As you know, Christians around the world are facing serious persecution on a daily basis. Those of us in America are comparatively well-off, given the nature of the persecution elsewhere.

The most important thing you can do for these persecuted brothers and siters around the world is pray.

Stacy over at Voice of the Martyrs' PersecutionBlog points out these three reasons for participating in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, which takes place on November 13.

Out of obedience?

Yes: Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:3 (NIV)
See also Galatians 6:2; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Ephesians 6:18

Out of compassion?

Yes: Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:30 (NLT)
See also 2 Corinthians 1:8-11; Matthew 22:39

Out of zeal for the kingdom and glory of God?

Absolutely! Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Matthew 6:9-10. (ESV)
See also Psalm 22:27; Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 42:1-4 & 55:10-13; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 10:13

I encourage all my readers to become involved in the ministry of prayer for the persecuted church -- and to urge other Christians you know to do the same.

Posted by: Greg at 05:26 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 263 words, total size 2 kb.

Will someone remind me again why Islam is entitled to the smallest amount of respect by civilized people? How do we respect those who do stuff like this?

Three Christian teenage girls were beheaded on Saturday in the latest attack against non-Muslims in the troubled Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi, police said.

The three high school students were found with their heads severed early on Saturday in the sectarian-divided town of Poso, said provincial police spokesperson Rais Adam.

The girls were believed to have been murdered while they were walking to school, Adam said.

He said two of the victims' heads were found near a police post while the third was discovered outside a local Christian church in Poso.

"We are still waiting for results from investigation in the field. We are still trying to determine whether this case is religiously-motivated or not," he told AFP.

A policewoman on duty in Poso confirmed to AFP that the triple murder had taken place and that the killings were being investigated.

A fourth girl was seriously wounded in the attack.

Still investigating? Fine -- but it seems clear that the murder of girls headed to school using the method common among Islamist terrorists tells us who is responsible -- especially given that Indonesia is a hotbed of Islamist terror. And that one of the heads was placed outside a church -- a warning to Christians who dare to step out of dhimmitude and demand to be treated as full citizens and human beings -- would serve as further confirmation that the "Religion of Peace" is behind the murder of these young martyrs for Christ.

Posted by: Greg at 11:55 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.

They tried to kill John Leonard for preaching the Gospel in Brazil.

They failed.

And even though he is still paralyzed, he is still on fire for Christ.

Back in June, WHO-TV 13 told you about John Leonard. The local missionary was clinging to life at Methodist Medical Center after assassins tried to kill him in Brazil. Leonard is still virtually paralyzed from the neck down, but Wednesday night he was able to attend his church's missions conference.

"I was supposed to be in the hospital for six months. I got out in less than three," said Leonard. It was a shorter than expected hospital stay, which is just one of hundreds of miracles John Leonard has witnessed in the past few months. He wasn't supposed to be here with his family and his church family Wednesday night. If the assassins who shot him had accomplished what they set out to do, John wouldn't be alive.

"God closed one door. He opens another," said Leonard. Leonard built five churches in Brazil and carried the message of salvation to the masses. He took two bullets and is too humble to retire. "I didn't wanna just lay around the rest of my life. I wanted somethin' to do," Leonard says.

John inspires people and he has some advice for anyone who's ever risked their life for a career they felt called to do. "Put it on the scale and weigh it, but if your heart is into it, follow your heart," he says.

Remember -- men and women have died for the Gospel of 2000 years -- and are still facing martyrdom for the faith today. Pray for those sent by Christ into the Father's vinyard.

Hat Tip -- PersecutionBlog

Posted by: Greg at 11:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 296 words, total size 2 kb.

We keep hearing about how Christians are trying to impose "their view" on everyone else in the current discussion/controversey over including discussion of Intelligent Design in the classroom.

Interestingly enough, the Dalai Lama -- no right-wing Christian -- has some words on the subject that the open-minded might find enlightening.

In his new book, The Universe in a Single Atom, the Dalai Lama warns readers about the consequences of seeing people as “the products of pure chance in the random combination of genes.” This materialistic account is “an invitation to nihilism and spiritual poverty.” Correct.

He writes that “the view that all aspects of reality can be reduced to matter and its various particles is . . . as much a metaphysical position as the view that an organizing intelligence created and controls reality.” What’s more, he insists that both “are legitimate interpretations of science.”

So, my dear evolutionist friends, look whose words clearly support the presentation of Intelligent Design -- the most respected Buddhist leader and champion of human rights alive today.

Posted by: Greg at 04:18 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

The LA Times provides a lot of details in its breakdown of information about priests accused of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

been alleged at roughly 100 parishes. But because the accused priests moved around the archdiocese on average every 4.5 years, the total number of parishes in which alleged abusers served is far larger — more than three-fourths of the 288 parishes, according to the study, which examined records back to 1950.

The affected parishes were in neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties both rich and poor, suburban and urban, some predominantly white and others with African American or Latino majorities. The study does not support the contention made by some critics of the church that problem priests were dumped into poor, Latino and African American communities.

Based on the allegations, the number of abusive priests peaked in 1983. More than 11% of the diocesan priests — those who worked directly for the archdiocese, rather than for religious orders — who were in ministry that year eventually were accused of abuse.

Now one issue I have with this survey is that it appears to presume that every accusation was a valid accusation. Some weren’t – and one of my mentors during my seminary years was the victim of a false accusation, so I am quite sensitive to that reality. Another is the implicit assumption that those who relied on the advice of psychologists giving the best current clinical advice decades ago were somehow insensitive and immoral in their actions of sending accused abusers to counseling and then reassigning them after treatment. They were following the best practices of the day – practices we know are wrong.

But one thing we did not get from the times is this little tidbit of information that was noted by the Catholic League’s William Donahue – information that strikes me as rather significant in discussing the abuse scandal.

“We know from the files that have been released that in 79 percent of the cases, the alleged victim was male; this comports with the figure of 81 percent cited by the John Jay study of priests nationwide. And we know from the latter study that almost 8 in 10 of the alleged male victims were postpubescent, meaning that the problem is homosexual priests. Yet many in the media continue to lie—they say the problem is pedophilia when the data directly say otherwise. No, homosexuality does not cause molestation, and there are many good gay priests, but the fact remains that most of the problem priests are gay.

Yeah, you read that right – the problem was not pedophilia. It was homosexuality. Pedophilia, properly defined by the psychological sciences, is sexual desire and contact with prepubescent males. A man having sex with 15-18 year olds is not a pedophile, but is instead likely a homosexual acting out a homosexual orientation. The behavior is still wrong and still unacceptable, but let’s at least name it as what it is. So let’s tell the truth and state that about 60% of all priest sexual misconduct was homosexual activity with teenagers – that would go a long way towards making it clear what happened and why.

That is not to blame all homosexual priests for the abuse, or to label them as abusers. They are not. But it does explain why there might be a desire on the part of senior members of the Catholic hierarchy to discourage the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood.

Posted by: Greg at 12:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 589 words, total size 4 kb.

It looks like a pragmatic realism is going to be the basis of the Vatican's policy on the ordination of homosexual candidates to the priesthood. This was my hope and my expectation. A quick examination of the policy shows why it makes sense.

A forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuals in seminaries will not demand an absolute ban, a senior Vatican official told NCR Oct. 7, but will insist that seminary officials exercise "prudential judgment" that gay candidates should not be admitted in three cases.

Those three cases are:

* If candidates have not demonstrated a capacity to live celibate lives for at least three years;
* If they are part of a "gay culture," for example, attending gay pride rallies (a point, the official said, which applies both to professors at seminaries as well as students);
* If their homosexual orientation is sufficiently "strong, permanent and univocal" as to make an all-male environment a risk.

In any case, the Vatican official said, whether or not these criteria exclude a particular candidate is a judgment that must be made in the context of individual spiritual direction, rather than by applying a rigid litmus test.

I spent four years in the Catholic seminary before leaving and, little more than a year latter, marrying.

Now let's look at those three points very closely. What are the conditions unde which someone should not be admitted to the seminary as a candidate for the priesthood?

