Breaking News

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Breaking News

• Recent events carried in the media that
  involve religion

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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Congress Federalizes Hill in San Diego to
Protect Cross and Frustrate Atheist
The US Congress quickly made a hill with a cross
on top in San Diego, California into federal
property to avert a possible decision by a judge,
based on a suit brought by an atheist, that might
have required the cross to be removed. The hill
was San Diego city property before Congress
acted.
New York Daily News,
August 2, 2006
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Hindu Representatives Win Textbook Changes,
Want More The California Board of
Education has approved 75 of the changes to 6th
grade textbooks requested by representatives of
Hindu groups, but those Hindus present at a
public hearing want a number of other sore points
addressed. These include texts emphasis on the
caste system, widow suicide, and other elements
of Indian culture, past and present. Hindu
organizations want to emulate the success of
Muslim groups, whose editorial changes have now
led to complaints from Christians and others that
Islam is portrayed in too rosy a light.
Hindu Press
International, 3-1-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Women Defy Ban on Priesthood for
Catholics Pittsburgh - A dozen Catholic women
participated in a ceremony today to proclaim
themselves priests or deacons in the Catholic
Church. Similar ceremonies conducted by the
group, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, have been
held before in other countries, and most
participants were excommunicated. This
unfortunate ceremony will take place outside the
church and undermines the unity of the church,
said Ronald Lengwin, a spokesman for the
Pittsburgh diocese. Those attempting to confer
Holy Orders have, by their own actions, removed
themselves from the church, as have those who
present themselves for such an invalid ritual.

New York Daily News,
7-31-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Coach is Allowed to Pray with Team New Jersey -
Judge Dennis Cavanaugh of the US District Court
in New Jersey ruled Tuesday that Marcus Borden,
the coach at East Brunswick High School, can bow
his head and bend down on one knee during
student-led prayers. Cavanaugh ruled that
Bordens pregame actions were not the same as
praying. Because Borden was not seeking
permission from the court to lead the team in
prayersomething he had done in the pastthe
ruling did not resolve the issue of whether a
teacher or coach can conduct prayer sessions.


NY Times 7-21-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Excommunication is Sought for Stem Cell
Researchers Rome Scientists who engage in stem
cell research should be subject to
excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church,
according to a senior Vatican official. Cardinal
Alfonso López Trujillo said that Destroying an
embryo is equivalent to abortion.
Excommunication is valid for the women, the
doctors and researchers who destroy embryos.
Excommunication for abortion is latae
senentiae, meaning that it is automatic. This
type of excommunication is reserved for acts
deemed so serious that no verdict or judgment is
required, such as violence against the Pope or
consecrating a bishop without authorization.

NY Times
7-1-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Baptist Colleges Scale Back Ties to Their
Denomination Georgetown, Ky. Georgetown College
decided to end its 63-year-old affiliation with
the Kentucky Baptist Convention after its
president asked him to appoint someone to the
faculty who would teach a literal interpretation
of the Bible. This follows a pattern of
separation between collegessuch as Furman and
Wake Forest--and the church over the past two
decades. David W. Key, director of
Baptist Studies at Candler School of Theology,
said, The real underlying issue is that
fundamentalism in the Southern Baptist form is
incompatible with higher education. In
fundamentalism, you have all the truths. In
education, youre searching for truths.


NY Times 7-22-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
The Rapture Index Goes Up with Mideast War The
Rapture Index, an evangelical Christian web site
that predicts the likelihood of the coming of
Christ, is at 158 anything over 145 indicates
that the end is near. Hits on the website have
gone up from 180,000 in June to 250,000 in July.
In July, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said that the
Mideast war will serve as a prelude or
forerunner to the future Battle of Armageddon and
the glorious return of Jesus Christ.
Evangelicals have sent millions of dollars to
Israel communities, and have hosted pro-Israel
rallies in the US. They are acting out of the
hope that a raging warperhaps even a nuclear
confrontationmay bring the apocalypse.

The Miami Herald, 8-8-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News

• Poll Shows Muslims Under Pressure
• A USA Today poll of 1,077 Americans shows strong
  anti-Muslim feelings, and a separate study shows
  that this is damaging the mental health of
  Muslims in the US. Thirty-nine percent of the
  respondents felt that Muslims should carry a
  special ID to prevent terrorist attacks.
  One-third of respondents assumed that Muslims
  were sympathetic to Al-Queda. Twenty-two percent
  said that they would not want Muslims as
  neighbors.
• A Yale study of 611 Arab-Americans reported that
  the respondents had a much higher level of mental
  health problems than other Americans. For
  example, about half had symptoms of clinical
  depression, compared with 20 in the general
  population. The mental health of Arab-American
  Christians in the study were much more like the
  ordinary person than Muslim Arab-Americans.
• The number of anti-Muslim assaults reported to
  the Council on American-Islamic Relations has
  grown from 1,019 in 2003 to 1,972 in 2005.
• 
  
  
  
