Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
The father of a dead Marine, whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protestors from Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church, has been ordered to pay Phelps' legal fees. The case is headed to the Supreme Court, but until then, supporters have launched a grass-roots campaign to help pay the bills.
Members of the Hutaree Christian militia in Michigan will face a judge today on whether they can be released on bond. A Baltimore judge who married a couple involved in a nasty domestic violence case defended his decision to marry them, saying he was guided by his Catholic conscience to "legitimize" their relationship.
The AP says the Vatican is planning to claim diplomatic immunity in response to a Kentucky lawsuit that charges U.S. bishops who allowed abuse to fester were employees of the Vatican. The Vatican's top spokesman says the pope is not some kind of multinational CEO who needs to resign when things go south. The Toronto Globe and Mail looks at the Vatican's PR crisis. The pope is also under pressure to say something -- anything -- on the scandal.
Maureen Dowd wants a papal inquisition and Randy Balmer says the pope's invitation to disaffected Anglicans should also work in reverse for disaffected Catholics. Union Seminary's Serene Jones is trying to focus on the good parts of the Catholic Church. NPR has a roundup of opinions on whether Benedict should stay or go: SNAP's David Clohessy (stay); Ken Briggs (go, at least temporarily), Tom Reese (probably not). The LA Times' Tim Rutton wonders what conservative Catholics will do about the abusive history of the Legionaries of Christ order.
Russians are nervous about the return of the "black widows" -- the Muslim women who blow themselves up in public spaces in retaliation for perceived injustices in the Caucasus. NYT says the women aren't Muslim extremists, but perhaps extreme nationalists.
That Indian guru who got caught up in a sex scandal has resigned, and a gay former employee at the very evangelical Trinity Broadcasting Network has settled his harassment dispute with his former employer. French officials warn that a ban on full-body burkas is likely to be unconstitutional.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 8:33 am
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Vatican’s `Watergate’?
WaPo's Sally Quinn was asked to come on MSNBC and talk about the Catholic sex abuse scandal. She didn't mince any words, calling the scandal "the Vatican's Watergate, and the pope is Nixon." You'll recall that Quinn's family knows a thing or two about Watergate; her husband, Ben Bradlee, was the top editor at WaPo during the original Watergate.
For a more, um, measured look at the scandal, USA Today's Cathy Lynn Grossman went on the same show on Tuesday and was a tad less hyberbolic:
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 4:14 pm
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
Countering reports in the NYT and AP, the Catholic priest in charge of the church trial of a pedophile priest in Milwaukee says the Vatican, and specifically the future Pope Benedict XVI, never called off the trial.
The Rev. Thomas Brundage, judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from 1995-2003, says the Rev. Lawrence Murphy was scheduled to be deposed when he died in 1998. Brundage said he was "introduced to the story of Father Murphy" in 1996 and began interviewing victims that year, which raises its own questions. Why does it take two years to depose Murphy? Is justice delayed justice denied for victims?
One of Murphy's victims told the AP that the Vatican's defensive response to the allegations made him feel like he was 12 again, when no one would believed that he had been molested by a priest (Another Murphy victim, Steven Geier, is pictured at top left in a NYT photo.) Catholics around the world are having a painful Holy Week, reports the AP. Benedict paid tribute to his predecessor at a Mass and didn't say anything about the scandal.
The U.S. bishops issued a statement in support of Benedict, saying pope has "strengthened the church's response to victims and supported our efforts to deal with perpetrators." Advocates of reform in the church ain't buying it. Neither are most Americans. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll Benedict's approval ratings have fallen from 63 percent in 2008 to 40 percent last week. His unfavorable ratings climbed from 15 percent in 2009 to 35 percent last weekend. Lawyers are still fighting an uphill battle to sue the Vatican in U.S. courts.
A ninth suspected member of a Christian militia accused of preparing for battle against the Antichrist and government will be arraigned today. The Hutarees (rhymes with Atari) wanted to kill a police officer and set off an uprising by ambushing the funeral. "It started out as a Christian thing," said the leader's ex-wife. "I think David started to take it a little too far."
Fallout from the health-care vote continues to reverberate, especially for Catholic Dems in Indiana, and for nuns who supported the bill. United Methodists are struggling to incorporate gender-inclusive liturgical language.
The death toll is now at 38 in the Moscow subway bombing. Russian officials are blaming Muslim separatists for the attack. Animal rights activists want Israel to ban fur. Hasidic Jews, some of whom wear traditional fur hats, reject the move. The leader of Venezuela's Catholic Church says President Chavez uses judges to prosecute political enemies.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:53 am
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday’s roundup
It's a stormy beginning to Holy Week for the Catholic Church, as it
continues to deal with accusations that Pope Benedict XVI failed to
punish pedophile priests, or at least remove them from ministry.
Protesters took to the streets in London, an Austrian bishop announced
an investigation into charges of rape and molestation by Catholic clergy,
the Swiss president said their should be a registry of pedophile
priests, and a prominent, but retired Cardinal said the church should
rethink its celibacy requirement for priests.
Benedict didn't mention the crisis during his Palm Sunday homily but did say, "From God comes the courage not to be intimidated by petty gossip," which some abuse victims say trivializes their suffering. The Vatican says how it handles the crisis will be "crucial for its moral credibility." On Italian TV three deaf men confronted a spokesman for the diocese where they were molested as children. A French Catholic journalist asked if people who stay in the church through all this are masochists.
The AP profiled Jeff Anderson, the Minnesota lawyer who has made a career out of crusading against Catholic hierarchs who covered up clergy sexual abuse. Archbishop Dolan of NY forcefully defended Benedict from the pulpit of St. Pat's on Sunday, decrying that "certain sources seem almost frenzied to implicate the man." One of the sex abuse victims who famously met with the pope during his 2008 U.S. visit says he now believes it was just a PR stunt.
In other news, President Obama will host a Passover Seder at the White House tonight amid tensions between Israel and the U.S. over new Israeli settlements in disputed territories.
Former Scientologists are looking for back pay for the hundred-hour weeks they labored through as church employees. The PCUSA is offering severance packages to 30 more employees as denominational resources continue to drop. Seven Christian militants were arrested in the Midwest.
It's the fifth anniversary of Pope JPII's death, and there are some doubts about the miracles that would help his cause for canonization. Two female suicide bombers believed by officials to be Islamic separatists from the Caucasus blew up a Moscow subway station, killing 37 people. Hundreds of Voodooists in Haiti prayed in public for the dead. Bestselling British author Philip Pullman has a new book coming out that will make Christians even more angry than his "Dark Materials" trilogy did.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:16 am
Friday, March 26, 2010
`Homoville,’ FL, 32601
Wayne Sapp, a pastor at Dove World Outreach Center in Gainsville, Fla., is launching what appears to be a one-man crusade against Craig Lowe, who could become the city's first openly gay mayor.
Sapp can pretty much speak for himself on this one (he's not shy about telling you what he really thinks), but he seems more ticked off at other Gainsville churches who won't join his campaign than he is at the gay candidate.
It's worth noting that Americans United for Separation of Church and State has filed a complaint with the IRS, alleging that Sapp's church is engaging in illegal politicking by opposing a specific candidate.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 12:28 pm
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday’s roundup
The NYT dropped another bombshell today,
citing a memo that shows future-Pope Benedict XVI was apprised of plans
to return a priest accused of molesting children to pastoral work. Earlier this month, a Munich diocesan administrator fell
on his sword and took responsibility for transferring the priest, who
later molested more children. Memos show that Ratzinger, who led the
Munich archdiocese, led a meeting in 1980 about the priest in which the
transfer was approved and was kept informed about the priest's
reassignment, according to the Times.
