Monthly Archives: June 2010
Can Sikhs, Hindus get elected without converting?
By Alfredo Garcia — June 30, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) What does it mean when the two best-known Indian-American politicians in American politics are converts to Christianity? In South Carolina, Nikki Haley won the Republican nomination for governor despite a whisper campaign that criticized her name and religion. Along with rumors of alleged sexual misconduct, many questioned the validity of Haley’s Christian faith. […]
10 minutes with … Jeffrey Lena
By Tracy Gordon — June 30, 2010
(RNS) From a small office in Berkeley, Calif., attorney Jeffrey Lena tries to avoid publicity, despite the increasingly high-profile nature of his work as the Vatican’s U.S. counsel. As a sovereign immunity law specialist, Lena, 51, has spent the past decade defending the Holy See from lawsuits — most recently one that seek to hold […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — June 30, 2010
Religion Dispatches wonders whether Sen. Orrin “Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do” Hatch will support Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, who’s Jewish. A Baptist church outside Washington, D.C., will host a memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., who died as a lifelong Baptist at age 92. Wisconsin‘s Supreme Court […]
Employees of the Vatican
By Mark Silk — June 30, 2010
It’s true enough, as Vatican lawyer Jeffrey Lena points out, that when the Supreme Court declines to hear a case, that cannot be taken as a pronouncement on the merits. Still, it’s interesting that the court lacked four votes to take up Doe v. Holy See, the Oregon lawsuit in which an anonymous plaintiff is […]
Orthodox woman named among 50 `Most Influential Rabbis’
By Tracy Gordon — June 30, 2010
(RNS) An Orthodox Jewish woman is one of Newsweek’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America this year, reflecting a major shift in the magazine’s fourth-annual compilation of top Jewish leaders. Sara Hurwitz, who debuts at No. 36, made headlines when Rabbi Avi Weiss (No. 18) of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, N.Y., granted her the […]
Methodists certify seminary after concerns over identity
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
(RNS) The United Methodist Church has decided to restore ties and funding to a California seminary after assurances that it will remain a Christian school. Claremont School of Theology has met the criteria for keeping its affiliation with the United Methodist Church, according to an announcement on Friday (June 25). The school receives about $800,000 […]
Belgian officials say Vatican concerns are `over the top’
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Belgian authorities on Tuesday (June 29) called Vatican criticisms “over the top” after police raided the home of the country’s archbishop and the offices of a church-backed commission investigating clerical abuse. Pope Benedict XVI called the raids “surprising and deplorable,” and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone described the raids as […]
Church attendance inches up, Gallup says
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) A new Gallup Poll found that Americans’ self-reported church attendance has increased slightly since 2008. When asked “How often do you attend church, synagogue, or mosque?” 43.1 percent of Americans in 2010 said they attended church “at least once a week” or “almost every week.” That’s up from 42.8 percent in 2009 and […]
Churches torn on whether to allow molesters in pews
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
(RNS) “All are welcome” is a common phrase on many a church sign and website. But what happens when a convicted sex offender takes those words literally? Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how — and if — people who’ve been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when […]
Churches opt for starting own humanitarian agencies
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
(RNS) Members of Metro Community Church in Englewood, N.J., support the missionaries sent by their denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, to the Congo, but Africa is a distant and dangerous trip from the 400-member flock. “We can’t send our short-term missionaries there,” said Stephen Sharkey, the church’s life ministries pastor. Church members wanted something hands-on. […]
Tuesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — June 29, 2010
Two big decisions from the Supreme Court came down yesterday. In the first, SCOTUS ruled 5-4 that a law school can deny recognition to a Christian student group that won’t let gays join. In the second, SCOTUS refused to hear an appeal from the Holy See (the U.S. government had signed on as amici) dismissing […]
COMMENTARY: No laughing matter
By Tom Ehrich — June 29, 2010
NEW YORK (RNS) My heart chilled when I read about teenagers who gather on the Great Lawn of Central Park and flaunt laws against underage drinking. Many attend the independent schools lining the park, including the school from which my 18-year-old son just graduated. Yes, my son grimaced, he knows all about these kids. They […]
Kagan trumps the Barak card
By Mark Silk — June 29, 2010
So Sen. Grassley plays Robert Bork’s “how can you admire that activist Israeli Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak” card: “I am troubled by the fact that you hold up Barak as a judicial role model,” Grassley said. “He’s been described as creating a degree of judicial power undreamed of by most U.S. justices.” Grassley quoted […]
No Religious Freedom to Discriminate?
By Mark Silk — June 29, 2010
Reporting on yesterday’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the NYT’s Adam Liptak described the case as a clash between “religious freedom and antidiscrimination principles.” But actually it was a proxy war. Neither religious freedom nor antidiscrimination clashed as such. At issue was the refusal of California’s Hastings School of Law […]
Tanzanian Lutheran leader backtracks on U.S. donations
By Tracy Gordon — June 29, 2010
(RNS) The leader of the largest Protestant church in Africa, after saying he would refuse money from U.S. Lutherans who support homosexuality, appears to have backed down after meeting with leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “I hope there will be time to discuss it,” said Presiding Bishop Alex Malasusa, head of the […]
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