Keywords by David Yonke

Interesting news item from the Vatican:

MUSLIMS MORE NUMEROUS THAN CATHOLICS: VATICAN: Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday. Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 percent. "For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.
This was reported by the very reliable Levine Breaking News Elert.
* * *
Speaking of the the Vatican, I got a note today that an art exhibit is coming to Cleveland on May 31 titled "Vatican Splendors from Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and the Swiss Guard." It will only be shown in 3 U.S. cities and feature 200 rare obejcts from the Vatican's collection.

I just had to use that headline, corny as it is. I covered the Dalai Lama's talk in Ann Arbor yesterday. His Holiness is back there today but I'm not covering it again.
He was quite charming when he chatted with the crowd, laughing and joking quite a bit. But when he got into his lecture on Buddhist teachings, he was all business and the talks were quite boring for non-adherents. Very intellectual theological and philosophical treatises on Buddhism, spoken in Tibetan, with translation. While the Dalai Lama was talking for 10 minutes or so in Tibetan, it was hard to pay attention. Then the translator would talk for 10 or 15 minutes. So it was a weird setup. I wish he had spoken in English. He is so personable when he speaks directly with an audience.
As it was, I enjoyed at times just listening to his voice, the tones and inflections, and his occasional chuckle. Language is an amazing thing.
In my research, I found that the first time His Holiness came to the United States was 1979, and the pope was here at the same time. Interesting, isn't it, that they both are in the United States the same time now. Rare coincidence.
* * *
Covering the talk was a hassle because there was no parking for media and no place in the basketball arena to file stories from. I had to leave right before the end to beat crowd out of the venue, then drive to a panera bread. Once I settled in, I found that the wireless was down. Fortunately the wireless came on eventually and I was able to file my story -- and drink a good cup of coffee while I finished things up.
You can read my two Dalai Lama stories here:
Saturday
Sunday
Toledo, Ohio
April 20, 2008
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Did you catch this news item published last week? I thought it was very interesting. This is a topic that I've thought about quite a bit, being a science fiction fan and an amateur astronomer.
Does the Bible rule out life on other planets, just because it does not mention such a possibility?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Here's the news from Vatican City:
=================

Vatican scientist says belief in God and aliens is OK

By Philip Pullella
Reuters

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of "extraterrestrial brothers" perhaps more evolved than humans.

"In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists," said Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.

"How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview in its Tuesday-Wednesday edition, explaining that the large number of galaxies with their own planets made this possible.

Asked if he was referring to beings similar to humans or even more evolved than humans, he said: "Certainly, in a universe this big you can't exclude this hypothesis."

In the interview headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," he said he saw no conflict between belief in such beings and faith in God.

"Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can't put limits on God's creative freedom," he said.

"Why can't we speak of a 'brother extraterrestrial'? It would still be part of creation," he said.

Funes, who runs the observatory which is based south of Rome and in Arizona, held out the possibility that the human race might actually be the "lost sheep" of the universe.

"There could be (other beings) who remained in full friendship with their creator," he said.

THE "BIG BANG?"

Christians have sometimes been at odds with scientists over whether the Bible should be read literally and issues such as creationism versus evolution have been hotly debated for decades.

The Inquisition condemned astronomer Galileo in the 17th century for insisting that the earth revolved around the sun. The Catholic Church did not rehabilitate him until 1992.

Funes said dialogue between faith and science could be improved if scientists learned more about the Bible and the Church kept more up to date with scientific progress.

Funes, an Argentine, said he believed as an astronomer that the most likely explanation for the start of the universe was "the big bang," the theory that it sprang into existence from dense matter billions of years ago.

But he said this was not in conflict with faith in God as a creator. "God is the creator. There is a sense to creation. We are not children of an accident ...," he said.

"As an astronomer, I continue to believe that God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the product of something casual but children of a good father who has a project of love in mind for us," he said.

Toledo, Ohio
May 19, 2008

Ever try to do your homework or read a book or say a prayer when your stomach is craving food? Except for intentional fasts, being hungry interferes with your desire to do just about anything.
That's why I'm so impressed with people like Steve and Beth Dailey, Toledoans who are working as missionaries in the Philippines. There they head up a program that feeds 800 poor children every day.
"Studies clearly show proper nutrition provides not only good physical growth, but strong mental and immune system development as well," Steve said. "Our desire is to provide spiritual nourishment in addition to meeting the nutritional needs of the child."
I'm including the Daileys in an upcoming article on how the falling value of the dollar is affecting American missionaries overseas. Meanwhile, they have a great website where you can read about all about their ministry. Here's a link.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
June 3, 2008

Here is a report by the Pew Forum on the Anglican crisis that is worth reading for anyone interested in how the denomination got to this point.

Last Friday, Rocky Twyman of Maryland came to Toledo and joined up with a small group of people at two gas stations to pray for lower gas prices. Earlier that day, the price of gas jumped 20 to 29 cents a gallon in Toledo, to 4.099 at most stations.
Well yesterday as I was driving home I saw the price of regular gas at $3.809 per gallon -- at both BP and Speedway, on the corner of Talmadge Rd. and Sylvania Ave. I drive by those two stations every day on the way to work and for me, they are the local bellwethers. Speedway almost always changes its price first, BP soon after, then every other station in town seems to follow suit.
As I stopped to get gas, I wondered how much Rocky Twyman's "Pray at the Pump Movement" had to do with the 29 cents per gallon saving.
I also read yesterday that there are some new signs that gas prices are going to drop in the long-term.
Funny thing, when I wrote about Rocky Twyman and his prayers to "deliver us from high gas prices," I got very mixed responses. Some people thought it was ludicrous, while others praised me for writing such an article for the mainstream news.
As usual, people read into the news articles according to their own preconceptions, or "worldview" as the buzzword goes, and then either love me or hate me for reporting the news objectively.
Then this morning I saw BP had spiked its price back to $4.09 while Speedway was still holding it at $3.80. Let's see what they're at on my way home tonight.
I'm really wondering what will happen over the July 4th weekend, aren't you? This is a big holiday weekend for traveling in the United States. Will the oil conglomerates gouge us even more, or are they sated with the multizillion-dollar profits they've already devoured this year? I'm guessing they want more.
* * *
My old buddies Hootie and the Blowfish are coming to town! Maybe I can get out on the golf course with them again.
What a great band and wonderful group of guys. They rose to the top and their careers then tapered off, but they were level-headed all the way. The superficial self-anointed "critics" may look at them as washed up, but in reality these guys reached a level of fame and fortune that very few musicians (or any other career people) ever achieve. It never went to their heads, at least not very much. They were smart with their money and are set for life. They now make music for the love of it, regardless of the chart hits or commercial success.
Not a bad spot to be in.
I still love their songs, which are part of life's soundtrack for the 1990s.
* * *
Sad to see George Carlin passed away. He was a brilliant guy and very, very funny. I interviewed him a couple of times and he was always interesting, although he was bitterly anti-religion. I hope he's in a good place now.
Among his many funny lines, I always liked this one the best:
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
Toledo, Ohio
June 24, 2008

Toledo may not be alone in having a priest convicted of murder, depending on how this story develops. Be sure to read the quote at the end of this article. -- David

Vatican: Church defends Marcinkus
Ex- Vatican bank chief linked to kidnapping 25 years ago

(ANSA) - Vatican City, June 24 - The Vatican has lashed out at allegations that a former head of the Vatican bank may have been involved with the kidnapping of a 15-year old girl 25 years ago.

The Vatican said the accusations were ''infamous and without foundation'' and made against someone ''who has been dead for some time and cannot defend themself''.

''We do not wish to interfere in any way with the efforts of the judiciary to ascertain facts and responsibilites.... but at the same time we cannot help but express our firm disapproval for the way certain information has been made public, in a manner more bent on sensationalism than ethical and professional sincerity''.

Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared in May 1985 and has never been seen or heard of since. It was initially thought that she was taken hostage in order to be exchanged with Ali' Agca, the Turkish terrorist who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.

Recent testimony leaked to the press claimed that she was kidnapped by a renowned gangster acting on orders from Msgr. Paul Marcinkus, the then-head of the Istitito per le Opere Religiose - the Institute for Religious Works - also known as the Vatican bank.

The testimony reportedly came from Sabrina Minardi, the onetime wife of former soccer star Bruno Giordano who later became the girlfriend of Enrico De Pedis, a leader of the notorious Rome Magliana gang in the 1980s.

According to press reports, Minardi told investigators that De Pedis kidnapped Orlandi and later killed her, dumping her body in a cement mixer.

She said she thought De Pedis did it as a favor to Marcinkus, who was allegedly involved in laundering the Magliana gang's illegal earnings abroad and wanted to ''send a message high up''.

De Pedis was gunned down in broad daylight on a central Rome street in 1990. Msgr. Marcinkus had resigned his IOR position a year earlier and six months after De Pedis' death he returned to his native Chicago, in United States.

Msgr. Marcinkus later retired to Arizona, where he died in February 2006.

The Vatican official sparked controversy for his involvement with Roberto Calvi, the chairman of Milan's private Banco Ambrosiano who was dubbed ''God's banker''.

Calvi, a member of the secret P2 Masonic lodge of Lucio Gelli, was found hanged in London in June 1982, triggering the nation's biggest postwar banking scandal. According to Magliana gang supergrass Antonio Mancini, De Pedis did kidnap Orlandi but to extort money from the Vatican to make up for the huge amount of cash it lost through Calvi.

Sicily's Cosa Nostra is also believed to have lost a lot of money through Calvi and some believe may have been behind his 'suicide'. Investigators are believed to be somewhat skeptical of Minardi's testimony because she also reportedly claims that Orlandi was thrown into the cement mixer along with the 11-year-old son of another Magliana gang member who disappeared in 1993, three years after De Pedis was killed and ten years after Orlandi was kidnapped.

Orlandi's family has also expressed its doubts on the validity of Minardi's testimony.

The appearance of her testimony in the press prompted an investigation by police who searched the offices of the AGI Italian news agency, which may be accused of violating court secrecy.

Despite his criminal record, De Pedis was buried in a crypt in the Church of St Apollinaire, near the central Piazza Navona, next to members of the clergy and the nobility.

The interment was said to have been authorised by the late Cardinal Ugo Poletti, who at the time was Vicar of Rome, in recognition of the ''offerings'' De Pedis had made.

According to fellow gang member Mancini, De Pedis ''was very religious, he killed people but he was a religious person''.

=========
Toledo, Ohio
June 25, 2008

From the Boston Globe's story on the Pew Forum's survey of American religious life:

"Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent 'absolutely certain' of it."

To say this is a contradiction in terms is the understatement of our young millennium. It is literally impossible for an atheist to believe in God. I just checked with Webster's Dictionary and the definition of an atheist has not changed:
"n. a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings."

In my mind, there can only be two explanations:
1. the survey questions were poorly worded, which seems unlikely given the reputation of the Pew Forum, or
2. Fears or concerns on the part of self-professed atheists to speak freely about their disbelief. I would lean toward this one.
Any other theories out there? I'd be interested in hearing them.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
June 25, 2008

Sister Christine Schenk

I wrote an article last week about Sister Christine Schenk, founder of FutureChurch. Her group, based in Cleveland but with national membership, has done a great deal of research about the state of the Catholic Church and its leaders are convinced that the only way to assure Catholics have full access to the sacraments in the long term is by eventually allowing making celibacy optional for priests and by ordaining women.
These ideas trigger a lot of emotion and stir up debate among Catholics (although they're not an issue in most churches today), but one thing that is not debatable about Sister Christine is that her arguments are reasonable, well thought out, and non-confrontational. She is genuinely concerned for the future of the American Catholic Church and truly loves the church. She and her group are seeking ways to keep it healthy and able to minister to the faithful, and are willing to take the heat by promoting what they believe to be viable solutions. Obviously, there are strong feelings on either side of these issues.
My article generated a surprising amount of letters and calls from readers. Sister Christine will be speaking at 7 tonight (July 9) at the United Methodist Church in Kansas, Ohio, on the topic of what Catholics can do to prevent their parishes from being closed.
You can read my article here and find out more about her organization, FutureChurch, here.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
July 9, 2008

Here is a link to the article I wrote about Dottie Zimmerman, the Toledo woman who teaches religion at a Catholic school and also "channels" dead Italian saint Padre Pio.
It is, without a doubt, one of the strangest articles I've ever written but one that is quite fascinating. I've gotten a lot of responses, both pro and con but mostly claiming the woman must be a lunatic or demonic.
Unfortunately my second story on the topic, one that offers expert views on channeling, did not appear on the web at first, which made the main story look unbalanced. I'm glad to say they're both online now and linked.
You can also listen to excerpts of Dottie as Padre Pio.
Somewhat surprisingly, that article was No. 1on The Blade website yesterday while the Robinson appeals court verdict was No. 5. I had been curious how they would do in comparison.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
July 13, 2008

I had the pleasure of interviewing Father Paul Besanceney this week and writing an article about him. You can read it here.
Father Paul is an 84-year-old Jesuit priest who teaches at a seminary in Sudan. He's from Toledo and has been in Africa 28 years.
I asked him why he went to Sudan in the first place and he looked at me like I had asked a dumb question: "Because my provincial sent me," he said.
What a great sense of trust and duty. The priest, who has a doctorate in sociology from Michigan State, knew his provincial must have felt there was a need for Jesuit educators and that his superior must have chosen him for a reason.
So he went.
Twenty eight years later, he's still serving in Sudan.
Father Paul was kind of quiet, very reserved and soft spoken in the interview. He walked with small but rapid steps through the hallways of the Jesuit Center at St. John's high school. It was an honor to meet him.
* * *
I spent a great deal of time this week working on an article about First Unitarian Church moving from the Old West End to a small building in South Toledo. What started as a pretty straightforward story turned into a lenghty task in which I interviewed more than 30 people. A typical news story involves interviews with from one to five sources.
I ended up looking into the whole issue of aging urban congregations dealing with shrinking membership and rising maintenance costs.
In the end, I didn't use half of the stuff I got from all those interviews and had to really narrow the focus to fit the space I was allotted for it. But I think the story worked out fine and I'll file the extra info away for another time.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
July 26, 2008

OBAMA SAYS MUSLIM ISSUE IS 'NO-WIN SITUATION'

By Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Dallas Morning News
07/28/08

Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday that responding to incorrect assertions that he's a Muslim has put him in a "no-win situation."

