Monthly Archives: February 2011
Age-old Lent gets a 21st-century makeover
By Tracy Gordon — February 28, 2011
(RNS) For Janis Galvin fasting for Lent has long meant saying no to candy for the 40 days before Easter. But when the season begins this year on March 9, it’s apt to mean something more: walking when she’d rather drive, for instance, or turning the thermostat way down. Galvin, an Episcopalian, will join with […]
Bad News for al Qaeda
By Mark Silk — February 28, 2011
That’s what the tide of revolt in the Arab world signifies, at least according to Scott Shane’s news analysis in today’s NYT: For many specialists on terrorism and the Middle East, though not all, the past few weeks have the makings of an epochal disaster for Al Qaeda, making the jihadists look like ineffectual bystanders […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — February 28, 2011
As Newt Gingrich appears poised to launch a 2012 bid for the White House, the NYT says he remains dogged by questions over his two divorces, even as he emphasizes his conversion to Catholicism. Speaking of Catholic converts, CT sits down with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for a chit-chat on faith and politics. Looking back […]
Union = D as Religion = R
By Mark Silk — February 28, 2011
That’s pretty much the bottom line in Nate Silver’s regression analysis of the impact of 23 demographic factors on partisan voting in the 2008 election. His object was to see how much of a difference union membership makes to the likelihood of voting Democratic. The answer is: in the same ballpark as evangelicals and weekly […]
Islam dominated religion coverage in 2010
By Tracy Gordon — February 26, 2011
(RNS) Islam was the most frequent topic of religion news coverage in 2010, as the media doubled the amount of time and space devoted to religion compared to 2009. An analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that more than 40 percent of religion coverage centered on three issues: plans to […]
Alumni defend paddling at Catholic school
By Tracy Gordon — February 26, 2011
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) One by one, alumni of St. Augustine High School took the microphone on Thursday (Feb. 24), recalling one paddling at the hands of a St. Augustine teacher that turned them around and taught them a lesson. The 60-year-old tradition of corporal punishment at St. Augustine — believed to be one of the […]
Shattered churches yield their dead in New Zealand
By Tracy Gordon — February 26, 2011
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (RNS/ENInews) Churches shattered by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake were yielding up their dead on Friday (Feb. 25) as clergy and parishioners grieved and searched for places to worship on Sunday. The overall death toll from the Feb. 22 quake reached 113, with more than 200 people missing and hundreds injured. Rescue workers began […]
`Thoroughly radicalized’ student sentenced to five years
By Tracy Gordon — February 26, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A Muslim student described by a judge as “thoroughly radicalized” has been sentenced to five years in prison in Britain for creating terrorist movies and “inflammatory” videos he fed to the Internet. A jury in London’s Old Bailey criminal court convicted Mohammed Gul of five terrorist offenses with publications that police said “could […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — February 25, 2011
You love us. You really love us!* According to a new survey, religion news increased all of 1 percent in 2010, with much of the fresh ink spilt on Islam – specifically the controversy over the so-called Ground Zero mosque. The Catholic sex abuse scandal and Pastor Terry Jones’ bonfire of inanity were also big […]
Jews hope Vegas will draw lost members back to the fold
By Tracy Gordon — February 25, 2011
(RNS) A coalition of American Jewish groups are placing their bets on Las Vegas, a destination they hope will simultaneously lure back young adults and groom their next generation of leaders. More than 1,200 22- to 45-year-olds have signed up for TribeFest 2011, a combination mixer and symposium at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. […]
For Buddhist master, you are how you eat
By Tracy Gordon — February 25, 2011
CLATSKANIE, Ore. (RNS) It’s Friday night at Great Vow Zen Monastery. Supper’s over and Noble Silence, the quiet that stretches from bedtime through breakfast, is still two hours away. Two dozen people sit in a circle, explaining why they’ve come to a refurbished grade school sprawled on a hilltop for a retreat about eating mindfully. […]
Huckabee, looking good
By Mark Silk — February 25, 2011
Gallup’s new portrait of GOP presidential candidate preferences by issue preference displays some moderately interesting features. Among frontrunners Huckabee, Romney, and Palin, Huckabee is the choice of social conservatives; Romney, of economic conservatives; and Palin, of foreign policy conservatives. Mostly the differences are not great but a couple stand out. Huckabee is weak with those […]
Forgiveness scholar opens up on role of faith
By Tracy Gordon — February 25, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) For more than a quarter of a century, psychologist Robert D. Enright has been a pioneer in the scientific study of forgiveness — the kind of guy Time magazine once dubbed “the forgiveness trailblazer.” He’s probed the mental and physical benefits that incest survivors, adult children of alcoholics, cardiac patients and others […]
Do Christian athletes strike out on big-dollar contracts?
By Tracy Gordon — February 25, 2011
ST. LOUIS (RNS) As contract talks broke down between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals, St. Louis baseball fans began nervously asking themselves a host of questions. He’s a Cardinal for life, right? He wouldn’t go to Wrigley Field because he likes winning too much, right? But a particular group of Cardinals fans — those who […]
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