Monthly Archives: August 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — August 31, 2010
The developer behind the Islamic cultural center and mosque planned near Ground Zero said it never occurred to him that his project would stir up so much controversy. Sharif El-Gamal has quite a checkered past, according to the AP, with arrests for disorderly conduct, driving while intoxicated, petit larceny, patronizing a prostitute, and trespassing. A […]
COMMENTARY: The way forward is not an escape from troubled times
By Tracy Gordon — August 31, 2010
(RNS) I grew up as a city boy in a farm state. I drove by fields of row crops and imagined waking each morning to the land, my roots deep in the rich Indiana soil. I learned, however, that the romance of farming looked better from the roadside than from the milking station or harvester […]
Obama churching up?
By Mark Silk — August 31, 2010
According to the latest Newsweek poll, 24 percent of Americans think Obama is either Muslim or a follower of Islam. And 31 percent think it’s definitely or probably true that he “sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world.” I’m guessing that the Obamas will be joining […]
Presbyterian pastor to appeal gay-marriage verdict
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2010
(RNS/ENInews) A retired Presbyterian pastor who was formally rebuked by a church court for marrying same-sex couples in California will appeal the ruling. The Rev. Jane Spahr was found guilty of violating her ordination vows and the rules of the Presbyterian Church (USA) last Friday (Aug. 27). A court of the Redwoods Presbytery in Napa, […]
Ex-leader of Belgian Catholics urged victim to keep silent
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Secret audio recordings show the former head of the Belgian Catholic Church asking a sex abuse victim not to expose the crimes of his assailant, a bishop who was the victim’s uncle. The tapes, whose contents were published in Belgian newspapers on Saturday (Aug.28), were recorded in April of this year. They […]
New Orleans marks Katrina anniversary with grief, hope
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2010
(RNS) With a light rain falling, hundreds of New Orleanians gathered at St. Louis Cathedral on Sunday (Aug. 29) afternoon to remember Hurricane Katrina in “grief, gratitude and hope,” in the words of New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond. A 45-minute ceremony in the cathedral on Jackson Square attracted clergy and members of eight world religions […]
Five years after Katrina, New Orleans takes stock
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2010
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) With prayers and the tolling of bells, but also with second-line parades and Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleanians on Sunday (Aug. 29)took stock of their rebuilt lives in the five years since the worst event in the region’s history and promised to keep the recovery going. Observances of the fifth anniversary of […]
Monday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — August 30, 2010
President Obama marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Sunday with a visit to the recovering city and a quote from the Book of Job. “`There is hope for a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again, and that its tender branch will not cease,’ ” Obama said, drawing from […]
Muslims go `green’ for Ramadan
By Tracy Gordon — August 30, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) When Mohammad Rabah prays during the holy month of Ramadan, he makes a special effort to conserve water during ritual purifications. When his family breaks the monthlong sunrise-to-sunset fast, Rabah tries to consume healthy food grown close to his home in the northern Israeli town of Um El Fahem. Rabah, the director of […]
Beck’s Old-Time Gospel Hour
By Mark Silk — August 30, 2010
What’s up with Glenn Beck? The Washington media were shocked by the religiosity of his “Restoring Honor” rally last Saturday–but what do you expect from a press gang that only knows how to fight the last war. It overlooked last year’s Beck rally–and so hyped this one as Beck’s Second Coming. (See Douthat, Ross). But […]
Step up, ADL
By Mark Silk — August 30, 2010
Since it covered itself with obloquy by taking a stand against the proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan, the ADL has been eager to put some distance between itself and its co-opponents. Franklin Graham, for example, who seized the occasion to issue his latest denunciation of Islam in general: President Bush and President Obama […]
Church court convicts pastor on gay marriage charges
By Tracy Gordon — August 28, 2010
(RNS) A Presbyterian court on Friday (Aug. 27) found a retired California pastor guilty of violating church rules and her ordination vows by performing same-sex marriages while it was briefly legal in the state in 2008. The Rev. Jane Spahr, 68, did not deny presiding at as many as 16 ceremonies, even though her denomination, […]
Poll: Muslims give Obama highest approval ratings
By Tracy Gordon — August 28, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than three-quarters of U.S. Muslims support President Obama, a distinctly mixed blessing for a White House trying to combat rumors that Obama is a secret Muslim. A new Gallup Poll shows that Obama got his highest approval ratings from U.S. Muslims, at 78 percent, for the first half of 2010. That’s down […]
Man sues Mormon church over baptism back injuries
By Tracy Gordon — August 28, 2010
(RNS) A Las Vegas man is suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for medical expenses after he injured his back in 2007 performing baptisms for the dead. In a civil suit filed in 3rd District Court on Wednesday (Aug. 25), Daniel Dastrup claims he suffered a severe herniated disk in his lumbar […]
Judge rejects proposal to return child to faith-healing parents
By Tracy Gordon — August 28, 2010
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) An Oregon judge again rejected a proposal on Thursday (Aug. 26) to return 8-month-old Alayna Wyland to her parents who face charges of failing to provide adequate medical care for her. Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, of Beavercreek, Ore., pleaded not guilty to first-degree criminal mistreatment in July after the state Department […]
Page 1 of 13
