Monthly Archives: January 2011
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — January 31, 2011
Protests continue in Egypt, as a coalition that includes the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak. The Brotherhood, which wants to form an Islamist state in the Arab world’s largest nation, has subordinated it religious aims, and said it would not take a leadership role in the opposition coalition, according […]
Does God play favorites on the gridiron?
By Tracy Gordon — January 31, 2011
(RNS) When the Auburn Tigers won the BCS college football championship against the Oregon Ducks, Auburn coach Gene Chizik thanked God. The team’s star quarterback, Cam Newton, said he felt his performance showed what God can do. Thanking God has now become almost commonplace among athletes. With the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers about […]
Chat With a Strongman’s Wife
By Omar Sacirbey — January 29, 2011
With democratic change afoot in Tunisia and anti-government riots in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, some 20 American college students were in Syria and, among other things, wrapped with Asma al-Assad, the very accomplished wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. This news comes from George Mason University’s (Va.) Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, […]
After controversy, Christian university changes gay policy
By Tracy Gordon — January 29, 2011
(RNS) A Christian university in Nashville, Tenn., has amended its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation after a recent controversy involving a lesbian former soccer coach. “We are a Christian community that is welcoming, loving and inclusive of everyone,” said Belmont University President Bob Fisher in a Wednesday (Jan. 26) statement. The change comes a […]
Vatican to launch dialogue with atheists
By Tracy Gordon — January 29, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican announced a new initiative aimed at promoting dialogue between theists and atheists to be launched with a two-day event this March in Paris. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture will sponsor a series of seminars on the theme of “Religion, Light and Common Reason,” at various locations in the city, […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — January 28, 2011
A “Friday of Wrath” has arrived in Egypt, with tens of thousands of protesters pouring into the street in what the AP calls “the most violent and chaotic scenes yet in the challenge to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.” Surprisingly, religion, often a powerful mobilizing force in Egypt, has not played a large role in […]
`Miracle Detectives’ on the hunt for answers
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2011
(RNS) Dirt at an ancient holy site in Chimayo, N.M. reputedly cures a woman’s rare bone cancer. In North Carolina, a 14-year-old girl stricken with pneumonia is removed from life support but survives after an angelic image appears on a security monitor outside her hospital room. A Texas man lives despite being cut in half […]
Holocaust Abuse
By Mark Silk — January 28, 2011
As yesterday’s public letter from 400 rabbis declares, Glenn Beck’s promiscuous use of Holocaust and Nazi imagery to characterize those with whom he disagrees is disgraceful, and perhaps the recent outcry against the use of such imagery will tamp it down. But Beck’s effort to discredit George Soros by painting the financier of liberal causes […]
Muslim leaders condemn Holocaust denial on remembrance day
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2011
(RNS) Prominent Muslim leaders who toured Nazi concentration camps last summer marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day by decrying attempts to deny the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews. “We condemn any attempts to deny this historical reality and declare such denials or any justification of this tragedy as against the Islamic code of ethics,” the […]
Mich. bill would allow guns in churches, colleges
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2011
LANSING, Mich. (RNS) Individuals with valid concealed weapons permits could carry guns in Michigan areas currently prohibited by law, including schools, churches, bars and sports stadiums, under proposed legislation. The state’s current gun restrictions date to 2000 as part of a law that relaxed permitting requirements. The original House sponsor of that law, Republican Mike […]
Rabbis petition Murdoch to crack down on Fox’s Holocaust language
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2011
(RNS) Hundreds of American rabbis used Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday (Jan. 27) to push media mogul Rupert Murdoch to “sanction” Glenn Beck and other Fox News personalities on the use of Nazi and Holocaust references. The “Sanction Glenn Beck” letter responds to the Beck’s three-part series last November on billionaire philanthropist and Holocaust survivor […]
U.S. Muslim population to double in 20 years
By Tracy Gordon — January 28, 2011
(RNS) The U.S. Muslim population is expected to double over the next 20 years, fueled by immigration and higher-than-average fertility rates, according to a new report released Thursday (Jan. 27). The authors of the report, “The Future of the Global Muslim Population” from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, said fears of a […]
Thursday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — January 27, 2011
Muslims around the world are expected to grow at twice the rate of other groups over the next 20 years before leveling off, a new Pew report says; in the U.S., they’re expected to meet rough parity with Jews by 2030. The U.K. has new numbers that say fewer than 1/3 of Christians actively practice […]
Jewish patrol group creates tensions with blacks in Baltimore
By Tracy Gordon — January 27, 2011
BALTIMORE (RNS) When Pauline Watson felt threatened by teenagers loitering outside her condominium in this city’s Park Heights neighborhood, she didn’t call the police. She called Shomrim. “We were scared, OK?” said the 65-year-old African-American, adding that most tenants in her building are elderly. Police in this crime-ridden city have their hands full with more […]
COMMENTARY: A wake-up call from the Middle East
By Tracy Gordon — January 27, 2011
(RNS) For too long, too few people have been willing to openly discuss the persecution and killing of Christians in the Middle East and Africa by Islamic extremists. Spineless apologists for radical Islamic groups in the U.S. and Europe ignored, or even excused the growing number of lethal assaults. Their answer too often is that […]
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