A Photo-Magazine Web Site For Port Orange, Florida and its surrounding area.
THE RIGHTEOUS RELIGIONS
Man will not live without answers to
his questions.
-- Hans J. Morgenthau
Once we
realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no
shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
-- George Soros
Thinking is only a process of talking to yourself.
-- Source Unknown
Abortion Foes Tell of Their Journey to the Streets
....Together, these street activists make up an assertive minority of
a few thousand people within the larger anti-abortion movement. Neither
the best financed nor largest element in the mix, they are nonetheless
the only face of anti-abortion that many Americans see. Indeed,
persistent provocation is their defining attribute: day after day on
street corners from California to Massachusetts, they stand like town
criers, calling to women walking into abortion clinics, or waving graphic
signs as disturbing as they are impossible to ignore.
Their ranks are more infused with emotion — they would say commitment
— than top-down discipline.
Ziad Munson, a sociologist at Lehigh University who has interviewed
hundreds of abortion opponents, said street protesters rarely moved into
other areas of the movement and tended to work alone or in smaller
groups. Even in cases when they form large and influential organizations,
it is sometimes difficult to get beyond the culture of passionate
dispute....
....Love Stuff, whose target clientele is women ages 32 to 52, was sued by
Hoover for violating the state’s Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act. The store
challenged the law’s constitutionality. The trial court upheld the law and
Love Stuff appealed, invoking a line of United States Supreme Court cases
recognizing a privacy right in sexual activity. These included Griswold v.
Connecticut in 1965, which affirmed the right to buy contraception, and
Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which struck down Texas’s sodomy law by relying on
a liberty right under the 14th Amendment. ...
....A Look at Christianity, Through a Buddhist Lens
......His focus here is on what he calls “the big stuff”: What does it
really mean for Christians to profess belief in an almighty “God the
Father” personally active in the world, or in Jesus, “his only-begotten
Son” who saved humanity through his death and bodily resurrection, or in
eternal life, heaven and hell?
However much he tried, Mr. Knitter found that certain longstanding
Christian formulations of faith “just didn’t make sense”: God as a person
separate from creation and intervening in it as an external agent;
individualized life after death for all and eternal punishment for some;
Jesus as God’s “only Son” and the only savior of humankind; prayers that
ask God to favor some people over others. ...
..... there is a marvelous anecdote from the occasion of
Russell's ninetieth birthday that best serves to summarize his attitude
toward God and religion. A London lady sat next to him at this party, and
over the soup she suggested to him that he was not only the world's most
famous atheist but, by this time, very probably the world's oldest
atheist. 'What will you do, Bertie, if it turns out you're wrong?' she
asked. 'I mean, what if--uh--when the time comes, you should meet Him?
What will you say?' Russell was delighted with the question. His birght,
birdlike eyes grew even brighter as he contempalated this possible future
dialogue, and then he pointed a finger upward and cried, 'Why, I should
say, 'God, you gave us insufficient evidence.'
-- Al Seckel
A religious
man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all
times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is
compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.
-- Abraham J. Heschel
All earthly delights are sweeter in expectation than in enjoyment; but
all spiritual pleasures more in fruition than in expectation.
-- Francois FTNelon
Recession Has Drained
Financial Resources Of Many Congregations, Seminaries
RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Posted:
2:45 pm EDT September 28, 2009Updated:
2:59 pm EDT September 28, 2009
NEW YORK --
Organized religion was already in trouble before the
fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and
congregations across faith groups were fretting about their
finances.
Liberals' attack on Christian businesses
expanding!
September 25, 2009 05:29 PM EDT
The initial 2009 House hearing on the anti-faith Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) went pretty much as I
expected...
"Expert" witness after expert witness spoke in favor of this
bill which puts Christians on the
wrong side of the law. In
fact, just one witness was called to speak against the bill.
Even worse, one Representative spoke of requiring
businesses with as few as five employees to comply!
That means ENDA could impact millions more Christian
businesses
than had been anticipated!
As I noted to you earlier this week, legal analysis concludes
that even non-profit organizations and ministry groups can be
forced to comply with ENDA - opening them up to costly legal
challenges and charges of discrimination by homosexuals,
lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. ...
...Alfred North Whitehead conceived of God as a Process. Paul
Tillich experienced God as the Ground of Being. The problem is that we
use the language of time and space to give form to an experience and a
reality that is not bound by or within time and space. When I use the
word "God" I am not talking about a being. I am describing that sense of
transcendence that I believe I have encountered within time and space. I
believe I experience God as life fully lived, as love wastefully given,
as being completely realized. I cannot tell you or anyone else who or
what God is. I can only describe my experience. I may be delusional. Lots
of religious people are, but I don't think so. ...
Bishop Spong will soon be reading from and signing his new
book at various locations, including
Outwrite in Atlanta on September 29. More locations to be
announced soon.
