Religion in the News.

[eyeshaveit]

Russian Police Raid Jehovah?s Witness Bible Study, Arrest Danish Citizen

"Russian police raided a Jehovah?s Witness Bible study Thursday in Oryol, Russia, and arrested a Danish citizen leading the service, according to the religious group?s global headquarters. The Danish man, identified as Dennis Christensen, is the first foreign Jehovah?s Witness arrested and jailed in Russia since their supreme court ruled that the group is an extremist organization.

"The authorities, which may have included Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, questioned the other attendees of the meeting and confiscated religious literature and electronics, according to a spokesman for the Jehovah?s Witness World Headquarters in New York.

"Christensen may have been arrested because he was a foreigner participating in the Bible study, ?or maybe because [the Russian authorities] considered he was the one taking the lead of the Bible study session that was being conducted at the time,? Robert Warren, spokesman for the Jehovah?s Witnesses, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

"The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told TheDCNF that a Danish citizen has been detained in Russia, but would not confirm the name or provide any other information out of duty of secrecy. The Russian embassy has not returned TheDCNF?s requests for comment.

"Jehovah?s Witnesses in Russia have faced increasing persecution since the Russian supreme court classified the group as an extremist organization and banned its operation April 20, Warren said.

?The ruling has sparked actual violence against us,? Warren said. Jehovah?s Witnesses have reported that their homes have been set on fire, they have had rocks thrown at them, and they face harassment for their religion. ?All of this has been ignited by that negative ruling,? Warren said.

"The order banning Jehovah?s Witnesses came from one justice on the supreme court, meaning that the group can appeal later this month to a three-judge panel.

"The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended in May, the first time ever, that the Department of State name Russia an egregious violator of religious liberty for targeting Jehovah?s Witnesses.

"Most Russians are Orthodox Christian, but Jehovah?s Witnesses make up about 170,000 followers in the country of 8 million. As a pacifist and anti-violent organization, Jehovah?s Witnesses were confused that Russia would name them an extremist organization.

?The Russian government views independent religious activity as a major threat to social and political stability,? USCIRF said in the report. The state has gotten too comfortable with the Russian Orthodox Church, effectively creating a single state-sanctioned religion, and that ?favoritism has fostered a climate of hostility toward other religions.?

Thomas Phippen - Daily Caller - May 27, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

The Politics of Religion

"The Rev. Franklin Graham?s Decision America Tennessee Tour recently made a stop in Jackson and attracted approximately 7,000 people. I don?t know who the 7,000 were in attendance, but if you know Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, you know Franklin Graham.  He is part of a tradition of preachers who hide their right wing politics and white nationalism under the cloak of Jesus Christ.

"In May of 2015, Graham had this to say about police shootings:  ?If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop. If a police officer tells you to put your hands in the air, you put your hands in the air. If a police officer tells you to lay down face first with your hands behind your back, you lay down face first with your hands behind your back. It?s as simple as that.?  I wish it were as simple as that, and in a perfect world it would be.  But his comment shows a lack of understanding about the historical nature of race relations in this country and ignores the statistics that show African Americans are disproportionately pulled over by police at a higher rate, according to the Bureau of Justice statistics.  Graham?s statement shows plenty of support for the police.  And that?s a good thing.  We need good law enforcement.  But his statement shows no empathy for families whose loved ones have lost their lives at the hands of police.  I could fill this column with the names of unarmed black men who followed Graham?s suggestions, yet were killed by police. 


"Graham, in 2010, was quoted as saying about President Barack Obama:  "I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim; his father gave him an Islamic name.?  How ignorant can one preacher be?  Barack Obama has written in his own memoirs that his father was an avowed atheist when Barack was born.  When his father divorced his mother, Barack was two years old and rarely saw his father after that.  Graham?s statement reads as though it?s torn from the handbook of the Birther Movement and is another way of trying to delegitimize the citizenship and patriotism of the nation?s first African American president.

"Right after the presidential election in November 2016, Graham stated that God allowed Donald Trump to win. Unless God is a Russian, the right reverend is wrong. The Trump presidency is a bad experiment created in a KGB laboratory.  Who else in the Trump inner circle besides Jeff Sessions, Mike Flynn and Jared Kushner secretly help Vladimir Putin create this orange-haired monster?  But Rev. Graham could be right. 
In the Old Testament when Israel clamored for a king because other nations had one, God gave them Saul. The Israelites were soon crying for God to take him back.  Could Trump be America?s punishment?  Sure feels like it. 

"There is nothing new about God and religion being used to further a political or social agenda.  The Bible was used as a cudgel to beat the slaves into submission.  The Klan has long professed to be a Christian organization and missionaries have been used by governments and multi-million dollar corporations to exploit the world?s darker skinned population.  The Southern Baptists became Southern Baptists over the question of race. The point is that you can use God or religion to justify anything you want to do.  That includes strapping a bomb on you and entering a public space.

"Graham has vilified gays and lesbians and has excoriated Islam as an ?evil? religion; he supports President Trump?s Muslin ban.  How do you witness to and make disciples of these people when you refuse to acknowledge their basic humanity?  The last thing God needs is for anyone to defend him.  As an omnipotent being, He can handle that.  But what is needed is for someone to represent Him in the spirit of forgiveness found in John 8:7:  ?He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.?  Or the compassion found in Matthew 25:35-36: " For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

"If both of those are too much to handle, start with the basics from Mark 12:37-39:   ??Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.?  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ?Love your neighbor as yourself.'?

Jamers E. Cherry - USA Today - May 30, 2017.
James Cherry is an American novelist and social critic.

[eyeshaveit]

Schools and the Yoga Religious Controversy

"Despite a backlash by some parents against yoga in a Cobb County elementary school, the ancient Eastern practice has been quietly embraced as a teaching aid by other metro Atlanta school districts. A federal lawsuit says Christian parents pressured Cobb leaders to rid Bullard Elementary School of yoga, triggering an administrative sanction against the employee who introduced it to the school. Research about yoga?s effect on students is inconclusive, yet a growing number of principals and teachers are drawn to its promise for calming the mind, and are experimenting with it as a way to reduce classroom disruption and help students concentrate.

?They need a way, a trained way, to eliminate all that stress,? said Estella Cook, the principal of Sandtown Middle School in Fulton County. ?I see this as a way to help them.?

"Sandtown?s science teacher recently got certified as an instructor in the ancient art, which seeks presence of mind ? ?mindfulness? ? through physical poses, focused breathing and, typically, chanting. She has become a physical education teacher and next fall will teach yoga full-time at the school. She earned her yoga credential from Cheryl Crawford, a yoga instructor with a show about yoga on an Atlanta-based cable station, The AIB Network. Crawford, a founder of Grounded Kids Yoga, said she has introduced yoga into a couple of dozen schools without blowback from parents, despite the hullabaloo in Cobb.

"In Cobb,Bonnie Cole, a former assistant principal at Bullard Elementary, seeks monetary damages, maintaining she is a Christian, the yoga she brought to the school was not religious and her transfer to a lower-performing school farther from her house dimmed her career prospects. Her attorney, Edward Buckley, said in an interview that administrators put Cole ?out of circulation in her own community? and ?it is absolutely apparent that the religious attacks on Ms. Cole reached such a fever pitch that they felt they needed to do something.?

"Christian parents held a prayer rally on campus ?for Jesus to rid the school of Buddhism,? and laid hands on her office window, Cole?s federal lawsuit says. Crawford, a former elementary school teacher in Fulton County, said such opposition is rare, but she also insists that participation should always be voluntary. She left teaching while pregnant with triplets two decades ago, and got into yoga for back pain. She started teaching it to kids and eventually was invited into Fernbank Elementary School in DeKalb County. She?s documented her sessions at Fernbank and other schools for her AIB show, Yippee ki-yay Namaste (some episodes on YouTube).

"The Cobb County School District isn?t commenting about the lawsuit. The district?s answer to the lawsuit says no violation of Cole?s federal rights could have occurred since, by her own admission, she was not engaged in the protected activity of religious expression. Yoga has roots in Hinduism that go back thousands of years, but the practice in the United States is typically reduced to a physical and meditative activity. Jonathan R. Herman, who teaches about religion at Georgia State University, said it?s often seen as a spiritual but not a religious practice. ?It?s a way of being religious in modern America while being ostensibly anti-religion.? He also said it?s been characterized as religion ?flying under the radar.? That?s the trouble, in the view of some who worry about it in schools on religious grounds.

