Monthly Archives: August 2010
On other side of church closings, new reasons for hope
By Tracy Gordon — August 27, 2010
CLEVELAND (RNS) Holly Nixon used to need only 10 minutes before the 9 a.m. Mass to pick up her elderly, disabled mother and find a parking spot close to the sanctuary door. That was before St. William Catholic Church in Euclid merged with nearby St. Robert Bellarmine, which then closed, shifting hundreds of people into […]
Friday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — August 27, 2010
CNN says some (semi) high-profile evangelicals are under fire for their participation in tomorrow’s “Restore Honor” rally hosted by Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin in DC; some Christians are nervous about Beck’s Mormon faith, even though they worked with Mormons to outlaw gay marriage in California. Conservatives are happy, though, that the FCC will appeal […]
Western Wall to feature new one-way partition between men, women
By Tracy Gordon — August 27, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish authorities at the Western Wall hope to replace the existing opaque partition that separates the men’s and women’s prayer areas with one that will enable female worshippers to see into the men’s section but not vice-versa. The move follows years of complaints by female worshippers who have been unable to see into […]
Conservative groups push against hiring rules in federal funding
By Tracy Gordon — August 26, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of mostly conservative religious organizations is urging Congress to amend a proposed bill that would bar them from making personnel decisions based on religion if they receive government funds to treat mental illness and substance abuse. In a letter sent Wednesday (Aug. 25) to every member of Congress, evangelical charities, the […]
Irish Catholics deny cover-up of `paramilitary priest’
By Tracy Gordon — August 26, 2010
DUBLIN (RNS/ENInews) The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has denied engaging in a cover-up of a priest who was allegedly involved in a 1972 bombing that killed nine people in Northern Ireland. A report released Tuesday (Aug. 24) by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman into a 1972 car bomb said talks between representatives of the […]
Poll: Majority opposes mosque near Ground Zero on `sacred ground’
By Tracy Gordon — August 26, 2010
(RNS) The outcry over the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero should not be lumped together with protests against planned mosques in other parts of the country, a new poll suggests. Nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose building an Islamic center or mosque two blocks from the site of the 9/11 terror attacks, but […]
Thursday’s roundup
By Daniel Burke — August 26, 2010
More than 70 Christian leaders, including heads of denominations and evangelical heavyweights, say they are “deeply troubled” by the questioning of President Obama’s Christian faith. “We understand that these are contentious times,” the leaders say in an open letter, “but the personal faith of our leaders should not be up for debate.” The GOP is […]
COMMENTARY: Christianity 101
By Tracy Gordon — August 26, 2010
(RNS) The flap about President Obama’s religious affiliation reveals our national ignorance about religion in general and Christianity in particular. Here are some facts we ought to understand about Christianity before we go around rating the Christian character of Obama or anyone else: 1. Much is being made of Obama’s childhood years in Indonesia, the […]
Christian counselors claim discrimination over religious beliefs on gays
By Tracy Gordon — August 26, 2010
(RNS) It’s a question being raised by counselors and educators across the country: When are religious views on homosexuality an issue of religious and academic freedom, and when are they discrimination? On Friday (Aug. 20), a federal judge ruled against Jennifer Keeton, a student at Augusta State University who was ordered to either undergo “diversity […]
Seton Hall to proceed with class on gay marriage
By Tracy Gordon — August 25, 2010
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) It appears Seton Hall University will offer a controversial course on gay marriage over the objections of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, according to the professor scheduled to teach the class. The undergraduate seminar course — called “The Politics of Gay Marriage” — is to begin Tuesday (Aug. 31) with about […]
Conservative Lutherans to form new church body
By Tracy Gordon — August 25, 2010
(RNS/ENInews) Conservative Lutherans are forming a new church body they say will “uphold confessional principles” after disagreements with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the ordination of gay clergy. The new North American Lutheran Church is scheduled to be formed at a meeting Friday and Saturday (Aug. 26-27) in Grove City, Ohio. “The NALC […]
Scottish church official supports release of Libyan bomber
By Tracy Gordon — August 25, 2010
EDINBURGH, Scotland (RNS/ENInews) The Scottish government was right to show compassion and to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Scotland, an official of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland has said. “The principle behind the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi a year ago was right, compassion, and […]
Wednesday’s roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — August 25, 2010
Republican leaders say they were just joking when suggesting that President Obama is part of the 20 percent of Americans who believe POTUS is a Muslim; WaPo’s Howard Kurtz wonders if any of this is the media’s fault. Two top Democratic strategists who specialize in religion blame “a widespread and constant misinformation campaign by Fox […]
Presbyterian minister faces church trial on gay weddings
By Tracy Gordon — August 25, 2010
(RNS) For the second time in two years, the Rev. Jane Spahr is on trial in the Presbyterian Church (USA) for performing same-sex weddings. A retired pastor and self-described “lesbian evangelist,” Spahr, 68, was acquitted of similar charges by the denomination’s high court in 2008. The same-sex ceremony she had presided over in 2006 was […]
Documentary unearths forgotten Nazi footage
By Tracy Gordon — August 25, 2010
(RNS) Perhaps the most chilling detail of the Third Reich is the precision with which it documented its own atrocities. The timetables of trains to the death camps, the blueprints for the gas chambers, the long lists of names and numbers and ethnicities. This many arrested, this many transported, this many eliminated. And in that […]