Bruce Wilson from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, writes:
I am deeply troubled. I cannot picture God, a supreme Santa Claus, who
lives above the sky. I cannot see this as a male entity, as a judge,
as a creator of all the universe. This image of a jealous, angry and
vengeful entity is repugnant to me. This leaves me with no one to pray
to, no one to give me spiritual comfort, no one to love me
unconditionally (except my dog). Why do you keep referring to a God
when, over the many years that I have I have read your books and
weekly bulletins, you have said the very things about this entity that
I quote above?
Dear Bruce,
Thank God for your dog!
Maybe you should see your inability to picture God as a Santa Claus
above the sky as a step into maturity and wholeness. Now you need to
look at the immaturity of your prayers. The last thing most of us can
surrender in our spiritual journeys is the parent figure God who hears
our petitions and who loves us unconditionally. However, there are
other ways to conceptualize God.
Alfred North Whitehead conceived of God as a Process. Paul Tillich
experienced God as the Ground of Being. The problem is that we use the
language of time and space to give form to an experience and a reality
that is not bound by or within time and space. When I use the word
"God" I am not talking about a being. I am describing that sense of
transcendence that I believe I have encountered within time and space.
I believe I experience God as life fully lived, as love wastefully
given, as being completely realized. I cannot tell you or anyone else
who or what God is. I can only describe my experience. I may be
delusional. Lots of religious people are, but I don't think so.
I join the mystics in saying that I think I am part of what God is.
God lives in me, loves through me and empowers me to escape that drive
to survive that is in every living thing in order to give my life
away. That is the Christ role and I think it is also the role that his
disciples are called to model.
So I am drawn by God beyond my boundaries and I perceive that God
becomes real when I enter into the task of living and loving and
being. This means that it doesn't occur to me that I am alone with no
one to whom to pray. This makes me rather a deeply infused,
God-intoxicated human being who no longer has the words to describe
the God in who I live and move and have my being, but it does not even
occur to me to doubt the reality of that which I experience, but can
never define. I hope this helps. Hug your dog for me.
...While atheists should be delighted at their new rationalist allies
among Catholics, the right-wing in Catholic America should be scared. The
Cardinal, like this pope, have fully embraced the "liberal state" in ways
that differ from the articulated positions of John Paul II, whose Polish
experience probably colored his perspectives on this topic. The healthy
secularism promoted by Pope Benedict and the reliance on rational thought
in the public sphere run counter to the theocratic impulses of Protestant
Evangelicals who use bible quotes to justify political decisions. It will
be interesting to see if Catholics (e.g.
Rick
Santorum) who have hitched their wagons to Evangelical rejection of
"secular humanism" side with the Vatican's embrace of liberalism and
secularism.....
. . . .The IRS rarely revokes a non-profit's tax status for political
activity, but it does happen. After the 2004 elections,
the
IRS examined 110 cases,
revoked the tax-exempt status of five organizations and proposed
revocation for two others. After 2006,
the
IRS examined 100 cases but didn't issue any revocations. The agency
hasn't issued a report for the 2008 elections.
In 1999,
the IRS denied the Christian Coalition tax-exempt status because of
its pro-Republican Party activities. In a 2005 consent decree, the
Coalition was granted tax-exempt status under a different section of the
tax code that enforces restrictions on its voter guides.
After the 1999 IRS ruling,
The
Charleston (W.V.) Gazette denounced religious conservatives: "For
decades, so-called 'religious right' groups have pretended they're
religious, not political. But in reality, they're a far-right appendage
of the Republican Party ... In fact, some of their goals are totally
political, without any discernible religious connection."
US: Ousted Baptist Leader Loses Bid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A preacher who went to prison for stealing millions of
dollars from the National Baptist Convention USA has lost
an election to lead the group again.
US: Ex-Priest Challenges Abuse Conviction on Repressed Memories
By KATIE ZEZIMA and BENEDICT CAREY
What defense lawyers call a "not generally accepted"
science is the basis of their appeal of Paul R. Shanley's
case to the highest court in Massachusetts.
International / Americas: Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian
Churches
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
A growing evangelical movement in Brazil is attracting
young people by adopting their culture.
New York Region: St. Joseph, Superagent in Real Estate
By PETER APPLEBOME
Owners trying to sell their homes in a tough market are
turning to Catholic tradition and burying statues of St.
Joseph for help.
International / Asia Pacific: Pakistan Rights Groups Seek Answers on
Christian's Death
By WAQAR GILLANI and SABRINA TAVERNISE
A Christian man detained on blasphemy charges was found
dead in his jail cell on Tuesday in eastern Pakistan. Human
rights groups said he had been tortured.
