And it looks like a some of those bishops would prefer to become schismatic.

Several leading liberal Episcopalians said yesterday that they would rather accept a schism than accede to a demand from leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion for what they view as an unconscionable rollback of the U.S. church's position on gay rights.

The defiant reaction to the communique issued by the primates, or heads, of the Anglican Communion's 38 national churches on Monday at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reflected a growing feeling on both sides of the dispute that time for compromise is running out.

"Yes, I would accept schism," said Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. "I would be willing to accept being told I'm not in communion with places like Nigeria if it meant I could continue to be in a position of justice and morality. If the price I pay is that I'm not considered to be part of a flawed communion, then so be it."

I can't help but notice two things about Bishop Charleston's statement.

First, his apparent anger over the choice seems rather amusing, considering that he and his liberal brethren have been making precisely such demands of conservative Episcopalians for years, demanding conformity with the flawed theology of the liberal leadership of the American branch of Anglicanism.

The second thing I notice is an implicit imperialism/racism in his words -- it seems that the good(?) bishop feels that following the leadership of the thriving, vibrant Anglican communities of non-white Third World countries like Nigeria is beneath him and his liberal American colleagues.

I'll be interested in seeing what impact this communique has on court cases involving parishes that have split with liberal Anglican bishops around the country.

Posted by: Greg at 11:23 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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We regularly hear from liberals how Catholic politicians (among others) need to put aside their personal morality and the teachings of their Church when it comes to the issue of abortion. Indeed, those who do are painted as heroes in the battle against sectarian theocratic impulses. Something similar happens with regards to the homosexual marriage issue. And yet somehow, liberal media outlets paint politicians like this one as heroic as they look for ways to impose their religious views on other public policy issues -- with results that are acceptable to liberals, even as those beliefs are opposed by the majority of Americans.

Sen. Alex X. Mooney (R-Frederick) is proud of his conservative record in the Maryland legislature.

But as a devout Catholic, he is also guided by his religious beliefs.

Today, as Maryland begins to debate the death penalty, Mooney finds himself wrestling with how to deal with a bill that calls for abolishing capital punishment and replacing it with life without parole.

"I am conflicted," said Mooney, a member of the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee, which is scheduled to hear testimony on the bill today. "I try to look at it from a moral and philosophical point of view. Is it right to use the death penalty when there is another option, life in jail?"

It is a wonderful piece, and raises all sorts of arguments -- pro and con -- about the death penalty/life without parole debate. But could you imagine the Washington Post running an article like this about a liberal legislator going against the grain on abortion or gay rights, and seeking to bring their Catholic religious values into the legislative process? There would be howls of outrage!

And interestingly enough, I'm not going to condemn Mooney. He is acting well-within the framework intended by our Founders, who expected legislators to consider a whole range of beliefs and values, including religious ones, as they evaluate public policy choices. Mooney is acting in the best tradition of those same Founders. It's a pity that actions such as his are not respected by the Left when it might lead to policy decisions they oppose.

Posted by: Greg at 10:54 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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One of the great heroes of the Second World War was Pope Pius XII, whose was virtually the only world leader to speak out clearly, consistently, and forcefully against the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis during his papacy. Sadly, however, his memory has been tarnished by a campaign of slander and blood-libel which dates back nearly half a century. It has now been disclosed, however, that this effort was backed and coordinated by the Soviet KGB.

THE KGB hatched a plot to smear the late pope Pius XII as an anti-Semitic Hitler supporter and fostered a controversial play that tarnished the pontiff, according to the highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence officer to have defected to the West.

Former Lieutenant General Ion Mihai Pacepa, who headed the Romanian secret service before defecting in 1978, has broken a silence of nearly half a century to reveal that he was involved in the operation codenamed Seat-12, a Kremlin scheme launched in 1960 to portray Pius XII "as a coldhearted Nazi sympathiser".

The result, according to Mr Pacepa, was the 1963 play The Deputy, by Rolf Hochhuth, which argued that Pius XII had supported Hitler and encouraged the Holocaust. It ignited furious debate over the pope's attitude to Hitler.

Pius XII was clearly seen during his lifetime as a staunch opponent of Nazism, so much so that during his life the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra traveled to the Vatican to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the liberation of Rome with a concert in tribute to the Pope's work on behalf of the Jews during the war and none other than Golda Meir paid tribute to him on his death on behalf of the people of Israel.

"We share in the grief of humanityÂ…When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace."

Because of his staunch anti-Communism, the Soviets found it necessary to tarnish the image of Pope Pius XII -- and, by implication, the likely successor to the dying Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Montini (later Pope Paul VI) who had been a close aide to Pius during much of his papacy. And while Hochhuth still defends his work and its supporting documentation, the taint of KGB involvement -- as well as the weight of historical evidence -- proves that it is a crude smear against a saintly defender of the Jewish people in the face of Nazi genocide.

Posted by: Greg at 08:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm going to show you folks a headline here, and then ask you a question.

Cabbie Runs Down Students

Religious Argument Leaves One Hospitalized

Quickly -- what religion was the cabbie?

