Monthly Archives: July 2011
Poll: Americans are unsure on politicians’ faith
By Tracy Gordon — July 21, 2011
New bill would outlaw San FranciscoâÂ?Â?s circumcision ban
By Tracy Gordon — July 21, 2011
(RNS) A new bill would make San Francisco’s proposed circumcision ban illegal before the city even votes on it. The bill, filed this month by State Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Los Angelos Democrat, would prohibit any California city or town from outlawing circumcision. Gatto’s bill requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for passage and […]
Town clerk in N.Y. resigns over new gay marriage law
By Tracy Gordon — July 21, 2011
GRANBY, N.Y. (RNS) Ruth Sheldon was knee-deep in work. As town clerk in Granby in upstate Oswego County, she was busy with the census of the town’s dogs. Workers were going door to door, counting canines and letting people know that every dog over 4 months old needs a license. As the project progresses, piles […]
Campus Crusade ditches name for `Cru’
By Tracy Gordon — July 20, 2011
(RNS) Campus Crusade for Christ is out. “Cru” is in. The 60-year-old evangelical ministry announced its new name at a staff conference in Fort Collins, Colo., on Tuesday (July 19), saying the old name had become problematic. “We’ve been having issues with two words in the name — campus and crusade,” said Steve Sellers, a […]
Senators debate bill to recognize gay marriages
By Jack Jenkins — July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Senators wrestled with issues of faith and religious freedom on Wednesday (July 20) as they debated a new bill that would allow the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages. The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the Respect for Marriage Act, which was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and endorsed by the […]
Christian leaders call for Holy Land protection
By Tracy Gordon — July 20, 2011
LONDON (RNS/ENInews) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on Tuesday (July 19) ended a conference on the plight of Christians in the Holy Land, saying, “We cannot wait for politicians to sort things out. We have got to make a difference ourselves.” Williams hosted the two-day conference with Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols, England’s top Catholic […]
State Dept. tries to raise visibility of religion
By Tracy Gordon — July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON (RNS) Often accused of ignoring religion as they craft foreign policy, the White House and State Department are trying to show that religion is a rising priority for U.S. diplomacy. The most recent case in point: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Istanbul last week (July 15) promoted a new U.S.-backed international agreement […]
What’s behind China’s hard line against Catholics?
By Tracy Gordon — July 20, 2011
VATICAN CITY (RNS) When China’s state-run Catholic Church ordained a new bishop for the Diocese of Shantou last Thursday (July 14) without the Vatican’s approval, it represented the latest step back from years of progress in a complex relationship. Yet the main causes for the shift may have little to do with Rome, experts say, […]
Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Lauren Markoe — July 20, 2011
Irish priests are worried that the government won’t give them an exemption for confession under the rules that make it mandatory to report child abuse. The government says the law is the law. The priests say confession is confession. Pope Benedict XVI will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and longtime former leader Helmut Kohl when […]
Religion News LLC seeks journalists for editor/community manager positions
By Religion News LLC — July 20, 2011
Editors/community managers will create and manage a community religion news and social services website.
Tuesday’s Godbytes
By Jack Jenkins — July 19, 2011
Welcome back to Godbytes, the Tuesday edition. The Harry Potter train (broom?) just keeps on rolling (er, flying?), keeping the blogosphere under its spell. (because he’s a wizard, get it?) Betsy Shirley at Sojourners God’s Politics Blog wonders aloud what a Harry Potter prayer sounds like: So as I watched the final Hogwarts Express depart […]
Watkins re-elected president of Disciples
By Tracy Gordon — July 19, 2011
(RNS) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) voted to re-elect the Rev. Sharon Watkins as head of the denomination, capping off a weeklong assembly that mixed mundane church business with hot-button issues such as homosexuality, immigration and anti-Muslim hate speech. Watkins, who already completed one six-year term as general minister and president, spoke before the […]
Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup
By Daniel Burke — July 19, 2011
Big news today from the City of Brotherly Love, where Cardinal Justin Rigali, under fire for allegedly allowing priests accused of abusing children to remain in ministry, is resigning, the Vatican announced. Rigali will be replaced by Archbishop Charles Chaput, formerly of Denver, who knows his way around the public square. NCR has a loooong […]
COMMENTARY: Life goes on … we hope
By Tracy Gordon — July 19, 2011
SALINA, Kan. (RNS) My wife sealed the envelopes as I affixed the postage stamps (white roses) and out went the rehearsal dinner invitations for our middle son’s wedding in California. Already a year in the planning, the upcoming August wedding is a reminder that, for all the blather of our hyper-partisan politicians, life goes on. […]
Chaput will upend convention in the most conventional of cities
By Tracy Gordon — July 19, 2011
(RNS) The most obvious reason that Pope Benedict XVI sent Archbishop Charles Chaput from Denver to take over the prestigious Archdiocese of Philadelphia was the same one that has shaped almost every major development in American Catholicism over the past decade: the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Chaput replaces Cardinal Justin Rigali, a consummate church insider […]