  USA
  Today, 8-10-06
  

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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Lebanon Violence Stifles US Jewish-Muslim
Dialogues
San Francisco. The Bay Areas lively interfaith
dialogues are experiencing strain as the
Israeli-Lebanon conflict continues. One factor
influencing this is that support for Israel among
Jews is more united than before. This
enthusiastic solidarity undercuts the common
rationale that one cant blame local believers
for the actions of leaders abroad. One person
who has conducted interfaith dialogues in his
home for fourteen years says that A lot of the
reason that people dont enter into dialogue is
not fear of the other, but fear of what ones own
people will say.
San Francisco
Chronicle 8-9-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Orthodox Jewish Woman Becomes Congregations
Leader Dina Najman, an expert in Jewish
bioethics, will become the rosh kehillah, or
congregational leader of a small Upper West Side
congregation, Kehilat Orach Eliezer, in
September. She will perform many of the
functions of a rabbi, except for leading services
and reading from the Torah. Nor will she be
counted toward the minyan, the quorum of 10 men
needed to start prayer, nor preside over weddings
and baby-naming ceremonies. She will preach,
teach classes, and counsel people. The
congregation was not trying to make a statement
with Ms. Najmans hiring, according to one of the
congregations co-presidents. She was simply the
best candidate among the men and women who
applied, he said.

The New York Times, 8-21-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News

• Woman Elected Head of Largest US Islamic
  Organization
• Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert to Islam, has
  been elected the first female president of the
  Islamic Society of North America, an umbrella
  group of 300 Islamic organizations. She had
  served two terms as vice-president. She
  advocates active engagement of women in Islamic
  institutions, including sitting on boards of
  mosques and centers. She holds a doctorate in
  Islamic studies from the University of Chicago in
  Islamic studies, and is professor of Islamic
  studies and Christian-Muslim relations at
  Hartford Theological Seminary, a graduate school
  for religious leaders who are already ordained
  and working in the field.
• Women have also been elected president of the
  Muslim Students Association and of Muslim Youth
  of North America, but Mattsons election is more
  significant because the Society weighs in on
  discussions of religious law, a topic where she
  is an expert.
• 
  Chicago Tribune, 8-30-06

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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Filmmaker Recruiting Potential Messiahs Andy
Deemer is a documentary filmmaker who will pay
5,000 to a person to start a new religion, on
condition that a film crew can follow the new
messiah around while he or she is going about the
start-up. Deemer, who is allied with the
Institute for the Study of American Religion at
UC Santa Barbara, has received 300 applications
from potential gurus he has interviewed 100 of
the applicants by phone, and 40 in person. New
religions, including Mormonism, Scientology and
the Universal Life Church, have emerged on a
regular basis in the US over the past two
centuries. Deemer wants to know more about how
such movements get started.

The New York Times, 8-28-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Polygamy Sect Leader Arrested Las Vegas. Warren
Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was arrested
during a routine traffic stop in Nevada today.
Jeffs was on the FBIs Most Wanted List he is
said to have at least 40 wives and 60 children.
Underage marriages within his churchsome
involving girls as young as 13rose sharply
during his leadership. He also broke apart
marriages by re-assigning wives, husbands, and
children. The FLDS group, numbering about 10,000
people, remained faithful to the original Mormon
principle of polygamy after the Mormon church
rejected it at the end of the 19th century.

The New York Daily News, 8-3-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News
Queens Principal Sues Over Being Fired
After Filing Complaint About
Daughters Sexual Abuse The former principal
of an Islamic school, Reza Naqvi, has brought a
federal lawsuit against the Al-Imam School in
Jamaica, alleging that his having the schools
maintenance director arrested for fondling his
daughter had led to his dismissal. The principal
did not report the assault to the police when it
occurred, depending on the sheik who heads the
sponsoring organization to handle the matter.
When nothing was done after two months, Naqvi
brought charges against the maintenance director,
who was arrested. Naqvis lawyer said that the
principal had not brought charges immediately
because of cultural differences. New York
Daily News, 8-30-06
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Difficult Dialogues Breaking News

• Archdiocese Gives Ultimatum to Priests Accused of
  Abuse
• Archbishop Edward Egan of the New York
  Archdiocese has offered a choice to seven priests
  believed to be sexual abusers of children to
  either live under close supervision for the rest
  of their lives or resign the priesthood. Because
  the charges against them have not been proved or
  the criminal statute of limitations has run out,
  they cannot be defrocked under canon law. The
  supervision would involve ongoing therapy and
  monitoring of their movements. In the past,
  church programs aimed at rehabilitation of the
  accused, but the relapse rate was very high.
  This program is lifelong.
• Five of the seven priests have chosen to resign,
  rather than submit to the program.
• 
  The New York Times,
  8-31-06

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Difficult Dialogues - Breaking News

• Numbers of Zoroastrians Decline, May Face
  Extinction
• The number of Zoroastrians worldwide may be as
  low as 150,000, according to a news report. The
  religion, based in India and Iran, does not
  accept converts or children of mixed marriages.
  Its emphasis on free will and education have
  enabled its followers to become high achievers
  wherever they go, but its determined tie to its
  ethnic roots may forecast a dim future. Founded
  more than 3,000 years ago, the religion is
  monotheistic, and may have had some influence on
  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• 
  The New York Times, 9-6-06