Monthly Archives: February 2006
In Volatile Iraq, Shiite Mosques and Minarets Increasingly Targeted
By James Palmer — February 24, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service BAGHDAD, Iraq _ Razaq Jawad Kadhum dodged Saddam Hussein’s security agents for more than two decades when he served as his mosque’s muezzin, the announcer who chants the daily calls for prayer to gather the faithful. Kadhum, 54, was detained three times, and his life threatened more than once under […]
Dallas pastor looking to bring spiritual renewal
By Tracy Gordon — February 23, 2006
Quote of the Day: Dallas Pastor Tony Evans “We have a generation of men who are not in the home. They are like the abominable snowman-their footprints are all around, but they can’t be found.” -Dallas pastor Tony Evans, who leads Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and the Urban Alternative, an organization that aims to bring […]
Judas Rehabilitated?
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
Ancient ‘Gospel of Judas’ to Be Published, Promoting Christ’s Betrayer RNS Vatican correspondent Stacy Meichtry reports (linked above) on the upcoming publication of the first translation of a Gnostic “Gospel of Judas.” Quote: According to scholars who have seen photographs of the brittle manuscript, it argues that Judas Iscariot was carrying out God’s will when […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service Muslim and Arab Groups Say Uproar Over Ports Amounts to Profiling (RNS) Arab and Muslim-American leaders say the uproar over a White House deal that would turn over operations of several major U.S. ports to an Arab-owned company could leave many in the Islamic world thinking Americans hate them. “This […]
The High-Tech Making of a Handwritten Bible, for $4 Million
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) With the help of computers, calf skins and turkey feathers, Donald Jackson is reviving a lost art form by creating a Bible by hand, at a cost of about $4 million. The Saint John’s Bible, a seven-volume, illustrated endeavor slated for completion in 2007, is the first handwritten Bible […]
American cardinals named; Abortion opponents encouraged; and a new handwritten Bible in the works
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
The pope has named two American cardinals, reports Kristine Crane from the Vatican City in Wednesday’s RNS report: Pope Benedict XVI elevated two Americans to the status of cardinal Wednesday (Feb. 22), sending a message of encouragement and approval to U.S. bishops struggling to deal with an ongoing sex abuse crisis. In all, 15 new […]
Religious Opponents of Abortion Predict Supreme Court Shift
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ After years of disappointment with Supreme Court decisions on abortion, religious conservatives say they expect significant legal changes after the high court agreed Tuesday (Feb. 21) to consider the constitutionality of a federal law banning a controversial type of late-term abortion. “With two new judicial conservatives on the […]
Pope Sends Message by Elevating Two Americans to Cardinal
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI elevated two Americans to the status of cardinal Wednesday (Feb. 22), sending a message of encouragement and approval to U.S. bishops trying to deal with an ongoing sex abuse crisis. In all, 15 new cardinals were named, including two from the United States: William […]
COMMENTARY: The Vatican’s Worthy Call for Dialogue on Christian-Muslim History
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Amid the global uproar over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, a Vatican official has called for talks with Christian and Islamic scholars on the Crusades and the Muslim conquests of Europe. I wholeheartedly support the idea. In an interview with Religion News Service reporter Stacy Meichtry […]
COMMENTARY: The Press Is Brave, Unless the Subject Is Islam
By RNS Blog Editor — February 23, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) If only the Danish cartoonists had drawn a picture of Dick Cheney shooting … Well, we have to be careful here, don’t we. The way things are today, one could get in trouble for describing a hypothetical, nonexistent drawing. The very mention of the sinful syllables “Danish cartoonists” is […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 22, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service U.S. Church Leaders Decry `Idolatrous’ War of `Terror’ in Iraq (RNS) U.S. church leaders attending a World Council of Churches Assembly have issued a written lament for not preventing a U.S war in Iraq that has brought “terror” to the vulnerable while enlisting God in a way that is “nothing […]
Tutu says “all belong”
By Tracy Gordon — February 22, 2006
Quote of the Day: Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa “Jesus was quite serious when he said that God was our father, that we belonged all to one family, because in this family all, not some, are insiders. Bush, bin Laden, all belong, gay, lesbian, so-called straight-all belong and are loved, are precious.” -Retired […]
Decision on tea; Ash Wednesday in the office
By RNS Blog Editor — February 22, 2006
Kevin Eckstrom reports in Tuesday’s RNS report that the Supreme Court has ruled that a New Mexico sect may use hallucinogenic tea: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday (Feb. 21) unanimously upheld the right of a small sect in New Mexico to use hallucinogenic tea in its religious rituals. Writing in his first opinion in […]
On Ash Wednesday, Some Employees Take Their Cross Back to Work
By RNS Blog Editor — February 22, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) John Spink, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer, often observes Ash Wednesday while shooting services for the newspaper. He usually sets aside his camera, walks to the altar and feels the sensation of a finger making the blackened image of a cross. Spink says he then returns to the office, sometimes […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — February 22, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service U.S. Church Leaders Decry `Idolatrous’ War of `Terror’ in Iraq (RNS) U.S. church leaders attending a World Council of Churches Assembly have issued a written lament for not preventing a U.S war in Iraq that has brought “terror” to the vulnerable while enlisting God in a way that is “nothing […]
