Christian sues U.S. Postal Service for arrest while distributing tracts near post office


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Christian sues U.S. Postal Service for arrest while distributing tracts near post office

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 02:24 PM PDT


A man is suing the U.S. Postal Service on the grounds that he was unconstitutionally arrested while distributing Christian literature on the sidewalk near the front of the Oakland, Tenn. Post Office.

Michael Choate, who is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, was arrested last year while passing out Christian tracts 40 feet from the entrance to the Oakland, Tenn. Post office.

In his complaint, Choate said the arrest is unconstitutional and violates his First Amendment right to free speech, his right to due process of law and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Last year, on July 2010, Choate distributed tracts beside a flagpole that stands some 40 ft. from the Post Office entrance. The location does not block people going inside or outside of the Post Office.

Choate’s complaint noted that he never tried to enter the Post Office, nor to distribute leaflets inside the premises nor leave any tracts on any property of the Post Office. Neither did he disturb, nor bother the Postal Service, its customers, nor the operations of the Post Office.

Choate distributed the tracts for two weeks in July last year. Then on Aug. 6, 2010, he returned to this same spot near the flagpole at 11:00 a.m. to quietly distribute more tracts.

After an hour, Postmaster Terrena Moore walked up to Choate and told him that he had to leave, or he would be arrested. According to his complaint, “Choate tried to calm Postmaster Moore down, and explained that he would wait for the police.”

Within minutes, two policemen arrived and told Choate he had to leave because he was trespassing. Choate, pointing out that he was standing on a public sidewalk, questioned how he was trespassing. The policemen said, “[If] the Postmaster says you are trespassing on postal property, you are trespassing, and must leave,” the complaint said.

Because Choate believed he was within his rights to express his opinions on public property, he stood fast. The police arrested him, but later the criminal charges of trespassing were dropped, and he was not asked to pay a fine nor serve time in jail.

In Sept. 2010, Choate approached Moore and asked her why he was considered by her to be a trespasser. She referred him to 39 C.F.R. 232.1(e), which is a “disturbance provision.” Moore told Choate that his activities “annoyed” some customers.

In November 2010, the ADF sent a letter to USPS noting that Choate was constitutionally protected and had a right to pass out tracts on public property in front of the Post Office.

The USPS responded the following month with a letter that said if he “tends to impede or disturb Postal Service employees or customers,” he cannot distribute the tracts, Choate’s complaint noted.

Choate has charged that his First Amendment rights were violated and the Postal Service regulations are vague and not narrowly tailored, leaving interpretation largely to the discretion of its officials, which opens the door to unbridled discretion.

Finally, Choate said in his complaint that the enforcement of 39 CFR 232.1(e) inhibited his ability to exercise the rights due him under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” ADF’s Nate Kellum, one of Choate’s attorneys, said in a statement.

“The post office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally-protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature. Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum,” Kellum said.

U.K. Christian leaders slam violence in Syria

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 02:22 PM PDT


A Bishop in the U.K. slammed the U.K. government recently for failing to take sufficient action in Syria after a massive slaughter of its civilians.

Bishop Mike Hill of Bristol said the U.K. government is not giving enough attention and interest to the “wholesale slaughter that is occurring in Syria,” according to Christian Today.

Last Sunday, scores of peaceful protesters were killed in Hama by the army of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

Pivotal to region

“Syria is a pivotal State and its future political and religious stability has implications not just for Syria itself, but for the region, in particular for Christianity in the region,” Anthony O’ Mahoney, director, Centre for Eastern Christianity, Heythrop College, University of London said on Vatican Radio.

O’ Mahoney, who is a Reader in Theology and the History of Christianity, stressed that one must avoid Syria becoming another Iraq—something the Syrians themselves don’t want.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under the administration of then president George W. Bush, the Baath Party was toppled. Amid a power vacuum minorities—especially Christians—paid the price.

“The Christian communities have suffered a great deal within the region within the last two to three decades. People are concerned about the large numbers of Christians leaving the region, impoverishing the region and making it less than what it was,” O’ Mahoney told Vatican Radio.

O’ Mahoney said on Vatican Radio that Christians who are indigenous to the region need protection. “[The] Christians who are indigenous to the whole of the region are losing their relationship to the land of Christ’s birth, so the future of stability in Syria is important and the future of Christianity in Syria is important.”

The popular uprising in Syria is onto its fifth month, and there is no indication that al-Assad will concede. It is estimated that some 2,000 protestors have died amid government crackdowns, with some 3,000 arrests.

Initially protestors sought for reforms, but amid the melee demands have escalated to a call for al-Assad to leave after 40 years of power.  Concerns have been raised by analysts regarding sectarian killings, more so as Syria has a range of ethnicities and religions.

The reigning Al-Assad family is of the minority Alawite sect, a derivative from Shi’ite Islam. Other minorities include Druze, non-Arab Kurds and Christians. The majority are Sunni Muslims.

Last month, the Alliance of Middle Eastern Christians (RCMO), a Canadian-based group, appealed to Damascus to open up talks with the protesters. “Syria … is suffering from painful events … violence is causing many casualties and wounding scores,” according to Vatican Radio.

RCMO warned, Vatican Radio reported, against “external interference in local Syria’s affairs, or any form of sectarian incitement, whether from governments, entities or third parties that aim only to exploit the crisis in order to achieve its interests and maintain or even increase the state of tension, causing more material and human losses.”

International concern

International concern was raised after the latest crackdown by Syria on peaceful protesters where some 24 are believed to have died, and 150 arrested. Syrian state media blamed “armed groups” for the assault, CNN reported. However, activists say the disturbance was initiated by the Syrian military.

Four member countries of the U.N. Security Council—France, Portugal, Germany and the U.K. are drafting a resolution that is expected to condemn the action of the Syrian government.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is slated to meet with delegates of the Syrian-American community, and U.S.-based Syrian activists “to discuss the urgent situation in Syria,” Mike Toner, acting spokesman, said to CNN.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Baghdad, “Violence needs to stop as quickly as possible,” CNN reported.

U.K. electrician harassed for having cross on dashboard of work van

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 02:22 PM PDT


Colin Atkinson, a Christian electrician from the U.K., was suspended from work recently in the aftermath of a controversy over a palm cross on the dashboard of his work van.

Last June, Atkinson returned to work after he and his employer, Wakefield and District Housing Association in the U.K., reached a compromise agreement on his continued employment. The agreement included permission for Atkinson to keep the cross in the van.

Since his return to the job, however, Atkinson says WDH failed to keep their part of the agreement. In fact, the company has taken away the van and he was transferred to a new office 16 miles away.

Palm cross

Previous to Atkinson’s return to work last June, a media outcry was raised over WDH’s handling of the issue of an eight-inch palm cross on the dashboard of Atkinson’s work van, which he had kept there for 15 years.

One day his bosses asked him to remove it. They said they received an anonymous complaint against the cross. They noted that their tenant association members are ‘diverse’ and they didn’t want to offend anyone. They added that if he refused to take the cross down Atkinson, 64, would be fired.

The incident triggered nationwide indignation in the U.K. Former Canterbury archbishop Lord Carey called WDH’s request “scandalous,” according to ASSIST News Service.

It was pointed out that a Muslim colleague displays a verse from the Qu’ran in her car, and other co-employees dress in company burkas. A manager’s office displays a poster of communist revolutionary Che Guevara.

Different faith groups came forward for Atkinson, including leaders of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim faiths. Amid the media attention WDH reneged, and gave Atkinson his job back on mutually agreed terms, including his being allowed to keep the cross on the dashboard of the van.

Atkinson’s bosses warned him that he should not tell the media what the details of the compromise agreement on his being rehired were.

Suspension

Now, Atkinson said that from the time of his return to his old job, no part of the agreement was kept by WDH. First, he was transferred to a workplace 16 miles away in Winston House, Wakefield. Second, they took away his van.

“I was absolutely appalled by it. I was flabbergasted—I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So I lodged a grievance, saying they had broken the initial agreement signed in April,” Atkinson told Daily Mail.

In his new area of work he was not given a replacement van to use. He was told that he had to either use public transportation or get his own vehicle. When Atkinson finally spoke to media about this, WDH suspended him.

WDH told Atkinson that he had breached confidentiality, and this led to “an irreversible breakdown in relations,” Daily Mail reported. Atkinson said, “I’ve got a right to speak out in the national interest, the interest of the British public and a right to defend myself.”

Andrea Minichiello Williams  of Christian Legal Centre told ANS, “After a public outcry over his case, Colin Atkinson was allowed to return to work and to continue to display a palm cross in his van.

“However, since the media attention died away, he suffered continued harassment, and WDH has not honored its agreement with him to allow him to return to his old job. It seems that WDH hoped that Colin could be bought off and go quietly.

“At the Christian Legal Centre we will be doing all we can to ensure that WDH is held to account and that Colin is free to express his Christian faith in the workplace.”

Excommunicated bishop seizes churches in Zimbabwe

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 02:21 PM PDT


An excommunicated bishop in Zimbabwe declared, recently, ownership of some 78 Anglican churches–and the local police are supporting him.

Former bishop Norbert Kunonga, a close ally of the country’s president Robert Mugabe, said on Zimbabwe’s national state television that he heads all the churches in the Masvingo diocese.

Kunonga also claimed control of the popular Arthur Shearly Cripps Shrine, where the faithful were scheduled to participate in its commemoration at the end of the month.

Resilient Anglican community

Zimbabwe, which has long been run by abusive and tyrannical leaders, has a resilient Anglican community which has undergone intimidation and persecution.

They have been fighting to keep their churches and shrines since May, 2008, when Kunonga was excommunicated. Kunonga is allied with Mugabe, who after 30 years in power, is hanging on amid deteriorating law and order.

Kunonga has the support of local police, who have warned Anglicans that they have no right to go to the Shearly Cripps Shrine. A court ruled that Kunonga has a legal right to be at the Cripps shrine.

A spokesperson of Masvingo diocese told Christian Today, “Kunonga didn’t stop his disturbances by simply writing to the officer commanding Chikomba District to bar us from having the Shearly Cripps commemoration done by the shrine, but he also used the police to forcibly take church properties in Chivhu.”

There are some 78 Anglican churches under the diocese of Masvingo, with 45 of them in Chikomba district, and the remaining 33 in Buhera district.

Other incidents of harassment, violence

Last July 31 Kunonga, surrounded by supporters and seven policemen, forcibly entered the Daramombe Mission. Kunonga’s supporters then held a service and a meeting there. As a result, local parishioners could not attend services.

Episcopal Church presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who visited Zimbabwe July 29-31, told Episcopal News Service, “The headmaster realized what was happening, and kept the children away. Parishioners also recognized the false bishop—that’s what they call him—and turned around and went home.”

Schori told ENS, “We heard a little later that Kunonga had returned, and deposited one of his priests and his household goods in the church, with police looking on.”

Schori visited the country to express support and solidarity with Zimbabwe’s Anglicans, the first Episcopal Church presiding bishop to do so. She told ENS, “I very much wanted to let the church in Zimbabwe know of our solidarity as they suffer through this harassment and victimization by the deposed former bishop and his thugs. The police have power only because the government sanctions their behavior.”

Last July 25, Venerable Shamuyarira, the priest in charge of Chivhu Church District, was allegedly detained for three hours by police who tried to make him give them the keys to several Anglican properties, allegedly upon the order of Kunonga.

Schori told ENS, “They [Zimbabwe Anglican church] have experienced the same kind of thing as congregations inFort Worth and San Joaquin.” (Former leaders in these places also tried to take possession of diocesan properties, barring parishioners from church buildings). “The church is more than a building, and has become stronger and more creative in exile.”

Blast near church in Kirkuk, Iraq injures 13

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 02:01 PM PDT


ISTANBUL, August 3 (Compass Direct News) – A car blast outside a Syrian Catholic church in Kirkuk, Iraq yesterday morning left 13 wounded as police located and disarmed two more car bombs targeting churches in the city, according to area sources.

Online video images of the attack against the Holy Family Church showed one of its walls blasted open and all its surfaces covered with broken glass, rubble and dust from the entrance where the explosion took place to the sanctuary on the far end of the building. The explosion occurred on the second day of the month-long Muslim fasting period of Ramadan.

Nearby houses in one of Kirkuk’s oldest quarters, where Muslims and Christians had lived together peacefully, were seriously damaged, and cars on the street were left in twisted piles of metal. Shattered glass wounded 13 residents as they slept, area sources said.

“We are sad because this is nonsense, and people are discouraged,” the archbishop of Kirkuk, Monsignor Louis Sako, told Compass. “We try to encourage them and give them hope. We have asked the mayor-governor to help the families that lost their houses and cars before thinking to restore the church.”

Today all but one of the wounded residents in the church’s neighborhood – an elderly man who was seriously injured – reportedly had been released from the hospital. The Rev. Imad Yalda, the parish priest, was in the church building at the time of the blast and was also slightly wounded.

Though Yalda and the community were sad about yesterday’s events, a local pastor who requested anonymity told Compass such attacks have become a normal part of the lives of Christians in Iraq.

“He accepted what happened, but he was very sad for the building of his church,” the pastor said. “But this has become ordinary for us, and we expect that any minute something will happen here. When you are living in this situation, you are used to accept what is happening.”

No terrorist or extremist group has taken responsibility for yesterday’s attack in Kirkuk, and local church leaders said it seems Christians in Iraq are trapped in a senseless game of power and intimidation.

“Sometimes we feel there is some pressure over the Christians all over Iraq to make them leave their cities and go to the northern part of Iraq, to Kurdistan,” said the pastor, “but who knows? I can’t say those who did this want us to leave our city.”

Sako said the perpetrators, whether they are Islamic extremists with anti-Christian motives or terrorists with political motives, are trying to create an atmosphere of confusion by attacking Christians during the Muslim holy month of fasting, Ramadan.

“They are using this to shock people,” said Sako. “They are getting the attention of politicians in Kirkuk and in Iraq and saying, ‘We are here and powerful, and we can do whatever we want.’ It’s just confusing – [they want to] say they are here and create a chaotic situation and make a panic among the people.”

Car Bombs Defused
Authorities also located two other cars full of explosives in the area. One was parked in front of the church building of Mar Gourgis, of the Assyrian Church of the East. A school is located next to the church building.

Another vehicle packed with explosives was parked in front of a Protestant church in the neighborhood. When the church pastor and others in the neighborhood heard the blast at the Holy Family Church at 5:30 a.m., they came out to see what had happened.

In front of the Protestant church complex they saw a suspicious car filled with containers of gas. Before noon, special forces confirmed the car was full of explosives and disarmed it. In the process there was a small explosion that broke 21 windows of the church complex.

Kirkuk’s Christian leaders said they fear more Christians will decide to migrate abroad after this attack. The Protestant church that was targeted yesterday has 70 members, of which nine will be leaving the country in the next two months, according to its leaders. Yet they hope that Christians will remain in Iraq.

“We continue to witness to Jesus Christ and our Christian values; we are not afraid,” Sako said.

Kirkuk, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is a culturally diverse city with about 10,000 Christians.

There have been at least 45 abductions in Kirkuk since the start of the year, with most victims coming from well-to-do families, Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported last month.