If he allows the Internet rumors and other misleading information to go unchallenged, it's an affront to his Christianity and could cost him support from voters who don't want a Muslim in the White House. But if he aggressively confronts the rumors, it could suggest to some that there's something wrong with being a Muslim.

"This is a classic example of a no-win situation," Mr. Obama told hundreds of journalists gathered in Chicago for the UNITY convention for journalists of color.

"I have repeatedly said I'm not a Muslim, but this whole strategy of suggesting that I am is indicative of anti-Muslim strategy that we have to fight against," he said.

Mr. Obama said he also didn't want his religion to be falsely identified as a matter of respect for his own faith.

"If you were a Muslim and somebody consistently said you were a Christian, I suspect that you would want to have that corrected," he said.

The Christian Science Monitor (which is a first-rate newspaper, in case you didn't already know) had a story today that Saudi Arabia's religion police are trying to ban people from walking their dogs.
It seems that young Saudi men have been taking their dogs out for walks and while doing so were seen flirting with young Saudi women! I know, you're as shocked as I am about it.
But no need to panic.
The Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, which is commonly called the religion police, said this is a sin against Islam, so they want to ban everyone from walking their dogs.
Here's the article. It's definitely worth reading.
Thankfully, a lot of Saudis interviewed by the CSM reporter said they believe such a ban would be ridiculous and predicted that it will be a failure if they attempt to enforce it.
It's not a sin against God to walk a dog, they assert, and the Prophet Mohammed never forbade such a thing. The only verse that the virtue cops could find to make their case actually involved a recommendation by the Prophet against buying and selling dogs and cats, not owning or walking them.

"Now don't come and tell me that dogs are a yucky creature," says Saudi-born veterinarian Maged Elhayek. "They're a beautiful creature and the more I know people, the more I love my dog."

It is unfortunately too common for people in religious authority to intentionally twist their interpretations of holy scripture or give partial truths for their own ulterior motives, and this is a perfect example. But not everyone is blindly accepting the idea.

I'm prettier than the dog, if I want to flirt with women, I'd just use myself!" says young Mohammed Al Anezi. "I wouldn't need the dog."

I applaud the Saudis who will stand up to this kind of misue of authority. It seems like a little thing in this case, but if the religion police are not questioned or challenged you could end up living under tyranny like the Talibans when they ruled Afghanistan and executed people for trivial "abuses," all in the name of religion.

Sylvania, Ohio
August 12, 2008

P.S. Here's my daughter's cute little pup Roxie, who has me wrapped around her little paw... I take her and Scotty for walks every day and not once did I feel it was grieving God's heart.

President Bush went on TV yesterday looking dire, saying that every day the economic bailout is delayed poses increased risks and costs to our nation's and the world's economy. Yikes. How would you like to be a congressman with that kind of pressure to pass legislation? This is the kind of decision that will have a profound impact in many areas, and every detail is important. I would not want to rush into it, but rather make sure everything is done right. Again, it's a good day to pray for our lawmakers and the future of our country.
* * *
Our church is celebrating "Missions Week" when missionaries from around the globe come and talk about their experiences. My family hosted a dinner for a dozen people last night with a local missionary who works at a Christian radio station. The station plays Christian rock and rap, geared for teens and young audiences.
This is such an important ministry because teens today are bombarded with negative images in the media, MTV, advertisements, commercials, adn the Net. They definitely need something uplifting. The Christian rock station offers kids positive and wholesome songs, recorded with high-quality studio production in a wide variety of styles.
Christian music has come a long way in the last 20 years and provides a worthwhile and quality alternative to young listeners.
* * *
Today is Eid ul-Fitr, or "Feast of Fast Breaking," when Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan. I'm heading out to one of the local mosques to write about the Islamic holiday.
Yesterday, I finally had the chance to watch "Obsession," the controversial DVD about radical Muslims.
While there are truths to the documentary (there have to be, otherwise the documentary would not merit any concern at all) it also distorted many things and made some dangerous and hateful correlations.
Linking Islamic extremists to Nazi Germany, for example, is a totally unfair assertion that seeks to incite hatred and fear. Those are totally different scenarios and the comparison is invalid.
To its credit, the documentary does state clearly in the introduction that the majority of Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. It's only a very small percentage who are out to destroy America and the West, who denounce us, burn U.S. flags, and call us "the Great Satan."
But that small percentage of radicals are the ones who attacked America on 9/11, blew up the London subway and the Madrid trains, killed more than 200 Marines in Lebanon, killed hundreds at a Bali nightclub, etc. It is a very small faction, but one that is too dangerous to be ignored.
It's a tragedy for the 99-plus percent of good Muslims whose lives and reputations have suffered because of the deeds and threats of a few maniacal extremists. The vast majority of good Muslims have suffered the most. They have, as I've been told many times, had their religion hijacked by radicals.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Oct. 1, 2008

I went to a central city church to cover a talk Wednesday night by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the noted civil rights leader from New York City.
My editor was under the impression Sharpton was going to talk about politics. But on Wednesday night, he was there to preach the Gospel. His politicking was to take place on Thursday, he told me afterward, and he came to Toledo a day earlier because he was invited to preach at the Worship Center in Toledo's Old West End neighborhood.
You always hear about Sharpton's civil rights activities but he is an amazing preacher. The 54-year-old Baptist minister spoke about how God uses unlikely people to do his work, including Moses and Abraham. Rather than pick the perfect "big shots," he picks the less likely people because that way they know it was God's power and not human ability.
At times, Sharpton was shouting and dancing and the organist, Chris Byrd, was accenting each sermon line with a burst from the keyboards. The crowd was shouting and waving their hands and dancing around at times.
It was a powerful service and the music that preceded the sermon really rocked the house. What made it even more interesting was that the church is the former First Unitarian Church of Toledo, which could not be more different in style and substance than the church that has moved into its former building.
Here's the article I wrote.
* * *
A funny side note: I asked the local church leaders for a few minutes with Al Sharpton after the service, feeling that I had to get something political for the article. They told me the preacher needed to change his clothes and then afterward he would meet with the media. (I had seen a TV crew earlier but I think they were gone by then.)
I pressed them because I was on a tight deadline, and Sharpton graciously agreed to talk right away after the service. I was invited back into the pastor's office, where I interviewed him through an open door to the closet, sight unseen, while he was changing his clothes.
It was a bit awkward but at least he was willing to accommodate me. And when he was finished he came out and we spoke for a few minutes eye to eye.
In my 30-plus years in journalism, that was the first time I've ever interviewed someone through a closet door.
* * *
I had been looking forward to seeing Gore Vidal speak last night in the Authors! Authors! lecture series in Toledo. But it was canceled due to an unexplained injury to Vidal, who is 83 years old now. He is a great writer and quite controversial at times, and I'm sure his talk would have been entertaining.
I hope he's OK and that he reschedules his Toledo talk.
UPDATE: Gore fell at his home; no Toledo visit has been rescheduled.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Oct. 17, 2008

A lawsuit filed by members of a closed parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Salem, Ohio, has been settled by mediation.
The ex-parishioners formed a nonprofit organization called St. Joseph Salem Heritage Society that will be able to use their old church and property but with restrictions. They will need to get permission of the pastor of another local, active parish if they want to hold any sacramental services.
The suit had been filed in Wyandot County Common Pleas Court.
* * *
I spent all of last night at a church board meeting. It's a tricky time trying to plan 2009 budgets when the economy is falling apart right before our very eyes. Do you step forward in faith and trust God to provide, or do you use (biblical) wisdom and scale things back, anticipating a down year?
I think I've spent too much time reading and writing about Joel Osteen lately. He really believes you can talk yourself into a down year, or you have a good year by thinking positively.
Our church came up with a great plan, I think, where we keep the '09 budget the same as '08 but with some discretionary budget items that can go unspent if the money's not there. A wise compromise, in my opinion.
* * *
We watched a video of Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch.tv that he gave at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit in August. I watched it live in August but truly enjoyed it the second time around.
Groeschel is a gifted speaker, speaking spiritual truths and saying them in a contemporary and entertaining way. He's got a great sense of humor and oddly enough looks a lot like Tom Cruise when he smiles.
Put that all together and it's no wonder his church is growing rapidly, and also in innovative ways. He preaches in Oklahoma and his message is broadcast live via satellite to about a dozen churches across the country. LifeChurch.tv gets more than 23,000 people at their weekend services even though the largest facility they have seats 1,700 people.
He's spoke about a new book he's written, which I have yet to read but would like to, called "IT: How Churches and Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT."
He ended his talk by quoting a Franciscan benediction that was so profound and beautiful I just have to share it with you:

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with an anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

As I mentioned previously, I spent most of an evening recently behind bars at Milan Federal Correctional Institute in Milan, Mich., about 35 miles north of Toledo.
The occasion was a Christmas program by the inmates who are in the prison's faith-based wing, known as the Life Connections Program.
They sang very well, directed by an inmate with a music degree. But the thing that really made an impression on me was the comments some inmates made when they were asked to say what Christmas meant to them.
Modern-day Americans have such a skewed view of the holiday. We fight the crowds and spoil our kids and buy gifts for people that we don't even know if they want or need, all because Jesus Christ was born.
Is that a good way to celebrate the arrival of God in human form?
It's really crazy and I can't say I'm any more spiritual than the next guy when it comes to holiday priorities. I love to think about Jesus coming down from heaven in the form of a helpless infant, and it's simply amazing.
But when it comes time to "celebrate," I go along with the flow and spend too much money on material goods even though I know it's so contrary to what Jesus taught us, or tried to teach us.
Today, as I wove my wave through traffic and crowded store aisles, I thought of how Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple in his most visible act of outrage in the whole Bible.
Today, we're a lot like the money changers who have taken a spiritual event and turned it into a monetary transaction. I think Jesus would storm through the department stores, pushing the cash registers off the counters and trying to knock some sense into people who supposedly celebrating His birth.
In prison, one inmate after another walked up to the microphone and asserted that Jesus is the reason for the season.
When you are stuck behind bars you can have a different perspective on things.
You can't go shopping. You can't get caught up in the material side of Christmas. On top of that, you might even be feeling a bit penitent in the pentitentiary.
Life under those conditions makes the accumulation of things and desire for getting stuff less important than just being thankful for what you've got -- i.e., counting your blessing.
It's a lesson I took home with me, although I still have my work cut out. But I did shop for some presents at heifer.org...
I can't say what yet because it's a Christmas gift. But it felt good to spend some money to help underprivileged people in another country rather than add another item to somebody's closet or shelf.
* * *
December 20, 2008
Sylvania, OH

Heavenly Father,
Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and
spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who
can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day "who really ought to get a job" is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the
store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day That of all the gifts you give us
Lord, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and
love. Working for God on earth doesn't pay much, but His retirement plan is out of this world.