The Vatican's response: "The article in the New York Times contains no new information beyond that which the archdiocese has already communicated concerning the then archbishop's knowledge of the situation of Father H. Thus the archdiocese confirms the position, according to which the then archbishop had no knowledge of the decision to reassign Father H. to pastoral activities in a parish. It rejects any other version of events as mere speculation."
Meanwhile, victims of the Wisconsin priest who molested hundreds of deaf kids but remained a priest despite warnings to the Vatican are speaking out. The case has eerie echoes in Italy, reports the AP. Four American abuse victims were arrested for protesting outside the Vatican. The Legionaries of Christ is apologizing to people who were sexually abused by their founder. French bishops wrote a letter to Benedict saying they are ashamed of priests who raped and molested children.
The Vatican newspaper calls all of this "clearly an ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict and his closest aides at any cost." Meanwhile, everyone seems to have an opinion about what Benedict should do to settle this crisis.
In other news, the National Council of Churches is renewing its call for Christians to set a common date for Easter. New Pentagon rules will make it harder to boot gay from the military. But will their partners receive military benefits, AP asks. The Idaho Baptist woman accused to abducting children is still sitting in a Haitian jail as her legal and financial troubles mount.
California megachurch the Crystal Cathedral, home of the "Hour of Power," owes vendors tens of thousands of dollars for last year's holiday pageant, the AP reports. Hare Krishnas are banned from soliciting donations at LAX, ruled California's high court. A former Dominican friar won the Templeton Prize. Cremations are becoming more popular among religious folk. A church-state separation group wants the IRS to investigate a Florida church that posted a sign saying "No Homo Mayor," to protest a gay mayoral candidate.
Iran is calling on Muslims to fight Israel's expansion of settlements in Jerusalem. The former head of Germany's Lutheran church was fined a month's wages for driving drunk. French Muslims face a lot of discrimination, according to a report. A Limerick judge says the city's pubs should be open on Good Friday, a first in Ireland's history. Bottoms up, boyos.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:36 am
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday’s roundup
The abuse scandal that creeps ever closer to Pope Benedict XVI has crept one step closer, with the NYT describing how U.S. bishops warned the Vatican about a troublesome priest who was abusing boys at a deaf school. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) didn't respond to pleas from the archbishop of Milwaukee, and the man who's now the Vatican's Secretary of State (the No. 2 position) ordered a secret church trial. The Times, in an editorial, says the pope has some explaining to do, and Germany's Stern magazine finds a steep drop in Benedict's poll numbers among his fellow Germans.
President Obama signed his executive order intended to prohibit federal funding of abortion as part of the health care bill, but both sides agreed on one thing: it's essentially meaningless. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are facing threats of physcial violence for their support of health care. Is turning the other cheek covered under the health bill?
Israel received a rare public slap-down from Jordan's King Abdullah II, who warned his neighbor that plans to expand settlements into disputed East Jerusalem is "playing with fire." Saudi Arabia calls Israel "arrogant." Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu left Washington without any real progress on diffusing tensions with the U.S. Back home, Israeli rabbis have issued an APB on fake matzo, just ahead of Passover. Apparently they found 7 tons of the stuff in a warehouse. 7 tons of matzo? The stuff doesn't weigh that much, so that's gotta be a whole lotta matzo.
Speaking of matzo, the Defense Logistics Agency is making sure Jewish soldiers serving overseas will be getting their Passover meals on time. And while we're on the topic of U.S. soldiers, the Pentagon said today it will relax enforcement on the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy; third-party allegations will not be enough to boot gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.
United Methodists are withholding funding from two seminaries until they get a better sense of their financial viability. The annual Templeton Prize for advances in science and religion will be announced today, and atheists aren't happy that the (religious) award is being handed out at the National Academy of Sciences. Secular humanist Paul Kurtz, meanwhile, worries that acerbic atheism is giving nonbelief a bad rap.
U.S. churches are suffering from the financial downturn, with 38 percent reporting a drop in donations (compared to 29 percent in 2008), according to the latest "State of the Plate survey." R&B star Akon has pulled out of a planned concert in Sri Lanka after locals were upset with a music video featuring him and a scantily clad woman dancing in front of a statue of Buddha.
Everyone's favorite gay Episcopal bishop, New Hampshire's Gene Robinson, has joined the Center for American Progress (the Clinton/Obama think tank) as a part-time senior fellow. He's not leaving New Hampshire; he'll just have more reasons to come down to DC.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 8:10 am
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
The Vatican announced the resignation of an Irish bishop accused of mishandling abuse cases; Bishop John Magee had been a secretary to Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and
John Paul II. A German bishop, meanwhile, who compared a smear campaign against the church to Nazi propaganda is showing symptoms of foot-in-mouth disease. Here in the U.S., Catholic priests in Charlotte, N.C., say they need reinforcements: one priest was in charge of a parish with 13,000 members.
The Wall Street Journal mourns what it calls the end of pro-life Democrats, while the Washington Times reports that the health care debate has been a financial boon to anti-abortion groups, and that President Obama will sign his executive order on abortion funding "behind closed doors" with no public hoopla. David Gibson, meanwhile, has a post-mortem on the Catholic bishops' (unsuccessful) efforts to kill the health care bill. Bart Stupak calls the bishops "hypocrites." Ouch.
From the Dept. of There They Go Again, for the second time in a month Israel announced new settlement construction in disputed East Jerusalem in the midst of high-level talks with a U.S. leader (first it was when VPOTUS was in Israel, now it's when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with POTUS).
Religious groups from around the world pledged to the U.N. that they'll fight to end the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Amnesty International has taken up the case of a Lebanese man accused by Saudi authorities of practicing "sorcery." Anglican leaders are denouncing the attempted assasination of the bishop of El Salvador.
WaPo has a riveting and compelling profile of what it's like to be a Muslim soldier at Ft. Hood in the wake of Maj. Nidal Hasan's shooting spree. Take the time to read it; it's worth it. Meanwhile, north of the border, the University of Ottawa canceled a speech by right-wing loon Ann Coulter when it looked like 2,000 student demonstrators might break out into a riot. Coulter is under fire for saying Muslims shouldn't be allowed on airplanes and should take a "flying carpet" instead. When one audience member in London said he didn't own a flying carpet, Coulter suggested a camel.
USA Today takes a trip into the great outdoors with the "Adventure Rabbi" just in time for Passover. Goshen College played (an instrumental version of) The Star Spangled Banner for the first time at a baseball game; no protests were reported, despite the school's pacifist leanings.
CatholicTV is going 3-D and Christian Scientists are warming to conventional medicine. A man whose company was bought for $2.9 billion is using the windfall to help atheist groups. United Methodists are mulling whether to end the promise of guaranteed "appointments" (pulpits) for clergy, which some say has led to mediocrity. Never one to be satisfied with mediocrity, Rick Warren is hosting the Jonas Brothers at his massive Easter service at Angel Stadium.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 8:33 am
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
POTUS will sign the landmark health-care bill at the White House today. The U.S. bishops have quietly voiced their disappointment and are praying that the president will keep his promise on not funding abortions (except in cases of rape, incest, and mother's health). Less quietly, a GOP congressman has admitted that he shouted "baby-killer" at anti-abortion Dem Bart Stupak on Sunday during the floor debate on the bill. But he says he was talking about the bill, not Stupak.
SCOTUS said a student can't sue after her school refused to let her play an a capella version of "Ave Maria" at her graduation. The high court also rejected a challenge to Massachussetts' buffer zone around abortion clinic. A federal judge said groups that campaigned against Prop 8 in California must turn over internal memos to lawyers for the other side.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released their annual sex abuse study, which found that the number of allegations, abuse victims and accused clergy dropped to their lowest numbers since data collection began in 2004. The GOP candidate for gov of Rhode Island says he was raped as a child by a priest.
