Guadalcanal missionary hostages reportedly killed More sad news for the Anglican Communion. Six missionaries of the Melanesian Brotherhood, part of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, are dead.
Solomon Islands warlord Harold Keke took the missionaries hostage three months ago, but reportedly killed them a day or two after the abduction. Keke is said to have killed more than 50 people so far this year, and caused more than 1,200 people to flee their homes on the western coast of Guadalcanal.
The report comes from Nick Warner, head of the 2,000-member Australian-led peacekeeping force recently dispatched to the island. Voice of America quotes Warner, who met with Keke and his men yesterday, as telling Keke “that I wanted to leave today with the Melanesian Brother hostages that I understood they were holding. I was told during that meeting that the Melanesian Brothers were dead.” Warner gave no further information about how they died.
Good news Too much bad news lately, so here’s a bright spot. Remember Patrick Cubbage, who was fired from a New Jersey military cemetery for saying “God bless you” during services? He’s going back to work Monday, with full back pay, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Archbishop of Canterbury summons Anglican leaders for emergency meeting Orthodox members of the Episcopal Church USA who are upset by the church’s approval of an openly homosexual bishop have had at least one of their requests granted: the heads (or Primates) of Anglican churches around the world will soon meet to address the situation.
“I am clear that the anxieties caused by recent developments have reached the point where we will need to sit down and discuss their consequences,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, said. “I hope that in our deliberations we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us. I hope we can use the time between now and then to reflect, to pray, to consult and to take counsel.”
Since this was only announced this morning, there has been little response from the American Anglican Council or other orthodox groups. But Weblog expects that a meeting of orthodox Episcopalians planned for early October will be rescheduled for after the Primates’ meeting.
Meanwhile, orthodox Anglicans are lamenting yet another action taken by the Episcopal Church yesterday in favor of homosexual practice. In a 120-72 vote, the House of Deputies affirmed a resolution that said, in part, “We recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.”
“Today’s vote is yet another painful illustration that the Episcopal Church has left the Anglican family and become an ‘anything goes’ denomination,” American Anglican Council President David C. Anderson said. “Dioceses and local faith communities now have a green light to ‘bless’ relationships outside of marriage. This move is a tragic but logical next step for a Church that has already abandoned the historic Christian faith.”
More on the ECUSA same-sex union resolution:
- Episcopalians approve local option on same-sex unions | Episcopal leaders approved a resolution stating that local dioceses are within the bounds of the church when they allow the blessing of unions of gay or lesbian couples (The New York Times)
- Episcopal Church ratifies compromise on gay unions (The Washington Post)
- Church takes no stand on gay unions | Episcopal group acknowledges that some dioceses bless same-sex couples but steers clear of either endorsing or forbidding such actions (Los Angeles Times)
- Episcopal leaders okay same-sex blessings | Bishops rejected creating an official liturgy for the ceremonies, but affirm that same-sex blessing ceremonies are “an acceptable practice in the church.” (Associated Press)
- Episcopalians recognize same-sex unions (Reuters)
More articles
Episcopal Church’s first gay bishop:
- Anger as first gay bishop heads for Britain | Anglicanism’s first actively homosexual bishop will deliver a keynote speech to gay Christians during a visit to Britain which is certain to inflame tensions within the Church of England (The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Worshiping character | Naming the first openly gay bishop to the Episcopal Church is an encouraging sign that society is increasingly willing to embrace character over stereotypes and innuendo about sexual orientation (Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle)
- Evangelical regret at gay bishop decision | Standing up for a traditional Christian view of sexual morality nowadays requires someone who is not afraid to stick his head above the parapet (Ben Davies, BBC)
- Episcopalians, Lutherans still seeking union | The idea of full communion survives, but it’s complicated (Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
- Anglicans in a spin over gay bishop (The East African Standard, Nairobi, Kenya)
- Anglicans in furor over new gay bishop (The Nation, Nairobi, Kenya)
- Church firm against homosexuality (The Monitor, Kampala, Uganda)
- Gospel of inclusion? | Its Episcopal disciples leave little room for Scripture (Katherine Kersten, The Wall Street Journal)