(Compassion is an important part of life. Thanks to Lowell Yoder for sending this via email. )

I got a letter in the mail yesterday that boldly, and graciously, proclaimed on the envelope: "You've been pre-forgiven!"
No, it wasn't sent from heaven. It was from an insurance company trying to get my business. But what a reassuring slogan that is... pre-forgiven. Very comforting.
I didn't bother to read the contents of the letter, despite the catchy presentation, but I am assuming it has to do with driving and accidents and the like.
The ad reminded me, however, of the Bible's promises that we have been forgiven. It's in the Word many times. It's why Jesus came to earth -- to die for our sins.
We are sinners by nature and only through divine intervention are we made whole. We all goof up, we all make mistakes. But there is a solution through Jesus Christ. He not only has forgiven us, he has "pre-forgiven" us.
And that's no sales pitch for insurance. It's the reality of the Christian worldview. It's God's enduring promise to his children.

* * *

I was reading a column by Gwynne Dyer, one of my favorite pundits, who is coming to Bowling Green Feb. 25, incidentally, and the column was about Europe and religion.
The British humanists paid for an ad campaign by having huge signs displayed on double-decker buses that said "There probably is no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
They paid $288,000 to have the ads placed on 800 buses.
It's funny because, first of all, it says "probably." You'd think they'd just say flat out that there is no God. That was the original intent, Dyer reports, but the billboard company wouldn't allow it because the firm felt it would be "misleading" Christians. So they watered it down by adding "probably."
But on a more serious note, Dyer, who is based in London, offers some alarming insights into religion in Britain today.
A recent poll showed that of the 49 million people in England, 37 million said they were Christian, 7 million had no religion, 1.5 million were Muslim, 500,000 were Hindu, 329,000 were Sikhs, 260,000 were Jewish, and 390,000 identified themselves as Jedi knights -- a concerted effort by British youths to mock the polling process, according to Dyer.
But the figures are misleading because three-quarters of the population do not go to church even once a year.
On an average Sunday, 6 percent attend church.
When asked in a separate poll whether "I know God exists and I have no doubt about it," only 23.8 percent of the British respondents said they agreed.
It seems the humanists' ads are a waste of money, really, because the signs are preaching to the choir, so to speak.
On this side of the pond, oft-cited Gallup Polls routinely report each year that 94 percent of Americans believe in God.
Yet when asked the more detailed question above, only 66 percent of Americans agreed.
Religion is much more integrated into the cultural fabric in the United States than in Europe today, but it's not as strong as it used to be.
Dyer pointed out that Barack Obama recognizes this and that's why, when he was speaking of religion and naming the traditional faiths, he added "and nonbelievers."
It seems we are slowly drifting toward the European way of life and religious thinking -- inch by inch, pew by pew.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Feb. 11, 2009

This is a press release from The Institute on Religion and Democracy:

Bishop Elected in Episcopal Church Holds Buddhist Ordination

Washington, DC—An Episcopal priest who has received a Buddhist lay ordination has been elected bishop in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who has served in the diocese since 2001, was elected on the first ballot and received 88 percent of the delegate votes.

The results of the election are now sent for consent to all bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees across the Episcopal Church, in what is usually viewed as a rubber-stamp procedure.

Forrester, who has been identified by his former bishop Jim Kelsey as ‘walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together,' is not the first Episcopal clergyman to practice dual faiths. In 2004, Pennsylvania priest Bill Melnyk was revealed to be a druid; while in 2007 Seattle priest Ann Holmes Redding declared that she was simultaneously an Episcopalian and a Muslim. Both Melnyk and Redding were eventually inhibited from priestly duties.

IRD President James Tonkowich commented,

“The issue is not whether meditation is good, it is what is being meditated on. Attempts by Christians to be syncretistic devalue other religions, as well as their own.

“If this kind of meditation is truly in the Christian monastic tradition, why do you need to go to Buddhism to find it? The reality is that this particular meditative practice is not in step with Christian doctrine.

“Buddhism is not merely a series of practices, saying so devalues it. Buddhism is an entire worldview.

“These interfaith innovations go far beyond witnessing and respecting other faith traditions. They seek to blend Christianity with other belief systems in a way that ultimately compromises the message of the Gospel.

“While church leaders may respect other faiths, their vow of Christian ordination has always meant an exclusive commitment to Jesus Christ and the Christian faith.”

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"

I went to a lecture by Father James Bacik of Toledo this week on the search for God in the university (here's a link to the article I wrote about it).
Father Bacik said something funny during the lecture that didn't fit into the article. He went to see Karl Rahner give a lecture in Chicago in the early 1980s. Rahner, a German, spoke in his native tongue and then waited for the translator to finish the English translation. While the translator was speaking, Rahner took out his rosary, started praying, and promptly fell asleep -- right in front of thousands of people who had come to hear his talk.
Must have been jet lag, Father Bacik said with a smile.
The more I read of Rahner's writings, and hear others talk about his work, the more I appreciate this brilliant man, often called the most influential Catholic theologian of the 20th century.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
March 28, 2009

Did you know that one of the hottest new genres in Christian publishing is Amish fiction?
That's what I've been told by a publicist for Beverly Lewis, author of The Secret and the Seasons of Grace series. She's doing a book tour through Ohio with literally dozens of book signings scheduled.

In November and December, 2008, 6 of the top 20 books on the Christian Bookseller Association's best-seller list were "Amish fiction," according to Bethany House Publishers.
I know the Amish are intriguing to Americans in general and that Harrison Ford starred in an Amish movie called Witness, but I had no idea that Amish fiction was such a hot commodity.
* * *
March 29, 2009
Toledo, Ohio

Pope Benedict XVI can't seem to avoid controversy no matter what he does. It's just a reflection of our times. Some scholars are calling this the "post-Christian" era.
The Vatican's Holy Land ambassador, Archbishop Antonio Franco, announced that Benedict will not visit the museum section of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, during his March 10 trip to Jerusalem.
Even though he will lay a wreath at the the Hall of Remembrance, people are criticizing him for not entering the museum.
The reason he is skipping the museum is because of the way it portrays Pope Pius XII, stating in a photo caption that the Vatican refused to protest the Holocaust as it was unfolding and Pius abstained from signing an Allied declaration condenming genocide of the Jews.
Benedict and other Vatican officials have defended Pius as saying that he protested the Nazis when possible and that he did work to stop the Holocaust through secret channels.

As John Allen points out in the National Catholic Reporter, Benedict is following the same itinerary as Pope John Paul II on his historic visit to Jerusalem in 2000.

One thing about the Holocaust that is often overlooked in America is that U.S. news media had reported atrocities against the Jews in Europe in the 1930s, yet Americans did not get involved for years.
I've seen the newspaper accounts in the New York Times, New York Herald-Tribune, and Washington Post displayed in Holocaust museums in Washington and in Farmington Hills, Mich. There was no doubt that the horrors of the Holocaust were being reported. Why the public did not pay attention, I can't say. But they were informed. I think part of the reason is that Americans were in an era of isolationism following World War I and did not want to get involved in other countries' struggles in general.
In addition, Americans have often turned a blind eye toward atrocities including the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia in recent history.

If Pope Pius XII did not act quickly and forcefully against the Holocaust, it is a shame. But he was not alone in his failure to speak up. It is all too common for countries and individuals, and as Irish statesman Edmund Burke said so famously:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

I'm going to a talk today by Dr. Hilton Sutton, an expert on the End Times, aka the end of the world scenario. I've been doing a little research ahead of time. There are a lot of people who believe the current turmoil in the world contains numerous signs that the end of the world is nigh.
I'm not sure what to think but I do know there is more chaos and uncertainty at the moment than any other time in my life thus far. There have been more multiple-shootings in the last month than we've had in most years. Economic disasters everywhere. An earthquake in Italy. Famine and war in Africa. Drought in Australia. Europe moving toward a united government... and Tony Blair saying he wants to be president of Europe.
Whether these are the "birth pangs" leading to Armageddon that Jesus warned about, well no human being really knows. And plenty of people have looked extremely foolish in the past by predicting the end of the world.
I remember one group of people who sold all their earthly belongings and went to a mountaintop and waited for the world come to an end. And waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually they gave up, and got back to reality a little humbled and trying to figure out how they miscalculated. It made for good news stories, however.
But the... one of these days ... God won't be bluffing!
* * *
I did a story on eco-friendly palms for Palm Sunday (here's a link), trying to make sure that the palms are harvested in environmentally friendly ways and that the workers in Mexico and Guatemala are paid a fair wage.
I got a very nice letter from a woman in Florida saying the Latin American growers have put many Florida palm farmers out of business, so instead of worrying about paying the Mexicans and Guatemalans a fair amount maybe we should be buying palms from American growers instead.
That's a good point and one that I wish I had addressed in the story. Sometimes you don't realize a story angle until after the article is published and someone brings it to your attention.
I'm thinking maybe that will be a good way to write about Palm Sunday 2010... If the world is still here.
* * *
So the North Carolina Tar Heels are the NCAA basketball champs... Who cares anyway! It's only a stupid game... Not! I love the tournament, one of the greatest in sports, and still don't can't root for the Tar Heels because of the Duke blood that runs through my veins. I admit they have a terrific team and the title was well deserved. They trounced Michigan State, it almost embarrassing. Now I'm into "wait until next year" mode ... Go Blue Devils!
* * *
Yesterday was a bad day for my teams all around, actually. The Indians and the Tigers both got stomped on opening day. But at least the baseball season is under way... Love to go to ballgames.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
April 7, 2009

I went to the 8th annual MultiFaith Banquet last night at Congregation B'nai Israel in Sylvania. I was told that there were 20 different faiths represented among the 250 attendees. I don't even know which specific faiths were present but among those who sat at my table were 3 Baha'is, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Hindu pandit (or priest).
I bumped into all kinds of people I've written about over the years including Sikhs, Unitarians, Sufis, Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Reform and Conservative Jews, Buddhists, and several mainline Protestants.
The only group noticeable underrepresented, if represented at all, were evangelical Christians.
I think face-to-face connections, especially sharing a meal, is a great way to dispel stereotypes and build bridges with people who come from different faith traditions, beliefs, and backgrounds.
It's easy to demonize a group of people when you don't know anyone who belongs to that group.
Once you meet them in person and get to know them, it can drastically change your mind about a group. You realize that those who often get the publicity (or notoriety) are not the norm, but the extremists and radicals. The good people of faith seldom make headlines... It reminds of that bumper sticker I've seen around town a lot lately:

"Well-behaved women rarely make history"

According to a number of news services, there was "a dramatic diplomatic walkout today" in Geneva when President Ahmadinejad of Iran told a major UN conference against racism that the state of Israel had been founded "on the pretext of Jewish suffering" during the Second World War. He also accused Israel of establishing "a cruel and repressive racist regime" in Palestinian territory.
Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, Canada and Finland, stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
The U.S. delegation didn't need to walk out since it boycotted the event.
* * *
Incidentally, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Holocaust survivor, and author Elie Wiesel was among the protesters outside the U.N.'s Geneva HQ where Ahmadinejad was speaking. Professor Wiesel is a hero and an inspiration to me.
* * *
Maybe Ahmadinejad should be reminded of the fact that his country has just sentenced an American journalist to 8 years in prison for spying -- after holding a one-day, closed-door trial in Revolutionary Court. Talk about repressive regimes!
* * *
Here's another controversial news item with religious overtones, this one sent out by the Church Report website:
Miss California Carrie Prejean, while competing in the Miss USA beauty pageant last night, was asked if she believed in gay marriage by the pageant host, Perez Hilton (whom the aforementioned site described as "an openly gay gossip blogger").
Miss Prejean responded: "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
* * *
For all you Kiss fans out there, get ready to party on Monday. It's Ace Frehley's 58th birthday. Wonder if Ace's face paint covers up the wrinkles?
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
April 20, 2009

April 19, 2009

Op-Ed Guest Columnist

It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is?

By BONO

I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport.

I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday.

“Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea.

Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ...

Carnival — rock stars are good at that.

“Carne” is flesh; “Carne-val,” its goodbye party. I’ve been to many. Brazilians say they’ve done it longest; they certainly do it best. You can’t help but contract the fever. You’ve got no choice but to join the ravers as they swell up the streets bursting like the banks of a river in a flood of fun set to rhythm. This is a Joy that cannot be conjured. This is life force. This is the heart full and spilling over with gratitude. The choice is yours ...

It’s Lent I’ve always had issues with. I gave it up ... self-denial is where I come a cropper. My idea of discipline is simple — hard work — but of course that’s another indulgence.

Then comes the dying and the living that is Easter.

It’s a transcendent moment for me — a rebirth I always seem to need. Never more so than a few years ago, when my father died. I recall the embarrassment and relief of hot tears as I knelt in a chapel in a village in France and repented my prodigal nature — repented for fighting my father for so many years and wasting so many opportunities to know him better. I remember the feeling of “a peace that passes understanding” as a load lifted. Of all the Christian festivals, it is the Easter parade that demands the most faith — pushing you past reverence for creation, through bewilderment at the idea of a virgin birth, and into the far-fetched and far-reaching idea that death is not the end. The cross as crossroads. Whatever your religious or nonreligious views, the chance to begin again is a compelling idea.

