Monthly Archives: November 2010
Play examines South’s black church arsons
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) For playwright Marcus Gardley, the theater is his pulpit and plays are his sermons. His latest production, “every tongue confess,” seeks answers to the questions that swirled around the spate of arsons that hit black churches in the South in the 1990s. “How deep does your forgiveness go?” Gardley asks in an interview. […]
Happy Thanksgiving
By Daniel Burke — November 25, 2010
Religion News Service is taking a break from the Roundup to eat turkey (or Tofurky), visit our families, and give thanks for all the blessings we enjoy. We hope you’re doing the same, if that’s your thing, and look forward to seeing you back here on Monday. Cheers, RNS
Navy honors Puritans with religious intolerance
By Mark Silk — November 25, 2010
The Puritans had many good qualities, but a commitment to religious tolerance was not exactly their forte. Particularly obnoxious to them were the Quakers, whose understanding of an “inner light” in all people ran seriously afoul of Calvinist ideas of original sin. Quakers were therefore banned from all the New England colonies except Rhode Island, […]
Blasphemy resolution passes U.N. committee
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2010
(RNS) A resolution combating the “vilification of religions” was adopted Tuesday (Nov. 23) by a United Nations committee, but religious freedom advocates who oppose the measure say support for it continues to diminish. The resolution by Islamic countries is scheduled to be considered by the U.N. General Assembly in December. The vote — 76 yes, […]
Muslims prepare halal turkey Thanksgiving feast
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2010
(RNS) Garlic wafts in the air while sauce bubble on the stove. The kitchen clamors with young cooks preparing South Asian dishes. The women are in headscarves while the men wear hairnets covering dark curls. Some cooks layer carrots and peas into a mountain of basmati rice while others coat chickpeas in spices to create […]
Vatican, China clash over bishop’s ordination
By Tracy Gordon — November 25, 2010
HONG KONG (RNS/ENInews) Vatican and Hong Kong cardinals criticized the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association for organizing the ordination of a Catholic bishop in northeastern China without Vatican approval. On Wednesday (Nov. 24), the Vatican called the ordination a grave violation of the freedom of religion after the state-approved Catholic Church ordained the bishop without […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 24, 2010
Moral theologians, health care workers, and other Catholics continue to try to parse Pope Benedict XVI’s condom comments. Conservatives are generally taking the nothing-new-to-see-here-move-along-folks line, while more progressive Catholics call the comments a “game changer” for the church. “It’s a mess,” the president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center tells the AP’s Rachel Zoll. The […]
For year’s top religion stories, a major case of deja vu
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2010
(RNS) The calendar may have said 2010, but for Pope Benedict XVI and much of his global flock, it looked and felt a lot like 2002. For the second time in a decade, damning charges of child molestation at the hands of Catholic priests dominated headlines, this time reaching the highest levels of the Vatican, […]
COMMENTARY: Being thankful is always in style
By Cathleen Falsani — November 24, 2010
(RNS) Calling it a “beloved American tradition” in his official proclamation this week, President Obama reminded us that Thanksgiving is an opportunity “to focus our thoughts on the grace that has been extended to our people and our country.” Thank you, Mr. President. I needed to hear that. Surely 2010 has been a year of […]
COMMENTARY: Hanukkah 101
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2010
(RNS) This year I am imposing a personal restriction on my family and friends. They may not attend Hanukkah parties, light the festival candles or receive gifts unless they can first pass a holiday exam. Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of light, begins at sunset on Dec. 1. Special prayers are said each night as […]
Catholic Right very unhappy
By Mark Silk — November 24, 2010
Heads are exploding all over the Catholic Right (boom, boom, and boom) not because Pope Benedict has altered official Catholic teaching on condoms. (There is no official Catholic teaching on condoms per se.) It’s because (as the estimable Austin Ivereigh makes clear) Pope Benedict has countermanded what the Catholic Right would have you believe is […]
Palestinians claim ownership of Western Wall
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) The Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, is actually a Muslim shrine, according to an official report published Monday (Nov. 22) by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Information. The document, which was written by Al-Mutawakei Tahad, a senior ministry official and respected writer, states that the Wall — long considered the sole […]
London warns British Muslims on Shariah in schools
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2010
LONDON (RNS) The British government has warned a network of Islamic schools in the wake of a BBC investigation that claims extremist Shariah law is being taught to thousands of Muslim students. The televised report, by the BBC’s Panorama program, said as many as 5,000 pupils are being taught that thieves should have their hands […]
Controversial bishop threatened with ouster over neo-Nazi lawyer
By Tracy Gordon — November 24, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A Holocaust-denying bishop whose readmission to the Roman Catholic Church provoked an international outcry last year now faces expulsion from his ultra-traditionalist group for hiring a lawyer with neo-Nazi ties. Bishop Richard Williamson was one of four bishops in the Society of Saint Pius X whose 1988 excommunications were lifted by Pope […]
Talking turkey (and God)
By Daniel Burke — November 24, 2010
President Obama took some heat last year for not mentioning God enough in his Thanksgiving proclamation. In this year’s proclamation, he appears to go out of his way to avoid that critique (see full text below). Now about that poor turkey … THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 23, […]
