The Institute on Religion and Democracy released their report Yokefellows that examines the funding sources for the National Council of Churches (NCC). It’s not pretty. The Tides Foundation and other leftwing groups contribute a good chunk of change. Read the Executive Summary.
I got an advance copy a month or so ago. Read my comments.
Why not “Istanbul”? Because the name Istanbul is really an Arabic derivative of the Greek. If you live near New York City for example and are heading into Manhattan, you don’t say “I am going to New York City.” Instead, you say “I am going to the city.”
Well, the “Istanbul” means the same thing. “Ee steen polee” is the Greek way of saying in the city (in this case the “city of Constantine” or Konstanteen-oupolee — Constantinople in English). Change the the Greek hard “p” to the Arabic hard “b” and you end up with “ee-stan-bolee” or Istanbul. The Arab speakers in Turkey know this of course. Non-Arabic speakers think the name of Constantinople actually was changed.
NC Register Edward Pentin December 24, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople are considering a proposal to attend the next round of joint Catholic-Orthodox theological discussions in 2007.
VATICAN CITY — In what theologians are describing as a highly significant gesture, Pope Benedict XVI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople are considering a proposal to attend the next round of joint Catholic-Orthodox theological discussions in 2007.
Kathimerini Danilo Schiavella December 15, 2006
Pact to mend ties signed at Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI (right) and Archbishop Christodoulos sign an agreement following historic talks at the Vatican yesterday. The two religious leaders issued a joint appeal against religious fanaticism and violence.
Archbishop Christodoulos and Pope Benedict XVI, after a landmark meeting at the Vatican yesterday, issued a joint appeal against religious fanaticism and violence, and pledged to pursue “the difficult path of dialogue” in order to heal a centuries-old rift between their two churches.
Rome (ENI). Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church may meet in early 2007, according to unconfirmed reports circulating in Rome and Moscow. There has been no official church confirmation of the rumours, but if such an encounter did take place, it would be the first meeting between a Pope and a Russian Orthodox Patriarch. The Vatican is mulling the possibility of a meeting in Hungary in 2007 between Pope Benedict and Patriarch Alexei, the Italian weekly Panorama has reported.
LA Times Raymond Ibrahim December 5, 2006
What they capture, they keep. When they lose, they complain to the U.N.
IN THE DAYS before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit last Thursday to the Hagia Sophia complex in Istanbul, Muslims and Turks expressed fear, apprehension and rage. “The risk,” according to Turkey’s independent newspaper Vatan, “is that Benedict will send Turkey’s Muslims and much of the Islamic world into paroxysms of fury if there is any perception that the pope is trying to re-appropriate a Christian center that fell to Muslims.” Apparently making the sign of the cross or any other gesture of Christian worship in Hagia Sophia constitutes such a sacrilege.
LIVE BROADCAST OF THE VISIT OF POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE ONLINE AT: http://www.patriarchate.org
Individuals who may have missed the November 29, 2006 live broadcast
of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarchate
and the Doxology of Thanksgiving may now watch an on-demand re- broadcast online at http://www.patriarchate.org.
New York Sun Brian Murphy November 29, 2006
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI began his pilgrimage among Turkey’s tiny Christian communities Wednesday by paying homage to an Italian priest slain during Islamic protests and expressing sympathy for the pressures facing religious minorities in the Muslim world.
http://tks.nationalreview.com/
The most dramatic moment of the pope’s visit is likely to come Thursday, when he tours the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The massive, imposing red and gray structure was built as a church in the 6th century, then converted to a mosque in 1453 by the Ottomans. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, converted the site into a secular museum in 1935.
New York Daily News Paul. D. Colford November 25, 2006
Building leveled on 9/11 to rise again
Five years after tiny St. Nicholas Church was crushed in the collapse of the nearby twin towers, parishioners finally know where they’ll rebuild.