Religion (general)
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Knowing Obama by the Company He Keeps
American Thinker | Kyle-Anne Shiver | Mar. 16, 2008
I learned more about staying on the narrow path and avoiding trouble from my grandmother in five minutes than Barack and Michelle Obama seem to have learned in their whole lives. This lesson in human nature and relationships is pretty darned simple. And it gives no quarter to anyone; it applies to all human beings. “People will know you by the company you keep,” my grandmother told me. Continue Reading »
1 comment Monday 17 Mar 2008 | Banescu | Politics, Religion (general) |
The National Church of Socialism
FrontPage Mag | Mark D. Tooley | Dec. 28, 2007
The financially and demographically struggling National Council of Churches (NCC) is mulling over a new “Social Creed for the 21st Century” that will succinctly articulate its left-leaning political activism. Many of the NCC’s heterodox officials and activist supporters could not affirm traditional Christian theological creeds. For them, political creeds are the desired alternative. Continue Reading »
8 comments Friday 28 Dec 2007 | Banescu | Leftism, Religion (general) |
Intolerable Secularists
Interview With Author of “The New Fundamentalists”
ROME, AUG. 24, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Aggressive relativism is the newest form of fundamentalism, according to author Deacon Daniel Brandenburg, and Catholics are called to stand up and do something about it.
In this interview with ZENIT, Deacon Brandenburg, who will be ordained a priest of the Legionaries of Christ this December, comments on his book “The New Fundamentalists: Beyond Tolerance,” recently published by Circle Press.
Q: In a nutshell, what is the new fundamentalism that you address in your book?
Deacon Brandenburg: When we hear fundamentalism, what normally comes to mind is religious narrow-mindedness, perhaps with an irrational or even fanatical bent, like that displayed by some Muslim followers after Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address.
The “new” fundamentalism that I describe in my book often displays the same intolerance, irrationality and extremism. The key difference, however, is that the new fundamentalists profess to be secular followers of no religion. Yet closer examination shows that the relativistic dogma underlying their worldview excites more religious fervor than do many tenets of the great world religions.
26 comments Monday 27 Aug 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Lutherans to allow pastors in gay relationships
Ed. (Banescu) Yet another Christian church deviates from the Gospel.
Reuters | August 11, 2007
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Homosexual Lutheran clergy who are in sexual relationships will be able to serve as pastors, the largest U.S. Lutheran body said on Saturday.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution at its annual assembly urging bishops to refrain from disciplining pastors who are in “faithful committed same-gender relationships.”
42 comments Monday 13 Aug 2007 | Banescu | Culture war, Gay marriage, Religion (general), Religion in America |
Baghdad Christians Find New Life in Kurdish North
New York Times | John Spanner | June 27, 2007
Some Iraqi Christians who fled the violence of Baghdad have returned to their ancestral homeland in the country’s north.
KARA-ULA, Iraq — The 70 houses of this tiny village spring from the treeless, arid plain here in the northern tip of Iraq with the uniformity of an army camp.
comments off Wednesday 27 Jun 2007 | Jacobse | Iraq, Religion (general) |
Was Gorbachev a Closet Christian?
CNSNews.com | Kevin Mooney | June 21, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Despite his publicly professed atheism, Mikhail Gorbachev displayed signs of religious belief, and President Ronald Reagan often wondered whether the Soviet Union’s last leader was a “closet Christian,” a political scientist said Wednesday.
“I think he believes,” the 40th president had said to at least one close aide, Paul Kengor of Grove City College told Cybercast News Service in an interview.
comments off Thursday 21 Jun 2007 | Jacobse | Orthodox Christianity, Persecution, Religion (general) |
You’re in a Bad Neighborhood and 10 Men Approach You . . .
Townhall.com | Dennis Prager | June 19, 2007
A question I pose to atheists and others who argue that religion is irrelevant to moral behavior has been cited by Christopher Hitchens in his national best seller, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” And Hitchens’s citation has been widely quoted — from the New Yorker to the website of the Oxford evolutionist and best-selling atheist author Richard Dawkins.
This is how the story appears in Hitchens’s book:
1 comment Tuesday 19 Jun 2007 | Jacobse | Politics, Religion (general) |
Coptic Christian faces torture and death due to religion
The United States intends to deport Mr. Sameh Khouzam back to Egypt on MONDAY, JUNE 18, at the request of the Egyptian government, despite the fact that Mr. Khouzam faces torture and death upon his return.
11 comments Monday 18 Jun 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
The Instrumentality of Wealth
Clement of Alexandria on “Who is the rich man who will be saved?” on the Acton Blog.
comments off Wednesday 06 Jun 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Trenchant self-reflection by a Canadian Anglican on the crisis in his Church
Those who marry the spirit of this age will find themselves widows in the next.
[ ... ]
Above (left) is a reproduction of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh, which he composed in 1885. You will notice that there are two books. The larger of the two is the Bible. The other book is entitled: La joie de vivre (Joy of Life) by Emile Zola. Zola was the leading French novelist in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1884 he wrote La Joie De Vivre. It was part of a series of twenty novels he wrote rooted in a philosophical school called Naturalism. Zola helped establish this school.