?The problem is that yoga is inseparable from its religious roots, both Hindu and Buddhist,? said Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, ?so the introduction of yoga in any context is actually the introduction of Hindu and Buddhist concepts.? If yoga has the desired effect of calming the mind, then it is having a spiritual effect with a ?theological consequence,? he said. ?If it?s spiritual, then it is religious.? He said the concern is that Christian practitioners are supplanting their faith with the religion embedded in yoga. And, he said, public schools are violating the constitutional wall between church and state by embracing yoga.

"Despite the theological debate and potential legal issues, some metro Atlanta school leaders have cautiously embraced yoga as a teaching tool and say they have met with little or no local objection.

"Steve Green, the superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, said teachers tell him it helps their students regulate mood and temperament. ?If it helps our children in some way, I?m very much in favor of it,? he said in an interview in early May. A couple weeks later, he appeared on Crawford?s show, doing yoga with students at Druid Hills Middle School and giving an on camera interview in which he said he knew little about yoga and was there to learn. ?I?ve heard about the benefits of it and I experienced it,? he said, adding that it could help students focus.

By Ty Tagami - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - May 26, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

See below, a link to a leaked draft copy of a rule from the Department of Health and Human Services, that would protect the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious groups from the mandate for contraception in Obamacare.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3761268-Preventive-Services-Final-Rule-0.html

[eyeshaveit]

Pastafarian with Spaghetti Strainer on Head in Driver's License Photo - In name of Religious Freedom

"After years of trying and getting turned away, an Arizona man has finally received his official state driver's license bearing a photo of him wearing a spaghetti strainer on his head. He appears to be the first Arizonan to successfully do so, though his victory is brief: State officials say they will void the license. And while some may say it's a joke, he says it's an act of religious freedom.

"Sean Corbett of Chandler has long believed in respecting and never judging others. Then, three years ago, he stumbled across the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, also known as Pastafarianism. The church promotes a lighthearted view of religion. It was created in 2005 to criticize schools teaching intelligent design alongside evolution but has become a social movement for freedom of religion and expression.

"Some may view the religion as a satirical version of standard religion," Corbett said. "I think it really drives in the point that if you?re going to include one, you have to include all. You have to respect everybody?s beliefs if you?re going to respect one. Corbett, 36, said he first tried to take a license photo wearing a colander in 2014.

"I tried a couple different locations and was met with a lot of pushback and resistance,? he said. ?I was scorned at every location I went to, and they put out a memo about me, so by the time I got to (the) fourth and fifth MVD, they stopped me at the door. They got angry at me and treated me with such disrespect."

"He recently tried again and, after talking with the location's manager, was able to take the photo. He received his official ID in the mail Tuesday. "I was really excited," Corbett said. "I felt, in that moment, that I won my battle. It was a huge victory for me. Initially it may have started off as, 'Hey, wouldn?t it be cool if I could get a spaghetti strainer in my picture? That would be boss,' but if you look at what?s going on in the world today, people being persecuted for religious beliefs, maybe it?s time to take a step back and say, 'You know what? You shouldn?t be

"A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, which oversees the Motor Vehicle Division, released a statement on the matter. "MVD license and ID photos are meant to show a person?s typical daily appearance and allow for religious expression or medical needs. Photos are filtered through facial recognition technology and if an error occurs, the photo can be recalled," the statement said.

"Spokesman Doug Nick later added that "we will go through the process to pull this credential."

"I'm going to fight it," Corbett said. "They have no valid reason to void it."

Kaila White - The Arizona Republic - June 1, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Death of a Religious Minority Under Radical Islam

"How can a religion seize so much power in a country? Before Islamists come to power, they make sham promises to every faith and political party. Using charm, manipulation, and community infiltration, they give the impression that they will be defenders of minorities, the poor, and local politics. Once they are in power, when it is too late to stop them, anyone who does not comply with their narrow view of religion and politics will be eliminated under the name of God and Islam.

"The authorities engaged in hate speech and allowed hate crimes to be committed with impunity against Baha'is, and imprisoned scores of Baha'is on trumped-up national security charges, imposed for peacefully practicing their religious beliefs. Allegations of torture of 24 Baha'is in Golestan Province were not investigated. The authorities forcibly closed down dozens of Baha'i-owned businesses and detained Baha'i students.

"It is not an "Iran problem", it is an epidemic of hatred and violence that will continue to spread if something is not done to stop it. Why are the Baha'is targeted? Because of their faith. The Baha'i community, with barely 300,000 members in Iran, became one of most persecuted religious minorities, along with Christians, in Iran. Discrimination permeates every sector, and hate speech against the Baha'is is allowed under Iran's Islamist law. According to the 2016/2017 Iran report by Amnesty International, Baha'is face: "Discrimination in law and practice, including in education, employment and inheritance, and were persecuted for practising their faith."

"The authorities engaged in hate speech and allowed hate crimes to be committed with impunity against Baha'is, and imprisoned scores of Baha'is on trumped-up national security charges imposed for peacefully practising their religious beliefs. Allegations of torture of 24 Baha'is in Golestan Province were not investigated. The authorities forcibly closed down dozens of Baha'i-owned businesses and detained Baha'i students who publicly criticized the authorities for denying them access to higher education.

"The situation of the Baha'is has recently undergone an extreme deterioration, under the so-called moderate government of Iran. According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), the businesses of 17 Baha'is in the province of Kerman, and 25 Baha'is in the city of Rafsanjan, were sealed shut by the Iranian regime since the April 29, 2015. Why? Because the stores had "one day closure for a religious holiday."

"Last month, three Baha'i residents of Mashhad. Khashayar Taffazoli, Shayan Taffazoli, and Sina Aghdaszadeh were sentenced to one year of prison each, on charges of "acting against national security by teaching the Baha'i Faith." Their crime was their religion; there is no question that they will be tortured as they serve out their sentence.

"In addition, according to Bahai News, 18 Baha'i-owned businesses in Shaheen-Shahr, Isfahan Province, were sealed by Iranian officials on May 1, 2017. Although the owners complied with the law, their businesses were closed down without notice. According to a source for Bahai News: "The officers only targeted the Baha'i businesses and accused them of not complying with the labour law of their trade; but they have sealed the shops because of the Baha'i Holy Day festivities, a time when Baha'is close their businesses of their own volition. This sealing of the Baha'i shops happens systematically every year."

"To persecute further those of the Baha'i faith, many of their sacred places have been demolished. This act was carried out by men who are reportedly affiliated with the Iranian regime and its intelligence forces."

"The objectives of the Islamist law of the Iranian regime appear to be to eliminate the culture, history, faith, and community of the Baha'is. These oppressive acts of hostility go unchecked due to the stranglehold Iran's regime has on its people, created by fear. Families, like our neighbors, simply vanish."

Majid Rafizadeh - Galehouse Institute - June 4, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

Bible App coming for 'LGBTQ Christians'

"Crystal Cheatham was 23 years old when she was told she couldn?t be gay and Christian. Cheatham, who had grown up attending and singing at a Seventh-day Adventist church, was about to graduate from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Hearing that her identities as a lesbian and a Christian could be in conflict, she said, was heartbreaking. ?When I came out, I was told by ministers so far above me that I couldn?t be an out lesbian and also be on the stage as a leader, and it crushed me. It crushed me so hard,? she said. ?I felt like I was at an impasse at the road in my life and I had to decide between this love for my God and my personal identity.?

"Now an activist and writer, Cheatham has set out to create a digital space for LGBTQ people to explore their own spiritual practice without having to surrender any part of their identity. She is leading the effort to create Our Bible, an app set to release this fall that plans to offer at least 20 Bibles and more than 300 devotional readings, meditation exercises, articles and podcasts for LGBTQ Christians and others who feel marginalized by mainstream Christianity.

