Saturday

The Religion WAR (03-10)

Reading between the lines, thinking outside the box, and seeing the forest...
 
 
 
    The message of Christianity is one of love for God and neighbor, says Benedict XVI. The Pope reflected before praying the Angelus with several thousand people gathered Sunday in St. Peter's Square on the passage from Hosea that Jesus repeats in Sunday's Gospel: "I want love and not sacrifice."
 
    If people want to have hope and find meaning in their lives, they need to take God out of the "parentheses," says Benedict XVI.
 
    Pope Benedict XVI presided at the opening of an ecclesial congress for the Rome diocese on Monday evening and told the participants that the Church might offer "the gift of Christian hope" to a skeptical society.
    He argued that the people of the Rome diocese are ready to listen to that witness, because even the secular world has come to recognize the emptiness of modern life. The challenge for Christians is to "enliven the future of our beloved city."
 
    In Wednesday's general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope turned his attention to the figure of St. Columbanus, a famous Irish monk who lived in the 6th century and "who with good reason may be called a 'European' saint".
    "He spent all his energies to nourish the Christian roots of the nascent Europe. With his spiritual strength, with his faith, with his love of God and neighbour, he became one of the Fathers of Europe, showing us today the way to those roots from which our continent may be reborn."
 
    The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue met for its 10th full assembly this past week to focus on the theme: "Dialogue in truth and love. Pastoral orientations." On Saturday, Pope Benedict spoke to group about the importance of truth being the goal of all dialogue and charity being the motivation behind all dialogue.
    The Pope began his speech to the council by expressing his happiness that, "during these days you have sought to arrive at a deeper understanding of the Catholic Church's approach to people of other religious traditions. You have considered the broader purpose of dialogue - to discover the truth - and the motivation for it, which is charity, in obedience to the divine mission entrusted to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ."
 
    Last Saturday morningin the Vatican, Benedict XVI received participants in the 6th European Symposium of University Professors, which is being held in Rome from 4-7 June on the theme: "Broadening the Horizons of Reason. Prospects for Philosophy".
    "The Christian faith has made a clear choice: against the gods of religion for the God of the philosophers, in other words against the myth of custom and for the truth of being." In closing, Benedict XVI referred to the need to "promote high-profile academic centres in which philosophy can enter into dialogue with other disciplines, in particular with theology, to favour new cultural syntheses capable of guiding society."
 
    The Synod of Bishops, meeting in Rome in October 2008, will discuss ways to promote the prayerful reading, understanding, and proclamation of the Word of God. At a Vatican press conference on Thursday, the secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops introduced the instrumentum laboris (the working document), for the meeting.
    The Church should combat widespread "Biblical illiteracy" among the Catholic faithful, he said. At the same time, the Synod will discuss the challenge posed by fundamental sects that promote misleading interpretations of the Scriptures.
 
    Contemplating the Lord nourishes the desire to improve the world around us, said the prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
 
    Touring a necropolis beneath the Vatican is a lesson in life and a chance to go back in time to see the faith of the first Christians, says the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica. He reflected on the lessons to be gleaned from these tours when he recently spoke with journalists after a presentation of the restoration of the Valerii Mausoleum, one of the most important monuments of the Roman necropolis located under the Vatican Basilica.
 
    Benedict XVI Wednesday received in audience the participants of a Muslim-Catholic committee meeting in Rome. He was visited after the general audience by the members of the Islamic-Catholic committee established by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Saudi Arabia-based International Islamic Forum for Dialogue.
 
    The Vatican says the world is focusing on Islam to the exclusion of other faiths, and there needs to be a balance among the various belief systems when issues are discussed.
    "Yes, the people are obsessed by Islam. For example I'm going to India next month and I want to give this message that all religions are equal. Sometimes there are priorities because of particular situations, but we mustn't get the impression there are first class religions and second class religions," said Cardinal Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue.
    According to the United Kingdom Mail newspaper, Pope Benedict XVI has scheduled an unprecedented Catholic-Muslim meeting in October.
 
    There is a lot of work to be done in the battle against HIV/AIDS, but the contribution of the Church in this fight is significant, the Holy See affirmed.
    Archbishop Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN, said this Thursday when he addressed the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly's high-level meeting on a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.
 
 
 
    The King David Museum & Genealogy Center, a new interactive museum that officially opened its doors in March in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, last Saturday celebrated the 3,048th birthday of King David, the 2nd biblical king of Israel.
    According to tradition, King David was born and died on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which started last Friday night. Shavuot, 1 of 3 Jewish pilgrimage festivals, marks the day the Torah was given to the Jews on Mount Sinai.
    [WAR: Yes, "the Jewish holiday of Shavuot" started last Friday night. But YAHWEH's Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) starts tomorrow (Sunday) morning at dawn.]
 
    Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported on Tuesday. "We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33 AD to 70 AD," the head of Jordan's Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, Abdul Qader al-Husan, said.
    He said it was uncovered under Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border. "We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians -- the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ."
 
 
 
    President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism.
    Several Italian newspapers cited Vatican sources suggesting that Mr Bush may be prepared to convert. One source told Il Foglio, an authoritative newspaper, that "Anything is possible, especially for a born-again Christian such as Bush."
    He added that while the Holy See deplored the war in Iraq, "on ethical matters he has always had a line that is practically identical to that of the Vatican."
 