Immigration advocates are targeting evangelicals, a new survey says a majority of white evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and Catholics favor comprehensive reform that includes a path to citizenship.
Twelve active and retired Episcopal bishops have "disassociated" themselves from the confirmation of the church's second openly gay bishop this month. Fred Phelps' son is talking about growing up in "the most hated family in America." A Sikh man has become the first member of his faith in a generation to complete basic officer training in the U.S. Army. The AP takes a look at Tiger Woods' new Buddhist bracelet. The food portions in depictions of the Last Supper have grown larger through the years, according to a study. Super-size me, Jesus.
The leading Italian bishop said the media is unfairly criticizing the Catholic Church for the sex abuse scandal. The Archbishop of Dublin said his colleagues must take responsibility for the decades of rapes, beatings, and molestations of children by Catholic clergy. Pssst... Brady, he's talking to you. In Ukraine, Catholic priests are married -- with the Vatican's blessing, the NYT has found.
A Saudi woman lashed out at hard-line Muslim clerics' religious edicts on live TV at a popular Arabic version of "American Idol." Simon Cowell thought she was lovely. Influential Muslim clerics in Yemen say people promoting a ban on child brides are apostates.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:28 am
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday’s roundup
House Democrats approved a landmark overhaul of the country's health-care system late Sunday, as President Obama appeased anti-abortion Dems with an executive order promising that no federal funds will be used for abortion coverage. The emotional day lead to some ugly rhetoric: Rep. Bart Stupak, leader of the anti-abortion Dems, was called a "baby killer" on the House floor, and black lawmakers, including Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, were spit on and called the "N" word. Rep. Barney Frank was hit with anti-gay slurs.
No word yet from the U.S. bishops on the Stupak compromise, but Catholic sisters at NETWORK are ecstatic about the bill's passage, saying "this is a remarkable time in our nation's history as we finally take concrete steps to bring health care to tens of millions of people" and crowing that "NETWORK helped make this happen!" The Catholic Health Association, too, applauded the bill, saying they are "confident the bill will not allow federal funding for abortion," and will save millions of lives.
Catholics for Choice doesn't like the bill because they think it restricts abortion coverage; Randall Terry, Dean Hudson and their conservative Catholic brethren don't like it because they think it expands abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood doesn't like the executive order, but is thankful that Stupak's earlier abortion language didn't make it in the final bill.
In non-health-care news, the AP looks at the legacy of the civil-rights era Born of Conviction statement, a document signed by white Methodist ministers in Mississippi that got most of them run out of town. Oddly, the story doesn't say much about what the statement said.
Tiger Woods gave a couple of interviews on Sunday, his first since admitting to marital infidelities; he displayed his Buddhist bracelet "for protection and strength" and said his problems began when "I quit meditating, I quit being a Buddhist, and my life changed upside down."
A Portland priest told parishioners on Sunday that he's quitting the priesthood because he can't abide by the celibacy requirement. A court in Illinois says evangelists have the right to hand out religious tracts at a festival hosted by a Catholic parish. A New York man has reproduced a famous Spanish cathedral with two million toothpicks (pic at top left).
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged Catholics to refrain from judging sinners, but made no mention of the sex abuse scandal spreading across Europe. A Swiss abbot said the Vatican should start a registry of molester clergy. On Saturday, the Vatican published a letter from the pope to Irish victims of abuse which apologized for grave errors by the bishops in charge, but issued no punishment of those bishops nor any changes in church policy. Victims' groups are not pleased.
Police arrested a Romanian man suspected of vandalizing the tombs of three Cyprus archbishops who led the island's Greek Orthodox church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:11 am
Friday, March 19, 2010
Remember the Sabbath, even while racing
The members of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, Calif., may get to sleep in a bit on Sunday, thanks to the Los Angeles Marathon.
"Remember the Sabbath and keep it aerobic,'' said the Rev. Mary E. Haddad, interim pastor, who informed the congregation there would be no morning service due to crowds and street closures, according to the Associated Press.
But they're not off the hook completely. The church Web site notes that they can still attend an evening service when the runners have raced past their church.
(Photo credit: www.dnjournal.com)
Posted by Adelle M. Banks at 1:50 pm
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday’s roundup
The molestation scandal in Pope Benedict XVI's former diocese gets ever messier: the psychiatrist assigned to work with a predatory priest says he gave the archdiocese repeated warnings to keep the priest, the Rev. Peter Hullermann, away from children. Hullermann wasn't suspended until this week.The top bishop of Bavaria said he's ashamed by the revelations, and the pope's former archdiocese is facing a "tsunami" of abuse claims. The scandal has now touched Switzerland, and in France, priests who kept lovers on the side are starting to speak out against mandatory celibacy, saying it only hurts the church.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has finally responded to Wednesday's announcement that a lesbian has been confirmed as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, calling the move "regrettable."
A Canadian archbishop who oversaw the translation process for new prayers at Mass (similar changes will be coming to a U.S. parish near you soon) says the easy part is done: convincing the faithful the changes are necessary might be a bigger job.
Officials at a California college say a professor stepped over the line when he told students that homosexuality was an illness that could be treated through psychotherapy, and pulled out his Bible to make his point. School officials in Alexandria, La., have put an end to student-led prayers over the PA system after one student (joined by the ACLU) complained. In North Miami Beach, they're arguing over whether to recognize only religious holidays from "legal" religions.
The spitting match between Glenn Beck and Sojourner's Jim Wallis over the place of "social justice" is getting ugly: Wallis aide Burns Strider says a smear campaign is afoot, and others are warning that this is why you don't mix religion and politics for the same reason you don't mix manure and ice cream: it's great for the manure, bad for the ice cream.
Chicago's Cardinal Francis George is proposing the nation's first-known black Catholic priest for sainthood. Czech doctors have apologized to their Jewish colleagues for abuse suffered during World War II. And the Australian Senate has rejected a probe into the Church of Scientology. A Connecticut judge has ruled against a breakaway Episcopal parish that's named after this country's first Episcopal bishop.
Is the Bible more violent than the Quran? Phillip Jenkins certainly thinks so. The would-be homegrown terrorist known as "Jihad Jane" pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges on Thursday; trial is set for May 3. Recent outbursts of Christian-Muslim violence in Malaysia have many in the country wondering just how tolerant they are (or aren't) of religious diversity. WaPo has an early peek at a Sunday story on Muslim body washers, and an Egyptian writer has thrown a stick in a hornet's nest by suggesting that Egypt build a second version of Islam's holiest site (in Mecca) on Mt. Sinai.
After WaPo surveyed kosher wines on Wednesday, the NYT now has a story about a vinter who rediscovered his faith through the process of making kosher wine. L'Chaim and all that.
And just because it's Friday: A British man has received an apology from an employment agency when he refused to take off his hooded sweatshirt because he is, of course, a Jedi knight. And in Britain, you can do that.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 8:26 am
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Thursday’s roundup
The Episcopal Church confirmed its second openly gay (and first lesbian) bishop, a move that will most assuredly send ripples of discontent through the rest of Anglican Communion (except for Canada and a few other provinces). No word yet from Canterbury.
U.S. nuns have broken with the bishops by advocating for passage of the Senate health care bill in a rare public disagreement.
The Catholic Health Association, which is led by a nun, has also backed the bill, leading Archbishop Chaput of Denver to lament that "trade associations ... describing themselves as `Catholic' or `prolife' that endorse the Senate version -- whatever their intentions -- are doing a disservice to the nation and the church." Wonder what Chaput would say about Bishop Emeritus John McCarthy of Austin, Texas, who told the AP that he, too, supports the Senate bill.