"Christianity may be the most-practiced religion by lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the U.S. A 2014 Religious Landscape Study by the Pew Research Center surveyed more than 35,000 people who identified as LGB and found that 48 percent of them identified as Christian, with the largest portions of that group identifying as Protestant (29 percent) and Catholic (17 percent).

"But their identities are often controversial among Christian faith leaders who point to Biblical passages that they say condemn homosexuality ? interpretations that are disputed by other members of their community. And while different denominations of Christianity have varying stances, major Christian groups, including the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with numerous evangelical groups, continue to condemn same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights.

"As a result, LGBTQ people tend to see major religions in the U.S. as ?unfriendly? toward their communities. Another Pew Research Center survey of about 1,200 LGBT adults in 2013 found that 79 percent of respondents said the Catholic Church was unfriendly to them, and 73 percent called evangelical churches unfriendly, while 29 percent said they have felt unwelcome in religious institutions."

Corinne Segal - PBS Newshour - June 4, 2017

Our Bible App = https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/our-bible-app-feminism#/

[eyeshaveit]

Is Islam a 'religion of peace' ?

"On Sunday, in the hours after the London Bridge attack, Christians celebrated Pentecost ? recalling when the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostles to come out of hiding and proclaim the Good News. In light of the terrorist atrocity, my parish priest spoke on the fruits of this Spirit ? love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ? as the correct response to such horror. It struck me that while we have become used to proclamations of Islam as the ?religion of peace?, it?s this message which sets Christianity apart in the face of persecution, and many of us forget the impact that the peaceful philosophy of Christianity has had on the world as we know it today.

"In the wake of the Manchester bombing, there was a row which showed clearly a key distinction between the Christian and Muslim faiths. Twitter came under fire for its perceived failure to quickly remove a tweet by an Isis supporter which read: ?Face the people of kufr [non-believers] wherever you are and show Allah what He loves from you. Kill them wherever you find them?. Yet in the clamour for these words to be censored, what wasn?t mentioned was where these words actually came from: the Quran ? or God?s word revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. Islamic scholars protest that this passage ? outlining the correct way in which to fight a defensive war ? is frequently taken out of context. As indeed it is, both by Islamophobes and Islamists, in that it does not condone the killing of innocents (though, in the modern world, that is sadly a very fluid concept).

"But even within the context in which it was written, it is a grotesque sentence. Nothing even approaching its nature features anywhere in the Gospels. The most violent act Christ is recorded as having committed was overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the temple. Islam?s founding prophet, by contrast, conquered an empire. It is fair, too, for Islamic scholars to point out that Mohammed?s wars were ones of self-defence. Like Christ and the Apostles, Mohammed and his followers were persecuted by those around them, even when they established their own settlement in Medina. But here, too, the contrast is instructive. Christ and all ten of his remaining Apostles were murdered, inspiring through example a tradition of nonviolent resistance which over the proceeding three centuries would take over the very empire which had attempted to extinguish it. Two millennia later, it would also inspire Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela to affect real change in the world through peaceful means.

"Likewise jihadis, who feel their faith is threatened in the same way embryonic Islam was in Mohammed?s day, are following the example of their own founding prophet. Indeed, if Theresa May wants us to have ?difficult conversations?, we must also face up to the fact that Isis is faithfully recreating 7th century Islam. Mohammed did not only practice defensive war, for example, but also pre-emptive. In the final years of his life he conquered the remaining outposts of paganism in Arabia and forcibly converted their inhabitants to Islam before initiating a skirmish against the Eastern Roman Empire. His followers would continue this aggressive war until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

"This is a difficult conversation. But it is not one of condemnation. It is a call for Christians and secular humanists to extol the virtues of our faith and our society by example, through extending the Fruit of the Holy Spirit ? love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ? to all as explicitly Christian and proudly Western values."

Paul Nizinskyj - The Spectator - June 6, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Russian's Raid Church Of Scientology In St. Pete

"Russia's security service has told Russian news agencies that it raided the Church of Scientology's branch in St. Petersburg as part of a probe into illegal entrepreneurship, extremism, and incitement of hatred. The June 6 raid on the U.S.-based church comes after Russia's Supreme Court in April issued a ruling banning Jehovah's Witnesses and seizing their property, with the Justice Ministry calling the Christian evangelical movement an "extremist organization." An Federal Security Service (FSB) spokeswoman said it raided the church's buildings and also the homes of church members. The FSB said the probe was initially launched into the church's earnings from selling educational materials to new recruits.

"The Church of Scientology was first registered officially in Russia in 1994 but the authorities have pursued it through the courts in recent years. In 2016 the Russian Supreme Court ordered the closure of the Moscow branch of the Church of Scientology. The Justice Ministry has ruled that a number of the church's publications are extremist and calls the organization a sect.

"The Church of Scientology was founded in the United States in 1954 by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and was accorded the status of a religion there in 1993. The European Court of Human Rights has twice ruled in favor of the church, saying that Russia violated its rights by refusing to register its churches in various regions."

Radio Free Europe - June 7, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Televangelist Found Liable for Covering Up Her Granddaughter?s Alleged Rape

"A jury in California has awarded $2 million to a woman who accused her grandmother, a powerful televangelist, of ignoring her sexual assault as a child by an employee. Carra Crouch says she was raped by a 30-year-old Trinity Broadcasting Network staffer when she was 13. When she told her grandmother, Jan Crouch, the network?s cofounder, the older woman allegedly blamed her for the incident and never reported it to police.

"The events Carra Crouch described in her civil suit are chilling. Crouch, who is now 24, said she was attending a fundraising telethon in Georgia with her grandmother when the attack took place. The employee, who has not been named, ?coerced himself? into her room and pressured her to drink alcohol and a glass of water she believes was laced with a sedative. When she woke up, she said, there was blood on the bed and she believed she had been raped. Soon afterward, she told her grandmother about the incident, but Jan Crouch only lashed out at the girl. ?Why would you have that man in your room?? she said, according to Carra Crouch?s testimony. ?Why would you let this happen??

"Crouch?s suit argues that Jan Crouch, who died in 2016, was legally obligated to report the accusation to police because she was a minister. The lawyer for Trinity Christian Center, TBN?s parent organization, countered by arguing that Jan was told about the incident in her capacity as a grandmother. The jury agreed with that distinction, but still faulted her for her callous response, and held Jan Crouch and Trinity responsible for $900,000 of the $2 million verdict. Trinity?s lawyer also said that Crouch only told Jan that the employee had made advances on her, but not that an assault had taken place. The employee was fired quickly and has never been charged with a crime.

"Jan Crouch may seem like a relic from the 1980s, with her enormous cloud of purple hair and Tammy Faye Bakker-style eye makeup. But her network, cofounded with her husband, Paul Crouch Sr., remains hugely influential. TBN, which claims to be the world?s largest Christian TV network, boasts a roster that includes big names like Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, and?coming this fall!?Mike Huckabee. When then-candidate Donald Trump arranged a meeting with pastors at Trump Tower in 2015, Jan Crouch was among the televangelist-heavy group that assembled to pray for him."

Ruth Graham - Slate - June 7, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

The Shack (2017) Film:

"The film takes us on a father's uplifting spiritual journey. After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever." - Wikipedia.

Review of The Shack

"Not really a film. More an instructional video designed to be shown to teens at a Christian summer camp and earnestly discussed afterwards with a T-shirt-wearing group leader whose smiley tolerance for dissent is finite. (I incidentally imagine him resembling the church-going best buddy of the film?s hero.)

"The Shack is based on a self-published Christian bestseller from 2007 by Canadian author William P Young: literal, righteously pedagogic and unsubtle ? with some truly silly stuff about walking on water. Sam Worthington plays Mack, a Christian husband and father who is haunted by memories of a drunken, abusive dad whom he murdered as a kid by slipping strychnine (huge flashback closeup on the clearly labelled bottle) into his whisky. Did the police not, erm, suspect anything? Evidently not. Anyway, as a grownup he takes his family on a lakeside vacation where something terrible happens to his young daughter in a shack at the hands of a psycho killer. The cops seem as useless at detecting the culprit as they were in the days when Mack was bumping off his dad. In the depths of despair, he receives a mysterious summons to spend a redemptive crisis/visionary weekend in this very shack as the guest of God the father (Octavia Spencer), God the son (Avraham Aviv Alush) and God the Holy Spirit (Sumire Matsubara) and they all have the same kindly, enigmatic smile that in any other sort of film would mean they were playing Satan. (The Evil One is not represented.)

