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Friday, July 30, 2010

Bodies for/by Jesus

They begin with a group prayer, concluded in Jesus' name.  Their music is religious in nature, a compilation of upbeat and encouraging Gospel music.  Their workout kinesthetics could be confused for the choreography of a church piece.

These are the images from the Body Gospel DVDs, the latest in the religious diet/workout culture.

CNN covered this organization in a piece dated July 21.  Donna Richardson Joyner was quoted in the piece speaking about the intersection of exercise and faith in God:

Adding God into the mix "requires not only to believe it, but the willpower to change," Joyner said. "It's a different type of willpower."

"This is saying to your faith, 'I'm doing this because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,' " she said. "This is not about losing weight to look good -- it's more purposeful than that."

Joyner's videos, touted as "America's #1 Faith Based Workout" on its website, have been supported by Oprah Winfrey; those interested can purchase the "Six Inspiring, Prayer Led Workouts" on DVD for just under $80.

This question of bodies, exercise, and religion, however, raises interesting ethical and theological questions.  Do these efforts imply that success in weight loss are guaranteed by invoking God?  Some people say it helps.  But in a culture that places so much emphasis on the body and on looks, where does one draw the line between healthy participation and unhealthy obsession?  Will this lead people to push a campaign of being "Slim for Him," of looking good as part of divine favor?

I am not the only one asking these, and similar, questions.  As the CNN article quoted:

"There's a part of me that cringes a little bit when I sense that there's this idea or concept that all you need to do for [a] weight loss program is [have] a little prayer or Bible study and all becomes easier," said Peter Walters, an associate professor in the applied health science department at Wheaton College in Illinois. 

Academics in the Study of Religion are also taking up this question about the place and use of the body in Christian circles.  R. Marie Griffith at Harvard Divinity School published a book in 2004 that addressed this directly.  Titled, "Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity," the piece looks at the role and importance of the body in American Christianity by looking at different religious communities: the Puritans, Christian Scientists, Nation of Islam, etc. 

For now, it seems that Joyner's enterprise will join other ventures into the realm of Christianity and modern-American life, a giant realm of religion and media, such as Christian siding that battles socialism, Veggie Tales and their pseudo-Christian messages,  and chastity rings.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday’s roundup

The faith-healing parents in Oregon who are in court for failing to provide medical care to their infant daughter have pleaded not guilty.  An Orthodox priest in Eastern Europe is being investigated for allegedly drowning a baby boy as he baptised him.  

Newt Gingrich is back at it: gave a speech Thursday where he said, "This is not a war on terrorism ... this is a struggle with radical Islamists."  Novelest Anne Rice says she's giving Christianity the quits.  Daniel Dennett's latest article blames seminaries for destroying the faith of future clergy.

The United Methodist Church's highest court plans to review it's 2005 decision that allows pastors to ban non-celibate gays and lesbians from membership. The scandal at Southern Baptist church in Tennessee, where a longtime church secretary was charged with embezzling $1.5 million, has now spread to her son, who's charged with skimming more than $400,000.

A South Carolina pastor and his wife were caught with child pornography on their computer. A Catholic priest in Wisconsin will plead not guilty to his case of possession of child pornography. Family members filed suit against the Diocese of Pittsburgh after an abuse victim allegedly committed suicide after the church stopped paying for counseling sessions.

The University of Illinois instructor who was fired for alleged hate speech concerning the Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality has been offered a position at the university.  A new book answers the question: Why is Reinhold Neibuhr such a big deal?  And physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva they might be closing in on the elusive Higgs Boson, a.k.a "the God Particle." Religion Dispatches argues why taxing the rich is the "Godly thing" to do.

What do a Catholic priest, a Taoist master, and a Lakota holy man have in common?  They're all coming together in the South Dakota town of Deadwood to help rebury uncovered 130-year-old remains. A fortune teller in Virginia claims county officials violated her religious rights by making her fill out typical fortune teller licensing requirements.  And a Methodist Church in England stopped yoga classes because they were "spiritually confusing."  

Thousands of Israelis held a "subdued" gay pride march in Jerusalem. Bangladesh's Constitution no longer holds language that requires the government "to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on solidarity."  Muslim parents in Sweden are being fined for refusing to allow their daughters to attend compulsory swimming classes in school; the classes are mixed-gender.

Afghan villagers say NATO forces showed disrespect for the Quran.  Speaking of disrespect, Malaysia fined the group of 12 Muslims who brandished severed cow heads in protesting the construction of a Hindu temple. In Baghdad, al-Qaida briefly planted its flag in the capitol and killed 23 members of Iraq's security forces across the country.  The "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan?" cover of Time magazine continues to raise eyebrows.

 
 

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Good morals start at birth

Could our moral sensibility exist from the time of our very first breath?  Some researchers believe so.

Work being conducted at Yale University has demonstrated that our moral reasoning may find its roots, quite simply, in our mere humanity.  

Psychologists have often wondered whether ethics and morality are primarily nature or nurture based.  Are we born as a clean slate, or do we bear figments of ethics in our bones?  The new research being conducted by Paul Bloom and others has demonstrated that  babies might actually possess some moral reasoning capabilities, more than we previously gave them credit for.  As he said in his article in the New York Times back in May:

A growing body of evidence, though, suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. With the help of well-designed experiments, you can see glimmers of moral thought, moral judgment and moral feeling even in the first year of life. 

Socialization remains important, however:

But this is not because babies and young children lack a sense of right and wrong; it's because the sense of right and wrong that they naturally possess diverges in important ways from what we adults would want it to be.

The video that accompanied the article is quite good.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Thursday’s roundup

As a federal judge struck down major portions of Arizona's "papers, please" immigration law, a majority of Americans thinks the waves of immigration a century ago are no longer helpful. Religious groups, who claimed a major victory in the ruling, vow to press on.  "Left Behind" co-author Tim Lahaye says President Obama is bringing us "closer to the apocalypse."

Remember that Ohio science teacher who taught religion in his public school classroom and burned a cross into a student's arm? He and the student's family have reached a settlement; terms were not disclosed. Meanwhile, in Maryland, the "Indiana Jones of Torah Scrolls" has reached an agreement with investigators that he can regale audiences with his tales of rescued Torah scrolls only if he can prove they are true.

The AP reports that independent egalitarian Jews (think Orthodox women prayer leaders) are changing the face of American Judaism. A coalition of black churches aims to raise $50 million over the next five years to help fund Haitian reconstruction projects. Benny Hinn, the white-suited apostle of the prosperity gospel, is in need of a little prosperity himself; he's asked supporters for $2 million to help cover expenses.

Senate Democrats put out an SOS to religious groups to help pass their agenda. Baptist leaders say some 1,000 foreigners were denied visas for their summit in Honolulu, and a new study of the Amish finds them growing and moving west in search of cheap farmland. Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs will be back in court on Aug. 18 for a hearing on his lawyer's request for a "speedy trial before a jury of his peers."

British church officials, overwhelmed by the costs of hosting Pope Benedict XVI in September, plan to ask pilgrims to pay about $40 to attend some papal events; Vatican officials say it's a "contribution," not an entry fee. Meanwhile, Britain's Education Ministry says it's open to the idea of establishing a "free-thinking" school based on secularism and humanism.

The NYT reports that South Africa's four-year-old gay marriage law has been good for gays and good for business, but hasn't spread to the desperately poor black African population, where "gay men and lesbians often face unabashed discrimination and violence."

Indonesian Muslims have been told not to washy trasy tabloid shows, or get sex-change operations, or presumably watch trashy TV shows about people who get sex-change operations. Meanwhile, in neighboring Malaysia, a reality show contest to pick the country's next up-and-coming Muslim leader has a huge following.

A (female) lecturer at a small Islamic university in eastern India has been told she can teach only if she dons a burqa; so far, she's refused. Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, told French Muslim women to be "holy warriors" (suicide bombers?) to protest France's proposed ban on Islamic veils. Muslim soccer players on a German team will be able to break their Ramadan fast (i.e., drink water) without running afoul of Islamic law, officials said.

Over in New Zealand, Jews are upset about a new animal-welfare law that requires slaughtered animals to be stunned with a taser before they are executed; Jews say it violates kosher standards for killing animals. And in Australia, new (atheist) PM Julia Gillard tried to reassure Christians that her unbelief will not affect government funding of church-run schools.

The world's third-most-wanted Nazi has been charged with the deaths of some 430,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Gays are marching for equal rights today in Jerusalem, and some grocery stores in Lebanon are refusing to stock coffee filters that contain Hebrew lettering on the box. Some folks in Israel are trying to expand/update the list of kosher foods, including locusts. Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman has accepted filmmaker Oliver Stone's apology for blaming Israel for U.S. foreign policy woes, and saying Jews control the media.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

July 28, 1989

It's really a great experience to look back and see what was happening in times gone past.  Here at RNS, we've got some archives from past years, so I will occasionally pick up and look to see what was happening on a given date in, say, 1989, or maybe 1994.  I don't have links to any of them, of course, but I do have some of the highlights from the stories that I will share.

In July 1989, the world had finally gotten somewhat accustomed to that wall that split Berlin.  Fashion style called for sweaters (zebra arm optional) with big hair and lots of denim.  And Madonna had still not been overshadowed by Lady Gaga.