Meanwhile, President Obama is leaning on members of Congress - including Rep. Joseph Cao of New Orleans, a Republican and former Jesuit, to study the Senate bill's abortion language and see if it's all that bad.
Jihad Jane faces her first U.S. court appearance today, and the AP takes a look at how jihadism has infiltrated Main Street (through the Intertubes). Tariq Ramadan will make his first U.S. appearance since a State Dept. ban was lifted. President Obama will find a stricter form of Islam then he saw as a child when he visits Indonesia next week.
The Haitian "orphans" taken by American missionaries were returned to their parents on Wednesday, the ringleader of the Baptist group remains in jail. Jewish groups want title VI to cover anti-Semitism. CAIR says Rep. Sue Myrick, R-NC, supports an anti-Islamic "hate group." Lay Orthodox Christians are happy about an unprecedented meeting of Orthodox bishops from North and Central America. Jewish leaders are trying to get people to take a sabbatical from their iPhones and their MyFaces and their Twitters.
A prominent German archbishop called for justice for sexual abuse victims and the head of the Catholic church in Ireland apologized for not stopping a serial child molester. Foreign Policy magazine has a roundup of the latest on the sex abuse scandals in Europe (it's a long list.)
The Vatican is finally investigating reported visions of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje in Bosnia. Israeli archaeologists say that ruins they thought were an ancient synagogue are actually remains from an Arab palace. Reuters says a secretive African tribe appear to be the Lost Tribe of Israel and wonders whether they have the Ark of the Covenant (calling Indiana Jones.)
Lest we forget, today is the beginning of March Madness. Xavier seems have a leg up in the academic department due to a hardworking nun, but I think we all know that Georgetown is going to take the title this year. Go Hoyas.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:20 am
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
As the world dons some green and hoists a green brew, NPR measures the impact of the growing clergy molestation scandal on the church in the Emerald Isle. Pope Benedict XVI hopes his upcoming letter on the scandal can foster "repentance, healing and renewal." A British bishop says the church's current ills are its own fault, and "deserves to be attacked and
criticized." Buckingham Palace confirmed Benedict's four-day visit to England and Scotland in September.
In the pope's German homeland, Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the erupting sex scandal "despicable." This scandal seems to know no borders, authorities in Brazil are investigating allegations of abuse of altar boys at the hands of Catholic priests.
For those of you who prefer the fruit of the vine over a bottle of distilled hops and barley, WaPo surveys bottles of kosher wine, just in time for Passover.
On the heels of Jihad Jane, the LA Times looks at the challenges of homegrown extremism. Meanwhile, a Muslim civil liberties group is raising concerns about a series of new textbooks that they say cast Muslims in a negative light. Christian-Muslim tensions are running high in Nigeria, and ordinary citizens on both sides are being caught up in the violence. A video circulating around the Intertubes is urging Muslims there to rise up with "sword and spear" against their Christian neighbors.
London's newly expanded Jewish Museum probes the sometimes awkward embrace between Jews and the UK. And speaking of awkward, the newly rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem is become a flashpoint of tensions between Israel's plan to expand settlements and Palestinian (and U.S.) resistance.
Nancy Pelosi is still hunting for enough votes to pass the Senate's health care bill by week's end, but one anti-abortion Democrat (and a leader of the Democrat's "common good" faith-based politics), Virginia's Tom Perriello, says he's sufficiently satisfied that the Senate's abortion language is strict enough that he'll probably support it. U.S. Catholic bishops? Not so much.
A federal appeals court has ruled that seminarians are not covered by overtime pay laws. The Senate has rejected a proposal to extend private-school vouchers for students in Washington, D.C.
In a move that is certain to cause indigestion among creationists, the Smithsonian unveils its $21 million (permanent) evolution hall. And speaking of conservative indigestion, Gen. David Petraeus says he's open to a review of the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy that keeps gays out of the military.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 7:43 am
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
The president of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the health care reform bill "must be opposed" because it doesn't go far enough in banning federal funding of abortion and incorporating conscience clauses. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago notes that the Catholic Health Association (the people who run the country's 624 Catholic hospitals) supports the bill, believing that flaws can be corrected after passage. Such a tactic, George said, "seem a little like asking us, in Midwestern parlance, to buy a pig in a poke." The CHA, by the way, spent more than $1 million lobbying in 2009, 64 percent more than it spent in 2008. Anyone know how much the USCCB spent?
The House is considering a resolution condemning China's persecution of Falun Gong-ers. Some 18 senators sent a letter to the FDA calling for a change in the policy that bars gay men from donating blood; Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical and Dental Association said "it's still not safe enough," to make the change.
President Obama's trip to next week to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, will include an address to Muslims and a visit to his childhood haunts. The former White House social secretary may have been fired over Christmas cards.
Hispanic evangelicals are in the Capitol lobbying for immigration reform. Meanwhile, Latinos' allegiance to Catholicism is waning, according to a new study. Two Jewish groups have joined Americans United for Separation of Church + State in filing an amicus brief urging SCOTUS to allow public colleges and universities to ban groups that discriminate based on religion. Florida megachurch pastor (and friend of POTUS) Joel Hunter has left the GOP.
A local ELCA synod denied a request from a Florida parish to leave the denomination, even though it had completed the necessary two votes. National Catholic Reporter spoke with the lesbian parents daughters were booted from a Denver Catholic school.
The priest at the center of the German sexual abuse scandal that has enmeshed Pope Benedict XVI was suspended on Monday. Peter Hullerman had continued working with children for more than 30 years, even after he was convicted of molesting boys. A German bishop said he is surprised at the scope of the sexual abuse in his country.
Ireland's senior Catholic bishop said he won't resign, even after admitting that he refused to report a child-molesting priest to civil authorities. "Yes, I knew that these were crimes, " said Cardinal Sean Brady. "But I did not feel that it was my responsibility to denounce the actions (of the abuser) to the police." Talk about your antinomians. Finally, the Vatican says they have completed their probe of the Legionaries of Christ, whose founder fathered a child and molested seminarians.
Vietnam released a Catholic human rights activist because they don't want him to die in prison. Ireland will hold a referendum on its new, unpopular blasphemy ban. British humanists want bishops out of the House of Lords. Swiss Muslims are suing for separate cemeteries. Israel passed a civil union bill for nonreligious couples. HIV infections are increasing among gays, drug users, and prostitutes, in part because of laws that criminalize their practices, the UN said.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 9:43 am
Monday, March 15, 2010
Benny and the bets
Paddy Power, (the Irish bookmaker, not the beer muscles), apparently thinks Pope Benedict XVI will resign over the sex abuse scandal spreading across Europe.
On Friday, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, where Benedict was archbishop from 1977-1982, admitted making "serious errors" in allowing a priest who had abused children to return to pastoral work, whereupon he raped/molested a few more.
The archdiocese said the Benedict, then known as Joseph Ratzinger, approved therapy for the priest, who is identified only as "H," but didn't know about the pastoral return. Earlier this month, the pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, admitted slapping some boys in the choir he ran for 30 years, but denied knowing anything about the sexual abuse that allegedly occurred under his watch.
So, long story short, you could say these are not the best days of Benedict's papacy. Some say he has lost his moral authority, others that he is being tarred by an unscrupulous media, and many are betting that he will resign.
Reuters reports: "Ireland's biggest bookmaker, which has branches in Britain as well as Catholic Ireland, said it had cut the odds from 12 to 1 to 3 to 1 following a `cascade of bets.'"