. . . . The intellectual revolution that started with
Copernicus and traveled through Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Freud, Einstein
and many others has had an enormous impact on the religious tradition of
the west in both Judaism and Christianity. We have also in both
traditions been dealing with critical biblical scholarship for about 200
years. That scholarship, while welcomed by many, has also served to
create a fundamentalist backlash in parts of Christianity and Judaism. We
have certainly seen evidence of this in the political arena, where the
religious right has been very vocal in America in the fight to restore
prayer to the classrooms of public schools, to resist the teaching of
evolution, to oppose sex education and to keep people like Terri Schiavo
alive well after anything resembling real life had long departed. . . .
Business / Media & Advertising: John T. Elson, Editor Who Asked 'Is God
Dead?' at Time,
Dies at 78
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Mr. Elson's 1966 cover article about new approaches to
thinking about God caused an uproar, but it was an example
of his serious coverage of ideas.
Bishop Spong will soon be reading from and signing his
new book at various locations, including
Outwrite in Atlanta on September 29. More locations to be
announced soon.
The Origins of the New Testament
Part I: Introduction
Read it now, and join the conversation on the exclusive
member message boards, when you
START YOUR FREE MONTH
Deb McCollister from Nebraska writes:
Militant fundamentalism in any family of faith seems to threaten
our world. Readers of your newsletter are aware of Christian
scholars who examine long-held assumptions. Can you tell us about
penetrating scholarship in other faith walks, study that examines
history while seeking meaning and deeper truths?
Dear Deb,
A very good question. The intellectual revolution that started
with Copernicus and traveled through Galileo, Newton, Darwin,
Freud, Einstein and many others has had an enormous impact on the
religious tradition of the west in both Judaism and Christianity.
We have also in both traditions been dealing with critical
biblical scholarship for about 200 years. That scholarship, while
welcomed by many, has also served to create a fundamentalist
backlash in parts of Christianity and Judaism. We have certainly
seen evidence of this in the political arena, where the religious
right has been very vocal in America in the fight to restore
prayer to the classrooms of public schools, to resist the teaching
of evolution, to oppose sex education and to keep people like
Terri Schiavo alive well after anything resembling real life had
long departed.
In the less developed and less well educated parts of the
world, religion serves a variety of purposes. It gives hope to the
hopelessness of the poor and downtrodden. It links people with
their ancestral past. It helps them deal with the radical
insecurity of human existence. When threatened by challenging
insights into the origins of these faith traditions, many
religious people who are unable to embrace or to process new
religious ideas turn defensive and become both rejecting and
fundamentalist. There is not as yet a tradition of radical
religious scholarship in Islam that would call into question the
way fundamentalist Muslims today use the Koran to justify
violence. In the world of Buddhism and Hinduism I find today that
the intellectually elite simply walk out of religion into
secularism. Religion therefore becomes more and more the activity
of the unlearned. It is therefore more and more likely to resist
change, which makes modernizing that religious system all but
impossible.
I am convinced that my religious heritage points me to truth
that no religion in and of itself can envision. I do not believe
that secular non-belief is the only alternative to being
religious, but it takes hard work, deep understanding, rich
dialogue and a willingness to embrace vast amounts of fear and
insecurity to reach this conclusion. I can testify, however, that
to me it has been well worthwhile. As a witness to this truth let
me quote a retired bishop who said, "The older I get the more
deeply I believe, but the fewer beliefs I have." I think that is
where I am and I believe that is where all religious systems will
have to go if they want to live in our 21st century world.
Change must come, however, from within the religious system
itself. It can never be imposed from outside. So you and I, Deb,
must work within the faith of our fathers and mothers. I have
found my journey into the depths of Christianity to be the most
exciting adventure and the most affirming experience of my life. I
invite others to journey with me into the unfathomable mystery of
God and life and being.
– John Shelby Spong
New This Week in A New Christianity for a New World
The Origins of the New Testament
Part I: Introduction
I launch today a series of columns that will appear regularly
over the next twelve to eighteen months. As I always do in this
column, this series will augment the essays that are time
sensitive and that seek to illumine contemporary issues through my
theological lens.
Last week's column on the health care debate is a case in
point.