A special report prepared for U.S. Congress last month stated that Iraq’s security is declining and is less safe than it was a year ago.

AFP also reported that June was the deadliest month in Iraq so far this year, with 271 people killed in attacks according to a government count.

A Baghdad court found four men guilty of “planning and preparing” an attack on the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation last October in which 58 people were killed. The judge handed three perpetrators the death sentence and a 20-year jail term to another, according to The Associated Press. The men, whose names authorities did not release, have one month to appeal.

Last year’s attack was the deadliest one against the country’s Christians since Islamic extremists began targeting them in 2003. On Oct. 31, 2010, during evening mass, al Qaeda suicide bombers stormed the church building and held some 100 worshipers hostage for hours after detonating bombs in the neighborhood and gunning down two area policemen.

The militants sprayed the sanctuary with bullets and ordered a priest to call the Vatican to demand the release of Muslim women whom they claimed were held hostage by the Coptic Church in Egypt. When security forces stormed the building, the assailants started to kill hostages and eventually blew themselves up.

It is estimated that more than 50 percent of Iraq’s Christian community has fled the country since 2003. There are nearly 600,000 Christians left in Iraq.

Kidnapped Christian girl in Sudan escapes, traumatized

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 01:58 PM PDT


KHARTOUM, Sudan, August 3 (Compass Direct News) – Hiba Abdelfadil Anglo, 16, has escaped from a gang of Muslims who kidnapped her last year, but it may be a long time before she recovers from the trauma.

As she told Compass how the kidnappers beat, raped and tried to force her to convert from Christianity to Islam, she broke into tears for nearly half an hour.

“They did many bad things to me,” she said, tears streaming down her eyes.

Abducted on June 17, 2010, she was reunited with her family on July 10.

“Several times I was warned that if I do not convert to Islam, then I risk losing my life,” she said. “The man who put me in his house on several occasions tortured me and threatened to kill me. He did not allow me to pray Christian prayers. He even insulted my family as a family of infidels.”

Hiba said that after a year of captivity, she had given the unidentified man who housed her enough of an impression that she had converted to Islam and accepted her fate that he left her unguarded. She was able to leave the house in the Soba Al Aradi area south of Khartoum and beg a motorist to take her to her home two hours away, she said.

“I had tried to escape three times before, but they captured me every time and beat me a lot,” she said, sobbing.

Her widowed mother, Ikhlas Omer Anglo, told Compass the kidnappers targeted them because they are Christians, members of Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Khartoum. The girl’s mother said that when she went to a police station to open a case, officers told her she must first leave Christianity for Islam.

“Right after my daughter was kidnapped, one officer told me, ‘If you want back your daughter, you should become a Muslim,’” she said. “I thank God for enabling my daughter to escape before the start of Ramadan, though she is now traumatized.”
 
Hiba said the kidnappers moved her to various locations in Khartoum over the initial eight months, threatening to kill her if she tried to escape.

“Even if you call the government, they will not do anything to us,’’ her abductors warned her, she said.

She was initially locked in a room and beaten until she was unconscious. The leader of the group raped her, and she is still suffering pain in her right eye from a blow he recently dealt her, she said.

“Apart from abusing me sexually, he tried to force me to change my faith and kept reminding me to prepare for Ramadan,” she said. “I cannot forget this bad incident, and whenever I try to pray, I find it difficult to forget. I ask believers to pray for me for inner healing.’
 
At the same time, Hiba said prayer was the only effective option while in captivity.
 
“I was praying to God to keep me and my family safe,” she said.

Last year the then-15-year-old Hiba was kidnapped while going to the Ministry of Education in Khartoum to obtain her transcripts for entry into secondary school.

“One of the kidnappers was monitoring me as I was going to the Ministry of Education,” she said. “He pretended to have been working in the Ministry of Education.”

Two days after she was abducted, the family received threatening telephone calls and SMS (text) messages from the kidnappers telling them to pay 1,500 Sudanese pounds (US$560) in order to secure her return.
 
“Don’t you want to have this slave back?” one of the kidnappers told her mother from an unknown location by cell phone, Anglo said. She lost her job after taking time off to search for her missing daughter last year, she said, as her employer initially gave her time off in order to seek her daughter but later used the absence as a pretext for firing her.

“It is good that those who prayed for us to know that their prayers were answered, and that my daughter is back at home with me,” Anglo said. “I also need prayers because I am jobless since the time my daughter was kidnapped.”
 
Hoping to study to be an accountant after missing an academic year, Hiba said her future is unknown as her family is unable to afford school. She also fears the Muslim criminals might still be trailing her.
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Two Bombs Explode Near Churches in Jos, Nigeria


http://theundergroundsite.com)" target="_blank" style="color: #888; font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">The Underground -- Two Bombs Explode Near Churches in Jos, Nigeria


Two Bombs Explode Near Churches in Jos, Nigeria

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 04:26 PM PDT


JOS, Nigeria, August 2 (Compass Direct News) – Security officials are trying to determine suspects and motives for two weekend bomb explosions in predominantly Muslim areas of Jos where three churches and the residences of Islamic sect leaders are located.

The explosions led many Christians to remain indoors on Sunday (July 31). One bomb exploded on Saturday night (July 30) in the Angwan Rimi area of Jos near a Baptist Church building no longer in use because of previous damage by Muslim extremists. A second bomb exploded early Sunday morning near a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) building on Sarkin Mangu Street and an Assemblies of God sanctuary in the Kwarrarafa Area, according to police reports obtained by Compass.

No one was hurt in either of the explosions.

Prominent Islamic leaders residing in the area of the Sunday morning blast include Sheik Balarabe Dawud, chief imam of Jos Central Mosque, and Sheik Sani Yahaya, leader of the Izala Islamic sect.

The churches near both blasts are located in areas that are predominantly Muslim because of displacement of Christians during religious conflict earlier this year. Christians have been forced to relocate to safer areas of the city.

Fears that large-scale violence by the Islamic extremist Boko Haram sect would seize Nigeria at the end of July, on the two-year anniversary of the death of the group’s leader, were not borne out.

The explosion on Saturday (July 30), from a bomb disguised as an empty can of groundnut oil, occurred in an area of Jos where Sheikh Saidu Hassan, deputy leader of the Izala Islamic sect, lives. The bomb exploded in the Angwan Rimi area at about 9:30 p.m., according to police.

An incident report obtained by Compass at the Angwar Rogo police station states that the bomb caused no death or injury but shattered the windows of a parked taxi.

The explosions occurred a week after five persons were killed in violence that broke out on July 26 between Muslims and Christians in the Angwan Rukuba area of Jos.
 
“Five people have been confirmed dead and 12 seriously injured,” said Capt. Charles Ekeocha, spokesman of the Special Task Force of a Special Military Operation in Jos to restore peace.

The Angwan Rukuba area became a hotbed of violence in Jos following multiple bomb explosions there last Christmas Eve. The bombs went off in three different locations in the area, killing over 100 Christians and injuring many others. Security agencies confirmed they were planted by members of the Boko Haram sect.
 
Emmanuel Dipo Ayeni, commissioner of police for Plateau state, called for calm over the explosions and said police were working hard to discover those responsible.

Question of the week: Christians and debt

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 10:55 AM PDT


Question: “What does the Bible say about a Christian going into debt?”

Answer: Paul’s charge to us in Romans 13:8 to owe nothing but love is a powerful reminder of God’s distaste for all forms of debt that are not being paid in a timely manner (see also Psalm 37:21). At the same time, the Bible does not explicitly command against all forms of debt. The Bible warns against debt, and extols the virtue of not going into debt, but does not forbid debt. The Bible has harsh words of condemnation for lenders who abuse those who are bound to them in debt, but it does not condemn the debtor.

Some people question the charging of any interest on loans, but several times in the Bible we see that a fair interest rate is expected to be received on borrowed money (Proverbs 28:8; Matthew 25:27). In ancient Israel the Law did prohibit charging interest on one category of loans—those made to the poor (Leviticus 25:35-38). This law had many social, financial, and spiritual implications, but two are especially worth mentioning. First, the law genuinely helped the poor by not making their situation worse. It was bad enough to have fallen into poverty, and it could be humiliating to have to seek assistance. But if, in addition to repaying the loan, a poor person had to make crushing interest payments, the obligation would be more hurtful than helpful.

Second, the law taught an important spiritual lesson. For a lender to forego interest on a loan to a poor person would be an act of mercy. He would be losing the use of that money while it was loaned out. Yet that would be a tangible way of expressing gratitude to God for His mercy in not charging His people “interest” for the grace He has extended to them. Just as God had mercifully brought the Israelites out of Egypt when they were nothing but penniless slaves and had given them a land of their own (Leviticus 25:38), so He expected them to express similar kindness to their own poor citizens.

Christians are in a parallel situation. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus has paid our sin debt to God. Now, as we have opportunity, we can help others in need, particularly fellow believers, with loans that do not escalate their troubles. Jesus even gave a parable along these lines about two creditors and their attitude toward forgiveness (Matthew 18:23-35).

The Bible neither expressly forbids nor condones the borrowing of money. The wisdom of the Bible teaches us that it is usually not a good idea to go into debt. Debt essentially makes us a slave to the one who provides the loan. At the same time, in some situations going into debt is a “necessary evil.” As long as money is being handled wisely and the debt payments are manageable, a Christian can take on the burden of financial debt if it is absolutely necessary.

Recommended Resources:

How to Manage Your Money: An In-Depth Bible Study On Personal Finances by Larry Burkett

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey.

Church in Florida uses Dr. Seuss stories to share the Gospel with kids

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 10:44 AM PDT


A church in Florida is using the stories of Dr. Seuss as trigger points for biblical lessons in its Vacation Bible School.

The First United Methodist Church in Deltona  is utilizing works by the celebrated author, including How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Yertle the Turtle as tools for evangelism.

Nancy Siebert, a leader in the church, got inspiration for the theme after reading Dr. Seuss stories to her children, and from the book, Church Programs and Celebrations for All Generations by Rachel Gilmore.

In the case of the Dr. Seuss story, Yertle the Turtle, Siebert saw connections with Mark:10 in the Bible where Jesus said, “Many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

In the story, Yertle tries to build a tower on the backs of hundreds of turtles so he can be king of all things. However, a small turtle sneezes, the tower collapses and Yertle falls into the mud.

Rev. Sandy Parsons approved Siebert’s concept. He told News-Journal, “It’s invigorating the hearts of everyone. We are trying to inspire love, fellowship and the joy of being alive in a community, and celebrating the spirit of God.”

It is not uncommon to point out the faith lessons in the stories of Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, although the author himself was not particularly religious. This is because much of the morality in the stories parallel Christian beliefs.

Green Eggs and Ham could just as easily be seen from the point of view of evangelism as from that of tasting different food. In the story, Sam I am persistently tries to convince an unnamed character to try the food, and when the character finally does, he leaves a sordid world behind for the delicious Green Eggs and Ham and all those people and places who like it and serve it.

The Grinch who stole Christmas

It is however in The Grinch who stole Christmas where one can most easily see Christian parallels. The story is about a mean hermit who steals all the Christmas gifts and Christmas food of the Whoville people, but fails to quench their Christmas spirit.

Gilmore likens the story to Matthew 10 where Jesus says the two greatest commandments are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Gilmore told News-Journal the Grinch story “intrigued [me] by its power to still appeal to multiple generations. That got me looking at other Seuss stories, and the more I re-read some of my childhood favorites, the more I could clearly see theological tie-ins between what I perceive as Seuss’ moral message and what I understand as biblical truths.”

Horton Hears a Who

Another Dr. Seuss story where Christian parallels are often cited is Horton Hears a Who, where Horton, an elephant, hears voices in the dust, and realizes that an entire population live there (Whoville, who resurfaces in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas).

Whoville is in danger, and Horton, who can’t see the Mayor of Who, but who can hear him, tries to protect it. In doing so, he is tormented by Sour Kangaroo, the Wickersham Brothers and Vlad Vladikoff, and is put in a cage by other creatures in the jungle because they can neither see nor hear the Who.

“[The] Mayor of Whoville talks to the elephant in the sky. This elephant, who views Whoville as smaller than a speck of dust, protects that dust with his life. This is a direct parallel to Jesus Christ,” Christian writer Nashanta Robinson wrote in The Examiner.

Horton is also filled with precious quotes, such as “an elephant’s faithful 100 percent,” and perhaps his most loved quote, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Whether or not Seuss intended the latter phrase to parallel the life of the fetus, it does ring well with the value of the life of the unborn child, who is very, very small as an embryo. Several pro-life advocates have pointed this out.

Bible League International, WBTC merge to bolster global Bible translation, distribution

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 10:44 AM PDT


Two Bible organizations have joined forces to maximize on their strengths and expand and consolidate their ministry of bringing the Bible to people all around the world.

Bible League International (which has focused on Bible distribution since 1939) and World Bible Translation Center (which has been in operation since 1973) have agreed to merge in order to enhance one another’s strengths and enlarge the ministry’s power in distributing the Bible globally.

The merging of these two organizations with complementary strengths is expected to impact largely in fulfilling the Great Commission to ensure that the gospel reaches even the most remote corners of the world.

Literacy, digital technology

The merge, which is expected to take off next month, will focus on expanding its literacy program globally. It will also enlarge its use of the latest digital delivery technology, which is especially helpful in remote areas of the world.

BLI CEO Robert T. Frank said collaborating with other Christian organizations who share the same mission is a direction that will be strongly pursued by the merged organization in the 21st century.

“This merger will strengthen operations for both of our ministries, increasing the tools available to reach the three global audiences we share: the poorest of the poor, the persecuted church and those walking in darkness,” Frank said.

With the new merge, BLI will work in administration, international relationships, and field networking. WBTC will continue with producing Bible translations that are easy to read, in different languages and dialects. It will also work in the printing and distribution of each Bible translation.

In this way, people can better know Jesus and comprehend His life-changing power in their lives. WBTC President Eric Fellman said, “We will do this through Bible translation, training and publishing of Scripture materials so that people prepared by the Holy Spirit will be brought into God’s community through Jesus Christ.”

BLI’s Frank will be the Global CEO and WBTC’s Fellman will be president of both agencies. WBTC will be a ministry of BLI.

“These are exciting days to be involved in the ministry … there are amazing new opportunities on the horizon, and our partnership with WBTC allows us both to take advantage of these more quickly, to see more hearts transformed by the power of the Gospel.”

“God has been leading us into this relationship for many months. We believe His hand is in it, and we look forward to seeing what He will accomplish through our combined efforts,” Fellman said.

BLI was founded by William Chapman in 1939. By 1989 it went global and has specialized in bringing the Bible to persecuted people around the world. Some 27 million globally have through its work been led into Bible studies, and five million into church memberships. Its outreach has extended to 700 language groups.

WBTC has since 1973 pursued its vision to translate the Bible in a clear and simple way into all the languages of the world. It has distributed over 19 million Bibles and New Testaments, as well has supplied online portions of Scripture, including downloads from the internet, in tens of millions.

 

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The Underground -- Keeping the Faith: Born to be Wild


The Underground -- Keeping the Faith: Born to be Wild


Keeping the Faith: Born to be Wild

Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:26 AM PDT


When primitive Christianity first began to take root, it wasn’t known as “Christianity.”

