Monthly Archives: March 2007
10 Minutes With … Mustafa Ceric
By Omar Sacirbey — March 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Mustafa Ceric may come from a small, dysfunctional country, but he plays a critical role in averting the clash between Islamic and Western worlds that so many people fear. As Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ceric is spiritual leader to one of Europe’s last surviving communities of indigenous […]
Arkansas Jews Get a Lesson in Wandering Toward a Permanent Home
By Bridget MacDonald — March 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) For the past 26 years, members of the tiny Temple Shalom synagogue in Fayetteville, Ark., have celebrated Passover without a building to call their own. But that’s about to change, thanks to an uncommon act of charity that stands to infuse their holiday with new significance and, members hope, […]
Jews Mull Modern Menu Options for Passover
By Nicole Neroulias — March 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Every time her birthday falls during Passover, Melissa Hantman of Rochester, N.Y., stifles a sigh and looks for a palatable but permissible dessert to offer party guests. Her spiritual stomachaches have given way to philosophical headaches lately, as the 27-year-old Reform Jew ponders whether the growing range […]
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Christian College Settles Case With Transgender Professor SPRING ARBOR, Mich. (RNS) Spring Arbor University and fired transgender professor Julie Nemecek reached a financial settlement Monday (March 12) in her discrimination suit. “It was a difficult thing for me and for the university, but I think we both walked away happy,” […]
Romney Finds Deep Pockets in Heart of Mormon Country
By RNS Blog Editor — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ One out of every six dollars raised last year by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney came from the predominantly Mormon state of Utah, highlighting the relationship between the former Massachusetts governor and the Mormon church. Several polls have suggested that Romney’s Mormon background could hamper his presidential campaign […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Methodist Churches Say Merger Not an Option (RNS) Bishops from six U.S. Methodist denominations pledged to work together on common social justice goals but said a merger or union among them is not likely to happen any time soon. Representing the United Methodist Church and the historically black African Methodist […]
`Gospel of Judas’ Offers New Spin on Jesus’ Betrayer
By Frances X. Rocca — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service ROME _ A new book by a colorful British author and an Australian New Testament scholar offers a sympathetic portrayal of Judas as the unwitting betrayer of Christ. “The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot” published simultaneously in eight languages on Tuesday (March 20), is a work of fiction […]
Muslim Magazines Discover an Untapped Market
By Omar Sacirbey — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Holding an American flag and wearing a bright-white grin beneath her head scarf, Wardaw Chaudhary, a 16-year-old from Tulsa, Okla., radiated confidence and optimism, the perfect cover girl to grace the first issue of Muslim Girl magazine. Launched in January with the tagline “Enlighten Celebrate Inspire,” the bimonthly magazine […]
COMMENTARY: The Good News About the Bad News
By Tom Ehrich — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Why, asks a reader, have new community churches had “such tremendous growth,” while older denominational congregations show “declining church attendance?” Some want the answer to be better doctrine, conservative ethics and politics, and a fundamentalist biblical theology. Nonsense. This isn’t a partisan victory dance. It is time to be […]
New Book Brings Together 10 Years of Thoughts on Faith, Meaning
By Cecile Holmes — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A new book based on interviews from the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” finds a spiritual hunger beneath the secular veneer of modern culture, with many searching for something beyond the material world. “The Life of Meaning” (Seven Stories Press, $29.95, 448 pp.) was edited by the show’s […]
Supreme Court Hears `Bong Hits 4 Jesus’ Case
By Daniel Burke — March 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday (March 19) in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, a free speech conflict that has caught the attention of religious litigators nationwide. Morse v. Frederick is the high court’s first student speech case in nearly 20 years, and comes at a […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — March 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Christians Worship, March in Protest of Iraq War WASHINGTON (RNS) About 3,000 Christians gathered at the Washington National Cathedral Friday (March 16) before marching to the White House to protest the war in Iraq. “This kind of a Christian witness was long overdue,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Loving Us Into Extinction
By RNS Blog Editor — March 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) I have fond memories of growing up in my Southern Baptist church in Lexington, Ky. My father was a deacon, my mother taught Sunday school for 14 years, and _ like all good Southern Baptists _ we attended services on Wednesday nights and twice on Sunday. Several of our […]
New Book Brings Together 10 Years of Thoughts on Faith, Meaning
By Cecile Holmes — March 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A new book based on interviews from the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” finds a spiritual hunger beneath the secular veneer of modern culture, with many searching for something beyond the material world. “The Life of Meaning” (Seven Stories Press, $29.95, 448 pp.) was edited by the show’s […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Setting the Record Straight on Chris Hedges and Southern Baptists
By Chase Hall — March 17, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In a Feb. 14 Religion News Service interview about his new book, “American Fascists,” decidedly liberal and anti-evangelical Chris Hedges made a number of assertions that fail the truth test. One in particular about Southern Baptists needs to be corrected for the record. Hedges, credentialed as a “former New […]
