Kevin Eckstrom joined the RNS staff in February, 2000 and became editor in 2006. Prior to coming to RNS, he worked as religion editor at the Stuart/Port St. Lucie News in Florida. He was the winner of the 2000 Cassels Award for small newspapers from the Religion Newswriters Association. Under his leadership, RNS was named Best Wire Service by the Associated Church Press for both 2006 and 2007 – the only time RNS has won back-to-back years. Eckstrom holds a M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from The George Washington University.
In 2007, he was elected president of the Religion Newswriters Association. His work was featured in Changing Boundaries: The Best Religion News Writing of 2003.
Gays can now be Boy Scouts and — surprise surprise! — conservatives aren’t happy about it. Should a rabbi be married only to a Jew? And is Anne Heche’s new sitcom about God any good?
That image of the pope deep in prayer? Well, that’s sort of true. QE2 is still on the throne, but they’re already planning the interfaith-ish coronation ceremony for her successor. And Eric Yoffie has a sense of chutzpah.
(RNS) See, I knew it: Twitter really is of the devil. Do you know which religion considers carrot cake an essential ingredient for rites and rituals? And Pat Robertson dispenses marriage advice to women.
(RNS) This kid needs more guacamole (and here’s how you can help). Bible-quoting cheerleaders in Texas score a win, Santa Muerte is blasphemous and an artist decides to get tattooed with Jesus’ 39 lashes.
AshelyMadison.com has a new poster boy (literally) for infidelity. A Catholic priest fired for advocating open marriage likens himself to centuries of martyrs burned at the stake. And Britons put more faith in their grocers than they do in the church.
John Paulk is now an ex- ex-gay with an ex-lesbian ex-wife. Benedict XVI is likely to move back to the Vatican in the next few days and becoming a Hasidic Jew helped a former hippie child become less obnoxious in public.
WASHINGTON (RNS) As the manhunt intensified in and around Boston, Muslim leaders hastily convened a press conference Friday to denounce the attacks and, in an attempt at damage control that has become almost routine, to urge the media not to link Islam with violent extremism.
(RNS) A helpful primer on Chechnya as the Boston manhunt intensifies. Pope Francis meant it when he talked about “a poor church.” And George Soros isn’t dead yet.
(RNS) Students are packing heat at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University — maybe they’re the evangelical “extremists” the Army is worried about. Women across Europe staged a “topless jihad” (you knew it would come to this) and Harry Potter may or may not be an Orthodox Christian.
WASHINGTON (RNS) Amidst all the usual arguments for and against gay marriage, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to be grasping for a way to sidestep an up-or-down decision on a divisive social issue.