- Liberals still ready to call evangelicals’ bluff | Protest after endorsement of gay bishop may not herald a total split (Jonathan Petre, The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Episcopal Church embracing gay bishop a good step toward progress | The church has no rule against gay clerics and Robinson has, by all accounts, been an effective spiritual leader in New Hampshire (Editorial, Detroit Free Press)
- This is not your Father’s church anymore | An Episcopalian friend of mine, reacting to the elevation of an openly homosexual priest to the office of bishop, said to me, “If you’re a heterosexual clergyman and you’re having sex outside marriage, you can be expelled. But if you’re a homosexual clergyman having sex outside marriage, they rejoice.” (Cal Thomas)
- Earlier: Torn-again Anglican Church | It is hard to see how the haughty “Me, Me, Me Christianity” of North American and European Anglicans can be reconciled with the faithfulness of their African and Asian brethren in the trenches (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
Gay marriage:
- The future of gay marriage | Human beings are free to adopt self-destructive ideas, but we are not free to make them work (Maggie Gallagher)
- Catholics may opt to set own course | Catholic politicians can’t play dodge much longer (Thomas Keane, Jr., Boston Herald)
- Also: Separation of church and state | Same-sex marriage is a civil matter (Deirdre Bourdet, San Francisco Chronicle)
- Also: Separation of church and state | Let religion define matrimony (James Harold, San Francisco Chronicle)
Sexual ethics:
- Church unity without justice has no value | If some Christians continue to unjustly condemn homosexuals, the stones indeed will cry out (Donna Schaper, Newsday)
- Ariz. group takes on Allentown’s gay-rights law | The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal-aid group with an army of lawyers and a pile of court victories, has extended its reach far beyond its Arizona base (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Large Lutheran denomination to take its turn with homosexuality | Evangelical Lutheran Church in America officials are trying to distance themselves from Tuesday’s vote by the Episcopal Church USA to seat an openly gay man as bishop (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
- Church new landlord for X-rated store | Video Pleasures owner Michael Friend said he intends to sign an option to renew his lease and stay for three more years (New Haven Register, Conn.)
Dating, sex, and marriage:
- Abstinence-only education for teens an unhealthy idea | The ideological agenda of the Bush administration and some of its far-right supporters is supplanting science as the basis of programs to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy (Editorial, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Also: Only abstinence 100 percent effective | Abstinence education is a perfect example of the type of faith-based effort that should be supported by the government (Larry Anderson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Not many shades of gray for adultery | In light of the Kobe Bryant situation, how does your religion view adultery? (The Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Calif.)
- Wives and the Bible | Some Christians say the Bible requires wifely submission, but is the issue really that simple? (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
- So a priest walks into a bar | I’m young, female and I wear a white collar. Dating can be a living hell. (Astrid Storm, Salon.com)
Judge rules Boy Scouts a religious organization that the state can’t endorse:
- Boy Scouts’ lease of public land ruled unconstitutional | Judge says use violates separation of church and state (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Also: Judge invalidates Boy Scout lease at Balboa Park | Other organizations not allowed to bid on lease (KGTV, San Diego)
Mel Gibson’s The Passionand Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusade:
- Christian Christ-killers | Critics of Mel Gibson’s passion play don’t realize that the crucifixion of Christ was a good thing (Gene Edward Veith, World)
- Christians will get glimpse of ‘Passion’ | A four-minute clip of The Passion is played for a group of Christians attending a festival in California (Associated Press)
- Also: A Christian celebration that’s big on change | In an attempt to keep a 2,000-year-old message wrapped in a fresh package, this year’s Harvest Crusade at Edison International Field will offer a four-minute preview of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” — an unfinished film about the death of Jesus — along with an exhibition of extreme sports, rock bands and a 1,000-member choir (Los Angeles Times)
- ‘Passion’ critics wrong | None of the criticism comes from anyone who has actually seen the film (Linda Chavez, The Denver Post)
Ten Commandments:
- ACLU tracking elusive tablets | The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah has called on people to help it track down what is believed to be the final, elusive Ten Commandments monument that is likely located on government property (Deseret Morning News, Utah)
- Upholding the law | Moore must remove Commandments from rotunda (Editorial, The Birmingham News, Ala.)
