Monthly Archives: December 2010
COMMENTARY: Going off the grid at Christmas
By Tracy Gordon — December 21, 2010
(RNS) Away from the seat of imperial power, away from religion’s holy places, members of the Holy Family were unregistered guests staying in a stable far from home, unknown to anyone. The Magi who came to pay respects went home “by another road,” themselves now “off the grid.” Jesus grew up “off the grid,” first […]
Muslim leaders probe problem of disaffected youths
By Tracy Gordon — December 21, 2010
LOS ANGELES (RNS) Muslim leaders are admitting disaffected Muslim youth such as the alleged Oregon bomber arrested last month are ripe for online recruitment by extremists. “Why do we in Muslim communities not have centers for at-risk youth?” said civil rights attorney Reem Salahi at the annual national convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council […]
Pope links sex abuse to vices
By Tracy Gordon — December 21, 2010
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI deplored the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and linked it to other vices, including child pornography, sexual tourism and drug abuse, which he said were all promoted by an ideology of social moral relativism. The pope made his remarks on Monday (Dec. 20), in his annual Christmas […]
Muslims allege inappropriate questions by security agents
By Tracy Gordon — December 21, 2010
(RNS) American Muslims reentering the United States from abroad are alleging U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inquired about their religious beliefs and practices — questions they say violate their constitutional rights. Two civil liberties groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and San Francisco-based Muslim Advocates, are now calling on the Department of Homeland Security […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — December 20, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that the Catholic Church should think hard about how its message and its model of Christian life contributed to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the AP. The Vatican tried to stop Dublin church leaders from defrocking a dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy […]
Military chaplains after DADT
By Mark Silk — December 20, 2010
GetReligion Commandante Mattingly and I have have been having a bit of a back-and-forth about chaplains in the military post-DADT over on Cathy Grossman’s Facebook page, and I thought the issue worth venting a bit more publicly. (Here’s his official review of the coverage.) TMatt’s view seems to be that it’s a question of (as […]
Secularism, via Culturomics
By Mark Silk — December 20, 2010
If you go to the Google Culturomics site and type in “Jesus” in English language publications, you’ll see that after sinking steadily from the middle of the 19th century, usage incidence plateaued between 1940 and 1980, and then began to climb, such that it’s now at the level it was it was in 1900. “God” […]
DADT and the Anti-Gay Agenda
By Mark Silk — December 18, 2010
Today is a tragic day for our armed forces. The American military exists for only one purpose – to fight and win wars. Yet it has now been hijacked and turned into a tool for imposing on the country a radical social agenda. This may advance the cause of reshaping social attitudes regarding human sexuality, […]
Lutheran leader seeks Communion agreement with pope
By Tracy Gordon — December 18, 2010
ROME (RNS/ENInews) The president of the Lutheran World Federation is calling on Lutherans and Catholics to issue a common statement on Holy Communion to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017. “Our intention is to arrive at 2017 with a common Roman Catholic-Lutheran declaration on Eucharistic hospitality,” Bishop Munib Younan told the […]
New York mosque named top religion story of 2010
By Tracy Gordon — December 18, 2010
(RNS) The protracted and contentious debate over plans to build an Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York was the top religion story of 2010, according to a survey of religion journalists. The imam piloting the project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, was voted the Religion Newswriters Association’s top newsmaker of 2010, besting Pope Benedict […]
Despite sour economy, religious card sales are up
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2010
(RNS) The sour economy may mean fewer presents under the tree for many families this year, but one thing some Christians won’t give up on is sending Christmas cards — especially religious cards. “It’s the whole message of Christmas,” said Velma Fann, who returned to the Shrine of the Black Madonna bookstore in Atlanta this […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — December 17, 2010
Progressive religious groups are licking their wounds after the House approved the bipartisan tax-cut deal that preserves Bush-era tax rates on all income levels, including the super rich; anti-hunger activists from Bread for the World, however, call it a “major victory.” A New York grand jury declined to indict one of the two men accused […]
Culturomics rules!
By Mark Silk — December 17, 2010
Fifteen billion printed words from 5.2 million books, or 4 percent of all books published! Graphed and searchable! Thank you, Google! Thank you, Harvard! Why am I ecstatic? The project, reported in the journal Science yesterday and available for the use of all, at once creates a new tool for cultural history (dubbed “Culturomics”) and […]
Religious leaders join White House in Dream Act push
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2010
WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious leaders joined White House officials Thursday (Dec. 16) in urging the Senate to pass the DREAM Act, calling it a moral solution to help students hurt by the country’s immigration system. The legislation, which would permit young illegal immigrants to gain citizenship through a college education or military service, passed the House […]
Christian and atheist groups in race to raise money for charity
By Tracy Gordon — December 17, 2010
(RNS)Christians and atheists are fighting again — this time over who can raise more money for charity. The Christian and atheist communities on the online forum Reddit are in a battle to raise the most money for their causes. In the spirit of Christmas (or in atheists’ case, human generosity), community members are even donating […]
