and the radiant runner, at the peak of his power and prowess, sprinted into the sacred space before an ancient altar of Zeus to claim his prize _ not gold, but a crown of olive branches freshly gathered from a holy grove believed to […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Vatican suggests”prenatal adoption”as way to save frozen embryos (RNS) A top Vatican ethicist suggested Tuesday (July 23) that married women could volunteer to bring to term some 2,500 frozen embryos in Britain that are slated to be destroyed. The suggestion, in an article in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, is […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Religious equality’ amendment more about elections than eternity
By Carl Anderson — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Depending on their point of view, people regard the idea of amending the Constitution to promote and protect religious freedom as either absolutely necessary or utter nonsense; a saving grace for a godless nation or a constitutional nightmare. But in the House of Representatives, the sudden reappearance of […]
NEWS STORY: REBUILDING BURNED CHURCHES: Fire-damaged churches receive money to rebuild
By Adelle M. Banks — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The National Council of Churches will distribute nearly $1 million of the $8.3 million it has collected so far to nine congregations in its first round of grants to help predominantly African-American congregations that have been damaged by fires.”It’s a joy to be able to provide resources that churches, […]
TOP STORY: Common ground for Buddhists and Catholics abloom with new ideas
By Chris Smith — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service TRAPPIST, Ky. _ In search of common ground between the Buddhist and Catholic traditions of prayer and meditation, monks, nuns and religious scholars have come together at a monastery here in the rolling hills of rural Kentucky. The spiritual terrain they are exploring is fertile indeed, seeded with everything from […]
COMMENTARY: A memory of an emperor, a great rabbi and a woman seeking wisdom
By RNS Blog Editor — July 25, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Eli Hecht is vice president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is the director of Chabad of South Bay in Lomita, Calif., and has been involved in counseling and outreach programs for more than 25 years.) (UNDATED) With all the uproar on abortion in the political arena, Americans […]
German fear of Scientology leaves jazz musician short of gigs
By RNS Blog Editor — July 24, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service (UNDATED) American jazz musician Chick Corea has been the subject of bans and boycotts in Germany because of his membership in the Church of Scientology, the controversial group that is currently an object of public scorn in Germany. Corea, an internationally acclaimed musician who has won several Grammy awards, has […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — July 24, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service Former Episcopal treasurer Ellen F. Cooke to appeal prison sentence (RNS) Ellen F. Cooke, the former national treasurer of the Episcopal Church, will appeal her five year prison sentence for embezzling more than $2 million from the denomination, her attorney said Monday (July 22). On July 10, Judge Maryanne Trump […]
NEWS STORY: RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: Federal appeals court rules against Beverly Hills menorah
By RNS Blog Editor — July 24, 1996
c. 1996 Religion News Service SAN FRANCISCO _ A federal appeals court has ruled that the City of Beverly Hills violated the Constitution by allowing a Hasidic Jewish group to erect a Hanukkah display in a public park while also preventing two other groups from setting up their religious displays. The ruling could force local […]