•

Last Sunday, the choirmaster was jumping out of his skin ... stormy then still, playful then tender, on the most upright of pianos and melodies. He sang his invocations in a beautiful oaken tenor with a freckle-faced boy at his side playing conga and tambourine as if it was a full drum kit. The parish sang to the rafters songs of praise to a God that apparently surrendered His voice to ours.

I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search.

The preacher said, “What good does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Hearing this, every one of the pilgrims gathered in the room asked, “Is it me, Lord?” In America, in Europe, people are asking, “Is it us?”

Well, yes. It is us.

Carnival is over. Commerce has been overheating markets and climates ... the sooty skies of the industrial revolution have changed scale and location, but now melt ice caps and make the seas boil in the time of technological revolution. Capitalism is on trial; globalization is, once again, in the dock. We used to say that all we wanted for the rest of the world was what we had for ourselves. Then we found out that if every living soul on the planet had a fridge and a house and an S.U.V., we would choke on our own exhaust.

Lent is upon us whether we asked for it or not. And with it, we hope, comes a chance at redemption. But redemption is not just a spiritual term, it’s an economic concept. At the turn of the millennium, the debt cancellation campaign, inspired by the Jewish concept of Jubilee, aimed to give the poorest countries a fresh start. Thirty-four million more children in Africa are now in school in large part because their governments used money freed up by debt relief. This redemption was not an end to economic slavery, but it was a more hopeful beginning for many. And to the many, not the lucky few, is surely where any soul-searching must lead us.

A few weeks ago I was in Washington when news arrived of proposed cuts to the president’s aid budget. People said that it was going to be hard to fulfill promises to those who live in dire circumstances such a long way away when there is so much hardship in the United States. And there is.

But I read recently that Americans are taking up public service in greater numbers because they are short on money to give. And, following a successful bipartisan Senate vote, word is that Congress will restore the money that had been cut from the aid budget — a refusal to abandon those who would pay such a high price for a crisis not of their making. In the roughest of times, people show who they are.

Your soul.

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.

•

Strangely, as we file out of the small stone church into the cruel sun, I think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose now combined fortune is dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty. Agnostics both, I believe. I think of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his life upholding the rights of others. A spiritual man — no doubt. Religious? I’m told he would not describe himself that way.

Not all soul music comes from the church.

Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 and a co-founder of the advocacy group ONE, is a contributing columnist for The Times.

I really enjoyed "having breakfast" with John C. Maxwell yesterday, the National Day of Prayer.
The first time I heard he was coming to Toledo was exactly a year ago, at the 2008 Northwest Ohio prayer breakfast, when one of the organizers told me excitedly that John Maxwell was going to be this year's speaker.
I tried to look excited, but to be honest I really didn't know much about Maxwell. I had heard his name but that's about it. Never saw him speak, never was one of the people who bought 16 million copies of his 50 books.
He's obviously a very successful man. In fact, when I tried to set up an interview for an article to run in advance of his Toledo visit, his assistant sent me a note saying Mr. Maxwell was unavailable "but feel free to quote from his books."
Not a very media-friendly guy. Most big-name speakers at least would have sent a press kit with a biography, past interviews with other media, and a copy of his latest book.
Not Maxwell.
This is a bit of an odd comparison, but B.B. King used to tell me that he did as many media interviews as he could because there were always some people who never heard of B.B. King.
I'm sure there are many people who have never heard of John C. Maxwell. I personally knew very little about him, and I'm a religion editor for a newspaper.
I looked on his website and basically there was nothing helpful as far as finding out about his life story or testimony. The "bio" only mentioned that he's sold 16 million books and founded some company called INJOY without explaining what INJOY was.
Later I found out Maxwell is from Circleville, Ohio, the son of a minister, and he pastored churches for 25 years before becoming a big time author and speaker.
So I don't take it personally when a speaker/celebrity snubs a media interview but I can't help but wonder why. Obviously they can spare a minimum of 10 or 15 minutes on the phone.
Usually they don't do interviews because their talk/concert/event is sold out and they don't need the media to raise awareness or sell tickets.
Not this time. The prayer breakfast had about 1,000 people, which is about the same as it always gets. Organizers had rented a much larger hall hoping for a much larger turnout.
I heard off the record that Maxwell's original speaking fee of $40,000 (not bad for half a day's work) had been cut to $25,000 because of poor ticket sales (still not a shabby paycheck).
But all of that behind-the-scenes griping aside, Maxwell is a terrific speaker and I can see why he has risen to the top of the Christian heap.
His talk at the prayer breakfast was about "running one lap" with different Bible figures and imagining what they would say -- Noah, Rebekah, David, and Jesus. He is smooth and funny and full of wisdom.
I stayed for a while for a leadership seminar that followed the breakfast but couldn't stay the whole time. He was talking about the theme of his new book, "Put Your Dream To The Test," and what it takes to reach your dreams. It was very inspiring and I personally felt motivated.
(Oddly, he was selling the new book for $24 at his lecture, but it's only $17.95 on his website. Usually they drop the price at a live event, but Maxwell obviously knows his marketing -- that seems to be one of his primary gifts, after preaching and teaching.)
Maxwell won me over as a speaker and I'm going to check out some of his book, but I'm not a fan of the way he runs things away from the spotlight. He goes into my "Joyce Meyer" folder for Christian celebrities who don't know how to work with the media.
* * *
I'm planning to see the new Star Trek movie sometime this weekend. It's gotten great reviews and as a longtime fan of the TV show and films I am really looking forward to getting a fresh new treatment of this sometimes stodgy sci-fi classic.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
May 8, 2009

"A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

"If we say our God is an all-loving God, how do you explain that at any given time probably 400 million (people) living on the planet at one time would be gay? Are the religions of the world, as does Catholicism, saying to those hundreds of millions of people, you have to pass your whole life without any physical, genital expression of that love? "

—Former Archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland, who comes out as gay in a memoir to be published next month, speaking to the New York Times (May 15).

* * *

This is not exactly a surprise. Here's a story that was published in June, 2002:

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland apologized yesterday for the pain a $450,000 settlement the archdiocese reached with a man who accused him of sexual assault has caused the Catholic community.

"I apologize to all the faithful of the archdiocese which I love so much, to all its people and clergy for the scandal that has occurred because of my sinfulness," he said at a prayer service.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese in 1998 paid the settlement to Paul Marcoux, a former Marquette University theology student who accused Archbishop Weakland of sexually assaulting him in 1979. He has denied abusing anyone.

The money for the settlement came from the archdiocese's general budget, which includes income from sources such as investments and church-owned rental property, the archdiocese has said.

Archbishop Weakland is the highest-ranking American cleric to acknowledge settling a sexual assault allegation against him.

During yesterday's service, he said he accepted responsibility for the "inappropriate nature" of his relationship with Mr. Marcoux and apologized for "any harm done him."

He said he understood the settlement agreement to be compensation for Mr. Marcoux, who claimed the former archbishop had interfered with his ability to earn income. He said he agreed to the settlement rather than spend money litigating the claim.

His 25-year tenure ended when the Vatican accepted his resignation May 24, a day after he acknowledged paying the settlement. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in April.

"People who are concerned about me ask how I feel at this moment. The best nouns to describe those feelings would be: remorse, contrition, shame, and emptiness," he said yesterday.

I once wrote about a mosque in the Toledo area and called it a "conservative" mosque. One of the members objected to that label, saying it is not conservative it is simply a mosque.
People generally don't like to be labeled. Musicians have always objected to being pigeonholed as jazz, R&B, smooth jazz, pop, etc. They just play music, they've told me. The business people are the ones that put it into pigeonholes and slap labels on it.
I can understand why people try to wriggle out of labels. They are often too broadly applied, they paint everyone with the same brush, they don't take individual diversities into account, they are not always accurate.
But we need labels, it's part of our culture and our thought process. It helps us cope with the world, keep things organized, help us understand. We also should realize that they are not 100% accurate or dependable and that they don't include the variations within that label.
Yesterday, I interviewed a woman at the mosque I had described as conservative. After the interview, I offered my hand to shake hands with her as we parted. She shook it but then said that, in the future, she will not shake my hand.
It was something of a faux pas for me, the veteran religion editor who should know better. But it also was an indication that this is a conservative mosque. The women at the other mosque in town will shake hands with a man, or at least I've never had one of them decline a handshake.
The unofficially "conservative" mosque has a balcony for women to worship separately from the men. The unofficially "liberal" mosque in this area has a low barrier dividing the floor into male and female sections, and these two group worship side by side.
We may not like labels, but that doesn't mean they are not appropriate.
* * *
June 9, 2009
Toledo, Ohio

I shadowed a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses today who were going door to door to invite people to their upcoming convention in Toledo.
When they make their rounds in the morning knocking on doors, most of the time nobody is home. Once out of every 10 houses or so, someone will answer. Usually they don't even open the door, or open it just a crack.
It's a tough sell for these people to try to win people over. But they go out and knock on doors relentlessly, convinced they are taking care of Jehovah's business.
I think a lot of people with strong religious beliefs could learn from the way the JW's are driven to reach people with their message.
While we're sitting home watching TV or hanging out with friends, the Jehovah's Witnesses are going through neighborhoods trying to "warn" people about the end of the world.
If only I had such determination, especially in light of the overwhelming number of rejections. Yet they shrug off the negatives, continue to think positively, and soldier on day in and day out. Month in and month out. Year in and year out.
There's a lesson to be learned for those who have an ear to hear.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
June 9, 2009

My story on CedarCreek Church, what we call an "explainer" about it's phenomenal growth, was published yesterday. You can read the main story here and the sidebar, about two "unchurched" men who are now regular attenders, here.
I enjoyed working on this article and one of the things I found amusing -- and which I included in the story -- was that people often think the pastors drive luxury cars because the owners of a nearby horse farm called Cedar Creek Farms drive Mercedes and Lexus with "CEDR CRK" vanity plates. That hurts the pastors' efforts to not be flashy because they realize new Christians and unchurched people are often suspicious about money and religion. They tend to think all the church wants is their money. So Lee Powell and his wife drive 2005 Fords and everyone thinks they're driving around in a convertible Mercedes.
Sure enough, I got an email today from someone who saw a black Mercedes convertible with Cedar Creek plates and thought it was a CedarCreek pastor until they read my article. At least the article helped clarify it in one person's mind.
Meanwhile, a co-worker was asking what's wrong with a pastor driving a Mercedes. Doesn't the Bible say that God's followers will prosper? That's true but there have been too many abuses of that biblical theme, with ministers living way too high on the hog at the expense of their poor flock, some of whom give sacrificially.
I think pastors are wise not to flaunt their money. The Bible says in 1 Cor 10:32, "Do not cause anyone to stumble." A skeptic seeing a pastor driving a Mercedes might have reason not to go to church, thinking the minister is fleecing the flock, which is one way of causing someone to "stumble."
I know a pastor who drove a Mercedes he bought at an auto auction for a really good price. It was an $80,000 car but he got it for a fraction of that. However, people saw him driving it and had no idea he bought it so cheap. I heard people grumbling about his luxury car.
Maybe he should have put a sign in the window saying "I bought this at an auto auction for $20,000! What a deal! Thank you, Lord!"
* * *
I'm going to digress here for a minute because I have a funny story about a sign and a Mercedes. A family friend has a classic Mercedes, a 1970-something cherry red convertible, fully restored, that he absolutely loves, but which his wife wants him to get rid of.
She kept badgering him to put a for sale sign in the window. So, being the obedient husband, Jerry complied.
He put a "For Sale" sign in the front windshield that is about half an inch high and an inch wide. The words "For Sale" are so small that you almost need a magnifying glass to read them.
Jerry did what his wife asked him to do, techinically. I guess that's a good example of the need to be specific about details.

Note: If you'd like to learn more about Nate Saint and the other missionaries, read "Through the Gates of Splendor" or watch the documentary. There's also a feature film called "End of the Spear" about this amazing story. -- David

Mission Aviation History to Hitch a Ride on Space Shuttle

Astronaut Taking a Piece of Nate Saint’s Piper PA-14 on ‘Discovery’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Proving that space flight is not the highest calling for a pilot, astronaut Patrick Forrester is taking a bit of missionary history onboard space shuttle “Discovery,” which is scheduled for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in the early morning hours of Aug. 25 (note: launch has been delayed twice and is now slated for late tonight, 8/27). The aim of the two-week orbital mission is to equip the International Space Station.