In the news on this day in 1989, however, there were nine headlines that were sent out on the RNS wire, some of which have some interesting modern-day correlations:

NEW YORK: Evangelicals say White House ignoring their wishes on FCC post

It seems that evangelicals have always had an issue with the FCC. And, as well, that James Dobson has been in the news for way too long:

Several evangelical leaders, angry that their choice to head the (FCC) was rejected, are complaining that the White House is ignoring loyal constituents who helped elect President (George H. W.) Bush.  In sharply worded letters to the White House, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Ed McAteer of the Religious Roundtable and the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association have charged that the administration is taking them for granted.

Some of the evangelicals were angry because of a comment made by Republican Party leader Lee Atwater last year that evangelical activists are, in a barnyard phrase, "sucking hind tit" and "have nowhere else to go" except to the GOP.  Mr. Wildmon cited the quote in a letter to President Bush and then added, "We didn't ask for much, just crumbs, and we didn't even get those" with regard to the FCC.

Kudos to the reporter for getting the Atwater quote.

Today, the problem is a federal court's ruling that strikes down the FCC's indecency policy.  Many evangelicals fear that this will lead to an inordinate amount of conscious expletives that will be touted as accidents.

PHEONIX, Ariz.: Bishop makes public apology for child sex abuse by priest

Goes to show that these scandals have been going on for at least two decades.  

Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix has made a public apology for failing to do more to show support for the families of three boys who were molested by a priest in his diocese.

...The bishop said he was 'as outraged and angry as anyone about what happened to those children.'  But he said neither he nor any other representative of the church had personally contacted the families to offer support, counseling or reimbursement for counseling because he had been advised by lawyers that such actions could be considered an attempt to place pressure on the families to drop the charges.

Ouch.  I wonder if these are the same people that recommended the Vatican place women's ordination in the same document about sex abuse.  Oops.

The rest of the titles sent out include:

GLENDALE, Calif.: Baby boomers are returning to church but not always joining.

ATLANTA: United Methodists encouraging poor to establish their own churches.

DENVER: Denver archdiocese responds to complaints from Hispanics.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Southern Baptist agency hires full-time Washington lobbyist.

NORTHFIELD, Minn.: Disenchantment with churches said to help New Age movement.

NEW YORK: Descendant of Orthodox St. Innocent sees Soviet, U.S. bond.

and finally,

MANILA: Evangelicals find new approaches are needed to reach Muslims.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wednesday’s roundup

Rich Cizik, the former DC lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals who lost his job after telling NPR that he supports same-sex civil unions, returned to the same NPR show to reflect on the fall-out. The change, he says, has been good for him. And he still supports civil unions: "While I haven't come to a conclusion on [gay marriage,] I am convinced that you can't deny rights to people based on their sexual orientation. It's wrong," he says. "It's even wrong, I think, as Christians to take that position. Because we should support human rights for all people even when they don't agree with us."

Boston University's Stephen Prothero goes after Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey for suggesting that Islam may not be a religion after all; the Telegraph's Damian Thompson says Islam may not be a cult, but cult-like Islam is all the rage. Newsweek profiles the Rev. Al Sharpton and what his career says about race relations in the Obama era.

FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the agency's domestic surveillance program, saying there is no religious or ethnic profiling, as Muslims allege. Community leaders in New York recommended against a historic landmark for the proposed "Ground Zero mosque," thereby eliminating a potential major hurdle for the center. NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is probing the case of a con-artist (supposedly Episcopal) "nun" who's been soliciting funds for a charity that doesn't exist. (photo, left, via NY Post)

The Anti-Defamation League says the number of anti-Jewish incidents remained as a "sustained and troubling" level in 2009. New York's finest will step-up patrols around NYC mosques during Ramadan.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Christian counseling student against Eastern Michigan University after the school booted the student from the program when she refused to counsel same-sex couples. A federal court ruled that a Baptist preacher from a predominantly Muslim area of Ghana is eligible for asylum.

Israel says it may have to close the Jordan River to baptisms because of high levels of pollution. Twelve Muslims in Malaysia were fined for protesting a Hindu temple under construction by parading around a severed cow's head (a definite no-no in Hinduism).

Human rights groups are horrified that an estimated 2,000 young girls -- in the United Kingdom, of all places -- will be forced to under female circumcision (genital mutilation) this summer. India, meanwhile, is struggling with a rash of "honor killings" involving couples who defy caste culture and family wishes and elope.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Michael Jackson and Jesus

David LaChapelle is the photographer and director widely known in the fashion world for his pictures of such figures as Naomi Campbell, Whitney Houston, Uma Thurman, and recently Lady Gaga.  On display in the Paul Kasmin Gallery in NYC is his latest installation, "American Jesus".

LaChapelle has taken pictures that display Jesus interacting in modern-day representations of Biblical events.  In one image, a scantily-clad prostitute wipes Jesus' feet with her hair.  In another, Jesus stands at the center of a table as in The Last Supper, only this time he is surrounded by thugs and criminals.  

What has caught the eye of some, however, are the images that combine Jesus and other religious symbols with Michael Jackson.

(Photos courtesy of the websites of the Paul Kasmin Gallery and Sebastian Guiness Gallery)

In one article about the installation, LaChapelle stated that his inspiration for using Michael Jackson in his works came shortly after the pop star's death in 2009.

Although LaChapelle has worked with the Jackson family many times over the years, the "American Jesus" series was conceived after the singer's death and executed with the use of a look-alike.

"...when I worked on the millennium-issue cover of Rolling Stone, it was a fold-out cover with a lot of people wearing masks and a Michael Jackson imitator in the center. That's when Michael realized I was a friend and not a foe."

LaChapelle had a rough life growing up in Connecticut.  Michael Jackson, one article said, was a dramatic figure in his life.

The 47-year-old LaChapelle spoke passionately the other day about growing up gay, Catholic and suicidal in Fairfield, Conn., and finding salvation (and photography) at the North Carolina School for the Arts. Twice he burst into tears recounting the trials of the King of Pop, whose first name he has tattooed on a ring finger.

Although they hadn't met, the two had mutual friends. "He knew I was on his side," says LaChapelle, who staged these shots at his farm in Maui. Below, LaChapelle shares his thoughts about two of his works.

The works will be on display until September 18, 2010.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tuesday’s roundup

A judge sentenced a Tennessee mother of three to 42 months in the clink for taking money and services for five years to battle breast cancer -- which she never had. Filmmaker Oliver Stone angered Jewish groups by seeming to defend Hitler, and also digging up the old Jews-control-the-media trope (he later says he's sorry). Robert Duvall discusses faith on film with NPR.

Actor Will Smith wants to play original bad-boy Cain (Adam and Eve's wayward murderous son) in "The Legend of Cain" where Cain, it turns out, is a vampire. Speaking of brought back from the dead, former President Jimmy Carter said the endorsement of Texas pastor Jimmy Allen in 1976 helped him win the White House and no longer be a "a forlorn, woeful, forgotten, hopeless candidate."

Notorious polygamous leader Warren Jeffs will get a new trial on charges that he was an accomplice to rape surrounding the 2001 marriage of a 14-year-old girl, the Utah Supreme Court ruled today. 

Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey is wondering whether the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom should also apply to Muslims: "Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it," Ramsey said.

In neighboring Georgia, a counseling student at Augusta State University has filed suit (with a religious conservative law firm) after she was allegedly told to undergo sensitivity training toward gays if she wanted to complete her degree. An unemployed Colorado Springs woman apparently has enough money to buy bus ads telling people to "Save the Date" for Jesus' return on May 21, 2011.

The IRS has given a reprieve to small charities (less than $25,000 in receipts; excluding churches) to file their returns without losing tax-exempt status.

Megachurch guru Rick Warren is on the mend after that unfortunate run-in between his eyes and some burning tree sap. Kay Warren tells Christianity Today: ""The amount of agony was so extreme that I could not believe his eyes were not destroyed," Kay said on the phone. "He's definitely better and almost completely back to normal."

A Virginia-born Muslim man details the three months he spent stranded in Cairo after a trip to Yemen to find a Muslim bride; FBI agents asked him to become an undercover mole as part of his release back to the U.S.: "I listen to rap. I play basketball. I watch football. I wasn't brought up the way these crazy people [terrorists] are brought up. I just want to live on with my life. I don't want to be an informant. I want to work for an IT company. I want to be a normal person."

And so it has come to this: a British minister has decided to tweet his way through Communion. Careful not to spill the wine on your keyboard. And careful with your Bible, too: a British hospital wants to ban bedside Bibles because they could carry germs.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Are Catholics losing Latin America?

Lots has been brewing in the Western Hemisphere _ Chile, Argentina and Cuba have all been wrestling with teh Catholic Church in recent weeks. A quick recap of what's been happening in Latin America:

Argentina decided to legalize same-sex marriage, an act that went against Catholic Church lobbying (picture, lop left).  After debates that kept delegates in their chambers until the early hours of the morning, Argentina became the first Latin American nation to extend equal rights of marriage to same-sex couples.  From the LA Times:

The 4:05 a.m. vote came after an exhaustive debate that dragged on for more than 14 hours. Hundreds of supporters of the law, waiting outside Congress in freezing temperatures, erupted in cheers and tears of joy when news of the vote reached them.

"This was already a victory because there was no one in Argentina who wasn't following this debate," said Emelina Alonso, a human rights lawyer who joined the crowd to support the law. "Human rights and international law oblige us to protect [same-sex] marriage - so it is in Argentina and soon, surely, in other countries in the region."

There are some who see Argentina's actions as evidence of a waning Catholic presence (and power) in Latin America.  As Reuters said:

"Evidently the Church has been losing presence and influence regarding political decisions, which is part of a secularization process," said Ana Maria Bidegain, a religious studies professor at Florida International University.