"The Trinity talk Mack through his issues, including his judgmental rage at his daughter?s killer: a figure denoting Wisdom has a bizarre and illogical scene challenging Mack to a make a Sophie?s Choice decision about which of his surviving kids he would wish to send to hell. Huh?

"The film could have been just crazy enough to be brilliant, but it winds up looking like a wet weekend at Christian Disneyland. Some potentially interesting material about forgiveness is swamped by the bad writing, cardboard characterisation and intelligence-insulting kiddiespeak theology.

Peter Bradshaw - The Guardian - June 8, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

Hundreds of New Churches - Not Enough for Southern Baptists

"Southern Baptists gained almost 500 churches last year, while taking in more than $11 billion. Such statistics would have most US denominations praising the Lord. But because of declines in other metrics that matter more?including their namesake, baptisms?leaders say members should offer lament instead.

"Virtually everyone who sees these figures will react negatively and lament the poor state of our churches, our lack of evangelistic fervor, and our increasingly irrelevant programs,? Frank S. Page, president and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), told Baptist Press. ?Indeed, we all should.?

"There?s no denying the decline of America?s largest Protestant denomination any longer. The SBC lost almost 78,000 members in the past year, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) released ahead of its upcoming annual meeting. Southern Baptists have now lost a million members since their peak of 16.3 million in 2003.

"The denomination is down to its ?lowest baptisms since 1946; lowest membership since 1990; lowest worship attendance since 1996,? according to historical analysis from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

?The true bad news is that when you put last year in the context of all previous years, it indicates the SBC is in the midst of a decline that shows no signs of either slowing down or turning around,? said Chuck Kelly, the seminary?s president.

"The only measure where Southern Baptists are growing is their number of churches, adding 479 churches last year for a total of more than 47,000. But leaders are concerned that they have fewer people to fill those churches. Congregations reported an overall drop in Sunday service attendance (down 7%) and fewer new believers being added through baptism (down 5%). Denominational leaders blame the downward trajectory on their struggle for effective evangelism. ?It's clear that evangelism and discipleship are waning,? Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, an SBC affiliate which produces the ACP report, told BP. ?I don't believe it is due to the lack of opportunities, though. Instead, there is a lack of engagement.?

"For years, evangelicals watched their fellow Protestants in mainline denominations undergo widespread and much-talked-about decline, while hoping their more conservative theology would sustain them. Yet, as Ed Stetzer noted a year ago, ?Southern Baptists are shrinking faster than United Methodists.?

"The former LifeWay Research president dissuaded doubters from blaming declines on churches that do not report their numbers to the ACP?about 1 in 5 congregations in recent years?and challenges the denomination to examine its church-planting strategy, evangelism, and reputation. In the American Conservative last week, George Hawley, politics professor at the University of Alabama, suggested the Religious Right was to blame for the decline of evangelical denominations including Southern Baptists. During last year?s election, the SBC saw agency leaders split over support for President Donald Trump, with some congregations even temporarily withholding funding.

"In the year ending September 2016, SBC giving decreased slightly. While undesignated receipts were up almost $62 million, total church receipts and missions expenditures were each down about 1 percent, to $11.5 billion and $1.19 billion respectively. CT reported that Southern Baptists bore similar declines last year, while the Assemblies of God, America?s third-largest denomination, enjoyed domestic and global growth.

Kate Shellnutt - Christianity Today - June 8, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

Senator Bernie Sanders Attacked the Christianity of the Nominee for Deputy Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget :

Senate Hearing Video - Senator Sander's attack begins at 44:20 :

https://www.budget.senate.gov/nomination-hearing-for-deputy-director_of-white-house-budget-office

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Court Orders Jehovah's Witness Not to Show Son Religious Cartoons

"A Jehovah's Witness has agreed not to show his son religious cartoons and has been banned from taking the six-year-old to some church events because it could cause him "emotional damage". The man is embroiled in a family court dispute with his estranged wife and has been barred by a court from taking the little boy to Jehovah's Witness assemblies, annual conventions and memorials. District Judge Malcolm Dodds also said, that the father had agreed not to show his son "Jehovah's Witness cartoons", a decision he described as "wise".

"The judge said the boy had watched cartoons called Obey Jehovah, Pay Attention At Meetings and One Man One Woman. "In 'Obey Jehovah' a child is taught about the sinfulness of having a cartoon character toy with magical powers which the child had to put in a bin," he said. "While making sense to a child if both parents were Jehovah's Witnesses, such a cartoon would send a very confusing message to a child like [the boy] who has one foot in his mother's world and a wider world (in which magical characters are everywhere in books, television, DVDs, on the internet and in films) and his other foot in his father's world where such magical characters are sinful.

"The mother asserts that in her submissions that the objective of the cartoons and Bible stories is to condition and indoctrinate children into Jehovah's Witness beliefs through a mixture of fear, manipulation and a strict boundary between behaviour which is acceptable and pleasing and that which is not. "The father accepts that [the boy] should not be exposed to such religious based media until [he] is at least 12." The judge concluded that there was a risk of the youngster suffering "emotional damage" if he was taken to to Jehovah's Witness  assemblies, annual conventions and memorials. He heard that the couple had separated about a year after the man began to study the Jehovah's Witness faith.

"Judge Dodds said the man could spend time with the boy and could take him to Sunday services. But he said he took a different view about the boy attending "assemblies, annual conventions and memorials". The judge said the man had already agreed not to take the boy on "field service" - knocking on doors of people's homes, not to read Bible stories to him and not to show him "religious biased media", including the cartoons. "I ... do not wish to restrict him from taking [the boy] to the Kingdom Hall each Sunday for up to two hours," said Judge Dodds.

"I do not see that this practice of the father's faith for a limited period within a group service with child-friendly activities poses a risk of jeopardy to [the boy's] relationship with his mother." The judge added: "I take a different view of assemblies, annual conventions and memorials. These are much longer events." He went on: "There is a far greater risk that [the boy] will be influenced ... given his age and how impressionable he is and the risk of emotional damage due to confusing messages. "As a result I find it necessary and proportionate to prohibit the father from taking [the boy] to Jehovah's Witness  assemblies, annual conventions and memorials."

The UK Telegraph - June 11, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

South Korean Christians Recruit Chinese to Preach in Muslim Pakistan

"China?s official media today accused South Korean Christian groups of converting young Chinese and sending them for proselytising in Muslim countries, a day after Pakistan said the two Chinese nationals killed by ISIS were involved in ?preaching? in the country. The state-run Global Times mainly highlighted the comments by Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali, that Lee Zingyang, 24, and Meng Lisi, 26, who were kidnapped from Jinnah Town, Quetta, in the restive Balochistan province on May 24, and killed allegedly by Islamic State militants had entered Pakistan on business visas. The minister was informed that the two were part of a group of Chinese citizens who obtained business visas from the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing and entered Pakistan.

"But instead of doing business, they had gone to Quetta, where they pretended to learn Urdu from a Korean business owner but ?were actually engaged in preaching forbidden proselytizing,? the Global Times reported.
?The tragedy has triggered a new wave of anger against Islamic terrorism among the Chinese public, who have already been victimised by terrorism and extremism in the country?s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,? the daily said. At the same time it quoted Chinese analysts warning of ?another dangerous trend that might see China become entangled in constant trouble with overseas terrorism as South Korean missionaries are allegedly recruiting Chinese people to preach in Muslim countries?. Experts spoke of increasing activities by South Korean Christian groups who have been active in converting people in China, an officially atheist country, and proselytizing in Muslim countries, where such activities are forbidden and may even result in death sentences, the report said.

