Monthly Archives: May 2011
Mormons, Baptists assist in tornado clean-up
By Tracy Gordon — May 18, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Mormon missionaries are often unwelcome guests when they knock at local front doors wearing white dress shirts and holding a Book of Mormon. But after a tornado, when Mormon missionaries arrive in work clothes carrying chainsaws to help clear fallen trees, they are a welcome sight. More than 4,000 volunteers for “Mormon […]
Churches asked to share pulpits with Muslims
By Tracy Gordon — May 18, 2011
(RNS) Religious and human rights activists are asking U.S. churches to invite Jewish and Muslim clergy to their sanctuaries to read from sacred texts next month in an initiative designed to counter anti-Muslim bigotry. The June 26 initiative, called “Faith Shared: Uniting in Prayer and Understanding,” is co-sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights […]
Hawking says heaven is for ‘people afraid of the dark’
By Tracy Gordon — May 18, 2011
LONDON (RNS) Professor Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most eminent scientists, says the concept of heaven is “a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” In an interview with London’s Guardian newspaper, the 69-year-old Cambridge University cosmologist said that as a victim of motor neuron disease he has lived under the shadow of […]
Pope to speak to international space station
By Tracy Gordon — May 18, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI will speak via satellite with astronauts on the International Space Station on Saturday (May 21), the first time a pope has conversed with astronauts in space. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters on Tuesday (May 17) that Benedict will be connected with […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — May 17, 2011
Most, if not all, religious folks believe their faith determines their spiritual destiny. But how many suspect that religion also shapes their financial fate? If you are a Reform Jew or Hindu, Mazel Tov and Namaste. Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptists, not so much, according to the NYT (citing a Pew report). Relatedly, the WSJ […]
Q&A with the new House chaplain
By Tracy Gordon — May 17, 2011
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Less than a week after the announcement that he had been nominated to become the next chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Rev. Patrick Conroy found himself at the center of what he calls “a firestorm.” First, he’s a Jesuit priest from the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, […]
COMMENTARY: Where we’ve been, where we’re going
By Tracy Gordon — May 17, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) On the eve of my father’s 95th birthday, I tallied the changes he has seen since he entered this world in 1916. Halfway through reading it at a celebration, I paused and said, “This list is exhausting.” Dad’s lifetime has seen: The end of World War I. Revolutions in Russia and China. The […]
Who watches the watchmen?
By Mark Silk — May 17, 2011
No doubt about it, the Vatican’s latest missive has laid an egg. Styled as an encyclical to assist national bishops conferences in developing guidelines for dealing with clergy accused of sexual abuse, the letter utterly ignores what everybody outside the Church hierarchy itself acknowledges to be the central problem: the bishops themselves. Take Philadelphia, please. […]
Dalai Lama, Nobel laureates tussle (gently) over violence
By Tracy Gordon — May 16, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The Dalai Lama says peace in the world begins with peace in oneself. Some of his fellow Nobel laureates, however, aren’t convinced. “It isn’t that I’m just an angry human being, it’s anger at injustice,” said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban land […]
Billy Graham returns home from hospital
By Tracy Gordon — May 16, 2011
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham returned home Sunday (May 15) after a five-day hospital stay for pneumonia. Graham, 92, has regained strength after treatment with antibiotics, according to his doctors at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C. “He has responded very well to treatment, with progressive improvement since his admission,” said Dr. Lucian Rice, Graham’s primary care […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — May 16, 2011
The Vatican told bishops to make stopping clergy sexual abuse a top priority, asking them to create “clear and coordinated” procedures by next May and to cooperate with civil law when required, according to the NYT. But, the AP notes, the Vatican’s suggestions are “vague and nonbinding” and contain no enforcement mechanisms to ensure the […]
Vatican gives bishops one year to set abuse policies
By Tracy Gordon — May 16, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The world’s Catholic bishops have one year to set national policies on clerical sex abuse of minors, the Vatican said on Monday (May 16), but such policies may vary significantly in each country, and will not be binding on individual bishops. All national bishops’ conferences are to prepare “guidelines” on preventing abuse, […]
COMMENTARY: John Paul II, the Jewish saint
By Tracy Gordon — May 16, 2011
(RNS) When the Vatican beatifies someone and places the person just one step away from sainthood, it usually attracts scant attention among Jews because it is correctly perceived as an internal church process. But the recent beatification — and likely canonization — of the late Pope John Paul II is different. The Jewish community remembers […]
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Signs of the Times
By Mark Silk — May 16, 2011
Now that we have entered the final week of the Harold Camping-certified End Times, it behooves us to consider the signs. Here goes. * Osama (the false Antichrist) Bin Laden killed by Barack H. (not the false Antichrist) Obama. * Forces of Repression (viz. Gog and Magog) at work all over Middle East. * House […]
