Monthly Archives: June 2009
Muslims missing MJ
By RNS Blog Editor — June 29, 2009
If President Obama can’t strengthen ties with the Islamic world, rest assured that Michael Jackson will take things over from here. Turns out the pop icon will be sorely missed in the Middle East, despite his sinful dance moves and antics. Rumored to have converted from Jehovah’s Witness to Muslim, those in the Middle East […]
Obama picks a church, and it’s not in DC
By Kevin Eckstrom — June 29, 2009
The ever on-top-of-things Amy Sullivan over at Time magazine is reporting today that President Obama isn’t going to pick a D.C. church after all, and intends to follow George W. Bush’s lead and attend quiet Sunday services at Camp David. There’s no official word (yet) from the White House on all this, but I trust […]
Cutie’s not the only one
By Kevin Eckstrom — June 29, 2009
Now that “Father Oprah” has tied the knot (again, this time in an Episcopal church), Jim Davis down at the Sun-Sentinel talks to other formerly Catholic priests who left the church for love. From Davis’ story: “Given the stigma, studies of priest-women relationships are rare. But some numbers are available. “In 2002, the late sociologist […]
On eve of closure, church becomes a tourist magnet
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2009
CLEVELAND — Sightseers are something new to members of St. Casimir Catholic Church. In fact, it’s been awhile since their landmark church drew any kind of attention at all. They’re doing what they can to accommodate the tourists who have descended since the bishop decreed St. Casimir will be shuttered in a bid to create […]
Red State Hypocrisy
By Mark Silk — June 29, 2009
The big moralizing about Mark Sanford has begun–I mean, the kind of typically American penchant for reading Large Meanings into the latest celebrity example of old-time human frailties (cf. Simpson, O.J.). Who can resist? Certainly not the moralists of the New York Times. On Saturday, there was liberal statistics op-ed guy Charles Blow with some […]
Camp (David) Meeting
By Mark Silk — June 29, 2009
Amy Sullivan has the scoop on the Obamas’ choice of church: Camp David’s Evergreen Chapel. A politic move, and probably a wise one: Not only do the Obamas seem to want to be together as a family at Camp David whenever possible (so where else go to church?), but it was going to be a […]
Mark and David
By Mark Silk — June 27, 2009
I’m not so sure that it was such a good idea for Mark Sanford to justify not resigning as governor based on David’s retention of the Judean kingship after taking Bathsheba and having her husband killed. God, exceedingly wroth, imposed some pretty severe penalties (conveyed by Nathan the Prophet in II Samuel 12:10-14): Now therefore […]
In his own words: Michael Jackson on childhood Sabbaths
By Tracy Gordon — June 27, 2009
(Editors: This essay was originally written by pop icon Michael Jackson and published by Beliefnet in December 2000. It is available for use by RNS subscribers. Please use the Beliefnet byline.) (UNDATED) In one of our conversations together, my friend Rabbi Shmuley (Boteach) told me that he had asked some of his colleagues — writers, […]
State Department appoints special representative to Muslims
By Tracy Gordon — June 27, 2009
(RNS) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed a special representative to Muslim communities, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday (June 25). Farah Pandith, who has worked in the State Department’s European Bureau, was appointed earlier in the week. “She was a special adviser for outreach to Muslim communities in Europe,” Kelly said. […]
Dalai Lama donates to Florida International University
By Tracy Gordon — June 27, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS) Florida International University has announced a $5 million endowment campaign, seeded with an “unprecedented” $100,000 gift from the Dalai Lama, to save its department of religious studies. It is the first time the exiled Tibetan leader has given such a gift to a Western university, said Nathan Katz, a professor of religious […]
Struggling Reform seminary opts against closing campuses
By Tracy Gordon — June 27, 2009
(RNS) Reform Judaism’s flagship institution will keep all three of its U.S. campuses open, despite its serious financial crisis, officials announced this week. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which trains 400 rabbinical students in New York, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Jerusalem, had announced in April that one or more campuses might be closed due […]
German Muslims more numerous and integrated in public life, study says
By Tracy Gordon — June 27, 2009
TRIER, Germany (RNS/ENI) Germany has nearly million more Muslims than previous estimates, according to a new study. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Germany concluded that up to 4.3 million people– 5 percent of German’s 82 million people — are Muslims. More than half have German nationality and have integrated into German society […]
True Baalers
By Daniel Burke — June 26, 2009
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says PETA and other animal rights activists are “worshipping animals.” In response to a question about those pesky activists who argue that sick cows should not be prodded with electric rods and made to live in cages, Grassley says: “they’re not interested in how good farmers treat their animals. You’ve […]
Questions and answers on celebrity worship
By Tracy Gordon — June 26, 2009
(UNDATED) When sex symbol Rudolph Valentino died at the age of 31 in 1926, riots broke out as tens of thousands of mourners tried to cram themselves into a public viewing in New York. It was, says Emory University’s Gary Laderman, “a new kind of sacred attachment, one based on fame and looks, personality and […]
Will Michael have a Muslim burial?
By Daniel Burke — June 26, 2009
Wow, first Farrah, then the Gloved One; if and when C-3PO dies the 80s will official be over. Anyhoo, for all his ubiquity during most of his 50 years, Mr. Jackson was quite an enigma. For instance, his religion. He, and all the Jackson Five (and Janet, I think) were raised Jehovah’s Witness in Indiana. […]