* If candidates have not demonstrated a capacity to live celibate lives for at least three years;

May I say "DUH!" These men are entering a process of formation for lifelong celibacy. Is it an unreasonable expectation that they should show the capacity for celibacy by having lived it for a period of time? Speaking from experience, I believe that a three year period of celibacy prior to entering the major seminary should be a minimum requirement for everybody. Being celibate for such a period is not an easy thing to do in today's society if you do not have such a calling. To live a life of celibacy with integrity is hard work -- and I've known many deeply spiritual men who would have made great priests who have recognized that they could not continue with their studies because of their inability to live a celibate life with integrity. The issue played no small part in my decision not to complete my preparation for priesthood.

* If they are part of a "gay culture," for example, attending gay pride rallies (a point, the official said, which applies both to professors at seminaries as well as students);

The teachings of the Church on homosexuality are unequivocal. If a man is taking a public stand against the teachings of the Church on the matter, is the priesthood really an appropriate place for him? It is all well and good to seek to be an agent of change in a democratic society, but the unchanging truths of the Christian faith are not open to debate.

* If their homosexual orientation is sufficiently "strong, permanent and univocal" as to make an all-male environment a risk.

Some folks, both heterosexual and homosexual, are led around by their sex drives. We all know such folks. In the case of a homosexual male who is very sexualized, being thrust into the all-male world of seminary life and priesthood could be an occassion of sin. I recall one young man who quit the seminary when his older partner broke off their relationship a few weeks prior to diaconate ordination -- while the older man was willing to be celibate (though not until the 11th hour), the younger thought of the priesthood as a much more exclusive gay bar. At least one of them (and probably both) should never have been permitted to enter the seminary to begin with -- for the same reason a heterosexual man who expressed a desire to remain sexually active should not be admitted to the seminary.

I encourage people to notice something about the position taken in this document. Homosexuals are not deemed to be more sinful than other people. They are not deemed "unworthy" of ordination. Rather, special guidance is being offered on which individuals should and should not be admitted to the seminary based upon their ability to live out the priesthood as models of Christ's love and as teachers of the truths found in Scripture and Tradition. Far from being based upon hatred and bigotry, they are based upon love and pastoral concern.

Posted by: Greg at 05:11 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 762 words, total size 5 kb.

I guess this pathetic excuse for a warrior and his weak-kneed sons want there to be freedom from religion -- at least freedom from Christianity -- rather than freedom of religion as guaranteed by the US Constitution. His ultimate goal is clearly to striip believers in the military of their rights under the US Constitution.

A Jewish father of two Air Force Academy cadets sued the Air Force on Thursday, claiming senior officers and cadets illegally imposed Christianity on others at the school.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate and outspoken critic of the school's handling of religion.

Over the past decade or more, the lawsuit claims, academy leaders have fostered an environment of religious intolerance at the Colorado school, in violation of the First Amendment.

Weinstein has one son who graduated from the academy last year and another who is a junior there. Both were subjected to anti-Semitic slurs from evangelical Christian cadets, he said.

While I'll concede there are some things that needed to be addressed at the Academy, let's look at what Weinstein REALLY wants.

The lawsuit, which names the Air Force and its acting secretary, Pete Geren, as defendants, asks the Air Force to prohibit its members — including chaplains — from evangelizing and proselytizing or in any related way attempting "to involuntarily convert, pressure, exhort or persuade a fellow member of the USAF to accept their own religious beliefs while on duty."

In other words, what this man wants is complete censorship of all religious speech -- including the religious speech of chaplains.

Time to slap down this anti-religious bigot, and to remind him that the Air Force is committed to protecting the Constitution, not gutting it. It is "freeddom of", not "freedom from" religion.

Posted by: Greg at 11:55 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

Now they want to ban the historic symbol of England – the Cross of St. George.

British prison officers who wore a St. George's Cross tie-pin have been ticked off by the jails watchdog over concerns about the symbol's racist connotations.

The pins showing the English flag -- which has often raised hackles due to its connection with the Crusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries -- could be "misconstrued," Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said in a section on race in a report on a jail in the northern English city of Wakefield.

The banner of St. George, the red cross of a martyr on a white background, was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers during the military expeditions by European powers to recapture the Holy Land from Muslims, and later became the national flag of England.

Oops – might offend the Muslims, so it has to go. After all, we can’t have (nominally) Christian Englishmen and women celebrating their heritage in their own country when it might alienate the immigrant Muslim horde.

What is most amazing is this extreme statement of the demand for dhimmitude by representatives of the Muslim community.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, said Tuesday the red cross was an insensitive reminder of the Crusades.

"A lot of Muslims and Arabs view the Crusades as a bloody episode in our history," he told CNN. "They see those campaigns as Christendom launching a brutal holy war against Islam.

"Muslim or Arab prisoners could take umbrage if staff wore a red cross badge. It's also got associations with the far-right. Prison officers should be seen to be neutral."

Doyle added that it was now time for England to find a new flag and a patron saint who is "not associated with our bloody past and one we can all identify with."

I’ve got a better idea – perhaps it is time to tell the Muslims to shut up or get out. The British people are entitled to celebrate their Christian heritage, and not be made to apologize for their heritage in their own country.

Posted by: Greg at 03:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 367 words, total size 2 kb.

Looks like the sensitivities of Muslims override the preferences of infidels in parts of Great Britain.

NOVELTY pig calendars and toys have been banned from a council office — in case they offend Muslim staff.

Workers in the benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, were told to remove or cover up all pig-related items, including toys, porcelain figures, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Bosses acted after a Muslim complained about pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the council in the run-up to the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Muslims are barred from eating pork in the Koran and consider pigs unclean.

Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, a practising Muslim, backed the ban. He said: “It’s a tolerance of people’s beliefs.”

I'm curious -- in light of the campaign of murder conducted by Muslims against Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims, will our sensitivities be respected -- by banning all Muslim symbols and all Muslims from governemt offices? After all, what's sauce for the infidel boar is sauce for the Muslim sow.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

Christians around the world face persecution from those who hate the Christian faith. Some end up jailed for their faith. One place to find out about such modern-day martyrs is through Voice of the Martyrs and their excellent blog. This item from the blog recently caught my eye.

I want to thank those of you who have written to the prisoners so far. Yesterday we started around 286 on the Prisoner Alert page and now the number is 325! That's very good and encouraging, and I know these precious sisters will be encouraged too.

Please remember to tell your friends and let's keep this challenge going!

Yes, the internet can be used to encourage our imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ, and to loby government officials for their release! To learn more, click here.

Posted by: Greg at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 1 kb.

One more denial of human rights for Chinese Catholics -- one more reason to sanction the Chinese for their failure to live up to even the most minimal standards of religious freedom for those Catholics who follow the Pope and not Beijing in matters of religion.

The four Catholic bishops from mainland China who were named by Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) to participate in the upcoming Synod of Bishops will not be allowed by their government to attend, the AsiaNews service has confirmed.

With the Synod discussions opening in Rome on Sunday, October 2, none of the four bishops has obtained a passport, AsiaNews found. One of the four, Bishop Luke Li Jingfeng of Fengxiang, conceded that there is "very little" hope he can participate in the Synod.

Bishop Joseph Wei Jingyi of Qiqihar has been asking government officials every day for a passport. But local government officials told AsiaNews that the passport would not be granted-- and even claimed that "China and the Vatican agreed" on this decision.

AsiaNews said that the main opposition to the bishops' participation in the Synod appeared to come from the Catholic Patriotic Association, the government-approved body that aims to control the Church in China, maintaining its independence from the Holy See.

More information here.

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 227 words, total size 2 kb.

John Paul the Great's final words were released to the world today.

"Let me go to the house of the Father."

I cannot help but believe that the late pontiff's final words were an invocation of Psalm 122.

1 A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about.

4 Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

5 Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David.

6 For the peace of Jerusalem pray: "May those who love you prosper!

7 May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity within your towers."

8 For family and friends I say, "May peace be yours."

9 For the house of the LORD, our God, I pray, "May blessings be yours."

Indeed -- may we all go, rejoicing, to the house of the Lord.