"People are still Catholic and they still believe in the fundamentals ... but they no longer agree with what (the Church) says regarding morality," she said.

There's also Cuba, whose release of 52 political prisoners was spawned by work by the Catholic Church and other human rights groups.  

The Roman Catholic Church said in a statement that five of the 52 political prisoners would be freed within hours and would travel to Spain, accompanied by their relatives. Whether they were forced into exile or chose to leave is not known.

The remaining 47 will be released in "a process that will take three or four months starting now" and "may leave the country," according to the church. The prisoners, who include journalists, community organizers and opposition figures, were sentenced to prison terms of 20 years and more. Sanchez noted that no names had been released and that no relatives or lawyers had been notified, even the five families who were said to be leaving immediately.

It seems that even Latino Catholics in the U.S. are exhibiting similar opinions, as a newly released poll by the Public Religion Research Institute said.

It's hard not to agree with Hunt and the Reuters story that the power of the RC Church may be on hold, if not declining, especially when the New York Times reports that Chile is going to go against Catholic Church opinions to pardon prisoners who played a role in Pinochet's "Ditry War."

Is this an indication that the Catholic Church is losing its edge?  

Monday, July 26, 2010

Monday’s roundup

The Muslim imam behind the "ground zero mosque," said it's neither a mosque, nor at ground zero.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told Reuters, "We are trying to establish something that follows the YMCA concept but is not a church or a synagogue or, in this case, a mosque. We are taking that concept and adapting it to our time and the fact that we're Muslims. It's basically a Muslim Y."

Elsewhere in New York, the board of trustees of a Roman Catholic Church on Staten Island, whose members include NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan, rejected a proposal to sell a vacant convent to a Muslim organization that planned to use it as a mosque.

WaPo profiles the 20-year-old Virginian charged last week with trying to fly to Somalia and join an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group and finds that, like a lot of young men Adam Chesser tried out a variety of identities (including breakdancer and Marilyn Manson wannabe) as he searched for his true self. 

Israelis set fire to a field, tried to tear down an unfinished house and attacked West Bank Palestinians on Monday, the AP reports, in apparent retaliation for authorities demolishing illegal settler buildings. Iran's Islamic authorities appear to be stepping up repression of Baha'is, long-maligned religious minority, advocates for the group say.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday welcomed to its clergy roster seven openly gay pastors from the San Francisco area, the first of several planned services since the denomination voted at its convention last summer to allow noncelibate gay ministers in committed relationships.

Reuters says the Catholic Church's failure to derail a gay marriage law in Argentina shows that the church's influence is waning in Latin America. Chile's president rejected a proposal by the Catholic Church to pardon elderly and sick prisoners convicted of human rights violations during the Pinochet dictatorship.

Pope Benedict XVI has granted broad powers to the archbishop selected to overhaul the  scandal-scarred Legionaries of Christ. CNS has a short article on how the pope spends his summer vacation (hint: lots of reading and praying). Bus ads advocating for women's ordination will greet the pontiff when he travels to England this September. 

Speaking of Merry Ol', Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in England for a top-level Anglican meeting, continued her charm offensive through the English-speaking provinces, preaching in London and Wales that human weakness causes us "to insist that some are not worthy of respect, that dignity doesn't apply to the poor, or to immigrants, or to women, or Muslims, or gay and lesbian people." No word, oddly, on whether she wore her  bishop's miter, a subject of some controversy earlier this summer.

A popular Saudi cleric said Europe's burqa bans are stupid, but it is permissible for Muslim women to reveal their faces in countries where the Islamic veil is banned. Malaysian Islamic authorities say soccer uniforms with devils, crosses or skulls promote the "wrong value," but that Manchester United jerseys should not be banned. Two Muslim women were ordered out of a swimming pool in the southern France for wearing burkinis (see a burkini pictured at top left). 

Turkey has offered citizenship to Orthodox Christian archbishops from abroad to help the next election of the ecumenical patriarch, the spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox faithful, Reuters reports.

Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal prosecution against the Church of Scientology on the grounds that it is promoting extremism. The D.C. Circuit Court held that appellants had not demonstrated that printing the national motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency is unconstitutional.

The United Methodist Church's top judicial body will hear several appeals related to homosexuality this fall, including a pastor who would not allow an openly gay man to join his Virginia church, and New York ministers who want to marry same-sex couples.

Evolution continues to be a tricky topic among Tennessee evanglicals. French nuns won a contest to record an album for a label whose artists include Lady Gaga and the Rolling Stones.  

Friday, July 23, 2010

Jesus Toast

It seems that Jesus is everywhere these days.  From pancakes and toast to a potato chip, the carpenter from Nazareth has been reaching out to us in the form of food for many a year.

One artist in the UK, however, has taken this one step further: he has made a representation of the crucifix entirely out of - yup, you figured it - burnt toast.

 

 Using 153 pieces of charred toast, artist Adam Sheldon of Carlisle managed to create an incredible likeness of the crucifixion.  It is now housed and displayed at the Anglican Church of St. Peter, Great Limber, his mother's home parish.  The pastor of the church, Rev. Felicity Couch, loves the piece and proudly speaks of it in the video on the website link above.

"It's quite impressive" she said.  "It might be made of very unusual material, but it's a very usual subject matter in a church."

She spoke to the theological link between Jesus calling himself the bread of life and the chosen medium for the work.  

Friday, July 23, 2010

Friday’s roundup

Yet another set of parents from that Oregon faith-healing church is in trouble with the law -- this time for not seeking medical attention for a massive growth on the eye of their seven-month-old daughter (photo, left). State officials assumed custody; the parents want her back. They're from the same church as two other families who faced court trials in the faith-healing deaths of their children.

Facebook is investigating why Sarah Palin's message against the Ground Zero mosque in New York got deleted; a repost has Palin saying it would be "an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground." Across the harbor on Staten Island, Catholic officials say they won't sell a shuttered Catholic church to a group of Muslims who wanted to turn it into a mosque.

A Florida man was charged with burglary after using a crucifix to pry open the poor box at a Catholic Church in Fort Lauderdale. Comic book nerds greeted Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps' merry band of protesters with a few signs of their own.

Israel has shelved that controversial bill to give Orthodox rabbis total jurisdiction over Jewish conversions; officials say they need six months to try to iron out a compromise. In its ongoing series about religion in China, NPR probes Beijing's embrace of Buddhism as a possible counterweight to Christianity.

Two Muslim women were ordered out of a pool in France for wearing full-body "burkinis." Catholic officials in Rome are shaking their heads after an undercover TV expose found a trio of gay priests frequenting -- surprise -- a gay bar. Turkish officials are offering Turkish citizenship to overseas Orthodox archbishops so they can be eligible to be elected the next patriarch of Constantinople (the titular head of Orthodoxy must be a Turkish citizen, according to the law).

Former British PM Tony Blair is honoring films about religious understanding, and also says faith is "what gets you up in the morning." Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt say they'll let their international brood of six kids to pick their own religion.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Warren recovers from “excruciating” eye injury

Megachurch leader Rick Warren injured his eyes in a gardening accident at his California home Monday, his publicist said.

While pruning firestick bushes in his yard, Warren apparently got the poisonous sap from the plants in both of his eyes, said A. Larry Ross on Thursday.

"He was using gloves to protect his hands and after gathering up all the leaves had the gloves off, and ... wiped the sweat off his brow," Ross said, describing the resulting pain as "12 on a scale of 10."

He said Warren experienced "some temporary vision impairment'' but doctors expect him to recover fully.

Warren, 56, talked about the incident Thursday on Twitter, saying he had been in "excruciating pain'' and asking his supporters to "pray my sight loss is restored."

He sent later Tweets confirming that he was not blind and giving thanks for the prayers on his behalf.

Warren spent one night in the hospital and is recovering at home, wearing protective contacts and using ointments and painkillers.

"Fortunately, he's seeing well enough to tweet this morning,'' Ross said.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thursday’s roundup

Following Sarah Palin into the fray, erstwhile House Speaker Newt Gingrich came out against the mosque planned blocks from ground zero in NYC, calling it "a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites."

Add another name to the list of young Muslims reportedly radicalized by Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. A National Weather Service employee and his British-born wife pleaded guilty to terrorism charges of lying to the FBI. Paul and Nadia Rockwood had compiled a list of potential targets whom they suspected were "enemies of Islam," according to the AP. Paul Rockwood became a "strict adherent" of al-Awlaki while living in Virginia, the AP reports.

Continuing the Old Dominion theme, authorities arrested a 20-year-old Virginian linked to the "South Park" Internet warnings on charges of providing material support to al-Shabab, the militant Somali Muslim group with ties to al-Qaida. 

A new poll finds an uptick in support for gay marriage in California. Among the more interesting findings is the divide between Latinos: 57 percent of Catholics said they would vote to legalize gay marriage; only 22 percent of Protestants said the same. Gay marriage supporters and opponents held dueling protests in front of New Jersey's Supreme Court building on Tuesday. The court has not yet decided to take up the issue. Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage. 

German prosecutors say they have found no evidence that would justify holding the country's top Roman Catholic archbishop responsible for hiring a priest known to have sexually abused children. A former Catholic priest who was part of a sex abuse settlement 20 years ago was suspended from a volunteer position with the Special Olympics in Missouri. A Connecticut priest pleaded not guilty to stealing $1.3 million from his parish and spending it on male escorts, fancy clothes, and luxury hotels.

