Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
5 Takeaways from New Pew Survey on Global Religion
posted on December 20, 2012At CNN, Dan Merica looks at the implications of a much-publicized Pew survey on global religion. The survey indicates that people with no religious affiliation, or “unaffiliated,” constitute the third-largest “religious group.” Merica writes that the survey “brings to light a unique religious landscape that’s defined by a burgeoning Islam, a shifting Christianity and a large group of religiously unaffiliated.”
Used to Helping, a Chaplain Finds the Tables Turned
posted on December 19, 2012At The New York Times, James Dao profiles Lt. Col. Richard Brunk, an army chaplain who suffered two traumatic brain injuries in Iraq. Following family tradition, Brunk was inspired to become an army chaplain while talking to an Army chaplain recruiter in 1989. His injuries have caused him to “become depressed and increasingly isolated, searching for quiet enclaves in libraries or bookstores to escape the crowds,” Dao writes.
Thirty Years After a White Minister’s Son Was Beaten to Death in the Central West End, One Black Man Remains in Prison. But There’s Plenty of Guilt to Go Around.
posted on December 19, 2012Tony D’Souza and Tom Finkel of Riverfront Timestell the story of Todd Weems’ death and the subsequent investigation in St. Louis thirty years ago. Weems was the son of the Rev. Don Weems, leader of Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City, Missouri. The man convicted of his murder, Eric Clemmons, is now fighting for clemency. “And in a cell outside Cape Girardeau, soft-spoken, bespectacled Eric Clemmons awaits a decision. … ‘There was a debt to be paid. I’m hoping I paid it for me and whoever.'”
Muslim Cabbie Sues St. Louis, Taxicab Commission Over Clothing Rules
posted on December 19, 2012St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Denise Hollinshed reports on a St. Louis cabdriver, Raja Awais Naeem, who is suing the city of St. Louis, the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission, and a private security company because he has been harassed for wearing traditional religious clothing. “Wearing my religious attire is not a fashion preference, it is part of my identity and a necessary part of my religious belief,” Naeem said in the affidavit he gave to the taxicab commission.
Read at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Was Jesus Really Born on Dec. 25?
posted on December 19, 2012At Slate, Andrew Santella ponders why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th despite little evidence of Jesus’ actual date of birth. Scholars have offered pre-existing pagan holidays or the winter solstice as possible explanations. Santella concludes, “The holiday is still prime time for disputation. At this time of year, more than any other, the sacred and the secular spend a lot of time jostling for space, and eventually, accommodating each other. So, believers need not be threatened by Christmas’ putative pagan roots. If the church repurposed the old solstice feasts, it only goes to show its power to bend the broader culture to its pastoral purpose.”
Mt. Rubidoux: The Cross and The Fight Over Religion and Landmark
posted on December 19, 2012AT KECT, Susan Straight discusses a fight over a large cross on Mt. Rubidoux in California. The cross, which was erected as a tribute to Father Junipero Serra who founded the California Missions, is in jeopardy after Americans United for Separation of Church and State threatened a lawsuit if it is not taken down. “What if a Star of David were erected near the cross, near a Muslim symbol of faith, next to a Wiccan icon, and whatever atheist image was chosen?” Straight asks.
Hungary’s Jews Face Down New Extremism
posted on December 19, 2012Jobbik, Hungary’s far-right party, has called for a list of prominent Jews to be drawn up in the wake of Israel’s recent conflict with Gaza, reports Marton Dunai of Reuters. In Hungary, a country facing grave economic problems, Jobbik is the third largest party in Parliament and has much support from young voters. However, their anti-Semitism could hurt them. “Anti-Semitism gets far fewer votes,” said Republikon Institute Director Csaba Toth.
Pew Study Finds One in 6 Follows No Religion
posted on December 19, 2012Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times reports on study from the Pew Research Center, which reveals that the “unaffiliated” or the non-religious are the third largest religious group in the world. “Something that may surprise a lot of people,” said Conrad Hackett, a primary researcher on the report, “is that the third-largest religious group, after Christians and Muslims, is the religiously unaffiliated. There may have been some guesses floating out there before, but this is the first time there are numbers based on survey data analyzed in a rigorous and scientific way.”
Obama’s Newtown Remarks Show Presidents as Pastors in Chief
posted on December 19, 2012At CNN, Stephen Prothero praises President Obama’s appearance at the interfaith service in Newtown. Obama took on an unusual role by asking philosophical and theological questions and talking about the role of love. “It wasn’t a speech. It was a sermon. And it is worthy of the talents of our current pastor in chief,” Prothero writes.
St. Rose Priest Mourns with His Flock After Witnessing His Parishioners’ Grief
posted on December 17, 2012Anne Hull of The Washington Post profiles Monsignor Robert Weiss whose church was greatly affected by the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut and who now finds himself comforting the mourning families as he tries to cope with his own grief. Half of the children killed were members of Weiss’s congregation, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. “I thought about Paul. Paul said, ‘In my weakness I find my greatest strength,’” Weiss said.