Monthly Archives: June 2007
RNS Weekly Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Christian Reformed Church Votes to Allow Female Clergy GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The Christian Reformed Church quietly made history as the CRC Synod voted June 12 to remove the word “male” from its requirements for church office. After 37 years of back-and-forth struggle, delegates opened the way for women to […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Update: Judge Allows Coptic Christian to Stay WASHINGTON (RNS) A Coptic Christian who feared torture if he was returned to Egypt will be allowed to stay in the U.S. indefinitely, a federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled. Several human rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, lobbied the office […]
Vatican Tells Drivers: Thou Shalt Cool the Road Rage
By Frances X. Rocca — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ The Vatican, taking a detour from its usual pronouncements on faith and morals, on Tuesday (June 19) issued a set of “Drivers’ `Ten Commandments”’ in an effort to promote greater traffic safety. The commandments were part of a document, “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road,” […]
Scholar Mulls the `What-Ifs’ of U.S.-Muslim Relations
By Omar Sacirbey — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) What if, Akbar Ahmed asks, America had limited its military response to 9/11 to liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban and al-Qaida? What if, instead of invading Iraq and waging a global war on terror, the United States had expanded diplomacy and exchange programs with Muslim nations, and tried to […]
COMMENTARY: A Seventh-Inning Stretch to Save Our Us from Ourselves
By Tom Ehrich — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) What could be better than this? Eating fish and chips in a seat behind home plate. Two dozen young violinists leading us in the National Anthem. Families settling in for an evening of swapping seats and ignoring the game. Ancient rituals like umpires and coaches in solemn assembly at […]
Sinead O’Connor Is Back, and Singing About Faith
By Kimberly Winston — June 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Sinead O’Connor is not your typical Christian music diva. The Irish singer-songwriter has torn up a picture of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live,” refused to have “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before a concert, been excommunicated following her “ordination” as a Catholic priest, and announced she was […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Ruth Graham, Wife of Evangelist Billy Graham, Buried at Graham Library (RNS) As his wife Ruth was buried Sunday (June 17) at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., her evangelist husband said he looked forward to joining her in heaven. “The Bible says the Lord has prepared a place […]
Graham’s Simple Casket Built by Inmates
By RNS Blog Editor — June 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ During a visit to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, La., in 2005, something caught the eye of evangelist Franklin Graham, son of world-famous preacher Billy Graham. On display in the prison’s museum was a plywood coffin built by the prison’s inmates. It was, Franklin Graham decided, […]
Churches Face Dilemma Over Sheltering Migrants
By RNS Blog Editor — June 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ It’s a question that vexes many in the often-silent middle of the immigration debate: What is legal _ and what is right? That dilemma permeates discussions in churches here after 167 suspected illegal workers were detained in a June 12 raid at the Fresh Del Monte Produce […]
Nuns Take Vestments Venture Online
By Dena Ross — June 19, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service TYRINGHAM, Mass. _ A new business venture on a hilltop in the Berkshires is a true example of Divine inspiration. Here in the Monastery Mont Deux Coeurs of the Sisters of the Visitation, Sister Gemma Maria Parisi directs the work of Chantal Artisans, producing deluxe liturgical vestments for Roman Catholic […]
Shoe, Meet Other Foot
By Daniel Burke — June 19, 2007
Roman Catholic Bishop James Tobin of Providence, he of the “Rudy Giualiani = Pontius Pilate” fame, dropped by the Providence Journal for an interesting conversation with columnist M. Charles Bakst. Apparently, Tobin peppered the columnist with the types of hard questions Bakst is used to asking _ with revealing results. Maybe it’d be good practice […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — June 16, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Mass. Lawmakers Defeat Gay Marriage Bill BOSTON (RNS) Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday (June 14) voted to kill a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, leaving gay marriage opponents shocked and discouraged. The state Legislature, meeting in a joint session, voted 151-45 to block the proposed amendment from going to […]
Reactions to the Death of Ruth Graham
By RNS Blog Editor — June 16, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Following are various reactions to the death Thursday (June 14) of Ruth Bell Graham at age 87 at her home in Montreat, N.C. “My wife Ruth was the most incredible woman I have ever known. Whenever I was asked to name the finest Christian I ever met, I always replied, […]
Bush Says Hispanic Evangelicals Key to Immigration Reform
By Adelle M. Banks — June 16, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Leaders from both sides of the political aisle thanked Hispanic evangelicals Friday (June 15) for their push for comprehensive immigration reform and urged their continued support as the Congress reopens debate on the controversial issue. “I thank you for making comprehensive immigration reform your top priority,” President Bush […]
Living Goddess, 10, Caught Between Two Worlds
By RNS Blog Editor — June 16, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ A young goddess lives between the ragged, regal peaks of the Himalayas. Her name is Sajani Shakya, and Hindus of Nepal _ from peasants to kings _ worship her, prostrating themselves as they bring offerings and touching their foreheads to her tiny feet. They believe that the powerful […]