That was more or less a term coined by onlookers. The first Christians referred to their movement as “The Way.”

The earliest disciples saw themselves, not as part of new religion, but as travelers on and in the Way of Jesus.

This “Way,” consequently, was something active and dynamic, bound to the living Christ. It was not some dead religion seized with rigor mortis. The passing of the centuries, however, has seriously muted this fact. The years have suppressed the wild and dangerous roots of the Christian faith, and in some cases, have beaten the living daylights out of it. This has not been lost on a large and growing number of believers.

According to researcher William Hendricks, over a million Christian adults leave the church each and every year.

Many do so “not because the church is too spiritual,” he says, “but because the church is not spiritual enough.” Large swathes of official Christianity have traded the untamed vitality of its Founder for something far more domesticated.

Somewhere deep within us, we know this is a tragedy. We don’t need researchers or statistics to confirm the obvious: Our spiritual instincts tell us that there is something more, something deeper, more radical and more alive than the safe, sterile, status quo of the religious institution. We know (with apologies to Steppenwolf) we were born to be wild.

An example: Last autumn I was fortunate enough to visit Jackson, Wyoming, the Grand Tetons, and the Yellowstone area. No pictures can do the region justice.

It is landscape that must be seen and savored firsthand. Yet, the highlight of my trip was not the dramatic scenery. It was what happened on a cold, snowy day in the National Elk Refuge.

The National Elk Refuge is a 25,000 acre plot of land that in the fall and winter becomes home to thousands of migrating elk. The elk come down out of the mountains to harbor there, but it is not a completely safe harbor.

The administrators of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have a policy that allows hunting on the Refuge, a policy not without controversy. I saw a bit of this hunting up close and personal.

While on a wildlife expedition I observed a party of hunters stalking several hundred elk. These animals circled and panicked like proverbial fish in a barrel as the hunters closed in on them. It didn’t seem very gaming to me, and I braced myself for the slaughter.

It was then that one of the big bulls in the herd decided that he had had enough. So, nearly a ton of wild, thundering animals-on-hooves stampeded toward the hunters.

At the last minute, the bull shot between two of the would-be-trophy-takers, the space no wider than a sidewalk. And when he did, the entire herd followed.

Hundreds and hundreds of animals ran for daylight, and in a matter of minutes, the herd had not only escaped their predators – who looked at one another with a mixture of awe and shame – they had completely disappeared into the Wyoming woods. Not a single animal could be seen.

These beautiful animals have lost a good deal of their habitat, but they have not lost their instincts.

They still heed the wild and wonderful call of the wilderness, forsaking the false safety of the “refuge” for life with fewer fences. Granted, life in the wild is full of predatory dangers as well; but at least it is life outside of a man-made cage.

Jesus, it appears to me, wants us to have this kind of freedom, for he did not come to start a religion. He came to start a spiritual revolution. Jesus did not come to show us how to build cathedrals or ecclesiastical refuges.

He came to show us how to live. Jesus did not come to fence us in, but to set us wildly and wonderfully free. We were never born for captivity. We were born to be wild.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author. His books include “Leaving Religion, Following Jesus” and “The Jesus Tribe.” Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.net.

Atheist group sues over “World Trade Center Cross”

Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:16 AM PDT


An atheist organization filed recently a lawsuit in New York to bar the presentation of the “World Trade Center Cross” as part of a memorial exhibition to commemorate 9/11.

The American Atheists, which filed its lawsuit last week, said in its suit that the cross is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, and that atheists “are being subjected to and injured in consequence of having a religious tradition not their own imposed upon them.”

Atheist group sues over “World Trade Center Cross”

Dan Blair, communications director of AA, told the Wall Street Journal, “We can appreciate people’s emotional attachment to this [memorial] but that shouldn’t override the Constitution,”

On its website, the AA said that the cross is “an impermissible mingling of church and state.”

Small letter “t”

Blair Scott of AA said on Fox News, “It’s not the cross per se that’s an issue. It’s just a small letter ‘t’ among many junctions among thousands that were in the World Trade Center that many consider miraculous. It was blessed by clergy, they held church services at it, it was worshiped at, prayed at, it was turned into a religious idol.”

Martha McCallum, Fox newscaster told Scott, “All the more reason why you shouldn’t object to having it there if it was just a ‘t’ and there were many of them at the World Trade Center. It’s a ‘t’ that happens to have survived and they want to put this ‘t’ that has people’s names inscribed on it in the museum.”

Firefighter, first responder

Tim Brown, who was also in the Fox News program, said of Scott, “He’s stirring up so many difficult emotions again by doing this. We don’t need to be put through this.” A former NYC firefighter and first responder, Brown lost some 100 friends in 9/11.

Brown said on Fox News, “Just because Blair or others don’t like it, doesn’t mean that it can’t be in the museum. They can’t just come in and make rules for everybody in the museum. What if Ladder Three, the fire truck that was lowered into the museum last week was crushed into the shape of a cross? Would he then want that taken out of the museum also?”

Brown said on Fox News that the AA lawsuit is more of a publicity grab “on the backs of my friends who have died on 9/11, who were murdered by Islamic terrorists. It’s shameful what you are doing.”

Scott denied that the lawsuit against the cross is being done for publicity.

Brown is filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the cross through the American Center for Law and Justice.

“This is another pathetic attempt to rewrite the Constitution and rewrite history by removing a symbol that has deep meaning and serves as a powerful remembrance to that fateful attack nearly 10 years ago,” Jay Sekulow, chief counsel, ACLJ, said on its website.

“We will aggressively defend the placement of this cross. This memorial, a powerful part of the history of 9/11, serves as a constitutionally sound reminder of the horrors that occurred nearly a decade ago,” Sekulow said.

The World Trade Center Cross is a steel beam in the shape of a cross that stayed put after the collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and was discovered amid the rubble.



The Underground -- 2 Christians released from Saudi jail after six months imprisonment

The Underground -- 2 Christians released from Saudi jail after six months imprisonment


2 Christians released from Saudi jail after six months imprisonment

Posted: 30 Jul 2011 10:47 AM PDT


Two Indian Pentecostal Christians who were imprisoned for six months in Saudi Arabia, for alleged attempted Christian conversions, were set free recently and allowed to return to their home country.

Nese Yohan, 31, and Vasantha Sekhar Vara, 28, members of the thriving house church Rejoice in the Church of the Lord in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, returned to India on July 24, after being released two weeks before by Saudi officials.

Vara and Yohan, who are members of a house church with some 70 members, were arrested in January while holding a Bible study in the house church apartment, attended largely by expat Indian workers.

“Saudi religious police and other police confiscated Bibles and other Christian literature as well as the church’s sound installation and instruments, such as guitars, during the [January] raid. They even broke furniture, suit cases, and painted what I believe were Koran verses on the walls,” an elder of the church told Worthy News.

The two men were initially placed on a “pre-trial detention” of 45 days and were severely beaten. Then they were transferred to an infamous and overcrowded jail in Riyadh and detained for months without trial.

When members of the church were allowed to see Vara and Yohan, they looked wan. An elder told Worthy News, “Our brothers’ head hair was shaved and they looked very thin.”

The two men were not allowed to pray or read the Bible. Yohan was coughing and there were concerns about tuberculosis, but he was allegedly denied medical treatment.

They also could not sleep well in the overcrowded cell. The elder told Worthy News that Vara and Yohan were “the only known Christians there imprisoned for their faith. The other inmates are criminals.”

Vara lost his job while in prison. He was also being pressured to convert to Islam, but he refused saying, “If I have to die for my God, I will die for him here,” Worthy News reported.

Their freedom on July 12 was unexpected but welcome news after a lengthy and often frustrating process of negotiations. The elder told Worthy News it was “a result of prayers. The world should know about their plight. Praise the Lord, God gives us victory.”

However, an anonymous source told Worthy News that local authorities have been exerting pressure on the house church, and the homes of members of the church have also been raided. Christians believe Saudi officials are trying to intimidate them so they will not worship in private homes.

False charges, false evidence

“These two Christians have faced false charges and false evidence, Logan Maurer of International Christian Concern told Christian Today. “The Saudi government continues to engage in an array of severe violations of human rights as part of its repression of freedom of religion.”

Saudi Arabia has been cracking down on Christians for many years. In 2004, some 28 Indian Christians were arrested for practicing their faith. In 2008, another 16 Indian workers were arrested and detained for three days. Two years later, half of them voluntarily left the country, and three were deported.

Officially, Saudi Arabia’s 26 million population is 100 percent Muslim, but there are some seven million foreign workers in the country, with 1.5 of them Indian nationals, many of whom are Christian.

Cowboys and Aliens: Biggest disappointment of the summer

Posted: 30 Jul 2011 10:42 AM PDT


Oh, I know I will take some heat for this, but I didn’t much care for Cowboys and Aliens, an adaptation of a comic book from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.
For me, it is the biggest disappointment of the summer. It had so much going for it. A great cast, a great director (Iron Man), Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are listed as producers and the great Steven Spielberg is one of the executive producers.

But oh, did it fail to deliver. It didn’t help that just before it, there was a preview for the next movie based on a board game, Battleship, but that’s another rant for another day.
Set in the old west of 1873, a stranger, Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig), wakes up to find that he has a mysterious shackle attached to one wrist and no memory of who he is. He is in the town of Absolution (really?) a town that lives in fear because of the way it is run by iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).
The town doesn’t care for strangers. Suddenly, they are attacked by space ships that zoom through and wrangle up many of the townsfolk including the Colonel’s son.
Lonergran knows a thing or two about fighting and soon works together with the Colonel, members of the town, nearby indians, Absolution’s new bartender Doc (Sam Rockwell). When another stranger, and a woman at that, wants to join them, they agree without a fight which seems odd for the odd west who supposedly took care of the women and children.
While hard to pinpoint the mistakes of this film, Cowboys and Aliens is a mess. Although not a terrible movie, it’s not great either. The choices in actors are fine but they are stuck with soan adaptation of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s comic bookme of the worst dialogue ever, (Young Man: I wish you had been my father.Old Man: I wish I had a son just like you).
You don’t end caring for any of them except maybe Doc, the new city slicker bartender who doesn’t know how to shoot a gun. His English accent missing, Craig scowls more than speaks. Everything you like about Harrison Ford has been reduced to a grumpy old man – again. Movie cliches are rampant as well. (Horses are begin killed left and right, but don’t worry, the dog will be okay).
Cowboys and Aliens has too many storylines and too many characters and never gives you a reason to care for any of them. The movie does feature a lot of action, but few surprises. It starts off well with a mystery, but as that mystery is revealed, eyes will roll.
Except for some language, there isn’t much to be offended with but there isn’t any message either.  There was much unintentional laughter filling the theater from where I sat but then, many still clapped with appreciation at the end. To each his own I guess.
Cowboys & Aliens

Stars: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde and Sam Rockwell

Director: Jon Favreau
Originally posted here.

Court rules on behalf of Texas prayer rally at Reliant Stadium

Posted: 30 Jul 2011 10:35 AM PDT


A Houston federal court judge dismissed recently a lawsuit that was filed by a group of agnostics and atheists, which sought to prevent Gov. Rick Perry from sponsoring a prayer rally at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

Houston Judge Gray Miller dismissed the suit because he said the complainants lacked legal standing to object to Perry’s role in the event, and failed to sufficiently prove that they would suffer injury if the prayer meeting pushes through.

In his decision, Miller noted that the complainants could simply decide not to attend the prayer rally if they felt bothered by it or feared that it would cause them harm.

The lawsuit was filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who in their complaint expressed feelings of exclusion, and for this reason, sought an injunction.

Miller said in his decision, “The governor has done nothing more than invite others who are willing to do so to pray,” according to the AP.

The prayer rally is scheduled for August 6, which Perry declared to be “a day of prayer and fasting for our nation,” the WSJ said. The governor said the proclamation falls within his free-speech rights. “States often issue proclamations recognizing that citizens may choose to commemorate particular events through prayer.”

The FFRF said it may appeal. Kay Staley, one of the residents of Texas who is among the plaintiffs told the AP, “I think the governor needs to keep his religion out of his official duties.” She said she will attend the prayer event to protest.

Perry, an evangelical Christian, compared his role in the event to President Barack Obama’s participation in the National Day of Prayer. He told the AP, “My prayer is that the courts will find that the First Amendment is still applicable to the governor no matter what they might be doing, and that what we’ve done in the state of Texas, or what we’ve done in the governor’s office is appropriate. It’s no different than what George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or President Truman or President Obama have done.”

The FFRF also filed a case to prevent Obama’s participation in the National Day of Prayer, an event for people of all faiths, earlier this year. However, last April an appellate court dismissed the lawsuit saying that the FFRF failed to provide proof that the president’s proclamation of the event had caused them harm.

Lawyer says Egyptian government stalls investigation of cathedral blast

Posted: 30 Jul 2011 10:35 AM PDT


Five months post former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the perpetrators of the bombing of Two Saints Church, Alexandria, last New Year’s Eve remain unknown–and the government seems to stall its investigation.

The suspects who were arrested shortly after the bombing have been released, and there is a prohibition against publishing information about the bombing that continues to be in force since January, even after Mubarak stepped down the following month.

On New Year’s Eve, a bomb was lobbed onto the front lawn of Two Saints Church, a landmark cathedral, while a service was ongoing. Some 25 died, and 100 were injured. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/01/egyptian-coptic-church-bomb-kills-21-wounds-79-14956/).

Speculation contends there may be links between the bombing of the church, and threats that were sent to the Coptic Church eight hours before the blast. Murmurs abound that the Salafists and the State Security collaborated in the bombings.

“[The] majority of Copts believe … the Salafists in collaboration with State Security carried out the bombings of the Alexandria Church,” activist Edward Fahmy told AINA.

Heightening suspicions that State Security was complicit is the fact that the security personnel and officers who were assigned to the church were not at their posts when the blast occurred.

Joseph Malak, attorney for the Coptic cathedral, said in a press conference at the Church of St. Mark in Alexandria that they have filed a case requesting that former interior minister Habib al-Adli is questioned about the incident.

They also asked in their lawsuit that reasons be disclosed as to why the suspects were released, and seek cancellation of the ban on publication about the bomb blast, which had been imposed since January.

The lawsuit also seeks to require that the investigations are completed by the Ministers of Justice and Interior, and that the perpetrators are sentenced as quickly as possible.

Malak said in the press conference that the lawsuit names the president of the Council of Ministers, the Attorney General and the Interior Minister. It demands the reopening of the case.

For some time, a long list of affidavits had been submitted to these government officials, and relatives of the victims have expressed willingness to testify. However, the government has not responded.

In the press conference which took place at the church’s Egyptian Center for Development Studies and Human Rights last Sunday, Malak said, “We will demand the Attorney General to take determined action to complete the investigation into the case and to speed up detection of the perpetrators and bring them to trial,” AINA reported.

Appeal to media

Also present at the press conference was the pastor of Two Saints Church, Father Makkar Fawzi, who appealed to media for help. “You are our last resort, we have talked with many officials without any answer.”

Rev. Abraham Emil of St. Mark Church said at the press conference that the government of Egypt has the capability to find the perpetrators, adding that the families of the victims are Egyptians, too. “They have the same rights as victims of the Revolution.”