Faith-based initiative/prison ministry:
- Faith-based fudging | How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data (Mark A.R. Kleiman, Slate.com)
- Faith programs reshape prison | Despite decrease in violence, warden’s policies at Marion facility worry some civil liberties groups (Associated Press)
- Ohio prison warden drawing attention for religious programs | Americans United, American Jewish Congress ask state to drop upcoming Promise Keepers rally (Associated Press)
- Faith-based drug wars | Bush recruits religious youth groups as ground troops for the ‘drug wars’ (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange.com)
- Religion shouldn’t affect hiring | The more I think about this issue, the more I am convinced that the government should think twice before it gives money, and churches should think twice before they accept it (The Dallas Morning News)
Church life:
- Fired music director wanted at United Methodist Church | Court Street United Methodist Church announced Saturday the expected hiring of William L. Stein, the former music director of Holy Family Church who was fired for refusing to take a vow of chastity (Rockford Register Star, Ill.)
- Bible school trip takes tragic turn on I-75 | Another sad 15-passenger van story (Associated Press)
- Body and soul | In the divided heart of Los Angeles are two pilgrimage churches (D.J. Waldie, Los Angeles Times)
- Church can be a lifeline for the poor | I am troubled by what nowadays seems to be a disconnection by many churches from the plight of the poor (John W. Fountain, The Dallas Morning News)
- Theater emerging as salt to taste in church sermons | Even though some conservative church elders still view staging of theatrical acts in church with suspicion, many are beginning to see it as an essential tool in ministry (African Church Information Service)
- Court restrains United Church pastor | Plaintiffs contended that by their acts the defendants sought to establish permanently vernacular Pentecostal services to replace the normal traditional service in English (The Ghanaian Chronicle)
- Evangelical congregations flourishing now | Where secular ventures seem to be foundering, churches may be taking up the slack (The Californian)
- Church delivers good news | When a village lost its post office, an unlikely savior emerged—the parish church (The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Italians say tourists trashing churches | Italy’s churches draw millions of visitors each year, and anger is mounting over how some mistreat the nation’s religious heritage (Associated Press)
- Church projects don’t get neighbors’ blessing | Conflicts over traffic, noise prompt lawsuits (The Denver Post)
- Cathedral of Hope’s embattled dean gives resignation | Piazza takes sabbatical; church will hold letter, see if conflict subsides (The Dallas Morning News)
- Also: Church votes to secede | Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches loses its largest and most prominent church (The Dallas Morning News)
- Church enters asylum debate | Barnet churchgoers are being offered information about how to respond to asylum seekers (Barnet Times, England)
- Without walls or pews, church spreads the Word | At drive-in, movies are out, Bible is in (Miami Herald)
Theology:
- Anger and the almighty | Is it all right to get angry with God? (Colin Sedgwick, The Guardian, London)
- What did God know and when did he know it? | Does God know everything? Does that knowledge include everything that will happen in the future? (Associated Press)
- Jesus of Nazareth: lord or lunatic? | You read or hear it everywhere, though I’m always mystified when it comes from a religious leader. “It” is what you might call “The Domesticated Jesus” — the Jesus even nonbelievers accept. (David Reinhard, The Oregonian)
Money and business:
- Oil and religion mix | Acton Institute’s Father Sirico blasts activists at ExxonMobil shareholder meeting (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange.com)
- Religious matters get PC treatment | Dailies go with the flow, but each knows which side its bread is buttered on (Dave Kopel, Rocky Mountain News)
- Workers lose jobs but hang onto faith | Laid-off Pillowtex employees gather for spiritual sustenance (The Charlotte Observer)
Music:
- How sweet the sound | When the Gospel Music Workshop of America comes to town, 20,000 visitors will gather for a joyful noise (St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
- Gospel music fans’ dirty secret | Stealing Christian music, and other stories (The Washington Post)
- Alabama woman publishes 1,000th Christian song | Ruth Elaine Schram’s songs appear on 30 albums, four of which have been nominated for Dove Awards. Her arrangement of the song “All Through the Night” was featured in the third episode of the first season of The Sopranos (Sarasota Hearld-Tribune, Fla.)
- Gospel music lifts Travis back to top of country charts | Randy Travis was nervous when he first started singing gospel songs, but found the audience loved it and asked for more (Associated Press)
Education:
- School board member tells mayor he is cursed | St. Louis School Board member Rochell Moore fired off a cryptic letter Tuesday to Mayor Francis Slay, saying he is “cursed with a curse” of biblical proportions for interfering with the city school district (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Also: Open letter from Rochell Moore | St. Louis School Board member Rochell Moore sent this letter to Mayor Francis Slay and local media outlets. It is transcribed here as written (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Also: Police look into alleged threat by Moore (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Revs. vow suit over Milk HS | Amid praise yesterday from the City Council for the nation’s first gay high school, a group of Hispanic ministers threatened to sue over it, calling the campus a new kind of “segregation” (New York Post)
- Jewell stays independent | This ancient bastion of Baptist education in Missouri, with its traditions of prayer and ministry, and its motto of “trust in God and work,” is not Christian enough for the Missouri Baptist Convention (Sun-News of the Northland, Liberty, Mo.)