Posted by: Greg at 06:03 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

The right to free exercise of religion is clearly found in the Constitution.

The right to an abortion is, at best, an abstraction constructed from extensions of and inferences from the Constitution.

Why is it, then, that every time the two meet head-to-head, the supporters of abortion demand that the right of an individual to choose to exercise his/her religious freedom be limited or quashed altogether?

A group representing obstetricians and gynecologists is under attack for asking Congress to force doctors who morally object to abortion to give their patients referrals to doctors who will perform the procedure.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is guilty of "hypocrisy," according to the Christian Medical Association (CMA), for promoting the freedom to have an abortion on one hand, but opposing the choice of doctors to oppose the procedure on the other hand.

"Promoting choice has been the rally cry, but now they're saying we don't want our doctors having choice," CMA Associate Executive Director Dr. Gene Rudd said.

An Aug. 30 letter from ACOG to U.S. senators asked them to "require doctors with moral objections to refer abortions."

So I guess being “pro-choice” on abortion means being “no-choice” on the First Amendment.

Posted by: Greg at 01:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 1 kb.

It is always interesting to watch an atheist wave his hand and dismiss the faith-based claims of religious believers as so much hogwash. That is usually followed by an assertion that religion is the greatest force for evil in society and the greatest blight upon the history of mankind. What one rarely sees is such a rejection of the articles of faith combined with an acknowledgement that religion makes believers better people, not worse. Yet that is what one gets in todayÂ’s edition of the Guardian, courtesy of Roy Hattersley.

I believe a good Fisking is in order.

Hurricane Katrina did not stay on the front pages for long. Yesterday's Red Cross appeal for an extra 40,000 volunteer workers was virtually ignored.

The disaster will return to the headlines when one sort of newspaper reports a particularly gruesome discovery or another finds additional evidence of President Bush's negligence. But month after month of unremitting suffering is not news. Nor is the monotonous performance of the unpleasant tasks that relieve the pain and anguish of the old, the sick and the homeless - the tasks in which the Salvation Army specialise.

Actually, Roy, there won’t be any need for evidence – the press will simply make some up, or accept the charges of partisan hacks as holy writ.

The Salvation Army has been given a special status as provider-in-chief of American disaster relief. But its work is being augmented by all sorts of other groups. Almost all of them have a religious origin and character.

Notable by their absence are teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs and atheists' associations - the sort of people who not only scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity but also regard it as a positive force for evil.

While the most notable private charity involved in relief is the American Red Cross, I agree with your more general point – it is religious charities and faith-based groups that are doing the bulk of the work in this country. When one considers that many of the volunteers are, in fact, part of organized groups from churches and other houses of worship, the degree of religious involvement in the relief effort is staggering. And, of course, most charity work in this country has some faith-based component anyway.

The arguments against religion are well known and persuasive. Faith schools, as they are now called, have left sectarian scars on Northern Ireland. Stem-cell research is forbidden because an imaginary God - who is not enough of a philosopher to realise that the ingenuity of a scientist is just as natural as the instinct of Rousseau's noble savage - condemns what he does not understand and the churches that follow his teaching forbid their members to pursue cures for lethal diseases.

Well known? Perhaps. Persuasive? Obviously not, given the degree of adherence to religious belief around the world.

As for the Irish problem, it has less to do with sectarian division than it has to do with a longstanding British policy of subjugation of the Irish to English control in their own homeland – a policy that predates the Reformation by centuries. Though Henry VIII, Oliver Cromwell and the Stuart Pretenders give the matter a religious gloss, it is more properly understood as based in ethnicity than in theology.

And I wonÂ’t even dignify the argument on stem-cell research with a response, for the personhood question is grounded as much in philosophy as theology. For that matter, it is grounded as much in biology as it is in either theology or philosophy.

Yet men and women who believe that the Pope is the devil incarnate, or (conversely) regard his ex cathedra pronouncements as holy writ, are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others. Last week a middle-ranking officer of the Salvation Army, who gave up a well-paid job to devote his life to the poor, attempted to convince me that homosexuality is a mortal sin.

Of course they are. After all, they accept that there is something to life that extends beyond the simple pleasures of the world. Life has meaning because it leads to something beyond life. For those who believe that there is nothing else, why waste a moment of life on pursuits that are other than hedonistic?

Late at night, on the streets of one of our great cities, that man offers friendship as well as help to the most degraded and (to those of a censorious turn of mind) degenerate human beings who exist just outside the boundaries of our society. And he does what he believes to be his Christian duty without the slightest suggestion of disapproval. Yet, for much of his time, he is meeting needs that result from conduct he regards as intrinsically wicked.

But that is where you are wrong. I do not doubt that your companion does view these individuals as degraded and degenerate. But Christianity teaches that we are ALL degraded and degenerate because of our sinful nature. The reason for the lack of disapproval is that he recognizes that he is no better than those to whom he ministers, not that they are no worse than him. If asked, he will probably tell you that he, too, is a sinner and that he, too, has areas in his life in which he manifests behavior that is equally wicked in the eyes of God.

Civilised people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and - probably most difficult of all - argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment. Good works, John Wesley insisted, are no guarantee of a place in heaven. But they are most likely to be performed by people who believe that heaven exists.

So, we are uncivilised if we view the trade in human flesh as contrary to the laws of God? We are not up to your standards if we see addiction to be wrong in the eyes of God? My, what a sad thing your “civilization” is! What you fail to see is that we seek to end prostitution and drug addiction and a host of societal ills because they promote actions that block one’s relationship with God. All the acts of charity you list are about meeting the basic needs of our fellow man so that they are in a position to encounter God – something that is hard to focus on when one is starving or seeking one’s next fix.

The correlation is so clear that it is impossible to doubt that faith and charity go hand in hand. The close relationship may have something to do with the belief that we are all God's children, or it may be the result of a primitive conviction that, although helping others is no guarantee of salvation, it is prudent to be recorded in a book of gold, like James Leigh Hunt's Abu Ben Adam, as "one who loves his fellow men". Whatever the reason, believers answer the call, and not just the Salvation Army. When I was a local councillor, the Little Sisters of the Poor - right at the other end of the theological spectrum - did the weekly washing for women in back-to-back houses who were too ill to scrub for themselves.

What you fail to recognizes is that religious faith, particularly Christianity, is often based around a call to charity. It isn’t “Do good because it is pleasing to me.” Rather, it is “Do good because it is pleasing to God.” If one sees oneself as a God’s servant rather than one’s own, there is a tenaciousness to serve one’s Master by helping to bring about the order God seeks.

It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity à la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night.

But it isn’t. A Christian life is infused by grace, which comes through faith. The rejection of faith is the rejection of grace – the putting of self ahead of God and the rejection of his gift.

The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me. The truth may make us free. But it has not made us as admirable as the average captain in the Salvation Army.

Exactly – true faith does have a packet of moral imperatives that makes believers morally superior to atheists. That you have discovered this truth should tell you that the atheism you hold to so fervently might not be truth at all. Could the problem be that most atheists ultimately believe in “government” or “society” as having responsibility to act – and therefore write off the importance of a personal commitment to do good, while religious individuals see such action as a part of their duty to God? In short, are the fruits of belief in God proof of the existence of God – and the lack of fruits from atheism the proof of that belief system’s ultimate bankruptcy?

Posted by: Greg at 09:59 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 1604 words, total size 10 kb.

No, I'm not kidding. The choice of athletic wear for an Indian Muslim tennis player has resulted in a fatwa from an Islamic cleric in India.

Sania Mirza, 18, who became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open last week, is hugely popular in India.

The fatwa - in effect, a demand that she cover up - was issued by a senior cleric of the Sunni Ulema Board, a little-known group. Similar fatwas have been issued against Mirza, who comes from a devout Muslim family, but none has ever gained popular support among India's 130 million Muslims.

"The dress she wears on the tennis courtsÂ…leaves nothing to the imagination," Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui told The Hindustan Times. "She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence."

