Monthly Archives: April 2011
Christians don’t heart Capitalism
By Mark Silk — April 21, 2011
More American think that “capitalism and the free market system are at odds with Christian values” than think they are “consistent” (44 percent to 38 percent)–and Christians alone feel the same way by a slightly wider margin (46 percent to 38 percent), according to the latest Public Religion Research Institute/Religion News Service survey. But PRRRI/RNS […]
Scholar challenges Thursday date of Last Supper
By Tracy Gordon — April 21, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A top British scientist claims his biblical, historical and astronomical research shows Christians have been observing Jesus’ Last Supper on the wrong day of the week. Cambridge University Professor Colin Humphreys says Jesus’ final meal with his disciples actually was eaten on the Wednesday before the Crucifixion — one day earlier than has […]
Study: Congregations Slowly Recovering From Recession
By Tracy Gordon — April 20, 2011
(RNS) The recession was a double-barrel blow to American congregations: directly hurting their budgets while also stretching them thin due to increased needs for counseling, emergency housing and other social services. But the worst seems to be over, according to a report released Thursday (April 21) that found that one in 10 have begun to […]
Poll: Americans see clash between values of Christianity, capitalism
By Tracy Gordon — April 20, 2011
(RNS) Are Christianity and capitalism a marriage made in heaven, as some conservatives believe, or more of a strained relationship in need of some serious couples’ counseling? A new poll released Thursday (April 21) found that more Americans (44 percent) see the free market system at odds with Christian values than those who don’t (36 […]
Cookbook preserves family recipes lost in Holocaust
By Tracy Gordon — April 20, 2011
(RNS) The last time Regina Finer’s mother cooked the soft, dense potato dumplings called kluskies, Regina couldn’t have been more than 12. It was the same year the Nazis took Finer’s parents from their home in the Warsaw ghetto — she never saw them again — and sent her, her sister and an aunt to […]
Love lost and found on opposite sides of border
By Tracy Gordon — April 20, 2011
BARTA’A, Israel (RNS) Fatmeh Kabaha spent most of her life surrounded by her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews in a small Palestinian village just minutes from the border that separates the Palestinian territories from Israel. Six years ago, she married a fellow Palestinian widower who lived on the Israeli side of the “green line” […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — April 20, 2011
The U.S. Catholic bishops will review compliance with church guidelines on sexual abuse, including a probe into the putative “breakdown” in Philly, where 29 priests were recently suspended, CNS reports. One priest said he is “angry as hell” and feels “duped” by the Philly Archdiocese because he was not informed that priests he was asked […]
COMMENTARY: Psst … I’m praying for you
By Tracy Gordon — April 20, 2011
(RNS) I have a confession to make. I love to pray … for strangers. I don’t know when my praying for strangers started. Perhaps it was when an ambulance left our neighborhood and I realized that some hapless soul trapped in a failing body needed medical assistance that I was incapable of offering. So I […]
Mitch Daniels, Arab-American
By Mark Silk — April 20, 2011
There’s some snickering taking place on the left about Indiana governor Mitch Daniels receiving the Arab-American Institute’s 2011 Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service at AAI’s May 4 gala. Daniels, it turns out, is half Syrian, his paternal grandparents having immigrated from near Homs early in the last century.They were Christians–he’s Presbyterian–but no doubt (heh, […]
Beatification of Nazi martyrs divides Lutherans, Catholics
By Tracy Gordon — April 19, 2011
LUEBECK, Germany (RNS) Residents of this north German city have long taken pride in four native sons — three Catholic priests and a Lutheran pastor — who were beheaded in quick succession on Nov. 10, 1943 by the Nazi regime. The commingled blood of Catholic priests Johannes Prassek, Hermann Lange, Eduard Mueller and Lutheran pastor […]
Obama invokes Christian beliefs at Easter prayer breakfast
By Kevin Eckstrom — April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama on Tuesday (April 19) said Jesus’ death and resurrection on Easter “puts everything else in perspective,” at a White House event that showcased his increasing comfort with discussing his faith. Using the kind of personal religious language that he had once shied away from in public, Obama spoke of “the pain […]
State Department fires back at ambassador
By Tracy Gordon — April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The State Department fired back at a prominent Catholic ambassador who said the agency has a “rigidly narrow” view of foreign policy that neglects the role of religion in world affairs. “I can’t imagine an agency that has a broader portfolio,” State Department spokesman Evan Owen said on Monday (April 18). “We have […]
Bishops defend criticism of top theologian
By Tracy Gordon — April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Under fire for criticizing a popular theologian, the U.S. Catholic bishops said they must occasionally assume the role of referee and rule wayward thinkers out of bounds. “Once ideas are written and published by a theologian, they must stand on their own,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on doctrine, […]
British man sentenced to 70 days for burning Quran
By Tracy Gordon — April 19, 2011
LONDON (RNS) A British former soldier has been jailed for burning a copy of the Quran in front of shoppers in England — an act the judge described as “theatrical bigotry.” Andrew Ryan was sentenced to 70 days for setting fire to the Islamic holy book on Jan. 19 in Carlisle with a cigarette lighter […]
Beatification of Nazi martyrs divides German Lutherans, Catholics
By Tracy Gordon — April 19, 2011
LUEBECK, Germany (RNS) Residents of this north German city have long taken pride in four native sons — three Catholic priests and a Lutheran pastor — who were beheaded in quick succession on Nov. 10, 1943 by the Nazi regime. The commingled blood of Catholic priests Johannes Prassek, Hermann Lange, Eduard Mueller and Lutheran pastor […]