The item comes from martyred missionary pilot Nate Saint’s Piper PA-14, which is on display at the headquarters of MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) in Nampa, Idaho. Saint and four other missionaries were martyred on a sandbar in Ecuador on Jan. 8, 1956, by a tribe of Waodani Indians.

The incident sparked international news coverage and renewed interest in missionary service. Several of the tribesmen that killed Saint and the others were later converted to Christianity by relatives of the slain missionaries.

“Bringing attention to and renewing interest in missions would be a great result of this experience,” said Forrester, who was born in El Paso, Texas, the year after the martyrdoms. “My deepest intent is to honor Nate Saint, the Saint family and all missionaries around the world.”

The piece is from the Piper’s battery box and has received approval for the flight from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after conforming to strict size and weight restrictions.

Forrester, who will be making his third shuttle flight, has logged more than 4,500 hours in more than 50 different aircraft and has been with NASA 16 years. In addition to his time at NASA, he spent over 26 years as an Army aviator. Yet his dream has been to assist with the high calling of missionary aviation.

“I’ve always had a heart for missions,” Forrester said. “When I visualize what I might do after I end my career at NASA, always in the back of my mind is going into the mission field in some way. If I could go tomorrow and be a pilot with an organization like MAF, I think that’s what I’d do.”

Whether you are an astronaut, a missionary or something else, Forrester has a simple approach to discovering what career journey you should take. “There are so many needs out there,” Forrester said. “People need to figure out where their passion and their talents intersect with God’s plan for the world.”

Forrester heard about Saint and the other four missionary martyrs while attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. “He told the story of the missionaries who had gone down and had lost their lives,” Forrester recalled. “That story just fascinated me, and through that I heard of the book ‘Through the Gates of Splendor.’ That’s when I really first understood about MAF.”

Forrester asked MAF to provide a part of Saint’s plane for the shuttle mission. When the mission is completed, Forrester will return the piece to MAF, providing a certificate confirming its presence on the space flight. MAF plans to display the battery box part and certificate at its headquarters. Forrester noted that Saint “could have never imagined that we would have the opportunity to take it to a space station.”

As for himself, Forrester sees missions in his career flight plan. “We are all called to serve God in some manner,” Forrester said. “I have had the opportunity to participate in several short-term mission trips to Uganda, Canada, Puerto Rico and South Africa. Each time I have developed a heart for the people we served. I believe my wife and I will continue to serve in the mission field for the rest of our lives – whether it is at home or overseas, short-term or full-time.”

Founded in the U.S. in 1945, MAF (www.maf.org) missionary teams of aviation, communications, technology and education specialists overcome barriers in remote areas, transform lives and build God’s Kingdom by enabling the work of more than 1,000 organizations in isolated areas of the world. With its fleet of 130 bush aircraft, MAF serves in 55 countries, with an average of 242 flights daily across Africa, Asia, Eurasia and Latin America. MAF pilots transport missionaries, medical personnel, medicines and relief supplies, as well as conduct thousands of emergency medical evacuations in remote areas. MAF also provides telecommunications services, such as satellite Internet access, high frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems.

Photo: Astronaut Patrick Forrester

Photo: MAF missionary Nate Saint.

###

The following is a copy of a commencement address given by Susan Campbell at Hartford Seminary in May, as printed in the seminary's magazine "Praxis."
I think her speech is worth reading on several levels but primarily because of the way she honestly reports how being in seminary forced her, now matter how uncomfortable it was, to confront and analyze and assess her own beliefs and preconceptions as a "nondenominational, fundamentalist
Christian."
As she puts it so well, "Once you understand that religion isn't an easy chair into which you relax, you can accomplish amazing things."
-- David
=========

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished faculty, administrators, friends, family, and —
of course — relieved graduates: I am honored to be here on several levels.
I once sat where you graduates are sitting and never in a million years would I have thought to
have considered the possibility of my being up here, speaking.
I trust next year you can find a real speaker, and my apologies in advance
for my deficits at the microphone. I will say right now that I’m a writer, and not much of a public
speaker so that when I am finished, you don’t need to turn to the person next to you and say, “You know what? She’s not much of a public speaker.” She
knows that already.

Susan Campbell addressing graduates of Hartford Seminary, May 29, 2009.

I collected my Hartford Seminary degree in the fall
of 2001, post 9-11, an interesting time about which
I still don’t know what to think, save for this: While
all around me people were telling me to be fearful,
to be cautious, even to hate, I couldn’t. I’d just come
off of six years sitting in classrooms with people who
physically resembled me only slightly, who hadn’t
grown up reading my sacred text, as I hadn’t grown
up reading theirs, yet with whom I shared the most
basic commonalities to the point that during some
breaks in my classes — most of which were at night
— I would wander outside and stare up at the stars
and think about what just happened.
Who knew a little boy growing up in Pakistan would
have the same questions as a little girl growing up
in the Missouri Ozarks? Who knew we all shared so
much?
If you look at the percentages of faith groups
represented here, Congregationalists are about neck
and neck with Muslims. You have to run your finger
far, far down the list to find people like me, nondenominational,
fundamentalist Christians, and yet
at no point in my time here was I made to feel like
an outsider. If anything my — let’s call it “unique”
— religious perspective felt even more welcome
because I was coming from a theology many in
my class hadn’t experienced, or even seen from a
distance.
So while all around us in 2001 I read and heard and
saw the message to crouch down and be fearful,
I couldn’t and wouldn’t. I had just completed a
course of study at a school with the country’s oldest
center for the study of Islam and Muslim-Christian
relations. I had taken an eye-opening course on
Jewish-Christian misunderstandings through the
centuries. I’d read the sacred text of other religions
until I could read no more. And then I kept reading.
My experience at Hartford Seminary taught me
there’s shockingly little to fear — save for silence. If
we don’t talk to one another, we will be fearful. And
if we don’t get each other’s perspective, we’re sunk,
because while that little Pakistani boy and that
little Missouri girl may be pondering the same life
questions, we only know that if we share that.
I also learned that you have to be brave enough to
risk asking stupid questions. The seminary taught
me to go ahead and ask. We’re all friends here.
I don’t know what brought you to the seminary,
but I came for context. I’d grown up in a strict
Christian religion and the vestiges of that, for me,
were the afore-mentioned fear, and a freakish ability
to quote the Christian scriptures. I knew my Bible
backward and forward — or, rather, I knew how to
quote scriptures from my Bible, but what I wanted
— ached for, really — was some context of what
I thought I knew. To be honest, I wanted to come
to the seminary and have someone tell me what to
think of all that Bible study, those Sunday school
lessons, those church camp Bible bowls. I wanted,
frankly, to have my theology spoon-fed to me, and
it wasn’t until somewhat deep into my career here
on Sherman Street that I realized that just wasn’t
going to happen. I trust you came here with a more
mature faith. I was only looking to get comfortable.
How very young was my faith, that I expected
it to make me comfortable. The faith I found
in the white building behind me made me most
uncomfortable — deliciously so. Hartford Seminary
gave me the gift of discomfort and I shall be forever
grateful.
As it turns out, I didn’t get comforted and I didn’t
get the context I sought, though I was shown how
to find it for myself. No one was going to tell me
how to think or interpret sacred text. I was, instead,
going to learn how to do that on my own.
Ah, but I am hard-headed and it took me a while.
I’ve told this story before. Let me tell it one more
time and then maybe I’ll retire it: I signed up first
for a New Testament class because, well, I wrote the
New Testament and I figured it would be an easy
A. I walked into my first class taught by a then-new
teacher, Efrain Agosto — now the dean. I was pretty
sure I would impress him with my mad Bible skills
and I was wrong. He dove right in and within 15
minutes I suspected I’d do us all a favor if I quietly
left the room.
But I didn’t leave. I grew to love the classes and the
readings. I drank in the lectures and even enjoyed
writing the papers — and yes, I know how weird
that sounds.
I don’t know the mechanism for learning — how the
brain absorbs and retains information — but over
time the seminary kicked the doors open for me and
made me think for myself in a way I hadn’t thought
possible. I will be forever grateful for that, too.
Maybe in your time here, you had child-care issues.
Or work issues, or trouble balancing your schedule
to make it here on time for class. I had that. It was
always on class night when one of my sons would
pull up lame and my husband would be at work
and the full weight of my family would fall on my
reluctant shoulders. Maybe your spouse was a little
nervous about you going off on this particular
tangent. Mine certainly was. He grew up culturally
Catholic; the weight of the old rugged cross rests
only slightly on his back, and he feared I would
become enmeshed in a cult, I suppose, or become
a televangelist with big hair, as that was his only
exposure to Protestants in action.
As it turns out, he was right to be nervous. I did
not become a televangelist and that’s not even on
my long list of career goals. As it turns out, I came
to learn to ask questions for myself and once you’re
free to do that, you are a dangerous being, indeed.
Once you understand that religion isn’t an easy chair
into which you relax, you can accomplish amazing
things.
I can’t guarantee you will remember all your
classmates’ names, but I guarantee you that in the
near future, you will be in a discussion with someone
and you will harken back to some classroom
discussion and you will be grateful that you had the
opportunity to take a moment, sit a spell, and think
hard about your approach to the holy. That, along
with the discomfort, is the gift the seminary keeps
on giving. Or you’ll read something in the news, or
you’ll hear someone talk about something remotely
religious and you’ll have much-needed perspective.
We need people who can freely move between faith
groups and help us understand one another. You
just may be that precise ambassador to make all the
difference.
To be honest, I’ve done shockingly little with my
degree — if you measure using your degree by
how you earn your living. I work at the same job
I worked when I started as a seminary student. I
wrote a book that came to me while I was a student
here, but if you’ve ever written a book you know
that unless you’re among a select few, you don’t earn
a living from writing a book.
I didn’t get my answers here — at least, I didn’t get
my answers the way I’d expected, in a thunderstorm
with God reaching down to hand me a list of do’s
and don’ts. I got, instead, the understanding that
I will always have questions and the answers won’t
always come easily. And that the answers might not
make me comfortable.
And that’s O.K.
I found a new God here, a God that was more
inclusive, a God that allowed me to be a sinner
and fall short. I was exposed to a radical kind of
theology here that demands your entire being. It
was like feeling my heart open and for that, too, I
am grateful.
I am also grateful for the gift that comes with
knowing that neither I nor my theology has all the
answers. For some of those answers, I just may have
to come to you.
You are walking out of here with the highest kind
of degree, a degree of the soul. Maybe you already
know what you’re going to do with it. Maybe you,
like me, are going to fold it into what you’re already
doing. Whatever your choice — or whatever the job
market forces upon you as a choice — I guarantee
that your life will be fuller for the time you spent
here.
I maintain that the will to connect with the holy is
as basic as our need to eat. We ask, as did one writer:
“When shall I come and behold the face of God?”
Searching for the theology that drives our nation, we
can at least comfort ourselves that its impetus is not
entirely greed-based. Our need to connect with God
— however we define God — is so great that we will
find God, one way or another. The holy calls us and
we must answer. We will connect, be it through our
mosques, our temples, our churches, one another. In
some way, we will connect.
Eileen Guder wrote in her book, “God, But I’m
Bored:”
“You can live on bland food so as to avoid an ulcer,
drink no tea, coffee or other stimulants in the name
of health, go to bed early, avoid all controversial
subjects so as to never give offense, mind your
own business, avoid involvement in other people’s
problems, spend money only on necessities, and save
all you can.”
To which I would add: “And you can settle into a
comfortable corner of your theology until you die
and they say nice things about you at your wake.”
Back to Guder:
“You can do all those things [avoid stimulants,
save your money, keep your hands to yourself, live
a careful life] and you can still break your neck in
your bathtub. And it will serve you right.”
I’d rather be uncomfortable. I hope you’ll join me.

Susan Campbell, M.A. ’01, spoke at graduation ceremonies
on May 29. She is a columnist at The Hartford Courant
newspaper and author of “Dating Jesus: A Story of
Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl.”

Just fyi ... official White House press release. No big news here but I thought it is of interest and something you won't find in most mainstream media. -- David.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release September 1, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT IFTAR DINNER

State Dining Room

8:08 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you. Well, it is my great pleasure to host all of you here at the White House to mark this special occasion -- Ramadan Kareem.

I want to say that I'm deeply honored to welcome so many members of the diplomatic corps, as well as several members of my administration and distinguished members of Congress, including the first two Muslims to serve in Congress -- Keith Ellison and Andre Carson. Where are they? (Applause.)

Just a few other acknowledgements I want to make. We have Senator Richard Lugar here, who's our Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Where is Dick Lugar? There he is. (Applause.) Representative John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. (Applause.) Representative Rush Holt is here. Thank you, Rush. (Applause.) Have we found you a seat, Rush? (Laughter.)