"Analysts further warned that some illegal missionary activities by South Korean religious groups in China are even sponsored by Seoul?s secret services,? it said. ?South Korean missionaries have been conducting underground missionary activities in China since at least a decade ago. Many missionary organisations are even sponsored by the (South Korean) intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service,? Chu Yin, an associate professor at the University of International Relations was quoted as saying by the Global Times. Apart from recruiting young people in China, South Korean missionaries send teenagers to risk their lives to conduct missionary activities in Muslim countries, and compared to Chinese, more South Koreans have been killed abroad due to risky missionary activities in conservative Islamic regions, a university student who has participated in several South Korean underground missionary events told the daily.

?Normally these missionaries will try to attract young Chinese students who come to churches because these students want to know about Christianity. Some of them will offer free airfare tickets, accommodation and meals if Chinese teenagers go to South Korea, and as they (missionaries) normally have a legal cover, like being an exchange scholar or postgraduate student, many Chinese students decide to go with them,? the student said. ?Some Chinese voluntarily join in the dangerous missionary activities in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq after being converted by South Koreans,? he said. China has very strict rules on foreigners? religious activities in China. The country forbids foreigners from converting people. Meanwhile, an editorial in Global Times said, ?while the atrocity? by the Islamic State in killing the two Chinese is appalling, it cannot drive a wedge between China and Pakistan, nor will the construction of the CPEC be disrupted.

?The killings of the two Chinese citizens should serve as a lesson. It is necessary for China and Pakistan to understand the situation of South Korean missionaries and radical groups in Balochistan, so as to better protect the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan,? it said. ?In fact, it?s doubtful whether the extremist organisation targeted the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) this time. The two hostages killed were not staff related to the project, but had allegedly been brought to Pakistan by a South Korean Christian organisation to conduct missionary work. This tragedy was more likely caused by the conflict between South Korean missionary agencies and local terrorists,? it added. ?The China?Pakistan bilateral relationship is regarded as a model of relations between countries with different social systems. The Chinese public considers Pakistan as China?s ?iron brother,? the editorial said.

?Pakistan has made great efforts in protecting the CPEC. It has dispatched approximately 15,000 Pakistani military personnel to protect the Chinese engineers, the number of the former exceeding that of the latter. This is known to the Chinese public,? it said. ?Pakistan is far from having a stable domestic situation, but as the China?Pakistan friendship is deeply rooted in Pakistani society and most political and sectarian forces don?t consider China as an enemy, the security dilemmas facing the country will not impact the bilateral relationship or the CPEC,? it added. ?So far, no political forces in Pakistan have openly boycotted the CPEC, instead, various regions compete to join the project. There is generally a favourable political and public opinion environment toward the project. The killings of the two hostages are not a signal of any change to the current situation?, it said. ?Some Indian and Western media intend to exaggerate the impacts of the incident. They aim at badmouthing and disrupting China?Pakistan economic cooperation by linking the terror act caused by religious conflict to the political and economic cooperation between the two countries,? it added

The Hindu International - June 13, 2017

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Christianity is Evolving - 20 Proofs

Sunday evening services - There are fewer and fewer churches meeting on Sunday evening.
Pastor's stand-and-greet time - It clearly was a practice falling out of favor.

Suit and ties - Casual dress is now the norm in most churches.
The organ - It is now unusual to see an organ still played in worship services.

Print newsletters - Most church members are receiving information digitally today.
Frequent business meetings - Business meetings became the 'monthly fist fight'.

Sunday school - It has been replaced with community groups, life groups, home groups, etc.
Choirs - Many churches have moved from choirs to praise teams and instrumentalists.

The parlor for receptions, bride?s dressing room, etc. - An unused sacred cow in the church.
Weekly visitation in homes - Home visitation program did more harm than good.

Hymnals - Replaced with projected words on a screen.
Weeknight fellowship meals - Many churches in the past had paid cooks.

Casual recruiting of children?s workers - Extensive background checks before hiring someone.
Denomination-driven philosophy of ministry- Local programs and schedule.

Large pulpits - Replaced with smaller pulpits or stands.
Special music and anthems - No longer a common response.

Food pantry - Instead, contribute to a community food bank.
King James Version - Replaced with 'modern' translations of the Bible.

Office hours for ministry staff - Appointments rather than drop bys.
Land phone lines - Replaced with cell-phones.

Thom Rainer's blog - June 14, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

The Religious Argument for Contraception

"When the Trump administration signaled its recent intention to cancel the federal requirement that many religious employers offer birth control coverage in health insurance plans, it was framed as a victory for religious freedom. Tom Price, who is the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and is (mystifyingly) a physician, said that this action ?the deeply held religious beliefs of Americans who provide health insurance to their employees.?

"Guess what, Dr. Price? Some of us have deeply held religious beliefs that support ensuring access to birth control. Many of the world?s largest religions accept birth control in one form or another. There is no ban in Hinduism. It?s allowed in Islam and Buddhism. The Sikhs offer no objection. Protestant movements vary widely in teaching and practice, and even many evangelical Christian leaders approve of using contraception within marriage.

"Catholic teaching, on the other hand, stipulates that the only birth control permitted is abstinence. But in 2015, Frank Bruni of The New York Times asked Gallup to break down its Values and Beliefs survey; he learned that 86% of American Catholics believe that birth control is ?morally acceptable? ? compared with 90% of the public as a whole.


"Judaism has a different view in this regard:

"First there is the fact that contraceptives are often used by women for health reasons that have nothing to do with sex and procreation. As the (Jewish) writer and director Lena Dunham revealed in the Sunday New York Times,, many women like her rely on contraceptives to control chronic and debilitating pain. ?More women in this country are prescribed oral contraception for medical reasons than for pregnancy prevention,? she wrote. ?If the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress succeed in? giving employers carte blanche to deny women necessary medication under murky notions of moral disdain, all paths to health and wellness will disappear for a huge swath of Americans.? My religion obliges me to care for the sick. Withholding legal medication violates that obligation.

"Second, there is the fact that rolling back this mandate could disproportionately affect hundreds of thousands of women who rely on health insurance from their employers for their often costly birth control. Many of these women have no other resources. My religion obliges me to care for the needy. This fits that description.

"Third, and more specifically, there is the fact that Judaism has no law preventing use of contraception, and ? even in Orthodox communities ? permits its use within marriage for couples who for financial, psychological or other reasons wish to delay having children, or having more children. Deny couples birth control, and you deny their religiously sanctioned autonomy to preserve their marriage.

"And since a man must sexually please his partner ? yes, it?s in the Talmud ? blocking access to birth control could mean that he can?t fulfill his obligations. So, Dr. Price, you have your religious arguments and I have mine. I acknowledge yours, and I wish you would acknowledge mine. Then we can decide that perhaps the religious arguments cancel each other out, and we are left where we should have been in the beginning: considering how a federal policy affects national well-being. In this case, the evidence is overwhelming: Access to free or low-cost birth control helps the sick and needy, lowers the abortion rate, improves women?s economic status and enhances family life. As Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, told the Forward by email, ?People from all walks of life ? religious and nonreligious ? use birth control for a host of health care reasons.?

"So if you don?t believe in contraception, don?t use it. That?s as far as the religious dictate should go.

Jane Eisner - Forward - June 14, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Top Religious Leaders Issue Rare Joint Appeal

"Religion is often viewed as a force that sows divisions between people. But the world?s most prominent religious leaders have come together to present a different vision of how faith can work in the world. In a rare move, major religious leaders ? from Pope Francis to the Dalai Lama ? issued a joint appeal Wednesday asking people to follow a simple bit of advice: Make friends with people of other faiths. ?Our advice is to make friends to followers of all religions,? Ayatollah Sayyid Fadhel Al-Milani, one of the U.K.?s most senior Shia Muslim clerics, said in a video recording.

?Personal contact, personal friendship, then we can exchange a deeper level of experience,? the Dalai Lama said.

"Pope Francis chose to speak about his long friendship with the Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who also appeared in the video. ?My religious life became richer with his explanations, so much richer,? Francis said of Skorka. ?And I guess the same happened for him.?

?Make Friends? is an initiative of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, an interfaith organization with offices in Israel and the United States. In a press release, organizers said the project?s mission is to counter the idea that people view each others? religions with distrust or disdain ? and to potentially even reduce violence conducted in the name of religion.

"Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, the Elijah Interfaith Institute?s director, said that this project introduces a new theological perspective, one that affirms the need for friendship between faiths. We cannot deny that in the books of many religions you can find texts that are not very open, even hostile, to people of other faiths,? he said in a statement. ?Therefore, when the world?s most important leaders call for friendship, they are in fact affirming a particular way of practicing religion and rejecting another.?

"The 22 leaders involved in the appeal represent a wide spectrum of religious beliefs ? Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Each leader contributed a personal statement specifically for the purposes of this project. Many more videos from the leaders, with subtitles in different languages, are available on Make Friends? YouTube account.

?One of the wonderful things about spending time with people completely unlike you is you discover how much you have in common. The same fears, the same hopes, the same concerns,? Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the U.K.?s former chief rabbi."

Carol Kuruvilla - HuffPost - June 15, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

How the Southern Baptist Summer Convention Went Off the Rails

"At the center of the story is Arlington's Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, who several weeks ago submitted a resolution condemning the "alt-right and white nationalism." So far, so good. But the resolutions committee decided McKissic's proposal contained inflammatory and broad language "potentially implicating" conservatives who do not support the alt-right movement.

"Because the resolution did not get the required two-thirds committee vote, chair Barrett Duke didn't move it to the floor. But McKissic persuaded convention officials to ask all 5,000 people on hand if they wanted the resolution heard; that vote too fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. That's when all hell broke loose, starting with an online backlash, especially from African-American evangelicals, and spilling into the assembly hall Tuesday night.

"Southern Baptist leaders, although way too late, realized the enormity of their error and called attendees back to the gathering place late Tuesday night to say that, indeed, such a resolution would get a hearing today. It's also worth noting right about here that among the resolutions approved Tuesday was one that  called for moral character in public officials, similar to the one the convention passed  at the height of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal.

"This very clear jab at President Trump, which passed with little discussion,  is unlikely to go over well with  two of Dallas' most prominent Southern Baptist churches ? First Baptist and Prestonwood Baptist. Both have threatened to withhold money from the policy arm of the national convention because they are unhappy with national leadership's criticism of Trump during the election campaign ?and of church leaders standing arm in arm with him.

"A procedural snafu line is hard to swallow given that it was a conscious decision by committee chair Duke to dump McKissic's work. And as best I can tell, convention leadership only decided to revive the effort ? and seek a middle ground ? after social media blew up. Sounds a bit too much like that old adage: "They aren't sorry for what they did, just sorry they got caught."

Sharon Grigsby - Dallas News - June 14, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

There is a new blog for French-speaking Reformed Christian:

http://canada.thegospelcoalition.org/sola/

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Religion Shaping Diabetic Glucose Control in Marriages

"Religious beliefs can affect how diabetic patients and their spouses cope with the stress of diabetes, with positive attitudes resulting in good lifestyle habits that result in greater success with glycemic control for the diabetic spouse, new US research indicates in the "Journal of Marital and Family Therapy".

"This current study found that both partners' use of religion to cope with type 2 diabetes-related stress significantly predicted their involvement in shared glycemic control behaviors," write Frank Fincham, PhD, Florida State University, Tallahassee, and colleagues. But prior work has shown that only 10% of doctors report addressing the subject of religion with their patients, the researchers say.

"Physicians need to overcome their reluctance to discuss such issues, they add, because they could explain to couples who are religious how their faith could help them to handle the stress that diabetes places on a marriage, and in turn help them improve lifestyle behaviors and subsequent blood glucose control in the affected spouse.

"Religious coping was measured using a brief version of the RCOPE, a comprehensive measure of religious coping," the investigators note. Positive religious coping involves strategies such as people viewing God as a partner in their effort to control the stress of diabetes, while negative religious coping reflects a feeling that the diabetes means they have being abandoned by God, they explain.

"Glycemic control was assessed by rating the diabetic spouse's response to how well they kept their blood glucose in range, varying from never to always. Compared to their nondiabetic partners, the diabetic spouse engaged in significantly more positive religious coping"  Overall, both the diabetic and the nondiabetic spouse engaged in significantly more positive than negative religious coping strategies in their management of diabetes-related stress.

"As Gregory Seibert, doctoral candidate in marriage and family therapy at Florida State University and coauthor of the report, explained, the study indicates  differences in the way diabetic spouses and nondiabetic spouses cope. The more likely the diabetic patient was to engage in negative religious coping, the less likely they were to share good glycemic control behaviors with their partner. "In other words, religious coping that reflects tensions and spiritual struggle involving doubt about God's love and care, for example, was related to fewer shared activities with the spouse that focused on glycemic control," he added.

Pam Harrison - Medscape - June 19, 2017.

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10 reasons Mormons dominate multi-level marketing companies

1 - Insularity. Mormons tend to be trusting, especially of other Mormons. We tend to want to believe that other Mormons are good, because surely if they know and believe in the gospel then they want the best for other people and aren?t trying to cheat people out of money.

2 - Money as a blessing. Mormons may not know what the phrase ?prosperity gospel? means, but many believe in the principle that if someone has money then they must be blessed by God.

3 - An unusually high number of Stay-At-Home-Moms. Mormons encourage women to stay at home, but these days that leaves many families to struggle for any extra income. It also means that Mormon stay-at-home moms use their time to try to make money for extra things.

4 - Easy mobilization. Mormons have a built-in network, complete with phone numbers, physical addresses, and emails. They may not think twice about using this information to send out invitations to their ?parties? about a new product/brand that is also an MLM, even if using ward lists for business purposes is against the rules of the church.

5 - Door to door experience. Former Mormon missionaries are used to sales techniques. They?re not afraid of rejection and they are sometimes very aggressive.

6 - The personal touch. Mormons are used to hearing testimonials and connecting that to ?deeper? truth. Some might argue this means Mormons are particularly vulnerable to anecdotal evidence.

7 - Big claims. Mormons often hear people scoffing at our religious ideas, our founder, and our scripture. Because we?ve grown accustomed to that, we may be more likely to shrug off criticisms even when we shouldn?t.

8 - Top-down structure. Mormons are comfortable with a hierarchical institution where people at the top know more than people at the bottom, and to paying money ?up-stream.? I know this may sound like a crude way of describing tithing. But looking at it from the outside, there are certain similarities.

9 - Naivete. Mormons have a tendency to believe that they are ?chosen? or ?special,? and may be more easily led to believe that an opportunity has come to them from God rather than dismissing things that are ?too good to be true.?

10 - Skimming the surface. Sadly, Mormon church meetings do not lead Mormons to ask hard questions. Instead, we may be more vulnerable to being led to ask the questions that people want us to ask. If a question/answer format is offered, we may not think more deeply ...

"This is such a big problem that LDS apostle Dallin Oaks wrote a book about Mormons and Get-Rich-Quick Schemes and worried that members of the Church may be ?specially susceptible to materialism.?

Mette Harrison- Religious News Service - June 20, 2017

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A Review of A Quiet Passion - Christian Faith and EMILY D1CKINSON?s Doubt
   
Film About Life
"In this way, A Quiet Passion is, perhaps, as much about what life is like as it is about what d**kinson?s life was like. Life is filled with many quiet moments?alone or with family and friends, at the table, in the parlor, around the yard, in the midst of conversation. Life is filled with contradictions in our words, in our actions, in our inner thoughts and beliefs. The power of the film is in capturing the way these moments accumulate into life?s most meaningful things, just as d**kinson captured them in her poetry.

"With languishing camera pans across interior doors and walls, creative renderings of the passage of time, lush period settings, disjointed and stylized dialogue?all set against a backdrop of exquisite and eclectic musical selections (including a piano rendition of a number from Spamalot, which, oddly enough, works perfectly)?the film is more experimental than conventional. In fact, watching A Quiet Passion is less like watching a movie and more like walking through a museum to gaze at a well-curated but eccentric series of skillful paintings.

"Although the narrative arc covers the span of d**kinson?s life, it?s not a film for viewers desiring a complete and coherent picture of a life, or the conventional biographical emphases one might expect. As with d**kinson?s poems, much is left out, much is merely hinted, and much is lingered on that most of us would prefer to not even think about. Like death.