"The dark clouds of clerical abuse scandals show no sign of abating and recent reports from Germany are surely a little too close to home for the Pope," the company said in a statement.
Good news for Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, though, who bettors believe is the clear favorite to succeed the pontiff.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 2:44 pm
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday’s roundup
While President Obama stumps for health care reform, he got a boost from the Catholic Health Association, which said that his bill, while imperfect, is a "major first step" toward covering all Americans. The Catholic bishops, on the other hand, sent a bulletin to 18,000 parishes urging opposition to the Senate bill.
Catholics and black Protestants tend to be more politically active than liberal or conservative white Protestants, says a Duke University professor. Pastor Joel Hunter says he is going through the Gospel of Mark with Obama. Catholic Charities of Washington has started requiring new employees to promise not to "violate the principles or tenets" of the church. World Relief, which receives 70 percent of its funds from the government, refused to hire a Muslim because he is not Christian, according to the Seattle Times.
Protestors in Boston called for a government investigation of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, saying the church cannot be trusted to investigate itself. Federal officials busted a second suburban American woman in a plot to kill a Swedish artist who drew Prophet Muhammad as a dog. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez appears to be another instance of radicalization by Internet.
A Michigan Catholic priest says he regrets calling Muslims "dogs." A Florida woman died while praying and fasting. The human brain is not capable of knowing whether God exists, says a famous neuroscientist, and religious thoughts are no different from thoughts about a banana, says another brainy guy. Christian leaders in California are discussing "Theology after Google."
A board in Texas voted to seed the social science curriculum with conservative ideas, including the notion that St. Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin had more influence in 18th and 19th democratic revolutions than Thomas Jefferson. Old gay people are shuffling out of the closet.
The Vatican defended Pope Benedict XVI against allegations that he allowed a sexual predator to abuse children, denied that mandatory celibacy is to blame and acknowledged that 3,000 cases of suspected abuse have been lodged in the last decade and 20 percent brought to trial in Vatican courts. Eighty percent of the cases where from the U.S. I suspect that figure will change before too long, as the scandal spreads through Europe. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power cut the odds on Benedict resigning to 3 to 1 (had been 12 to 1) following a "cascade of bets."
A small group of Europeans seems bent on provoking Muslims. Egypt canceled the inauguration of a restored synagogue to protest Israel's treatment of Muslims. The Russian Orthodox Church refuses to acknowledge where the Romanovs' remains are buried.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:01 am
Friday, March 12, 2010
Was Dobson forced out?
Talking Points Memo is asking whether Focus on the Family founder James Dobson was pushed out of his longtime position with the Colorado ministry.
It quotes Dobson friend and former professional football player Ken Hutcherson, a pastor in Washington state, who thought it odd that Focus gave Dobson $1 million to help start his new radio program, "Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson.''
"Dr. Dobson gets off the radio in February, and he's starting a new program in May. It just didn't make sense. Why get off if you don't want to get off?" Hutcherson asked in a phone interview with TPMmuckraker.
The report notes that Dobson himself commented on this matter back in November on his show:
"(T)he board of directors voted privately on Wednesday - before we got there - to ask for my resignation, although their request was made with kindness and respect. We can only guess the reason for their decision because frankly I don't fully know," Dobson said. "But it apparently has to do with the desire for closure on my tenure and the beginning of another."
In response to the hubbub, Focus spokeswoman Joanna Brown issued this statement:
"We admire Rev. Hutcherson and the good work he has done for the cause of Christ and in support of families. He is, of course, entitled to his own opinion about the work we do, whether we agree with that opinion or not."
The TPM report links to a post from November from People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch that reported how Dobson shared with listeners that he'd been asked to resign.
Posted by Adelle M. Banks at 3:26 pm
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday’s roundup
Pope Benedict XVI met with Germany's top Roman Catholic bishop this morning to discuss the growing sex abuse scandal; our Vatican correspondent Francis X. Rocca will wrap it all together later today on these pages. Meanwhile, former members of the (not church-affiliated) Vienna Boys Choir are alleging abuse by former supervisors.
Here at home, a federal appeals court, in a flipflop of a 2002 decision, has decided that the words "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on coins and currency don't violate the Constitution after all.
As Congress continues the long slog toward health care reform, NPR talks to Christian health-sharing ministries that split health care costs among members, and moderate-to-progress faith groups say abortion restrictions are actually tighter than many anti-abortion activists want to admit. The LA Times explores the growing synergy (or not)between veteran religious political activists and the Tea Party movement (Rick Santorum's already jumped on that bandwagon), and that Mississippi school that canceled prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend is now facing a lawsuit from the ACLU, which seeks to turn the music back on. Haven't these people ever seen Footloose?
Christian groups -- and not just lefties -- are firing back at Fox News' Glenn Beck for his call to parishioners to flee their churches at the first sign of "social justice" teaching, and also appearing to link "social justice" with Naziism and communism. President Obama has announced the charitable recipients of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money, including $200,000 to the Clinton-Bush Haiti fund.
Morocco is defending its decision to expel 20 Christian missionaries. Convicts in Georgia (the former Soviet satellite, not the land of shrimp and grits) can serve time in monasteries working for the Georgian Orthodox Church. Gay couples in Mexico City tied the knot on Thursday, becoming the first same-sex couples to wed in Mexico under a new policy that is being challenged by the federal government, not to mention the Catholic Church (Danes don't seem to have a problem with it). Some at the Vatican are ticked that a Rome high school has installed condom machines, saying it will lead students to have pre-marital sex.
The State Department is out with its annual human rights report for 194 countries around the world; it includes sections on religious freedom violations in China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and all the usual suspects (search for the term "religious" to see the highlights)
In Texas, Republicans on the state Board of Education shot down a Democratic move to teach children about why the Founding Fathers banned government support of religion; GOP members said the proposal downplayed the Founders' religious faith. In a sign that high school graduation season is just around the corner, there's already a lawsuit: A suburban Indianapolis valedictorian thinks its a bad idea to have students vote on whether to have a prayer at graduation.
A year after the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., was shot dead in the pulpit, our pal Tim Townsend finds the church is thriving. Rabbi Harold Kushner is still trying to answer the question of why bad things happen to good people, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu is pondering what it means to be "Made for Goodness," the title of his new book, and speaking out against a gay rights crackdown in Africa.
Now serving illegal escargot: Devotees of a Florida man who practiced a traditional African religion said they were sickened after being told to ingest the mucus of a Giant African Snail. Tasty.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 8:02 am
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Raising questions
The spreading scandal over sexual abuse by Catholic priests in several European countries has provoked serious questions about a number of church practices and traditions. And some of the questions are coming from some of the most traditional quarters.
A cardinal close to the pope seems to have suggested a possible link between priestly celibacy and pedophilia. And the official Vatican newspaper has run an article arguing that more women in positions of authority could rend the "veil of masculine secrecy" that permitted cover-ups of sex abuse.
Posted by Francis X. Rocca at 12:42 pm
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday’s roundup
The open lesbian elected as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles is apparently one step closer to consecration after her diocese announced Thursday that it had received "consents" from 61 of the denomination's 109 other dioceses. The result is not official until ratified by Episcopal Church headquarters; a tally of diocesan bishops' confirmations, which is also required, is not yet known.
The CSM and WSJ have articles on what made a former cheerleader become "Jihad Jane" (pic at top left). Rep. Bart Stupak's staunch Catholicism has often put him at odds with fellow Democrats, the AP reports. Muslims are wary of participating in the 2010 Census, after a number of them were rounded up and deported after registering with federal officials in the wake of 9/11.
