I think people should read this article- and realize that the dominionists are becoming more and more violent. If something isn't done to counter their hate, this country is in deep trouble!
Referring to recent political skirmishes over the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, Cardinal Francis George called five rocks thrown at empty buildings and the theft of a few lawn signs "quasi-fascism." He charged that rejection of his bigotry was an infringement on his "right to influence the public square" and in "the tradition of the Soviet Union." These remarks were recorded in the "public square" of the vast media coverage afforded all U.S. hierarchs during an address George gave titled "Catholics and Latter-day Saints: Partners in the Defense of Religious Freedom" before a crowd of 12,000 at Brigham Young University on February 23, 2010.
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, it was widely reported that he preferred a smaller, more obedient flock in his Church. Once again, he is proving those reports to be true and providing further cause for Catholics around the world to jump ship.
I've just received the following American Family Association email, which claims that the Obama administration has a nefarious plan to force gays and straights in the US military to shower together !
Donald Wildmon and the AFA appear bizarrely unaware that gays and straights in the military have been showering together throughout the administrations of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter... (need I go on ?). Point being; gays have always served in the US military because they are a substantial part of the US population base.
Following the recent revelations that Pope John Paul II engaged in penitential practices including self-flagellation and sleeping on the floor with his arms outstretched, I posted a reflection at the Open Tabernacle blog site about the implications of these revelations for Catholic spirituality today. The report about these penitential practices appears in a recently published book prepared to support the canonization of John Paul. The book notes that its information depends on eyewitness testimony by over 100 people who knew John Paul.
As a supplement to what I posted about Pope John Paul II's penitential practices, I subsequently posted a piece about connections between these practices and a powerful secretive right-wing Catholic organization called Opus Dei. The following is an edited version of that Open Tabernacle article.
Since not all readers may be aware that there is at least one group in the contemporary Catholic church which encourages its members to whip themselves, to wear cilices, and to sleep on the floor or on boards, I'd like to draw attention to the important body of literature that has developed to study and critique Opus Dei's penitential practices in recent years. It's also significant that John Paul II was closely connected to Opus Dei and actively promoted and protected this controversial religious group--about which more below.
Scott Roeder is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of George Tiller. At the very least, he'll by 75 years old before he can even think about parole. However, several abortion-rights supporters fear that Roeder's conviction could lead to more violence.
[T]hose who share Roeder's passionate, militant belief against abortion were outraged: One said they are getting tired of being treated as a "piece of dirt" unable to express the reasons for such acts in court. So while relieved at the outcome, abortion-rights advocates worry a verdict that should be a deterrent will instead further embolden those prone to violence.
"Many of those who came here in his support will be key to making (Roeder) a martyr for their cause — all in furtherance of advocating deadly violence," said Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Based on what some demonstrators at Roeder's trial had to say after the verdict came down, their fears seem justified.
I read Bruce Wilson's posts on dKos and Talk To Action regarding the "Pray For Newark" initiative with particular alarm. While Pray for Newark appears to espouse an admirable goal--community empowerment--it's actually part and parcel of the Latter Rain. It brought back ugly memories of an experience I had back in my college days.
As many of you know, for a brief time in my freshman year at Carolina, I was a member of a campus ministry that is part of one of the more insidious Latter Rain outfits, Every Nation. It's been 14 years, and yet the scars still run very deep. However, I only got bits and pieces of just how bad it was. Just like Pray for Newark, Every Nation's goals appear admirable at the surface. In this case, they're very big on racial reconciliation. However, as I found out in my six months in there, and the years since, there's a nasty underside. I've spent most of the last five years helping put the light on that underside.
In a thinly-veiled reference to the campaign of President Barack Obama, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis, Raymond Burke, charged that Americans are "embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the 'hope,' the 'future' of our nation," at a Mass held in Phoenix on January 12.
The December 20, 2009, New York Times ran a lengthy article by David D. Kirkpatrick about Robert P. George, "The Conservative-Christian Big Thinker." The occasion was release of George's "Manhattan Declaration" signed by the usual leaders of the Religious Right.
[This is a partial transcription of a sermon/speech Lou Engle, Founder of TheCall gave on September 25, 2007, in Los Angeles. The full sermon is slightly over 63 minutes. This partial transcript is of the first 12 and 1/2 minutes.]
It's gratifying to know "America's most powerful pastor" seems to have taken notice of my videos, showcasing Rick Warren's 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during which Warren outlined a "stealth" program to take the world and called on his listening to show the sort of devotion to Jesus as followers of Hitler, Lenin, and Mao gave to their respective leaders.
