Monthly Archives: March 2011
Methodists shun the bottle that no one wants to talk about
By Tracy Gordon — March 21, 2011
(RNS) The Rev. James Howell knew he had a problem on his hands when several teenagers arrived at a church dance drunk and had to be taken from the church by ambulance for treatment for alcohol poisoning. Starting in 2009, he urged his flock at Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C., to give […]
Jihad or not?
By Mark Silk — March 21, 2011
Whether the attack on Libya proves to be a successful exercise in humanitarian war-making a la Bosnia or another incursion into Middle Eastern quicksand, it raises an interesting question for the theology of jihad. Unlike our wars to overthrow regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in contrast to the largely peaceful protests taking place in […]
God’s painter
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 18, 2011
There are folks on this little terrestrial ball that are gifted with smarts, or musicality, or sports prowess, or looks, or diplomacy. Dieter Goldkuhle was gifted with unrivaled artistic ability. To wit: (photo by former RNS shutterbug David Jolkovski) Goldkuhle, the senior stained glass window artist at the National Cathedral, died March 9 at age […]
Missionaries grapple with leaving Japan
By Tracy Gordon — March 18, 2011
(RNS) Wolfgang Langhans, a Tokyo-based field director for missionaries, calls the week since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan “the busiest and most stressful week of my life.” But when those twin crises created a third — the threat of dangerous radiation leaks from a damaged nuclear plant — the balancing act between living out […]
Obama taps campuses for interfaith service projects
By Tracy Gordon — March 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The White House is hoping to recruit America’s college and seminary students in a nationwide interfaith service campaign that was launched Thursday (March 17). In the next month, the Obama administration will solicit plans submitted by colleges, universities, seminaries and rabbinical schools for year-long community service projects such as food drives, house building […]
Dominican program explores, expands lay spirituality
By Tracy Gordon — March 18, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) As a student at Aquinas College in the 1980s, David Lincoln was on track to become a Roman Catholic priest. While those pastoral aspirations were later rerouted, Lincoln still wanted to serve God in the world. “I started to see the role of the laity was becoming incredibly important, and that’s […]
Friday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 18, 2011
Is bigger always better? New data show that a church must have 8,000 weekly attendees in order to make it onto the list of the country’s 100 largest churches; Ten years ago, 4,000 or more was good enough to make the cut. (That’s Houston’s Lakewood Church at left) WaPo magazine profiles Metropolitan Jonah, the politically […]
The Politics of Orthodoxy
By Mark Silk — March 18, 2011
Innocent readers of Julia Duin’s profile of Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) in Sunday’s Washington Post will conclude that His Beatitude has gotten himself cross-ways with the other bishops of his denomination because he’s been over-bold in attempting to lead them into the coalition of the religious right. That’s not the […]
Priest forced to give up 40 days of Muslim Lent
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
FERGUSON, Mo. (RNS) The Rev. Steve Lawler should have just given up chocolate or television for Lent. Instead, Lawler, the part-time rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, decided to adopt the rituals of Islam for 40 days to gain a deeper understanding of the faith. Two days after it began, he faced being defrocked if […]
Schuller says he wouldn’t have OK’d church’s gay covenant
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
(RNS) Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller said Wednesday (March 16) he never would have approved a recent covenant choir members were asked to sign urging them to be Christian and heterosexual. “I have a reputation worldwide of being tolerant of all people and their views,” Schuller told The Orange County Register. “I’m too well-educated […]
Crime-fighting pastor gets carjacked
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) A prominent pastor who’s been recognized for his efforts to combat violence in Newark, had his truck stolen as he opened the church parking lot for Bible study Wednesday evening (March 16). “That is the last thing I would have expected, especially with all the folks I’ve helped in this community,” said […]
Court rejects mother’s religious home-school arguments
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
(RNS) The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling on Wednesday (March 16) that orders an 11-year-old girl to enroll in public school instead of being home-schooled by her mother. Although the girl’s mother, Brenda Kurowski, argued that the original ruling violated her religious rights, the high court based its decision on the […]
Southwest Airlines apologizes to Muslim passenger
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
(RNS) Southwest Airlines has apologized to a Muslim woman who claims she was removed from a flight from San Diego on Sunday (March 13) because of her Islamic headscarf and South Asian background. “We sincerely apologize for the customer’s inconvenience, and we regret that she was unable to travel as scheduled,” the airline said in […]
COMMENTARY: Smiles faded by time and nuclear disaster
By Tracy Gordon — March 17, 2011
(RNS) Japan was the scene of the devastating opening chapter of the atomic age, and now it may be writing the closing chapter on the world’s quest for secure nuclear energy. It is the only nation to have suffered atomic bomb attacks when our nation struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days apart in August 1945 […]
Thursday’s Religion News Roundup
By Kevin Eckstrom — March 17, 2011
So Daniel Sullivan Burke, our resident jolly Irishman, is off for a few days so you’re be left with this dour Swede to guide you through the festivities of St. Patrick’s Day. Truth be told, the real Irish saint with a fondness for the brew (green or otherwise) was St. Patrick’s friend, St. Brigid, who […]