- Also: William Jewell College takes first steps to independence | Jewell’s friends say severing financial ties from the Missouri Baptist Convention is the best thing that could have happened. So do we. (Editorial, Sun-News of the Northland, Liberty, Mo.)
Israel and Palestine:
- Palestinian Christian wants dialogue between Israeli Jews and Palestinians | Fahed Abu-Akel takes his message on the road (The Kansas City Star)
- Jerusalem bishop critical of evangelicals | Billboards that call upon Israel not to give up land for peace are garbage, says Riah Abu Al-Assal, the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem (The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.)
- Bible-belted: The land that tourism forgot | One of the most peaceable places in the Middle East lacks something most tourist meccas have in abundance: tourists (Associated Press)
“Magazine versions” of the Bible:
- Magazine version of the Bible draws young female readers | I have never seen a Bible like Revolve, the name that Thomas Nelson Inc. has given to this magazine edition of the New Testament (David Crumm, Detroit Free Press)
- Questioning Christianity | Exhibit—including image declaring Jesus the ‘other white meat’—probes meaning, contradiction in religion (The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern U.)
Bible:
- From Alpha to Omega | Thief River Falls residents read the Bible for three days and nights (Grand Forks Herald, N.D.)
- New niche for old text | Publishers reach out to diverse audiences through specialty Bibles (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Personalities:
- Evangelist seeks social justice, preaches conversion | The Rev. Tony Campolo is a religious leader who defies religious stereotypes (The Toronto Blade)
- In the name of love | There was much more to America’s greatest preacher than fire and brimstone (Benjamin Anastas, The Boston Globe)
- Bennett admits losing ‘a lot of money’ | But in interviews with Tim Russert and World magazine, stresses he’s not an addict (Associated Press)
- Let us pray for a turbulent priest, a clerical tornado | Although Rowan Williams should speak out on political issues, he must also try to fill pews and reverse the Church of England’s financial decline (Michael Prowse, Financial Times)
Books:
- New guide tackles tough Bible verses | First novel leads quickly to second, third (Ben Steelman, Wilmington Star News)
- Shedding light on a forgotten founder | In his new John Winthrop: America’s Forgotten Founding Father, Francis J. Bremer, editor of the Winthrop Papers for the Massachusetts Historical Society, seeks to pull the Commonwealth’s first colonial governor up from anonymity (The Boston Globe)
- A liberal Catholic’s plaint | We may indeed be facing “The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America,” but the crisis in the subtitle of Peter Steinfels’s book is not, as one might expect, the pederasty scandal that recently rocked the media and the church (The Wall Street Journal)
Television:
- Malawi bans Big Brother Africa | Parliament condemns show as immoral (BBC)
- Country vicar feels strain of reality TV | Parish priest takes extended leave after ‘excessive agonising’ leads to delay of second BBC series (The Guardian, London)
Life ethics:
- Right-to-die law lost in narrow vote | The Death With Dignity Bill failed to cross its first hurdle in Parliament last night, when it was defeated at the first reading by 60 votes to 57 in a conscience vote for MPs (The New Zealand Herald)
- Abortion in Brazil a debate divided along moral, class lines | Risks include jail, unsafe procedures (Kevin G. Hall, Knight Ridder)
- Russia seeks to cut number of abortions | The Health Ministry is proposing to make it harder to get an abortion. (Associated Press)
- Test-tube idolatry | Parliament may be asked whether test-tube embryos may be chosen for their sex. A particularly slippery slope, warns the former Archbishop of York (John Habgood, The Tablet, U.K.)