About eleven hours ago Rick Warren issued the following grumbly late-night California tweet on Twitter,
Right Jo. You can make anyone say anything if you control the video editing! For the whole story
Well, readers can judge for themselves. Here's the more popular of the two videos:
The principle of the Hyde Amendment, which restricted federal funds from paying for abortion back in 1976 -- is now seen as an acceptable, "abortion neutral" position for the prochoice Democratic Party. How did the most significant antiabortion legislation in history become a moderate compromise? I discuss this in an article at Religion Dispatches. Here are a few excerpts:
Video, below contains audio recording, photos, and transcript from Rick Warren's April 17, 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during 25th anniversary to celebrate the founding of Warren's Saddleback Church.
below: partial transcript from Rick Warren's April 17, 2005 speech at California's Anaheim Angels Stadium, during 25th anniversary to celebration the founding of Warren's Saddleback Church
Partial transcript of Rick Warren April 17, 2005 Anaheim sports stadium speech
[ ~minute 33:00 ]
"God is going to use you to change the world.
"We have a kingdom that nothing can destroy... it's indestructible, it's unshakable, going to last forever, it's going to cover the planet.
So the kingdom is multinational, it's powerful, it's eternal and, number four (this is the best news), it's inevitable because God is in control of history. History is his story.
And the Bible says this in Matthew 24 : 'The Good news about God's kingdom will be preached into all the world, in every nation, and then the end's going to come. '
And you can go argue about prophecy all you want but Jesus Christ is not going to conclude history until everybody he's wanted to hear the world has had a chance to hear the word. But one day God's going to bring everything to a culmination.
For the past 18 months we have been on a stealth, secret mission - project - around the world. We've been sending members out, actually over 4500 members somewhere overseas, over the period of time, the last few years, going out to do what we're gonna call the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
You've been hearing little snippets about it, today we're going to unveil it publicly. But the first thing before I even talk about it in a minute is you need to understand that at the heart of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is this theme - The Kingdom of God.
Saddleback and our Purpose Driven Network has now trained over 400,000 pastors in over 162 countries."
[ Minute ~43:00 ]
"What is the vision for the next 25 years ? I'll tell you what it is.
It is the global expansion of the kingdom of God.
It is the total mobilization of his church.
And the third part is the goal of a radical devotion of every believer.
Now, I choose that word 'radical' intentionally, because only radicals change the world.
Everything great done in this world is done by passionate people.
Moderate people get moderately nothing done. And moderation will never slay the global giants. . ."
[ minute 48:45 ]
"In 1939, in a stadium much like this, in Munich Germany, they packed it out with young men and women in brown shirts, for a fanatical man standing behind a podium named Adolf Hitler, the personification of evil.
And in that stadium, those in brown shirts formed with their bodies a sign that said, in the whole stadium, "Hitler, we are yours."
And they nearly took the world.
Lenin once said, "give me 100 committed, totally committed men and I'll change the world." And, he nearly did.
A few years ago, they took the sayings of Chairman Mao, in China, put them in a little red book, and a group of young people committed them to memory and put it in their minds and they took that nation, the largest nation in the world by storm because they committed to memory the sayings of the Chairman Mao.
When I hear those kinds of stories, I think 'what would happen if American Christians, if world Christians, if just the Christians in this stadium, followers of Christ, would say 'Jesus, we are yours' ?
What kind of spiritual awakening would we have ? "
[ minute 51:50 ]
"Jesus said, 'I want you to do this publicly.' So what I want you to do is take the card, and in just a minute, and if you say 'Rick, I am willing to serve God's purposes in my generation.'
I want you to open up to the sign that says 'Whatever it takes.'
Whatever it takes.
And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "
And I would invite you to just stand quietly and hold up 'Whatever it takes'. . .
I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.
Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.
And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.
And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly, "I'm in, God. I'm in...
A new Talk To Action story identifies Apostle and bishop Julius Oyet as a major player in the recent effort in the Ugandan parliament to pass a draconian anti-gay bill. In this video [transcript posted below video] Ugandan Apostle Julius Oyet describes the recently launched 'College of Prayer,' which has played a significant role in organizing and rallying the Ugandan parliamentary MP's who have promoted the bill.
"Hello, I'm Apostle Julius Peter Oyet, I'm the President of College of Prayer in Uganda. I like College of Prayer because College of Prayer has been able to make us meet the needs of our nation. That Transformation is happening in Uganda right from the Parliament.
We launched College of Prayer in the Parliament of Uganda and we have a great team of the Uganda Government being part of the College of Prayer. We have four campuses of College of Prayer in the Parliament, in Kampala City with the VIP Pastors, in Aruah, in Gulu.