REPRESENTATIVE HOLT: I’m on my way to the train. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I got you.

We also have here -- Secretary of Defense Gates is here. Secretary Gates. (Applause.) Our Attorney General, Eric Holder. (Applause.) And Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius is here. (Applause.)

And most of all, I want to welcome all the American Muslims from many walks of life who are here. This is just one part of our effort to celebrate Ramadan, and continues a long tradition of hosting iftars here at the White House.

For well over a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection. It's a time of service and support for those in need. And it is also a time for family and friends to come together in a celebration of their faith, their communities, and the common humanity that all of us share. It is in that spirit that I welcome each and every one of you to the White House.

Tonight's iftar is a ritual that is also being carried out this Ramadan at kitchen tables and mosques in all 50 states. Islam, as we know, is part of America. And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity -- with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world.

Indeed, the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country. American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine. Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens.

So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small. And with us here tonight, we see just a small sample of those contributions. Let me share a few stories with you briefly.

Elsheba Khan's son, Kareem, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country when he lost his life in Iraq. Kareem joined the military as soon as he finished high school. He would go on to win the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, along with the admiration of his fellow soldiers. In describing her son, Elsheba said, "He always wanted to help any way that he could." Tonight, he's buried alongside thousands of heroes in Arlington National Cemetery. A crescent is carved into his grave, just as others bear the Christian cross or the Jewish star. These brave Americans are joined in death as they were in life -- by a common commitment to their country, and the values that we hold dear.

One of those values is the freedom to practice your religion -- a right that is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Nashala Hearn, who joins us from Muskogee, Oklahoma, took a stand for that right at an early age. When her school district told her that she couldn't wear the hijab, she protested that it was a part of her religion. The Department of Justice stood behind her, and she won her right to practice her faith. She even traveled to Washington to testify before Congress. Her words spoke to a tolerance that is far greater than mistrust -- when she first wore her headscarf to school, she said, "I received compliments from the other kids."

Another young woman who has thrived in her school is Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir. She's not even 5'5 -- where's Bilqis? Right here. Stand up, Bilqis, just so that we -- (laughter) -- I want everybody to know -- she's got heels on. She's 5'5 -- Bilqis broke Rebecca Lobo's record for the most points scored by any high school basketball player in Massachusetts history. (Applause.) She recently told a reporter, "I'd like to really inspire a lot of young Muslim girls if they want to play basketball. Anything is possible. They can do it, too." As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls -- she's an inspiration to all of us.

Of course, we know that when it comes to athletes who have inspired America, any list would include the man known simply as The Greatest. And while Muhammad Ali could not join us tonight, it is worth reflecting upon his remarkable contributions, as he's grown from an unmatched fighter in the ring to a man of quiet dignity and grace who continues to fight for what he believes -- and that includes the notion that people of all faiths holds things in common. I love this quote. A few years ago, he explained this view -- and this is part of why he's The Greatest -- saying, "Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams -- they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do -- they all contain truths."

They all contain truths. Among those truths are the pursuit of peace and the dignity of all human beings. That must always form the basis upon which we find common ground. And that is why I am so pleased that we are joined tonight not only by so many outstanding Muslim Americans and representatives of the diplomatic corps, but people of many faiths -- Christians, Jews, and Hindus -- along with so many prominent Muslims.

Together, we have a responsibility to foster engagement grounded in mutual interest and mutual respect. And that's one of my fundamental commitments as President, both at home and abroad. That is central to the new beginning that I've sought between the United States and Muslims around the world. And that is a commitment that we can renew once again during this holy season.

So tonight, we celebrate a great religion, and its commitment to justice and progress. We honor the contributions of America's Muslims, and the positive example that so many of them set through their own lives. And we rededicate ourselves to the work of building a better and more hopeful world.

So thanks to all of you for taking the time to be here this evening. I wish you all a very blessed Ramadan. And with that, I think we can start a feast. I don't know what's on the menu, but I'm sure it will be good. (Laughter.) Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)

END 8:16 P.M. EDT

Associated Press reports on a church marketing campaign -- one that was used locally a few years ago by CedarCreek Church, which borrowed the idea from Lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma... Still an attention-getter. -- David

Michigan church enlists Satan in advertising campaign

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:27 AM EST

TRENTON, Mich. (AP) - A Michigan church is enlisting Satan in a bid to drum up attendance at services.
Metro South Church in the Detroit suburb of Trenton is posting signs saying the non-denominational Christian congregation "sucks" and "makes me sick." The ads are signed by Satan.
The campaign even has a Web site explaining why Satan hates the church.
Youth Pastor Adam Dorband tells WJBK-TV the church is trying to reach out to people and cut through the "noise."
Dorband said Jesus "wants us to be creative and he wants us to ... use whatever it takes to reach people."
Pastor Jeremy Schossau says the campaign is meant to be whimsical and isn't intended to upset anyone.

Did you know that Newt Gingrich is now a Roman Catholic?
He was received into the Catholic Church on March 30 at St. Joseph's Church in Washington, according to the National Catholic Register.
It was his experience of being with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington last spring that led to his final decision to become Catholic.
A former Baptist, Gingrich discusses his conversion with NCR's Time Drake here.
Gingrich had been one of the highest-ranking politicians in the United States, having served as Speaker of the House.
He also was a controversial and polarizing figure in Washington. Accused of 84 ethics violations while serving as a Congressman, the House ordered him to pay $300,000 to cover the costs of an investigation, and he resigned his post in 1998.
Gingrich was married 3 times and says the biggest hurdle to joining the Catholic Church was having his marriages annulled.

I'm not sure how this correspondence between the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and Pope Benedict XVI became public but I believe it's authentic. I received this via email from a Catholic priest who is careful about the notes he forwards. It reads like the real deal. -- David

Sen Kennedy’s letter to Pope Benedict XVI

Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand-deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Roman Catholic faith is to me, and I am so deeply grateful to him.
I hope this letter finds you in good health. I pray that you have all of God’s blessings as you lead our church and inspire our world during these challenging times. I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and although I continue treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old and preparing for the next passage of life.
I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful family. And both of my parents, particularly my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives. That gift of faith has sustained and nurtured and provided solace to me in the darkest hours. I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith, I have tried to right my path.
I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I have worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a United States senator.
I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I’m committed to doing everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I’ll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.
I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God’s blessings on you and on our church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me.
————
Response from the Vatican as read by Cardinal McCarrick:
The Holy Father has read the letter which you entrusted to President Obama, who kindly presented it to him during their recent meeting. He was saddened to know of your illness, and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spirtual closeness. He is particularly grateful for your promise of prayers for him and for the needs of our universal church.
His Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope, and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God, our merciful father. He invokes upon you the consolation and peace promised by the risen savior to all who share in his sufferings and trust in his promise of eternal life.
Commending you and the members of your family to the loving intervention of the blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father cordially imparts his Apostolic blessing as a pledge of wisdom, comfort and strength in the Lord.

Have you read Maureen Dowd's recent column on the Vatican's two investigations of American nuns? The New York Times writer has some strong words for the Pope, saying things that would be inappropriate for a news story but are fitting for a column.
She mentions Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair and local Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.

Here is a copy of her column:

Maureen Dowd:
The nuns' story
The church still treats them like second-class citizens
Monday, October 26, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Once, in the first grade, I was late for class. I started crying in the schoolyard, terrified to go in and face the formidable Sister Hiltruda.

Father Montgomery, who looked like a handsome young priest out of a 1930s movie, found me cowering and took my hand, leading me into the classroom.

Sister Hiltruda looked ready to pop, but she couldn't say a word to me, then or ever. There was no more unassailable patriarchy than the Catholic Church.

Nuns were second-class citizens then and -- 40 years after feminism utterly changed America -- they still are. The matter of women as priests is closed, a forbidden topic.

In 2004, the cardinal who would become Pope Benedict XVI wrote a Vatican document urging women to be submissive partners, resisting any adversarial roles with men and cultivating "feminine values" like "listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting."

Nuns need to be even more sepia-toned for the uber-conservative pope, who was christened "God's Rottweiler" for his enforcement of orthodoxy. Once a conscripted member of the Hitler Youth, Benedict pardoned a schismatic bishop who claimed that there was no Nazi gas chamber. He also argued on a trip to Africa that distributing condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse.

The Vatican is now conducting two inquisitions into the "quality of life" of American nuns, a dwindling group with an average age of about 70, hoping to herd them back into their old-fashioned habits and convents and curb any speck of modernity or independence.

Nuns who took Vatican II as a mandate for reimagining their mission "started to look uppity to an awful lot of bishops and priests and, of course, the Vatican," said Kenneth Briggs, the author of "Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church's Betrayal of American Nuns."

The church enabled rampant pedophilia, but nuns who live in apartments and do social work with ailing gays? Sacrilegious! The pope can wear Serengeti sunglasses and expensive red loafers, but shorter hems for nuns? Disgraceful!

"It's a tragedy because nuns are the jewels of the system," said Bob Bennett, the Washington lawyer who led the church's lay inquiry into the pedophilia scandal. "I was of the view that if they had been listened to more, some of this stuff wouldn't have happened."

As the Vatican is trying to wall off the "brides of Christ," Cask of Amontillado style, it is welcoming extreme-right Anglicans into the Catholic Church -- the ones who are disgruntled about female priests and openly gay bishops. Il Papa is even willing to bend Rome's most doggedly held dogma, against married priests -- as long as they're clutching the Anglicans' Book of Common Prayer.

"Most of the Anglicans who want to move over to the Catholic Church under this deal are people who have scorned women as priests and have scorned gay people," Briggs said. "The Vatican doesn't care that these people are motivated by disdain."

The nuns are pushing back a bit, but it's hard, since the church has decreed that women can't be adversarial to men. A nun writing in Commonweal as "Sister X" protests, "American women religious are being bullied."

She recalls that Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who heads one of the investigations, moved a meeting at the University of Notre Dame off campus to protest a performance of "The Vagina Monologues." "It is the rare bishop," Sister X writes, "who has any real understanding of the lives women actually lead."

The church can be flexible, except with women. Laurie Goodstein, the Times' religion writer, reported this month on an Illinois woman who had a son with a Franciscan priest. The church agreed to child support but was stingy with money for college and for doctors, once the son got terminal cancer. The priest had never been disciplined and was a pastor in Wisconsin -- until he hit the front page. Even then, "Father" Willenborg was suspended only because the woman said that he had pressed her to have an abortion and that he had also had a sexual relationship with a teenager. (Maybe the church shouldn't be so obdurate on condoms.)

When then-Cardinal Ratzinger was "The Enforcer" in Rome, he investigated and disciplined two American nuns. One, Jeannine Gramick, then of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, founded a ministry to reconcile gays with the church, which regards homosexual desires as "disordered." The other, Mary Agnes Mansour of the Sisters of Mercy, headed the Michigan Department of Social Services, which, among other things, paid for abortions for poor women.

Marcy Kaptur, a Democratic congresswoman from Toledo and one of Blair's flock, got a resolution passed commending nuns for their humble service and sacrifice. "The Vatican's in another country," she said. "Maybe people do things differently there. Perhaps the Holy Spirit will intervene."

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Maureen Dowd is a syndicated columnist for The New York Times.
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I went to see the premiere of the documentary film "I Heart Revolution" last night, a film made by the band and crew of Hillsong United during three years of traveling the world playing concerts.
The movie was kind of disjointed at first but then really picked up steam as it focused on the people, places and faces the band encountered away from the spotlight.
It's really a call to action for social justice, for people who are blessed with much to help those who are scraping to get by.
The needs shown in the film are heartbreaking, from child prostitutes in India to people living in garbage dumps in South America.
Anyone who sees this film and does not feel a tug on their hearts has to have no conscience or compassion left in their soul.
I'll be writing about the movie for an article to be published Saturday, 11/7.

At their Baptist church in Albany, Ga., last night, pastors and brothers Stephen and Alex Kendrick announced the title and story of their highly anticipated (by many fans, not necessarily by me) next movie project.
Courageous will offer a look at the importance of fatherhood. The Kendricks brothers are hoping that their effort to reinforce and encourage fatherhood will hit home -- and at the box office -- with the same success that their movie Fireproof did with marriage in 2008.
Here's a snippet of the press release:
“The movie is about fatherhood and the title is one word: COURAGEOUS,” Alex Kendrick said, briefly outlining the plot. “Four fathers who are all in law enforcement—who protect and serve together—go through a terrible tragedy,” he said. “They begin looking at their role as fathers . . . and they begin challenging one another to fulfill God’s intention for fathers.”

That single-word title, Pastor Catt said, echoes God’s call for men to “rise with courage” in their homes and as leaders. This at a time when 4 of 10 marriages end in divorce* and more than a third of all children live away from their biological fathers.