He said she should follow the example of Iranian women who wore long tunics and headscarves to play in the Asian Badminton Championships.

There is mixed reaction in India and abroad.

Expressing shock, Nanduri from Werribee, Australia writes, "Sania is an Indian and is Muslim by birth, and not by her own choice. She represents India and not the Muslim group of such self-centred religious leaders. India should ban such leaders from making such rubbish statements."

"Sania goes to the field to play the match and not to portray her religion. And one does not become a Muslim by growing beard and by wearing a veil," says Ambrin, another reader from Dubai. Avnish from the US flashes a cogent argument, "Indonesia has 90 per cent population, which is Muslim and most ladies wear skirts above the knees?"

But there are other views as well, Javed, from Toronto says, "Why can't a woman wear a long sleeve shirt and sports pants and play tennis if men can do it? Nadal wears pants that go below his knee. Why can't Sania wear pants that go all the way to her ankles?" he argues.

Taking a broader perspective on the subject Badri Raina from New Delhi says, "The very fact that Sania is out there playing suggests that she has the correct perspective on history; from the time of the first organised human societies, residual notions have sought to make targets of select individuals and events to attempt continued survival in the face of the knowledge that they are on the way out."

My question is what comes next -- will Sania be the next Muslim girl murdered for her failure to follow a sharia dress code?

More at MasalaSpice, Pickled Politics, Fine? Why Fine?, IsraPundit, In The Bullpen, and Instant Kaapi,

Posted by: Greg at 12:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 435 words, total size 3 kb.

Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right.

This right continues to be under attack in China.

China Aid learned that more than 210 Chinese house church pastors and believers have been arrested in Hubei, Hebei and Henan Provinces since July 2005. Two American tourists in China were also mistreated in this most recent crackdown on a house church in Hubei Province.

On August 2, 2005, while two American tourists were preparing to have Christian fellowship with 41 Chinese House church pastors and believers at their host familyÂ’s home in Lutou Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province approximately 30 Chinese plain-clothed police officers rushed into the house.

According to several eyewitness reports, the two American theological students, believed to be from Westminster Theological Seminary Campuses in Texas and California, were handled very unprofessionally. One sustained injuries to his wrists after being handcuffed because he wanted to put his shoes on before he was forced into an unmarked police car.

The police refused to reveal their identifications. The two Americans were neither permitted to contact the US Embassy nor permitted to show their US passports and other Identification cards. Both were taken to a government "hotel" for interrogation.

They were released at 5 pm following a 7 hour interrogation. Without explanation, some of their belongings, including their personal bibles, notebooks, and books on Westminster Confession of Faith were confiscated.

The same day, the 41 Chinese pastors and believers from the evangelical South China Church were taken to No. 2 Zaoyang Prison. At the time of this report 30 had been released. The remaining eleven, including 38-year-old Ms. Wang Hua and 32-year-old Ms. Wang Xiao, as well as the hostess, Ms. Ren Daoyun, are still in prison.

According to eyewitness reports, many of them were tortured. Sixty-year-old Ms. Ren has been repeatedly beaten by Mr. Lei Youxin, the director of the prison. He kicked her, punched her face, and beat her head against the wall with a prison chair. One eyewitness told CAA that Ms. RenÂ’s mouth was bleeding and swollen.

Another 17 year-old evangelist Mr. He Baobao was hospitalized for a serious nose bleed due to the repeated beatings by his interrogators.

CAA learned from a reliable source this raid was directed and led by Mr.Yang Kaihu and Mr Wang Zhiguo, the director of Domestic Security Protection Squad of Xiangfan PSB and Zaoyang PSB respectively.

The PSB confiscated blankets and 2300 RMB($290) and a check with 3000 RMB ($350) from the host family and broke the familyÂ’s television. About 5000 RMB ($625) was also confiscated from the pockets of those arrested.

So arrest, detention, and torture are the punishment for holding a Bible study.

Similarly, other acts of persecution continue in China.

According to CAAÂ’s reliable sources, July 22, approximately 100 Christian high school aged students were arrested at Wanzhuang Town, Langfang City, Hebei Province. They were attending a Vocational Bible School (VBS) organized by their Christian parents. After being interrogated for hours, they were all released and ordered not to gather again by the local PSB.

July 1,2005 approximately 70 house church believers were arrested at Zhaolou Village, Sui County, Henan Province. That church was performing baptisms for 60 new believers at the home of a host family. Ten of them including Pastor Wang Baode were sentenced to 15-days administrative detention. All others were released after paying a 300 RMB ($35) fine without receipts.

CAA received information from a source in Shanghai that 400 members of a 16-year-old house church at Minhang District, Shanghai City was ordered to close by the Shanghai authority. The Religious Affairs Bureau and District Government of Minhang District placed a stamped official notice on the gate of the church building on July 26th declaring the gathering as “an illegal religious gathering and should end their service immediately,” otherwise, the leaders will face “severe administrative punishment.”

Contact the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC to protest these violations of the human right to worship, to pray, and to peacefully associate for religious purposes:

Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Embassy of the PeopleÂ’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC 20008
Tel: (202) 328-2500
Fax: (202) 588-0032
Director of Religious Affairs: (202) 328-2512

For more information on religious persecution in China.

For more on religious persecution worldwide.

Posted by: Greg at 03:57 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 716 words, total size 5 kb.

The ACLU is objecting to a town logo that includes a rosary as a reflection of the history and heritage of the community.

The New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is objecting to the new logo for the Village of Tijeras. Some village residents are objecting to the ACLU.

At issue is the village seal, an image containing depictions of a conquistadorÂ’s helmet, a sword and a Catholic rosary. ItÂ’s the last item that has the ACLU concerned.

I'm curious -- why do they not object to the native American religious symbol also depicted on the logo? Could it be an anti-Catholic -- indeed, an anti-Christian -- bias on the part of the Anti-Christian Liberals Union.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

Is the Vatican about to put a stop to the ordination of gay men to the priesthood? Possibly, if the following report is true.

The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests.

The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.

It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week.

The document expresses the church's belief that gay men should no longer be allowed to enter seminaries to study for the priesthood. Currently, as all priests take a vow of celibacy, their sexual orientation has not been considered a pressing concern.

Now it is believed that Pope Benedict has reservations about the document. He should. My experience as a seminarian a decade ago was that at least 20% of my classmates were homosexuals, and probably more. Now I see that as a problem – but one of heterosexual men failing to respond to a call to priesthood rather than one of an overabundance of homosexuals. My experience is that many, if not most, of my gay classmates had excellent pastoral skills and are likely excellent priests today. I presume that they are faithful in their adherence to the requirement of celibacy, based upon conversations we had regarding the struggle to be chaste in contemporary society.

I find the reason given for the prohibition particularly troubling.

The instruction tries to dampen down the controversy by eschewing a moral line, arguing instead that the presence of homosexuals in seminaries is 'unfair' to both gay and heterosexual priests by subjecting the former to temptation.

'It will be written in a very pastoral mode,' Haldane said. 'It will not be an attack on the gay lifestyle. It will not say "homosexuality is immoral". But it will suggest that admitting gay men into the priesthood places a burden both on those who are homosexual and those they are working alongside who are not.'

The reasoning here does not work. The struggle to remain chaste is a part of every Christian life, and so to make the argument about “temptation” is specious. And to argue that the presence of homosexuals is a problem for heterosexuals is just plain wrong-headed, and not from a politically correct point of view. Christians are called to minister to all – sometimes especially to those who make us uncomfortable. The sort of rejection that this proposed document calls for is simply wrong.

Now some may be surprised to read these words on my site. After all, I have been most forthright in dealing with issues of homosexuality and holding firm for traditional Christian teachings regarding human sexuality. But there is simply no legitimate theological or pastoral reason for such a restriction on ordination, provided the man in question is truly committed to and properly formed in the discipline of celibacy in a spirit of Christian chastity.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 540 words, total size 3 kb.

