Monthly Archives: November 2009
Kennedy, Tobin, Matthews, Donohue…
By Mark Silk — November 25, 2009
Reacting to Chris Matthews’ hard-balling of Bishop Thomas Tobin, the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue huffs: No non-Catholic would ever treat a bishop this way. But too many liberal Catholics, especially Irish Catholics, think they are exempt from the same standards of civility that apply to others. Let’s just say that when it comes to the […]
Christian Scientists concerned about health care provisions
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2009
(RNS) Atheists are celebrating and Christian Scientists are worried now that a provision requiring private medical insurers to reimburse for “religious or spiritual health care” has not been included in the Senate’s health care reform bill. In a news release headlined “Victory!”, the Freedom From Religion Foundation said the deleted language “would have mandated payment […]
Poll: Americans pin poverty passage on Obama, not Bible
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2009
(RNS) More Americans believe a statement about giving “justice to the poor and homeless” came from President Obama instead of its true source, the Bible. A survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Bible Society found that 54 percent of U.S. adults polled believe the statement — “You must defend those who are helpless […]
Zondervan pulls `kung fu’ book after complaints
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2009
(RNS) Evangelical publisher Zondervan has pulled a leadership book featuring a kung fu theme after Asian-American Christian leaders led an online protest against its imagery. The book, “Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life and Leadership,” and its related curriculum included Asians in ninja garb with the words “character creep” and […]
Tuesday’s round up
By Daniel Burke — November 24, 2009
Hate crimes targeting people because of their religion were at their highest since 2001, according to a new report based on FBI data. President Obama will name Hannah Rosenthal as the State Depart.’s special anti-Semitism envoy. The Texas mosque attended by accused killer Maj. Nidal M. Hasan has become the center of a media and […]
Twilight: Bigger than Jesus?
By Francis X. Rocca — November 24, 2009
Actress Kirsten Prout, who stars in the upcoming third installment of the Twilight series, has dismissed a Vatican official’s criticism of its just-released predecessor. “The Vatican pretty much condemns everything,” she told the Canadian site PopEater. “Anything bigger than the actual church is condemned a lot of the time. To have attention, and that kind […]
COMMENTARY: Telling times
By Tom Ehrich — November 24, 2009
(RNS) Now begins the holiday season, our annual extravaganza of travel, shopping, worshipping, eating and deep emotions. Some treasure every moment of it. Some look anxiously for gold amid the dross of hyper-everything. Some sink into a seasonal funk. Our economy kicks into now-or-never mode. In our fundamental nature as nomads on a journey with […]
Think you don’t know Yiddish? Oy vey!
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2009
(RNS) Whether they call it a temple, synagogue or shul, you can tell a lot about Jews by what they call their house of worship. So says a new survey of American Jews — and non-Jews — that says one’s place on the religious spectrum can be pinpointed, in part, by the use of Hebrew […]
Islam’s prophet shrouded by myth, devotion
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (RNS) For believers, he is the trustworthy messenger of God, a living link to the divine whose life and teachings animate the lives of an estimated 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. Yet for detractors, Islam’s Prophet Muhammad is a polygamist who spawned a religion that subjugates women, condones violence, and was, […]
Matthews v. Tobin
By Mark Silk — November 24, 2009
I doubt that Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has received such a dressing down since one of those sisters of St. Joseph caught little Tommy stealing pears from an orchard in Erie, Pa. in 1956. OK, I don’t know this. But Chris Matthews did a Hardball number on him last night that His Excellency will not […]
Purity, Republican style
By Mark Silk — November 24, 2009
The NYT’s Adam Nagourney has been all over the story of a proposed list of 10 GOP commandments that if you only violate two of them, you’re still a Republican in good standing. The list, which will be presented to the RNC for its approval, is apparently the brainchild of James Bopp, Jr., an RNC […]
Report: Religion-based hate crimes highest since 2001
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2009
WASHINGTON (RNS) Hate crime incidents targeting people based on their religion were at their highest frequency last year since 2001, according to a new report. The report, compiled by the Anti-Defamation League from FBI data, found 1,519 religious hate crimes in 2008, accounting for about 20 percent of all bias crimes. It was an increase […]
Woman sues over bishop’s power to shutter churches
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2009
CLEVELAND (RNS) An Akron woman who was blocked by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese from holding a protest vigil in a closed church has sued the diocese, claiming it has no authority under state law to close churches without parishioners’ consent. The case, filed by Nancy McGrath, who leads a newly formed Catholic protest group called […]
Episcopal group denounces anti-gay law in Uganda
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2009
(RNS) A U.S.-based group that includes several Episcopal bishops is challenging Anglican leaders to denounce a proposed bill in Uganda that would severely criminalize homosexuality. “The Anglican Communion has committed itself to the pastoral care of gay and lesbian people,” said the Rev. Lowell Grisham, co-convener of the Chicago Consultation. “At a time like this, […]
Monday’s round up
By Daniel Burke — November 23, 2009
The U.S. Catholic bishops called the newly unveiled Senate health-care bill an “enormous disappointment” because of the way it funds abortions and leaves about 24 million people, including immigrants, without coverage. A group of 145 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical leaders together declared that they will not obey any laws that would require them to participate […]