The AP tackles the "house church" phenomenon, reporting that they are "part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church." That is, skip the sermons, big buildings, and faceless crowds. A Washington state couple that was blocked from starting a wedding chapel in their backyard is suing, claiming religious discrimination.

A human rights group says Chinese security forces fired indiscriminately on Tibetan protesters in 2008 and beat others senseless. China is also keeping a possible successor to the Dalai Lama under virtual house arrest, The Nation reports. NPR continued its five-part series on religion in China with a look at path-blazing female imams.

Nobel Peace laureate and beloved Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that he is retiring from public life later this year when he turns 79. A church in Tutu's native South Africa has been banned from showing crutches or canes in its advertisements after complaints that the ads mislead people into thinking the church has healing powers.

New York City held its first Sufi Music Festival. A Mormon artist has embarked on a yearslong project to depict each of Islam's 99 names for God in glass scupltures. A Christian publisher will release a childrens' bio of Sarah Palin. Megachurch Pastor Rick Warren tweeted that his eyes have been severely burned by a toxic poison. 

The Archdiocese of Boston has launched a campaign to draw prodigal Catholics back to the church. An Anglican priest in Canada gave Communion to a dog. "I think the reverend was overcome by what I consider a misguided gesture of welcoming," said the local bishop.

That is not the Communion dog pictured at top left. That is a different dog.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Feet and evangelism

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, André Bauer, discusses the awe, inspiration, and pleasure that he finds in donating shoes to needy children.  His donation, however, combines a form of evangelism in the process.

In this interview with Nightline on a Christian network in South Carolina, Bauer discusses how he goes about donating shoes to needy children. 

[Bauer]: What we do is, they come in, they'll sit down, we'll kneel on a little stool in front of them, they put their feet out, we'll take their shoes off --

[Announcer]:  Do they know what's comin' up?

[Bauer]: I don't believe most of them do.  I don't believe most of - I think most of them think they're getting a pair of shoes, but while we have them there we take the opportunity to ask them if they have a relationship with the Lord...

It is a combination of Biblical feet washing with charitable donation.  Some of the recipients of the shoes, however, are unaware of what is actually taking place.

[Announcer]:  Do they ever resist?

[Bauer]: ...In the times that I've done it, usually they're timid, they're shy, but by the time it's over with, they've opened up.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wednesday’s roundup

Muslim leaders are upset over plans to host a "International Burn a Koran Day" at a church in Gainesville, Fla.; this is the same church, you might recall, that got in trouble for posting a "No Homo Mayor" sign against an openly gay mayoral candidate.

The lesbian high school student in Mississippi who was told she couldn't attend prom with her girlfriend has settled her suit against the school district for $35,000.

The American Jewish Congress, which lost $21 million of its $24 million endowment to Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, has apparently suspended operations after 92 years. Some folks in Hyrum, Utah, are threatening payback at the polls after a pastor was  allowed to close a July 4 celebration with a prayer -- in Spanish.

President Obama and new British PM David Cameron say the release of the Pan Am 103 bomber had nothing to do with BP oil contracts. Indian audiences are flocking to a Bollywood parody about Osama bin Laden. Three Americans were expelled from Indonesia on charges of (illegal) proselytizing, while Indonesian Muslims got the OK to drink coffee brewed from the dung droppings of civet cats.

NPR looks at efforts to reconcile China's "official" and "underground" Catholic churches, and the Chronicle of Higher Ed looks at Germany's efforts to train imams.  Spain rejected a total ban on burqas, but it could live to see another day in a narrower form.

Fire eaters in Saudi Arabia are growing tired of harassment from the country's religious police. Austrian church leaders say a confessional that's for sale on eBay can't be turned into a one-man sauna.

A Welsh politician is facing a possible inquiry after posting on his Twitter feed: "I didn't know the Scientologists had a church on Tottenham Court Road. Just hurried past in case the stupid rubs off." Hard-line Islamic groups are rushing to the aid of a Nigerian politician who's under fire for marrying a 13-year-old girl; he says a 2003 law the prohibits marriage to anyone under age 18 "must have been enacted in error."

CNN's Eatocracy blog delves into the dietary restrictions of 12 major world religious traditions, and Politics Daily compares the parenting models of Sarah and Todd Palin, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, as their daughters get ready to step down the aisle this summer.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Mosque That is Tearing New York Apart

One of the biggest topics in religion and politics right now is the question of what will happen to that little piece of real estate two blocks away from Ground Zero.  The crumbling edifice that used to house a Burlington Coat Factory is up for grabs by a group that hopes to demolish the building and build an Islamic inter-faith community center with a mosque inside.  The proximity to the former site of the World Trade Center, however, has many Americans irate and others calling Islamaphobia.

Among all the reactions, dissenters have produced an incendiary ad that claims the area is "sacred ground".  Images of 9/11 are displayed alongside footage of Islamist militants while the Muslim call to prayer plays in the background.

"A mosque at Ground Zero must not stand," the ad affirms.  "Join the fight to kill the Ground Zero Mosque."

The ad appears to be a little too controversial, as NBC and CBS both refused to air it on their networks.  They claim, however, that their refusal comes from vaguness in the ad rather than the direct message being given:

"The (NBC) official said the ambiguity of the words "their" and "they" made it unclear whether the ad was referring to terrorists or to the Islamic groups -- including the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative -- who are sponsoring the mosque's construction"

According to BBC News, the ad has been seen more than 100,000 times on July 15th.   When I viewed the video on YouTube today (July 20), the ad had more than 240,000 views.  

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Tuesday’s roundup

Tribune's Washington bureau has a profile on White House faith pointman Joshua DuBois. The piece is short on religious and political specifics, but adds a few new personal details (he has two cats and a longtime girlfriend in the Justice Department) to DuBois' bio.

Politico sees an ulterior (or maybe anterior) motive in evangelical leaders' support for immigration reform: winning souls for Jesus. "First and foremost it's a kingdom issue, and second, it's a moral issue," says Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention's political guru.

A U.S.-born radical Muslim cleric warned Americans not to attack Yemen, where he is hiding. Germany has started a program for Muslims who want to quit extremism.

A battle is brewing between American Jews and powerful Jewish leaders in Israel over the conversion bill in Israel's parliament, NPR reports. NPR also continues its five part series on religion in China by looking at the explosive growth of Christianity in the communist country. 

Baptists, especially African Americans, are breaking with historical Puritanism and appointing bishops, the Boston Globe reports. Scholars point to competition from independent churches with charismatic pastors who use the title as one reason.

Churches are making Hollywood movies to attract people more apt to visit cineplexes than sanctuaries, according to USA Today. Catholic bishops in Louisiana said guns will not be allowed in their churches, even though a new state law permits concealed weapons in houses of worship.

An Oklahoma judge granted an injunction on Monday blocking a state law that requires women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and listen to a description of the fetus.

Hackers attacked the Vatican last weekend, making a pedophilia website appear when computer users searched for "Vatican."

The directionally challenged Islamic clerics in Indonesia now say it's halal for Muslims to drink coffee extracted from the dung of civet cats. Earlier this week, the clerics acknowledged that they told Muslims to pray in the wrong direction, towards Africa, rather than Mecca.

Atheists are using blow-dryers to "de-baptize" non-believers. Gunmen killed two Pakistani Christians accused of blasphemy against Islam.

The Templeton Foundation has awarded Wake Forest University $3.67 million to study character. A new study says that Buddhist meditation increases attention and focus. Saudi Arabian women, who shroud themselves from head to toe in public, spend more on makeup than almost any other women in the Middle East. Gwenyth Paltrow is spreading the joys of kabbalah.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Atheists to take care of pets during Rapture

In a piece that I wrote, I found that authors who have recently written on the topic of animals and souls seem to agree that (1) animals have souls and that (2) these souls have a space for them in heaven.

But what about those people who do not subscribe to this idea?  Many of the most conservative of Christians do not believe that animals have souls or that, if they do, they will join their owners in heaven.  This leaves the issue, then, of what will happen to their pooch when the end-times comes, a theology that many of these same conservative Christians uphold?

Enter Eternal Earth-bound Pets, USA, an organization that promises to care for Fluffy if/when the Rapture were to occur.  RNS Senior Correspondent Adelle Banks wrote about them back in February.  I had the pleasure of catching up with one of the owners of the company, however, to talk business. 

As their website advertises:

You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.  We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

Started by Co-owner Bart Centre of New Hampshire, author of The Atheist Camel Chronicles, the organization began accepting contracts in June 2009.  To date, they have collected 200 contracts, a number which disappoints Centre somewhat.  The owners figured that there were approximately 40 million Premillennialists, Christians who subscribe to the image of a Rapture and being "left behind," so 200 people was not the number they had looked forward to.  

Centre emphasized:

"A lot of people think that this is somehow a parody or a joke.  A lot of people think that I am making fun of believers who believe in the rapture.... (But) this is as genuine as it can be. All (animal rescuers) have gone through background checks and credit checks. We know these people are committed and we do this for the long run. Do we think that our contracts will ever have to be executed? No, we don't. But it doesn't make our offer any less valid or genuine."

Centre has received thousands of requests from Atheists around the world asking to become rescuers, however he says that the company is not taking any more rescuers at the moment.  The company has been featured in a variety of news outlets including Bloomberg Businessweek.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Monday’s roundup

President Obama has unleashed a "secret weapon" in his push for immigration reform, says the NYT, conservative evangelical leaders. 

Abortion foes, including the U.S. Catholic bishops, are claiming victory after the Obama administration said a federally funded program in New Mexico to provide health insurance to patients turned down by private insurers will not cover elective abortions.