The PCUSA released part three of its report on the Israel/Palestine situation. The report asks the U.S. government to consider "the possible withholding of military aid as a means of bringing Israel to compliance with international law and peacemaking efforts," but does not recommend divestment from companies that contribute to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Overall, the report is not that different from what the Obama administration has been saying, but American Jews, who have long battled with the Presbyies about this issue, still profess outrage.
Virginia's new governor overruled his attorney general, saying that public institutions - including colleges - should indeed ban discrimination against gays. Other Virginians want legislators to stop an imam from delivering the opening prayer in the House of Delegates.
Archbishop Chaput of Denver defended the expulsion of a preschooler with lesbian parents from Catholic school. Catholic bishops in New Mexico and Arizona are condemning a crackdown on illegal immigration. Archbishops Dolan of New York and Listecki of Milwaukee say they are averse to denying Communion to Catholic politicians who support reproductive rights.
Harriet Tubman's personal hymnal was donated to Washington's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Karl Rove says gay marriage found him, he didn't find it.
Egypt's leading religious official died. Membership in the Lutheran World Federation topped 70 million for the first time, mostly because of growth in Asian and Africa. The Swedish artist who painted Prophet Muhammad as a dog says he wanted to prove that artistic freedom trumps piety. Seven Muslims arrested in Ireland on suspicion of trying to kill the artist will be held in custody for three more days, a judge ruled.
The Vatican is not pleased that a high school in Rome has installed a condom-dispensing vending machine. Pubs in Ireland want an exemption to sell alcohol on Good Friday because of a highly anticipated rugby match. A Polish heavy metal singer faces two years in jail for insulting Catholics and tearing up a Bible on stage.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:28 am
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
The growing sex abuse scandal in Germany's Catholic Church is heating up -- again -- now that the Regensburg diocese says it will name an outside investigator to probe charges of physical and sexual abuse swirling around a famed boys choir that the pope's own brother directed for 30 years.
In Sweden, at least three newspapers on Wednesday published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after a plot was uncovered by Muslim extremists -- including an American woman known as "Jihad Jane" -- to kill the artist. Six Pakistani workers for the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision were killed Wednesday when gunmen stormed their office. Back here at home, some U.S. Muslims worry about participating in the first post-9/11 census, concerned about how the data could be used.
Hungary has a new law that imposes a three-year prison sentence for Holocaust denial and the Dalai Lama used the anniversary of a Tibet uprising to accuse China of trying to "annihilate" Buddhism from Tibet.
VP Joe Biden is dialing up the pressure on Israel over plans to expand settlements inside Palestinian territories, saying Palestinians deserve a "viable" state with contiguous borders. Next door in Egypt, Muslims are mourning the death of Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, who headed the influential Al-Azhar seminary in Cairo, the intellectual heart of much of Sunni Islam.
A Colorado judge has told a man that his First Amendment rights to religion do not extend to his right to smoke pot. Liberty University students still don't buy into creation during their annual visit to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, which will open a new mega-exhibit on "human origins" as part of it's 100th birthday. And Florida GOP lawmakers want to offer tax credits to films and TV shows -- except those that promote "nontraditional" (i.e., gay) values.
In Wisconsin, an Amish farmer has won his battle with state regulators over his refusal to install tracking devices on his animals. The farmer, Emanuel Miller, Jr., worried the program referenced the "mark of the beast" found in the Bible. WaPo follows cooks who put together large-scale church dinners for Lent and serve up something to feed both body and soul.
And if you happen to be driving through St. Louis this Friday, stop by Compton Heights Christian Church where parishioners gather with coffee to wish everyone a Happy Friday. Now that's a holy day of obligation I can agree with.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 9:29 am
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
President Obama's faith advisory council will present its recommendations for transforming the White House faith-based office to the administration today. Church-state separators say they are "extremely disappointed" at how Obama has handled the office thus far.
Prospects are good for a compromise on abortion that would pass muster in the House on the health care reform bill, says Rep. Bart Stupak, the leading anti-abortion Dem in the House. The AP has a helpful Q&A about how the bill would change federal abortion policy.
A second former Catholic Charities officer is criticizing the Archdiocese of Washington's decision to cut off spousal benefits for new employees rather than risk covering gays and lesbians after DC legalized same-gender marriage. An Oregon judge sentenced two parents to 16 months in prison in the faith-healing death of their 16-year-old son. A Reform Jewish task force urged the movement to embrace mixed-faith couples by creating special rituals for them (the couples).
A ninth American missionary in the Haiti child-smuggling case was released and flew to Miami, but the ringleader remains in custody. A new report by the PCUSA supports Israel's "right to exist," but a footnote hints at the "pain" the phrase causes in some of the reports drafters. Glen Beck encouraged listeners to leave their church at the first mention of "social justice." The United Methodist Church is experiencing its largest decline in membership since 1974.
Archbishop Chaput of Denver booted a preschooler from Catholic school because his parents are lesbians. Conservatives have made a deck of liberal cards. It's not a full deck.
Sleep, Pray, or Love? More than 70 percent of African Americans, 45 percent of Hispanics and 32 percent of whites pray before going to bed; 10, 10, and 4 percent, respectively, have sex. A large majority of all three watch TV. Asians were the least likely to do all three: Just 18 percent pray, 52 percent watch TV, and 1 percent have sex.
Germany's justice minister accused the Vatican of building a "wall of silence" around the sexual abuse of children. The Vatican says, yes, the abuse is cause for anguish, but the church has responded promptly and transparently. Pope Benedict XVI will meet with German bishops on Friday.
U.S. and human rights officials want Nigeria to investigate the riots between Muslims and Christians have left more than 200 dead.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:41 am
Monday, March 08, 2010
Not so fast?
The Polish report is unsourced, and the Vatican panel of doctors won't meet before next month, but suggestions that a miraculous cure attributed to the intercession of John Paul II might not be so miraculous after all -- and maybe not even a cure -- have raised doubts for some about the late pontiff's fast-track progress to sainthood.
Posted by Francis X. Rocca at 2:11 pm
Monday, March 08, 2010
Monday’s roundup
Mark your calendars folks, SCOTUS said it will hear an appeal this fall from the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to reinstate a $5 million verdict against Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed the funeral with signs like "Thank God for dead soldiers." I can almost see the media circus now, as you can bet that Fred Phelps and his brood will be in out in force when the court hears oral arguments. In an unrelated story, WaPo wonders if President Obama must replace Stevens, when the time comes, with a fellow Protestant, or whether a justice's religion even matters anymore.
Obama marked the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on March 7 by praising "these heroes" who endured the beatings of Alabama state troopers as they marched for civil rights. Georgia Congressman John Lewis (AP pic at top left) and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, where among those in Selma to honor the occasion. By the way, is that kid in front of Lewis playing a video game?
The New York Times tracked down a few former Scientologists, who said members "were repeatedly beaten by the church's chairman, David Miscavige, often during planning meetings; pressured to have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave." The church says the defectors are lying.
A Detroit man has been accused of trading on the Winans' good name among black churches to allegedly swindle folks out of $11 million. Virginia's attorney general says state colleges don't have the power to ban anti-gay discrimination.
An American member of Al-Qaida was arrested in Pakistan, but officials don't think its the group's American-born spokesman, who called for American Muslims to attack transportation systems on Sunday, and was profiled in the New Yorker this week.
Orthodox Jews in the Northeast can't see their eruvs for all the snow this winter. A Jewish medical supplies salesman from Long Island has become a papal knight and is defending the reputation of Pope Pius XII against charges that he didn't do enough to stop the Holocaust.
Sec. of State Clinton said the Iraq vote on Sunday was a "rebuke to the violent extremists," who have marred previous elections. Still, more than 30 people died.