Was it an anti-Semitic hate crime? No one wants to say so, but what else do you call swastikas burned into the lawn along with obscenities and slurs about fascism?

Vandals burned swastikas and obscenities into the lawn of a Jewish family, splattering windows with eggs and fouling the front porch of their home.
Two swastikas were spray-painted in the road in front of Ginger Ragans' two-story home Sunday and a third was etched onto her lawn, along with the word "Fascist" and an obscenity scrawled in the grass. Her trees were draped with toilet paper and someone had urinated and defecated on the porch.

Gwinnett County police are investigating the vandalism in the town northeast of Atlanta and are uncertain whether to classify it as a hate crime, spokesman Darren Moloney said.

Ragans, 36, who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, said the incident likely was the work of neighborhood teens retaliating against her for her work as a neighborhood liaison for a community watchdog program.

In a recent edition of the community's newsletter, she mentioned that cameras had caught groups of teens hanging around the tennis courts long after the county's midnight curfew.

Now let’s be honest here. If this had been an attack against the home of a black community activist that included a burning cross and the word “nigger”, it would be quickly labeled as racist – and rightly so. The choice of slurs and symbols here are obviously motivated by the Jewish heritage of the victims. In my book, that is a hate crime – even if the trigger was the involvement in the community watch program.

And the fact that there is any hesitation in labeling this as anti-Semitism is proof of a bigger problem with anti-Semitism than anyone wants to admit.

Posted by: Greg at 10:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 316 words, total size 2 kb.

With special dispensation from the Pope, a Spanish bishop has ordained its first married priest.

A Roman Catholic bishop on the Spanish island of Tenerife has ordained a man as a Catholic priest despite the fact that he is married with two children.

The 64-year-old former Anglican pastor, David Gliwitzki, was ordained in La Laguna on the Canary Island.

The Bishop of Tenerife said the move was a unique exception within the Spanish Church.

According to Church rules, priests are supposed to be celibate. But the ordination was approved by the Pope.

This is not a new practice – Pope John Paul II permitted the ordination of Anglican clergy during his pontificate. But it highlights again that celibacy is not an intrinsic part of the priesthood, and is simply a part of man-made rules. In this day of declining numbers of priests, might the time have arrived to allow the ordination of married Catholic men?

Posted by: Greg at 01:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 159 words, total size 1 kb.

With special dispensation from the Pope, a Spanish bishop has ordained its first married priest.

A Roman Catholic bishop on the Spanish island of Tenerife has ordained a man as a Catholic priest despite the fact that he is married with two children.

The 64-year-old former Anglican pastor, David Gliwitzki, was ordained in La Laguna on the Canary Island.

The Bishop of Tenerife said the move was a unique exception within the Spanish Church.

According to Church rules, priests are supposed to be celibate. But the ordination was approved by the Pope.

This is not a new practice – Pope John Paul II permitted the ordination of Anglican clergy during his pontificate. But it highlights again that celibacy is not an intrinsic part of the priesthood, and is simply a part of man-made rules. In this day of declining numbers of priests, might the time have arrived to allow the ordination of married Catholic men?

Posted by: Greg at 01:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.

There is a big dispute going on in the state of North Carolina over the use of the Koran for the taking of oaths in state courts.

Traditionally, witnesses taking the stand in court are sworn in by placing their hand on the Bible.

But when Muslims in Guilford County, N.C., tried to donate copies of the Koran for courtroom use, judges turned them down.

Chief District Court Judge Joseph Turner says taking an oath on the Koran is not allowed by North Carolina state law, which specifies that witnesses shall place their hands on the “holy scriptures,” which he interprets as the Christian Bible.

“We’ve been doing it that way for 200 years,” he said. “Until the legislature changes that law, I believe I have to do what I’ve been told to do in the statutes.”

But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Union are challenging the Guilford County Courts.

“This was the first time that we had a judge … going on record and stating unilaterally what is a holy scripture and what is not — what we believe to be a violation of the establishment clause,” said Arsalan Iftikhar of CAIR.

Fine, use it, though many of us consider the Koran to be (at most) one step above Satanic. But don’t expect it to receive any extra reverence in the courthouse – so when the menstruating female bailiff wearing a Star of David who just ate a BLT carries it in her bare hands for you to use, don’t go all jihadi on us.

Posted by: Greg at 01:08 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 276 words, total size 2 kb.

I admire these young people, both for their faith and their patriotism. I've got a number of students who are at World Youth Day (along with one of my colleagues, who runs her parish youth group), and I hope they are following this example.

After nearly a week of being very low-key about their nationality, a group of young Catholics from the South Hills began flying the stars and stripes yesterday.

While Pope Benedict XVI visited a synagogue in a city flooded with pilgrims who have come to see him, the teens and young adults from St. Bernard in Mt. Lebanon and Our Lady of Grace in Scott visited churches. They also acquired a large American flag to march behind today as they hike to the field where they will camp overnight before Benedict celebrates Mass there tomorrow.

All pilgrims from the United States had been warned not to display their flag because it might make them targets of political hatred. Many carried state flags -- the bear of California was everywhere. The South Hills group had carried a Steelers pennant to help them find each other in crowds where they could easily become separated.

But all week they had seen thousands of people from lands as diverse as Tahiti and Sweden proudly displaying their national colors. They had spotted a few American groups also flying large flags, with no apparent ill effects.

In a gift shop that carried flags from many nations, chaperone Zack Rosser, 22, purchased a large flag on a long pole to carry before them. And Lauren Witter, 17, of Dormont, bought an even larger flag that she literally wrapped herself in.

Youth group leader Jessica Fabus, 22, decided to accept the flag because they needed a larger banner as a sign to follow in today's hike. And she had also decided they were not ashamed to be American.

"We realized that the world problems don't matter here. We're all here because of what we have in common. You should show your colors and be happy to meet everyone, no matter where they're from," she said.

May God bless all those at this years event -- especially thoses from my school. May they be proud of their faith, and of the land of their birth.

Posted by: Greg at 10:22 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 387 words, total size 2 kb.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has suffered a mild stroke.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., saw a doctor after feeling light-headed Tuesday and learned he'd suffered a mild stroke, aides said Friday.

"Senator Reid feels fine. There are no complications or any restrictions on his activities. He has undergone evaluations this week, and his doctors have recommended that he take advantage of the summer congressional recess for some down time," said a statement issued by Reid's press secretary, Tessa Hafen.

The statement said Reid sought medical attention at the urging of his wife, Landra. He was told he had experienced a transient ischemic attack.

The statement did not say where Reid was where the episode occurred or where he received treatment. Congress has been in recess since the beginning of August.

I may disagree with his politics, but I wish him well. Some matters transcend the political.

Posted by: Greg at 01:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.

I’m glad to see this – the original ruling had no basis in law, either statutory or Constitutional.

A judge who ordered two Wicca believers to shield their son from their "non-mainstream" faith overstepped his authority, an appeals court said Wednesday in dismissing the order.

The Indiana Court of Appeals said state law gave a custodial parent the authority to determine a child's upbringing, including religious training. A judge could find that certain limitations were needed to protect a child from physical or emotional harm.

The parents' appeal, brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, claimed among other issues that the decree was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define mainstream religion. But the appeals court based its ruling on state law.

Marion Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford added the religion language to a divorce decree granted in 2004 to Thomas E. Jones and Tammy Bristol of Indianapolis. Jones is a Wiccan activist who has coordinated Pagan Pride Day in the city.

The judge's order followed a routine court report that said both parents are pagans who send their son, who is now 10 years old, to a Catholic school. In May, Jones said neither he nor his ex-wife had taken the boy to any Wiccan rituals since the order was issued.

There is rarely a legitimate basis for allowing parents to raise their children in their own religion. There certainly was no case for issuing such a prohibition in this case.

Posted by: Greg at 01:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 248 words, total size 2 kb.

The sentence which follows is almost too bizarre for me to believe I have to type it.

Brother Roger, founder and leader of the Taize Movement, was murdered by a woman during a service yesterday in the community's Church of Reconciliation.