Film About Death
"The film captures powerfully why the poet most famous for the lines ?Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me? was so obsessed with death. Since death is much less a part of our lives than it was for those in d**kinson?s era, it?s easy for us to judge as morbid what was then closer to normal. A Quiet Passion dwells excruciatingly on scenes of death and suffering?not exploitatively, but humanly. The scene of d**kinson?s mother?s death is both painful and beautiful in its mere humanity. The intensity of the film?s physical suffering?that of Emily, her mother, and less so her sister-in-law?is superseded by its portrayal of the family?s deep love for one another through all their pains?physical, spiritual, and emotional.

Film About Love
"Similarly, the intensity of the love depicted in A Quiet Passion?of father for daughter, mother for children, sister for brother, friend for friend?is, I think, like none other I?ve ever seen on screen. It?s not your typical, Hollywood-style passion?glossy, melodramatic, self-indulgent, and predictable. It?s much more like that of real people living real lives that are messy and hard and yet filled with hope, hope less for oneself than for their beloved.

Film About Faith
"The film?s backdrop of the Civil War is a helpful reminder of the reasons behind the racial tensions and inequities that still reverberate today. That war is also emblematic of the spiritual war that seemed to rage within d**kinson for her entire life. She was the 19th-century prototype for the ?spiritual not religious? impulse that was shocking then, but standard today. As she quips in one poem quoted in the film"

Karen Swallow Prior  - Gospel Coalition - June 21, 2017.

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Should Churches Keep Their Civil War Landmarks?

"Since Dylann Roof, a rebel flag-waving white supremacist, opened fire at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston two years ago, the debate over historical markers of the Civil War South has taken on more urgency and more widespread concern. The flags came down first, starting with the contentious one that flew on South Carolina?s capitol grounds. A year after the Mother Emanuel massacre, the Southern Baptist Convention called on Christians to stop displaying the Confederate flag. The Episcopal Church made a similar statement, and its National Cathedral in Washington, DC, opted to remove two images of the flag in its stained glass windows.

"Communities and institutions shifted their discussions around their own landmarks, namesakes, and long-ago history; most notably, New Orleans spent two years eliminating its Civil War monuments, the last of which?a statue of General Robert E. Lee?came down last month. Protestors with torches challenged plans to do the same in Charlottesville, Virginia. But despite the new pressure around Confederate history, these cases remain the exception.

?Few public Confederate monuments have been changed, moved, or razed since 2015,? USA Today reported, estimating 700 to 1,000 such monuments remain across 31 states. ?While flags can be lowered, songs censored, mascots switched, and schools renamed, monuments are the most tangible and least mutable memorial symbols.?

"The debate over such markers inevitably involves the church buildings that housed?and the many more that later memorialized?the history of the Confederate States of America. The most striking example may be St. Paul?s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, nicknamed the Cathedral of the Confederacy. Over the past two years, the historic church, where Jefferson Davis learned that the war was coming to an end, decided to remove plaques honoring Lee and Davis and place them in an exhibit. Gone are the kneelers with the Confederate flag in needlepoint. The church will retire its coat of arms. Leaders are now discussing how to move forward with presenting a history that acknowledges racism and slavery in its past.

?It shouldn?t take a tragedy to turn the tide against racism. Why did it take the murder of nine black people in a Bible study for some people to finally reject the racism associated with the Confederate emblem? Why do people have to literally be killed before we confront racial prejudice?? asked Jemar Tisby, president of the Reformed African American Network. ?Christian leaders should be able to challenge racism in the midst of the church without waiting for a public disaster as an entry point to conversation.?

Kate Shellnutt - Christianity Today - June 19, 2017.

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Conservative Evangelical Christian?s Deal with the Devil

"The classic tale of Doctor Faustus has been told and retold in many forms. It is one of those universal cautionary tropes which, when you think about it, appears all over the place in literature, movies and song (such as The Police?s 1983 hit Wrapped Around Your Finger). The Faustus tale centers on an ambitious man who is dissatisfied with his place in life. He believes he deserves more: more respect, more power, more influence. Spotting that the man is vulnerable to temptation, a demon appears and offers him a deal: he will be given all he desires in exchange for his soul. Faustus makes the deal and gets what he wants, though it never quite works out the way he anticipated. Eventually he realizes the foolishness of his pact with the devil, but alas it is too late.

"We see this tale writ large in current events here in the United States. Christianity has been on the decline. It has been losing not only adherents but also influence in the public sphere. The response of conservative evangelicals to this sociological trend has, sadly, often been to circle their wagons, curse the perceived darkness, and lash out (against gay couples ordering wedding cakes, against Muslims and the specter of ?Sharia Law?, against Starbucks, against immigrants, against those who say ?Happy Holidays? instead of ?Merry Christmas??). Like Doctor Faustus, they rage against their marginalization.

"The demon?s deal came this election season when?in exchange for a promised change in fortunes (such as a conservative Supreme Court justice who might help restrict abortion and provide legal protection to practice bigotry under the guise of ?religious freedom?)?81% of white conservative evangelical Christians voted to elect as U.S. President a crass congenital liar who not only lacked the experience, qualifications and temperament for the job, but who had a long track record as a serial adulterer, a sexual predator, a business fraud, a thin-skinned revenge-driven narcissist prone to casting petty insults (often very publicly via Twitter); and a promoter of greed, racism, torture, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, religious discrimination, mob violence and general crudeness.

"81% of white evangelical Christians chose a man who said it would be acceptable to take away people?s medical coverage, to punish women who have abortions, to cast out immigrants on a massive scale, to ban people entry into the U.S. based upon their religion, to force members of certain religions to register with the government, to take his critics to court, etc.

"81% percent of white conservative evangelical Christians decided to bind themselves to a man who?s words and deeds are not simply un-Christian, but are anti-Christian; antithetical to the teachings and values of Jesus. 81% of white evangelical Christians are irrevocably linked to the most unpopular president in U.S. history, a man whose presidency will likely end prematurely and ignominiously.

"For now, Trump is trying to deliver on some his promises to conservatives. Evangelicals feel they are getting some action. Time will tell to what degree their agenda goals will be satisfied. But the price has been paid nonetheless; the white conservative evangelical soul was sold, and in a very public transaction. They are winning some battles now, but in so doing have already lost their war. Any conservative Christian claims to moral high ground can now be dismissed in a single word: Trump.

"There is a growing defensiveness among white conservative evangelical Christians, as the true and inescapable cost of their deal with the demon begins to become apparent. They ask us to ?get over it? and to stop with the 24?7 news coverage and social media postings about the Trump administration?s continuous stream of blunders, kerfuffles, indiscretions, embarrassments and outright lies. They rail as a chorus against the ?mainstream media? and the ?deep state? and the leakers. They mock or try to ignore the unprecedented protests and civic actions and lawsuits and investigations and internal leaks against Trump. They defend the indefensible claims of Trump and Pence and Conway and Spicer and Huckabee about crowd sizes and illegal Hillary voters and climate change and the precarious state of million?s of people?s medical coverage and the meaningfulness of ?covfefe? and a bevy of other ?alternative facts.? And, of course, they cast themselves as the victims (?it?s such an easy part, and you know how to play it so well? sang the Eagles).

"The decline of Christianity in the U.S. will continue to accelerate, as those outside the church?particularly young people?watch and take note of the shenanigans. Conservative evangelical Christianity has, like a lump of leaven, tainted the whole.  It has been tried and found wanting; the living waters poisoned by lust for temporal power.  Its time has come to an end. Its public persona has become indistinguishable from the Pharisees of Jesus? day.  White conservative evangelical Christians got a Supreme Court seat and a few executive orders, but in the process they have trashed their credibility for generations to come?perhaps permanently.  The deal was struck. The die is cast. The devil will have his due."

Daniel P. Coleman - Patheos - June 20, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

India?s dangerous trends on religious liberty

What is India's Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act ?

"In September 2010, India's parliament passed The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) to regulate international financial donations to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India. The first form of this type of regulation passed in 1976. The 2010 legislation was a major overhaul that gave the government broad authority to prohibit NGOs from working in country, ?for any activities detrimental to the national interest and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.? FCRA has been used to target and force out thousands of foreign humanitarian and religious organizations from serving in India. In the past three years alone, Prime Minister Modi's administration has revoked the licenses of more than 10,000 organizations.

