religion – News Stories About religion - Page 19

Apr 14, 2008 6:48 AM CDT

Bitter Schism Dominates Faith Forum

Dems try to close God Gap, but debate cleaves to politics

(Newser) - Secular politics won the day at last night's "Compassion Forum" in Pennsylvania, the LA Times reports, despite the Democratic contenders' resolve to present a united front on faith. Hillary Clinton used her pulpit at Messiah College to sermonize against her rival's comments on "bitter" religious voters, again calling...

America May See Soft
Side of Hardline Pope

Apr 13, 2008 8:01 PM CDT

America May See Soft Side of Hardline Pope

Pontiff known to blend dogma with compassion

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI is a known hardliner, but Americans may see his softer side during a 5-day US tour this week, the New York Times reports. During stops at the White House, United Nations, and various churches, Benedict will touch on abortion, divorce, war, and the priest sex-abuse scandals, but...

Police Fear Stonewall by Polygamist Settlers

Apr 13, 2008 8:35 AM CDT

Police Fear Stonewall by Polygamist Settlers

Faithful see government as 'devil'

(Newser) - Warren Jeffs' hand-picked, devoted settlers may refuse to testify against his polygamist compound in Texas, officials fear—making it tough to win cases of suspected child abuse. "All these girls are taught from the cradle not to trust anybody from the outside—especially the government," Utah's attorney general...

Top 10 Crazy Cults

Apr 12, 2008 10:04 AM CDT

Top 10 Crazy Cults

Polygamists, UFOs, and apocalyptic prophesies abound

(Newser) - Experts are debating whether the polygamist sect raided in Texas last week is a cult. Meanwhile, LiveScience has cooked up a list of bona fide cults—the top 10 craziest of them all:

Raëlians: Followers believe that UFOs spawned most religions and cloning can lead to reincarnation.

Benedict the Right Pope
for Right Now: Noonan

opinion

Apr 11, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Benedict the Right Pope for Right Now: Noonan

Internet pontiff succeeds TV phenomenon

(Newser) - John Paul II was an incredible Pope, but Benedict might be just what the world needs today, writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. Benedict, who "lacks an immediately accessible flair," succeeded a telegenic "showman" who brought joy to the faithful. "John Paul made you...

Texas Polygamists: Sect or Cult?

Apr 10, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

Texas Polygamists: Sect or Cult?

Sociologist explores such groups and what keeps people there

(Newser) - While much of the media is calling the polygamous group raided in Texas a “sect,” some experts say it’s better defined as a cult, LiveScience reports. One scientist points out that the word “cult” is often avoided in academia for its negative connotations. But “if...

534 Taken From
Polygamist Ranch

Apr 7, 2008 6:04 PM CDT

534 Taken From Polygamist Ranch

Cops arrest one for interfering with evacuation

(Newser) - Texas officials have removed 534 people and arrested one in an ongoing raid of a polygamist ranch near Eldorado, the San Angelo Standard-Times reports. But the man they collared is only charged with obstructing the 4-day raid, not committing the rape that sparked it. Meanwhile, at a nearby historical fort,...

McCain Keeps His God
to Himself

Apr 3, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

McCain Keeps His God to Himself

Dems more vocal on religion; Mac's silence called 'soldier's faith'

(Newser) - John McCain is notably reserved about his religious faith. He rarely refers to God on campaign stops, in marked contrast to the two presidents who preceded him and, in a role reversal, to his Democratic opponents. His reticence is a throwback to the days when religion was kept out of...

Muslims Outnumber
Catholics: Vatican

Mar 30, 2008 4:09 PM CDT

Muslims Outnumber Catholics: Vatican

Islam is world's biggest religion with 1.3B members

(Newser) - Islam has topped Roman Catholicism as the world's biggest religion for the first time, the Vatican said today. About 1.1 billion people are still Catholic, but Muslims have pulled ahead with 1.3 billion members. “For the first time in history we are no longer at the top:...

7 Russian Cultists Quit Cave

Mar 29, 2008 5:49 AM CDT

7 Russian Cultists Quit Cave

Melting snow dooms end-of-the-world cult's hideout

(Newser) - Seven members of a Russian doomsday cult, all women, have emerged from the cave where they have been holed up since November, awaiting the end of the world (note: in May), Itar-Tass reports. Twenty-eight more remain in the cave southeast of Moscow—but they are expected to come out soon,...

