Monthly Archives: June 2011
God gap update
By Mark Silk — June 28, 2011
The non-religious are a lot more likely to vote Democratic than the very religious are to vote Republican, according to the latest Gallup poll. Here’s the chart: In proportional terms, non-religious Americans are almost twice as likely to vote Democratic as Republican, while the very religious are just a bit more than 25 percent more […]
Enter Bachmann, stage right
By Mark Silk — June 28, 2011
Michele Bachmann, who’s no fool, presented herself as the leader of a a broad-based populist movement, not the paladin of right-wing Republicanism: The liberals, and to be clear I’m NOT one of them, want you to think the Tea Party is the Right Wing of the Republican Party. But it’s not. It’s made up of […]
Orthodox rally to rebuild Ground Zero church
By Tracy Gordon — June 28, 2011
NEW YORK (RNS) With cries of “Rebuild now! Rebuild Now!” parishioners and supporters of a Greek Orthodox church that was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks rallied at Ground Zero on Sunday (June 26) in hopes of resuming negotiations to rebuild the church. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Port Authority of New York and […]
Faith-healing parents sentenced to 90 days in jail
By Tracy Gordon — June 28, 2011
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Brushing aside pleas for leniency, a county judge on Friday (June 24) sentenced two members of a faith-healing church to 90 days in jail and three years probation for failing to get medical care for their infant daughter. “Your prayers should complement, not compete with, proper medical care,” Clackamas County Circuit […]
Israeli ambassador backpedals on wartime pope comments
By Tracy Gordon — June 28, 2011
(RNS) After strong criticism from the Jewish community, Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican backpedaled from his praise of the controversial wartime Pope Pius XII for his “actions to save the Jews” during the Holocaust. “Given the fact that this context is still under the subject of ongoing and future research, passing my personal historical judgment […]
Supreme Court to review obscenity policy
By Jack Jenkins — June 28, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday (June 27) that it will examine whether the Federal Communications Commission has the right to ban “fleeting expletives” on broadcast TV. The case will review last year’s decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected the FCC’s power to regulate the use of expletives […]
Dalai Lama to host 11-day peace festival in D.C.
By Jack Jenkins — June 27, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Dalai Lama will visit Washington next month for an 11-day peace rally that is being billed as “the largest gathering for world peace in history.” The July 6-16 “Kalachakra for World Peace” aims to “amplify the profound, unshakable commitment of (the Dalai Lama) to values such as love, compassion, wisdom and interfaith […]
Monday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — June 27, 2011
First the good news: Americans’ confidence in newspapers and television news has rebounded slightly, after mucking around at record lows for three years, according to a new Gallup poll. The bad news: churches are coming for our jobs. The Vatican on Wednesday will launch a news information portal that will aggregate information from its print, […]
The Bishops Lose a Big One
By Mark Silk — June 27, 2011
It was tempting to say “Welcome to the Big Apple” last Friday night after New York Archbishop Tim Dolan got his rear end handed to him by parishioner Andrew Cuomo in re: same-sex marriage. But not since the days of Nelson Rockefeller has the Empire State witnessed such astute management of the legislative process as […]
Born-Agains in Iowa
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2011
The top line on the new Iowa poll of Republicans is that Michele Bachmann has rocketed into a statistical tie with Mitt Romney for first place, while Tim Pawlenty, he of many visits to the Hawkeye State, is nowhere. At this point, anyway, the first-in-the-nation (Feb. 6) caucus is a two-person race; Romney (23 percent) […]
Jewish concerns remain as Delta, Saudis deny discrimination
By Tracy Gordon — June 25, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Saudi Arabian embassy on Friday (June 24) denied as “completely false” reports that U.S. Jews would not be able to travel to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line’s planned partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines. U.S. Jewish groups had criticized Delta for next year’s planned addition of the Saudi airline to the SkyTeam […]
Israeli ambassador praises wartime pope
By Tracy Gordon — June 24, 2011
(RNS) In a conciliatory gesture regarding one of the most sensitive points of Jewish-Catholic relations, Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican praised the controversial wartime Pope Pius XII for his “actions to save the Jews” during the Holocaust. Mordechay Lewy made his remarks Thursday (June 23) at a ceremony honoring an Italian priest who helped protect […]
Report says Islamophobia on the rise
By Tracy Gordon — June 24, 2011
(RNS) A new report asserts that anti-Muslim prejudice has worsened in recent years, but argues the trend could be reversed with greater community outreach. The report, “Same Hate, New Target: Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States,” was released Thursday (June 23) by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the University of California Berkeley’s […]
China vows to ordain bishops without Vatican’s OK
By Tracy Gordon — June 24, 2011
(RNS) In a move likely to aggravate tensions with the Vatican, China’s state-run Catholic church announced on Thursday (June 23) that it may soon ordain more than 40 bishops without the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. According to the official Xinhua news agency, a spokesman for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) said the church […]
Parochial schools not immune to bullies
By Tracy Gordon — June 24, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) Middle school is no picnic for a lot of students, but for Alec McGuire, it was intolerable. He transferred from one Catholic school to another in eighth grade to get away from another student whom he said harassed and ridiculed him. Whether making fun of his parents’ divorce or throwing a […]
