Monthly Archives: January 2000
NEWS FEATURE: Archdiocese Lures Young Catholics Back Over a Bottle of Beer
By Kein Eckstrom — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Susan Pachikara wasn’t sure what to expect when she heard about a crowd of 20- and 30-somethings who gather at a downtown bar on Wednesday nights to talk theology while throwing back a few beers. “I thought it would be all churchy,” said Pachikara, a 30-year-old free-lance journalist […]
NEWS FEATURE: Hollywood’s Sought-After Sorcerer Has No Use for Hocus-Pocus
By Angela Aleiss — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service LOS ANGELES _ He’s a straight shooter, all right. No gimmicks and no fakery. None of that hocus-pocus stuff. George Derby, longtime practitioner of the occult, just tells it like it is. “I try to keep my feet on the ground,” explained the 60-year-old sorcerer, who draws on both positive […]
NEWS STORY: Priests Group Mounts Anti-Abortion Political Ad Campaign
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Priests for Life, a Roman Catholic group, has launched a national ad campaign urging voters to oppose candidates who back abortion rights. A $250,000 ad blitz began airing earlier this week on major cable TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Washington and other cities. […]
NEWS FEATURE: America’s Favorite Unopened Text: The Bible
By By David Gibson — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) About 92 percent of Americans own at least one, and the average household has three. Two-thirds say it holds the answers to the basic questions of life, and the next president _ whoever he is _ will take a solemn oath on it, eventually. It is the Bible, also […]
NEWS FEATURE: A New Kind of Religious Order Appears in Denver
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service DENVER _ Nuns in habits are about as rare in Denver as typewriters and seeing them on bikes is as unexpected as a fountain pen. But that’s not the only remarkable thing about the Community of the Beatitudes. Their order also includes men and women, married and single, lay people […]
COMMENTARY: Needed: Debt Relief for Mozambique
By Susan Page — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) If the world needed another reason for developing the global Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation initiative, one need only look to the compelling media coverage of the current disaster in southern Africa. Like Honduras and Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch, Mozambique would recover more quickly from the devastation inflicted on the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Corporate Charity Aims to Boost Business Objectives
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Corporate America has discovered that giving pays. Businesses increasingly see philanthropy as a chance to boost bottom lines by attracting customers, retaining employees and banking goodwill for future times of crisis. The practice is called “strategic philanthropy,” meaning every dollar or product donated must enhance a company’s business objectives. […]
NEWS STORY: When It Comes to Forgiving Catholics, Jews Find Themselves Uncomfortable
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Rabbi Mark Loeb is devoting one of his High Holy Day sermons to repentance, or teshuva. It’s hardly an unusual topic for the period of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when Jews are supposed to both seek and grant forgiveness. But there is something different about Loeb’s sermon this […]
NEWS FEATURE: Personal Journey: `The Wall Had Spoken to Me’
By Piet Levy — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Almost 26 years after my bar mitzvah, I was assigned, along with religion reporter David Briggs of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II to Jerusalem. It was not the usual reason a Jew goes to Israel, but it was a trip […]
NEWS STORY: Newark Archbishop Tapped to Lead Archdiocese of Washington
By Kein Eckstrom — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Pope John Paul II on Tuesday (Nov. 21) tapped Newark, N.J., Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick to lead the Archdiocese of Washington, putting the 70-year-old in line to become a member of the elite College of Cardinals and possibly elect the next pope. McCarrick will succeed Cardinal James Hickey, […]
NEWS FEATURE: Conservative Church Members Wary of Charitable Choice Aid
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The 2000 presidential campaign has produced promises of a new partnership between church and state on behalf of the poor, with Vice President Al Gore calling for increased federal grants to faith-based organizations and Gov. George W. Bush saying he would emulate Texas’ heavy reliance on religious charities […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion NEWS STORY: Majority of States Have Not Made `Charitable Choice’ Changes (RNS) Almost 40 states have not changed policies that limit or prevent faith-based groups from providing welfare services to the poor, a report from the Center for Public Justice finds. The center gave four states _ Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service Survey: Bush Preferred Among Born-again Christians (RNS) Among born-again Christians who are likely to vote in November, Texas Gov. George W. Bush is the preferred presidential candidate, according to a recent poll from the Barna Research Group. The Republican candidate is favored by 71 percent of born-again Christians who have […]
NEWS FEATURE: Runner Turned Preacher Keeps Running
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ Earl Johnson knows what it is to run _ literally and figuratively. As a student, Johnson ran on the track team at Central High School in Phenix City with teammate and future Olympian Harvey Glance, and later at Alabama A&M University, both under the direction of Coach […]
NEWS STORY: Teen Challenge Shows the Pitfalls and Promises of Faith-Based Outreach
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 2000
c. 2000 Religion News Service WEST BABYLON, N.Y. _ For 20 years, beginning at age 14, Barry Baugh was a drug addict. “Every day of my life I got high,” said Baugh, 49, a former semi-pro basketball player who lives on Long Island. “I started with pot. From there it escalated to pills, to acid, […]