- Stem cells in limbo | Two years after President Bush said the U.S. had all the cell lines it needed, where did they go? (Time)
- Russian abortion rate declines | Abortion, once the country’s primary means of birth control, is in steady decline in post-Soviet Russia, but the rate is still staggering: For every 10 births there are about 13 abortions, compared with roughly three in the United States (Associated Press)
Persecution and religious freedom:
- Muslim convert butchered | The body of a Muslim convert to Christianity who went missing in the Palestinian Authority area in mid-July, has been returned to his family, slaughtered and cut into four pieces by Islamic extremists (Barnabas Fund)
- All Pakistan Minorities Alliance condemns murder of Father George Ibrahim | Warn of protests if culprits are not arrested (PNS)
- Rebels target chapels | Rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army who infiltrated Katakwi district a month ago are now targeting Catholic institutions in Teso region (New Vision, Kampala, Uganda)
- Banished for being ‘born again,’ monarch dethroned | Why was the king’s 13-year rulership terminated? At the centre of the crisis was the monarch’s alleged disregard for tradition on the ground that he was a born-again Christian (Vanguard, Lagos, Nigeria)
- U.S. panel on religious freedom drops China visit, protesting curbs | The visit was called off after the Chinese authorities imposed “unacceptable last-minute conditions” on the trip (The New York Times)
- Religious voices belong in the public square | The debate over homosexual unions has shed light on the current state of religious liberty in Canada. The news is not good, as the totalitarian impulse to silence religious voices has emerged (Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, Canada)
- Packed church hit by shells in Liberia | Rebel attack kills three in the compound, while four more die in the surrounding area (Los Angeles Times)
India:
- Ban on priest case now in high court | Christian missionary Suresh Thackerey has moved the Gujarat high court challenging an order of sessions judge of Junagadh district that has prohibited his entry within a 10 km radius of Talala village after allegations that he hurt religious feelings of Hindus living in the village (Ahmedabad.com, Gujarat, India)
- Probe ordered into alleged conversion | Karnataka Minister for Primary Education B K Chandrasekhar informed the Legislative Council that an inquiry has been ordered into the alleged attempt to convert a schoolgirl in Hassan district last month (Sift, India)
- Priest denies he broke Ganapati idol | A week after he was released on conditional bail by the sessions court, Junagadh-based priest Suresh Thakre on Thursday said that the charge that he broke a Ganpati idol was fabricated at the instance of the Sangh Parivar (Indian Express)
- The way of the cross | Bal Thackeray’s ‘distant relative’ arrested for allegedly damaging Ganesh idol (The Week, India)
Missions and ministries:
- Health rules complicate some religious leaders’ ministries | Pastors complain about Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Ventura County Star, Calif.)
- Teens chase fun in Fugitive | Version of capture the flag is popular among Christian youth (The Oregonian)
- Character training riles DCF workers | Program based on evangelist’s teachings (Florida Today)
- Foundations step up to meet needs | Lutheran minister found a calling in fundraising (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- In place of rioting | Churches, mosques and unions are reviving the non-violent civil rights tradition (The Guardian, London)
- Religion in the News: Weston Priory at 50 | At a Benedictine monastery set on an old dairy farm in rural Vermont, a small community of Roman Catholic monks live for prayer and working toward a better world (Associated Press)
U.S. politics and law:
- Religious issues fracture Democrats | Combine same-sex marriage, abortion, and prayer in school and what have you got? The thorn in the Democratic Party’s side: religion. (Yolanda Young, USA Today)
- Why no peace fund for war opponents? | Taxes could be diverted to it instead of to military (Thomas H. Jeavons, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- The burning Bush | The rest of us don’t have a prayer (James Ridgeway, The Village Voice)
- Religious right feels left behind | Some conservatives impatient with Bush (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)
- Religion steps in as lawmaking gets tough | Despite 18 years as a lobbyist for the Roman Catholic Church, Bob Castagna doesn’t ordinarily quote Scripture to lawmakers. But these aren’t ordinary days in the Legislature (The Oregonian)
- Reform plan targets prison rape | Congress unanimously approves study, efforts to stop assaults (The Washington Post)