The dominoes on the Catholic sex abuse scandal in Europe continue to fall: Pope Benedict XVI's brother said he is willing testify, but knows nothing about abuse in the choir he once led; A leading Catholic bishop in the Netherlands has called for an independent investigation after 200 allegations of abuse surfaced last week.
China says the missing Panchen Lama, the No. 2 spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism, is in Tibet. He had been missing since 1995. Heavily armed troops are the new normal in Tibet, says the AP. More than 200 people died in clashes between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, less than two months after 300 were killed in similiar violence. An Irish bishop said he was embarrassed to kiss the pope's ring, calling it "out of touch with modern thinking."
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:44 am
Friday, March 05, 2010
Friday’s roundup
The former COO of Catholic Charities in Washington said the decision to end spousal benefits for employees is "devastating" and will hurt the agency's ability to recruit quality employees. The Iowa teacher who refused to let a student build a Wiccan altar in shop class has been suspended; he's not happy about it. A federal judge in Arizona has said two churches can keep ringing their bells, at least for now, because Phoenix's noise ordinance is too vague.
On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders trying to round up the troops are wooing a dozen anti-abortion Democrats whose support may be crucial for passing health care reform; the group, led by Michigan's Bart Stupak, don't like the Senate's abortion language and would prefer their own, tighter restrictions put back in.
The president of a Wyoming college says he's sorry for promoting his school to exclusively Mormon high school students. The Chicago Sun-Times has a peek at the new star-studded Word of Promise Audio Bible. Focus on the Family is claiming credit in cutting in half the number of Colorado children in foster care.
After telling a United Methodist church it couldn't sponsor church services for the elderly at a public housing complex, housing officials in Dallas have changed their mind.
Conservative Catholics are apparently all atwitter over the decision to have Lake Wobegon's Garrison Keillor address next month's National Catholic Educational Association meeting. Others are trying to read the tea leaves after Cardinal William Levada -- the highest-ranking American at the Vatican -- flew to the most conservative diocese in the country to dedicate a chapel at a seminary that only practices the old Latin Mass.
There's a slight case of agita developing in Rome over the brewing sex scandal at the Vatican, although the folks involved seem to be pretty C-list names. However, in a case that's a bit too close for comfort, a former member of the boys choir in Regensburg, Germany -- whose director for 30 years was the current pope's brother -- is claiming abuse. It's not totally clear whether the alleged abuse occurred on Georg Ratzinger's watch.
Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding to a nice Jewish boy is prompting all kinds of questions about interfaith weddings -- and more to the point, whether a rabbi will preside under the chuppa at Clinton's nuptials.
So much for rolling out the red carpet: Muslim students in Indonesia are denouncing President Obama as an enemy of Islam, and throwing shoes at pictures of Obama's head, ahead of his March 20-22 visit to the world's most populous Muslim country.
As officials investigate the cause of Thursday's stampede that killed more than 60 people at a Hindu shrine, an (alleged) sex scandal of a Hindu holy man is roiling the waters in India. And, just because it's Friday, the Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip has said men may no longer work in women's hair salons.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 9:10 am
Thursday, March 04, 2010
For the Bible tells me so
When the Bible is ignored, SeaWorld trainers die, says the American Family Association.
You see, the Murderous Orca, named Tillikum, aka "Tilly," that dragged Dawn Brancheau to her death last month had killed twice before, in 1991, and, more recently, in 1999, when a man who snuck into Sea World to swim with the fishes wound up sleeping with them instead. Adding insult to injury, Tilly tore off the man's swim trunks after killing him, AFA says.
According to AFA, which is famous for boycotting Pepsi and other companies that allow gays to buy their products, the Bible could have prevented Brancheau's death.
"If the counsel of the Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed, Tillikum would have been put out of everyone's misery back in 1991 and would not have had the opportunity to claim two more human lives," AFA says.
For in the Book of Exodus, it clearly says: Kill the killer whales, before they kill you.
No, it doesn't. But it does say: "When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable." (Exodus 21:28)
AFA's takeway is, "So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death."
If the animal kills twice, then its owner can be stoned too, the Book of Exodus concludes, according to AFA.
How do you stone a whale, though? Pretty hard to throw things under water, I've found. And what about all those nice whales in the Bible, like the one that let Jonah hang out in his stomach for three days, and Moby-Dick, and Willy?
Lucky that our modern legal system offers an alternative solution, AFA says, which is to "sue the pants off SeaWorld for allowing this killer whale to kill again."
A tip o' the cap to the good folks at Wonkette, for highlighting this important story.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 12:04 pm
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Thursday’s roundup
Gay couples emerged from a D.C. courthouse yesterday, marriage licenses in hand. NPR found a few gay Catholic couples who say the decision to suspend spousal benefits for Catholic Charities employees (as a way around the city's gay marriage law) makes them wonder whether the church really wants them at all. WaPo says teh gay marriage fight was never a question of if, but when.
A stampede at a Hindu temple in northern India has left more than 60 dead; most of the victims were, not surprisingly, women and children. In the midst of the Malaysian dispute over whether non-Muslims can use the term "Allah" for God, a court has decided not to prosecute two Muslim men who took Communion at a Catholic church.
A Mexican woman is claiming she had two children by disgraced (and now dead) Legion of Christ founder Marcial Maciel. Germany's Catholic Church is asking for the Vatican's help in probing abuse allegations. The U.S. branch of the small Traditional Anglican Communion says it will take up the pope's offer to cross the Tiber and become Catholics.
Following on our story yesterday about Muslim concerns over full-body scanners in airports, two Muslim women were not allowed to board a flight to Pakistan after they refused to go through the scanner in Manchester, England. Anti-Muslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders' Freedom Party is making gains in local elections.
Critics of global warming are jumping into the public school fray, alongside critics of evolution, saying both deserve a skeptical look by the nation's schoolchildren. As we reported yesterday, a new foundation in Georgia is seeking to pass the plate among the nonreligious. A United Methodist church in Dallas will no longer be able to offer Sunday services to elderly residents at a public housing complex, officials say.
The Supreme Court won't weigh in on a dispute involving U.S. Postal products at a church-run store, and the wrecking ball may be coming soon to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's old PTL hotel in South Carolina. USA Today profiles every reporter's favorite Catholic priest, Jesuit Jim Martin.
A full 95% of Texas Republican primary voters supported a nonbinding ballot measure (a sort of partisan temperature-taking device) on promoting God in the public square: "Proposition #4: Public Acknowledgment of God, which would allow the use of the word 'God,' prayers and the Ten Commandments at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property, will appear on the November ballot. It received 1,368,565 yes votes (95.13 percent)."
The Manischewitz factory in Newark, N.J., is churning out pound upon pound of matza, a sign that Passover is right around the corner. The Duggars -- you know, the conservative Christian parents in Arkansas whose brood is now 19 and counting -- are actually members of a fringe cult that wants to overtake the U.S. government ... or so says the National Enquirer.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 9:30 am
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Sideshow
Italian newspapers are making much of an apparent Vatican connection to an ongoing government corruption-and-sex scandal. If you really must know more, try here.
Posted by Francis X. Rocca at 8:26 am
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Enemy within
"Yes, also in the Vatican there are members of Satanic sects," says the former president of the International Association of Exorcists. "There are priests, monsignors and also cardinals!"
Posted by Francis X. Rocca at 8:11 am
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Wednesday’s roundup
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts declined to grant a stay, and gay couples are lining up to apply for marriage licenses, as gay marriage became legal in the District today. Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl defended the decision by Catholic Charities to change its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex spouses, saying the church teaches to pay a just wage, but employers have the right to "frame" compensation packages. A United Methodist church in Washington announced that it will celebrate same-sex weddings, despite a UMC prohibition against it.
