Monthly Archives: March 2011
`Book of Mormon’: Give my regrets to Broadway
By Tracy Gordon — March 23, 2011
NEW YORK (RNS) In their day, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell” attracted controversy for putting the tenets of Christian faith on the musical stage, but leave it to the creators of “South Park” to raise the bar (or lower it, depending upon your point of view) with a high-spirited look at religion in “The Book […]
GUEST COMMENTARY: Eyes wide open on our collective moral vision
By Tracy Gordon — March 23, 2011
(RNS) In its relatively short history, the United States has stood as the world’s beacon of freedom, defender of democracy and pillar of principled power. An exceptional country, one blessed by the very hand of God. Right? Well, sort of. The truth, of course, is much more complicated, and the revolutionary dominoes of the Middle […]
Trial opens in Mass. black church arson case
By Tracy Gordon — March 23, 2011
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) After two accomplices pleaded guilty, the sole man to stand trial for torching a black church the night of President Obama’s election was confronted with secretly taped recordings during opening arguments on Monday (March 21). “Gas, straight-up gas. Hit the corners and the whole thing went straight up,” Michael F. Jacques said […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 23, 2011
Take that, Peter King: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, is planning his own hearings on American Muslims, this one on threats to Muslims’ civil rights (that him, at left, speaking in 2004 at a mosque in suburban Chicago). The tit-for-tat between the two chambers is going to be fun […]
Evangelicals resist Obama’s childhood obesity push
By Tracy Gordon — March 22, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelicals are the only major religious group where a majority opposes the federal government’s efforts to reduce childhood obesity, a Pew Research Center survey shows. Asked if the government should play a significant role in reducing childhood obesity, 56 percent of white evangelicals said it should not, compared to 42 percent who said […]
N.Y. rabbi tapped to lead Reform Jews
By Tracy Gordon — March 22, 2011
(RNS) A New York rabbi with a reputation for innovation has been tapped to lead the Union for Reform Judaism, the umbrella group for the country’s Reform synagogues, starting in 2012. Rabbi Richard Jacobs has headed Westchester Reform Temple since 1991 and recently completed construction of the nation’s largest “green synagogue” to house its 1,200 […]
Self-proclaimed prophet spawns apocalypse movement
By Tracy Gordon — March 22, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. (RNS) Save the date: May 21, 2011. If preacher Harold Camping is right, that’s the exact date Jesus will return and the righteous will fly up to heaven, leaving behind only their clothes. That will be followed by five months of fire, brimstone and plagues, with millions of people dying each day and […]
COMMENTARY: News we can’t lose
By Tracy Gordon — March 22, 2011
(RNS) Let’s say you run an enterprise. Your usual constituency is dwindling, your revenues are down, your ways of doing business seem outmoded, and all around you paradigms are shifting and less nimble competitors are going under. Yet the need for what you do is stronger than ever. You and a few others are standing […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 22, 2011
God may not be dead, but he’s on life support in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland according to a group of physicists who met recently in Dallas. The No. 2 official in the Diocese of Superior (Wisc.) has been put on leave after allegations that he […]
Spring Break
By Mark Silk — March 22, 2011
Off the grid, metaphorically anyway, on St. George Island. No blogging, if possible, till next Monday.
As Iowa Goes
By Mark Silk — March 22, 2011
So goes the GOP? Yesterday’s story by the AP’s Mike Glover takes us to the Hawkeye State, where, it seems, social conservatives are the force to be reckoned with. As someone whose brief career as a national political reporter took place during the 1988 cycle, I find it hard to imagine the Republican Party in […]
Fla. pastor presides at burning of Quran
By Tracy Gordon — March 21, 2011
(RNS) The controversial Florida pastor who halted plans to burn a Quran on the 9/11 anniversary last year oversaw the burning of the Islamic holy book on Sunday (March 20) after it was found “guilty” during a “trial” at his church. “We had a court process,” said Pastor Terry Jones, who acted as judge, in […]
Pope neither condemns, endorses Libya attacks
By Tracy Gordon — March 21, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI voiced “fear and trepidation” about the “disturbing news coming from Libya” in a carefully worded statement that neither endorsed nor condemned U.S. and European attacks against Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Benedict made his statement on Sunday (March 20), following his weekly recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. […]
COMMENTARY: Engaging culture, not condemning it
By Tracy Gordon — March 21, 2011
(RNS) The recent around-the-clock media coverage of Charlie Sheen’s public unraveling has been a daily reminder of the impoverished condition of American culture. Sixty years ago, evangelicals set out to create a richer culture, abandoning the hard-edged combativeness of fundamentalism and choosing instead to engage in a more thoughtful participation in America’s cultural life. It’s […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 21, 2011
He’s baaaaack: Florida pastor Terry Jones oversaw the burning of a Quran at his Gainesville church after the Islamic holy book was put on trial, found guilty and condemned for execution (that’s him, behind the mustache, at left). Remember the Amish man in Ohio accused of bilking his brethren out of $33 million in a […]