The Vatican on Saturday defended its revised rules on clergy sex abuse. The Vatican continues to get hammered, though, for listing women's ordination alongside child rape on its list of "graver crimes."

The first woman ever elected as a Lutheran bishop resigned from her German post after allegations that she did not thoroughly investigate a sexually abusive pastor.

The world's most populous Muslim nation has been praying in the wrong direction -- towards Africa rather than Mecca, Indonesian imams admitted. Sarah Palin called on "peaceful Muslims" to "refudiate" (sic) their religion and their plans to build a cultural center and mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero in NYC. Oklahomans will vote in November on a resolution that would bar courts from considering or using Shariah law. Syria has banned full-face veils in public universities. Spain's legislature will debate a public ban on burqas this week.

Israeli PM Netanyahu said he will oppose a bill that has angered liberal Jews by giving Orthodox rabbis control over conversions, and thus greater influence on the debate over who is considered Jewish. Hamas wants ladies to stop crossing their legs and smoking hookahs in public. 

Maryland is considering allowing death-row inmates to chose a clergyperson to be in the excecution chamber with them, rather than rely on state-appointed clerics. A Kentucky prison is cracking down on pastoral visits.

An appeals court in Kansas says judges should not consider a Muslim man's objections to his wife's religion (Jehovah's Witness) in a custody dispute. A scholar in British Columbia, which is considering an anti-polygamy law, says multiple marriages (aka "the principle") lead to increased crime, prostitution, inequality between men and women, ignored children, and younger marriages.

A Texas bus driver is suing after he was fired for refusing to take a woman to Planned Parenthood. Christopher Hitchens said he is "touched" by all the religious people praying for him to be healed of cancer. Pilgrims and partiers flocked to a sacred waterfall in Haiti. (AP photo of said waterfall, which kind of reminds me of a Romare Bearden painting, at top left.) Religion is filling a spiritual vacuum in increasingly prosperous China.

A politician in India has been charged with impersonating a goddess on campaign literature. Religion scholar Stephen Prothero says it's time for Hindus to talk about the caste system. Reuters wonders whether there are too many sacred topics in India.  

Friday, July 16, 2010

What’s the difference between hijab, burqa, etc

With 5 million Muslims (about 10% of their population), France has Europe's largest Muslim minority.  France officially voted, however, to ban full face coverings in public with an overwhelming 335 to 1 voting.  They followed Belgium, where it is a criminal offence to wear the burqa.

With all of this, then, I thought it would be nice to get a little bit of the details in order to understand the difference between all these types of coverings.  This is not an exhaustive explanation by any means, so leave room for "if"s, "and"s, and "but"s. 

First up: the burqa (a.k.a. burkha and burka). 

This is the one that is causing the most controversy in France.  In its simplest description, the burqa is a complete covering, from head to toe, including the eyes.  Most images of the "burqa" shown in the media are actually incorrect, as the burqa has a veil that covers even the eyes.  It's usually worn over the daily clothing that a woman wears and can be taken off once the women enters the sanctuary of her home.  

France is also banning, however, the use of the niqab,  the full face veil that leaves a slit open for the eyes. People often use the words niqab and burqa interchangeably as they both cover the majority of a woman's body.

 And then there is the hijab, the traditional head covering that has become ubiquitous (and, in all honesty, actually quite stylish) in many parts of the world.  Although the new law in France will not address hijabs, a previous 2004 law does address the hijab in schools.  That 2004 law, however, also applies to other external religious symbols like Jewish kippas and Christian crosses.

Teachers and civil servants are also barred from wearing any religious symbols at work.  Once a student reaches the university setting, however, they are free to wear religious artifacts.  

Friday, July 16, 2010

Friday’s roundup

 Reaction poured in to the Vatican's revised laws on sex abuse, which were immediately criticized by abuse victims' advocates for not going far enough, and by supporters of women's ordination for going too far. The revised norms classify attempting to ordain women as a "grave offense," the same category as raping children.  U.S. Catholic bishops defended the Vatican's reasoning.

A former Catholic bishop in Massachussetts repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a sex-abuse related deposition. The ex-bishop himself, Thomas Dupre, resigned in 2004 after he was indicted on an unrelated sex abuse charge.

Some interesting parties filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest at military funerals. More than 20 media organizations, including The Associated Press and the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press have filed briefs with the Supreme Court.

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement saying it will work to exclude federal funding of elective abortion from new health insurance plans in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, making the U.S. Catholic Bishops happy.

An appeals court in Washington rejected a challenge to the city's gay marriage law. Same-sex marriage opponents vowed to appeal Thursday's decision to the Supreme Court. Sounding a lot like his predecessor, the new Anglican archbishop of Nigeria accused the "church in the West" of "using their money to spread the homosexual lifestyle in African societies and churches." 

A debate has arisen over an Internet video showing a Holocaust survivor and his family dancing at Auschwitz. A lawmaker in the Netherlands is forming an international alliance to ban Muslim immigrants from Europe. NBC and CBS have refused to air a confrontational ad that calls on Americans to oppose the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in NYC. A Swedish court convicted two brothers of trying to burn down the house of a cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

In the latest bid to win converts for Christ, staid evangelical scholars are taking up improv comedy. The Romanian Orthodox Chucrch said a popular singer cannot receive a full burial because she committed suicide. 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Dancing on (mass) graves

A YouTube video that has gone viral has many Holocaust survivors raising a ruckus ... but not to the beat of the music.

As the clip describes on its YouTube page:

"On a recent trip to Europe, a family of three generations (a Holocaust survivor, his daughter and his grandchildren) dance to Gloria Gaynor's pop song - 'I Will Survive' at concentration camps and memorials throughout Europe.

This dance is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit and a celebration of life. It is an affirmation that man can triumph over the darkest of circumstance and still strive to find beauty and peace. Similarly, each one of us has to face the adversary of our own lives and find the spirit 'to survive.'"

Many Holocaust survivors, however, find the video offensive.

"Kamil Cwiok, 86, who was a child when he and his family were rounded up by the Nazis, condemned the footage.  Mr Cwiok, most of whose family died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz, said: "I don't see how this video is a mark of respect for the millions who didn't survive, nor for those who did.  "It seems to trivialise the horrors that were committed there."

Dancing highlight at the 3:00 mark. 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Thursday’s roundup

The Vatican has issued its long-expected universal rules on sexual abuse -- the new norms double the statute of limitations, make possessing child porn a crime but does not require bishops to report problem priests to the police. The revised rules also add "attempted ordination of a woman" into the same criminal code as raping minors.

Meanwhile, U.N. officials say the Vatican is 13 years late in delivering a report on child rights. The Episcopal bishop of Erie, Pa., (the youngest bishop in the U.S. church, BTW) is encouraging victims of a deceased bishop to come forward.

Religion Dispatches wonders whether the future Mr. and Mrs. Levi Johnston will still be role models for young evangelicals. Speaking of evangelical icons, a Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to know why work permits were issued to Kate Gosselin's sextuplets for her reality TV show.

People in Cleveland (long dubbed America's poorest big city) are having trouble finding the money to hold funerals. Some Kentucky kids are spending their summer at "Vacation Liberty School" to learn about America's Christian roots, a la Glenn Beck. Congress debated the biblical roots of immigration reform, and didn't find any easy answers. The AP says worshippers may be in danger of falling debris from aging sanctuaries.

U.S. Muslims are launching a comprehensive survey of American mosques. That Barack Obama/Adolf Hitler/Vladimir Lenin Tea Party billboard in Iowa has been taken down; organizers called it a "bad idea."  Also in the category of bad ideas, a Puerto Rican spiritual healer is facing charges of negligent homicide after he dropped a candle into an alcohol bath where a woman was undergoing a Santeria ritual.

CBS and NBC rejected an ad from an independent Republican group to "kill the Ground Zero mosque."  An Arizona court rejected the case of a man who couldn't get a job at a hospital because he refused to give his Social Security number (he thinks it's the mark of the beast). Authorities dropped charges against two openly gay Iraq War veterans who chained themselves to the White House fence to protest the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy.

Argentina yesterday became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage, despite heavy opposition from the Catholic Church and the Mormons.

In neighboring Venezuela, strongman Hugo Chavez wants to "examine" his country's relations with the Vatican (and not in a good way), adding for good measure that the pope "isn't God's emissary on earth" (that would be Chavez himself, apparently). Relations between the Vatican and China, however, are slowly improving after both sides approved of a new bishop.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Haikus for Glenn Beck

Do you have something to say to Glenn Beck?  Why don't you try sending the message in the form of haiku poetry.

Representatives of Jewish Funds for Justice have set up a website where participants can enter responses to Glenn Beck.  The catch: it must follow the 5/7/5 syllabic rules of haiku poetry.

The site is called "Haik U Glenn Beck" and it went live after Beck made comments against social justice and religion.  As the website states:

So, Glenn Beck said:  "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice are code words [for Communism and Nazism]. Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

We at Jewish Funds for Justice join many other faith organizations in strongly disagreeing. We work every day for a just, fair and compassionate America, rooted in our values.

With well over 1,000 posts, the website has collected the artistic expressions that range from humerous to vitriolic.  Visitors to the site can vote on their favorites.  Some of the top contenders include:

Bend it like Beck - and
Kick the words around until
Justice is "Just-Us" 

"You look like Glenn Beck"
Somebody once said to me
Then I grew a beard 

Mom always said you
Can't have a battle of wits
With an unarmed man 

And finally:

Things you don't deserve:
Respect, an audience, and
A full haiku. 

