1. Presidential hopefuls Bush, Gore embrace faith-based programs.
My Meeting With the President-Elect | An inside view of Bush’s meeting with religious leaders. (Dec. 22, 2000)
The Bush Agenda | Will the White House be user-friendly for religious organizations? (Dec. 15, 2000)
Bush’s Call to Prayer | After Al Gore’s concession, evangelical leaders unify around faith-based initiatives, morality, and prayer as the incoming Bush administration gears up. (Dec. 14, 2000)
Bush’s Faith-Based Plans | (Oct. 25, 1999)
2. Rioting Muslims target Christians in Ambon, Indonesia.
Indonesian Island Attacks Go Unnoticed | World ignoring plight of Christians in Ambon, visitors say. (Aug. 21, 2000)
Daily Life in the Maluku Islands: Chaos, Fear, and the Threat of Violence | Christians plead for international monitoring to prevent Jihad raids, and more aid for refugees. (Aug. 1, 2000)
Churches Pressure for Swift Action to Calm Maluku Violence | Indonesian army joining in attacks on Christians. (July 21, 2000)
Indonesian Religious Riot Death Toll Dwarfs 30 New Corpses | Death count has passed 1,700. (Mar.3, 2000)
Maluku Islands Unrest Spreads to Greater Indonesia | Violence on Lombok Island may hasten government intervention. (Jan 25, 2000)
3. Gay marriage gains in Vermont, but loses ground among United Methodists.
Mainstreaming the Mainline | Methodist evangelicals pull a once ‘incurably liberal’ denomination back toward the orthodox center. (Aug. 18, 2000)
Sticking With the Status Quo | United Methodists reject gay marriage, ordination. (May 15, 2000)
Vermont House Approves Civil Unions for Homosexual Couples | Amended bill defines ‘marriage’ as heterosexual. (March 27, 2000)
States Discuss Marriage Laws | (Feb. 2, 2000)
4. Texas Southern Baptist moderates defund SBC agencies.
SBC Funding Imperiled | Texas Baptists resolved reduce monies for SBC seminaries and programs. (Sept. 25, 2000)
Southern Baptist Leaders Lament Funding Cuts | Texas board’s action to reduce funding called ‘bad for common missions causes’ (Oct. 2, 2000)
5. U.S. Supreme Court nixes pre-game, public prayer by students.
An End Run Game Plan? | After pregame prayer is barred, educators say they do not need a microphone to pray. (July 20, 2000)
6. African churches fight stigma, panic in HIV-AIDS crisis.
Speaking with Action Against AIDS | A report from the Thirteenth International AIDS Conference. (July 17, 2000)
Have We Become Too Busy With Death?’ | As 4,900 people die each day from AIDS, African Christians are faced with the question. (Feb. 4, 2000)
Church Leaders Confront AIDS | (Feb. 2, 2000)
7. Evangelicals protest medical research using human-embryo tissue.
Congress Hears Testimony on Fetal Tissue | Witness’s credibility damaged by pseudonymous video. (March 30, 2000)
ABC’s ’20/20′ to Air Report on Fetal-Tissue Trafficking Tonight | House of Representatives Committee holding hearings on subject Thursday. (March 8, 2000)
Human Commodities | The grisly business of trafficking in fetal body parts may soon face Congressional hearings. (March 7, 2000)
New Stem-Cell Research Guidelines Criticized | NIH guidelines skirt ethical issues about embryo destruction, charge bioethicists. (Jan.28, 2000)
8. NCC makes overtures to Catholics, Pentecostals, and evangelicals.
Time to Kiss and Make Up? | The financially strapped NCC reaches out to evangelicals and Roman Catholics. (July 18, 2000)
9. Anti-sex trafficking bill enacted with broad Christian support.
‘Odd Couple’ Politics | Evangelicals, feminists make common cause against sex trafficking. (Feb. 8, 2000)
Churches Rescue Thailand’s Sex Tourism Workers | (Dec. 2, 1999)
Alliance Targets Sex Trafficking | (Aug. 9, 1999)
10. Christian enclaves in Bethlehem damaged in renewed Mideast violence.
Christmas in Palestine: Hunger and War | Starvation threatens Palestinian villages if U.N. aid continues to be delayed, Vatican official warns. (Dec. 13, 2000)
Between the Temple Mount and a Hard Place | Palestinian Christians want both peace in their villages and justice for their Muslim brothers. (Dec. 5, 2000)
Lutheran Bishop’s Appeal from Jerusalem | Religious leader’s letter requests prayer for Christians, Jews, and Palestinians in troubled region. (Nov. 10, 2000)
Latin Patriarch tells Israel to Surrender Lands to Palestinians | Catholic leader says Israel will never have peace unless it “converts all of its neighbors to friends.” (Nov. 1, 2000)
Fighting Engulfs a Christian Hospital in Jerusalem | Lutherans call conflict on their hospital grounds “an affront” to humanitarian purposes. (Oct. 16, 2000)
Related Elsewhere
For other perspectives on the top religion stories of the year visit the Religion Newswriters Association, Beliefnet, the Religion News Service, and ReligionToday to read their picks.
