Is Christianity to Blame for Teen Self-Mutilation?

Cutting: What Would Jesus Do? Weblog has to admit a bit of discomfort a couple years ago when the Church of England’s Birmingham Diocese launched a campaign of posters that said, “Body Piercing? Jesus had his done 2000 years ago.” As it turns out, diocese leaders were far from the only ones comparing the crucifixion to contemporary body piercings.

Now an article in The Guardian not only connects the crucifixion to the much more horrific teen trend of self-mutilation (cutting)—it blames it. “Images of self-harm are all around us, particularly in religious iconography,” writes Hilary Freeman. “Christianity is founded on the notion that Christ suffered for the world’s sins and there have been sects which practiced self-flagellation and mutilation throughout history. Pain and the spilling of our own blood are seen as ways of cleansing ourselves. Likewise, when teenagers cut themselves they often say it is a release, a way of punishing themselves or others.”

Whatever. Lately the cross has been blamed for everything from anti-Semitism to war to “religious intolerance, forced conversions, inquisitions and even racism.” One supposes that many groups would want to tie their agendas to the pivotal point in human history. Still, it bears repeating that it was Jesus up on the cross—and that he died so that we don’t have to play this victimization game.

A therapist nonreferral Speaking of really bad articles in The Guardian, one of Britain’s leading newspapers, a psychoanalysis of President Bush by Oliver James (author of They [F-word] You Up: How to Survive Family Life) is really a howler. Yes, it’s an insane attack on Bush, but it’s really an attack on conservative Christians.

“[Bush’s] moralism is all-encompassing and as passionate as can be. He plans to replace state welfare provision with faith-based charitable organisations that would impose Christian family values. The commonest targets of authoritarians have been Jews, blacks and homosexuals.” James writes. “His deepest beliefs amount to superstition.”

And then there’s his conclusion:

Bush’s deep hatred, as well as love, for both his parents explains how he became a reckless rebel with a death wish. He hated his father for putting his whole life in the shade and for emotionally blackmailing him. He hated his mother for physically and mentally badgering him to fulfill her wishes. But the hatred also explains his radical transformation into an authoritarian fundamentalist. By totally identifying with an extreme version of their strict, religion-fuelled beliefs, he jailed his rebellious self. From now on, his unconscious hatred for them was channeled into a fanatical moral crusade to rid the world of evil.

We’ll leave the fisking to more politically minded bloggers. This one’s just so over the top that we almost didn’t even bother linking to it.

Mr. Robertson, check your calendar In an interview on MSNBC’s Buchanan and Press, broadcaster Pat Robertson was asked about what re-election strategy President Bush should adopt. “I think he’s got to cultivate the evangelicals. He’s taking them for granted. I think Karl Rove takes them for granted. I think they pretty much were responsible for the demise of the Christian Coalition. And I think they don’t have a grassroots force out right there of evangelicals, which means some of the evangelicals might stay away and not vote. But so far, he’s strong as lye with these people. They love him.”

The statement rightly surprised Buchanan. “Did I hear you say that Karl Rove destroyed the Christian Coalition?”

“No, I didn’t say he destroyed it but … he wasn’t too keen on keeping it going, I don’t think,” said the Coalition founder. “I mean, there was studied indifference, and I think that the demise of the Christian Coalition can in part be laid at their feet.”

Never mind that by the time Bush took office the Christian Coalition was pretty dead already. He might as well have blamed Rove and the Bushies for his failed 1988 presidential campaign.

Robertson endorses Schwarzenegger Remember when Pat Robertson said he was getting out of politics? No, he really said it. Old habits die hard, apparently. And a lot of religious conservatives may be upset with his endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger in that MSNBC interview.

“He is pro-abortion. He is pro-gay rights. He’s got a lifestyle that I guess—or had a lifestyle we could call, I guess, bodybuilder lifestyle that you’ve been reading about,” Pat Buchanan said. “Pat Robertson, should Christians in good conscience, can they vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger?”

“I’m a bodybuilder,” Robertson replied.