Both Obama and McCain have problems with religion
    Few Democrats have seemed more comfortable talking about God than Barack Obama has. And yet few, if any, have had more problems with God at the ballot box—from rumours that he is a Muslim to doubts among Catholic and Jewish voters to repeated "pastor eruptions". This is a serious worry for the Democrats.
    The good news for Obama in all of this is that he is up against a Republican candidate in John McCain who has plenty of God problems of his own. McCain has a tin ear for religion. McCain has also been making a hash of dealing with his religion problem.
    All this makes for a much more even fight for the religious vote than for a long time. But it will also make for a more intense fight. Those people, in both secular Europe and on the secular wing of the Democratic Party, who had hoped that America's God-soaked politics would disappear with Bush are in for a disappointment.
 
    Barack Obama is aiming to lure members of the religious Right, the movement that twice helped George W Bush win the White House. His campaign is set to launch the Joshua Generation Project, an initiative that will include household gatherings, blogs and concerts, to attract young evangelicals and Catholics ahead of November's election.
(Cartoon: The foxes at FOX)
 
    Viars's hesitation illustrates what remains one of John McCain's biggest challenges as he faces a general election contest with Barack Obama: a continued wariness toward him among evangelicals and other Christian conservatives, a critical voting bloc for Republicans that could stay home in the fall or at least be decidedly unenthusiastic in their efforts to get out the vote.
 
    A prominent American televangelist and outspoken supporter of Israel publicly apologized Friday for remarking that the Holocaust was the work of divine providence, and that "God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land."
    "In a sermon in 1999, I grappled with the vexing question of why a loving God would allow the evil of the Holocaust to occur," John Hagee, the Texas-based preacher wrote in a letter to Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman. "I know how sensitive the issue of the Holocaust is and should be to the Jewish community and I regret if my Jewish friends felt any pain as a result."
    [WAR: Once you realize that there was not a "Holocaust", then the "vexing question" becomes mute. Ask a faulty question, and you'll get a faulty answer.]
 
    Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination. For Southern Baptists, a decline in baptisms is a worry because a major tenet of their faith is to spread it. Many believe the "unchurched" are doomed to an eternity in hell.
 
    Quoting from the Bible has been banned in a community room at the public library in Clermont County, Ohio, and now a couple who sought to use the facility for a financial planning seminar has brought a court case.
 
    It is "common sense" for Christianity to be sidelined at the expense of Islam, a Government minister claimed. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, defended Labour's policy on religion after a report backed by the Church of England claimed that Muslims receive a disproportionate amount of attention.
 
Yes!...
    An astonishing new book claims that a decade before he was crucified, Jesus sailed here on a trading ship and found inspiration in his Cornish idyll.
    By collating stories from local legends, architectural evi­dence from 2 ancient churches and analysing letters from our earliest historians, author Glyn Lewis believes the tale of Jesus's visit to Britain is true. The key to it all is Jesus's family. Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus's uncle, was a metal trader who travelled Europe.
 
 
 
Weather of Biblical proportions sets off debate among theologians and scientists
    God's wrath seems at work these days, as the heavens and Earth have unleashed earthquakes in China, a cyclone in Burma, killer tornadoes and record floods across the U.S. and even a plague of locusts (cicadas) in New England.
    Most theologians and scientists don't take seriously warnings that the end of the world is nigh. But many reputable scholars do lend some credence to the notion that the world is in for some kind of disaster, be it meteorological, ecological or geopolitical.
 
    I would like to speak to you today about Christianity and War. I don't suppose there is anything I write and speak about with more fervor than the biblical, economic, and political fallacies of religious people. This is especially true regarding the general subject of Christianity and war.
    If there is any group of people that should be opposed to war, torture, militarism, the warfare state, state worship, suppression of civil liberties, an imperial presidency, blind nationalism, government propaganda, and an aggressive foreign policy it is Christians, and especially conservative, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians who claim to strictly follow the dictates of Scripture and worship the Prince of Peace.
 
    People with higher IQs are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study. Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average.
 
    Like an increasing number of other Muslim women in Europe, she had a "hymenoplasty," a restoration of her hymen, the thin vaginal membrane that normally breaks during the first act of intercourse.
    "In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt. Right now, virginity is more important to me than life."Gynecologists report that in the past few years, more Muslim women are asking for certificates of virginity before marriage.
    [WAR: Marriage is a blood covenant -- this is why adultery is so bad, compared to just fornication. The breaking of the hymen is what "seals the deal" between a man and woman. And a few months ago I found out something very interesting: not only is the menstrual cycle linked to the cycle of the moon, but the most common formation of the hymen is cresentric or crescent-shaped!]
 
And speakin' of the moon...
Tonight's Moon
    [WAR: I was looking at my SkyGlobe astronomy software to see where the Moon is tonight -- the night before the day of Pentecost. It is in the constellation (not "sign"!) of Libra. This reminded me of something I had noticed before about 2 other appointed times this year, so I checked it out.
    Sure enough, it was quite interesting: This year, the Moon was in Libra at Passover (night before the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread); it will be there tonight before Pentecost; and it will also be there the night before Trumpets -- "under her (Virgo's) feet" (Rev 12:1)!
    But who's taking the time to look up and see "the heavens (that) declare the glory of Elohim" (verse 1)? Who's actually understanding that "night after night they display knowledge" (verse 2)? Who's listening to "their voice (that) goes out into all the Earth" (verse 4)?]
 

posted by The Daily Warrior | 6:40 AM