Monthly Archives: June 2004
NEWS FEATURE: Families Asking to Witness Cremation Procedure
By RNS Blog Editor — June 17, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ For many years, funerals throughout the Pacific Northwest have taken on the same iconoclastic bent of the place itself. Here, cremations outnumber traditional burials; country clubs and favorite restaurants have supplanted churches and mortuary chapels as the venue for eulogizing. But now funeral home directors are getting […]
NEWS FEATURE: Campaign Helps Poor in Nation’s Capital Help Themselves
By RNS Blog Editor — June 16, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Ed. note: Photo to accompany this article is available from https://religionnews.com. To download photos from the RNS photo Web site, call 800-767-6781.) WASHINGTON _ When Lora Hymes was in high school, she was concerned about other young people who had been dealt some bad breaks so she volunteered at the […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 16, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Massachusetts UCC Endorses State’s Gay Marriage Law SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (RNS) With an 80 percent majority vote, delegates of the largest Protestant denomination in Massachusetts voted Saturday (June 12) to “celebrate and affirm” the state’s new law to permit gay marriages. Delegates approved a resolution affirming the right of same-gender […]
COMMENTARY: When a Father Is Gone
By Tom Ehrich — June 16, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. Visit his Web site at http://www.onajourney.org.) (UNDATED) A friend’s father died today, a week before Father’s Day. Now he must make his own way. I don’t mean holding a job, […]
NEWS STORY: Baptist Conservatives Celebrate Takeover Resurgence
By Adelle M. Banks — June 16, 2004
Hundreds of Southern Baptist gathered to celebrate Paige Patterson, Paul Pressler and other leaders of the conservative revolt in the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1980s and 1990s.
NEWS STORY: Supreme Court Says Atheist Has No Standing to Challenge `Under God’
By Kein Eckstrom — June 15, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday (June 14) sidestepped a volatile dispute over the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, ruling that a California atheist had no standing to challenge the phrase on behalf of his daughter. The court, in a lopsided 8-0 decision, dismissed the […]
NEWS FEATURE: Do all Dogs Go to Heaven? Theologians Speculate
By RNS Blog Editor — June 15, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Heaven can’t wait for a lot of family pets. In some households, a dog’s life could be considered paradise on Earth. An indulgent baby-boomer generation has given rise to such institutions as doggie day care, doggie spas and doggie vacations. Nor does the connection end in this life. Witness […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 15, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Catholic Bishops Begin Closed-Door Meeting in Colorado (RNS) The nation’s Catholic bishops convened a closed-door retreat in Colorado on Monday (June 14), with discussions scheduled on denying Communion to certain politicians and additional audits on sexual abuse. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is meeting at the Inverness Hotel in […]
COMMENTARY: The Fragility of Civilization
By David P. Gushee — June 15, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (David P. Gushee is the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.) (UNDATED) Despite having no big-name stars, this summer’s first true blockbuster movie is the ecodisaster thriller “The Day After Tomorrow.” I saw it recently and was deeply impressed by its powerful depiction of the […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 12, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service Billy Graham Center Archives Spared in Fire at Wheaton College (RNS) The archives of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College were spared when a fire broke out in the roof of the center’s auditorium on Tuesday (June 8). Almost 100 firefighters fought the blaze and about 200 people were […]
NEWS STORY: Reagan Rites Mix Faith With Patriotism and Pageantry
By Adelle M. Banks — June 12, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Thousands of invited guests filled Washington National Cathedral to bid farewell to former President Ronald Reagan Friday (June 11) in a state funeral steeped in religious tradition and political tributes. Military musicians joined world leaders in the ceremony officiated by the Rev. John C. Danforth, former Missouri Republican […]
NEWS FEATURE: First `Mythic Journeys’ Conference Celebrates Scholar Joseph Campbell
By Terry Byrne — June 12, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service ATLANTA _ A wildly eclectic lineup of more than 140 speakers and a vast range of activities _ from early-morning ecstatic dance sessions to a late-night rock opera concert _ drew more than 1,000 people, including artists, teachers, psychologists, religious leaders, game designers, and the just plain curious for a […]
NEWS FEATURE: Documentary Traces the Story of the `Lost Boys’ of Sudan
By Bob Smietana — June 12, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ When he was a boy herding cattle in Southern Sudan, Santino Majok Chuor would sometimes look up and see a jet leaving contrails across the sky. He and his friends would joke that “a girl of America” was flying the plane. Chuor dreamed of one day going to […]
This story originally appeared on the Web site of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly (www.pbs.org/religi
By Frank Jack Daniel — June 12, 2004
c. 2003 Religion and Ethics Newsweekly WASHINGTON _ William Martin, professor of religion and public policy at Rice University, and the author of “With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America,” talked with Religion and Ethics Newsweekly about Ronald Reagan, religion and politics: Q. What is the significance of Ronald […]
COMMENTARY: Measuring Greatness in a President
By RNS Blog Editor — June 12, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service (Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J., and a fellow of the George H. Gallup International Institute in Princeton, N.J.) (UNDATED) In his 1987 memoir, “Man of the […]
