News items for 2007-June

2007-JUN-17: USA: Episcopal priest is both Christian and Muslim: The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding regards herself as both a Christian and a Muslim. She is an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, USA and attends Friday services at a mosque. Here friends generally support her. But religious authorities are mixed. Some feel that Islam and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Others believe that it is possible to interprets the tenets of the two faiths in such a way that a person can believe in both faiths. ₁ More info.

2007-JUN-26: USA: Senate to open with a Hindu prayer: For the first time, the U.S. Senate will be opened with a prayer delivered by a Hindu on JUL-12. Chaplain Rajan Zed, who will deliver the morning prayer, said that it will be: "an illustrious day for all Americans and a memorable day for us." Zed expects to quote Hindu scriptures including the Rig Veda, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita. He is believed to have been the first Hindu to deliver opening prayers in any state legislature when he opened sessions of the Nevada State Assembly and Senate this year.

Some conservative mailing lists and blogs reacted very negatively to Zed's prayer, believing that only Christian and perhaps Jewish clergy should be allowed to deliver a prayer.

Betty Koed of the Senate Historical Office knows of "no evidence of a Hindu prayer" being spoken on the Senate floor in the past.

Other firsts for Senate prayers were:

Zed's prayer was interrupted by conservative Christian protestors.

2007-JUN-30: USA: LDS Church announced call of their 1 millionth full time missionary: An integral part of the practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the Mormons -- has been to call male missionaries to go out into the world and convert people to their Christian belief system. Recently, they have also allowed single women to be missionaries. The church announced in late June that they had just called their 1 millionth full time missionary. ₃