In the spirit of the art form, I would like to express that

Religion News will
Now report only like this
‘till Kevin vetoes.*

---------

* Okay, maybe not.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Wednesday’s roundup

A Tea Party billboard in Iowa that compares President Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is raising eyebrows, even among Tea Party activists. "The purpose of the billboard was to draw attention to the socialism. It seems to have been lost in the visuals," said billboard sponsor Bob Johnson.  The NAACP passed a resolution accusing the movement of condoning racism and bigotry.

Speaking of Tea Parties, the anti-establishment insurgency that could give Republicans control of Congress also ousted the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; incumbent Gerald Kieschnick was depicted as a power-hungry megachurch wannabe, and delegates elected the church's disaster response chief in his place. Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle, who's trying to oust Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, indicates she has God on her side.

President Obama has a new plan to fight AIDS in America. New York City officials are wrangling over whether to allow that mosque near Ground Zero to go forward. Five Cleveland Catholic churches scheduled to be closed may have gotten a new lease on life from the Vatican. Pastors of two Alabama churches that fell victim to arson say the fires were part of God's plan.

A federal court has struck down the FCC's rules against "fleeting expletives" (Bono's "f***ing brilliant" and Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction"); conservatives are incensed. The feds are going after a Utah "minister"  who they say is running a scam that encourages members of his church to take a vow of poverty and sign over their property to his control.

Sarah Palin says her daughter Bristol believes in "redemption and forgiveness" after hearing the news that Bristol and baby daddy Levi Johnston are an item again, with plans to marry. NPR asks why a Las Vegas megachurch is supporting a Ugandan pastor who wants to throw people in jail for not reporting their gay relatives or neighbors to the police.

A conservative Anglican bishop is warning that an exodus of members because of women bishops is inevitable. Things are getting nasty north of the border, where a Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff refuses to apologize for likening Canadian PM Stephen Harper to Satan. Argentinians took to the streets to protest a proposed bill to legalize gay marriage. Surprise runaway best-seller "The Shack" is bogged down in an ugly legal fight over royalties, rights and payments.

France's lower House, as expected, passed a ban on burqas and face veils; the bill now heads to the Senate. Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (the one with links to the panty-bomber and the Times Square-bomber) has now put a ransom on the head of Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris, who launched "Everyone Draw Muhammad Day." Those "Leaving Islam?" bus ads have been followed by anti-honor killing ads on Chicago taxis.

Former New York Theological Seminary president George "Bill" Webber has died at age 90, and Grammy-winning Gospel singer Walter Hawkins has died at 61.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Ramadan a remedy for AIDS

Here's something that could have world religious leaders (especially the Roman Catholic Church) celebrating: leading experts on HIV/AIDS push for abstinence as a part of the solution.

What's more, they have taken their inspiration from religious groups around the globe.

Justin Parkhurst of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Alan Whiteside of the University of KwaZulu-Natal have both argued that a month-long abstinence period might offer tremendous results in battling HIV/AIDS in African nations, The Guardian of London reports.

Research has demonstrated that there is a "viral-load spike" in newly infected persons whereby they are more likely totransmit thevirus in the month that they were exposed to it.  "Up to 45 per cent of HIV transmissions result from sex during the highly infections 'spikes' period," The Guardian said.

Whiteside and Parkhurst believe, however, that religion could point the way to help prevent future spreads of the virus.  Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia have a 0.2 per cent HIV prevalence rate, often attributed to the nearly universal practice of male circumcision (map of prevalence of circumcision, care of WHO).  Many African nations, especially in Northwestern Africa, however, have equally prevalent rates of circumcision.

Whiteside's hypothesis: it's because of the month-long "ban on sex during daylight hours of Ramadan, as well as strict teachings on alcohol use, homosexuality and extra-marital sex."

Christian churches in African nations have often pushed for abstinence-only campaigns, denouncing condom use.  Whiteside, author of HIV/AIDS: A Very Short Introduction by Oxford University Press, is quick to point out, however, that a month-long devotion to condom use could also give similar results as month-long abstinence.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuesday’s roundup

An AP investigation finds that politicians are, in fact, people too, and sometimes seek the advice of religious leaders for spiritual and moral guidance.

Investigators in Uganda found an unexploded suicide-bombing vest, suggesting that Muslim militants had planned a third strike during Sunday's World Cup final. Among the 74 killed in the bombings is an American rugby player who worked with children in Uganda. Pennsylvania Christians are still waiting for word from friends and family injured in the attacks.

The ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee wants to investigate the proposed building of a mosque near Ground Zero. NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said an investigation would be un-American. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs chided a NASA administrator for saying outreach to Muslims is one of the space agency's missions. 

Making only minor concessions to conservatives, the Church of England decided to allow women bishops .... in 2014. The U.S. Catholic Bishops don't like the recent ruling that DOMA is unconstitutional one bit. Mormon church leaders restated their opposition to gay marriage, just in case any one in Argentina, which is debating the issue, had forgotten. Log Cabin Republicans are challenging Don't Ask/Don't Tell in federal court.

The NYT investigates a Belgian bishop who molested his nephew for years. Leaders in Northern Ireland are condemning the mob violence that injured 82 police officers on the eve of a Protestant parade. As France considers banning the burqa, a rich businessman is offering to help women pay any fines for wearing the head-garb.

Chelsea Clinton's pending nuptials, and the secrecy surrounding the ceremony, are breeding questions about whether she will convert to Judaism, her fiance's faith. A Chicago seminary plans to join the growing ranks of schools offering multi-faith training. A piece of the True Cross is missing from Boston's cathedral. The M, C, and A, are missing from the YMCA.

Evangelicals are flocking to the Son of Sam, who was born again in prison 23 years ago. A postal worker in Texas who began a correspondence with the convicted murderer after hearing him on Focus on the Family's radio show says, "You can see that God has a sense of humor, since David also worked for the post office at one time."

Finally, George Steinbrenner died this morning. As my wife said, first the Voice of God departed, and now the Devil.

But for all his buffoonery and mistreatment of every Yankee manager who had the misfortune to work for him, the Boss had softened in recent years, for one reason or another, and so had his reputation. By now I think many Yankee fans can forgive his desperate grabs for attention and hope that he, finally, rests in peace.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Dirty Words, God’s Language?

Talk about "holy $#^#&!"  Father Frederick Loos, an American who has lived in Mexico for the past four decades, is not afraid to use any means necessary to preach the Gospels.  As the Mexico City Journal/New York Times reports:

Frederick Loos was cussing like a sailor the other night, which was surprising given that he is a Roman Catholic priest and his foul-mouthed discourse was delivered from the pulpit to hundreds of faithful gathered before him.

He spoke of God, the need to serve him and how he can transform lives. But interspersed in his sermon was the most colorful of street Spanish, which brought smiles to the faces of many of the gang members, addicts and other young people pressed in tight to listen.

Riddled with incredible drug-related violence in recent years, Mexico has seen its share of hardships.  The violence reaches all walks of life: politicians watch their every move, entire families have been known to disappear, and even clergy must watch who they criticize or reprimand. 

Fr. Loos, however, is one of those ministers who actually seeks out the criminals, the drug addicts, and the poor. Religion is important to them, too, something that other drug cartels have taken advantage of.  But Fr. Loos is on a mission to reach them in a way that cartels cannot.  Some of the worshippers come to church high or stoned.  Instead of money, many give up their drugs in the collection plates.  These are the people that Fr. Loos reaches out to, the ones he seeks to connect to.  He defends his, um, eccentric language by saying

 “When you go to China you have to speak Chinese,” the priest explained afterward, slipping out of his vestments. “If you’re speaking to kids you use their idioms. I don’t think God is offended if it brings them closer to him.”

These youths come to church bearing statues of St. Jude Thaddeus, one of the apostles and patron saint of hopeless causes.  In the U.S., as elsewhere, St. Jude has typically been the forgotten saint (often confused with Judas) and the saint that women predominantly turn to.  Many men even ask women to intercede on behalf of them with prayers to St. Jude.

With Fr. Loos' presentation, we may have a Mexican version of unorthodox evangelization.  With many in the U.S. still contesting whether mediums like Rock n' Roll or Hip Hop, paintballing or soccer camps, are effective at getting the message out, Fr. Loos just continues giving out a healthy dose of the Good Word, replete with many of his own not-so-good words.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday’s roundup

The Obama administration's move to drop rhetorical references to "Islamic" terrorism is drawing criticism that naming the motivation of the violence is neccessary in order to fight it. The Obama administration says religion labels are too broadly drawn and give the impression that the U.S. is at war with Islam.

The Vatican posted its third straight year in the red, losing about $5 million last year, with expenses mostly going toward Pope Benedict XVI's travels and Vatican radio. Germany's top Catholic bishop admitted making mistakes in not investigating sexual abuse allegations against a priest who molested boys for two decades.

Some American Catholics are not pleased that forthcoming guidelines for sexual abuse also bring heightened penalties for ordaining women. More than 30 percent of the Catholic priests ordained in the U.S. last year are foreign-born, which can build barriers between pulpit and pew, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

In a whirlwind of activity, leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA) approved gay clergy, but not gay marriage, passed a resolution denouncing Caterpillar Inc. for how Israel uses its bulldozers, and adopted a study guide on the Middle East that had drawn fierce criticism from American Jews until it was amended last week. The Church of England rejected a bid to compromise on women bishops in what was a horrible week for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Reuters reports. 