“The statistics on fatherless children are devastating,” McBride said. “And because the family is the building block of society, one important place to rebuild families is through fathers who stay and lead and love.”

“God led us,” co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick said to the audience of church members, many of them volunteer crew, cast, or catering in earlier Sherwood movies. “We believe God is calling men to rise up with strength and with leadership in their homes, with their families and with their children.”

“For more then a year we’ve prayed to be sure that we’re pursuing God’s idea and not our own,” Catt said. “With action, drama, and humor, this film will embrace God’s promise in the Bible to, turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.”

Focusing on Fatherhood

“We focus on the crucial role of father; it’s not just to be a father who loves his kids,” said Alex Kendrick, co-writer/director of COURAGEOUS. “It’s to be engaged with a purpose—to be a father on purpose.”

All four leaders of Sherwood Pictures are husbands and fathers. Pastor Catt has two children; Pastor McBride has four; Stephen Kendrick has four; and Alex Kendrick has six.

More Than a Movie

Sherwood movies entertain as they touch audiences where they live, and they show the means to live more fully through faith in God. FLYWHEEL focused on compromise and business integrity; FACING THE GIANTS on despair and hope; FIREPROOF on a dying marriage rekindled.

With previous Sherwood movies, fans, churches, and organizations across the country (and world) became “partners” in the movie’s impact—giving prayer support for production, distribution, and the movies’ messages. Ministries and outreaches used the films in creative ways. Churches built series and group studies on the topics; Sunday schools seized the momentum of good entertainment that emphasizes life-changing truths.

“It’s been the Bible’s story of Jesus multiplying the boy’s fish and loaves,” Alex Kendrick said. “God has multiplied these movies beyond our wildest dreams.”

Principle filming of COURAGEOUS begins March 2010 in Albany. Like the previous three Sherwood films, COURAGEOUS will be marketed by Provident Films.

Sherwood Pictures is a ministry of Sherwood Church of Albany, Georgia, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Michael Catt and Executive Pastor Jim McBride.

To learn more about it, click here.

National Religious Leaders Release Historic Declaration on Christian Conscience

Washington, D.C., Press Conference Unveils 4,700-Word Statement Signed by More Than 125 Orthodox, Catholic & Evangelical Leaders

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009—Today a group of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars released the Manhattan Declaration. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences. Addressed not only to Christians, but to the President, Congress and civil authorities, the document - signed by more than 125 religious leaders - addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty. The Manhattan Declaration is available here.

Excerpts from the declaration include:

"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right - and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation - to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
"We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral."
". . . We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family."

A reader sent me this note that she said had been found in a run-down shack in Germany after World War II:

Bach gave us God's Word,
Mozart gave us God's smile,
Beethoven gave us God's fire...
GOD GAVE US MUSIC SO WE COULD PRAY WITHOUT WORDS!

My church has made some great moves in the last few years, and one in particular is having broad implications: paying off the mortgage.
At one point, 20 years ago or so, the $4 million mortgage was such a burden that the bank was threatening to foreclose -- and that was not a bluff.
Today, through some wise stewardship of finances, good planning, and the congregation's sacrificial giving, that entire debt is erased.
It has freed up money that has allowed us to do some long-neglected building repairs and renovations that had been patched up or put off before.
Some of the financial expenses are not very exciting, such as fixing the roof and the heating/air conditioning. You don't "see" much for your money but, just like owning a home, a church absolutely needs to spend money on these essentials at times. And it looks like the roof and HVAC are going to cost us a whopping $300,000 over the next few years.
Ouch.
But one thing people will be able to see from this recent financial breakthrough is a new cafe that is being added onto the atrium.
Construction is under way and the cafe is on schedule to be finished by Christmas.
It will be a gathering place where people can meet before or after services, hold Bible studies, book clubs, or just fellowship.
Adding a cafe should generate a sense of excitement about coming to church and give people a renewed sense of community.

It's always a tradeoff when you put money into a church building, because that money could be used for other ministries -- and there are many needs out there.
But churches need renovations and improvements just like you home does. We all redo our kitchens or add family rooms or remodel the bathrooms. Buildings get stagnant and change can have a real impact on your attitude and your feelings about a place.

At the same time, you don't neglect the ministries and the needs. Our church gives about half a million dollars a year to missions, for example, and the cafe project has not taken one dime out of any other ministry.
It is, as the cliche goes, a "win-win situation." Stop in and have a cup of coffee sometime!
* * *
The next thing we need to do with the cafe is to find the right "fair trade coffee" company.
I thought everybody knew about this social-justice issue, but I talked to some people recently who were unaware of it.
Fair trade coffee is where Americans or people in other developed nations pay the coffee growers and workers a fair price for their products and their labor.

Too many farmers and laborers in Third World countries have been exploited for decades by wealthy land owners, corporations and/or governments.

In recent years, many socially concerned individuals and groups, especially churches, have worked hard to avoid this exploitation.

They buy their coffee directly to the farmers, or as directly as possible, and skip the middle man's excessive markup or work with middle men who treat the workers fairly.

The cost we pay for a cup of coffee here may be a few cents higher -- although sometimes it's the same price or lower than we've been paying -- but the coffee growers and laborers get six or seven times the income than they were getting before.

Knowing how much coffee is consumed at churches, some socially conscious Christian groups have set up ministries to buy fair trade coffee for their flocks. The Catholic Church, Lutheran World Mission, and Presbyterians are among the leaders in this area.

So, my church is now "shopping" for the right business relationship for coffee at the new cafe. If you have any recommendations please let me know by email at davidyonke@hotmail.com.

Never heard of Chango until I saw this AP photo and caption....

Santeria followers dance, sing and play drums in honor of Saint Barbara in Santiago, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 4, 2009. Catholics and Santeros honor Saint Barbara, who is associated with Chango, the Afro-Caribbean religion's god of war, by offering them flowers, fruit, burning candles and beating drums. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Today is the first day of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, a Jewish holiday celebrating the miracle when one day's worth of oil burned for eight nights when the Jews restored the Temple.
I heard Neil Diamon sing "The Hanukkah Song" on his new holiday album and found Adam Sandler's original version on YouTube. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Journalists vote Obama’s Cairo speech No. 1 Religion Story of 2009

COLUMBIA, MO.—For the second year in a row, activities of Barack Obama topped the list of religion stories for 2009, according to a survey of more than 100 religion journalists.

The president’s June speech—in which he pledged a new beginning in Muslim-U.S. relations during a visit to Cairo—was voted the No. 1 religion story of the year.

The speech at Cairo University last spring was widely viewed as a contrast to the approach of previous administrations. During his talk, Obama invoked the Qur’an, Talmud and the Bible while declaring that America was not at war with Islam.

The No. 2 religion story was health care reform and the role of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other faith groups played in shaping the debate.

Rick Warren, the California megachurch pastor who gained attention with his presidential Inauguration Day invocation and comments in the aftermath of Prop. 8, was named 2009 Religion Newsmaker of the Year. Warren also continues to have a major effect in Africa through AIDS relief and other humanitarian activities.

"The Obama inauguration solidified his status as America's most influential evangelical and putative successor to Billy Graham as America's Pastor,” said Jeffery L. Sheler, author of the new Warren biography Prophet of Purpose. "On the flip-side, it also has made him a formidable target of critics and has exposed him to some withering attacks. How he handles the continuing onslaught will be a supreme test of his character."

Warren beat out Pope Benedict XVI; Archbishop Robert Duncan, who heads a new theologically conservative Anglican church; Jim Wallis, Sojourner’s editor and outspoken advocate for social justice issues; and Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America throughout its long debate on ordaining gay clergy.

Below, in order, are the Top 10 Religion Stories, as selected by active members of Religion Newswriters Association.

1. President Obama pledges a new beginning in Muslim-U.S. relations and reaches out to the world's Muslims during a major speech at Cairo University.

2. Health-care reform, the No. 1 topic in Congress for most of the year, involves faith-based groups appealing strongly for action to help "the least of these,” and others, such as the Roman Catholic bishops, for restrictions on abortion funding.

3. Because Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused gunman in the Fort Hood massacre, was considered a devout Muslim, the role of that faith in terrorism again comes under review; some fear a backlash.

4. Dr. Carl Tiller, regarded as the country’s leading abortion doctor, is gunned down while ushering in his Wichita Lutheran church. Scott Roeder, charged with his murder, is described as a man suffering from delusions and professing radical religious beliefs.

5. Mormons in California come under attack from some supporters of gay rights because of their lobbying efforts in the November 2008 election on behalf of Prop. 8, which outlawed gay marriage. Later in the year, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire approve gay marriage, but it is overturned by voters in Maine.

6. President Obama receives an honorary degree and gives the commencement speech at Notre Dame after fierce debates at the Roman Catholic university over Obama's views on abortion.

7. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America votes to ordain gay and lesbian clergy who are in a committed monogamous relationship, leading a number of conservative churches —known as the Coalition for Renewal—to move toward forming a new denomination.

8. The recession forces cutbacks at a great variety of faith-related organizations—houses of worship, relief agencies, colleges and seminaries, publishing houses.

9. The Episcopal Church Triennial Convention votes to end a moratorium on installing gay bishops, ignoring a request from the archbishop of Canterbury. At year’s end Los Angeles chooses a lesbian, Mary Glasspool, as assistant bishop. Earlier, an elected bishop in Upper Michigan, Kevin Thew Forrester, is rejected because of his extreme liberal views.

10. President Obama’s inauguration includes a controversial invocation by Rick Warren and a controversial benediction by Joseph Lowery, as well as a pre-ceremony prayer by gay Bishop Gene Robinson.

The other events and stories that did not rank in the Top 10 were:

11. The European Parliament votes to widen anti-discrimination laws to require churches, schools and social services to open their membership to those who do not share their beliefs. The required approval from all member states is not considered likely. Meanwhile, some countries crack down on immigrant religions; the Swiss vote restrictions on the building of minarets.

12. The Anglican Church in North America elects Robert Duncan, deposed Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh, as archbishop, signifying that the breakaway group is not going to go away.

13. Obama’s executive order allowing federal funds to be used for embryonic stem-cell research worries some anti-abortion supporters, is played down by others. The importance of ultrasound technology in preventing abortions is debated.

14. Religious animosity in Iraq among Muslims continues to plague efforts to build a lasting peace. And it continues as one of the barriers to a settlement in the Middle East.

15. Pope Benedict XVI issues Caritas in Veritate encyclical, applying Catholic social-justice emphasis to economic life; shortly afterward he meets with Obama.

16. Obama creates a board-based commission to deal with faith-based matters in his administration but many conservatives remain suspicious of what it will accomplish. His overseas statement that America is not a Christian nation draws criticism from the religious right, but his supporters argue it was taken out of context.

17. The 200th anniversaries of the births of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln are both marked on Feb. 12; many seminars and discussions consider Darwin’s effect on religion and religion’s effect on Lincoln.

18. The Supreme Court again considers legality of placement of crosses on public land; a decision in the Mojave National Preserve case will come in 2010. Related cases make their way through federal courts.

19. Declines in membership lead Southern Baptists to decide on a new evangelism strategy, Great Commission Resurgence, but some SBC leaders believe the emphasis is misplaced.

20. Changes in leadership leads to tension at some of America’s best known churches—the Crystal Cathedral in California, Coral Ridge Presbyterian and the Church Without Walls in Florida, Riverside in New York City.

21. An immigration raid on a Kosher slaughterhouse leads to fears of shortages in Kosher meat and higher prices.

22. The Catholic bishop of Rhode Island, Thomas Tobin, asks U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy to refrain from taking communion because of some of his positions, notably on abortion.

23. Immigration reform is placed on the back-burner in the new Congress, but it continues to be a topic of disagreement between religious liberals and conservatives, especially in states with many illegal immigrants. The National Association of Evangelicals comes out for comprehensive, compassionate reform.

The poll was conducted in an online ballot among active members on Friday, Dec. 11 through Monday, Dec. 14. RNA members are journalists who report on religion in general circulation media outlets. The poll had a 36 percent response rate.
###

I'm almost done reading Greg Mortenson's remarkable and inspiring book, "Three Cups of Tea," about the American mountain climber's work building schools in remote regions of Pakistan.

He was in a rural mountain village in Pakistan when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, and learned the news from a Uighar radio station broadcasting in China.

Mortenson had been working with Pakistani village leaders and tribes for eight years and knew the people and the region better than most foreigners. And the Pakistanis knew and respected this American "infidel" because of his hard work and great sacrifices he had made in provideing education for their children.

