New Cardinals * Blue Cardinals * Luther Insulter! Thursday’s Religion News Roundup

It's Reformation Day! The Cardinals are blue, but that's because of the Red Sox. Pope Francis will be giving out more red hats in February, reshaping to future of Catholicism heading toward the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. A Jesuit and an Atheist get civil on MSNBC of all places. We debate Halloween, and roundup the morning's best tweets.

Screen shot of the Boston Globe homepage, Oct. 31, 2013.

Happy Reformation Day! Well, at least Cardinal O’Malley is smiling. Because those other Cardinals are blue. (See photo below)

Or this:

https://twitter.com/rilaws/status/395754592186560512


Ouch. Well, as they say in the church history dodge, there’s always next millennium…

Screen shot of the Boston Globe homepage, Oct. 31, 2013.

Screen shot of the Boston Globe homepage, Oct. 31, 2013.

Speaking of the Reformation, let’s start with a classic but fascinating downer — this 1995 homily from theologian Stanley Hauerwas:

I must begin by telling you that I do not like to preach on Reformation Sunday. Actually I have to put it more strongly than that. I do not like Reformation Sunday, period … Reformation names the disunity in which we currently stand. We who remain in the Protestant tradition want to say that Reformation was a success. But when we make Reformation a success, it only ends up killing us…

Think that’s tough? Check out some gems from the great man himself, via the Luther Insulter website:

“This new thing you have devised is the vilest cesspool that the devil has on earth.”

Real Luther, real insults – that one from “Against Hanswurst,” which is close to Hauerwas. Spooky?

Or think of the Reformation this way:

Speaking of spooky, it is of course Halloween, too, and columnists at Baptist Press ask – and answer – two questions: “Should you believe in ghosts?” and “Can Christians watch horror movies?”

In Poland, a Catholic archbishop sounds more like an old-time Baptist on Halloween:

“This is a fundamentally anti-Christian festival,” said Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Lodz. “Parents and teachers should protect youngsters against its images of terror and dread, especially when many already associate it with the cult of Satan.”

Then there’s this:

Cue my rant: a New Jersey school district is banning religious songs at the winter holidays, a word that derives from “holy days.”

Sneak Peek, Part One: Christianity Today’s new “GQ” look. But what about the 25 ways to get ripped abs?

Sneak Peek, Part Deux: renderings of the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which will replaces the church heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks on Lower Manhattan, are unveiled. Count me a fan.

This is interesting: Fewer home-school families cite religion as their main motivation. Katherine Burgess reports.


By the way, St. Louis, the real Pope is making more Cardinals in February – Vatican confirmed that this morning. Francis could make more than a dozen new members of the world’s most exclusive club – well, after the U.S. Senate – and could signal where the future of the church is headed.

More on that front: Pope Francis came in at No. 4 on Forbes’ list of the World’s Most Powerful People in 2013. Not sure that’s what he’s been shooting for. In any case, Vladimir Putin was No. 1. But how many divisions does he have?

Yes, the Cardinals lost. So the Pope is now backing the Broncos?

https://twitter.com/MichaelPeppard/status/395638818839072768

Vanity Fair goes undercover in the Vatican and discovers … there are gay priests! I mean, who knew? Author Michael Gross does seem to nail the dynamic – in that it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be:

“(T)o be gay in the Vatican is no guarantee of success, mark of belonging, or shortcut to erotic intrigue. Most basically it is a sentence of isolation.”

Minnesota’s Archbishop John Nienstedt does not seem to be faring well, as a criminal investigation and public opinion over his handling of suspected clergy abusers tighten. Now he may be losing his priests:

“He needs to stand before us and explain himself,” the Rev. Stephen O’Gara, pastor of the Church of the Assumption, said in a Sunday homily. “Only then will we have the respect called to his office. It’s about arrogance, and we all fall victim to arrogance in some degree or in some place in our lives. But this is more. This is not some small matter. This is a big deal. It’s the first time, I must say, in 69 years that I’m embarrassed to be Catholic.”

Not exactly on par with Luther, but what do you expect from a Catholic priest?

Well, maybe this: Father Jim Martin, notorious Jesuit, faced off with Penn Jillette, notorious atheist, on the cable show of Lawrence O’Donnell, notorious cable host, and … civility ensues!


Seriously, buy those guys a beer.

Speaking of belief, or not, an essay in the latest Atlantic is a must-read: “Study Theology, Even If You Don’t Believe in God.” Money quote:

“To study theology well requires not faith, but empathy.”

In that vein, the Dish points to an essay defending Unitarianism against charges that it’s doctrinal ambiguity makes it “religiously empty.”

Insults and incivility are not as new as we think, perhaps. Archeologists have dug up a 1,700-year-old curse in the ruins of a luxurious Roman villa in Jerusalem’s City of David. It reads:

“I strike and strike down and nail down the tongue, the eyes, the wrath, the ire, the anger, the procrastination, the opposition of Iennys.”

Who’s Iennys and why did he deserve this treatment?

Hey, even Mormons and Evangelicals are finding ways to get along, as our own Adelle Banks reports.

Look, there’s a new book on the spirituality of the “Avatar” movie. My colleague Brian Pellot nails it:

Finally, Pacific-Standard writes about research showing that we are nicer and more ethical before lunch — but try to be generous with the little monsters who ring your bell this evening.


David Gibson

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