Faith leaders arrested in the Capitol in fight against budget cuts

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:36 AM PDT


Eleven leaders of different faith groups were arrested recently in the Capitol Rotunda, where they staged a prayer sit-in protesting congressional budget cuts.

The 11 leaders of Jewish and Christian faiths joined hands and knelt down on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda, prayed and sang spiritual hymns recently.

The group prayed that the Obama administration, the Senate and the House make certain that they do not “balance the budget on the backs of the poor,” The Hill reported.

Others surrounded the group in support and said “Amen,” a witness told The Hill. Capitol Police warned the group to stop praying, but they were ignored.

The Capitol Police then cleared the area of tourists and media, and arrested the faith group for demonstrating inside the building. The room was open to the public again at about 1:30 p.m.

Those arrested included Rev. Jennifer Butler, executive director of Faith in Public Life, Jim Winkler, general secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church; and Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center, Philadelphia, who was in a wheelchair but was lifted out of it when he was arrested.

In a statement, the interfaith group said it is “frustrated that their pleas to the administration and Congress to protect funding for the nation’s most vulnerable are being ignored.”

Congress is paralyzed

“Congress is paralyzed,” Rev. Michael Livingston, former president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA) said in a statement, blaming this on “toxic partisan politics.”

Livingston said in the statement, “Our elected officials are protecting corporations and wealthy individuals while shredding the safety net for millions of the most vulnerable people in our nation and abroad. Our faith won’t allow us to passively watch this travesty unfold.”

Last July 26, two bishops, namely Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y. and Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., in a statement said, “A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons. It requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly,” NCR reported.

A letter was also sent last July 27 addressed to House Speaker John Boehner, from a group of Catholic priests, religious and lay people. The letter said, “You can heed the consistent moral calls from Catholic leaders who have urged lawmakers to decrease our debt fairly and protect the most vulnerable, or you can yield to growing political pressure from Tea Party Republicans willing to accept catastrophic default for the first time in our nation’s history,” NCR reported.

The letter continued, “This is a stark choice between responsible leadership that serves the common good and narrow ideology that makes tax cuts for the wealthy our most sacred national priority. … Now is the time to seek a compromise that reflects the Catholic values of solidarity with the most vulnerable and prudential judgment,” NCR reported.

Website of the Week: About.com Urban Legends

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:36 AM PDT


Did you know that Charlie Sheen is dead?

Did you know that there are rapists luring victims with crying children?

Did you know that some McDonald’s restaurants are charging African Americans a $1.50 transaction fee?

Of course not – they’re all false. And yet, thousands (okay, I’m taking a guess here) are duped every day with a new urban legend. The three mentioned above are just some of the newest hitting email boxes just this month.

Americans are getting smarter and less urban legends are circulating than the beginning days of email and the Internet, but some sound so convincing that it would be a crime not to pass it on to our loved ones. And then there’s the evil stepchild of the urban legend – the chain letter. You know, the ones that tell a heart-felt story and that you’ll be blessed if you pass it on or will be cursed if you don’t. Where do you go to find answers to give to your Aunt Hilda when she’s trying to warn you that President Obama is the antichrist? I suggest About.com Urban Legends.

David Emery is an avid chronicler of urban legends and popular culture and has written for About.com since 1997. He says, “On this site we’ll debunk, deconstruct, and, wherever possible, simply revel in the strangest, scariest, funniest, most popular tall tales, rumors, and hoaxes people see fit to share, both online and off. I’m pleased to have you join me in what promises to be a constantly entertaining, ever-enlightening exploration of the urban legends and folklore of the digital age.”

You can browse the site for hoaxes by just about any topic. Some are funny, some are disturbing and some will keep you from spreading false rumors about certain preachers. Some strange things are actually true and Emery gives evidence for each. You can even test your own urban legend knowledge. And once you do, you can forward this to Aunt Hilda.

Originally posted here.

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The Underground -- Egypt’s Coptic pope ignores calls for divorce rights

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The Underground -- Egypt’s Coptic pope ignores calls for divorce rights


Egypt’s Coptic pope ignores calls for divorce rights

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 02:48 AM PDT


Egypt’s Coptic Pope Shenouda III ignored recently calls by believers for the church to allow divorce and remarriage within the church during his weekly sermon recently.

Instead, Pope Shenouda, who heads what many view to be among the most conservative Christian churches in the world, focused his sermon on infidelity and family devotion.

In the 1930s Coptic law permitted divorce on a range of reasons including mental disabilities, impotence and cruelty. Three years ago Pope Shenouda narrowed the borders, saying divorce could only be allowed in cases of adultery or conversion.

This past month Christians have taken to the streets and gathered together in Cairo at the city’s papal office, calling for a wider berth regarding divorce. Under Egyptian law, religious authorities hold sole power to end Coptic marriages.

According to human rights advocates, this can be harmful to the couple and their children. “It’s a violation of personal rights,” Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies told We News.

“It adds psychological pressure … which could lead to the destruction of the fundamental essence of the family itself,” Tawab told We News. “So of course it has a negative effect on the person.”

Coptic Couples who wish to have a divorce under the church are required to go through a trial in the presence of church officials where they must present witnesses and sworn statements.

In some cases Copts go to court to file for a civil marriage, which will enable divorce and remarriage. This practice, however, rarely takes place as Egyptian authorities usually will not implement such court rulings, if granted. At the same time, if the ruling is implemented, the marriage is still not recognized by the church.

Earlier in the month some 120 Copts gathered at the Clerical Council of Saint Mark’s Cathedral to lobby for the right to remarry. The protesters hindered Bishop Paul and other priests from leaving the building.

They also sought the removal of Bishop Paul for his lack of support for divorce and remarriage. One protestor, Michael Hanna told Al-Masry Al-Youm, “[Bishop Paul] allows divorces and marriage for people with power and influence, but not to the poor. We have raised many complaints against him, which the pope does not consider.”

At that time a source from the Clerical Council told Al-Masry Al-Youm, “The Church does not discriminate between its disciples and has trust in Bishop Paul.”

Michael Malek, 28, who was not at the rally, told We News, “The pope has addressed this issue many, many times in his meetings. He frequently gets this question: ‘Will you allow divorce in the Orthodox faith?’ He says: ‘It’s in the Bible and there is no divorce. If you can’t live with it, you can go to another church that allows it. But don’t ask to remain [a Copt] and get a divorce.”

Apostle’s tomb discovered by archeologists in Turkey

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 01:15 AM PDT


The tomb of one of the original apostles of Jesus Christ was discovered recently in a southwestern province in Turkey.

The tomb of St. Philip the apostle, who is mentioned as one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, was found by a team of archaeologists led by Francesco D’Andria, an Italian professor and archaeologist.

St. Philip

St. Philip by Reubens

D’Andria and his team were unearthing the ruins of a newly-discovered church in Hieropolis, in the province Denizli, when they came across the tomb.

D’Andria said experts confirmed the tomb belonged to St. Philip as indicated by its structure and writings on it. He said they had been trying to locate the tomb for years.

St.Philip the apostle is considered a martyr in the Christian faith, having been killed by the Romans some 2000 years ago. He traveled to Hierapolis to spread the gospel.

According to ancient tradition, he died in 80 A.D. He had preached in Phrygia, Syria and Greece before he was martyred. Legend states that he was either crucified upside down, or beheaded. After his death, an octagonal shaped tomb, named The Martryium, was built for him on the spot where he died.

D’Andria had been the head of excavations in the area for some 32 years.

He told Dogan News Agency, “Until recently, we thought the grave of St. Philip was on Martyrs’ Hill, but we discovered no traces of him in the geophysical research conducted in that area. A month ago, we discovered the remnants of an unknown church, 40 meters away from the St. Philip Church on Martyrs’ Hill. And in that church we discovered the grave of St. Philip.”

So far, the grave has not been opened, but the team plans to do so in due time.

D’Andria told Dogan News Agency, “St. Philip is considered a martyr. In fact, the church built in his name on the Martyrs’ Hill is, for this reason, also called Martyrion, despite the fact there were no traces of the grave of St. Philip. As we were cleaning out the new church we discovered a month ago, we finally found the grave. With close examination, we determined that the grave had been removed from its previous location in the St. Philip Church to this new church in the fifth century, during the Byzantine era. We are extremely happy and proud to have discovered the grave of a saint whose name appears in the Bible-this surely is an important discovery for religious tourism, archaeology and Christendom.”

With the discovery it is expected that Hierapolis, which means “sacred city,” may become a Christian pilgrimage place and tourist destination. It is located beside Pamukkale, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The city is also renowned for its hot springs which had served, since the second century, as a spa.

South Korean court allows refugee status to three Iranian converts

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:28 AM PDT


A court in Seoul, Korea granted recently refugee status to three Iranians who had converted from Islam to Christianity while they were living in the country.

The Seoul Administrative Court determined in its ruling that the three Iranians would face strong persecution if they returned to their home country.

For this reason, the SAC made an unprecedented move by reversing a previous decision of the Justice Ministry to deny asylum to the three Iranians, who filed their lawsuits individually in protest of the Justice Ministry decision.

Many nationals of Islamic countries have sought—and received—refugee status after fleeing their nations to escape harsh persecution for apostasy, or changing religions in their home countries.

Expatriates, under the United Nations convention, are allowed to get refugee status in another country if the person fears persecution in his own country because of his religion, race, or political view.

However, the case of the three Iranians is precedent setting because the Muslims converted to Christianity after they had arrived in South Korea.

Included among the complainants is R (pseudonym), a 40-year-old man, who arrived in South Korea in 2000. He began to attend a Christian church, and two years after, in 2008, was baptized.

That year, he applied for refugee status on the grounds that he would be oppressed if he returned to his home country. His request was declined two years later.

The SAC determined that there was strong evidence that R would be persecuted severely in his home country, “given that R’s family and friends are expressing strong reluctance to accept his religious conversion,” Yonhap News reported.

The SAC said in its decision, “For the past years, persecution against Christians has worsened in Iran and the criminal law was revised in 2008 to allow capital punishment on those who convert to Christianity from Islam,” according to Yonhap News.

Sources:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/07/27/41/0302000000AEN20110727005700315F.HTML

Crystal Cathedral mulls $50 million offer from Roman Catholic church

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:28 AM PDT


The Roman Catholic Church Diocese of Orange County is interested in purchasing the Evangelical Crystal Cathedral, and they are willing to pay $50 million for it.

The offer is appealing to the bankrupt megachurch.  Its board is weighing a number of other offers along with that of the Catholic Church for its 40-acre campus along with its glass-paned cathedral.

An outside view of the Crystal Cathedral

If the Diocese of Orange lands the property, it hopes to renovate the interiors to include Catholic elements including an altar, holy water bowls, and others. However the exterior, which is the work of designer Philip Johnson, will remain unchanged.

“We want to make a transition to a Catholic ministry that is appropriate and respectful of what they have created,” Alan Martin, lawyer for the diocese, told The New York Times.

The Crystal Cathedral board is planning to convene on Thursday, where it will mull over a number of other options aside from that of the Catholic diocese. It will hold bankruptcy hearings in court on Monday.

Other options

At least three other bodies have bid for the property. One of them is Chapman University, which would like to convert the grounds into a satellite campus for the health sciences. Initially, Chapman offered $46 million, but recently it raised the amount to $50 million plus an option for Crystal Cathedral to buy back its Cathedral.

Another offer was given by My Father’s House Church International, which is willing to pay $50 million. Rev. Mark A. Thomas told the LA Times that he plans to “honor the history” of the Crystal Cathedral if his bid is accepted.

Finally Greenlaw Partners, a realty investment group in Orange County, has offered $46 million. In exchange, Crystal Cathedral may lease back its core buildings and build apartments on the land.

Crystal Cathedral was founded in 1955 by Rev. Robert H. Schuller and is viewed as the first megachurch in the country. In the 1980s some two million viewed its weekly TV program, “Hour of Power,” and over 10,000 worshiped at the Cathedral.

However, after Schuller retired in 2006 there was a succession battle among the children which alienated a number of churchgoers. Today, more worshippers attend the Spanish-language Sunday service that those in English led by Schuller’s daughter.

Last year the ministry filed for bankruptcy with some $46 million owed to creditors. The Roman Catholic diocese promised to pay the debt by the end of the year, and still have money left over for the ministry.

Of concern, however, is how the Catholic diocese will raise the funds. In 2004 it paid some $100 million in settlement of a clergy sex abuse case, causing layoffs and budget cuts. Stephen R. Bohannon, spokesman of the diocese, told The NY Times in an email that they will raise the money through loans and fund raising.

Whatever choice Crystal Cathedral makes, definitely it has a strong interest in being able to continue to worship there. John Charles, spokesman for Crystal Cathedral, told The NY Times, “I think the majority of the board and all of the members of the church would like to see an opportunity to continue the ministry at the location. But, it remains to be seen how this will proceed in the court system.”

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28crystal.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/crystal-cathedral-board-schuller-voting-member.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/crystal-cathedral-bankruptcy.html

John Stott, architect of Christian Evangelism, passes away

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:28 AM PDT


John Stott, 90, a key figure in the resurgence of 20th century British evangelism, died on July 27, 2011, from complications of old age.

Stott, who was ill for many weeks, died in the presence of family and close friends while listening to Handel’s Messiah. He was a lifelong bachelor who played a pioneer role in refashioning evangelicalism in the 20th century.

He authored the bestseller, Basic Christianity, which was translated into some 60 languages. Of 40 books that he wrote, others are Issues Facing Christians Today (1984), and The Contemporary Christian (1992).

He was committed to “[relating] the ancient Word to the modern world,” Baptist Press said. Stott is a founder of the Lausanne Covenant.

Stott, who graduated with highest honors in Cambridge in French and theology, is known for his special gift for grasping the meaning of the Bible and explaining the scriptures clearly to all types of people.

From the start he was passionate about evangelism, and even in University ran Scripture Union camps during the holidays which were strongly evangelistic in nature.

In 1945 he was ordained in the Church of England, and became rector in 1950 even as the church was damaged by the war. He distinguished himself as a Bible teacher and expositor, and built a reputation as an evangelist.

In 1950 evangelicalism had little influence in the Christian world, but Stott spurred its growth globally. In his church, All Souls, he led many to Jesus Christ and taught church members how to evangelize.

All Souls, an inner city church, had a mix of indigent and wealthy church members. Stott unified both sides through evangelism. In time he became a popular speaker at Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship evangelistic campaigns in many British universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge; and later, North America and the Commonwealth.

Stott fostered organizations that encouraged young evangelical priests, and organized many evangelical conferences. His skill in clearly explaining the Bible with great depth was a tool in his success.

Stott was passionate about the Bible and how it could shape life. Through his works, a generation gained renewed faith from Scripture. He showed that simple Christianity could appeal to everyone, and transformed British evangelism into a major movement.

Stott came to know Billy Graham when the latter first came to England in 1946 and through the years their friendship grew and was pivotal to the founding of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974.

 

Stott chaired the drafting committee and is recognized as its chief architect. That year, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association convened an International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The congress was significant in showing that churches around the world can work together. It also helped leaders to recognize that social concern and preaching the gospel could not be done separately.