Why I like the College of Prayer - because it mentors leaders to, to, to revive the Body of Christ together. Now, another thing about College of Prayer is in the unity in diversity. Irrespective of our denominations and all our backgrounds, special prayer breaks through all these barriers and brings us together. College of Prayer has been able to bring the prayer life of our nation of the people of God very, very highly.
My vision for the College of Prayer is that we will have College of Prayer penetrate through the entire nation of Uganda. I've just returned from Rwanda and Burundi where I was talking to the members of parliament in Burundi and Rwanda and the VIP Pastors in ( ) Rwanda so that the next year we take College of Prayer into Rwanda and Burundi and, of course, into Tanzania and into Kenya where already people have been attending the College of Prayer.
College of Prayer is a place where, when we come together, we work together - that is great success. And, I want to thank you as pastors, as leaders in the marketplace. College of Prayer, that's not only mental leaders in the revived church but, also, it invites people from outside the church walls - the marketplace leaders. And that's why to this field we have come, we're with two members of Parliament. So we invite every leader, whether in the marketplace or in the pulpit - come with us, together, into College of Prayer.
To come together is the beginning. To work together is progress. But to serve together is success.
Mark Silk, at Spiritual Politics has picked up on my notice of the Hagee-Rodriguez embrace and zeroes in on what's certainly one of the most notable aspects:
"The key thing to understand about the Hagee trajectory is that his Cornerstone Church has made its way by evangelizing Mexican-American Catholics in San Antonio. That's why he was on the Catholic League's radar screen in the first place. NHCL is, of course, chock full of former Catholics too, and whatever the organization feels about Israel, Cornerstone Church belongs in it. The CUFI connection is ethno-religiously overdetermined."
Following the evolution of evangelical discourse as it re-defines homosexuality as evidence of "fallen creation", Terri Murray looks at how the Christian right have shifted their rhetoric to adapt to empirical research showing that homosexuality might just be 'natural' after all. Evangelicals have morphed their own thinking into a form that resembles Catholicism's "love the sinner, hate the sin" formula... but do these arguments work?
US News and World Report's Dan Gilgoff has charitably provided evangelist Ray Comfort a media platform in the form of a US News & World "exclusive" through which Comfort defends his efforts to distribute, on college campuses, up to 175,000 copies of Darwin's Origin of Species that include a creationist "special introduction" to the book.
How serious of a thinker is Ray Comfort ? Readers can decide for themselves. In the video on the right, Ray Comfort explains that bananas, which he suggests are divinely ordained, are optimally formed to fit the human hand, support creationist ideas, and rebut the Theory of Evolution. In the lefthand video short, evangelist Chuck Missler explains how Darwin's theory is disproved by a jar of peanut butter.
These video shorts have proved popular to both creationists and adherents to Evolutionary Theory, perhaps for different reasons. As a side note, peanut butter and banana sandwiches were one of Elvis Presley's favorite foods.
While Ray Comfort, in the the video below, suggests that the dominant banana of world commerce, the Cavendish banana, is the result of divine design, that's incorrect. Cavendish bananas are the product of human botanical tinkering. The Cavendish is a sterile hybrid developed several decades ago after the former banana of world commerce, the Gros Michel variety, fell to a ravening banana fungus. In the world of Comfort evangelism, there are layers of absurdity within layers of ignorance, like nested Russian dolls.
The following is my own transcript of a 20 minute phone conversation between Richard Nixon and Billy Graham, on February 23, 1973.
As far as I am aware this is the only publicly available, complete transcript of the conversation. An Mp3 recording of it can be listened to here. I have tried to reproduce the dynamics of the conversation as faithfully as possible.
The first day of Fall could be considered the official launch date for the annual war on the war on Christmas, which represents a significant part of the the American Family Association business model (see mailer, below). A new front in the ongoing war on the war on Christmas has just opened in Texas, and on conservative websites there's talk of boycotts against businesses that spurn the Christmas holiday. However, there's some evidence that over the decades the vigilance of right wing Christian watchdog groups such as the AFA has grown slack; in 1960, amidst the Red Scare and hyper-patriotism that characterized the burgeoning Cold War, the war on the war on Christmas started in July.
The two-decade shift in the launch date of the yearly war on the war on Christmas raises disturbing questions - are Christian watchdog groups such as the Rev. Tim Wildmon's AFA themselves infected by creeping secularism ? By 2060, will the yearly war on the war on Christmas not get going until November ? Curious minds want to know.
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