Got your answer yet? Good -- now read the story that goes along with the headline.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A local cab driver allegedly tried to run over two customers after a fight over religion became heated.

The incident happened early Sunday morning on the Vanderbilt campus and left one man hospitalized and a cab driver arrested, said police

Two students visiting from Ohio were coming from a bar downtown when they got into an argument with their driver over religion, said police. After they paid the driver he allegedly ran them down in a parking lot.

Ibrihim Ahmed, of United Cab, was arrested and charged with assault, attempted homicide and theft. One of the passengers, Andrew Nelson, managed to outrun the cab but Jeremy Invus was taken to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center with serious injuries, said police.

Ahmed has been convicted of misdemeanors including evading arrest in a motor vehicle and driving on a suspended license, said police.

Ahmed was charged with theft because police said the license plate on his cab was listed as stolen. His bond is set at $300,000.

Now I'll concede that the article in question does not include the religion of the outraged cabbie, but with a name like "Ibrihim Ahmed" I'm willing to make an educated guess.

Now tell me -- how often do religious discussions regarding your faith lead to assault causing great bodily harm? Does a religion which on an almost daily basis produces outrageous acts of violence by adherents "defending the faith" really deserve to be called a "Religion of Peace"?

UPDATE: FoxNews mentions the unmentionable. Ahmed is a Sunni Muslim from Somalia.

Posted by: Greg at 11:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, maybe not quickly, but there does seem to be a move in that direction.

Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt.

The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches.

In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope.

The statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.

Now dialogue betweent he two churches has gone on for most of my lifetime, so I'm not surprised by the discussion. But that they have gone this far is a bit of a surprise.

Some of the key points are rather interesting.

In one significant passage the report notes: “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.” Anglicans rejected the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the 16th century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a reunited Church.

In another paragraph the report goes even further: “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”

Other recommendations include inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each otherÂ’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome.

The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and processions.

Anglicans are also urged to begin praying for the Pope during the intercessionary prayers in church services, and Catholics are asked also to pray publicly for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Now the Times article does indicate that there might not be great support for this move among rank-and-file Anglicans. Still, as divisions within the Anglican Communion over issues of sexual morality and the ordination of gays and homosexuals continue to fester, I wonder if this might not be a direction considered by the more conservative wing of worldwide Anglicanism.

Posted by: Greg at 03:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Last week, I highlighted the first of a series of articles on "textual criticism" of the New Testament of the Bible. This week's installment in that four-part series answers some basic questions about the manuscripts we possess --none of which are the original "autograph" of the books that make up the New Testament.

This article comes second in a four-part series on New Testament textual criticism. It answers questions about the material and process of making the pages of a document, along with the scribal art of writing. What were the scribe's utensils? How was a papyrus sheet or page made? What is parchment? Why wouldn't God protect his Word from such complications? Should I trust the New Testament?

The entire series assumes the basic Christian doctrine of inspiration. The original authors of the New Testament were inspired. But we no longer have their very original manuscripts. Rather, they were transmitted by scribes and copiests who took their work seriously, but were not inspired as the original authors were. They made typical errors that all scribes and copyists do before the age of copy machines, word processors, and spell checks.
Textual criticism attempts to recover the originals, as much as humanly possible. Have textual critics succeeded? By any reckoning, we have 95% of the inspired words, and some scholars place the number as high as 97-98%. Where any uncertainties remain, they do not overturn New Testament doctrine, which are supported by other verses.

That is a remarkable achievement for any text coming out of the Greco-Roman world. Web readers need to know this, so they can be reassured about their Bible when they hear its critics misleading the public about the complete trustworthiness of Scripture. The New Testament (and the Old Testament) is a highly accurate, reliable, and faithful record of the words and ideas of the original authors, as inspired by God.

This article (and the entire series) is about the later manuscripts. Let's educate ourselves about them so we won't be caught unprepared when the needlessly and heedlessly harsh critics appear in the media.

I've got to tell you, despite a degree in history and four years in the seminary, I learned things about the nature of these early manuscripts that I didn't know or had forgotten. I'd again encourage my readers to follow these articles to learn more about the New testament and the process by which we have received and understand it.

Posted by: Greg at 04:38 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well of course not -- the moderate wing of the Southern Baptists in Texas is lining up on the right left side of the issue here, so the usual fraudulent First Amendment claim doesn't apply.

Texas' largest Baptist group is taking a rare step into environmental advocacy, working to block Gov. Rick Perry's plan to speed the approval process for 18 new coal-fired power plants.

The Christian Life Commission, the public policy arm of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is mobilizing Baptists against the coal-fired plants and urging the convention's 2.3 million members to voice their opposition to state lawmakers.

"A lot of people felt like our industries, our policy leaders, are going to take care of these big issues like air quality, (and) it's not going to be something our local people are going to have to get up every day and worry about," said Suzii Paynter, director of the commission. "It can't be left to big interests to make these decisions in our behalf."

Mind you, I'm not taking sides on the issue of coal-fired plants in this post -- there are good arguments on both sides of the issue, and I won't rehearse them here. What I am pointing to is the hypocrisy of those who argue that tax exempt religious groups shouldn't be involved in public policy debates -- right up until those groups make common cause with them.