Stott said, “The Great Commission neither explains, nor exhausts, nor supersedes the Great Commandment. What it does is to add to the command of neighbor-love and neighbor-service a new and urgent Christian dimension. If we truly love our neighbor, we shall without doubt tell him the Good News of Jesus. But equally, if we truly love our neighbor, we shall not stop there,” Christianity Today reported.

“[Stott] imparted to many a love for the global church and imparted a passion for biblical fidelity and a love for the Savior,” Benjamin Homan, president of John Stott Ministries, told Christianity Today.

A spokesman for Billy Graham told Christianity Today, “The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen, and I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisers. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to heaven.”

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary told Baptist Press, “You cannot explain English-speaking evangelicalism in the 20th century without crucial reference to the massive influence of John Stott.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church told BP, “I flew to the U.K.recently just to pray for him and sit by his bed. What a giant! [He was] one of my closest mentors.”

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Refugee status sought for Pakistani Christians

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:28 AM PDT


The head of a Christian congress in Pakistan announced recently that he will send an appeal to the United Nations to allow refugee status for Pakistani Christians because they do not feel safe in their own country.

Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, chief of Pakistan Christian Congress, said the PCC is demanding that the Pakistani government opens its borders so that Christians may flee to bordering countries such as Afghanistan, India and China.

“The Christians in Pakistan do not feel safe, and they want to flee for the safety of their lives. We are asking that they be given refugee status,” Bhatti told the Pakistan Christian Post.

Bhatti said this will continue to be necessary unless the blasphemy law is repealed. He also said the Federal Minority Ministry must be restored, and there should be an end to kidnapping and enforced conversion of Christian women to Islam so that they can be married to influential Muslims against their will.

Kidnapping, forced conversion

The number of kidnappings, forced conversion to Islam and gang rape of Christian women has doubled in the year 2010-2011.

An example is the incident of nursing student Farah Hatim, 24, a Catholic girl who was kidnapped last May 7, by Muslim Zeeshan Iliyas and his brothers, Gulfam and and Ulran.

Hatim, who lives in south Punjab where most incidents of Christian persecution occur, was forced to convert to Islam so that she could forcibly marry her abductor.

Hatim’s abductors threatened to kill her family if she failed to cooperate. When her family tried to file a report of her abduction before Superintendent Police Ashfaq Guijar and SHO city Nazir Shah, they were threatened and the police refused to file the case.

The case was only registered after some 400 Christians protested in front of the police office. As the Justice and Peace Commission brought the case to court, the police constantly threatened Hatim’s family.

The case was then raised to the Supreme Court. On July 20, for the first time, Hatim saw her family. When she was asked if she went with her Muslim abductor freely, she wept and said, “Of my own will,” to protect her family.

After the proceedings she was granted a few minutes to meet with her family. Her brother told Asia News, “I am shocked … she was threatened … Why us? Why do we have to deal with it? Just because we are Christians?”

The Committee for Justice and Peace told Asia News, “Farah has become a victim of the prostitution racket. Zeeshan Iiyas tried to push her into prostitution when she was still a student at Sheikh Zaid Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan, but she refused. Zeehan Iiyas then took revenge.”

Farah is also fearful because she became pregnant after she was raped and she fears that if she tries to return to her community she will be rejected and her family will be killed.

Sisters kidnapped

In a separate incident, two Christian siblings were kidnapped by a band hired by a wealthy Muslim, and forced to convert to Islam. One of them was then forced to marry the rich Muslim.

Rebecca Masih and her sister Saima Masih were abducted by businessman Muhammad Wassem last May 24 in Faisalabad district. Waseem then forced Saima to marry him. Extremist group leader Muhammad Zubair Qasim was present. His band, Sip-e-Sahaba, specializes in kidnapping and forced conversions.

According to the Justice and Peace Commission, “thousands of girls from minority communities are kidnapped and forced to marry Muslims. We are fighting against the cancer of abductions and forced marriages,” Asia News reported.

The Catholic church has also condemned such acts, as have human rights organizations. Hatim’s family is appealing for action, or laws against the practice of abduction, forced conversion and marriage.

However, such acts prevail largely because of the blasphemy law which is often abused as pretext for this, as well as destruction of Christian homes, arrest and murder of Christians including women and children.

Courts are not mediums for true justice for Christians. Even government officials are not spared, including Shahbaz Bhatti, Christian Federal Minister who was gunned down in Islamabad. The Federal Minority Ministry has also been dissolved.

Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti of the PCC said because equal rights for minorities is not possible in Pakistan, the alternative he seeks is refugee status for its Christians.

Question of the week: Lost books of the Bible?

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:31 PM PDT


Question: “What are the lost books of the Bible?”

Answer: There are no “lost books” of the Bible, or books that were taken out of the Bible, or books missing from the Bible. Every book that God intended and inspired to be in the Bible is in the Bible. There are many legends and rumors of lost books, but there is no truth whatsoever to these stories. There are literally hundreds of religious books that were written in the same time period as the books of the Bible. Some of these books contain true accounts of things that actually occurred (1 Maccabees, for example). Some contain good spiritual teaching (the Wisdom of Solomon, for example). However, these books are not inspired by God. If we read any of these books, the Apocrypha as an example, we have to treat them as fallible historical books, not as the inspired, inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The gospel of Thomas, for example, was a forgery written in the 3rd or 4th century A.D., claiming to have been written by the apostle Thomas. It was not written by Thomas. The early church fathers almost universally rejected the gospel of Thomas as heretical. It contains many false and heretical things that Jesus supposedly said and did. None of it (or at best very little of it) is true. The epistle of Barnabas was not written by the biblical Barnabas, but by an imposter. The same can be said of the gospel of Philip, the apocalypse of Peter, etc.

There is one God. The Bible has one Creator. It is one book. It has one plan of grace, recorded from initiation, through execution, to consummation. From predestination to glorification, the Bible is the story of God redeeming His chosen people for the praise of His glory. As God’s redemptive purposes and plan unfold in Scripture, the recurring themes constantly emphasized are the character of God, the judgment for sin and disobedience, the blessing for faith and obedience, the Lord Savior and sacrifice for sin, and the coming kingdom and glory. It is God’s intention that we know and understand these five themes because our lives and eternal destinies depend upon them. It is therefore unthinkable that God would allow some of this vital information to be “lost” in any way. The Bible is complete, in order that we who read and understand it might also be “complete, and equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Recommended Resource: The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities by Darrell Bock.

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The Underground -- Movie review: Happiness is a Warm Blanket

http://theundergroundsite.com)" target="_blank" style="color: #888; font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">The Underground -- Movie review: Happiness is a Warm Blanket


Movie review: Happiness is a Warm Blanket

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:20 PM PDT


They’re back! The Peanuts gang are together again in the franchise’s 45th animation project, Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.

What is most disappointing is that the film was put “straight to DVD” in March of this year and it isn’t clear why that decision was made.

From all appearances, it seems that this project was originally intended to air on television but didn’t.

This is odd since ABC has been airing many of the Peanuts’ holiday specials throughout the year.

The DVD box says that it is an “original movie” but the running time is only 46 minutes, which is just about right for an hour special (minus the commercials). Also, the special features on the DVD refer to Blanket as a special.

Whatever the reason may be, fans of Charlie Brown and his friends will find this a great addition and right up there with the best of the Peanuts specials.

Headed by Executive Producer, Craig Schultz, Charles Schultz’s son, the production team did everything they could to make it look and feel like a classic Charlie Brown story.

The film was hand drawn (24 frames a second!) and used water color backgrounds, they found children with voices that matched the characters in the previous specials, and the jazz music is similar in style to that of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, but is actually composed of by Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO or all things.

What might be most surprising is that Steven Pastis, the creator of the comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, wrote the teleplay.

Known for his sarcastic humor, this may seem like an odd choice, but Charles Schultz was a huge inspiration to Pastis who often references the Peanuts characters in his own strip.

He and Craig went through hundreds of original comic strips and pieced them together to create a full story.

In the cartoon, Linus is pushed to his limits when he learns that his grandmother is coming for a visit and doesn’t approve of the security blanket.

Since his own parents won’t make Linus part with it, she plans to do it for them.

The rest of the gang try to help Linus “kick the habit” while Snoopy tries to steal the blanket for himself. Besides the main story, there are a few side stories featuring Lucy trying to romance Schroeder, Charlie Brown trying to fly a kite and the others trying to get Pig Pen to clean up his act.

For the first time in years, it features long-forgotten characters like Shermy, Patty (not Peppermint, but the original), Violet and Frieda – you know, the girl with the naturally curly hair?

It even features a vignette of the very first Peanuts comic strip. And don’t worry, none of the adults are seen and only say “waw, waw, waw” just as they always have.

The movie is slower paced and calmer than today’s modern cartoons. It is traditional and yet progressive. While not a faith-based story, Blanket offers a message that is familiar to church folk.

At one point, Linus is at his wit’s end with all of his friends and family judging him because he has a security blanket.

He stands on Snoopy’s doghouse and questions why he should be judged when they all have problems and insecurities too.

He even goes as far as to suggest that his dependence for his blanket is about the same as his grandmother’s dependence on coffee. That doesn’t go over well.

As Christians, we can get so caught up seeing things as either right or wrong.

We want our fellow parishioners listening to the same music or reading the same books and “doing church” the “right way” that we forget that God has made us each unique and doesn’t expect us to all be the same.

Finally, the DVD offers some special features worth watching as well:

  • The Deconstructing Schulz: From Comic Strip to Screenplay featurette.
  • The Happiness is Finding the Right Voice: Meet the Stellar Voice Cast featurette.
  • The 24 Frames a Second: Drawing and Animating a Peanuts Movie featurette.
  • A deleted scene with an introduction by Director Andy Beall

All in all, this is a true delight for fans. Your children will enjoy it too.

Originally posted here.

Justin Bieber, dad, get Jesus tattoos together

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:12 PM PDT


Justin Bieber and his father got matching tattoos recently with the name of Jesus in Hebrew on their left ribcages.

A newly-released photo showed the father and son, topless, with their matching “Yeshua” tattoos. They were photographed in Israel, where they got the tattoos done.

Justin Bieber and Dad get matching "Yeshua" tattoos. Yeshua is Jesus in Hebrew.

Father and son were in Israel for a show that Bieber had last May. It was part of an extended tour that started in England in March. During their spare time, they got the tats.

The tattoos say Yeshua, which is Hebrew for Jesus. They were done last May, just before Justin flew to Hawaii near the end of the month to be with Selena Lopez, his girlfriend.

Jeremy posted pictures of himself and Justin in the parlor while they were having their tattoos done, in Facebook. Among the photos shown was Justin grimacing and clutching his father’s hand for support.

Justin, 17, has another tattoo of a seagull inked on his left hip, which was done when he turned 16. Before then, he had a star tattoo placed on his elbow, both with his parents’ permission.

Although he is still underage, the new tattoo is legal because he was with his father when they were done, indicating parental permission. Jeremy himself has a number of other tattoos.

The tattoo could be clearly seen when Justin was in Hawaii with Gomez in late May.

Justin has always been open about his Christian faith. Before performing onstage, he prays in both Hebrew and English. During his recent visit to the Holy Land he visited its religious sites and told Christian Today that the experience was “truly special.”

Bieber enjoys a great relationship with his father, but it doesn’t follow that his childhood was perfect. He was largely raised by his mother Pattie Mallette, but always kept a close relationship with his father.

“I have a great relationship with my Dad,” the Daily Mail quoted Bieber. “When I was younger, he taught me how to play some songs on the guitar, like Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan. He taught me how to drive, too. He’s cool.”

Does Rick Warren Endorse “Chrislam”?

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:09 PM PDT


The pastor of a megachurch denied recently a slew of accusations had had been roaming the internet, forwarded e-mails and YouTube claiming that he supports Chrislam.

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church with a membership of 22,000 denied recently that he values, validates or promotes Chrislam in any way. In a blog which often attacks him,Warren posted a statement which said, “Several of the above comments are completely incorrect, based on believing second hand false rumors instead of finding out the facts before speaking up.”

Geoff Surratt of Pastors.com said on his blog, “I have worked for Pastor Rick for the past six months …. and followed his ministry closely for almost 20 years. Pastor Warren is not perfect; he is very open and honest about his challenges and flaws. But his theology is tightly bound to biblical Christianity.”

Merging of Christianity and Islam?

Televangelist Jack and his wife Rexella Van Impe have monitored what they call Chrislam which they define as a blend of Christianity and Islam. They say that many churches in the U.S. have been trying to promote it as one religion.

In particular, the Van Impes are critical of the organizations Faith Shared, which sponsors an Interfaith Alliance, and Human Rights First, where clergy of different faiths recite one another’s texts during service.

The goal of the two groups is to “counter the misperception, including in the Arab and Muslim worlds, that the United States is a nation defined by the widely covered images of the marginal few who would burn a Qur’an, rather than by a proud and longstanding tradition of religious freedom, tolerance and pluralism,” God Discussion reported.

Van Impe believes that Warren is promoting Chrislam and has accused him of apostasy, noting that Warren was a speaker at an Islamic conference two years before. His claim has been picked up by others and has gone online.

Van Impe mentioned the names of other preachers as well, but learned later that the Trinity Broadcasting Network censored the names. As a result, he issued a statement to Paul Crouch, network founder.

In Van Impe’s statement, published in God Discussion, he said, “Paul you’ve been asking me to come back … Rexella and I have made up our minds. It is not God’s will for our life. We’re going to take a stand. We’re going to preach what we want to preach. We’re not going to be told what we can’t preach.”

Van Impe said, “call me a bigot. I’ll be a bigot for my Jesus any day,” God Discussion reported.

Statement by Warren

Rick Warren said in his statement, published in Pastors.com;

“The so-called “Chrislam” rumor is 100% false. If the guy who started this libelous myth, or anyone else who passed it on, had obeyed our Lord’s command (Matt. 18:18-20) to come directly to me, and then asked what I actually believed – they would have been embarrassed to learn that I believe the exact opposite.  As a fourth generation Christian pastor, my life and ministry is built on the truth that Jesus is the only way, and our inerrant Bible is our only true authority.

“As an evangelist, I spend much of my time speaking to non-Christian groups. You cannot win your enemies to Christ; only your friends, so we must build bridges of friendship and love to those who believe differently so Jesus can walk across that bridge into their hearts.  Besides, it is not a sin, but rather COMMANDED by Jesus that we love our enemies.  In the past 10 years, Saddleback Church has baptized over 22,000 new adult believers- simply because we express love to those who don’t know Christ yet.

“It is nonsense to believe that you must compromise your beliefs, or water down your convictions in order to love someone, or even just treat them with dignity.

“Jesus was called “the friend of sinners” by the legalistic Pharisees because he hung out with (and clearly loved) unbelievers.   I HOPE YOU will 1) Always believe that EVERYONE needs Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  2) Have the courage to associate with nonbelievers in order to love them and bring them to the Savior. 3) Consider being called “a friend of sinners” a Christ-like compliment. 4) Refuse to pass on rumors until you’ve checked for “the truth with the person accused. The false statements above should be removed.”

Parents still prefer the Bible as a source of names for their babies

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:03 PM PDT


Don’t try to register your baby’s name as Lucifer if you live in New Zealand, because it won’t be accepted. The name has been banned, as three parents found out recently.