Bishops from three historically black Methodist denominations and other African American leaders are in South Carolina for the three-day "Great Gathering," aimed at finding solutions for persistent problems that plague black men. President Obama will address the gathering via video today. The AP says that four months after Martin Luther King's daughter was elected President of the now-troubled civil rights group he co-founded, she still hasn't taken the helm or talked publicly about it.
Kaiser Health News takes a look at the practical applications of the U.S. bishops' new directives for patients in "chronic and presumably irreversibly positions," such as persistent vegetative states. There are almost 10,000 faith-based charities in Haiti, and, in spite of their best intentions, they are making things worse for Haitians, says the Rev. Tony Campolo.
It took a Baltimore jury less than three hours to return a guilty verdict against three members of a Baltimore religious sect in the starving death of a 1-year-old boy. A high-school shop teacher in Iowa was put on paid leave after prohibiting a student from making a Wiccan altar.
Britain's House of Lords voted to allow same-sex partnerships to use religious language and be celebrated in religious buildings. Dutch gay rights groups called off a protest at a Catholic church after it said it would no longer ban gays from Communion. The pope will visit Spain in November. The European Court of Human Rights will review the decision that crucifixes in Italian public schools violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
A leading Pakistani cleric issued a 600-page fatwa in London rebutting every conceivable justification for religious violence and calling terrorists "disbelievers." Reuters has an interesting reporter's notebook piece on the fatwa here.
An Irish bishop is asking his flock to pay for the diocese's $14.2-million sex-abuse settlement. The Catholic Church in France doesn't like a new pay telephone line set up to hear confessions. Mullahs in Afghanistan are preaching birth control.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:45 am
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Handicapping the red hats
Italian media outlets are predicting that Pope Benedict will call a consistory to create new cardinals this November, and that among those receiving red hats will be Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Raymond Burke, late of St. Louis and now head of the Vatican’s supreme court.
A consistory in November is very likely, since by that time no more than 101 of the current cardinals will still be younger than 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope.
That would give Benedict 19 vacancies to fill, assuming he chooses to honor the limit of 120 cardinal electors established by Pope Paul VI. At his last consistory, in November 2007, Benedict named 18 cardinal electors.
(Benedict could safely name a few more than 19 cardinal electors this November, since another eight from the current College will hit retirement age over the course of the subsequent year.)
As for who will be on the list, Burke is almost a sure bet, since his position at the Vatican traditionally entails a red hat.
The archbishop of New York is ordinarily a cardinal too. (He is also informally known as the “American Pope,” a nickname that NCR’s John Allen has chosen as the title of his forthcoming Dolan biography, interestingly scheduled for publication in October.)
Some informed observers have predicted that Dolan will have to wait for the retirement of his predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, who won’t turn 80 till April of 2012.
Popes generally prefer not to have two cardinal electors at a time from the same episcopal see.
That’s assumed to be the reason Washington’s Archbishop Donald Wuerl was passed over at the last consistory, when his predecessor Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was still only 77.
Baltimore’s former archbishop, Cardinal William Keeler, will still be a few months shy of 80 this November, which may or may not keep his successor, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, standing at the threshold of the College of Cardinals.
On the other hand, the pope can do whatever he chooses in this matter. Predictions at this point are either speculation or wishful thinking or both.
Posted by Francis X. Rocca at 1:19 pm
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Tuesday’s roundup
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington will stop offering health coverage to spouses of employees rather than cover gay couples, which might have been required when the district's gay marriage bill goes into effect on Wednesday. Gay marriage proponents say they consciously evoked MLK and the civil rights to win support among Washington's large African-American community.
Phoenix residents want a church to stop serving the needy because they may pose a danger to the neighborhood. The church says the city is violating its First Amendment rights. "This is what it means to be a church," said the Rev. Dottie Escobedo-Frank of the CrossRoads United Methodist Church.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is holding seminars on how to "un-ossify" the denomination. The Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine, is preparing to lift Mass restrictions instituted to prevent the spread of swine flu. A high school student in Iowa was told not to build a Wiccan altar in shop class. The New York Times explores how men who grew up in churches ended up suspected of burning them down.
The Vatican-ordered investigation of nuns wants the nuns being investigated to pay for its travel expenses. The Supreme Court said it would not hear an appeal from a breakaway Episcopal congregation in California that wants to keep parish property.
Louisiana lawmakers will consider a bill allowing people to carry concealed weapons in houses or worship as long as the pastor approves. Worshippers at a clothing-optional Virginia church would have no place to conceal such weapons, or anything else for that matter.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic defended himself in the UN war crimes tribunal against charges of genocide, saying he was protecting Serbs from a Muslim plot. The hardline minister who led Protestants in Northern Ireland will retire from parliament.
A German archbishop said there is no connection between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. The Catholic clerical sex abuse scandal seems to be spreading across Western Europe, as the Netherlands will now investigate a monastery school where accusations have erupted.
A Chinese nun discovered a rare flower that only blooms every 3,000 years, according to Buddhist lore (image at top left). Ancient Egyptian priests were killed by rich, ritual food, according to researchers. And here I thought it was the plague.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:16 am
Monday, March 01, 2010
Monday’s roundup
Religious groups are again rushing to send people and supplies to victims of a natural disaster, this time the magnitude-8.8 quake that hit Chile on Saturday. An estimated 700 people have died already as Chilean officials say they are confronting an unprecedented emergency.
The Winter Olympics wrapped up yesterday with a kitschy celebration of all things Canada -- on ice, of course. (Maple Leaf Girls in leotards and dancing Mounties, anyone?) It was a good day for Canada's true religion, hockey, though the American youngsters acquitted themselves well in the gold-medal game.
And at least the Olympics were played, which is more than one can say for the Islamic Solidarity Games, the so-called Muslim Olympics, which were cancelled because Iran, the would-be host, inscribed "Persian Gulf" on the tournament's official logo and medals.
Much to the chagrin of cultural conservatives, secularists met with White House officials on Friday and discussed religiously based "medical neglect" of children, proselytizing in the military, and government funding of religious charities. Meanwhile, President Obama's faith advisory council voted on policy recommendations, including more consultation of religious groups on foreign policy, clarifying the rules around what government-funded religious charities can do, and expanding the faith-based initiative itself.
The Archdiocese of Washington says it will be in compliance of the district's gay marriage law when it goes into effect on March 3, but decline to specify what, exactly, it is doing. A New York Times editorial argues that the C Street House made famous by Republican philanderers should not receive tax exemptions as a religious organization, no matter how pious its boarders are.
The Supreme Court declined to hear yet another Ten Commandments case. (Wonder if they're as sick of these cases as everyone else.) A lower court decision in Oklahoma said the Decalogue must go. President Bush said he couldn't have been president without prayer and that America has enough critics without his own "opining."
One of the suspects in the Texas church fires attended a Sunday service and Baptist ministry on his college campus, even as suspicious authorities began to close in on him. A USA Today op-ed asks "Where Have all the Protestants Gone?" Long time passing, indeed. A Wisconsin presbytery voted to ordain an openly gay man, setting up yet another no-doubt lengthy legal scrum over homosexuality in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan says "white right" is conspiring to make Obama a one-term president. A deceased Jesuit accused of sexual abuse is haunting his order. Men who are liberal atheists have higher IQs, according to a study. Satan is following people on Twitter.
China is raising the profile of its hand-picked Panchen Lama, the No. 2 spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism. Anti-Semitism is declining in Poland. A court in Indian struck down the two-year waiting period for Christian newlyweds to get divorced.
Posted by Daniel Burke at 10:36 am