I do some pretty heavy weightlifting, so I think the weightlifters of the world need to unite. But I tell you what, those guys in California could use a big bruiser to knock some heads together. I mean, they’re out of control out there, so what are they going to do? I mean, you’re going to have Bustamante, who is sort of a, you know, the Governor Gray Davis light. They don’t want any more of Gray Davis, so who are you going to put in? I think we don’t have anybody else that’s coming up on the radar, so the other alternative is just stay home.

Of course, the same religious conservatives that may be upset over Pat’s support of Arnold are already upset with the broadcaster’s support of China’s one-child policy, business deals with former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, involvement in horse racing (and failure to keep a promise to sell the horses), and many other comments he’s made.

Ray Knighton, founder of MAP International, dies at 81 After a month’s illness, MAP International founder J. Raymond Knighton Jr. died of congestive heart failure Saturday. His Christian organization, founded in the Chicago area as part of the Christian Medical Society, is now independent, based in Brunswick, Ga., and has about 125 staff members around the world involved in providing medicines, preventing and treating disease, and promoting community health development.

“Ray was one of those visionary people who had a big heart for everybody and anybody,” MAP president and CEO Michael Nyenhuis told The Florida Times-Union. “In true humility, he’d tell you that it wasn’t his vision that created MAP. Rather, he’d say it was the result of circumstances set by God and that he was just following God’s lead.”

Estrada pulls name as judicial nominee:

Estrada withdraws name from court consideration | Calling it a “political hate crime” and an “American nightmare,” Republicans and a handful of Democrats lashed out at the 45 Senate Democrats who led the filibuster against Mr. Estrada (The Washington Times)
Estrada’s withdrawal the result of ‘unconscionable abuse’ by liberals (Press release, Focus on the Family)
FRC statement on Miguel Estrada | Since Senate Democrats can’t sell their liberal political agenda to the American people, they see courts packed with judicial activists as their best opportunity (Family Research Council)
Estrada drops out | We thank Miguel Estrada for being willing to put himself and his family through this arduous process (Tony Perkins, Family Research Council)
CWA assails Democrats over failed Estrada nomination | The Senate minority should be taken to task for stealing more than two years of Miguel Estrada’s life (Press release, Concerned Women for America)

Anglican Church:

Anglican evangelicals in crisis meeting | The biggest gathering of British evangelical Christians for more than a decade is to meet in Blackpool this month to discuss strategy in dealing with the Church of England’s crisis over homosexuality (The Guardian, London)
Gay Bishop banned from preaching | Canon Gene Robinson, the first actively homosexual Anglican bishop, has been banned from holding a service at a Manchester Cathedral (ITV, London)
Cathedral ‘bans’ gay group | A lesbian and gay Christian group says it is “horrified” after being told it cannot hold a service at Manchester Cathedral (BBC)
Manchester Cathedral drops gay service | Decision made “in the light of sensitivities and timing in relation to the current debates in the Church of England and the Anglican communion” (The Guardian, London)
Gay group protests over ban on holding cathedral service | The cathedral said it had “reluctantly” withdrawn its permission for the service (The Independent, London)
Episcopal bishop urges patience | Members seek concrete game plan for dealing with recent controversies (The Shreveport Times, La.)
What price unity? | Anglicanism is pulling itself apart (Editorial, The Guardian, London)

Homosexuality and the Church:

Petitioners seek second vote to hire gay pastor | Some at Princeton church fear lesbian minister would result in falling attendance (Peoria Journal Star, Ill.)
Schism threatens | At least two Wimmera congregations have threatened withdrawal after a nationwide assembly decision confirmed a liberal approach to ministerial criteria (The Wimmera Mail-Times, Australia)
Moderator tries to bridge gap on gay clergy | But whether the Right Rev Professor Iain Torrance will be invited to preach from a local pulpit when he visits Skye and Lochcarron presbytery in November for a 10-day visit is still in doubt (The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)
Priest expelled for marrying two men | The Russian Orthodox Church has unfrocked a priest for marrying two homosexual men, allegedly in return for a $475 bribe to ignore a ban on same-sex weddings (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Also: Russian Church in gay wedding row | The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked a priest for conducting the country’s first reported gay wedding (BBC)