The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in New Zealand has also banned the names Bishop and Messiah. But the reasons are not purely religious, as other names that were turned down are punctuation marks “.” (full stop), “*” (asterisk)  and “/” (slash).

Other names turned down are 89, and single letters T, I, D and C although J and Q were allowed. Titles such as Baron, General, Justice, Knight, Duke, Judge, King and Mr. are also not be allowed.

And don’t think of naming your twins Benson and Hedges. Also disallowed are Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence. But one name did get through, Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, who decided to legally change her name when she was nine years old.

Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt told The Sydney Morning Herald that odd names can scar children. “It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap.”

Other rejected names: Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Fish and Chips, Sex Fruit, and Twisty Poi.

Inspired by the Bible

Many parents get inspiration from the Bible in choosing names for their children.

Nameberry, which has analyzed some 23 million page views since January 2011, named 11 most popular names and one of them, Asher, is biblically sourced and ranked number one for boys’ names.

Asher replaced Henry as the number one name for the first time this year.

This is the name of the eighth son of Jacob by Zilpah, the maid of his wife, Leah. Asher was promised by Jacob a life of abundance of food and sweets as fits a king (Gen. 49:20). Asher means “happy.”

Canada

Demographics also play a role in choosing biblical names for children. In Canada, B.C. Vital Statistics showed that the trend to cull names from the Bible continues.

The popular biblical name ranking highest is Jacob, though other top rankers are Noah, Nathan and Benjamin. Less high in the rankings, but still popular, are the names Levi, Moses and Ezequiel.

Italy

In Italy, three of the five most popular girls have Biblical roots though the choice may have been inspired by a celebrity.

Maria is the most popular Italian baby girl name and it means “star of the sea.” The Bible mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene.

Anna ranked No. 2 as the most popular choice for Italian babies, ParentDish said.

It’s a variation of the biblical Hannah from the Old Testament. Anna is also the name of a prophetess in the Gospel of Luke.

Possibly, however, parents chose the name based on celebrities like ballerina Anna Pavlov.

Angela ranks among the top five women’s names, if you include some 40 other variations such as Angeline and Angelica.

The name means Messenger of God and is a take from angels in the Bible.

However the inspiration for naming one’s baby may have come from actresses like Angelina Jolie.

Phillipines

In the Philippines which is a Catholic country, it is not uncommon to name every daughter in a family Maria after Jesus’ mother. For example, one daughter will be Maria Ramona, and the other could be Maria Teresa.

Family fears for arrested Vietnam priest’s health

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:00 PM PDT


A leading Vietnamese dissident was rearrested recently, despite serious health conditions, including being afflicted with a brain tumor and being partially paralyzed from several strokes.

Father Nguyen Van Ly, a man in his 60s, was picked up recently by police who arrived with an ambulance at the office of the Bishop of Hue in Nha Chung, where Ly had been staying under house arrest, in a home for old priests.

“We heard that at 2:30 p.m. police cars and an ambulance arrived at Nha Chung to arrest Priest Ly, ending one year and four months of temporary release,” Father Phan Van Loi told Radio Free Asia.

“Before the police arrested Father Van Ly, they asked Father Vien Le Quang, head of the bishop’s office, to sign a statement,” Father Loi told Asia News. “The priest wrote that ‘Father Van Ly is still sick. He has not recovered from his illness.’”

Father Loi said to Asia News, “The police at first objected, but eventually accepted the document written by Father Le Quang Vien. Within minutes they arrested Father Ly.”

“They arrested him although his health is not good. He has not recovered from his illness. He can’t walk well,” a relative said to AFP.

Father Ly was brought to a prison in Kim Bang district, which forms part of Ha Nam province.

Brain tumor

Last year Father Ly, who has spent over 15 years in and out of prison since 1977, was allowed to receive medical treatment outside of jail due to a brain tumor. He had been serving an eight-year sentence for the charge of propaganda.

During his trial Father Ly tried to deliver a poem that condemned the country’s communist leaders, but the police muzzled him. Ly also yelled, “Communist court!” and said the court procedure followed the “law of the jungle,” the AFP said, causing a policeman to place his hands over Father Ly’s mouth to silence him.

Ly is a founding member of the pro-democracy “Bloc 8406.” His imprisonment drew censure from human rights organizations and foreign diplomats.

In 2009 Father Ly experienced three strokes, leaving him partially paralyzed. Because of this, some 37 U.S. senators sent a letter to the country’s president Nguyen Minh Triet seeking his release.

Now the government has rearrested Father Ly on charges of distributing anti-government documents. Father Ly has, through emails, advocated a multiparty system and called for hunger strikes to support this.

The government-sponsored Vietnam News said, “Although the authorized agencies extended the time allotted for his treatment and reprimanded him many times, Ly continued to defy the law of the State of Vietnam.”

Father Ly’s re-arrest, following shortly after the reelection of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, seems to indicate that things will get tougher for dissidents.

Blogger to be tried

In a separate development, government authorities announced that a blogger and lecturer who was arrested last year on subversion charges will have a hearing on August 10 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Pham Minh Hoang, who is French-Vietnamese, will be charged with “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration,” an unnamed official told AFP.

The foreign ministry of France has expressed “serious concern” about the case, the AFP said. If convicted, Hoang may face up to 15 years in jail.

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The Underground -- Willow Creek announces parting of ways with ministry for ex-gays, Exodus International


The Underground -- Willow Creek announces parting of ways with ministry for ex-gays, Exodus International


Willow Creek announces parting of ways with ministry for ex-gays, Exodus International

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 09:17 AM PDT


A megachurch in Chicago announced recently its parting of ways with an “ex-gay” organization that it had worked with for several decades.

Willow Creek Community Church, with a membership of 30,000, announced recently that it is parting ways with Exodus International. However, the decision to sever ties was actually made in 2009.

Susan DeLay, spokeswoman for Willow Creek, told Christianity Today that people who have same-sex attractions are welcome to the church. “Willow Creek has a whole host of ministries for people dealing with these issues, and we would never intend for them to feel sidelined.”

Exodus International was disappointed with the decision of the megachurch.  Alan Chambers, president of Exodus told CT, “There are Christians who believe like one another who aren’t willing to stand with one another, simply because they’re afraid of the backlash people will direct their way if they are seen with somebody who might not be politically correct.”

Exodus, the largest ministry globally that adheres to the belief that homosexuality can be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ, has been experiencing some trouble lately.

In New Zealand the ministry lost its tax exempt status, and there is a petition in Canada that is being forwarded by the New Democratic Party that seeks to do the same for all ex-gay organizations.

Chambers told CT, “I really do think decisions like this, ultimately, highlight a reticence in the church to stand up for biblical truth, and they’re coming at a time when we’re going to have to stand up for what we believe. I think there’s a way to stand up. We have to find that way.”

Last year, Exodus chose to cancel sponsorship of “Day of Truth,” which urges students to speak openly about their feelings of censure towards homosexuality. Chambers, taking note of the issues of bullying and gay youth suicide, said the approach was not appropriate. Instead, he told CT “a much more conversational, relational, service sort of way” is more suitable.

Recently, the president of TOMS Shoes apologized for its participation in an event in collaboration with Focus on the Family, which also disagrees with homosexual behavior.

Willow Creek says its decision to part ways with Exodus International is the result of a review of its relationship with various organizations.

Scott Vaudrey, director of pastoral care in a statement told The Christian Post, “It is true that Willow Creek discontinued its formal relationship with Exodus. In making this move, we were not making a social or political statement. We were simply in a season of reviewing and clarifying some of our affiliations with outside organizations.”

Keeping the Faith: Time to Hit the Road

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 06:04 PM PDT


Nothing screams “summer” like a family road trip. Even with the explosion of easy-access-information, human beings still long to explore their world. We aren’t content to merely “Google” our surroundings and accept that as a genuine experience.

So, families get up, get out, and get going; especially during these sacred months of warm weather and long days. To the beach, the mountains, the grandparents, the roller coasters, or the local state park, parents and children stream, their SUVs laden with fishing poles, tents, Weber grills, and luggage.

Moms and dads relax, at least a little bit. Kids get sunburned, a lot actually. Relatives get visited and hugged, even those we don’t like. And gallons of ice cream, lemonade, and soda are consumed by thirsty hands and mouths as sugary-sticky as duct tape.

I love these road trips as much as Clark Griswold and Cousin Eddie. I always have, though when I was a kid raised in a poor family, “vacation” consisted of a hot two-hour ride in a rattling station wagon to Aunt Francis’ house, an afternoon at a Civil War Memorial, and dinner at Bonanza. Still, I loved the road, and it felt like a great adventure (believe me, with that station wagon, every trip was an adventure).

I’m traveling more and more these days, not so much out of love for the road – I like sleeping in my own bed – but out of love for old and new friends; out of love for what is happening all across North America. In Atlanta, Peoria, Detroit, Dallas, Paducah, Tucson, and everywhere in between, I find and spend time with people who are over-churched and religiously over-worked, but who are under-graced and under-gospeled.

The practice of their faith has become an albatross around their neck and they want to be free of it, not because they suddenly have given up on faith or hate Jesus, but the contrary: They so love Christ and so value their faith, that to retain these things they love, they must let everything else go. They want simply to worship their God, follow Jesus, and help their neighbors. They hope to do this without all the ecclesiastical machinery we have created.

They meet in coffee shops, in store fronts, around dining room tables, in pubs, and yes, sometimes in church sanctuaries. They have come to understand that church isn’t a place we go. It’s something we become. Church isn’t about buildings or organizations or sacraments. It’s about people and relationships. Church isn’t an institution that should complicate our lives further. Rather, it should set us free and focus our lives on Christ.

I once heard Phyllis Tickle say that every 500 years or so, the church has a rummage sale. Paraphrasing, she said every few centuries Christians scrounge through everything we have stockpiled in our attics and collective storage boxes. We start sorting through it all and discover that some of it is too precious to ever let go. But much of what we find stashed away in moldy storage units has to be moved to the curb.

After all, Christians are a pilgrim-people. This world is not our home and we are built for the wandering, open road. Hanging on to anything beyond what is truly essential will only weigh us down, and hanging on too long will cause us to sink roots where we do not belong.

In my own travels, this – this – is exactly what I discover all over North America: People of faith who have had their rummage sale, and who are now neck-deep in the journey away from religious institution and toward becoming grace-filled, Jesus-following, baggage-relinquishing explorers. They are now light enough to hit the road, living out the great adventure of faith.

What do you say a few of us get together along the way? A cup of coffee down at the corner, a pint at your favorite watering hole, Sunday morning at the red-bricked church-house: You just let me know when and where. I’ll meet you there, and we will hit the road together.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author. His books include “Leaving Religion, Following Jesus” and “The Jesus Tribe.” Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.net.

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The Underground -- The Ambassador talks of new album, marriage

http://theundergroundsite.com)" target="_blank" style="color: #888; font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">The Underground -- The Ambassador talks of new album, marriage


The Ambassador talks of new album, marriage

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 12:31 PM PDT


Christian rapper The Ambassador has launched a new album, “Stop The Funeral,” after a long hiatus from ministry amid news of an inappropriate relationship in 2009.

Recently,  William “The Ambassador” Branch said on the 700 Club that the relationship that almost ended his marriage was “non-sexual but very inappropriate.”

That year The Ambassador, who founded The Cross Movement, was dropped by Cross Movement Records.

Now his newest album “Stop The Funeral” was produced with a new label, Xist Movement, and his marriage is intact.

The Ambassador told HipHopDX that his new album is different from the rest, because “It’s the first time where I purposely spent a little more time talking about me and less time scolding the culture, less time scolding the surroundings and do more scolding of myself and exhorting from a non-authoritarian standpoint.”

One song, Thug Joint describes his journey after the scandal broke. Part of the lyrics say:

“As truth crashed through my heart ached like a bad tooth
This hard rock got softer than brown spots on bad fruit
I came with a heart stone like a statue
then the rap group got under my skin like a tattoo
They rapped about a man diein’ and I was cryin’
They said He died so I could be saved like Private Ryan
We all could see zoomorphically He’s a lion
Coming to rule from Zion with a scepter of iron”

Of the relationship that sent everything crashing down, The Ambassador, who appeared on 700 Club with his wife Michelle, said the woman was a member of the church.

At the time he was not communicating well with his wife, while this woman was easier to talk to.

The Ambassador said, “The lack of communication made me just try to communicate with somebody that it wasn’t as much work as it would have been to communicate with my wife,” BREATHEcast reported.

Michelle, who became suspicious, learned of the relationship when she confronted the other woman.

Initially she thought of bailing, but told 700 Club, “Someone said to me, ‘Michelle if you leave, people will support you and you know people will understand, but I want you to know that the devil would’ve won’ and that struck me.”

The couple agreed that pastoral counseling helped a lot in restoring their marriage, and in enabling Michelle to forgive her husband.

She told 700 Club, “When you get hurt there’s always scars but you know the Savior has forgiven us and he has not done more to me than I’ve done to the Savior.”

Church leaders react to Oslo bomb blast, mass shooting

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 12:30 PM PDT


Christian church leaders condemned recently the twin violent attacks in Norway, including a bomb blast in Oslo targeting a government building and leaving seven dead; and a massacre on an island youth camp leaving 84 dead.

The bomb blast in Oslo hit a government building and wounded up to 10 people. The attack at a youth camp in Utoeya island killed 84, mostly teens, at the hands of a gunman dressed as a policeman, who shot at youth delegates using high powered firearms.

Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said he was shocked and saddened by the two attacks and asked churches worldwide to pray for the victims.

“Attacking the core institutions of a democratic society and innocent youth gathered for a workshop to discuss political issues, leaves me shocked. Being close to these events, I am deeply saddened,” Christian Today reported.

Tveit added, “In times like this the Norwegian people and government need the solidarity of the international society and the prayers of the worldwide church,” according to Christian Today.

Rev. Dr. Arne Fjeldstad, a Lutheran minister and CEO of The Media Project, which is an organization for Christian journalists, told The Christian Post that the attack in the youth camp is “simply unbelievable and horrifying.”

Fjeldstad told The Christian Post that many Christians are planning to go to church over the weekend to pray for the victims and to light candles for them during service.

Archbishop Paul Tscherrig, the envoy to Norway of Pope Benedict XVI said the attacks were “madness” and said on Vatican Radio, “All these actions are irrational and difficult to comprehend, whether they had personal or political reasons,” the AP reported.

Christian fundamentalist

The suspect in both attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, 32, described himself on his Facebook page as a Christian fundamentalist and conservative. He was formerly a member of the right winged FRP, or Progress political party, the second largest political party in Norway. He is said to have right-wing extremist links.

In the Oslo bombing last Friday, government offices were hit by the huge blast, killing at least seven people and wounding 10 others.

In the attack on the youth camp at Utoya, the suspect dressed up as a policeman and told the youth to gather on the shore before he opened fire on them using high powered firearms. Many ran to the waters to swim away to safety.

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The Underground -- Episcopal Church supports bill that calls for college for illegals

The Underground -- Episcopal Church supports bill that calls for college for illegals


Episcopal Church supports bill that calls for college for illegals

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 05:01 PM PDT


The Episcopal Church expressed recently its support for a measure that will facilitate access to higher education to undocumented youths in the U.S.