- Western Davie residents angry at approval of social-services campus | Say mayor is mixing religion and town business (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
- Calif. bans transgendered discrimination | The state now joins Minnesota, Rhode Island and New Mexico (Associated Press)
- The ‘liberalization’ of public opinion | Not so long ago, there was a significant segment of opinion that was conservative on social issues but distinctly not evangelical Christian in religious view (Tod Lindberg, The Washington Times)
- The intolerance of the tolerant | Don’t conservatives have the right to express their views? (Kris A. Wampler, The Charlotte Observer)
- Deeply held beliefs | Can religious values be completely divorced from secular values? (Mona Charen, The Washington Times)
International politics and law:
- Christodoulos on godless E.U. | “Unfair and historically ignorant,” says head of Greek Orthodox Church (Kathimerini, Athens)
- Zimbabwe churchmen led by ‘foreign masters,’ says top government minister | The religious leaders met Mugabe last Friday for two hours, and on Monday held talks with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai (SAPA, South Africa)
Tony Blair wants evangelicals and other religious figures more active in British politics:
- Faith groups get bigger policy role | Ways of giving religious groups a bigger say in government policies are being discussed by a special group of ministers (BBC)
- And on the seventh day Tony Blair created… | It may prove an uphill struggle in this secular day and age, but the Prime Minister is aiming to put religion right at the center of government (The Observer, London)
- Also: Evangelicals get Whitehall role | Evangelical Christians, including campaigners against gay bishops, are to get a central role in government policy-making under plans approved personally by Tony Blair (The Independent, London)
- Also: A place for religion in Blair politics | British Prime Minister sets up ministerial working group charged with injecting religious ideas into policy-making (The Straits Times, Singapore)
- Also: Secular campaigners target government ‘faith council’ | Moves to increase the influence of religious groups on Government policy will alienate almost a third of the population, secular campaigners warned today (PA, U.K.)
Christian Coalition vs. Christian Coalition on Alabama tax and reform package:
- U.S. Christian Coalition goes for Riley plan | National group’s stance is at odds with Alabama branch’s (The Huntsville Times, Ala.)
- Coalition backs Riley plan (Mobile Register, Ala.)
- Some churches deaf to Riley’s moral call | Opponents of the governor’s plan insist that it won’t ensure fairness at all and that the governor shouldn’t try to achieve equity for the poor by increasing taxes on other people (Mobile Register, Ala.)
Crime:
- Friend: Dotson spoke of voices, demons | Spiritual associate says ex-player, Dennehy also smoked marijuana (The Dallas Morning News)
- Pentecost elder before court | An elder of the Church of Pentecost, Emmanuel Abobe, is currently in the grips of the law when he opted to redeem a 22-year old female student from spiritual bondage. He had been charged with indecent assault and causing unlawful damage (Ghanaian Chronicle, Accra)
Science:
- Putting our faith in science | When it comes to spirituality, biologists and physicists are in over their heads (Andrew Klavan, Los Angeles Times)
- A bioethicist’s take on Genesis | As Leon R. Kass shows, Genesis finds both the pathos and the possibility of human life, for the world will not accommodate itself to desire and desire will demand more than the world can ever offer. The question is where humanity will seek its consolation and its satisfactions (The New York Times)
Interfaith relations:
- Muslims petition state over Christian teachings | A local Muslim group has given the government 60 days to rectify Zimbabwe’s Christian-biased school curriculum or it will file an application in the Supreme Court for an order declaring unconstitutional the teaching of Christian subjects and the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer at public schools (The Daily News, Harare, Zimbabwe)
- Church burns Bibles | And other tales of brotherly love (Bob Bankard, PhilllyBurbs.com)
- Unradical chic | Unlike other flash points in the war on terror, you don’t see much bin Laden paraphernalia in Malawi. How is a country with such large Muslim and Christian populations so stable? (Jacob T. Levy, The New Republic)
- Do Jews, Christians, and Muslims all pray to the same God? | Washington Post readers respond (The Washington Post, part 2)
- Faiths united | A new site called Word combines major Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu texts—the Koran, the Tanakh, the New Testament, and 11 of the Upanishads—in a single database (The New York Times, second item)