Why is religious liberty under threat in India ?

"The FRCA is overly broad and gives Indian government officials too much power to punish and discriminate against organizations they disagree with. This has huge implications for not just religious freedom but also freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and freedom of assembly. The over 10,000 organizations who lost their license in the last three years are effectively kicked out of India. For instance, Compassion International had its organizational license revoked, which eliminated its ability to care for the 145,000 children the organization served. Gopal Baglay, a spokesman for India?s Ministry of External Affairs, told the New York Times the decision to force Compassion International to end their Indian operations was, ?a matter of law enforcement.? The charity?s leadership believes the Indian government, ?misunderstands Compassion?s model, assuming our sole intent is converting children to Christianity, when in fact, our primary goal is to rescue children from poverty.?

"he New York Times also reported that Compassion executives, ?said they had been approached in the United States by a representative of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization associated with the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had been offered leniency on the condition that they distribute donations through non-Christian service groups.? Unsurprisingly, Mr. Baglay dismissed this claim. Hundreds of other faith-based organizations have had their licenses revoked as well. Those who remain are often harassed and operate under the constant threat that one wrong move could mean the end of their operations and work in India."

Policy Committee - Ethics Religious Liberty Commission - June 22, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Are Southern voters really different ?

"America?s cultural divide runs deep. While rural and urban Americans share some economic challenges, they frequently diverge on questions of culture and values. On few issues are they more at odds than immigration.

"Here is the overture for that deep-dive into new polling data:

"The political divide between rural and urban America is more cultural than it is economic, rooted in rural residents? deep misgivings about the nation?s rapidly changing demographics, their sense that Christianity is under siege and their perception that the federal government caters most to the needs of people in big cities, according to a wide-ranging poll that examines cultural attitudes across the United States.

"The Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey of nearly 1,700 Americans ? including more than 1,000 adults living in rural areas and small towns ? finds deep-seated kinship in rural America, coupled with a stark sense of estrangement from people who live in urban areas. Nearly 7 in 10 rural residents say their values differ from those of people who live in big cities, including about 4 in 10 who say their values are ?very different.?

"So let's see, how was this massive feature structured? As you would imagine, there are large sections dedicated to politics (Trump!), money and jobs. Issues of race and immigration receive lots of attention. Oh, and under the section labeled, "Distrust and Estrangement," there is one paragraph that says this:

"That sense of division is closely connected to the belief among rural Americans that Christian values are under siege. Nearly 6 in 10 people in rural areas say Christian values are under attack, compared with just over half of suburbanites and fewer than half of urbanites. When personal politics is taken into account, the divide among rural residents is even larger: 78 percent of rural Republicans say Christian values are under attack, while 45 percent of rural Democrats do."

Terry Mattingly - Get Religion - June 22. 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

Vatican Changes Tone on LGBT Catholics

"Something new is happening in the Catholic Church. Its relationship with LGBT people in some parts of the country is changing. Last month, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, welcomed a large group of LGBT people to his cathedral. ?I am Joseph, your brother,? he said, echoing words from the Old Testament. A Mass was then celebrated for the congregation of LGBT people. Under his predecessor, Archbishop John Meyers, such a Mass would have been close to unthinkable.

"A few months earlier, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, spoke before New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics. In 1999, New Ways was subject to a condemnation by the Vatican?s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and its two founders, the Rev. John Nugent (now deceased) and Sister Jeannine Gramick, were censured. That a sitting bishop would address the group is a sea change.

"And earlier this month, a book I?ve written on the need for the church to reach out to LGBT people more compassionately was endorsed by two cardinals ? Newark?s Cardinal Tobin and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican?s office on the laity, family and life. For good measure, Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego also endorsed the book.

"How has this happened? As I see it, there are two answers.

"The first is obvious: Pope Francis. We cannot underestimate the impact of his response to a question about gay priests: ?Who am I to judge?? Later, when pressed, he said his comments referred to gay preists. "Who am I to judge?? Later, when pressed, he said his comments referred to gay people in general.

"The second reason why some in the church are taking a fresh look at its relationship with LGBT Catholics is happening in the grass roots"

James Martin  - Newsday - June 25, 2017

[eyeshaveit]

UNESCO?s tricky balancing act between religious and secular forces

"As the would-be guardian of the world?s most precious places and patrimony, UNESCO can hardly avoid entering into the field of religion. But given the vast and quarrelsome diversity of its member states, the UN?s educational and cultural agency finds it hard to address this sensitive subject, as some recent news stories have shown.

"Among the 1,052 locations designated by UNESCO as world heritage sites?of universal value to humanity?perhaps 20% have some connection with worship. They range from cathedrals in France and Germany to mosques in Saudi Arabia. And religion (in the form of pilgrimages and processions, for example) also features among the hundreds of intangible cultural treasures that the organisation deems worthy of protection.

"Once a site, or even a tradition, has been recognised by the Paris-based agency, its experts step in to offer guidance on how to allow fair access to curious outsiders while protecting vulnerable bits of heritage. These pundits have lots to say about weighing the economic interests of a tourist area?s local population against the long-term future of the site. But things get trickier when it comes to balancing the interests of secular tourists and art historians against the various groups of believers who have used a location over the centuries, and who want to go on using it. Since 2010 UNESCO has been in dispute with the authorities in Georgia over an insensitive restoration plan backed by the church, at the Kutaisi cathedral and Gelati monastery, a magnificent complex of frescoed medieval buildings. Only in the past few weeks have UNESCO consultants and Georgian state and church authorities edged towards a compromise.

"Things get trickier still when several religions regard a site as holy. Perhaps the best that can be said that is that UNESCO?s rules and conventions offer the parties a language and an arena in which to have their arguments. Last October, for example, Israel was furious after UNESCO?s executive board approved a resolution that used mainly Islamic terminology to refer to Jerusalem?s holiest peak, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. The text contained two mentions of the Western Wall, in inverted commas, and otherwise used a Muslim term for that location, the Buraq Plaza. In contrast with a previous resolution, it did acknowledge that Jerusalem and the Old City were sacred to three religions. That was seen as a minimal concession to Jewish and Christian sentiment."

ERASMUS - The Economist - June 26, 2017.

[eyeshaveit]

When is Eid al-Fitr, and why do Muslims celebrate it?

"Millions of Muslims across the globe are preparing to celebrate one of their biggest religious festivals, Eid Al Fitr, which could start this weekend. It begins with a greeting: either ?Eid Mubarak,? or ?Blessed Eid.? Here?s what you should know about the Islamic holy day.

What is Eid al-Fitr?
"Eid al-Fitr is Arabic for ?festival of the breaking of the fast.? The festival marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until sunset during Ramadan.

When is Eid al-Fitr observed?
Because the timing of Eid al-Fitr is based on sighting of the moon as per the Islamic lunar calendar, it can be difficult to predict when the festival will happen in any given country. While some Muslims wait to see the moon themselves, many either use the calculated time of the new moon, or base it on the declaration made in Saudi Arabia. Most of the Muslims in the United States will celebrate Eid on Sunday.

How is Eid celebrated?
In the morning, Muslims gather at mosques and prayer areas to perform Eid Prayer and greet each other. The festival is celebrated by visiting friends and relatives, hosting food parties and sharing sweets. Children not only get new clothes and shoes, but also receive cash gifts called ?Eidi? from their elders and relatives. The occasion is seen as a time of forgiveness and of giving thanks to Allah for helping people to complete their spiritual fasting. Many Muslims display their thanks by giving donations and food to those less fortunate than themselves.

How long is the Eid festival?
In most Muslim countries, the three days of Eid are observed as public and school holidays. This is not the case in the U.S., but many employers and schools allow time off for Muslim workers and children ? particularly in areas with a high Muslim population.

How should you greet Muslims on Eid al-Fitr?
The most standard greetings on this occasion is ?Eid Mubarak? which means ?have a blessed Eid.?

Waseem Abbasi - Religious News Service - June 24, 2017.