Monthly Archives: November 2010
Vatican says new guidelines will combat global abuse scandal
By Tracy Gordon — November 20, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican announced on Friday (Nov. 19) that it is preparing international guidelines to prevent the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy, a long-awaited response to a scandal that has seeped into countless corners of the church. Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, announced the plan to […]
Canadian court rules dissident churches must abandon property
By Tracy Gordon — November 20, 2010
TORONTO (RNS/ENInews) An Canadian appeals court has ruled in favor of an Anglican diocese in a property dispute with congregations opposed to same-gender blessings. In a unanimous decision released on Monday (Nov. 15), British Columbia Court of Appeal Justice Mary Newbury, writing for a three-judge panel, dismissed an appeal by four breakaway parishes against a […]
New rules on hospital visitations for gays and lesbians
By Tracy Gordon — November 20, 2010
(RNS) The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled regulations on Wednesday (Nov. 17) that will require hospitals that receive Medicare or Medicaid financing to drop any visitation policies that discriminate against gays, lesbians and transsexuals. The new rule, which will take effect in January, requires that hospitals have a written policy that must be […]
Marriage fades, but not for lack of couples
By Tracy Gordon — November 20, 2010
(RNS) The headline’s a shocker: Nearly four in 10 Americans believe marriage is obsolete. As in: Over and done with, hold the rice. Holy matrimony has gone the way of the rotary phone, the butter churner, and the eight-track tape. The Pew Research Center’s latest survey, released Thursday (Nov. 18), detected a growing perception of […]
Thanksgiving’s a holiday atheists can believe in
By Tracy Gordon — November 20, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Ken Guthrie and his partner will be at his aunt’s house for Thanksgiving, sharing a table with his grandmother, siblings and cousins — a veritable holiday crowd. But when it comes time to express thanks, Guthrie, a board member of Salt Lake City Pagan Pride, will not be speaking to the […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 19, 2010
The world’s 200 or so Roman Catholic cardinals met Friday at the Vatican to discuss the clergy sex abuse crisis and religious freedom, an issue that gained fresh relevance with news that China plans to consecrate a bishop on Saturday without Pope Benedict XVI’s approval, the AP reports. Also on Saturday, two senior American archbishops […]
Middle East clergy pray for drought relief
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
JERUSALEM (RNS) Experiencing the warmest, driest November on record, residents of the Holy Land are calling on a higher power to bring rain to this parched region. While winter traditionally arrives late here, the almost total lack of rainfall is threatening crops and the underground aquifers that provide fresh water. If the drought continues, it […]
Half of Americans say Obama holds different religious values
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama faces significant challenges on how Americans perceive his religious faith, as 51 percent say his beliefs differ from their own, according to a new poll. The 2010 post-election American Values Survey detected a link between views of the president’s beliefs and his favorability ratings: More than nine in 10 Americans who […]
Tenn. judge refuses to block mosque construction
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
Tenn. judge refuses to block mosque construction(RNS) A Tennessee judge on Wednesday (Nov. 17) declined to halt the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro in a case that drew national attention after opponents sought to put Islam itself on trial.Rutherford County Chancellor Robert Corlew said the mosque’s opponents failed to prove that local government officials […]
Survey: Four in 10 Americans say marriage is obsolete
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
(RNS) Marriage is on the decline in American society, with nearly four in 10 people claiming the institution is obsolete, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The Pew survey, conducted in association with Time magazine, shows a shifting definition of marriage and increasing acceptance of cohabitation beyond traditional boundaries of matrimony. […]
Critics blast Obama on faith-based hiring rules
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) A day after ordering a host of changes to the White House’s faith-based office, President Obama is facing mounting criticism for keeping in place Bush-era policies that allow faith-based social service providers to hire and fire based on religion. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers on Thursday (Nov. 18) voiced frustration that he […]
In Mormon president’s FBI files, signs of an early Tea Partier take root
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) The 1965 letter to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was packed with political dynamite, so Ezra Taft Benson marked it “personal-confidential.” Benson, the only man to serve in a presidential cabinet and go on to lead a worldwide church, the Mormons, was attempting to convince Hoover that the John Birch Society […]
COMMENTARY: Making the impossible possible
By Tracy Gordon — November 19, 2010
NEW YORK (RNS) I’m in the Big Apple to film a bit for the History Channel on the period between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, which is a little spooky, very important and some would say very, very sketchy on details. It’s always intriguing to see what a producer finds interesting. In this case, John Marks, […]
Thursday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — November 18, 2010
President Obama signed an executive order that he says will improve the constitutional footing of the controversial White House faith-based office. Church-state watchdogs, though, are disappointed that the order allows public money to go directly to houses of worship, and does not address the “800-pound gorilla”: whether faith-based groups can get public money without following […]
Two cheers for Faith-based2
By Mark Silk — November 18, 2010
Yesterday the White House put out its long-awaited executive order (reprinted after the jump) on the rules governing faith-based social service provision, and it’s a solid step forward over the 2002 Bush executive order it replaces. What it tracks, pretty closely, are the recommendations of the task force for reforming the Office of Faith-Based and […]