- Witch says pastor harassing her | Hill Country minister denies targeting Wiccan; FBI inquiry set (Associated Press)
Jews for Jesus:
- Toronto prepares for blitz by missionaries | Dozens of Jews for Jesus members will descend on Toronto and its Jewish suburbs from Aug. 20 to Sept. 14 for what community leaders say will be a splashy, aggressive and very public drive to convert Jews to evangelical Christianity (Canadian Jewish News)
- Jewish community wary of missionaries | Strategy to avoid confrontation during conversion effort (National Post, Canada)
- U.K. Jewish group protests over ‘offensive’ Jews for Jesus campaign | The Board of Deputies, the umbrella body of Britain’s Jewish community, has asked the ASA to ban the advert, calling it “objectionable and offensive.” (Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv)
- Jews for Jesus ad in Britain blasted | Ad’s slogan urges, “Think for Yourself” (Jewish Times, Baltimore)
- Countering Christian missionaries and messianists | Jews for Judaism’s counselors help bring the people of the book back into the fold (Forward)
- Earlier: Recruitment plan divides Canadian religious leaders (Forward, July 15)
Other religions:
- Poll: Growing number of Americans say Islam encourages violence among followers, religious divides on gay marriage, Israeli-Palestinian conflict | 38 percent say they would not vote for a well-qualified Muslim for president, and 17 percent would not vote for a well-qualified evangelical Christian. Fully 52 percent say they would not vote for a well-qualified atheist (Press release)
- Raisins, not virgins? | Article questions interpretations of Islamic holy book. (Associated Press)
- Mystics and mind readers unnerve Fringe crowds | The Edinburgh Festival is all about the unexpected, yet no one could have foreseen that a coven of mystics, mediums, and mind readers would come to dominate it as they have (The Guardian, London)
Courts:
- U.S. sues Quaker group over unpaid taxes | Priscilla Adams says she doesn’t mind paying taxes. She just doesn’t want her money going to the military (Associated Press)
- Scope of Navy Chaplain Corps’ lawsuit is expanded | A federal judge recently expanded the scope of a religious discrimination lawsuit against the Navy, further whipping the tempest that threatens to force the sea service into reviewing the promotions of every evangelical in its Chaplain Corps since 1977 (Stars and Stripes)
- PTL plaintiffs’ award in lawsuit: $6.54 each | Lawyers to get most of the $3.7 million fund in 16-year-old suit against evangelist Jim Bakker (News-Leader, Springfield, Mo.)
- Also: People who sued Bakker to get $6.54 (Associated Press)
- Plaza legal battle revived | Barely a week after Salt Lake City vacated the public easement on the Main Street Plaza, the deal is under legal attack (The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Strict faith is no defense | Breast-feeding driver loses bid to have husband be her substitute in trial (The Beacon Journal, Akron, Oh.)
Bill Bright memorial coverage:
- Christian leaders pay tribute to ‘giant of the faith’ Bill Bright | The pews were filled with Bright’s admirers and, from the pulpit, some of the brightest stars in the evangelical world prayed for salvation, as Bright never tired of doing (The Orlando Sentinel)
- Bill Bright | A memorial service is held Wednesday morning for Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (Morning Edition, NPR)
- Christian leaders remember Bill Bright | Service drew more than 3,000 people, including Robertson, Dobson, Colson, and Franklin Graham (Associated Press)
Pat Robertson and Liberia:
- Robertson’s indefensible doctrine | It’s high time for believers to repudiate “Christian nation” politics and the moral corruption it invites (Joseph Loconte)
- Pat Robertson’s political power in question | Robertson is not the significant political figure he once was, according to experts who study religion and politics (The Kansas City Star)
- Liberia’s Taylor: The despot we can live with | In building the case for even limited action, administration officials have remained strangely silent on Taylor’s terrorist ties, his execution of political rivals, his policies of torture, and the shutting down of the free press (The Washington Post)
Pat Robertson’s prayer offensive:
- Offensive prayer offensive | The Rev. Pat Robertson has been beseeching heaven to wrack the Supreme Court with divinely enforced retirements, a classic bit of pulpit tomfoolery (Editorial, The New York Times)
- Was Robertson wrong to pray for retirement of justices? | Local clergy respond (Los Angeles Times)
Faith and spirituality:
- Peace be with you | Ancient avenues to inner peace are reappearing in modern life (Time)
- A mother’s faith is tested by jailed son’s bipolar disorder | Lesia prays because God is the only one who understands. Jesus is her rock. Everyone else has come and gone over the years. (The Shelby Star, N.C.)