Gay marriage:

Alliance to force marriage vote early | Opposition hopes split among Liberals brings government to defeat (The Ottawa Citizen)
Marriage fight heats up | At masses this weekend, Catholic priests in diocese are being asked to read letter from bishop opposing same-sex marriage (The Sudbury Star, Ontario)
1996 marriage act called vulnerable | “It is likely, though not inevitable” that the Defense of Marriage Act and other prohibitions on same-sex “marriage” will be found unconstitutional in the near future, Gregory S. Coleman, former solicitor general of Texas, told the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and property rights (The Washington Times)

Persecution:

Missionary Balfour says he survived ‘hell hole’ | Says he won’t return to Lebanon as long as the current “colossally evil regime is in power there” (CTV, Canada)
Also: Canadian Bruce Balfour in L.A.; says he survived ‘hell hole’ in Beirut prison (Canadian Press)
Also: Balfour vows to expose ‘evil empire’ | Passing through London’s Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, Balfour said he plans to expose the “evil regime” of his captors—”what’s going on in the prison system and the evil regime that’s controlling Lebanon right now. It is an unbelievably abominable situation” (Calgary Herald)
Goa’s Catholics under threat? | Sections of the Hindu community have begun making increasingly bold—some say dangerous—statements expressing the view that Christianity is an alien faith, imposed on Indians during the colonial era (BBC)
Man accuses Iran of torture over conversion from Islam | Lawsuit by immigrant who returned to his homeland says he was brutally punished by the regime for joining the Mormon Church (Los Angeles Times)

Politics, law, and the First Amendment:

Jesus’ special interest: Prison rape and the law | As someone who has been a prisoner and in prison ministry for three decades, I can tell you that this situation—prison rape—has been a national scandal, a blot on our claim to be a civilized people (Charles Colson)
Does God bless more than America? | If our president is unable to acknowledge, or perhaps even understand, the divergence of religious traditions possessed by patriotic Americans, how can he then comprehend the complex world beyond our borders where he has now sent our sons and daughters to fight and die? (Constance Hilliard, USA Today)
Does the Patriot Act infringe on freedom of religion? | Religious leaders respond (Los Angeles Times)
Clergy support tax plan | Clergy from Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths joined forces Thursday to support Gov. Bob Riley’s tax plan, with some saying the Christian Coalition of Alabama does not speak for all the faithful when it opposes the proposal (Associated Press)
God Almighty | Look at public prayer’s substance, not the idiom in which it is prayed (Marc Howard Wilson, Jewsweek)
Preacher gets another chance to argue First Amendment case | 6th Circuit reinstates James D. Hood II’s lawsuit claiming Ohio officials violated his rights by charging him with trespassing on Statehouse grounds (Associated Press)
Federal judge sides with librarian fired for wearing cross necklace | Kentucky library had argued that dress code was meant to avoid appearance of religious favoritism, protect librarian impartiality (Associated Press)

Life ethics:

Disabled rape victim gives birth to girl | J.D.S. and her unborn child spent the summer at the center of a statewide scandal over treatment of the developmentally disabled and a national debate on fetal rights (The Orlando Sentinel)
Birth control in Russia | Rather than limiting access to abortion, the Russian government should expand women’s ability to get effective contraception (Editorial, The New York Times)
Abortion protesters cleared of ‘insult’ | Two antiabortion campaigners accused of insulting passersby by displaying a large poster of an aborted fetus were cleared of all charges yesterday by Abergavenny magistrates (PA, U.K.)

