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From ChristianToday, a note on the release of the Poverty and Justice Bible (from the American Bible Society)
The headline, oddly, is "Americans more likely to credit Obama for verse on justice than Bible," which suggests a kind of conservative-Christian disdain for the supposed popular tendency to lionize Obama as a populist champion. The piece highlights a Harris Interactive survey that presented respondents with the quotation, "You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless," and asked its source. The answers given were Obama (16%), the Bible (13%), the Dalai Lama (9%), MLK (8%), Oprah (4%) and Bono (3%). (It's Proverbs 31.8f.) I have to wonder about methodology. I assume this was a multiple choice question, and without a list of choices I'm sure 95% of respondents would have answered "I don't know." The choices listed by the article only add up to 53%. Anyhow, it's interesting.
Sabbath protest in Jerusalem -- latimes.com
Article summary: "About 3,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated Saturday outside an Intel plant in Jerusalem to protest its operating on the Jewish Sabbath, an action they view as a desecration of the sanctity of the holy city." Hard to imagine a more vivid metaphor fo the clash of "old" versus "new" sensibilities (though putting it that way suggests that haredism is "old," when actually it's pretty modern).
Halloween 'devil' claim overstated, says Bishop of Leicester
More on the Leicestershire Halloween controversy. Saving this one for some good quotations.
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Add Sticky NoteToday, the Reverend Barry Hill, the diocese of Leicester's head of mission, said: "I think Halloween is an unhelpful time, for religious, spiritual and practical reasons. A lot of churches are organising light parties instead. They would prefer to celebrate something that comes from goodness. The problem people have with Halloween is its roots and origins."
- sounds very evangelical in tone, to me - on 2009-11-03
Children 'will go to hell if they celebrate Halloween', says church leaflet - Telegraph
I don't have a good feel for what things are like in the UK, but if this were a US news story -- and I can easily imagine that it would be -- I would think that the subtext was a developing split between evangelicals and traditionalists in this particular community (part of the Church of England, I assume). Some evangelical-leaning activists put together an article condemning Halloween, it gets into the local church newsletter, and traditionalists are more or less blindsided by the controversy that results.
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Add Sticky NoteChristians do not celebrate Halloween - an American festival - because it has
links to witchcraft and ghosts.- Really, now! - on 2009-11-03
Breitbart.tv » Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
A remarkable story -- the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic evidently undergoes a kind of conversion experience and joins a local anti-abortion organization. In this two-minute interview, she explains her decision in religious terms. Planned Parenthood, fearing the disclosure of confidential information, has initiated some kind of legal action against her, including (I think) a restraining order.
Christian registrar should not be disciplined over same-sex marriage refusal - Telegraph
From the UK: a clerk who refused to solemnize a same-sex marriage is claiming that her refusal to do so -- which she says stems from her religious beliefs -- is protected under freedom-of-conscience laws. She is suing her employer, the Islington Council, for religious discrimination, and she "claims she suffered ridicule and bullying as a result of her stance and said she had been harassed ... by the council."
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James Dingemans QC, representing her, told a panel of three appeal judges that
Ms Ladele had never wanted to undermine the human rights or respect due to
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender communities.
But human rights laws must also be there to protect people with committed
views about marriage, he said. -
'Modern human rights jurisprudence was not intended to obliterate religious
beliefs held for millennia.''
Mr Dingemans said she could not go against her faith and take an active part
to enable same-sex unions. - 1 more annotations...
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Leicestershire | Row over Halloween devil article
A C.o.E.-sponsored publication in Leicestershire criticized participants in Halloween festivities as "siding with the devil" and using "fear" and "blackmail" to "extort" sweets from neighbors. The publication was sent to several hundred parishioners, some of whom are now understandably upset.
Stephen Colbert interviews Fr. Randall Balmer on the papal appeal to Anglicans, Oct. 27, 2009
Kimberly Daniels, "The Danger of Celebrating Halloween: Spiritual Life in God," Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN.com), undated (Oct. 2009?)
There was a press release from Americans United on this (http://j.mp/rC2Dya ). Originally published in Charisma magazine.
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During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.
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Mother earth is highly celebrated during the fall demonic harvest. Witches praise mother earth by bringing her fruits, nuts and herbs. Demons are loosed during these acts of worship. When nice church folk lay out their pumpkins on the church lawn, fill their baskets with nuts and herbs, and fire up their bonfires, the demons get busy. They have no respect for the church grounds. They respect only the sacrifice and do not care if it comes from believers or non-believers.
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At n+1 Panel, the Cat Got Douthat's Tongue on Topic of of Gay Marriage | The New York Observer
A tiny little column that opens up a really interesting issue, when conservative -- sort of -- commentator Ross Douthat admits that he opposes same-sex marriage but is "uncomfortable discussing the issue in public," mainly because he can't think of a non-religious reason for his views. Fascinating example of the way public and private discourses can collide in one individual's experience.
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At first Mr. Douthat seemed unable to get a sentence out without interrupting himself and starting over. Then he explained: "I am someone opposed to gay marriage who is deeply uncomfortable arguing the issue in public."
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Mr. Douthat indicated that he opposes gay marriage because of his religious beliefs, but that he does not like debating the issue in those terms. At one point he said that, sometimes, he feels like he should either change his mind, or simply resolve never to address the question in public.
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Bright-Sided: The Negative Consequences Of Positive Thinking - Bright-sided - Jezebel
I love Barbara Ehrenreich, and this is a great review of her most recent book. I'd like to do a post on this myself.
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Ehrenreich also writes persuasively that the popularity of positive thinking in corporate America — she cites the rise of "self-described management gurus" like Tony Robbins and the book Who Moved My Cheese? as examples — has served to blind workers to their ever-decreasing job security.
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By and large, America's white-collar corporate workforce drank the Kool-Aid, as the expression goes, and accepted positive thinking as a substitute for their former affluence and security. They did not take to the streets, shift their political allegiance in large numbers, or show up at work with automatic weapons in hand. As one laid-off executive told me with quiet pride, "I've gotten over my negative feelings, which were so dysfunctional." Positive thinking promised them a sense of control in a world where the "cheese" was always moving. They may have had less and less power to chart their own futures, but they had been given a worldview — a belief system, almost a religion — that claimed they were in fact infinitely powerful, if they could only master their own minds.
- 1 more annotations...
Preaching the Gospel Would be Against the Law! (And Other Hate Crimes Myths) (via Politics Daily - Disputations (religion news and comment))
With a Senate vote expected soon to expand federal hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation, religious conservatives are ramping up the rhetoric
Sharon Begley, "Ignoring the Evidence: Why Do Psychologists Reject Science?," Newsweek.com (Oct. 2, 2009)
Begley doesn't exactly answer the question, but I have some theories, and I suspect it has to do with people's convictions about why human experience is meaningful. I think the disconnect here comes from neglecting what many people, for lack of a better term, might think of as the "spiritual" dimension of their lives. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, as powerful as it has been proven to be, does not satisfy people's desire (both client and therapist) to find narrative resolution, emotional depth, and a sense of meaningful purpose in their suffering. Of course, the same could be said about drugs, and they're obviously very popular, so my gut may be totally wrong on this.
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Kerrie Wooltorton
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