The fatal stabbing of one of the world's most revered Christian leaders in his church provoked shock and revulsion yesterday.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Benedict and heads of state led tributes to 90-year-old Brother Roger, a Swiss-born Protestant pastor and the head of the Taizé community.

Investigators said the self-confessed killer, a 36-year-old Romanian woman identified only as Luminita, claimed to have attacked Brother Roger after failing to attract his attention. Details of the death of a man who dedicated his life to the causes of peace and ecumenism caused widespread disgust.

Brother Roger was stabbed three times in the throat and back during a service in the Reconciliation Church at Taizé in eastern France on Tuesday evening.

Most worshippers were unaware of the incident until blood was seen pouring from the seated pastor's wounds. His assailant was overpowered as a doctor from the congregation tried in vain to save his life. A colleague, Brother François, explained what had happened to the 2,500 people inside the church and asked them to pray for the victim's soul.

Another senior member of the group, Brother Emile, said Brother Roger died within 15 minutes of the attack. His "throat was cut" and he bled profusely from his wounds, he said. Brother Emile added: "The woman came into the middle of the choir but we didn't see her because our backs were turned. There was a scream and we turned, but the deed had been done." Brother Roger, born Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche, established the Taizé community in 1940. He provided sanctuary for people of all faiths, notably Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution.

With more than 100 resident members of the multinational monastic community, he built Taizé into an important religious destination.

Tens of thousands of young pilgrims are welcomed there each year for periods of meditation and intensive prayer.

The beauty of the Taize movement and the community founded by Brother Roger is one of the most beautiful flowers of twentieth century Christianity. It highlights the unity of all Christinas, rather than the divisions.

The Telegraph provides a moving obituary. It would be positively sinful to try to do excerpts of their tribute to a man who ranks with Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham as one of the great spiritual lights of our age.

And now the light has been extinguished -- but his life's work remains, giving glory to God.

Posted by: Greg at 04:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 453 words, total size 3 kb.

Folks were outraged by Rep. Tom Tancredo's comments on destroying Mecca and Medina. Muslims were particulary upset by the implied threat to the sacred cities.

Why, then, is there no outcry as the Saudis destroy the history of the two cities.

Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an unprecedented onslaught by religious zealots.

Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades.

Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed is facing the bulldozers, with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage.

It is the same oil-rich orthodoxy that pumped money into the Taliban as they prepared to detonate the Bamiyan buddhas in 2000. And the same doctrine - violently opposed to all forms of idolatry - that this week decreed that the Saudis' own king be buried in an unmarked desert grave.

A Saudi architect, Sami Angawi, who is an acknowledged specialist on the region's Islamic architecture, told The Independent that the final farewell to Mecca is imminent: "What we are witnessing are the last days of Mecca and Medina."

According to Dr Angawi - who has dedicated his life to preserving Islam's two holiest cities - as few as 20 structures are left that date back to the lifetime of the Prophet 1,400 years ago and those that remain could be bulldozed at any time. "This is the end of history in Mecca and Medina and the end of their future," said Dr Angawi.

Why the destruction? Who is the driving force? Why the forcies of militant Wahabbism, the preferred version of Islam of the Saudi Royal Family.

"At the root of the problem is Wahhabism," says Dr Angawi. " They have a big complex about idolatry and anything that relates to the Prophet."

The Wahhabists now have the birthplace of the Prophet in their sights. The site survived redevelopment early in the reign of King Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud 50 years ago when the architect for a library there persuaded the absolute ruler to allow him to keep the remains under the new structure. That concession is under threat after Saudi authorities approved plans to " update" the library with a new structure that would concrete over the existing foundations and their priceless remains.

Dr Angawi is the descendant of a respected merchant family in Jeddah and a leading figure in the Hijaz - a swath of the kingdom that includes the holy cities and runs from the mountains bordering Yemen in the south to the northern shores of the Red Sea and the frontier with Jordan. He established the Haj Research Centre two decades ago to preserve the rich history of Mecca and Medina. Yet it has largely been a doomed effort. He says that the bulldozers could come "at any time" and the Prophet's birthplace would be gone in a single night.

Now I will be honest. I have some major problems theologically with islam. I believe Muhammad to be a crazy man who peddled false visions and revelations to a gullible group of followers, perverting the truths of Christianity and Judaism to justify his deeds. But I also recognize the historical significance of the sites being destroyed, and have great concern that important archaeological evidence will be destroyed.

I wonder, though -- why are Muslims not speaking out against the destruction of their own heritage at the hands of religious extremists? Why won't the UN raise its voice at the destruction of sites that are part of the heritage of the whole world? Where is the international pressure to preserve these valuable historical sites and open them to the world?

In other words, why aren't the Saudis being held to basic standards of international decency for the sake of all mankind?

Posted by: Greg at 10:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 671 words, total size 4 kb.

The American jurisdiction of the Antiochian Othodox Church (what used to be known as the Syrian Orthodox Church) has left the National Council of Churches over its continued leftward theological and political drift.

Dearborn, Michigan. July 28, 2005.This afternoon the Archdiocesan Convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America voted overwhelmingly to leave the National Council of Churches USA. The Archdiocese is holding its annual convention this week in Dearborn, Michigan.

The action was not a temporary “suspension” of membership, but a formal withdrawal from the NCC. The clergy unanimously approved the withdrawal, followed by a unanimous vote of the lay delegates supporting the move. An announcement of the final vote was met with thunderous applause by the Convention.

Reasons given for the withdrawal include the general liberalism of the NCC, whose General Secretary, Bob Edgar, withdrew his signature from a statement defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

This may be the beginnig of a trend among Orthodox groups, who are increasingly unhappy with the drift from (small o) orthodoxy by the NCC and its member denominations.

The Antiochians aren’t the only Orthodox jurisdiction that has acknowledged the NCC’s increasingly leftward tilt. At their own just-concluded conference in Toronto, the Orthodox Church in America also discussed the usefulness of the NCC but has not yet cut its ties. The statement that the OCA issued concerning its discussion of ecumenical relations was a collage of bureaucratic platitudes, mostly expressed in the passive voice, and no doubt indicative that the forces of the status quo were not giving up without a fight. When you read phrases such as “concerns ... were expressed” and “it was noted” and “requires careful consideration and discernment” then you can bet that someone’s digging in the heels.

I'd be interested to see what this eventually means for the ecumenical movement in the US, and whetehr there comes into being some new body that incorporates Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical churches.

Posted by: Greg at 11:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 336 words, total size 3 kb.

For all the attempts by the Communist dictators in Beijing to domesticate Christianity, it appears that faith in Christ is growing by leaps and bounds in that oppressed nation.

The precise figures cannot be known, in a country in which Christians are still persecuted. But the evidence suggests that there may be as many as 80 million or even 100 million members of underground Christian churches in China, unapproved by the state.

The Chinese Communist Party, meanwhile, has only 70 million members. If those figures for worshippers are even roughly accurate, then we are looking at a very remarkable development in the history not only of Asia but of all mankind.

While the Communists have the weapons, they seem to be losing the hearts of the people. Will we find that, like in Poland, the yearning for Christ will be sufficient to undermine the atheistic system of Marx, Lenin, and Mao?

I particularly love this observation by the author of this editorial.

ommunism and its blood-brother, fascism, have been responsible - in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America - for more human misery over the past century than any other systems of belief thought up by man. By denying human beings their individuality, all totalitarian systems brutalise the human condition, reducing everyone in their sway to the status of ants, or cogs in a machine. Christianity teaches that each of us is a moral being, responsible for our actions to our Maker, and individually bound to love our neighbours as ourselves.

A century from now, Communism will be a distant memory, supported only by college professors and others lacking contact with reality. May our descendants, by the grace of God, see a similar comparison between the evil force that is Islamist jihadism and Christianity.

The paper also has an excellent article by Richard Spencer about Christians in China. I encourage you to look at it, as well.

Posted by: Greg at 05:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 331 words, total size 2 kb.

Really.

