Monthly Archives: February 2005
NEWS FEATURE
By RNS Blog Editor — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service WHIPPANY, N.J. _ Sister Rose Thering is a wanted woman. On a February morning at her apartment, located in a sprawling Jewish community center complex, the 84-year-old Catholic nun’s phone rang incessantly. Friends called with congratulations for a newspaper article highlighting the recent Oscar nomination for a documentary short film […]
NEWS FEATURE: Illustrating a Trend, Hollywood Addresses Morality in Two New Films
By RNS Blog Editor — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The horror movie “Constantine” features demons, exorcisms, readings from a Satanic bible, suicide, graphic depictions of hell and a gory scene involving an electric chair. Many evangelical Christians are eager to see the movie, which opens Friday (Feb. 18). Pastors, seminary students and youth leaders say “Constantine” will provoke […]
NEWS STORY: Iraqi Interpreters Risk Accusations of Religious Treason, and Worse
By RNS Blog Editor — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service BAGHDAD, Iraq _ As he walked through rural villages just west of Baghdad on patrol with U.S. soldiers, Bat, an Iraqi working as an interpreter, spoke as a voice with no face. Head covered in a black ski mask and dark sunglasses, the tall, lean Baghdad native looked like Darth […]
NEWS STORY: Falwell’s New Dean Has Offended Muslims
By RNS Blog Editor — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s new seminary dean is a scholar who has advanced the controversial claim that the prophet Muhammad was a pedophile who had at one time been possessed by demons. The Feb. 4 appointment of Ergun Caner as dean of Falwell’s Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary is garnering […]
COMMENTARY: What Could Happen When We Take Our Faith Questions Seriously
By Tom Ehrich — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ After two days in Manhattan _ visiting my older sons, conducting some business, rediscovering a magical city _ I leave for the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. There I will lead a weekend retreat at a rural retreat center and a Lenten retreat for Episcopal clergy. Both […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 16, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Abusive Priest Paul Shanley Sentenced to 12-15 Years in Prison (RNS) Former Boston priest Paul Shanley was sentenced Tuesday (Feb. 15) to 12-15 years behind bars for raping a minor in a Catholic church, with his victim wishing him a “slow and painful” death in prison. Shanley, 74, faced a […]
NEWS STORY: Catholics Mourn Death of Virgin Mary Visionary
By RNS Blog Editor — February 15, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope John Paul II and other Catholics mourned the death of the last of the shepherd children said to have received prophecies from the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopez declared Tuesday (Feb. 15) a day of national mourning for […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 15, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Jews and Christians Ask State Department to Lift Israel Travel Warning JERUSALEM (RNS) American, Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders sent a joint petition to President Bush on Monday (Feb. 14) urging him to cancel the State Department’s warning against travel to Israel, according to Israel’s Ministry of Tourism. The petition […]
NEWS FEATURE: At 97, Mother Mary Bryant Just Getting Started in Singing the Gospel
By RNS Blog Editor — February 15, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CLEVELAND _ The soloist paused, closing her eyes to let the spirit of the hymn sink in as the 40-voice choir took its turn asking God to “Order my steps in your word.” In rhythm with the thunderous voices of a choir nearing the end of the hymn, she broke […]
NEWS FEATURE: In Dead Sea Scrolls, Crowds Examine Oldest Copy of Ten Commandments
By RNS Blog Editor — February 12, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service MOBILE, Ala. _ Portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient manuscripts whose discovery in 1947 is viewed by many as the archaeological find of the 20th century, have gone on display at a small science museum, attracting sizable daily crowds eager to see the oldest biblical fragments ever unearthed. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 12, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service Swedish Preacher Who Referred to Gays as `Cancerous’ Wins Appeal (RNS) A Swedish preacher sentenced to a month in prison for referring to homosexuals as a “cancerous tumor” in society was acquitted Friday (Feb. 11) by an appeals court. The court in Jonkoping, in southern Sweden, ruled that a sermon […]
NEWS FEATURE: In Wake of Murders, Coptic Bishop Shepherds His Flock
By RNS Blog Editor — February 12, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service CEDAR GROVE, N.J. _ After the bishop’s weekly class on Coptic Christian doctrine was over, the children in the audience ran up to greet him and get the candy he was doling out. With a wide smile emerging through his beard, Bishop David, the 37-year-old general bishop of the Archdiocese […]
COMMENTARY: A Rabbi Salutes Five Catholic Nuns
By RNS Blog Editor — February 11, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Roman Catholic sisters are often mysterious, even frightening figures for some people. Questions abound about nuns. Why do women commit themselves to lives of chastity, obedience and poverty? What kind of lives do nuns lead after they have taken their vows? What impact has modern American society had upon […]
COMMENTARY: Purgatory Is Lined with Red-Hot Celebrities
By RNS Blog Editor — February 11, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Which is more poignant, the reported emptiness of Michael Jackson’s Neverland existence or the loneliness of Johnny Carson’s life? Both men rose to wealth, power and fame by meeting the severe conditions imposed by America’s entertainment culture, which turns out to be _ theologians take note _ Purgatory itself. […]
NEWS STORY: Massive Launch of New Bible Targets Young Market
By Charles Honey — February 11, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ Even over latte at a coffeehouse, Andrew Apsite keeps God’s word close at hand. At the downtown Urban Mill, the 18-year-old reaches into his backpack and pulls out “The Message Remix,” a modern-language paraphrase of the Bible. “When I don’t know how to deal with something, […]