A federal judge issued a restraining order blocking the arrest of Westboro Baptist Church members who broke a Nebraska law against desecrating the American flag. France's parliament will probably pass its burqa ban today. Liberal Jewish groups in Israel are angry that a parliamentary committee gave control over conversions to Orthodox rabbis. Iran is sending thousand of clerics into schools to fight Western influences.

Irish Catholic youth rioted in Belfast before a Protestant parade. Catholic officials said Cuba plans to release 12 more political prisoners. Venezuela's Chavez continued his war of words with Catholic bishops. Britain's ambassador to Lebanon says she's sorry for praising a recently deceased Muslim cleric who inspired Hezbollah, a week after a CNN producer was fired for doing the same. 

China is improving material life in Tibet, but Tibetans are unhappy that their culture, centered on Buddhism, is being swept away. Two Russian curators who angered the Russian Orthodox Church with an exhibition that included images of Jesus Christ portrayed as Mickey Mouse were fined but not jailed. A scholar claims to have found a secret message in Plato's writings. I belive it says the walrus is Paul, or something. A Georgia appellate court said the Episcopal Church, not breakaway conservatives get to keep parish property.

Hour of Power preacher Robert Schuller is stepping down as head pastor at Chrystal Cathedral but not retiring, his daughter hastens to add. An Alabama preacher promised to live on a church roof if 50 people signed up for Sunday School. The voice of God, heard from 1951-2007 in Yankee Stadium, was silenced by death (that's longtime announcer Bob Sheppard at top left.)

Friday, July 09, 2010

American Jews are feeling the pinch

With the economy the way it is, many Jews across the nation are raising their hands and exclaiming "Oy!"

Lisa Miller of Newsweek has a new article on the costs of being Jewish.  No, we're not talking about social cost here.  No, this has nothing to do with Jewish stereotypes.  And no, there is no punchline.  It really is expensive to be a Jew in the U.S. today, she writes in "The Cost of Being Jewish."

"But on the day-to-day level, the high cost of the basics-synagogue membership, in particular-is troubling, both outdated as a business model and onerous to families having to choose between Hebrew school and math tutoring."

Last year the Pew Forum looked at income distribution and faith in their U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (another graph here).  Three out of four Jews make over $50,000/yr (national average is 48%).  And Jews in America  also have the largest percentage of high-income faithful with 46% making more than $100,000/yr (national average is 18%). 

This population, however, is facing financial woes in maintaining massive synagogues that were built alongside Jewish prosperity entering the 20th century.  

Let's check out some of the numbers that Miller cites:

- Jews in the U.S. have declined from 3.1 million in 1990 to 2.7 million in 2008.

- The average yearly synagogue membership (in 2005): $1,100

- But the closer-to-real cost of yearly synagogue membership today: +/- $3,000

- Add in school fees, kosher food, and summer camps, and you're looking at around $50,000 to $110,000 for a family of 5!

Things are so bad that some Jews are even turning to Christians for inspiration.  Whereas Christian churches work on a donation basis, Jewish synagogues require membership up front.  Many Jews, however, just can't make their payments, and many rabbis don't know what to do. 

My favorite quote comes from Arnold Eisen, chancellor of Jewish Theological Seminary in New York: "People need sacred spaces, but when you're looking at budgets, you're looking at heat and air conditioning."

Friday, July 09, 2010

Friday’s roundup

Brace yourself for another skirmish in the culture wars: A federal judge in Boston yesterday struck down part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, saying gay couples who get married in the states that allow it should have access to federal benefits. Conservatives vow to win on appeal, and/or make it the next abortion battle: ""Does this federal judge want to start another culture war?" asked Maggie Gallagher, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage.  "Does he really want another Roe. v. Wade?"

And NBC's Today Show agreed to allow same-sex couples to compete in its "Modern Wedding" Contest. "The rules stated that eligible couples must be able to be legally married in New York, where we will host the wedding," NBC said in a statement, "therefore excluding same-sex couple applicants. Our intent was not to be discriminatory or exclusive. ... We have opened up the application process to same-sex couples, and will extend the deadline to Monday, July 12.  Moving forward, we ensure that our future wedding contests will be inclusive of all couples."

Presbyterians meeting in Minneapolis voted to allow gay clergy, but keep intact the definition of marriage between one man and one woman -- at least for now.  The Church of England opens debate today (again) on whether to allow female bishops. America's premiere Jewish university, Brandeis, has a new president.

Dallas megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes has forged an on-site partnership with a Pennsylvania seminary. A Unitarian Universalist congregation in Wisconsin called the cops when a woman showed up packing heat (still unclear what point she was trying to make). Tune in tonight to ABC's 20/20 for an update in the case of a Texas Baptist pastor convicted of making his wife's murder look like a suicide so he could carry on an affair with another woman.

Some 29 state attorneys general (and several conservative groups)  have filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing for the constitutionality of the laws that created the National Day of Prayer (a judge struck those laws down earlier this year; the case is currently on appeal). Our own Rabbi Jim Rudin looks at the theological origins of The Star Spangled Banner.

Pope Benedict XVI has named an Italian archbishop to oversee the troubled Legion of Christ order. The NYT, which has been criticized as "anti-Catholic" for its coverage of the clergy abuse scandal, says the pope "has the obligation to shepherd not just [abuse] guidelines but credible mandates that all priest-abusers and bishops who abetted their crimes face disclosure and punishment."      

Three British Muslims were convicted of conspiring to blow up transatlantic flights, and the Kremlin-backed head of Chechnya praised a band of men who fired paintballs at women who weren't wearing their headscarves. The women were, in the words of President Ramzan Kadyrov, "naked." 

The NYT says tax-free donations by U.S. citizens to Israeli settlements are complicating U.S. plans to stop the expansion of those very settlements. Another ship packed with humanitarian aid is set to sail to Gaza, again trying to break the Israeli blockcade. Chinese media say a monk has confessed to killing a priest and a nun.

And this, because it's Friday: A sociologist of religion in Australia says vampires have achieved cult-like status, thanks to Twilight and True Blood. ""The vampire is no longer a monster that needs to be exclusively destroyed, it is now a superman-type of character that people aspire to become to realise their full potential. Dracula has become a modern-day gothic Buddha."

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Meet French guerrilla artist “Princess Hijab”

Guerrilla artists are known for their ability to shock and awe with their artwork, combining irony with social criticism in their pieces. Nothing is too sacred to be tackled by the mighty swoosh of their brush or wave of the spray can. Not even religion. 

Meet Princess Hijab, a paris-based guerrilla artist who leaves her mark by "hijabizing" lightly-dressed women in advertisements. Using a large paint marker, Princess Hijab tours the metros and public spaces of Paris, covering images of women with black veils or chadors (body-length veils).

Princess Hijab joins other famous guerrilla artists in commenting on veils: London-based Banksy, who held an exhibition in Bristol, UK, last summer, had a piece titled "How do you like your eggs" that also stirred controversy (photo by author).

Her work clearly stirs much emotion in a city like Paris: simultaneously the capitol of a nation stuck in a bitter battle over the question of public veiling vis-a-vis laicité, and a city known as the epicenter of art and fashion.

With her pieces, then, Princess Hijab has been successful in raising ire within both Muslim and secular circles. She brings out the controversy on both sides. The veil can often be a source of empowerment for Muslim women, allowing a privacy from judging or prying eyes. In the West, however, it ironically has the opposite consequence of drawing stares.

Questions remain as to who Princess Hijab is and whether or not she dons the veil.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Thursday’s roundup

Lots of folks asking what Jesus would do about the oil gushing in the gulf.

The AP leads with "Where would Jesus drill?" in an article about environmentally minded religious leaders making the spill a rallying cry. United Methodists are hoping to use their shares in BP, Transocean, and Halliburton to push the companies to clean up their act.

"If Jesus were here, Jesus would not say, `I'm not going to own any shares. He would want to own the shares so he could get in there and call them to accountability," says Byrd Bonner, executive director of the UMC Foundation. About a dozen high-profile religious leaders (an armada, says CNN) took a look-see around the gulf on Wednesday. 

Priests who sexually abuse mentally impaired adults will now be sanctioned by the Vatican under soon-to-be released rules, according to the AP. Pope Benedict XVI absconded to Castel Gandolfo for his summer vacation until September. Must be nice. Belgian Cardinal Godfried Daneels could probably use a rest after being interrogated by police for 10 hours about the sexual abuse of children. Venezuela's President Chavez called his country's papal ambassador a "troglodyte."

A Church of England committee has decided not to nominate a gay priest to become a bishop, British rags report. Cuba has promised the Roman Catholic Church that it will free 52 political prisoners. American nuns' support for the health-care bill cannot be defended, says the Cardinal investigating them. Ten Catholic bishops have pulled out of the church's poverty campaign, some citing concerns that grant recipients do not follow Catholic teaching.

A committee at the Presbyterian Church USA's General Assembly endorsed, with some amendments, a Middle East report that some call "anti-Israel," which will now go before the full assembly. A separate committee recommended that the church change its definition of marriage to include gay and lesbian couples. That measure will also now be considered by the 712 "commissioners" at the GA.

The state of Washington has brokered a deal that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their religious beliefs. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a law in Orlando, Fla. banning religious groups from feeding more than 25 people in downtown parks without a permit. Westboro Baptist Church filed their brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that the First Amendment protects their right to protest at military funerals. The case will be argued by Margie Jean Phelps, the church's founder's daughter. Presumably, she's not the daughter who made this video.