The purpose of this unfolding series is to take you, my
readers, deeply into those books that constitute the New
Testament. There are twenty-seven in number and together they form
the volume that arguably has been the most influential and shaping
piece of narrative writing in the history of the world. The
earliest book of the New Testament is probably I Thessalonians,
generally dated around the year 51 CE, while the latest is
probably II Peter, generally dated around the year 135 CE. The
influence of this book, while always powerful, has been both
positive and negative. On the positive side it is clear that the
institution called the Christian Church, which grew out of these
twenty-seven books, has inspired quite literally millions of
people in many ways. Most of the great universities of the world
were begun as part of the Christian Church's commitment to
knowledge and, in particular, to impart to people the saving
knowledge of the sacred scriptures. Most of our healing
institutions, from hospitals to hospice, arose out of that
Christian sense that every human life is of infinite worth, which
carried with it the compelling need to alleviate suffering insofar
as it is possible. Most of the great art of the ages, at least up
until the 17th century, has as its content scenes from these
twenty-seven books. These art treasures are of such immense value
today that for the most part they are stored in the world's
greatest museums as a constant source of enrichment for the
people. Most of the great music of the ages, at least up until the
dawn of modernity, was an attempt to put the primary themes of the
New Testament into the indelible sounds that we today still
recognize and sing. One thinks of the St. Matthew Passion and the
St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach and of the Christmas
Oratorio, "Messiah" by George Frederick Handel as familiar and
much loved cultural treasures. One cannot understand the history
of the Western world or explore these cultural artifacts without
becoming deeply aware of the impact the New Testament has had on
the life of our civilization.
"The Pope,"
says the publisher about this new edition, "describes the
ancient traditional Jesus. John Shelby Spong brings us a Jesus
by whom modern people can be inspired." Newly published in
paperback, Jesus for the Non-Religious is now available in
Bishop Spong's online store.
International / Europe: Faith Conquers Fear of Swine Flu for Fans of
Napless Patron
Saint
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
A singular announcement colored the annual celebration of
St. Januarius: You can kiss the reliquary, Cardinal
Crescenzio Sepe told the excited crowd. Know that every
proper hygienic sanitary precaution has been taken.
US: Monsignor Testifies in Clergy Abuse Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The monsignor said that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony ordered a
subordinate to delay reporting claims of sexual abuse by
clergy members to the police until the priest in question
could be defrocked.
NEW YORK (JTA) -- America’s Catholic bishops recently approved two new
documents that strike at the very heart of a trusting relationship between
Catholics and Jews.
The first paper reintroduces the idea that Catholics can use interfaith
dialogue as a means to invite Jews to Christian baptism.
The second removes a catechism teaching that God’s Covenant with Moses
and the Jewish people is eternally valid. This profound change, affirmed by
the Vatican, raises for many Jews the specter of a possible return to such
odious concepts as supersessionism and the teaching of contempt, which have
caused Jews irreparable harm over the centuries.
These new developments are the latest in a series of troubling reversals
in the relationship since the summer of 2007, and have some in the Jewish
community seriously reassessing the conditions for continuing the dialogue.
How did we get to this point?
The transformation of the Catholic-Jewish relationship began with Nostra
Aetate (Latin for “In Our Time”) adopted in 1965 at the Second Vatican
Council. This historic text laid the foundation for a new positive
relationship and declared that the Jewish relationship with God endured.
The Vatican followed up with guidelines, issued in 1974, stating that
Christians “must strive to learn by what essential traits Jews define
themselves in the light of their own religious experience,” and urging
dialogue with a view toward “mutual understanding and respect.”
In November 1980, Pope John Paul II, speaking in Mainz, Germany, affirmed
that Jews are the people “of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God.” He
called Jews “the present-day people of the covenant concluded ...
A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US
distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for
American audiences, according to its producer.
Creation, starring Paul
Bettany, details Darwin’s “struggle between faith and reason” as he wrote On
The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God
following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.
The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British
premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the
world, from Australia to Scandinavia.
However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will
prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll
conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory
of evolution.
Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian
perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as
“a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder”. His
“half-baked theory” directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to “atrocities,
crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering”, the site stated.
The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a
typical comment dismissing evolution as “a silly theory with a serious lack
of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying”.
Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was
astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of
Species was published.
“That’s what we’re up against. In 2009. It’s amazing,” he said.
“The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere
else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about.
People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet
nobody in the US has picked it up. ...
Some creationists—religious fundamentalists who
believe God created distinct species of plants and animals and who
challenge evolutionary theory—are touting belief in the Loch Ness
Monster. ...
US: Michigan: Archdiocese Layoffs
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Archdiocese of Detroit plans to cut its staff by nearly
30 percent as it grapples with a $14.5 million operating
deficit.
International / Africa: Rwanda: Pastor on Trial in Finland in
'94 Killings
By REUTERS
A former Rwandan Baptist pastor is accused of participating
in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Health / Health Care Policy: Some Roman Catholic Bishops Assail Health Plan
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Some Roman Catholic bishops who had supported health care
reform are now speaking out against it because of concerns
over abortion and alarms about "rationing."
Despite denials by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, stories continue to
circulate that Bernie Madoff has cancer. Sadly, but not surprisingly,
more than a few people have suggested that he is getting what "he
deserves" and that this is his "punishment from God". Such comments, and
the theologies which support them, while viscerally satisfying for many,
actually make God very small. They imagine a God whose frame of reference
is no larger than our own, and whose definition of Justice is no more
complex. ...
