Planning the inauguration.
President Obama has selected an Atlanta pastor known for his tireless organizing against human trafficking to deliver the benediction at his inauguration.
But that pastor, the Rev. Louie Giglio of Passion City Church, is already under fire for past sermons railing against gays. In one such sermon, Giglio tells listeners that gay people will be prevented from “entering the Kingdom of God.”
Why is picking an inauguration preacher so hard? Rick Warren, the California megachurch pastor who gave the invocation at Obama’s first inauguration, was strongly criticized too.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, will give the invocation, which opens the ceremony. History buffs might remember Medgar Evers as the Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP, who was gunned down in his driveway in 1963.
The president has also chosen the inaugural poet. That honor goes to Richard Blanco, 44, the youngest person to recite a poem at a presidential swearing-in, as well as the first Hispanic and the first gay person.
Vice President Joe Biden and officials on his gun violence committee held an unannounced meeting Wednesday evening with a group of 12 national faith leaders. It wasn’t clear who those faith leaders were.
A Virginia teenager admitted to setting a church known to have a predominately black congregation on fire.
A painting of Jesus that has hung over an entrance at Jackson Middle School in southern Ohio for 65 years will remain, school leaders decided. The Freedom From Religion Foundation had challenged the painting.
Our vices have gone virtual, according to a new study. Nearly half of Americans say they are tempted to idle the hours away on the Internet, video games.
British bishops and Prince Charles are concerned about a proposed law that would allow the British monarch to marry a Roman Catholic. British monarchs are also leaders of the Church of England. The concern is that a royal offspring of a mixed marriage may not be an Anglican.
In Egypt, TV viewers were horrified when a preacher recently popped up on primetime to say women must cover up for their own protection and advocated the introduction of religious police.
French President Francois Hollande met with local religious leaders, including the country’s chief rabbi to hear their views on same-sex marriages.
Meanwhile, French Muslims have begun joining a mostly Catholic-led movement against same-sex marriage, widening opposition to the reform that the government is set to write into the law by June.
European soccer authorities have opened disciplinary proceedings against the Rome soccer team Lazio for the alleged anti-Semitism of its fans.
Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops sacked a criminologist studying sexual abuse of minors by their priests, prompting him to accuse them of trying to censor what was to be a major report on the scandals.
He may not be eligible for the Husband of the Year award, but the National Father’s Day Council has named former President Bill Clinton Father of the Year for 2013. The 42nd president was chosen for his work through the William J. Clinton Foundation “to improve global health, promote healthier childhoods and protect the environment.”
And finally, a new Israeli law prohibits the employment of underweight fashion models. The law, the first of its kind, requires models to produce a medical report no older than three months at every shoot for the Israeli market, stating that they are not malnourished by World Health Organization standards.
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3 Comments
GRANT MACDONALD
The Bible should be banned!
Here are several really loving excerpts from the Torah; the first five books of the Old Testament in the bible — perhaps read to the congregation on Friday night at a synagogue or a Sunday morning church in the meadow.
1. Kill any friends or family that worship a god that is different than your own. Deuteronomy 13:6-10
2. Kill all the inhabitants of any city where you find people that worship differently than you. Deuteronomy 13:12-16
3. Kill everyone who has religious views that are different than your own. Deuteronomy 17:2-7.
Rabbinical / Priestly rules:
Leviticus 21:17-18 … “No one who is blind or lame or has a defect or any blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God.”
Leviticus 18:22 … “You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination ….”
Rabbis; the pope and churches fully aware that Leviticus 18:22 applies to rabbis and priests … refuse to remove this stigma maliciously persecuting gays. Kids are being bullied into suicide …!
Being black, left-handed or being gay is just as natural. It is a sometimes rare occurrence to fall in Love and to hold that person in your heart and be loved in return … it is something that should be celebrated! If it’s between two guys or two girls — all the better. It takes even more courage to defend that LOVE!
GRANT MACDONALD
I am the son of a catholic father who never went to church and a protestant mother who took us to church and Sunday school. Onward christian soldiers; I think not. Such absolute drivel. To be manipulated by a santa claus; an easter bunny and worst of all a bogus cross?
It’s now time to shut down the synagogues and churches with the torah & bibles with Leviticus 18:22 and Deuteronomy 13:12-16. To see the religious lunatics manipulate government and peoples’ lives — is shameful.
Many theologians state quite correctly that the birth; crucifixion; resurrection and other elements of christianity actually didn’t even happen! Churches are committing hate crimes and more succinctly a violent criminal offence against a federally protected minority namely the gay community. It is actually a bigger moment in history … gays standing up for equality … the realization that there is something far more evil at work — hateful religion which should be discharged from society – period.
Religion and the churches should now be exposed as a bigoted structure that gets away with hate mongering. It is a criminal offence to cause harm onto others physically or with written items; torahs – old testament/new testament bibles have been getting away with corruption and cultism based on bogus hocus pocus.
There is no scientific evidence to prove any of the cross related bogus elements of christianity and other religions. Our early human ancestors; on this earth … go back more than 6 million years … 5,996,000 years before the Greeks, Romans and the Jews. Christianity is basically a 2013 year old fictional cult. In the year 300 AD when Emperor Constantine, who to some was the first pope; went on to fabricate & market Christianity! Christianity is a fantasy; which turned out to be one of the most hateful & evil concoctions ever perpetrated on the world.
It is written; so therefore it shall be? We are the chosen people; such a wicked fantasy.
Einstein stated in a letter recently auctioned that the bible was a collection of primitive legends. He said believing in God was childish and he as a Jew is no different than another person and are not chosen by God.
The pope is running a bigger fraud than Madoff’s $50 billion ripoff. The pope should be committed to an asylum — for the religiously insane!
Today’s evangelical extremists are like the nazis who cast others into ovens & are actually supremacists – who practice their bogus hocus pocus – and are trying to suppress and deprive others of their happiness and their legal rights in an open and proud society.
Billysees
You brought forth some interesting points and clearly stated some of the more serious faults that religion and their holy books propagate.
But I think that any and all holy books shouldn’t be ignored.
We all would benefit more if they were well interpreted and paraphrased so as to make sure their inspiration is current and meaningful compared to our own and the times in which we live..
Paul, the NT writer put it this way, “The Kingdom of God is not in “word” (that means scripture verse), but “power” (that means the ever renewing work of the Holy Spirit and other spirit led movements in the world i.e. gay acceptance struggles)…….it’s not food and drink but “righteousness” (that means doing good works and deeds) and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”.
Holy books are good “guides” but make poor “gods”.