New York's Republican gubernatorial candidate has made the proposed Ground Zero mosque a campaign issue. A New Jersey town with a large population of ultra-Orthodox Jews has elected a Muslim mayor. A Catholic priest cusses like a sailor to reach Mexican gangsters. Malaysia's Islamic courts appointed their first female judges. CNN fired an editor who tweeted her admiration for a recently deceased Islamic cleric who inspired Hezbollah.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Wednesday’s roundup

As Mitt Romney mulls another run for the White House, he and advisers have decided there will always be some voters who will vote against him because of his Mormonism. A retired construction worker in Minnesota has constructed a six-foot-square chapel.  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed that controversial guns-in-churches bill into law.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill to allow same-sex civil unions, saying the move "is essentially same-sex marriage by another name."  Some  conservatives are crying foul over a new Google HR policy that will compensate gay and lesbian employees for the federal taxes paid on domestic partner health benefits.

A federal judge has ruled that a company can have the word "hell" in its name, rejecting Pennsylvania officials' argument that the name was blasphemous. WaPo assesses the tenure of Catholic University President David O'Connell, who's heading to New Jersey to become a bishop. As Presbyterians meet in Minneapolis this week, new statistics show their membership has dropped by half since the 1960s.

The president of the University of California and Jewish groups are at odds over the university's response to several reported anti-Semitic incidents. President Obama and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu kissed and made up, and made nice for the cameras, after an Oval Office summit yesterday.

Pope Benedict XVI is due to issue new universal rules for handling abusive priests, aides say, gathering together a type of "best practices" that will be binding on the entire church (David Gibson says its more or less status quo).  Belgian police are investigating whether retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels (once considered a contender to be elected pope) knew about sex abuse but failed to stop it.

A Connecticut priest is accused of embezzling $1 million and spending it on male escorts, and Vatican officials have given the green light to open the tomb of a Rome crime boss to see if it holds clues to the fate of a 15-year-old girl who's been missing since 1983.

Iranian officials have issued a list of "acceptable" (i.e., non-Western) male hairstyles -- from Politics Daily: "Ponytails, spikes, mullets and mohawks are now forbidden, but Elvis-style locks, floppy fringes and Simon Cowell-esque flattops get the ayatollahs' seal of approval."

The upcoming Aug. 4 vote on Kenya's new constitution is pitting Christians against Muslims in a dispute over whether to allow Islamic Shariah courts to remain in the constitution. There's confusion in Uganda over whether a decapitated body belongs to a gay rights activist or not. Two Moscow art curators are facing three years in the clink for hosting an exhibit that included, among other things, Jesus as Mickey Mouse and Vladimir Lenin.

The predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church is launching an outpost in Spain (which allows gay marriage). Indian Baptists who helped implement a ban on alcohol sales haven't been invited to talks about repealing the ban. Israeli tourism officials are seeing dollar signs in expanding Christian tourism to Jesus' native Galilee.

And finally this (and I'll let WaPo speak for itself on this one, because I couldn't put it any more clearly): "Some Holocaust survivors are criticizing Virginia Railway Express for awarding an $85 million contract to operate and maintain its trains to a company partly owned by the French railway that transported people to Nazi concentration camps."

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Tuesday’s roundup

BP says it doesn't yet know what to do with claims by religious groups and charities that are endangered because locals can no longer afford to contribute. An ecumenical mix of pastors, rabbis, and clerics in Houston used their July 4 sermons to advocate for immigration reform, according to the NYT. 

U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses ousted sexually abusive clergy from the priesthood rather than watch over them, as bishops had pledged to do, according to the AP. Pope Benedict XVI said that, for all their weaknesses, priest have an important role the world. He also honored over the weekend Pope Celestine V, a 13th-Century monk who resigned the papacy to live a life of simplicity.

Conservative bloggers and pundits are wondering why a NASA official said outreach to Muslims is one of his priorities. A Yemen-based glossy magazine published by al-Qaida is aimed at radicalizing English-speaking Muslims. Indonesian clerics called for young Muslims to form a moral police and stop Christian conversions. Christian missionaries in North Korea walk a dangerous path, which led to torture and death for one man last year.

The movement to ban burqas and niqabs is growing across Europe and igniting a debate over religious freedom and other cultural values, the AP reports. The French Parliament begins debate on its burqa-banning bill today.

Britain is considering allowing same-sex weddings to use religion in civil ceremonies. British wags are speculating that an openly gay priest will be named a bishop in England. After the Archbishop of Canterbury's smackdown of Episcopalians for electing their secondly openly gay bishop, it's hard to envision him appointing a gay bishop, however.  

Thousands of Shiites in Lebanon are flocking to the funeral of the country's top clerics and religious authorities. Muslims in India allegedly cut off the hand of a Christian teacher who profaned the Prophet Muhammad. The Roman Catholic Church in Chile is petitioning for prisoner pardons, angering some human rights activists.

The Mormon who painted the famous image of George Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge (see top left) died Thursday. A troop of itinerant monks may be con men, the AP reports. 

The Dalai Lama turns 75 today, a bittersweet birthday for Tibetans, many of whom are exiled from their native country and worry that his successor will be handpicked by China. His special envoy says it makes more sense for people to prepare for their "death day," rather than their birthday, a sentiment that reminds me of a poem by our newly minted Poet Laureate, W.S. Merwin, who is a Buddhist, by the way.

For the Anniversary of My Death

by W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day   

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveler

Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what

Friday, July 02, 2010

Friday’s roundup

President Obama called for "reforming our creaky system of legal immigration" at a speech in Washington attended by a number of religious leaders, including some top evangelicals. Illinois megachurch pastor Bill Hybels introduced the president; United Methodist Bishop John Schol delivered the invocation. The White House, it's clear, sees evangelicals as important allies in the push for new immigration laws.

The Episcopal Bishop of Washington doesn't like how Thurgood Marshall, an Episcopal saint, was "attacked" during Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's hearings. Seeing little on Kagan's own record, some GOP senators trashed Marshall, for whom Kagan clerked. American Indians watched the Kagan hearings with interest and a sense of frustration that no members of their community sit on the high court, the AP reports.

July 4 falls on a Sunday this year, which means houses of worship may blend a little civil religion into their services. One hot topic among United Methodists has been the use of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," which Southerners still don't particularly care for. 

It was a dramatic week for the Vatican, National Catholic Reporter says, what with the Belgian tomb raids, the public chastisement of a cardinal, a negative Supreme Court ruling, new appointments to powerful positions, and a new evangelization office. A New York Times story questioning Pope Benedict XVI's handling of sex abuse cases may further roil the waters. Also, a rare survey of 500 Austrian priests showed a majority in favor of allowing priests to marry and women to be ordained.

A senior Communist Party official in China says they must approve the next Dalai Lama. Two suicide bombers attacked a popular Muslim shrine in Pakistan, killing 42 people and wounding 180 more. A Swedish prosecutor charged two men with arson for trying to burn down the house of an artist who drew the Prophet Muhammad.

England's Methodist Church voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements. Oral Roberts University says it's selling the presidential compound where the late evangelist lived.  If there were any doubts, Seventh-day Adventists "clarified" that when they talk about marriage as a "heterosexual relationship," they mean between "one male and one female."

Cleveland Catholics ended their vigil protesting the closing of some 50 parishes. The new U.S. Poet Laureate is a devout Buddhist. Nepal has given its living goddess a raise to keep pace with the rate of inflation. A federal judge says a Pennsylvania law that  bans blasphemous business names is unconstitutional. Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn don't want billboards with scantily clad women hanging in their 'hoods.

That is all.  

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Thursday’s roundup

Secular groups are getting a little antsy with President Obama's slow pace of reform on the White House's faith-based office. Outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens says he has cancer of the esophagus and cancelled his book tour.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan carried forth (someone get her an editor) on her interpretation of the First Amendment's Establish and Free Exercise clauses on religious freedom. The ACLU wants the feds to ensure that women have access to "emergency reproductive care" at religiously affiliated hospitals.

Evangelical heroine and disability-rights activist Joni Eareckson Tada is recovering from breast cancer surgery. A Nebraska woman is filing suit against her old boss after she was fired when she became pregnant and the boss said the woman's baby had "negative energy."

Remember those summer concerts at Coney Island that a neighboring synagogue thought were too loud? A judge ruled against the concerts (NYC prohibits loud noise w/i 500 feet of a religious building that's holding services), but Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed an emergency bill to let the concerts run this summer. A Jewish podiatrist from Miami who's one of the newest contestants on CBS' "Big Brother" will bring his own kosher cookware to the group house.

An immigration judge has granted asylum to Mosab Hassan Yousef, the so-called "Son of Hamas" who became a Christian and an Israeli spy, and claimed he would have been killed if returned to his native West Bank. At least one sponsor has withdrawn from an upcoming Christian music festival in Wisconsin because Sojourners founder Jim Wallis was on the program -- apparently they thought Wallis is too "humanistic."

A National Counterterrorism Center official is defending the targeting the U.S. citizens -- namely Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki -- who  support terrorism campaigns.

As we told you yesterday, Italy appealed a ban on crucifixes in the classroom to the European Court of Human Rights. The NYT assesses the pope's Vatican reshuffling yesterday, especially Quebec's Cardinal Marc Ouellet to head the powerful Congregation for Bishops. Another lawsuit targeting the Vatican for abuse has been filed in Los Angeles. Pope Benedict XVI  told a German bishop who resigned because of child abuse, and then wanted his job back, to commit to a life of prayer instead.