Monthly Archives: September 2007
COMMENTARY: The Ugly Side of Grief
By Tom Ehrich — September 12, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ As another 9/11 arrives, many are asking, Will this be the last year that churches and civic bodies hold memorial services and other acts of remembrance? This year’s 9/11 was a Tuesday, the same weekday in 2001 when terrorists made three coordinated assaults on American cities. Here […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 12, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Kirkpatrick to Step Down as Top Presbyterian Leader (RNS) The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the highest elected official in the Presbyterian Church (USA), has announced that he will step down as stated clerk when his term ends next June. First elected by the denomination’s General Assembly in 1996, Kirkpatrick has served […]
Christian Broadcaster is Savior for Fla. Bible Theme Park
By RNS Blog Editor — September 12, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Thanks to help from a California-based Christian broadcasting empire, a Christian theme park in Orlando, Fla., seems to have boosted its popularity. Ever since Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) acquired The Holy Land Experience in June, attendance figures jumped at least 25 percent, according to Melanie Davies, public relations manager […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service San Diego Settles Abuse Cases for $198 Million (RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has agreed to pay $198 million to 144 alleged victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other church employees, the second-largest such settlement since the abuse crisis exploded five years ago. The settlement follows […]
Hindus Celebrate Ganesh, the God that `Everybody Likes’
By Ansley Roan — September 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Each morning when she wakes up in her home in Jacksonville, Fla., Davel Patel begins her day with a puja, or worship ceremony, to the Hindu deity Ganesh. This Saturday (Sept. 15), she will begin her day in exactly the same way. Then she’ll begin a one-day fast to […]
At One Temple, There’s Room to Spare for High Holy Days
By Greg Garrison — September 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service GADSDEN, Ala. _ On a recent Friday night at Temple Beth Israel, with no rabbi present, Fran Beresid-Andrepont stepped forward to light the Sabbath candles, reciting a prayer. “As these Shabbat candles give light to all who behold them, so may we, by our lives, give light to all who […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 8, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Student Honored for Publicizing Teacher’s Proselytizing KEARNY, N.J. (RNS) The high school student who blew the whistle on a history teacher who was proselytizing in the classroom is slated to receive an award that puts him in distinguished company. The New York Society for Ethical Culture plans to give 17-year-old […]
Jewish Women Will Soon See Torah Through Their Own Eyes
By RNS Blog Editor — September 8, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service BEACHWOOD, Ohio _ For thousands of years, interpreting Jewish Scripture and tradition was almost exclusively the province of men. Men wrote commentaries on the Five Books of Moses, men preached on the texts and men studied them. So it was “a dream, an absolute dream” when a female cantor proposed […]
Poll: Clinton, Romney at Opposite Ends of `Religious’ Spectrum
By Bruce Nolan — September 8, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The conventional wisdom of presidential politics is that voters want their candidates to have strong personal faith. But at the moment, the front-running candidacies of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani seem to suggest that beyond a certain minimum, how religious a candidate appears to be doesn’t matter, […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — September 7, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service Texas Court Strikes Down State Rules on Seminaries (RNS) A Texas court has struck down a state requirement that religious higher education institutions must meet specific standards before they can call themselves a “seminary” or use certain terminology to describe their degrees. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Aug. 31 in […]
Growth of Evangelicals Has Some Amish Leaders Worried
By Daniel Burke — September 7, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service LANCASTER, Pa. _ Wearing the bushy beard and black vest common to Amish men, Steve Lapp stood near the pulpit of a Pentecostal church on a recent Sunday night and offered his services as a healer. For the next half-hour, according to the handful of Christians who accepted his offer, […]
A More Humane Way to Be Human
By Dick Staub — September 7, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. _ For 20 years we’ve vacationed here in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state. Each year for a few weeks, we bask in the sunshine, pass the time away in the lazy pace of “island time” and rehumanize ourselves before heading back to […]
Confucius, Muhammad Join Jesus in La. Courthouse
By Christine Harvey — September 7, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service SLIDELL, La. _ Napoleon, Confucius, Hammurabi and more than a dozen other historical figures have joined Jesus Christ on the wall at courthouse in a bid to reassure visitors that the court wanted nothing more than to showcase people who helped to create the laws of civilized nations. Officials mounted […]
Rah for Raja
By RNS Blog Editor — September 6, 2007
Muslims Hope New Show Breaks Cultural Barriers RNS’ Omar Sacirbey looks at a new television show, “Aliens in America,” which features a Pakistini Muslim exchange student living with a spiritiually adrift Wisconsin family, in this week’s full text article, linked above. Quote: To many Muslim Americans who say film and television depictions of Muslims are […]
Jews Mark New Year With a Visit to Ritual Bath
By Ansley Roan — September 6, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Rabbi Daniel Liben steps into the warm waters of the Mayyim Hayyim (Living Waters) mikvah in Newton, Mass., he will pause on each of the seven steps leading into the pool to ponder the state of his soul. Each step into the tepid waters, he said, is a […]