Naughty Playboy Goes Nice

Mar 28, 2008 5:15 PM CDT

Naughty Playboy Goes Nice

No full frontal nudity in Philippines' ‘dad mag’ edition

(Newser) - A Philippines edition of dependably naughty Playboy magazine launches Thursday, but fans looking for flesh can forget it, Reuters reports. Instead of aiming at lads, the mag targets mature dads, and religious considerations mean full-frontal nudity is a no-no. It’ll burst instead with well-written articles on “everything under...

Open-Minded Obama Earns Backing of GOP Stalwart

OPINION

Mar 24, 2008 4:18 PM CDT

Open-Minded Obama Earns Backing of GOP Stalwart

Lawyer Kmiec disagrees on most issues, backs candidate anyway

(Newser) - The former legal counsel to Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush is siding with Barack Obama, calling the Democrat “a person of integrity, intelligence and good will.” Doug Kmiec disagrees with the candidate on gay marriage, abortion, states’ rights, and the place of religion in the public sphere,...

Easter Defies Madison Avenue

Mar 23, 2008 8:00 AM CDT

Easter Defies Madison Avenue

Religious holiday's originis too wild to tame into commercialism

(Newser) - Christmas’ religious meaning is lost in a sea of advertising, parties, and major retail dollars, but Easter has resisted becoming a “consumerist nightmare”—and that’s because its Christian origins demand serious thought, writes James Martin in Slate. While “the Christmas story is easily reduced to pablum,...

World's Holy Days Converge

Mar 21, 2008 8:51 AM CDT

World's Holy Days Converge

Believers of almost all stripes have something to celebrate today

(Newser) - This Good Friday is not simply the most solemn day in the Christian calendar but a convergence of movable feasts that doesn't occur more than once in a century. March 21 is also the first day of the Jewish festival of Purim and the celebration of the birth of the...

Gorbachev Admits He's Christian

Mar 19, 2008 9:00 AM CDT

Gorbachev Admits He's Christian

Ex-Soviet prez publicly atheist, but Reagan sensed 'closet believer'

(Newser) - Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union's atheist empire, Mikhail Gorbachev has admitted he is a Christian, reports the Daily Telegraph. On a visit to Italy the last president of the Communist state prayed at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, and later told priests the...

Obama Pastor Being 'Lynched,'
Faithful Say

Mar 18, 2008 9:35 AM CDT

Obama Pastor Being 'Lynched,' Faithful Say

Clerics defend 'righteous rage' of inflammatory preacher

(Newser) - Black pastors and parishioners—including the 3,000 who packed Trinity Church in Chicago Sunday—are leaping to the defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who's drawn a firestorm of criticism for his incendiary rhetoric on racism, the Washington Post reports. A pamphlet circulating the pews decried Wright’s treatment in...

Obama Campaign
Drops Rev. Wright

Mar 15, 2008 5:25 AM CDT

Obama Campaign Drops Rev. Wright

Minister prone to provocative statements will no longer advise the Illinois senator

(Newser) - Jeremiah Wright, the militant Chicago minister and spiritual adviser to Barack Obama, is off the senator’s campaign, CNN reports. Wright will no longer sit on the senator’s African-American Religious Leadership Committee, the campaign announced. Obama has often said he rejects the reverend’s more incendiary opinions, especially his...

Obama Preacher's
Words Keep Resurfacing

Mar 14, 2008 11:59 AM CDT

Obama Preacher's Words Keep Resurfacing

Inflammatory comments from past may haunt candidate

(Newser) - In the latest campaign preacher flap, TV networks are airing clips from sermons in which the former pastor of Barack Obama's church condemns "racist" US society and compares the candidate's experiences to Jesus' struggles, the Guardian reports. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human,...

Obama's Church Flouts Tax Law

Mar 10, 2008 2:35 PM CDT

Obama's Church Flouts Tax Law

Candidate's church offers praise from the pulpit, pans opponent

(Newser) - Barack Obama's home church in Chicago may be risking its tax-exempt status by promoting the candidate in sermons. Churches are allowed to support specific causes, but not candidates, and some experts say the praise—and attacks on Hillary Clinton— violate IRS laws. "There does seem to be a pattern...

Moses Got High on Mt. Sinai, Study Says

Mar 4, 2008 7:08 PM CST

Moses Got High on Mt. Sinai, Study Says

Mind-altering drugs may have sparked religious visions

(Newser) - Moses was high on mind-altering drugs when he heard God’s word on Mount Sinai, an Israeli researcher said this week. He contends that hallucinogenics were key to Jewish ceremonies and explain Moses' reception of the Ten Commandments and his vision of the burning bush. Benny Shanon, who teaches at...