Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Catholic Academics: Boehner’s Actions Depart from Church
A prominent group of Catholic academics sent an open letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, a Catholic, before his commencement address at the Catholic University of America in which they said his political...
Gerald Ford: Standing Up to Fear and Hatred
The late Gerald Ford, former president of the United States, was honored earlier this month with a statue in "Statuary Hall" in the United States House of Representatives. Ford served most of his political career as a...
Does Self-Described Historian Believe His Distortions?
The first weekend of May was supposed to belong to Osama bin Laden, and he was noticed, by those who monitor the fates of religions in media. Amazingly, he had to share space and time with a figure self-described as a...
Vatican Gives Bishops One Year to Set Abuse Policies
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The world’s Catholic bishops have one year to set national policies on clerical sex abuse of minors, the Vatican said on Monday (May 16), but such policies may vary significantly in each country, and...
Billy Graham Returns Home from Hospital
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham returned home Sunday (May 15) after a five-day hospital stay for pneumonia. Graham, 92, has regained strength after treatment with antibiotics, according to his doctors at Mission Hospital...
Dalai Lama, Nobel Laureates Tussle (Gently) Over Violence
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The Dalai Lama says peace in the world begins with peace in oneself. Some of his fellow Nobel laureates, however, aren’t convinced. “It isn’t that I’m just an angry human being, it’s anger at...
Limbaugh, MSNBC’s O’Donnell Spar over Jesus and Taxes
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and liberal MSNBC pundit Lawrence O'Donnell traded barbs recently over what Jesus' policies would be on taxes. The two waded into the issue as Christian leaders sought...
Yad Vashem: A Visit to the Jewish Holocaust Memorial
I returned to Israel this month in the good company of David Coffey, now our BMS global ambassador, to join with Israel's Baptists and celebrate their centenary. When I came here last year, most of my time was spent...
Climate Change: How Evangelical and Catholic Leaders Differ
Texas has been burning. Memphis has flooded. Tuscaloosa has been cleaning up after a tornado with 190-mile-per-hour winds smashed through Alabama. Kentucky has been drying out from almost one foot more rain in April...
Vatican Says Latin Mass Shouldn’t Divide Catholics
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Friday (May 13) broadened access to the old Latin Mass with a new rule that gives the Vatican the power to overrule bishops who fail to make the rite available in their dioceses. The...
Dalai Lama Brings Peace Message to New Jersey
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The Dalai Lama has a message for Newark: Peace does not come easily, but the strategy for attaining it is simple. Flanked by blue orchids, Buddhist monks and a security detail from the U.S. State...
Holocaust Conviction Began in Cleveland
CLEVELAND (RNS) The case that led to John Demjanjuk’s conviction in Germany on Thursday (May 12) was laid out 10 years ago in a Cleveland courtroom, where lawyers sparred over his wartime past. At the time, prosecutors...
End-Of-World ‘Prophets’ Profit From Peoples’ Fears
I worked with a preacher once who was convinced we were living in history’s last days. He was sure Jesus was about to return in what Christians call the “second coming.” In what I thought was a bizarre act of lunacy,...
Pope’s Support 120 Years Ago Affirms Labor Unions
Pope Leo XIII issued the momentous encyclical Rerum Novarum ("Of New Things") 120 years ago, on May 15, 1891. Leo XIII, who had been the pope for 25 years when he died in 1903, began his 1891 encyclical (formal...
Georgia Governor Signs Anti-Immigration Bill into Law
Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law a bill modeled after Arizona's controversial 2010 anti-immigration measure, despite significant opposition from business leaders and some religious leaders. Calling...
Of shock and self-interest
Last night I attended a performance of the musical Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, which I had not seen before. I became familiar with the music when it first came out -- or at least with the tamer songs...
Russian, Greek Orthodox Leery of ID Cards
MOSCOW (RNS/ENInews) Russian and Greek Orthodox leaders are objecting to plans in both countries to introduce electronic identity cards intended to streamline bureaucracy. Church officials are demanding close study of...
Bill Would Strengthen Role of Religious Freedom Envoy
WASHINGTON (RNS) New legislation proposed by a leading congressional watchdog would push the State Department to make international religious freedom a greater priority. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., introduced a bill on...
Graham’s Doctor Says Condition Has Stabilizedad
(RNS) Billy Graham’s doctor confirmed Thursday (May 12) that the 92-year-old evangelist has pneumonia, but said he is doing well. Graham was taken Wednesday to Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., where he was started...
“Thor”
The summer movie season began with Marvel Studios' "Thor," an adaptation of their comic based on Norse mythology. The impetuous son of Odin, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), is full of bluster and arrogance. Odin (Anthony...
Two Kinds of Leaders: Shepherds and Thieves
My guess is that whenever most of us associate Jesus and sheep, the first thing that comes to mind about Jesus is that he's the shepherd. But that isn't what the writer of the Gospel of John records as Jesus' own first...