- Polling people about God | Not only did the findings deserve headlines, the Pew poll offered valuable details to aid much needed analysis (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
- America is a religion | U.S. leaders now see themselves as priests of a divine mission to rid the world of its demons (George Monbiot, The Guardian, London)
- Mongolia’s return to religion | Christian groups are proliferating so fast that they now outnumber official Buddhist organizations (BBC)
- After spiritual journey, pastor leads own flock | Sexton’s odyssey part of a ‘healing process’ that put him on new path (The Baltimore Sun)
Catholicism:
- L.A. Story: America’s troubled Catholics | If you want to understand the problems—and the potential—of the Catholic church in America, go to Los Angeles (The Economist)
- Israel still denying Catholics visas, claims Franciscan leader | The situation not only affects the Friars Minor
- Saintly spirit remembered, in a truly Balkan way | Mother Teresa will soon become a saint. But even this celebration cannot transcend the things that get fought about in the Balkans: religion, ethnicity and history (The New York Times)
- New guard in U.S. Catholic Church | The installation of Sean O’Malley as Boston’s archbishop could signify a different tone (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Effort to unionize causes Catholic schism | A pension plan change sparks a Texas rank-and-file uprising that results in locked doors, security guards and a court order (Associated Press)
- Vatican to get experts to assess crops | The Vatican “will draw the appropriate conclusions” on using genetically modified organisms after the meeting (Associated Press)
Anti-Catholicism:
- The Catholic test | Two hundred years after the Framers renounced them, Senate Democrats have reinvented the Test Act (Hugh Hewitt, The Weekly Standard)
- The Catholic test, part 2 | Big media has been avoiding the new Democratic religion test, but the blogosphere has answered the bell (Hugh Hewitt, The Weekly Standard)
- The last prejudice? | Philip Jenkins argues that anti-Catholic bigotry is on the rise-even among Catholics (The Boston Globe)
- Playing the Catholic card | So it takes an ecumenical group of zealots charging anti-Catholicism in an ad running in a state with a Greek Orthodox senator to make me fully understand the word chutzpah (Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe)
- Are the media fair in their coverage of Catholicism? | Last Sunday was not the first time Cardinal Francis George has challenged the news media (Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune)
Clergy sex abuse:
- Brooklyn bishop resigns, citing age, not scandal | Church officials said there was no link between Thomas V. Daily’s departure and the Massachusetts attorney general’s recent findings that Daily failed to fully investigate sexual abuse charges against priests when working for Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Boston (The Washington Post)
- Also: Brooklyn bishop ending tenure amid storm over scandal | Under church rules, Bishop Daily was required to submit his resignation on turning 75 last Sept. 23 (The New York Times)
- Archbishop O’Malley: ‘We beg forgiveness’ | At his installation, Archbishop Sean Patrick O’Malley speaks of the pain caused by priests who sexually abused children and says the whole Catholic community is “ashamed and anguished.” (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
- Jehovah’s Witnesses hit with abuse suits | Alleged victims were molested as children, they say (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Choirmaster case rests on coffee table | A photograph of a newspaper on a coffee table led to the undoing of a witness yesterday in an increasingly bizarre case of unfair dismissal against the Catholic Church (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Mom says minister made teen son strip down | Pastor of Holy Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church has been charged with a form of child pornography, officials said Friday (The Macomb Daily, Mich.)
- Panel seeks bishops’ compliance | Members of the lay board set up to monitor U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Tuesday that they are demanding nothing less than full compliance from bishops in the studies they have commissioned into the scope of child abuse by priests and the steps taken to prevent it (Chicago Tribune)
- Ex-preacher may require one trial | Depending on how Wesley McCoy wants to proceed with his case, there’s a chance the former evangelical preacher would never need to return to Aiken County to answer to child molestation charges (The Augusta Chronicle, Ga.)
- Sex crimes cover-up by Vatican? | Confidential document lays out a church policy that calls for absolute secrecy when it comes to sexual abuse by priests – anyone who speaks out could be thrown out of the church (CBS Evening News)
Other stories of interest:
- Lighter side of religion: Whatever their faith, readers poke some fun | A collection of religion jokes (The Tennessean, Nashville)
- Pro angler stands behind his faith | When it comes to putting your money where your faith is, Jay Yelas may be setting a new standard (The Shreveport Times, La.)
- Religion news in brief | Lutheran churches fail to reach consensus on same-sex marriages, Assemblies of God loosens policy for clergy conducting second marriages, and other stories (Associated Press)
- Valuing more than dollars and cents | The percentage of adults who feel they have attained the good life remains small (Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post)
- Putin joins pilgrimage in closed city | The last Russian leader to join the Orthodox Church in honoring St. Seraphim of Sarov was Czar Nicholas II (Associated Press)
- Oldest Orthodox bishop dead at 89 | Anthony of Sourozh led the Russian Orthodox Church in Britain for more than 50 years (The Moscow Times)
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