More than meets the eye
Here is the typical scenario when religion meets journalism: There are traditional believers holding the line against liberal activism. The reality is rarely as simple as usual meme would have us believe.
Chaplains at the winter Olympics
The Salt Lake Tribune writes about the ministry of chaplains at the winter Olympics.
Kristen Moulten writes:
Repentance is hard work
He was not wearing sackcloth and ashes, but Tiger Woods met with a select, closed group of reporters and issued a statement of apology and regret about the behavior that was a nightly staple of the news for a while. Woods says that he is in intensive psychotherapy and that he is turning to religion to help him turn his life around.
Ignatian Spirituality for Inmates
Having entered the season of Lent last week, many Christians are taking up the challenge and opportunity of a deepened prayer life to cultivate the awareness of God's presence in our lives. In one LA correctional facility, seminarian Karri Backer, is leading Ignatian Spirituality groups in the midst of a most distracting and challenging context.
Religion and homophobia in Africa
The debate over the proposed Ugandan "kill-the-gays" bill has increased homophobia in eastern Africa as well as increasing calls to end homophobic laws and practices in those nations.
Bush v. Gore lawyers now teaming up to fight Proposition 8
Lawyers from opposing sides who brought Bush v. Gore to the Supreme Court are working together on Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a U.S. District Court case challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8. (Prop 8, you'll recall, was a California-based definition-of-marriage [one man, one woman] initiative that won narrowly and is now back before the bench.)
CofE Weddings Project
The BBC reports on churches trying to make themselves more attractive to couples planning a wedding and hope that it will increase membership as well over the years:
Does the Supreme Court need a Protestant Justice?
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced this week that he would retire as soon as the Court rises from its current session in late June. The prognosticators immediately got to work, creating a short-list of three. (That was a few days ago. Now the Stevens memorializers are having their say.)
What's God ticked off about now?
What do homosexuality, health care reform, and British advertising standards all have in common? They're all things that have ticked God off, some religious leaders say, and he's venting his frustration with the angry fires of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
Emergent church meets New Mystics
Dave T. Brown at Emergent Village Weblog discusses "Where the Edges Meet: What Emergents Can Learn from the New Mystics.
Are Presbyterians looking at a sexual-ethics sea change?
Will the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), currently sitting in its 219th General Assembly in the Twin Cities area, be the next major denomination to make major adjustments in regard to a self-understanding of who may marry and be ordained?
Anne Rice uses Facebook to break up with Christianity
Anne Rice - author of massively popular vampire fare who recently turned her pen to the matter of religion - recently broke up with Christianity using Facebook, then clarified that it wasn't so much Christ himself as it is the incidentals; in other words, I love ya, Jesus, but your friends have gotta go.
On Wednesday, she wrote on her Facebook fan page:
Institutional bias and universities: anti-theological?
Is theology so obscure an object that theological departments at universities have become an easy target for budget-trimming?
In The Guardian online, Sophia Deboick notes the tension:
The "M-Word" as smear
Two new polls say that one in four respondents believe that President Obama is a Muslim. This, combined with the current flap over a proposed Muslim community center in lower Manhattan, raises the question: is calling someone Muslim a code for saying "I don't like you?"
Go ahead, hate me more
The Washington Post reports on Fred Phelp's day in court scheduled for next week. The Westboro Baptist Church will argue before the Supreme Court that they have a first amendment (free-speech) right to disrupt the first amendment (free exercise of religion) rights of families at the funerals of soldiers who have been killed in action.
Christian theocrats in Canada
Jim Naughton, our Editor in Chief here at Episcopal Café, was one of the first people to write about the actions of the Christian Theocrats in the US. Now there's book that discusses the same group and their growing influence in Canada.
Presiding Bishop's name appears on 'powerful women' list
Appearing on a Fortune list that includes Oprah, Lady GaGa, Ellen DeGeneres, and Michelle Obama, we find the name of The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, listed as a powerful female voice in the category of religion.
Will the miners' new faith stick?
CNN asks whether the newfound faith of the 33 rescued miners in Chile will stick. The answer is "maybe, maybe not."
Remembering those who have taken their own lives
The University of Virginia held a moving vigil Wednesday night to combat sexual orientation bullying and honor those who committed suicide. Several Episcopal clergy and some other ministers joined several hundred students, faculty, staff and members of the community.
