Our Papi * Dangerous Communion * New RNS Editor : Friday’s Religion News Roundup

There's a new sheriff in town here at RNS, and he's taking his cues from Mark Driscoll's tough-guy view of Jesus. But he's not spreading hepatitis A at Communion, or having dreams of Cardinal Bernardin. Find out more in today's Roundup.

Let’s forget last night’s World Series game just for a moment and pray instead with the Rev. Laura Everett, who obviously knows which team God is rooting for:

20131024_170736Meet the new editor of Religion News Service, Gustav Eckstrom-Montgomery, 16 months old (he of the guacamole fame), who has already promised Lauren Markoe milk and cookies every afternoon.


(And who knew I had so many lamps on my desk? Need some decor editing, apparently.)

The hits keep coming from Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll, who’s newest target is Jesus and pacifism. You can read the whole article here, but here’s the gist of it: Jesus “he is saddling up on a white horse and coming to slaughter his enemies and usher in his kingdom. Blood will flow.”

Well then.

Our own Jonathan Merritt has a roundup of angry outrage from pacifists, including this gem from Philadelphia Christian activist Shane Claiborne:

“‘Fight Club’ may have been a good movie, but it makes for really bad theology.”

Georgetown University, unlike sister Jesuit school Boston College, won’t step in to stop an independent student group from making condoms available on campus.

Does this make groups like the ADL irrelevant? American Jews say blacks, gays and Muslims face more discrimination than they do.

Shiva connect photo courtesy

Shiva connect photo courtesy

More proof that you can find absolutely anything on the Interwebs: there’s now a site that operates like a wedding registry for grieving Jewish families to help handle the onslaught of flowers and deli trays.

A group of left-leaning Catholics in the Twin Cities say they have no confidence in Archbishop John Nienstedt to clean up the clergy sex abuse scandal, and have asked the Vatican’s ambassador to help name a replacement.


In neighboring North Dakota, there are fears that the local bishop spread hepatitis A in parishes during Communion after he ate some tainted food during a visit to Rome.

Meanwhile, among right-leaning Catholics, there’s fear that Pope Francis’ push to downplay divisive social issues is threatening to derail the evangelical-Catholic alliance. Values Voter Tracy Pyland tells BuzzFeed “that man needs to read his Bible.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect, but that man garners a lot respect and he should earn that respect. He should not have done that… He’s not doing the job he was given, which is to represent Christ in a positive light.”

Speaking of, Francis apparently planned to watch “Habemus Papem,” an Italian film about a new pope who doesn’t want to be pope, after he got home from last spring’s conclave. Good thing he didn’t watch it beforehand or else he might never have said yes to the job.

Great story from our own David Gibson about how Pope Francis has revived the spirit of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, and why Bernardin’s ghost is causing nightmares for luminaries of the Catholic right.

A small Hispanic congregation in New Jersey is struggling to find the $250,000 needed to right the cross atop their steeple that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy nearly a year ago.

Maybe it’s not that surprising when you consider a new report that says member giving to churches has reached a record low not seen since the depths of the Great Depression.


The latest edition of Moozweek is out, which an intriguing piece about what happens when the royal dynasties of the Persian Gulf region finally collapse.

News from Iran: Four Christians have been sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking alcohol. And by alcohol we mean Communion wine.

Sheldon Adelson’s suggestion that we drop a nuke into the Iranian desert to get them to the negotiating table? Yeah, he says he was just using hyperbole.

We’ll never give you lashes for anything here at RNS — altho Gus is a strict task-master when it comes to meeting deadlines — but we will send you the daily Roundup for free to your inbox when you sign up below:

 

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