News

News

Kerry cites faith, 'family values'

The convention speech
Aug 24, 2004
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of Massachusetts capped a political convention that saw Democrats emphasizing faith and moral language. “In this campaign, we welcome people of faith,” Senator Kerry told a cheering crowd of about 20,000 delegates, guests and journalists in his acceptance speech at the late July convention in Boston.

IRS nearly toothless, Falwell aide claims

Political endorsements continue
Aug 24, 2004
Jerry Falwell is misleading churches into thinking they can endorse political candidates, two Washington-based watchdog groups warned in complaints to federal agencies. One critic noted that a Falwell associate declared that the IRS lacks the bite to prosecute churches that step over the line.

Muslim leaders decry church attacks in Iraq

Car bombs targeted five churches
Aug 24, 2004
After the first-ever coordinated attacks on Iraq’s minority Christian population on the first Sunday in August, Muslim and church leaders alike condemned the car bombings, and observers wondered whether the terrorist strikes might have failed to achieve an apparent goal of creating religious division.

Forbes: 'God gap' is wrong distinction

"A trivialization conversation"
Aug 24, 2004
Calling the so-called “God gap” between Republicans and Democrats “a trivialization conversation,” New York clergyman James Forbes told an interfaith service in Boston during the Democratic convention that the two groups simply understand their religiosity in different ways.

Harvard returns Arab leader's gift

Funds intended for Islamic studies
Aug 24, 2004
After more than a year of debate and negotiation, Harvard Divinity School has agreed to return a gift from a leader of the United Arab Emirates, at the Arab nation’s request. Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan had given a $2.5 million gift, which the school accepted in 2000, to establish a professorship of Islamic religious studies at the school.