Paul Hill:

If Paul Hill is right, who else needs to die? | Moral absolutes blur into shades of gray that are interpreted by those who claim to hold God’s counsel. In the wrong hands, moral absolutes kill. (Mike Thomas, The Orlando Sentinel)
Florida executes unrepentant abortion-clinic murderer Hill | His last words were a call to arms for abortion opponents (The Orlando Sentinel)
Not your typical group of demonstrators | Hill died as a zealot, literally in the center of a storm and across from a three-fence circus (Michael Mayo, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Florida abortion clinics report no problems after Hill execution (Associated Press)
Amid storm, abortion foe is executed | In his final moments, Paul Hill urges fellow opponents to take any action necessary (Los Angeles Times)
Florida executes killer of an abortion provider (The New York Times)
Paul Hill expected a heavenly reward for murder—sound familiar? | For pro-life Christians, there is the crying need to say that what Paul Hill did was morally wrong, in no way representative of the teachings of Jesus (Rod Thompson, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla.)
Biblical figure comparisons far from godly | It is disheartening and rather sad to watch misguided individuals use the Bible to rationalize their actions. And it is especially aggravating when they try to equate themselves with heroic biblical figures (Bob Ray Sanders, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)

Pop culture:

Should gospel acts proselyte secular songs? | Many Christians believe that all true gospel songs must be spiritually stimulated. On the other hand, there are those who support the proverbial premise of ‘tun yuh hand mek fashion’, since they re-create noted secular songs into gospel (Jamaica Gleaner)
Religion Today: The other ‘Passion’ film | There’s no advance acrimony surrounding “The Gospel of John,” which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on a symbolically chosen Sept. 11 (Associated Press)
When Jesus dies, passions rise, and anti-Semitism thrives | Now the Christian world can make a final rebuke of the anti-Semitism embodied in the Passion plays (A. James Rudin, Jewsweek)
Sending spiritual signals | TV is getting spiritually jazzed with a slew of new shows focusing on what lies beyond. But what triggered the trend? (Jewsweek)
Reality TV rivets Africa, to the churches’ dismay | An estimated 30 million Africans are watching “Big Brother Africa,” making it the most popular, and most controversial, show in Africa (The New York Times)
Third Day ready to rock Universal | Part of Rock the Universe concert (Florida Today)
Christian music event to host Latin rhythms at HopeFEST | HopeFEST has staged events in Albuquerque and is planning festivals in Denver and in San Antonio, Texas. It’s targeting men (Ventura County Star, Calif.)

Church life:

Local pastor wants to unite Presbyterians | David G. McKechnie says PCUSA spends too much time arguing over “secondary issues” instead of evangelizing and reaching out to others (Houston Chronicle, via Presbyweb)
Broward temple, Caribbean church to share worship space | No changes to Emanu-El’s building are planned, except for a new sound system. The temple’s menorahs and Stars of David will stay in place (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Married Catholic priests?

Celibacy issue flares again within ranks of U.S. priesthood | The debate about whether to allow married men to serve as Roman Catholic priests is back on the front burner, pressed by priests concerned about the dwindling of their ranks (The New York Times)
Celibacy vow must be saved, bishop stresses | Catholic priests’ efforts rebuffed (Chicago Tribune)
Head of U.S. bishops affirms celibacy | Responding to priests who argued that married men should be allowed into the priesthood, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops affirmed his support for celibacy Thursday and questioned whether adding married clerics would increase the number of priests (Associated Press)
A married priesthood? | A shortage of Roman Catholic priests has led some clergy to call for celibacy to be optional. Though controversial, ‘Rent-a-priest’ helps fill the gap for some Catholics (The Christian Science Monitor)

Abuse:

Three sisters sue L.A. archdiocese over their alleged molestation by priest | They say the church conspired to conceal that cleric was a child molester. Archdiocese notes that allegations refer to 30 years ago (Los Angeles Times)
New Boston archbishop, abuse victims to meet (The Washington Post)
New Boston archbishop in settlement talks | Following a strategy he used a decade ago in Fall River, new Boston Archbishop Sean O’Malley is meeting with alleged abuse victims in hopes of settling hundreds of lawsuits accusing the church of failing to protect children (Associated Press)

Crime:

Church bombing conviction upheld | Thomas Blanton’s defense attorney argued in May that his client was denied a fair trial because of the government’s use of a tape secretly recorded in the defendant’s kitchen (The Birmingham News, Ala.)
Ohio Amish community shaken by shooting | A motorist who had been pelted several times on Labor Day got out of his car and fired three to five rounds into the 7-foot-high corn, killing 23-year-old Steven L. Keim (Associated Press)
Boy’s death puts religious exemption in spotlight | Many states wrestle with allowing faith healing, protecting children (Chicago Tribune)
Four seminary students guilty in protest at Raytheon site | The defendants all testified that they never intended to be arrested (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)