I mean, a Catholic parish has set up a monument to those slain by abortion. It is on church grounds, and is a reflection of the teachings of the church. On the last three months, the monument has been desecrated seven times -- vandalized and knocked off its pedastal. Do you think we have a prima facie case for treating this as a hate crime?

"When it's the seventh time, I question whether this is some sort of desecration or hate crime," said the church pastor, Father Henry Zinno. "When it's constant, obviously someone is making an effort to knock it down. By the seventh time there is a clear message."

The pastor has called the police. He's asked the church's 1,600 families to pay close attention as they drive by. And he had metal bars installed on the front and back of the stone memorial.

And still, the 4-foot monument that has been blessed by the bishop keeps being knocked to the ground.

"We keep putting it back up and calling the police," Zinno said, adding that it takes three or four men to lift it each time. "There's not much we can do."

But when Zinno found the stone rectangle lying on its side this weekend, he knew something more had to be done.

"Every time something like this happens, we announce it to parishioners," he said. "People got pretty upset about it."

The church has decided to put up motion detector lights. And a parishioner agreed to put iron rods into the monument to make it impossible to move.

One does not "accidently" knock over a piece of stone that takes three or four people to re-seat.

The wind does not simply start blowing it over.

This is a deliberate malicious attempt to silence a religious message.

It is an intentional act of hate against those who believe the truth that the monument proclaims.

It is a planned assault on rights explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution by those who seek to coerce acceptance of one which is not there at all..

Posted by: Greg at 01:47 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 361 words, total size 2 kb.

While I disagree with the UCC repudiation of Scripture and traditional Christian teaching on sexual morality at last week's General Synod, I cannot and will not support this sort of barbarism.

A small fire and anti-gay graffiti were found Saturday at a church belonging to the United Church of Christ, a denomination that endorsed same-sex marriage last week.

The exterior of St. John's Reformed United Church of Christ also included a message that United Church of Christ members were sinners.

A member of the congregation discovered the graffiti when he stopped by to mow the grass. He found a small fire within the sanctuary. The fire was put out in a few minutes, Lt. Tim McCray said.

And yes, I think hate crime charges are appropriate.

Posted by: Greg at 05:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 142 words, total size 1 kb.

I guess you have to be a member of one of the "protected classes" to get equal protection under the law. COuld you imagine if this had been a mosque, or a black church, or one of the churches of the Metropolitan Community Church (founded as a gay denomination)? These idiots would be tossed in a hole so deep they would be looking at Hell from below.

But hey, this was only a Catholic church, so I guess it really doesn't matter. Right?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Four teens have been charged with vandalizing a church in Chili. Monroe County Sheriff's deputies say the boys allegedly urinated in the holy water, smashed wine bottles against the walls, left bicycle skid marks on the carpet, emptied the fire extinguishers and burnt cigarette holes in the Saint Pius the X Church in Chili. The damage is estimated at $17,000.00.

Charged are 18-year-old Dan Seklar, 17-year-old Richard DeCarolis, 16-year-old Michael Street and a 15-year-old who is being charged as a juvenile. All are charged with burglary and criminal mischief, both felonies. The boys have been released to their parents.

Nah -- nothing hateful here. Everybody just move along.

Posted by: Greg at 02:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 205 words, total size 1 kb.

As a former UCC member, I won't get into the recent United Church of Christ (Denominational Motto: "God Keeps Changing His Mind") resolution endorsing homosexual marriage. Suffice it to say that I consider the resolution to be flawed from a Biblical perspective, and one more symptom of the problem that causes the denomination to continue to shrink. Besides, I suspect that a large number of congregations will simply ignore the resolution, and continue to permit only traditional marriages to be performed in their churches and officiated by their pastors.

But there are a couple of things in the resolution that I find striking. Let me highlight them for you.

The marriage equality resolution (1) affirms equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and declares that the government should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of legally recognized marriage;... and (7) urges congregations and individuals of the UCC to prayerfully consider and support local, state and national legislation to grant equal marriage rights to couples regardless of gender, and to work against legislation, including constitutional amendments, which denies rights to couples based on gender.

So you see those statements?

"Declares that government should not interfere...."

"Urges congregations and individuals to... support local, state and national legislation... and to work against legislation...."

I don't know about you, but that sounds like the UCC is not merely taking a doctrinal position, but is also making a call for the laws of the United States to be changed to reflect the teachings and beliefs of the UCC. It gives marching orders to church members regarding what sort of legislation they should support and oppose, and by implication what candidates they should support and oppose.

Now given my understanding of the First Amendment as it was originally written and intended by the Founding Fathers, I have no problem with the UCC taking such a position. But given the understanding of the First Amendment by the Left, I would have expected a loucd public outcry denouncing the UCC for "theocratic" behavior. After all, that has been the strategy of the Left every time religious conservatives have sought to see policies enacted which reflect their religious beliefs, policies on matters like school vouchers, abortion, and homosexual marriage. But so far there has been nothing but silnce from the Left -- when they have not actively applauded the "progressive" action of the UCC General Synod.

And we won't even get into the Left's silence about the synodal resolution urging President Bush to appoint a "moderate" justice to the Supreme Court (does anyone need additional evidence that "moderate" means "liberal"?). If one subscribes to the liberal definition of theocracy, one would have to condemn this as well. Again, the silence is deafening.

Could it be that the Left in this country does not believe in separation of church and state at all. Rather, they believe in the separation of conservative churches and state -- but are more than willing to see extreem and out of the mainstream religious beliefs of liberal churches imposed on the majority of Americans who reject them?

Posted by: Greg at 12:59 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 539 words, total size 4 kb.

Once again, the Red Chinese regime has chosen to deny the human rights of Chinese Catholics following a brief period of goodwill towards the Vatican. The tyrants of Beijing have arrested Bishop Jia Zhiguo, a Catholic bishop who remains loyal to the Pope.

China, which does not recognize the Vatican, has arrested an underground Roman Catholic bishop, a U.S.-based religious rights group said, quashing hopes of any sudden rapprochement between Beijing and the Holy See.

China has not had diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1951 and believers must attend state-sanctioned churches led by bishops who pledge loyalty to Beijing. But a parallel church loyal to the Pope practises in secret.

"Bishop Jia Zhiguo, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei province, was arrested again by two government officials at his house ... and driven away to an unknown location," the Cardinal Kung Foundation said.

It said Jia, 70, was arrested on Monday but did not specify on what charge.

The Vatican has regularly accused China of violating human rights and criticized the government for what it sees as the repression of religion, a charge the government denies.

Jia had previously spent 20 years in jail and had been arrested six times since January 2004, the foundation, whose mission is to promote the Roman Catholic Church in China, said.

Where is the public outcry? Where is the international condemnation? When will the head of Amnesty International and the International Red Cross travel to China to call out the dictators like they have done towards George W. Bush (whose policies conform with international law)? I think we all know the answers to those questions.

Posted by: Greg at 06:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 287 words, total size 2 kb.

The views of a British Christian group have led to its bank dumping it. The problem – the group’s opposition to homosexuality puts it at odds with the bank’s commitment to “diversity”. There is no room for tolerance of dissenting views.

The Co-operative Bank has asked an evangelical Christian group to close its account because of its anti-homosexual views.

The bank said the opinions of Christian Voice were incompatible with its support for diversity.

Christian Voice said the bank, based in Manchester, was discriminating against it on religious grounds.

It is now waiting for other religious groups with similar opinions to be asked to close accounts, it added.

Christian Voice has held an account with the Co-operative Bank for about three years.

But now the bank has decided the group's stance on homosexuality is so extreme, it has asked members to look for a new bank.

"It has come to the bank's attention that Christian Voice is engaged in discriminatory pronouncements based on the grounds of sexual orientation," a spokesman for the bank said.

"This public stance is incompatible with the position of the Co-operative Bank, which publicly supports diversity and dignity in all its forms for our staff, customers and other stakeholders."

So letÂ’s see if I understand the bankÂ’s position correctly. Diversity is so important that it cannot allow for a diversity of views among its customers. WouldnÂ’t that mean that the bank does not really value diversity, but instead values homosexuality over Christianity?

