Monthly Archives: October 2010
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — October 26, 2010
An Episcopal parish in Baltimore is taking up the pope’s offer to cross the Tiber and become Catholics; looks like Catholic and Episcopal negotiators will wrestle over who can claim the property. The Chicago Sun-Times says the furor over the “Ground Zero mosque” and the aborted Quran BBQ in Florida is prompting American Muslims to […]
Voting the Prosperity Gospel
By Mark Silk — October 26, 2010
I know all of you have been waiting with bated breath for an update on how the country’s only Prosperity Gospel campaign has been going. That would be the AG race in Connecticut, in which GOP candidate Martha Dean is running on a platform of Freedom, Faith, and Fortune. Actually, I’d pretty much forgotten about […]
Survey: 6 in 10 Protestant pastors disapprove of Obama
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Six out of every 10 Protestant pastors say they disapprove of President Obama’s job performance, a LifeWay Research survey found. Researchers said of the 61 percent who disapprove of Obama’s work, 47 percent disapprove strongly. The survey, released Thursday (Oct. 21), found that 30 percent of pastors approve of the president’s performance (including […]
Pastor at center of aborted Quran burn gets a new car
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2010
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. (RNS) Florida Pastor Terry Jones held the keys to his black 2011 Hyundai Accent for only a few minutes on Friday (Oct. 22) before handing them to a battered women’s advocacy group. Jones gave the car, which car dealer Brad Benson had decorated with two patriotic peace symbols, to the Jersey City-based […]
U.S. bishop says Jews have no `exclusive right’ to Israel
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A special Vatican meeting on the Middle East ended Saturday (Oct. 23) with a flare-up in Catholic-Jewish tensions, after an American bishop declared the Bible does not give Jews privileged rights to the land of Israel. “We Christians cannot speak of the `promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — October 25, 2010
Catholic Bishops from the Middle East summoned to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI demanded that Israel end its “occupation” of Arab lands. Benedict called on Islamic countries in the Middle East to guarantee freedom of worship to non-Muslims. Israel said the meeting was hijacked by enemies of the Jewish state. Some senior Israeli officials question […]
Hollywood probes spiritual subjects without getting preachy
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2010
(RNS) The New Testament warns about trying to serve two masters. But lately Hollywood’s ordered up a rewrite. Moviemakers would prefer to have it both ways. And so multiplexes have been crowded with films that wrestle with spiritual questions even while battling for box-office attention. These aren’t tiny indies, like the evangelical films that sprang […]
Exhibit offers peak inside Vatican’s `splendors’
By Tracy Gordon — October 25, 2010
PITTSBURGH (RNS) The entrance to the Vatican Splendors exhibit evokes a part of St. Peter’s Basilica that few tourists ever see: the archaeological excavation beneath the altar, where the modest grave of St. Peter lies amid elaborate first-century pagan mausoleums. The choice of beginning with the grave of Peter, the first pope, reflects organizers’ hopes […]
First Amendment Originalism
By Mark Silk — October 25, 2010
In response to my Beliefnet commentators.
Juan Williams meets the Religion Expert
By Mark Silk — October 24, 2010
JW: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on airplane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first […]
D’Oh! Homer not so Catholic, Vatican says
By Tracy Gordon — October 22, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Several days after the Vatican’s official newspaper reported that characters Homer and Bart Simpson are Catholic, the source of that supposed discovery has distanced himself from the cartoonish claim. “I wouldn’t say they’re Catholic, I would say they’re people of faith,” the Rev. Francesco Occhetta told the AFP news agency. “I would […]
The Dalai Lama told a crowd at Miami University in Ohio on Thursday
By Tracy Gordon — October 22, 2010
U.S. Sikhs urge Obama to visit Golden Temple, despite rumors
By Tracy Gordon — October 22, 2010
(RNS) American Sikhs are urging President Obama to visit the famed Golden Temple in India next month, despite his administration’s reported concern that wearing the headscarf required for entry will inflame false rumors that Obama is a Muslim. The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund said that if Obama did not visit the Golden […]
Israel a model (of sorts) on gays in the military
By Tracy Gordon — October 22, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel, like the United States, is a largely secular society with deep religious roots. And Israel, like the United States, is home to vocal religious conservatives who frown on homosexuality. But Israel, unlike the United States, has allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for 17 years. In fact, they […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — October 22, 2010
Breaking news: The Vatican priest who raised a few eyebrows by calling Homer Simpson a Catholic is backpedaling, saying “I don’t think that at all. I would say they’re people of faith.” Rev. Lovejoy can call off the vapors. POTUS has joined the chorus of adults (both gay and straight) telling gay teens that “it […]
