In the spirit of Studs Terkel-esque oral histories, Jill Rappaport and her sister, Linda Solomon, have released a new book. “Mozel Tov!” highlights celebrity memories from bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs in their own words. On the Today show, Rappaport recounted the designer Michael Kors bat mitzvah story, where he was determined to plan out [...]
Archive for December, 2007
Rappaport’s “Mozel Tov!”
Posted in Uncategorized on December 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Catholic participation in confession dwindling
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged allison ross on December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The Columbia Missourian ran a story today about how Catholic participation in confession, also known as the sacrament of reconciliation, has dropped dramatically in the last several decades. Catholic priests are urging penitents to return to the sacrament during this time of Advent, the penitential season before Christmas.
Also, take the time to check out some [...]
In pictures
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged allison ross on December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Here are some pictures of religious news and celebrations around the world from Friday, courtesy of BBC News. Hold your cursor over the picture for a brief caption.
For more, check out BBC’s “Day in Pictures” section here.
An Englishman in Kansas
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged allison ross on December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
BBC Radio ran a piece by correspondent Justin Webb today about evangelical Christians in Kansas.
In it, he argues that “the ‘burning at the stake’ wing of America’s Christian churches — the wing that stresses vengeance over love — is in trouble,” that groups like the Westboro Church condemning homosexuality aren’t getting many followers these days. [...]
Top Ten Stories of 2007, pt. 2
Posted in Uncategorized on December 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The Religion Newswriters Association has released their rankings of the top ten religion-related news stories of this year. The list was compiled from “a poll of the nation’s leading religion writers” with voters judging the tension between evangelical voters and the likely crop of GOP Presidential candidates as the #1 faith-related story of 2007. The writers [...]
Faith headlines 12.21.07
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Religious Holidays, Religious Leaders on December 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
From the Christian Science Monitor: “Can religion improve peace prospects in the Middle East?”
From the Washington Post: “Signs of Season Include Legal Spats Over Church-State Issues”
From the AP: “Pope Willing to talk with China”
Top Ten Stories of 2007, Pt. 1
Posted in Blogroll, Religion and Popular Culture on December 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Christianity Today has posted its list of the top ten stories of 2007. The magazine sought to aggregate “The events, people, and debates of the past year that Christianity Today’s editors believe have shaped, or will significantly shape, evangelical life, thought, or mission.”
#1 on the list is a story about the Taliban in Afghanistan taking a [...]
Faith headlines 12.20.07
Posted in Religion and Politics, Religious Holidays on December 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
From The State: “Mormonism an issue for Romney in S.C.”
From the Christian Science Monitor: “Candidate Clinton goes public with her private faith”
From the AP: “Israel Eases Bethlehem Christmas Travel”
Faith headlines 12.19.07
Posted in Religion and Politics, Religion and Popular Culture, Religious Leaders on December 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
From Reuters: “Clergy take on mortgage mess”
From the AP: “Religious Freedom in Military Questioned” and “Huckabee Stands by Christmas Ad”
From the NY Times: “Green Light for Institute on Creation in Texas”
Let’s talk about sex, baby
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged allison ross on December 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Do abstinence-only programs work?
More and more states are saying “No” and are choosing to opt out receiving federal money for having abstinence-only programs. The Washington Post reported that at least 14 states are expected to refuse the federal funds; in contrast, “until this year, only four states had passed up the funding,” the Post stated.
Is [...]