Bishop David C. Jones of Virginia represented the Episcopal Church at a press conference on July 12 on Capitol Hill to express support for the DREAM Act.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors seeks to allow “conditional permanent resident” status to undocumented youth “with good moral character who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and graduated from high school. Permanent resident status would be available upon completion of two years of higher education or military service,” Episcopal News Service reported.

Jones, in a statement to ENS said, “The DREAM Act points to a moral good — access to education. Young people, having graduated from high school and having done no wrong, should not be barred from access to college loans, grants and scholarships simply because of the actions of their parents.”

“They are, like their classmates, inheritors of the American Dream. They should not be denied opportunity. The DREAM Act opens the door to that opportunity,” Jones said, according to ENS.

Other Christian churches and organizations that support the DREAM Act include  the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Other faith organizations and groups also in support of the DREAM Act are the Islamic Society of North America, the American Jewish Committee, and The United Sikhs, among others.

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is also enlisting various churches to participate in The Dream Sabbath, to be held from Sept. 16-Oct. 19. Under Dream Sabbath, churches may request that a student from DREAM Act attend their worship service and share their story.

The Episcopal Church decided to support the DREAM Act during its General Convention 2009 through Resolution B006. Alex Baumgarten, who is director of the church’s Office of Government Relations said in a statement, “The DREAM Act would help thousands of youth who came to our country as undocumented to receive legal status, thereby granting untold opportunities on their way to becoming United States citizens.”

Some 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools annually.

“Withholding legal status from these children not only hurts them, but it deprives America of future generations of dedicated citizens, innovators, entrepreneurs and public servants,” Ana White, the Episcopal Church’s immigration and refugee policy analyst, said in a statement.

The DREAM Act is an initiative of assistant senate majority leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) in the Senate; and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-California) and Howard Berman (D-California) in the House of Representatives.

Sources:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129034_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/newsline_128976_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/

South Sudan bishop devastated, saddened by mass graves along North-South border

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 05:01 PM PDT


Within a week of South Sudan’s independence, mass graves were discovered in Kadugli, next to an Episcopal Church compound in South Kordofan, a Bishop said.

Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of South Sudan’s Episcopal Diocese of Kadugli called the mass graves “devastating and saddening,” according to Episcopal News Service.

The graves were discovered through satellite imagery that was analyzed by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. It confirmed eyewitness reports that reached Satellite Sentinel Project of systematic murder and mass burials by the Sudan Armed Forces against civilians.

Eyewitnesses told of house-to-house searches by the SAF and Government of Sudan allied forces that methodically killed supporters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.

“Detailed situation reports from UN agencies and other aid providers are severely limited due to the lack of free and unfettered access to Kadugli town,” Charlie Clements, executive director of Harvard Carr Center told SSP.

“In the absence of on-the-ground reports from humanitarian actors and journalists, eyewitness reports from those who were in Kadugli town within the past month, combined with satellite imagery analysis, offer the only available means at present of assessing threats to civilians there,” Clements told SSP.

Victims of genocide

Richard Parkins, director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan told ENS that the images show “in graphic and compelling terms the extent to which the Government of Sudan has committed the extermination of civilians in Kadugli and further confirms what many have claimed that the elimination of persons from this area are victims of genocide.”

A 19-page report by the UN peacekeeping Mission in Sudan said, “UNMIS Human Rights has received photographs of mangled and mutilated bodies of civilians, some cut into halves, including women and children,” the AFP reported.

The report said, “An UNMIS staff member who was detained by SAF at their military facility in Umbattah locality reported during his detention, that he saw… an estimated 150 dead bodies of persons of Nuban descent scattered on the grounds of the military compound,” the AFP reported.

Bishop Elnail, in a statement to ENS, urged the U.S. and the international community to monitor the situation and to send a peacekeeping force to the area, “as serious new negotiations have to start to bring freedom and lasting peace for all marginalized people in Sudan.”

Elnail, in his statement to ENS, also called for peace and reconciliation, “to stop this state-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign, and to show the strength and unity that comes from a respect for our diversity.”

Sources:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_129040_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.satsentinel.org/press-release/satellite-sentinel-project-documents-new-eyewitness-reports-and-visual-evidence-mass-graves-sudan

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gJ0vkt39er4EXX8lEPMY3meFDs7A?docId=CNG.887f499000e6a91584af43f31977bd2a.21

Pope accepts scandalized Philadelphia archbishop’s resignation

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 05:00 PM PDT


Pope Benedict XVI accepted recently the resignation of an Archbishop in Philadelphia who had been accused of covering up a clergy sex abuse scandal that had been ongoing in his diocese for decades.

The pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, because of his age, the Vatican said in a statement. Rigali, 76, submitted his resignation in April, 2010, when he turned 75.

Church law requires all archbishops to submit their resignations to the pope when they turn 75. However, it is up to the pope to decide whether or not he will act immediately on it.

Rigali faced stiff pressure for some time because of the way he handled complaints of sex abuse by priests. In 2005, a grand jury determined that Rigali had been covering up complaints by parishioners.

“We need to get better”

In a statement, the Vatican has appointed Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver to succeed Rigali. Chaput, a best-selling author, said on Vatican Radio, “The Church has done a very poor job of passing on the authentic Apostolic faith to its people. We need to get better.”

Chaput, 66, is with the Capuchin order of Franciscan Priests. He has led the Archdiocese of Denver since 1997, where he was tasked with overseeing some 550,000 parishioners.

It is expected that Chaput will run things in his new post with a firm hand. Last year in April, as Archbishop of Denver, a man told Chaput of alleged sexual abuse by a priest in the 1970s. Within a week, the priest was suspended and the act was reported to the police.

Rocco Palmo, who writes the Catholic blog “Whispers in the Loggia” told Philadelphia Daily News that Chaput is “principled” and “fearless,” adding, “It’s going to be a completely different way of doing business here. It’s essentially going to be Philadelphia Catholicism Version 3.0.”

Some 21 priests suspected of pedophilia were suspended by Rigali in March. Rigali expressed “sorrow for the sexual abuse of minors committed by members of the Church, and above all, the clergy,” the AFP reported.

A grand jury report in 2005 determined that Rigali covered up abuse complaints that were raised against dozens of priests in Philadelphia. The accused priests also remained in active duty.

Hands on leader

“From what I’ve read and been told, Chaput is a very hands-on leader,” Susam Matthews, writer and publisher of Catholics4change.com told Philadelphia Daily News. “He’s an administrator who takes complete responsibility, and it’s not going to be, ‘Oh, the people under me handled that.’ That’s been Rigali’s style.”

Not so hot or fresh: Christian students suspended for giving Krispy Kremes with Bible verses

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 04:58 PM PDT


The lawyer of a group of Christian students in New Mexico is asking for a summary judgment against the local school district, which punished the students after they gave donuts to teachers with Bible verses.

The Liberty Counsel, in a legal brief, expressed concern that the students would denied their First Amendment rights when school begins in the fall.

A Krispy Kreme doughnut.

The legal pleading said, “The case challenges defendants’ denial of plaintiffs’ attempts to distribute various items and religious literature to their friends and classmates during non-instructional time at the two high schools in Roswell.”

The Liberty Counsel legal brief said, “Plaintiffs seek to have their constitutional rights restored before the beginning of the next school year, so they may disseminate their messages to fellow classmates in accordance with their First Amendment rights.”

The brief stated, “Plaintiffs request that this court grant this motion for summary judgment so that the unconstitutional suppression of free speech will end.”

Krispy Kreme donuts

The trouble began when students of the Christian group, Relentless in Roswell, decided to express appreciation for their teachers by gifting them with Krispy Kreme donuts which included Bible verses attached.

A school principle responded by suspending three of the students. One student was sent home, and two others served four hours detention. The principle also demanded an end to the group’s Christian activities.

However, the law suit noted that the gesture was not meant to be antagonizing. In fact, the students decided to purchase Krispy Kreme donuts because they are not easily available in their area.

Liberty Counsel said in its legal brief, “Since the closest Krispy Kreme shop was in Texas, some of the group drove almost six hours round trip, stayed overnight, got up at 3:00 a.m., filled their car’s back seat with fresh doughnuts and got back to school on time to deliver the doughnuts.”

“Our motives were not rebellious,” Pastor Troy Smothermon of Church on the Move told WorldNetDaily. “If they were, we would have just bought a box of doughnuts down the street. The whole purpose was to encourage those in the school.”

“Some teachers are worried about their students giving them bullets, and this school suspends students over a Bible verse,” Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said. “It is outrageous that the Roswell school officials are mean to these students solely because they are hostile to their Christian faith.”

In the past, the Christian students handed out hot chocolate, candy canes and sandwiches. They also helped in cleaning up the school and handed out rocks with the slogans “U are wonderful,” and “Psalm 139.”

The brief also noted that the students distributed abstinence wristbands and the plastic models of babies 12 weeks in utero. In the latter case, it led to a woman changing her mind to commit suicide.

The Liberty Counsel brief said, “That morning, one student had decided to take her own life because of her past decision to abort. When she received a model baby with the Scripture, ‘you are fearfully and wonderfully made,’ she cried and prayed with the students and her life was saved, both physically and spiritually with the forgiveness of God.”

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The Underground -- Billy Graham’s grandson preaches peace in Kenya

The Underground -- Billy Graham’s grandson preaches peace in Kenya


Billy Graham’s grandson preaches peace in Kenya

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:52 AM PDT


Will Graham, grandson of Billy Graham, wrapped up a successful evangelistic celebration recently in Nakuru, Kenya where some 14,500 people braved the rains, with over half of them responding to an altar call.

The three-day Will Graham Celebration of Peace was held at the Mama Scrape Grounds, where some 14,500 attended despite sketchy weather reports, and some 938 made a commitment to Jesus.

“What now are you going to do with Jesus? What I’m going to ask you to do is the most important decision you’ll ever make in life,” the oldest son of Franklin Graham told the crowd, according to Charisma News.

Nakuru has, since elections held in Dec. 2007, been affected by tribal violence that has hit Kenya, but Graham chose this context to talk about peace and healing.

Graham told the crowd, “Whether we are looking at Kenya and the trouble here a few years ago, or the issues of hatred and sin around the world, it’s a heart problem,” ASSIST News reported.

Downpour

The three-day celebration took place from July 8-10. The final day, a Sunday, was concluded in a field that was muddy after a 30-minute downpour.

Some people left the stadium, others ran for cover, and the rest remained patiently waiting. Hastily, workers covered loudspeakers. As the rains abated, many returned to the stadium and worship began.

“I’m so grateful to God for the great decisions people have made. I know the bigger job we are left with is the preservation of the harvest,” Rev. Paul Mwakio, who headed the executive committee of the event, told Charisma News.

“We plan that we will get back together with the pastors and try to follow up, because we have the contact information from the people,” Mwakio told Charisma News.

The day before, on Saturday, July 9, the Grahams witnessed the final youth soccer match of the Will Graham Peace Tournament. Some 400 Kenyan youths participated in the games.

Afterwards, Graham signed certificates for the participants and trophies were handed out. In his message to the players he asked, “What is the purpose of a pen? The purpose … is to write. But it can only fulfill its purpose when it’s in its master’s hand,” Charisma News reported.

“The same is true in life. You can only fulfill your purpose when you surrender to God. Because it is God who gives you purpose and meaning in life,” Graham said, according to Charisma News.

Graham went to Kenya with his wife, Kendra, who told Charisma News that it was her first time to visit the country. She addressed some 500 women at a rally that was held on Friday, July 8, at the Life Celebration Center.

She told the crowd, “God has decided not to forget you. Others may forget you. A spouse may forget you. A child may forget you. A church may forget you. But God will never forget you,” ASSIST News reported.

Graham told ASSIST News that he was overwhelmed with the welcoming treatment he received in Kenya. “It’s a welcome I’ve never had before, and it is incredibly humbling. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Mwakio told Charisma News that Graham’s visit helped the Christian community in Nakuru to have a greater sense of unity. “I want to say that I am grateful to the [Billy Graham Evangelistic Association], because there has been more cohesion among the ministers in working together in bringing this meeting. And I trust this will be a new beginning for the working-together of pastors.”

Noteworthy mural of Christ healing Bartimaeus is up for grabs

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:52 AM PDT


A mural of the biblical story of Christ healing Bartimaeus is being taken down from a church wall in Philadelphia after 16 years, despite its being the work of a distinguished artist–and is now up for grabs.

The mural, entitled The Healing of Bartimaeus, is the handiwork of Lothar Speer, a German-born artist whose roster of clients including leading U.S. universities, sports teams, McDonald’s Corporation, The Museum of Modern Art, and Hyatt Corporations, among others.

Now his 13-by-28 foot canvas mural, which for some was “too edgy” and for others was “wonderful” will have to be taken down because Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bustleton, PA has been sold, and the new owners plan to break the wall to give more space for pews, according to the AP.

Rev. John Stabb, former pastor of Calvary Evangelical, who commissioned the work in 1993 told the AP, “I loved [the mural], and I love it, because I was so involved in its creation.”

Stabb, now based in Alaska, admitted to the AP that for others it was “Too edgy.” Some wondered why only the body of Jesus was seen, and not his face. But Stabb, 67, would tell them to see Jesus “in the faces of the people.”

Description

The mural only shows the body of Jesus, hovering over a panorama of various types of people including a bishop, thugs, Hasidic Jews, prostitutes, saints, etc. Also seen is Bartimaeus, swathed, like Jesus, in golden light. Further down, a city burns.

It is an ethereal interpretation of the biblical story in Mark 10: 46-52. For many, this makes it all the more compelling.

The painting took one year to complete, and was done first on canvas, and then glued to the drywall. Hundreds of screws were also used to attach it. At the time, Speer was pursuing an MFA at Pennsylvania Academy. The church paid him $15,000 for his work, the AP said.

Now, the new owners of the building, First Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Church, have told Speer that he is free to get his painting back. The artist asked if he could be given time. He told AP, “This is not like scraping off wallpaper.” He was given until Aug. 1 to take it down.

Taking it down could mean either steaming the canvas to detach it from the drywall, or removing both together. Portions of the canvas over every drywall screw will need to be repainted.

“It’s a wonderful piece of art,” Anton Michels of the German Society of Pennsylvania told the AP. He is helping Speer to remove the painting, and has contacted professionals to assist them in doing the job.

Speer told the AP that he is willing to donate the painting to any building in Philadelphia who would like to have it, whether it is a public building or another church. He would only charge for labor and touch ups that may be needed on remounting it.

It is quite an offer, from an artist whose bio includes the prestigious Johannes Fuger Medal from the National Academy of the Fine Arts inVienna, and who was a four-time art grant recipient in Chicago.

Speer’s work has also been exhibited in the Capitol Bldg. of Washington D.C., and in Basel, Salzburg and Vienna among others. His pieces form part of numerous private and public collections.

Winnie the Pooh – A classic is reborn

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:52 AM PDT


Since 1966, Walt Disney Pictures have been entertaining us with various versions of Winnie the Pooh through theatrical featurettes, television series, direct-to-video films and theatrical feature-length films.

Winnie is certainly an icon for the company and a money maker. According to a Fortune magazine article, it has been estimated that Winnie the Pooh features and merchandise generate as much revenue as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto combined.

