A man opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun during a children’s play at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tenn on Monday.
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, walked in the Church, pulled out his gun from a guitar case and began shooting, killing two and injuring seven others before being tackled to the ground by parishioners.
It [...]
Archive for July, 2008
Gunmen Kills Two at Unitarian Universalist Church
Posted in Christianity, Religion and Popular Culture, Uncategorized, tagged Columbia Missourian, Gunmen Kill 2, Jim Adkisson, Knoxville, Rebecca Romano, Tenn, Unitarian Universalist Church on July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Catholic Groups Ask Pope to End Contraception Ban
Posted in Christianity, Religion and Politics, Religion and Popular Culture, Religious Leaders, tagged Catholic Church, Columbia Missourian, Contraceptive ban, Corriere della Sera, Humanae Vitae, Rebecca Romano on July 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On Friday, a letter written by 50 Catholic groups to Pope Benedict asked for the Church’s contraception ban to be lifted. The day marked the 40th anniversary of the ban, which the late Pope Paul VI’s wrote, called “Humanae Vitae.” The letter was published as an advertisement in the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera.
The [...]
Where have all the men gone?
Posted in Uncategorized on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
According to a USA Today article, the number of men attending church is dwindling.
Women outnumber men in attendance in every major Christian denomination, and they are 20% to 25% more likely to attend worship at least weekly
Churches across the country are worried that fewer male attendants will eventually mean fewer attendees in general.
A recent [...]
Woman experiences stroke of bad luck while performing a good luck ritual
Posted in Religion and Popular Culture, tagged good luck ritual, Indiana, Katie Bascuas, Wicca, Witham Memorial Hospital on July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
While performing a Wiccan good luck ritual, a 36-year-old woman stabbed herself in the foot with a three-foot-long sword.
Katherine Gunther, of Lebanon, performed the ceremony, which involves driving a sword into the ground during a full moon, in a cemetery in central Indiana.
‘It wasn’t the first time I performed the ritual, but it was [...]
Many turning to God and church for financial rescue
Posted in Christianity, Religion and Popular Culture, Uncategorized, tagged Churches, credit card debt, Katie Bascuas, Mortgage crisis on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Amidst the financial turbulence that is sweeping the country, churches, across the nation, are offering fiscal counseling, and lending a hand to members struggling with credit card debt and impending mortgage foreclosures.
The churches’ efforts are timely. Consumer debt, which does not include mortgages, reached $2.56 trillion in April, up from $2.28 trillion at the end [...]
Group says it ordained 3 women Catholic priests
Posted in Christianity, Religion and Popular Culture, Religious Leaders, tagged Archdiocese of Boston, Boston, Catholic, Church of the Covenant, Columbia Missourian, Heather Harrison, Holy Spirit, ordain, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, priest, priesthood, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, women on July 20, 2008 | 2 Comments »
An activist group hoping to pressure the Roman Catholic church into dropping its long-standing prohibition barring women from the priesthood says it ordained three women on Sunday.
The group known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests held the ceremony at the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant Church in Boston.
According to the group’s website, their mission is:
“to [...]
Faith and the Stock Market
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Religion and Popular Culture, tagged alcohol, Amana group, Christian, Columbia Missourian, faith-based mutual funds, Heather Harrison, interest, invest, Islam, Islamic mutual funds, Mennonites, MMA Praxis, oil companies, pacifist, riba, sin stocks, subprime mortgage, The Timothy Plan, tobacco, weapons makers on July 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Newsweek has an article about faith-based mutual funds. According to the article, faith-based funds have grown to nearly $17 billion from $500 million over the past decade.
Here are some examples of faith-based mutual funds:
-MMA Praxis funds, founded by the Mennonites, have a pacifist and pro-environment bent: their funds screen out most oil companies and [...]
A Veil Closes France’s Door to Citizenship
Posted in Islam, tagged citizenship, Columbia Missourian, Fadela Amara, Faiza Silmi, France, freedom of religion, French, French Constitution, Heather Harrison, Islam, Muslim, niqab, orthodox, prison, religious garments, secularism, straitjacket, veil on July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last month, France’s highest administrative court upheld a decision to deny citizenship to Faiza Silmi, 32, on the ground that her “radical” practice of Islam was incompatible with French values like equality of the sexes.
“I would never have imagined that they would turn me down because of what I choose to wear,” Silmi said, her [...]
What Does ‘Jihad’ Really Mean?
Posted in Islam, Religion and Popular Culture, tagged Ani Zonneveld, Columbia Missourian, George Bush, Heather Harrison, internal struggle, Islam, jihad, jihadist, Muslim, Muslims for Progressive Values, peaceful, positive, religious duty, Tawfik Hamid, Ummah Wake Up, violent on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
According to a story from NPR:
“After years of using the word “jihadist” to describe terrorists who carry out attacks against civilians and the U.S. military, the Bush administration has finally realized that doing so actually pays those groups a compliment in the eyes of some Muslims.
Jihad has very positive connotations in the Islamic world. [...]