Posted by: Greg at 07:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'll be honest -- I'd never heard of the Mandaeans before today. They are, however, perhaps the only remaining remnant of the ancient Gnostics. The Iraq war has led to questions about the survival of the faith in its native land -- and the dispersion of many of the faithful to other countries leads to questions about its disappearance abroad.

Among the casualties of the Iraq war is a little-known religious faith called Mandaeanism that has survived roughly two millennia and whose adherents believe that John the Baptist was their great teacher.

While there were more than 60,000 Mandaeans in Iraq in the early 1990s, only about 5,000 to 7,000 remain. Many have fled amid targeted killings, rapes, forced conversions and property confiscation by Islamic extremists, according to a report released last week by the New Jersey-based Mandaean Society of America.

For those who have an interest in the many forms of faith that man's religious nature has taken, I encourage you to look to the article cited above.

Posted by: Greg at 12:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Any time a private group is allowed to post a display on public property, I think it is appropriate for there to be disclaimer that the point of view does not necessarily constitute an official endorsement. I really don't care what the subject is, whether it be civil rights, pet adoption, or picking up litter. So I really wouldn't have any problem with this library district putting a disclaimer on a display by a religious group -- or the ACLU's actions in looking at the library's policy.

I do, however, have a problem with this statement by the would-be censor who is using the ACLU to fight impose his views on the rest of society.

The current display’s reference to the Bible’s book of Leviticus amounts to “thinly veiled hate speech disguised as religion, to give it some modicum of respectability it doesn’t deserve,” [retired attorney Bill] Hugenberg said.

Gee -- differ with Hugenberg over religion doctrine and you are a bigot. What a narrow-minded, intolerant view of the world!

Sounds like hate speech to me.

Posted by: Greg at 12:01 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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Well, if you say so – though this would certainly seem to contradict that claim.

Israeli police stormed the grounds of Islam's third-holiest shrine Friday, firing stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of Muslim worshippers who hurled stones, bottles and trash in an eruption of outrage over Israeli renovation nearby.

Where I come from, that isn’t worship – that is a riot. And when you go to a religious service where the get you all hyped up to riot, that doesn’t constitute a peaceful religion.

And I'm curious as to which one "mainstream" Muslim organizations will denounce -- the riot instigated by Jew-hating clerics, or the attempt to restore a walkway that provoked it?

Posted by: Greg at 11:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Now they are seeking to use the courts to punish those who dared to print the Danish Muhammad cartoons.

A French court case shining light on the gray area where free speech and religious sensitivities overlap opens on Wednesday when Muslim groups sue a satirical magazine that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

The Grand Mosque of Paris and the Union of French Islamic Organizations accuse Charlie Hebdo of inciting racial hatred by reprinting the Danish caricatures that sparked violence in the Muslim world last year.

Politicians, intellectuals, secular Muslims and left-wing pressure groups have lined up behind Charlie Hebdo, arguing that Muslim groups have no right to call for limits on free speech.

"I just cannot imagine the consequences not only for France but for Denmark and Europe if they lose the case," Fleming Rose, the Danish editor who first published the cartoons, told a news conference with Charlie Hebdo publisher Philippe Val.

"It would turn back the clock decades, ages."

However, an opinion poll on Tuesday showed 79 percent thought it unacceptable to ridicule a religion publicly and 78 percent ruled out parodies of Jesus Christ, Mohammad or Buddha.

"Are the French rediscovering the sacred?" asked the Catholic weekly Pelerin which published the poll. "Are they renouncing the critical spirit that has inspired a French tradition since Voltaire and the Enlightenment?"

So in a spirit of support for the inalienable right to freedom of speech, I join the French newspaper Liberation in extending this act of solidarity with publishers, editors, and staff of Charlie Hebdo.
more...

Posted by: Greg at 12:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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During my years in seminary, i spent many hours in class and reading in the field broadly referred to as Critical Biblical Studies. This includes lots of different things, from examination of manuscripts, to literary analysis, to Jesus Seminar type efforts to deconstruct the text of Scripture.

Over at American Thinker, James Arlandson has written the first of four articles on such studies, designed to help the average person with no advanced theological studies understand the ins and outs of New Testament textual criticism.

This article is the first in a four-part series on New Testament textual criticism. It provides the basics on this science and art, answering such questions as these:

o Did scribes make errors as they copied down holy Writ?
o If so, what kind of errors are they?
o Why wouldn't God protect his Word from such errors?
o What's the goal of the science and art of textual criticism?
o Should we even engage in criticism of the Bible? Isn't that blasphemous?
o Should I trust the New Testament?

These questions and more are explored in a basic Question and Answer format, for ease of understanding.

The ultimate goal in this four-part series is to provide a foundation for the readers' knowledge; then we will understand the critics who often mislead the general public about the complete reliability of the Bible.

Frankly, I find this first installment to be a great primer for those with limited background in the field, as it is clear, concise, and balanced. I'll link to the rest as they come along.

Posted by: Greg at 03:35 AM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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