Monthly Archives: September 2009
Tuesday’s religion round-up
By Daniel Burke — September 29, 2009
Organized religion won’t be the same after the Great Recession, the Vatican is asking U.S. bishops to pitch in more than $1 million for the investigation of American nuns, and the Illinois Supreme Court declined to extend the statute of limitations on a child sexual abuse case. Christian advocates at Liberty Counsel have begun an […]
Supreme Court to weigh fate of Mojave Cross
By Tracy Gordon — September 29, 2009
WASHINGTON (RNS) Does an offended observer who drives by a cross-shaped war memorial in the middle of the desert have a right to call for its removal? And can that 7-foot cross stand without violating the constitution’s prohibition of government establishment of religion? The Supreme Court will consider those questions in the case of a […]
COMMENTARY: Bruised by booze
By Tom Ehrich — September 29, 2009
NEW YORK (RNS) At 10:30 p.m., after a drive upstate to look at colleges, I returned a borrowed car to Greenwich Village, threaded my way through reeling and raucous revelers, and boarded the subway for home. A couple got on around 14th Street. She had dressed nicely for an evening out. He was wasted, talking […]
Fr. Polanski?
By Mark Silk — September 29, 2009
OK, I’ll bite. A lot of nice Catholic guys (Reese, Gibson, Martin…see the Paulson roundup) are in a lather about criticism of the arrest of Roman Polanski in the child rape case that he skipped out of decades ago. What, they ask, if Polanski had been wearing a (Roman) collar? No such slack would have […]
The Mojave Cross…
By Mark Silk — September 29, 2009
…now covered in plywood, goes before the Supreme Court next week, and according to WaPo: “If the court reaches the constitutional issues at hand, all sides agree it could provide clarity to the court’s blurry rules on church-and-state separation.” It could also not provide clarity–and that’s what I’m betting on. For sure, the court will […]
The itsy-bitsy spider
By Kevin Eckstrom — September 29, 2009
In case you missed it, Pope Benedict XVI had an eight-legged friend pay a visit during a speech in the Czech Republic. The pope didn’t seem to notice, and didn’t make an attempt to get spider guts on his white cassock. And, in perhaps the latest sign of the divide between the pope and President […]
Anti-Semitic or most Jewish movie ever?
By Daniel Burke — September 29, 2009
With the new Coen brothers’ movie, “A Serious Man,” opening on Friday (Oct. 2) reviews are beginning to trickle in. Those who have seen it (including Cathleen Falsani, who wrote a recently published book about the Coens and religion) say its the brothers’ most explicitly religious and personal film to date. Set in the Minnapolis […]
Lutheran conservatives delay decision to leave ELCA
By RNS Blog Editor — September 29, 2009
(RNS) Conservatives upset over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s recent decision to allow non-celibate gay clergy have voted to create a free-standing synod and study for a year whether to leave the denomination. “Basically, what we’re saying is that a year from now, we’re going to have a proposal of some form,” said the […]
Famed Unitarian preacher Forrest Church dies at 61
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
(RNS) The Rev. Forrest Church, perhaps the nation’s best known Unitarian Universalist preacher, died Thursday (Sept. 24) after a three-year battle with cancer that shaped his final years of ministry into an extended reflection on death and dying. Church, 61, had been pastor of New York’s Unitarian Church of All Souls for more than 30 […]
Irish seminarians reach 10-year high after record lows
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
DUBLIN (RNS/ENI) The number of Irish men entering the seminary to become Roman Catholic priests has risen to a 10-year high following years of dwindling vocations. The Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors for the Catholic Church in Ireland said that 36 new seminarians were about to begin studying for the priesthood in Irish dioceses. The […]
Dalai Lama, Tutu awarded forgiveness prizes
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) After a worldwide search, the first $100,000 Fetzer Prizes for Love and Forgiveness were awarded Sunday (Sept. 27) to the Dalai Lama and retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “We wanted this prize to recognize people who live with the reality of fear and violence and yet are inspiring examples of […]
Pope urges Czechs to reclaim Christian heritage
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Visiting the Czech Republic 20 years after a Velvet Revolution overthrew the nation’s communist regime, Pope Benedict XVI called on one of the world’s most secular societies to reclaim its Christian heritage as the basis for “true freedom.” “True freedom presupposes the search for truth — for the true good — and […]
SIDEBAR: The 14 ‘Coenmandments’
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
(RNS) In her new book, “The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers,” columnist and author Cathleen Falsani lists 14 “Coenmandments,” or moral lessons derived from each of Joel and Ethan Coen’s films. They are: 1. What goes around comes around. 2. Every action has a reaction. 3. Don’t mistreat women. 4. Whatever […]
SIDEBAR: Coens’ acolytes worship at Church of the Latter-Day Dude
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
(RNS) Cathleen Falsani isn’t alone in finding a spiritual role model in the Dude, the slacker anti-hero of the 1998 film “The Big Lebowski.” In fact, the character has spawned a new religion, the Church of the Latter-Day Dude, which says it has ordained more than 60,000 members. — Key tenets of Dudeism are explained […]
The Coen brothers’ complicated gospel
By RNS Blog Editor — September 28, 2009
(RNS) In the beginning was the Dude. And the Dude was with God, and the Dude himself was kind of godly, if you’re into that sort of thing. In his right hand the Dude carried a cocktail, and in his left, a bowling ball, and all of his ways were righteous and mellow altogether. And […]