Youth:

Youths take over mall for Redemption | Card game teaches Christianity (Waukesha Freeman, Wis.)
Church an inspiration for youngsters | Blossoming out of South Florida’s many Pentecostal, Baptist and charismatic congregations could well be the next Stevie Wonders, Elvis Presleys and Kirk Franklins, whose musical roots were planted in their church gospel choirs (The Miami Herald)
Thousands gather to celebrate God | Worshipfest brings Christians together for three-day, non-denominational party (The Ottawa Citizen)
Some Catholic guidance as they come of age | Young-adult seminars focus on the challenge of balancing faith with a career and relationships (Los Angeles Times)

Books:

Zealous no more | Alan Wolfe’s The Transformation of American Religion is an oddly modern jeremiad (The Wall Street Journal)
Seeing icons as ‘windows into heaven’ | Frederica Mathewes-Green, a commentator for National Public Radio, has written a new book, The Open Door: Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer (Paraclete Press, $16.95), to explain her growing love for icons (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Sunday school moves out of church | Novel follows church leader who relies on the morals and teachings that he learned as a child (Burbank Leader, Calif.)
‘Da Vinci Code’ hot, critics hotter | Detractors find fault with the book’s research, accusing it of intellectual dishonesty and calling it anti-Catholic (New York Daily News)
Chapter & verse | Reviews of Learning Theology With the Church Fathers and Ten Shekel Shirt’s newest album (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)

Bible:

Rapid City man translating Bible into Lakota | Some Christians are called to be missionaries to people and cultures in far-off lands. Jerry Yellowhawk has a mission at home. (Associated Press)
The Old Testament wars: Is the Bible history or fiction? | New archaeology, revisionist interpretations confront traditional interpretations (The Baltimore Sun)
Bible has no answers | Reading the Bible didn’t make me love Christianity more, but rather, it turned me away from belief in a higher power forever (Ryan Sabalow, The Orion, California State University, Chico)
Eve as the first conscientious objector | For Leon Sheleff, Eve’s disobedience is a declaration that God does not have the authority to decide for her on questions of good and evil (Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv)

Missions and ministry:

Battle for Jewish souls hits streets of Toronto | Theological war games unfolded on the streets of Toronto and York Region last week, in the first few days of an aggressive campaign by Jews for Jesus to convert Jews to Christianity (The Canadian Jewish News)
Former trucker ministers to men on the move | Chaplain and volunteers tend to transient flock and to wives at home (The Washington Post)
Faith put to the fire | Dark side of Africa tests Superiorite’s faith,but strengthens spiritual her resolve (The Daily Telegram, Superior, Wis.)
Pride and a prayer | The home team’s dugout at Holman Stadium became a makeshift house of worship (The Nashua Telegraph, N.H.)

Other religions:

U.S. Muslims look to interfaith relations | The Islamic Society of North America, which organized the three-day event, invited moderate and liberal Protestant leaders to share the stage with Muslim leaders and address participants at the opening session (Associated Press)
Dwindling sect attempts to rebuild in Iraq | Mandeans (Sabeans) follow John the Baptist (UPI)
Clerics consider dark side of faith | Programs deal with aftermath of terror attacks. Among interfaith speakers is David Benke (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
In defense of God | A number of liberal atheists condemn belief in God as destructive nonsense, but their simplistic arguments are no better than the religious zealots they deplore (Bradford R. Pilcher, Jewsweek)

Ten Commandments—news:

Riley to display plaque | Thursday was a day of both victory and defeat for Ten Commandments monument supporters (Montgomery Advertiser)
Federal judge rejects Commandments suit | U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said removal of the monument did not unconstitutionally establish a religion of nontheistic beliefs, as the residents claimed (Associated Press)
House enters display fight | Rep. Robert Aderholt and other House members Thursday tried to round up support for a bill that would allow states to decide whether the Ten Commandments could be displayed on state property (Montgomery Advertiser)
Also: Aderholt renews push for commandments bill | Lawsuits challenging government displays of the Ten Commandments would automatically be thrown out of court under an old proposal getting renewed attention in Congress (The Birmingham News)
Congressman pushing Ten Commandments bill | Moore turns down Mississippi’s offer to take monument (Associated Press)
Bible supporters gather for lunch-hour protest | People assemble outside civil courthouse near monument (KPRC, Houston)