Posted by: Greg at 09:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 258 words, total size 2 kb.

IÂ’ve been saying for some time that the excesses taking place in Canada and other foreign environs could eventually reach to within AmericaÂ’s borders. I just didnÂ’t expect it to come so soon.

Is there no longer a right for employees to engage in Constitutionally protected speech about their religious beliefs on their own time? DoesnÂ’t firing them for such activity constitute discrimination based upon such speech constitute employment discrimination based upon religion, which is banned by the statute by the federal government and all fifty states? Or does the judicially-discovered right to sodomy override those guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?

An employee of the Allstate insurance company has been fired from his job for comments that appeared in a men’s journal denouncing same-sex “marriage,” even though the statement was penned in the employee’s own spare time and from home.

“I explained to Allstate that the article was a reflection of my personal Christian beliefs, and that I had every right to both write it and to have it published,” J. Matt Barber told WorldNetDaily news. “I further explained that I had written the article while at home on my own time, that I never mentioned Allstate's name and that I neither directly nor indirectly suggested that Allstate shared my Christian beliefs or my views on same-sex marriage.”

Allstate made no attempt to hide its bigotry. According to its report, “The claimant was discharged from Allstate Insurance Company because an outside organization had complained about an article he had written while on his own time.” The company even tried to have Barber denied unemployment insurance, which can be withheld if a person was fired for a violation of company policy or rules.

Now what awful things had Barber written in the article to which the online publication appended a biography identifying his employer without his knowledge? What evil, hateful, discriminatory words had he caused to be published? How had he engaged in misconduct so grave that Allstate sought to have him denied unemployment benefits mere weeks after the birth of a child following a difficult high-risk pregnancy? Well, take a look.

more...

Posted by: Greg at 12:48 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 554 words, total size 4 kb.

We’ve all read about honor killings in Muslim countries – the murder of women whose behavior is considered “unchaste” by their families. Causes range from being sexually assaulted to being alone in a room with an unrelated male, as well as actual morally questionable actions like the commission of fornication and adultery – acts which still do not merit murder.

And now we are headed that way in the United States if we do not clamp down on such quaint socio-religious customs among Muslims in this country. Take this as an example.

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office on Thursday will attempt to permanently end the parental rights of a Madison Heights couple who police say neglected to seek medical help for their daughter after her older brother allegedly beat her over her relationship with a non-Muslim boy.

The 15-year-old girl, who is a Madison Heights Lamphere High junior, suffered a broken back in the beating, according to court documents. The trial to determine whether parental custody rights should be terminated is set for Thursday before Oakland Circuit Judge Joan Young.

The girl's brother, Ahmad Abdelmomen, 21, is charged with aggravated assault in the April 29 incident at their home in Madison Heights. Abdelmomen is free on bond pending a July 13 preliminary hearing before Madison Heights 43rd District Judge Robert J. Turner.

"She complained of the injury to her parents, but they didn't take her to a doctor because they condoned the punishment her brother gave her," said Robert Zivian, an assistant Oakland County prosecuting attorney assigned to the neglect case.

The following day, when the girl was still complaining of injuries, her parents called for an ambulance, according to Madison Heights Police Detective Sgt. Ron Hillman.

"She was in a lot of pain, and when she eventually went back to school, it was in a wheelchair," Hillman said. "It was too painful for her to stand for any period of time."

The girl initially told hospital workers she fell, Hillman said. After being questioned by police, she admitted that her brother had beaten her because he was upset over her relationship with a boy who was not of their religious faith, Hillman said.

"She wrote me a two-page statement about how both her brother and her parents disapproved of the situation," he said. "She wrote that's what prompted the beating in the first place."

The girl was placed in temporary foster care following the incident, Zivian said.
"Now she is recanting the original story and also claiming she fell down some stairs," Zivian said.

more...

Posted by: Greg at 11:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 820 words, total size 5 kb.

Looks like the only Anglicans left on this continent might be the traditionalists.

Unconvinced by the justifications offered by both churches on Tuesday for ordaining an openly homosexual bishop and authorising same-sex blessings, members of the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Nottingham asked them to leave the council and its central finance and standing committees.
Although the motion invites the churches to withdraw voluntarily, it amounts in effect to expulsion.
The debate was held behind closed doors at Nottingham University, and the motion was passed 30 to 28 by secret ballot, with four abstentions.
The Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four "instruments of unity", of the worldwide church, but it is the only one with a legal constitution. Based in Britain, it is in effect the church's central administrative body.

Ultimately, it comes down to a simple question – will the Bible or the latest social science article be binding on matters of faith and morals.

Posted by: Greg at 11:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 170 words, total size 1 kb.

An issue has been raised in the state of North Carolina about the use of religious texts for swearing in witnesses in courtrooms. It seems that often the only option available is the Bible, which creates a conundrum for those individuals whose faith does not recognize that book, While they could simply make a general affirmation of truthfulness without the book, Muslims are now asking to be permitted to use the Quran for taking the oath.

"There is no (statewide) policy ... and there is no particular plan in place to write a policy," said Dick Ellis, spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts. "We haven't gotten to the point yet that something has to be done."

Judges in Guilford County told a Greensboro Islamic center last week that they would not allow people to be sworn in with a Quran rather than a Bible.

In response, the Washington-based Council on Amerian-Islamic Relations asked Tuesday for a statewide policy allowing oaths to be taken on the Quran.

"Eliminating the opportunity to swear an oath on one's own holy text may also have the effect of diminishing the credibility of that person's testimony," CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar said in a statement.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Wednesday that failing to establish a clear policy about the issue will lead to further confusion.

"I think there really does need to be a clear statement one way or the other," Hooper said. "Whether only a single religious text is viewed as holy scripture or whether, in our multi-faith, multi-ethnic society, there are a variety of texts that would be viewed as valid."

Now as much as I hate to agree with Ibrahim Hooper or any other representative of the terrorist-front group that is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), I have to agree with him. The use of a religious text is customary in our society, and the denial of the use of one's text is certainly problematic in a society that has significant grups practicing minority religions. Why shouldn't there be more thna one text used, at the discretion of the witnes? All that is needed is to ascertain in advance the text desired by the witness, and there will be no disruption. Either that, or eliminate the practice of taking an oath on religious texts, something that Most Americans (including me) would oppose.

Now if this happens, there needs to be a clear understanding that no text gets preferential treatment. That means none of the Gitmo-style wrapping the Quran in a towel, handling it with white gloves, or any of the other extreme veneration of the book required of service personnel for fear of offending the terrorists who have made war on the US and who still want to kill us. The Quran would have to be stored, handled and presented in a fashion identical to those other books. And if that means that the bailiff who holds the Quran after lunch is a menstruating woman who still has grease on her fingers from her BLT, no objection can be raised.

After all, treating the Quran differently would be "promoting one faith over another, and that is not what's allowed by the Constitution." And we wouldn't want that, would we Mr. Hooper?

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 555 words, total size 3 kb.

Look at this solution to the fractures within the Anglican Communion – and notice that certain folks are now simply one “subgroup” among many in this so-called Christian body.

A draft of a constitution detailing a proposed realignment of the worldwide Anglican Communion became public this week, outlining for the first time how divisions over homosexuality may change the face of the more than 70-million-member church.

The unsourced and undated four-page document, named "The Organizing Constitution of the Anglican Global Initiative," has been circulating among some executive members of the Episcopal Church since January, after it was brought to the church's New York headquarters following a meeting of African bishops in Nairobi.

Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, a group of clergy and lay people, made the document available on its Web site. Its existence was first reported this week by the Guardian newspaper in Great Britain.

The articles of the constitution state that the Anglican Global Initiative would be an organization of Anglicans from the Global South, which includes Africa, Asia and parts of the Southern Hemisphere, and those in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada who "hold to the centrality and authority of Holy Scripture."

“The centrality and authority of Holy Scripture.” One would have hoped that those were a given for a body that claims to be Christian, not simply one option among many.

Posted by: Greg at 10:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 241 words, total size 2 kb.