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Sunday, April 1, 2012: Isaiah 50:4–9a; Philippians 2:5–11; Mark 14:1–15:47
The gospel reading this week tells the poignant story of the nameless woman's anointing of Jesus at the house of Simon the Leper....
Talking about contraception
Who would have thought that contraception would become such a
major issue in this election year?
Or is it?
The U.S. Catholic bishops stress that the issue
is not really contraception but religious liberty--the right of Catholics, and
by extension any group of religious people, to practice and live out their
faith. That's a plausible argument, as the Century
editors acknowledged a few weeks ago, and
it is certainly one designed to gain allies among other religious people.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Holding banks accountable, the conversation the bishops aren't having, more.
Telling both sides of the (misguided, patronizing) story
As I've said before, the objectivity-fetishizing conventions of straight news reporting make me crazy. It's not just the odd philosophical throwback of implying that reporters can somehow avoid writing as particular people situated in particular contexts. It's also the convoluted copy, in which even plain facts can't be stated plainly if they happen to be unpopular.
So I was glad when NPR released its new ethics handbook, in which among other things the network states that it favors "truth" over "the appearance of balance" and adds that "if the balance of evidence in a matter of controversy weighs heavily on one side, we acknowledge it in our reports."
Norway's state church headed toward dis-establishment
Oslo (ENInews)--Major steps toward the dis-establishment of
Norway's state church, the (Lutheran) Church of Norway, were passed by the...
Egyptian Christians mourn death of Coptic Pope Shenouda III
(ENInews)--Thousands of Egyptians are mourning the death of Pope
Shenouda III, the longtime leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, who died March 17 at the age of 88....
Teen hero: Life and death in The Hunger Games
While Suzanne Collins’s trilogy does not have overt Christian themes, it does offer a social vision familiar to Christians.
New Obama proposal gives religious groups more say in birth control mandate
The Obama administration is offering to expand the number of
faith-based groups that can be exempt from the controversial...
What's God up to?
Among the most stimulating books I've read recently is Samuel Wells's Be Not Afraid, from which I picked up the phrase repeated several times in my current lectionary columns for the Century: "What's God up to?" This is the question that counts.
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Life and death in The Hunger Games, faith formed in the midst of betrayal, more.
Crystal Cathedral downfall offers cautionary tale
c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) Last Sunday (March 11), Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman appeared for
apparently the last time before some 800 people at the morning service of...
Bishops 'dubious' on White House contraception compromise
c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) The nation's Catholic bishops have again voiced doubts about the...
Evangelicals voting in record numbers in GOP primaries
c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) Making up half of Republican primary voters, evangelicals appear to
be turning out to support Rick Santorum's resurgent campaign in record...
As Rowan Williams retires, guesses on successor rise
When Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced suddenly in
mid-March that he will step down at the end of 2012, a short list of...
Love and Lent
Our pastor had an affair and confessed it in his sermon. He stood up in front of the church and let the gathered members know that he had succumbed to temptation, but he was ready to just "move on."
Archbishop of Canterbury to step down, accepts position at Cambridge
March 16 (ENInews)--The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, announced on 16 March that he will step down from the post at the end of 2012 and has accepted the position of Master of Magdalene ...
Issues with the iPad
Apple
unveiled the iPad 3 last week; it's scheduled to be released today. On Sunday
the company announced that pre-ordered devices were sold out.
The news came weeks after Apple's annual shareholders' meeting, at which it reported that it has nearly $100 billion in
cash.
Amid
its latest triumphs, the company continues to face criticism over labor
practices at Foxconn and its other suppliers in China. While such allegations
are not new, recent reports by This
American Life and the New
York Times have raised public awareness of long hours, low
wages, cramped dormitories and hazardous working conditions that have resulted
in deaths and injuries for Chinese employees.