But sometimes Disney doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

It is rumored that the real reason that Disney has produced yet another Pooh film for 2011 is for its mistake it made back in 2007.
Although only 46 years of age, Disney thought that the little guy needed a facelift. A new TV show was created, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, which featured Pooh with a super hero outfit and a replacement for Christopher Robin; a tomboy girl named Darby.
It turns out, Disney received complaints from parents saying, “This isn’t the same Winnie the Pooh I grew up with” and sales declined.
The remedy is the new, simply titled, Winnie the Pooh which had Disney literally going back to the drawing boards.
The film is a breath of fresh air to true fans of the silly old bear. Every attempt of this new version was to make it look “old,” like the 60’s originals.
The studio went back to the watercolor backgrounds and hand-drawn characters.Just watch Winnie’s eyebrows.
There’s something comforting about how they move as only a hand-drawn cartoon can.
Even the music was planned to sound as close as the Sherman Brothers’ originals. Most of the vocals are provided by Zooey Deschanel’s beautiful voice.
Known more for her acting, Ms. Deschanel proved she could sing when she played Will Ferrell’s girlfriend in Elf.
Like the originals, Pooh opens with a look into Christopher Robin’s bedroom.
The narrator, this time by John Cleese, explains that Christopher is a boy who likes to collect things and his biggest collection is his stuffed animals.
Then the camera pans over to the famous Winnie the Pooh book, the cover opens and the story begins with Pooh asleep in his bed. The narrator has to “shake the book” in order to wake him up. The movie makes the most of this creative gimmick.
All the characters are back (sans Gopher for some reason) and all of them act and sound just like you remember them.
All of them except rabbit who has a distinctly different personality than in the past, but a welcomed change. The “older” rabbit was much more cranky. This one is much more adventurous.
Though the intended audience is mainly preschoolers, this movie is a great example of what Disney does best – providing a simple story that young ones understand and giving the characters great lines and humor that adults can appreciate.
The storyline is quite simple as well and sort of like an episode of Seinfeld  - a story about nothing. Winnie is on constant lookout for honey (will someone please give this poor bear some food?!), Eeyore has lost his tail again and Owl misreads a note from Christopher Robin thinking that he has been captured by a “backson” when in reality, he just misread the words “be back soon.”
There is no preachy message, absolutely no current pop culture references and all the songs are short and a little two sweet for most adults tastes. Just a fun, innocent film about friendship and problem solving.
Running at a mere 69 minutes, the film is accompanied by an new short, The Ballad of Nessie.
It’s a story about a friendly and shy Loch Ness monster, her best friend MacQuack, rubber duck and how they came to live in their current home.
It too is a simple story that has all the charm and wit of earlier shorts from the company.

Originally posted here.

Review of Deathly Hallows and the trouble about Harry

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:49 AM PDT


It is pointless to do a review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two.

If you are fan of this franchise, nothing will stop you from seeing it and if you aren’t, nothing will make you want to go. Not only is it a sequel, it is ending of a long saga and not a stand-alone film.

With that said, I do have a few thoughts about this great ending and I’ll post those at the end of this article.

However, I thought I might take this opportunity to talk about “these” type of movies. Although I don’t know if any discussion of the Harry Potter stories have actually divided a church, I think it may have come close.

If you grew up in a home like mine, you were able to see Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie on TV during their original runs (yes, I am that old). Your parents debated if you should be watching such shows that dealt with witchcraft and magic.

One theory back then (and still very much alive these days) is that children who watch such shows will want to dabble in the occult when they get older.

Nevermind the fact that little boys like me didn’t watch those shows for the magic. They watched it for Elizabeth Montgomery and Barbara Eden. (Barbara still looks amazing, but I digres.)

A similar theory was that children who watched Road Runner cartoons might want to play with dynamite since they would see the coyote playing with it, then get blown up by it and then show up in the next scene completely unscathed.

I can say that without a doubt that I grew up just fine without dabbling in one spell or shooting my fingers off with dynamite. I also think that it is a rare case where someone involved in Wicca truly got their start by wiggling their nose.

Although things have settled down a bit, you may recall when parents began boycotting Harry Potter books and movies because some feared they would bring children to the dark side.

However, many of these are the same people praise books and movies like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, (which unmistakably use magic and witchcraft too), because its author, C. S. Lewis, was an outspoken Christian. His stories are believed to be an allegory to the gospels as well.

The Narnia and Harry Potter stories have other similarities. They both feature children who have been predestined to do great things. They go through trials and tribulations, learn lessons from great people and learn to avoid evil people.

The characters are, like us, not perfect and make mistakes. Most learn from these mistakes, some don’t. The thing that matters the most in these stories is that the heroes listen to their masters, show true character and are victorious over evil.

Some Christians have been known to compare the Harry Potter character to Jesus.
While I wouldn’t go as far as giving Harry a messiah complex, I think you can compare his “walk” through Hogwarts to our “Christian walk.” Harry is given special tools to ward off evil – we are given scripture.
Harry learns from his professors – we learn from our heavenly father. Harry risks his life to save others – we are told that greater is the man who lays down his life for this brother.
This is not to say that Harry Potter stories are “Christian.” They aren’t. But they are good stories that can teach children the power of living with integrity.

Some will never be comfortable allowing their children to view such fare, and that is perfectly fine.

At the same time, don’t assume that other Christian parents are “bad” for allowing their children to see the movies. Finally, this isn’t an endorsement. This is an opinion and a review.

Now, about Harry Potter 7 – It is a triumphant ending to an incredible series of movies.

Starting back in 2001, this Warner Bros. production has been one of the most consistent and lucrative film franchises in history.

To be able to make that many films with the same cast (with the exception of replacing the late Richard Harris with Michael Gambon for the role of Professor Dumbledore) and the same incredible sets and the same quality of special effects is truly amazing.

Personally, I thought that part one of Deathly Hallows was too talky and drug on. Not so with part two.

Taking place immediately after the last film, you may think otherwise but then the action starts and doesn’t stop until its final conclusion.

Without giving anything away, this movie gives a very satisfying ending for its fans. The 3D effects are nice, but aren’t necessary. The glasses are shaped just like Harry’s though, which is kind of cool.

Once again, Daniel Radcliffe shines as Harry with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger right by his side. Each character gives a great performance as their final bow including Maggie Smith’s out of character giddiness with the line, “I’ve always wanted to use that spell!”

All this to say, if you are fan, you still will be.

Originally posted here.

Kayelynne Cox sings of God on new pop album, One Girl

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 10:07 PM PDT


Don’t put Katelynne Cox, 16, in a box just because her debut album, “One Girl,” displays her Christianity.

She has had a textured life as the child of separated teen parents, with one side fully agnostic and the other Christian.

She went to nine different schools, was bullied, and at one point considered suicide.

But the tracks on her album have surprising things to say. “Ordinary Day” is about how God can make the most ordinary things extraordinary.

And “Me” is about surrendering to God—not just in parts, but completely.

Her album took two years before it was completed. It was supposed to be secular, but midway Cox encountered Christ and figured that Christian music was the way for her to go.

“[We] were about a year into it when I became a Christian. From everything I had gone through, and all the experience over those two years, I became a Christian and I realized halfway through the project that God didn’t want me to go that route — that His plan for me was to be a Christian artist. I really felt called to do Christian music and positive music,” she told BREATHEcast.

Cox describes her album, produced by Red Hammer Records, as “positive pop with some throwback 80s guitars.” She told Cross Rhythms, “I chose songs that I feel I can relate to and things I’ve experienced and that other people have gone through too. Every song is a little piece of Katelynne. I want my audience to get a feel for who I am through my music and be able to relate to me and my life.”

By everyone, she doesn’t just mean Christian music lovers. She has kept secular pop songs in the album as well, which she hopes can be a way to reach out to a wider crowd. But the focus is God.

Born in Portland, Ore.  and now based in Camas, Wash. , Cox told BREATHEcast that her parents were teenagers when they divorced, and while one side was agnostic, the other was Christian. She started out being agnostic.

She says middle and high school were especially difficult. She had changed schools nine times, and switched from private to public schools. She told Cross Rhythms, “[In public school] I got called words that I didn’t even know, that I didn’t even understand. I had to look them up or ask my parents what they meant. I had threats to kill me. I had people stalking my house and people got arrested for some of the stuff that they were doing to me.”

She remembers being tackled to the ground and getting sprayed with foul smelling men’s cologne. She also remembered feeling suicidal. “It took a big chunk out of my life,” she told BREATHEcast. “I really let it control everything that I went through…people don’t realize how much it affects you, not only personally but spiritually, and kind of how you view yourself…”

But now she tells BREATHEcast that God allowed her to be bullied so that she could share her experience with other kids and inspire them to move forward. Her title song, One Girl, talks of “being one girl in a huge crowd and making a difference, making your voice heard.”

Pakistan’s street sweepers are mostly Christian, considered ‘unclean’

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 10:04 PM PDT


The discrimination that Christians experience in Pakistan is vividly evident when one looks at the country’s street sweepers.

Most of the street sweepers, or 90 percent of them, are Christians. This is because government job advertisements for street sweepers specify non-Muslims–and oftentimes, advertise specifically for Christians.

Pakistan’s population is 95 percent Muslim, and Christians only comprise 2.45 percent of its total population.

Street sweepers have become newsworthy in Pakistan of  late, because one of them, Abbas Masih, 36, was killed by a flower shop worker because he did not work fast enough.

Within the same month, another street sweeper, Anayat Masih Sahotra, was arrested on trumped up charges of forgery and fraud, because he lobbied for the legal rights of 400 Christian workers withLahore’s Solid Waste Management Department.

Sahotra, who has been with SWMD for 24 years, approached SWMD Managing Director Wasim Ajmal Chaudhry on May 14 regarding Christian SWMD workers’ rights, demanding that they be hired as regular employees so that they could be afforded full benefits.

When Chaudhry rebuffed him, Sahotra warned that they would fight for their civil rights. Chaudhry said Christians were Chuhras, an offensive term of contempt in Pakistan society.

Sahotra told the Daily Times that Chaudhry said, “I know you low-born Christian Chuhras, and I know how to deal with you.” That same day, Sahotra was arrested on trumped up charges.

Although he was set free on bail, a few days later the police called him again. Sahotra told Barnabas Fund, “The police…want to arrest me on any other charge in order to mount pressure on me to withdraw my support to the Christian employees who are not being made regular despite having worked there for several years.”

Temporary workers for decades

A Christian SWMD worker is usually hired as a temp with an 88-day contract that can be renewed for decades. They have no benefits, no pensions, no days off, no holidays and no sick leave.

Their work day should begin at 6 a.m., but because the public prefers not to see them working when they are awake, the sweepers usually start working at 4 a.m., and continue to do so until 7 p.m., for a salary of $100/month.

They work under filthy conditions and are easily susceptible to skin problems, respiratory diseases, hepatitis B and tuberculosis. Their wage can barely keep a family going, much less pay for education for their children. Oftentimes, the children of street sweepers become street sweepers themselves.

“How can a Chuhra argue with me?”

The consequence of no benefits is especially telling in the case of Masih, the street sweeper who was murdered by Muhammad Imran, a flower shop worker, who was angry because Masih failed to immediately clear the sidewalk in front of the shop of flowers and dried leaves.

“How can a Chuhra argue with me? Imran said, according to witnesses interviewed by Daily Times. Imran then grabbed a knife and stabbed Masih in the heart.

One of the shop owners, Muhammad Shehzad, was not present during the incident but upon learning of it rushed to the scene and had Masih brought to the hospital, where he died.

A First Information Report of the incident was only filed by local police upon the demand of several Christian leaders. Masih had been an SWMD sweeper for 16 years, but as a temporary worker, his family could not seek financial assistance.

In a statement to Daily Times, SWMD claimed that it has always given due respect to Christian workers. It also said that Chaudhry, whom Sahotra said had called Christians Chuhra and who refused to give them benefits, is “tolerant” and “fair.”

Presently, the Barnabas Fund is providing food parcels to Masih’s widow Rukhsana and their three sons, Abe-Saloom, 14, Quyum Masih, 11, Arbab Masih, 7, and their only daughter Zereesh, 3.

Sources:

http://www.barnabasfund.org/UK/News/Latest-emergencies/Barnabas-helps-family-of-murdered-Christian-man-in-Pakistan.html

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C07%5C12%5Cstory_12-7-2011_pg7_12

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C07%5C15%5Cstory_15-7-2011_pg7_26

Catholic parishioners in Boston fight to keep churches

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 10:03 PM PDT


A group of Roman Catholic parishioners in Boston is determined to contest a move by the Archdiocese of Boston to sell six shuttered churches to buyers who may use the buildings for secular purposes.

“It’s where we come to practice our faith and to hold to our beliefs that it is not just a building,” Jon Rogers, spokesman of Friends of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Scituate, told Boston Herald.

The group in St.Frances has held vigil since Oct. 2004, organizing themselves into shifts so that the church is being watched around the clock. Rogers, 52, told Boston Herald, “We know the archdiocese needs the money, but you know what, not at our expense.”

Other churches in Massachusetts that will be up for sale are St. Jeanne D’Arc in Lowell; Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere; Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston; St. James the Great in Wellesley; and Star of the Sea in Quincey, the archdiocese announced in a statement.

Two churches, however, will still be retained for “other future ecclesial uses,” the statement from the archdiocese said. These churches are St. Jeremiah in Framingham and St. Therese in Everett.

A public decree has already stated that the churches can now be used for secular purposes. This decree was needed so that the archdiocese may, under canon law, accept bids for the properties.

Since February, Cardinal Sean O’ Malley held dialogues with the Catholic community regarding the churches. The archdiocese said O’ Malley made sure that “every means of civil and canonical appeal regarding closed parishes to be pursued over the past six years,” was taken into consideration.

In a statement to parishioners, O’ Malley said, “I want you to know I have heard you. I appreciate your strong commitment to your parish. What I have heard from these consultations is that we have reached a point as a community of believers where we must relegate these church buildings as part of the continuing healing and rebuilding of the Archdiocese,” Boston Herald reported.

O’ Malley was referring here to moves by some angry parishioners who brought the dispute up to the Vatican, but whose appeals were rejected in 2010.

“[O’ Malley] would ask the faithful to respect his decision, and in areas where there are vigils, that there would be a peaceful conclusion,” Rev. Arthur M. Coyle, who is tasked to coordinate the sale of the churches, told The Boston Globe.

“I can’t respect that decision,” protestor Marsha Devir told The Boston Globe. She is holding vigilance at St. Frances Cabrini, where the group has set up beds, easy chairs and a television set.

Devir told The Boston Globe that she plans to stay until she “gets pulled out of here by the police.”

Elsewhere, at Our Lady of Lourdes, John Verrengia, 55, told Boston Herald, “I don’t see how [the closing] is going to promote healing. It just continues to promote disillusionment with their thought process.”

Rebirth of Catholicism

Peter Borre, who chairs the Council of Parishes, told Boston Herald, “Some American bishops, like Cardinal O’ Malley, seem ready to give up, close down churches and sell them off as scrap. An increasing number of churchmen in Rome see the possibility of a rebirth of Catholicism in America and don’t want churches destroyed.”

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