Ten Commandments—opinion:

The Ten Commandments are not secular | The Ten Commandments aren’t a legal agreement among people or between the government and the people. They are a covenant between God and God’s people (David Waters, Scripps Howard News Service)
Alabama justice using commandments for his politics | All the energy expended on the church vs. state debate could be put into teaching morality (Editorial, York Daily Record, Pa.)
A God-intoxicated country | Ten Commandments have no business in America’s courthouses (Larry Durstin, Cleveland Free Times)
Commandments: Monument not the issue | Advocating one religion not government’s place; spreading message of right and wrong is (Editorial, The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.)
Stacked Decalogue | Spelled out in all their ancient splendor, though, the commandments are a decidedly odd set of directives to be looming, physically or spiritually, over an American courtroom (Katha Pollitt, The Nation)
Thunder rolls? | God in the hands of angry humans (Dave Shiflett, National Review Online)
A land of constitutional disenchantment? | If people of religious persuasion, or no religious persuasion at all, can be so easily converted or offended by a public display of the Ten Commandments or the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, heaven help them the next time they receive an e-mail from a representative of a Nigerian prince who needs a bank account number to deposit millions he cannot get to because of government instability. (Dave Henry, Amarillo Globe-News)
Sacred texts, used and abused | A courthouse in Alabama, an execution in Florida (Michael Knox Beran, The Wall Street Journal)
Letter of the law eludes manly Justice Moore | We don’t believe Moore’s decision to install the Ten Commandments monument in the justice building in Montgomery, Ala., violated the First Amendment. We do believe, however, that when a federal district judge and the rest of the Alabama Supreme Court say otherwise, that Moore should have removed the monument then and there. (Editorial, Amarillo Globe-News)
Some embrace ‘outside agitators’ now | The Ten Commandments monument case continues to weigh down the mailbag here. (Jim Earnhardt, Montgomery Advertiser)
Ala. protesters are distracted by trivialities | Ten Commandments battle diverts believers from important work (Cal Thomas)

Education:

D.C. vouchers clear Senate panel; democrats vow fight | Senate Appropriations Committee votes 16 to 12 (The Washington Post)
D.C. vouchers on track in House | House Republican leaders are moving ahead on a $17 million school-choice plan for the District, amid concerns that some lawmakers may have been swayed by the National Education Association’s anti-voucher campaign during the August congressional recess (The Washington Times)
Feinstein will endorse D.C. vouchers | The former San Francisco mayor, a longtime voucher foe, said she changed her position only in the case of the District’s pilot program and does not support taxpayer-funded private school scholarships in California or elsewhere in the country (The Washington Post)
Catholic university opens doors | School officials tout orthodox environment (The Boston Globe)

Other stories of interest:

‘Killer’ Christ icon is removed from Hermitage display | An ancient icon depicting Christ has been removed from display at the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg after claims that its “energy field” is killing staff (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Rest, prayer, and a happy hour | At a home in the Bronx, retired priests ponder eternity as they read theology, contemplate and await the 5:15 p.m. cocktail hour (The New York Times)
Prayer marked final minutes | Even as their minivan filled with water, Robert and Melissa Rogers tried to comfort their four young children, singing Bible songs and praying (The Washington Times)
Baylor’s savior fell hard from grace | When Dave Bliss arrived at Baylor in 1999, he was seen as the God-fearing savior of a basketball program that had soured into one of the nation’s worst (Associated Press)
Religion news in brief | Pope condemns violence in Mideast and Africa, African church leaders talk about priorities, Idaho’s Ten Commandments monuments provoke few complaints, and other stories (Associated Press)
Top-dollar sale urged for KOCE | Orange Coast faculty advises station owners to take the highest price, even if it’s from televangelists (Los Angeles Times)