A few days after 9/11, Mortenson attended the dedication of a primary school his NGO, the Central Asia Insitute, had constructed in the rugged village of Kuardu. In that emotionally charged village that feared an American military backlash after 9/11, a Shiite Muslim cleric, Syad Abbas, gave an inspired speech to local villagers at the school's dedication, which Mortenson quotes in part in "Three Cups of Tea":

"I request America to look into our hearts and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people. Our land is stricken with poverty because we are without education. But today, another candle of knowledge has been lit. In the name of Allah the Almighty, may it light our way out of the darkness we find ourselves in."

Yes, there are a few Muslim extremists like the maniac who tried to blow up a plane landing in Detroit on Christmas Day. But most Muslims truly are peaceful people and good neighbors. Education is a tool that can be more effective than bombs, but it takes time and patience and an investment of money and energy.

Unfortunately, even after great strides in literacy and education, there will always be a handful of people blinded by prejudice and rage who cannot see or think rationally or abide by the golden rule that is taught by all religions, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

But Syad Abbas has the right idea: Keep lighting those candles amid the darkness of ignorance and hatred.

I started reading The One Year Bible (New International Version) on Jan. 1. This will be the second time through. I read it in 2007 and am looking forward to reading it again. It's a wonderful way to get to know the Bible, and I find the 10 to 15 minutes in the morning is a perfect way to start the day, relaxing and inspiring.

I still am puzzled, after countless readings, by some Scriptures. This is where I just accept the Bible as God's Word and figure it doesn't have to always make sense to me.

I tend to analyze things, such as book and movies and news articles, to the umpteenth degree and maybe I need to be less analytical and lean more on faith than on my own understanding.

Some parts of the Book of Genesis I read this week, about Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah) are among those Bible verses that I find most puzzling.

The couple go to Egypt to flee a famine and Abram says to Sarai: "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

Pharaoh's officials were, indeed, struck by Sarai's beauty, so they took her to the palace and pharaoh took her as one of his wives.
Then "the Lord inflicted serious disease on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai."
Pharaoh discovers the ruse and calls in Abram, questioning the prophet why he lied about his marital status. "Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"

Can you imagine doing what Abram did? Can you picture yourself traveling to a foreign land and telling the reigning monarch that your wife is your sister, and then letting him take her as his own wife?
I didn't think so.

Later, Sarai is concerned that she doesn't have any children, so she persuades Abram to sleep with their maid, Hagar.
Hagar gets pregnant and "she began to despise her mistress."
Sarai blames it all on Abram -- naturally.

"You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me."

I don't understand the logic, but I accept the fact that human nature is the same today as it was 3,000 years ago. People do the strangest things and they make lots of bad moves.

I'd say Abram and Sarai were the first dysfunctional family in history. Yet, they redeemed themselves and wound up as revered figures and Abraham is known throughout history as "the father of many nations."
Perhaps the lesson to take away from these verses in Genesis is that no matter what mistakes you make, you can still repent and be redeemed and go on to accomplish great things.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

______________________________________________________________________

February 4, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.

9:08 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Please be seated.

Thank you so much. Heads of state, Cabinet members, my outstanding Vice President, members of Congress, religious leaders, distinguished guests, Admiral Mullen -- it's good to see all of you. Let me begin by acknowledging the co-chairs of this breakfast, Senators Isakson and Klobuchar, who embody the sense of fellowship at the heart of this gathering. They're two of my favorite senators. Let me also acknowledge the director of my faith-based office, Joshua DuBois, who is here. Where's Joshua? He's out there somewhere. He's doing great work. (Applause.)

I want to commend Secretary Hillary Clinton on her outstanding remarks, and her outstanding leadership at the State Department. She's doing good every day. (Applause.) I'm especially pleased to see my dear friend, Prime Minister Zapatero, and I want him to relay America's greetings to the people of Spain. And Johnny, you are right, I'm deeply blessed, and I thank God every day for being married to Michelle Obama. (Applause.)

I'm privileged to join you once again, as my predecessors have for over half a century. Like them, I come here to speak about the ways my faith informs who I am -- as a President, and as a person. But I'm also here for the same reason that all of you are, for we all share a recognition -- one as old as time -- that a willingness to believe, an openness to grace, a commitment to prayer can bring sustenance to our lives.

There is, of course, a need for prayer even in times of joy and peace and prosperity. Perhaps especially in such times prayer is needed -- to guard against pride and to guard against complacency. But rightly or wrongly, most of us are inclined to seek out the divine not in the moment when the Lord makes His face shine upon us, but in moments when God's grace can seem farthest away.

Last month, God's grace, God's mercy, seemed far away from our neighbors in Haiti. And yet I believe that grace was not absent in the midst of tragedy. It was heard in prayers and hymns that broke the silence of an earthquake's wake. It was witnessed among parishioners of churches that stood no more, a roadside congregation, holding bibles in their laps. It was felt in the presence of relief workers and medics; translators; servicemen and women, bringing water and food and aid to the injured.

One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy Corpsman Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: "Where do you come from? What country? After my operation," she said, "I will pray for that country." And in Creole, Corpsman Brossard responded, "Etazini." The United States of America.

God's grace, and the compassion and decency of the American people is expressed through the men and women like Corpsman Brossard. It's expressed through the efforts of our Armed Forces, through the efforts of our entire government, through similar efforts from Spain and other countries around the world. It's also, as Secretary Clinton said, expressed through multiple faith-based efforts. By evangelicals at World Relief. By the American Jewish World Service. By Hindu temples, and mainline Protestants, Catholic Relief Services, African American churches, the United Sikhs. By Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

It's inspiring. This is what we do, as Americans, in times of trouble. We unite, recognizing that such crises call on all of us to act, recognizing that there but for the grace of God go I, recognizing that life's most sacred responsibility -- one affirmed, as Hillary said, by all of the world's great religions -- is to sacrifice something of ourselves for a person in need.

Sadly, though, that spirit is too often absent when tackling the long-term, but no less profound issues facing our country and the world. Too often, that spirit is missing without the spectacular tragedy, the 9/11 or the Katrina, the earthquake or the tsunami, that can shake us out of complacency. We become numb to the day-to-day crises, the slow-moving tragedies of children without food and men without shelter and families without health care. We become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power. And in this Tower of Babel, we lose the sound of God's voice.

Now, for those of us here in Washington, let's acknowledge that democracy has always been messy. Let's not be overly nostalgic. (Laughter.) Divisions are hardly new in this country. Arguments about the proper role of government, the relationship between liberty and equality, our obligations to our fellow citizens -- these things have been with us since our founding. And I'm profoundly mindful that a loyal opposition, a vigorous back and forth, a skepticism of power, all of that is what makes our democracy work.

And we've seen actually some improvement in some circumstances. We haven't seen any canings on the floor of the Senate any time recently. (Laughter.) So we shouldn't over-romanticize the past. But there is a sense that something is different now; that something is broken; that those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should. At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another; to have at once a serious and civil debate. And this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens. It poisons the well of public opinion. It leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other. It makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong when, in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth. And then we lose sight of the children without food and the men without shelter and the families without health care.

Empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility. That begins with stepping out of our comfort zones in an effort to bridge divisions. We see that in many conservative pastors who are helping lead the way to fix our broken immigration system. It's not what would be expected from them, and yet they recognize, in those immigrant families, the face of God. We see that in the evangelical leaders who are rallying their congregations to protect our planet. We see it in the increasing recognition among progressives that government can't solve all of our problems, and that talking about values like responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage are integral to any anti-poverty agenda. Stretching out of our dogmas, our prescribed roles along the political spectrum, that can help us regain a sense of civility.

Civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable; understanding, as President [Kennedy] said, that "civility is not a sign of weakness." Now, I am the first to confess I am not always right. Michelle will testify to that. (Laughter.) But surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, or, for that matter, my citizenship. (Laughter and applause.)

Challenging each other's ideas can renew our democracy. But when we challenge each other's motives, it becomes harder to see what we hold in common. We forget that we share at some deep level the same dreams -- even when we don't share the same plans on how to fulfill them.

We may disagree about the best way to reform our health care system, but surely we can agree that no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on Earth. We can take different approaches to ending inequality, but surely we can agree on the need to lift our children out of ignorance; to lift our neighbors from poverty. We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.

Surely we can agree to find common ground when possible, parting ways when necessary. But in doing so, let us be guided by our faith, and by prayer. For while prayer can buck us up when we are down, keep us calm in a storm; while prayer can stiffen our spines to surmount an obstacle -- and I assure you I'm praying a lot these days -- (laughter) -- prayer can also do something else. It can touch our hearts with humility. It can fill us with a spirit of brotherhood. It can remind us that each of us are children of a awesome and loving God.

Through faith, but not through faith alone, we can unite people to serve the common good. And that's why my Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has been working so hard since I announced it here last year. We've slashed red tape and built effective partnerships on a range of uses, from promoting fatherhood here at home to spearheading interfaith cooperation abroad. And through that office we've turned the faith-based initiative around to find common ground among people of all beliefs, allowing them to make an impact in a way that's civil and respectful of difference and focused on what matters most.

It is this spirit of civility that we are called to take up when we leave here today. That's what I'm praying for. I know in difficult times like these -- when people are frustrated, when pundits start shouting and politicians start calling each other names -- it can seem like a return to civility is not possible, like the very idea is a relic of some bygone era. The word itself seems quaint -- civility.

But let us remember those who came before; those who believed in the brotherhood of man even when such a faith was tested. Remember Dr. Martin Luther King. Not long after an explosion ripped through his front porch, his wife and infant daughter inside, he rose to that pulpit in Montgomery and said, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend."

In the eyes of those who denied his humanity, he saw the face of God.

Remember Abraham Lincoln. On the eve of the Civil War, with states seceding and forces gathering, with a nation divided half slave and half free, he rose to deliver his first Inaugural and said, "We are not enemies, but friends… Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."

Even in the eyes of confederate soldiers, he saw the face of God.

Remember William Wilberforce, whose Christian faith led him to seek slavery's abolition in Britain; he was vilified, derided, attacked; but he called for "lessening prejudices [and] conciliating good-will, and thereby making way for the less obstructed progress of truth."

In the eyes of those who sought to silence a nation's conscience, he saw the face of God.

Yes, there are crimes of conscience that call us to action. Yes, there are causes that move our hearts and offenses that stir our souls. But progress doesn't come when we demonize opponents. It's not born in righteous spite. Progress comes when we open our hearts, when we extend our hands, when we recognize our common humanity. Progress comes when we look into the eyes of another and see the face of God. That we might do so -- that we will do so all the time, not just some of the time -- is my fervent prayer for our nation and the world.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

(9:25 AM)

Roger Thurow, journalist and author of "Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty," is appealing to churches to help overcome hunger.
He argues that the means and the resources to achieve that goal exist, but they need a grassroots "clamor" to force the gatekeepers to act.
In an interview in the February 2010 issue of Christianity Today, Thurow makes a number of strong points about what could and should be done. One of the big problems is that farmers in the poor nations bear enormous risks on climate, rains, prices, and more. In developed countries, the farmers have government support backing them.

"In Africa, farmers bear 100 percent of the risk. There are very little profits. In the United States, when a crop fails, somebody's writing a check, usually the government. In Africa, the crop fails and people die."

According to Thurow, the number of people at risk of starvation worldwide jumped from 850 million in 2008 to more than a billion last year, or about 16 percent of the world's population.
Churches can make an impact, and there are many ways to help. World Vision and Bread for the World are two organizations that jump to mind, but there are countless others who are making a difference.
As Jesus says in Matthew 25: "What you did to the least of these my brethren, you did unto me."

Last night I watched a preview of a movie called Amish Grace, based on the real-life tragedy of the 2006 shootings at the Amish schoolhouse in West Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania.
The movie debuts on the Lifetime Movie Network on March 28.
I was very familiar with the story, having read the book on which it was based, Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher (2007, Jossey-Bass).
I was not expecting to be so touched by this movie, which stars the woman who played the "daughter" in the two Father of the Bride movies (the 1990s Steve Martin ones, not the Spencer Tracy one from the 50s!).
This sounds weird to admit, but I got choked up at several points and downright cried at one particularly emotional moment. I can't remember the last time I cried at a movie except Sophie's Choice, and the recent When In Rome because it was so bad it was painful to sit through. But that's a whole different story.
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Amish Grace is not the world's greatest movie by any means but it captures the spirituality of the Amish and their depth of devotion to the Bible. How any group could be so forgiving when their children were slaughtered by an "outsider" is beyond human nature, it is possible only through God's Word and through his grace.
Knowing how the Amish of Nickel Mines responded to the tragedy, forgiving the killer and offering their help and consolation to the killer's widow, is overwhelming in many ways.
The movie captures the essence of this story, all factual, although it uses a fictional Amish family to give the story a very personal touch.