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Chanticleer brings its usual polish, balance and tonal beauty to these intimate sacred songs....
Occupational hazards
In the spring of 2003, Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid noted that, for Iraqis, the Arabic word for occupation is ihtilal. The word is "shadowed by humiliation, notions of resistance, and still resonant memories of the occupation by the British 85 years before.” Yet that same year the U.S. secured sweeping formal authority from the UN Security Council to serve as the principal “occupying” power in Iraq. John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the UN, declared that “the council has taken decisive action to help the Iraqi people.” This was not the way many Iraqis greeted the news.
Faith claims
Since U.S. immigration laws were liberalized beginning in 1965, America’s religious landscape has undergone dramatic change....
Boy soldiers
If Vietnam, with its baffling, Venus-flytrap landscape, is the perfect dramatic background for an existential drama, the Gulf War would appear to be an ideal setting for an existential comedy: so m...
Go Sox, go Cubs: Not either-or but both-and
This is not an easy time to be a Chicago Cubs fan. Chicago is still celebrating the stunning World Series sweep by the Chicago White Sox....
Take a memo: Prophetic violations
The Internal Revenue Service says that a sermon opposing the U.S....
Century Marks
Death to the death penalty: Polls show that support for the death penalty among lay Catholics is declining. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, D.C., acknowledges that theology doesn’t seem to be driving this trend. Rather, it is more the consequence of the number of cases in which convicted inmates have been proved innocent after DNA testing (USA Today, November 8).
Intelligent design on trial: Is it science?
A 21-day Pennsylvania trial on the teaching of evolution in public schools—which lasted 13 days longer than the 1925 Scopes trial—turned out to be an extended argument over the meaning of certain k...
IRS warning raises church leaders' ire: All Saints Episcopal's tax-exempt status at risk
A large, progressive Episcopal church in southern California, warned by the Internal Revenue Service that its tax-exempt status may be at risk over a preelection antiwar sermon delivered last year,...
UMC bishops dispute church court ruling on gay membership: Bishops say homosexuality "not a barrier"
The bishops of the United Methodist Church have unanimously proclaimed that homosexuality is “not a barrier” to church membership, despite a recent church court ruling that allowed a Virginia pasto...
Seminary presidents back PCUSA report: Report calls for ordaining institutions to decide regarding gay ministers
The presidents of all 12 Presbyterian seminaries have endorsed the recent report of the PCUSA theological task force that unanimously recommended that ordaining institutions in the church decide wh...
Mainline discovers allies among evangelicals: Collaboration without compromise
When evangelicals took center stage at an interfaith “Make Poverty History” rally, Chloe Breyer was uneasy....
Study finds no ill effects of peyote use among Navajos: Religious ritual found to be safe
Native Americans who use peyote as part of a religious ritual show no long-term negative health effects and actually fare better than recovering alcoholics, according to Harvard researchers....
Gay bishop causes stir by criticizing pope: Robinson says frustrated Catholics can find home in Episcopal Church
An openly gay Episcopal bishop has caused a stir among Catholics for criticizing Pope Benedict XVI and suggesting that frustrated Catholics could find a new home in the badly divided Episcopal Chur...
Catholic majority on the high court? Alito would make five: Alito would make five
If Judge Samuel Alito is confirmed as the next member of the U.S. Supreme Court, he will usher in the Court’s first-ever Catholic majority....
Baylor selects alum as new president: John M. Lilley inherits a campus in turmoil
After fits and starts, Baylor University’s search for a new president ended with the choice of Baylor alumnus John M....
Grants to clergy offered for 7th year: Lilly Endowment program renewed
The popular sabbatical-like grants by the Lilly Endowment for clergy around the country will be renewed next year, the Indianapolis-based foundation has announced....