Decision making and walking the labyrinth
Daily Kos' spirituality blog, Brothers and Sisters, tells how walking the labyrinth helps with decision making:
Wallace and Gromit as minions of the Anti-Christ
Jonathan Bartley, in Ekklesia, notes that rants against Wallace and Gromit on UK Christmas stamps have begun to appear and the Archbishop of Canterbury has been asked to take action.
A loathing of God-in-a-bottle
Tony Jordan is the writer who penned a four-part drama for BBC based on the Nativity - cleverly enough titled The Nativity. (Hey, don't mess around with the classics, right?) He told The Telegraph that the writing process was something of a conversion for him.
Analyzing religion in America, 2010 edition
We've seen a veritable cornucopia of "top 10 lists" over the past weeks (including ours here on the Café). But there's not been much analysis of what the lists tell us about religion in America. There's been even less discussion of what we can learn by looking at which group puts which story in the top 10.
No more intolerance, or lots more?
Considering yesterday's events in Tuscon, Matt Bai writes:
"A life dedicated to love"
Bishop Marc Andrus writes of recent events in Tunisia, the legacy of Martin Luther King, and the kind of love that launches movements:
Religious leaders voice support for Wisconsin unions
Late last night the Wisconsin State Assembly voted to strip most state employed union members of their collective bargaining ability. The measure now moves to the Senate and if a quorum can be found to pass it, it is expected to be signed by the governor.
Yesterday religious leaders from across the state and around the country came out in support of the Union members and in opposition to the legislatures' actions; Rabbi's and Catholic bishops in that state in particular.
How much is that bone fragment in the window?
Baltimore's Walters Art Museum is currently running an exhibit titled "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe." The Walters' online catalogue for the exhibit includes a number of shrines and reliquaries.
Grieving in Japan: Not why, but what
In light of earthquake, tsunami, and death, Religion & Ethics News Weekly's Bob Abernethey asked Rev. Maggie Izutsu (an expert in Asian bereavement issues) about how she perceives the Japanese processing recent events.
Life expectancy up; religiosity down: cause and effect?
Two UK researchers, Elissaios Papyrakis and Geethanjali Selvaretnam, argue that increasing life expectancy is causing the greying of the church.
Their findings as summarized in the abstract to their article published in the International Journal of Social Economics:
More education = less religion?
Freakonomics reports on a new study from Canada:
Responses roll in to Presbyterians' action on ordination standards
Now that The Presbyterian Church (USA) has relaxed its prohibition on ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians as officers through the passage of its Amendment 10-A by majority vote of its presbyteries, the reactions have begun to come in.
Hawking: there is no heaven
Brad Hirschfield, writing in the Huffington Post reflects on the real sin of Stephen Hawking in denying heaven:
Oops. Sorry about that. Can I keep the cash?
D'oh!
We're still here, right? Well, then, let the inevitable backlash/backpedaling begin.
Prayer vigils ask to lift ban on Bishop Dawani
Episcopalians in the Dioceses of Washington and Los Angeles held prayer vigils in protest of Israeli treatment of Palestinians yesterday, including the treatment of the Bishop of Jerusaslem, Anglican Bishop Suheil Dawani, who has been a permit to reside in Jerusalem:
Prayer vigils send message to Netanyahu: 'Lift the ban on Bishop Dawani'
Even 'Carmageddon' respects religious boundary markers
Orthodox Jews in Los Angeles have need of eruvs - ritual enclosures allowing them to do things on the Sabbath not normally permitted under Torah.
Army to host atheism-themed event
From Religion News Service: U.S. Army officials have agreed to host "Rock Beyond Belief" - an event centered around the theme of nonbelief - at North Carolina's Fort Bragg.
Naming most names
It's been about ten years since news of sexual abuse of children clergy and the systematic protection of offenders in the Archdiocese of Boston was first exposed. Now the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has released a list of accused sex offenders in the Archdiocese.
In Libya, a focus on reconciliation
Tom Heneghan of Reuters has some hopeful news:
Religious controversy over major 9/11 events
Some evangelical groups and conservative commentators complain that evangelicals--and even religion itself--is being excluded from some of the major commemorations set to take place this weekend in New York and Washington a decade after the 9/11 attacks.