In summary naturalism taught:
Individual characters were seen as helpless products of heredity and environment, motivated by strong instinctual drives from within and harassed by social and economic pressures from without. As such, they had little will or responsibility for their fates, and the prognosis for their “cases” was pessimistic at the outset.
23 comments Thursday 31 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Pope faces German revolt as anger grows in Latin America
Ed. It’s the “Guardian” so make sure to read between the lines … Nevertheless, it’s an interesting article for several reasons: 1) it shows the internal rift still existing in Catholicism between liberationists (Marxism in Christian dress) and orthodox Catholics; 2) the war between Marx and religion in the person of Hugo Chavez (particularly the necessity of keeping the “colonial occupier” narrative alive to justify Marxism); 3) the difficulty Catholic intellectuals have with the concept of the Magisterium (subtle, but it’s there); and 4) the historical problem Catholicism faces because it tied its missionary endeavors too closely with national and commercial interests (Pope Benedict’s assertion that Catholicism contributed to the indigenous cultures is probably correct).
The Guardian | John Hooper in Rome and Rory Carroll in Caracas | May 25, 2007
Pope Benedict was in trouble on two fronts yesterday, struggling to contain anger over remarks he made in Latin America and facing a revolt by former colleagues in Germany.
Following criticism of his views on the spread of Christianity in Latin America, the Pope acknowledged to pilgrims in Rome that “shadows” accompanied the conversion of indigenous groups. He said it was impossible “to forget the suffering [and] injustices inflicted by the colonisers on the indigenous population”.
18 comments Friday 25 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Pope shows more signs of swinging to the right in public
International Herald Tribune | Ian Fisher and Larry Rohter | May 14, 2007
APARECIDA, Brazil: Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip to Latin America has added to a sense, expressed recently by supporters and critics alike, that his papacy seemed to be moving closer to the mold that he embodied as Joseph Ratzinger, a conservative and contentious cardinal.
11 comments Tuesday 15 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Spiritualpolitique
The Weekly Standard | John J. Dilulio | May 14, 2007
Religion matters more than ever in global affairs. But don’t count on the experts–or the State Department–to know that.
Speaking last December before journalists assembled by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Peter Berger had some explaining to do. Berger, an emeritus professor at Boston University, is a rightly esteemed sociologist of religion. “We live in an age of overwhelming religious globalization,” he began. But, as late as a quarter-century ago, neither he nor most other academics saw it coming. Most analysts, he explained, had the same stale orthodoxy about religion’s inevitable demise. “The idea was very simple: the more modernity, the less religion. . . . I think it was wrong.”
4 comments Friday 11 May 2007 | Jacobse | Politics, Religion (general) |
Why Atheism Fails: The Four Big Bangs
Townhall.com | Frank Pastore | May 6, 2007
Their titles sound so confident:
• The Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism and Islam by Michel Onfray.
47 comments Sunday 06 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Christianity on Trial in Turkey
Zenti News | Father John Flynn | May 1, 2007
Killings and Persecution Continue
ROME, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The blood of martyrs continues to be shed in Turkey. The April 18 killing of two Turks and a German at a Christian publishing house in Malatya, in eastern Turkey, renewed concerns over the fate of Christians in the country. The three victims were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit.
comments off Tuesday 01 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
True Unbelievers
Wall Street Opinion Journal | Christopher Orlet | May 1, 2007
A sectarian split among atheists.
A recent Associated Press story, headlined “Atheists Split on How Not to Believe,” has set fingers tapping throughout the blogosphere. The gist of the story as I read it is that there are soft atheists and fundamentalist atheists, and the softies are concerned that the fundies are becoming too outspoken, too uppity, indeed that they are giving unbelievers a bad name–a good trick that, like trying to give a bad name to an oil slick.
comments off Tuesday 01 May 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Thousands are baptised in Beijing, while in Zhejiang two priests are imprisoned
Asia News Bernardo Cervellera April 10, 2007
The wave of new conversions makes it difficult to find sufficient godparents. In the interim of the Pope’s long awaited letter to China’s Catholics, the Patriotic Association’s iron fist is felt, particularly in Hebei and Zhejiang.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Thousands of people were baptised into the faith in Catholic churches across China on Easter night. Yet in some areas the underground Church is still subjected to persecution and imprisonment.
3 comments Wednesday 11 Apr 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
Biblical Liberation from Liberalism
Townhall.com Michael Medved April 11, 2007
With the arrival of the eight day Passover Festival on Monday night, I was preparing some material for our family-reunion Seder meal (Diane and I will be together with all three of our children, plus my visiting father from Jerusalem) when I stumbled across one of the most important of all verses in the Hebrew Scriptures.
15 comments Wednesday 11 Apr 2007 | Jacobse | Politics, Religion (general) |
Atheistic Democracy: An oxymoron
Townhal.com Mary Grabar March 4, 2007
“In America religion is the road to knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom” Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America.
7 comments Wednesday 07 Mar 2007 | Jacobse | American history, Politics, Religion (general) |
Churches back plan to unite under Pope
London Times Ruth Gledhill February 19, 2007
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.
5 comments Sunday 18 Feb 2007 | Jacobse | Religion (general) |
