NIGERIAN ANGLICANS TAKE A STAND

The world's second largest Anglican fellowship isprotesting the confirmation of homosexual bishops:

Members of Nigeria's 17 million-strong Anglican Church - the world's second-largest Anglican congregation - spent a day fasting and praying to protest the confirmation of homosexual priests and bishops in Britain and the United States.

"We are not happy that the Archbishop of Canterbury is being soft on this issue of homosexuals in the church," the Rev Obi Ulonna, referring to the titular head of the 77 million-member global Anglican community.

"We are praying that God will guide and protect our Bishop and all who are against the gay movement," added Rev Ulonna, a cleric at the St Stephens parish in Lagos.

Perhaps someday Africa can send missionaries to America and Britain to help teach that the Bible actually means what is says on such issues.

92% BELIEVE IN GOD

According to a new FoxNews poll, a full 92% of Americans believe in God:

Fully 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles, according to the latest FOX News poll. Though belief in God has remained at about the same level, belief in the devil has increased slightly over the last few years — from 63 percent in 1997 to 71 percent today.

And surprisingly, younger people are more likely to believe in both the devil and hell:

Young people are much more likely than older Americans to believe in both hell and the devil. An 86 percent majority of adults between the ages of 18 to 34 believe in hell, but that drops to 68 percent for those over age 70. Similarly, 79 percent of young people believe in the devil compared to 67 percent of the over-70 age group.

We always have to ask what such "belief" translates into, but American sentiment for religion still remains strong.

MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRY MATZOHS

A Dutch priest has left the Catholic Church because of his allergy to communion wafers:

Father Stefan van Dierendonck, 30, from Nijmegen, felt sick every time he took communion, reports De Morgen.

Tests revealed he was allergic to gluten - but the Catholic Church does not allow gluten-free wafers to be used for communion....

In 1998, he got special permission to use low gluten wafers but it didn't help.

He decided to leave the church after the Vatican advised him to see a psychiatrist: "That did it, I didn't want to choose between faith and health," he said.

It looks like the Vatican lost a high quality priest in that one.

REASONS TO GO TO CHURCH

Auburn University football coach Tommy Tubberville's Arkansas native mother found a reason after Auburn defeated seventh ranked Arkansas 10-3 on Saturday:

Tuberville's mother proudly returned to church in their hometown of Camden, Ark.

"She normally comes back with us, but she had made arrangements if we won, so she could go back home with a friend back to Camden and could go to church (Sunday)," said Tuberville, whose record at Arkansas is now 1-4.

I'm sure her motives were holy.

YOU'VE GOT TO APPRECIATE THEIR EXUBERANCE...

The Russian Orthodox priest who performed the marriage ceremony for a homosexual couple has had a rude awakening:

A priest has been sacked, his church bulldozed and the wreckage burnt after he allowed the building to be used for a gay marriage last month.

Church officials in Nizhni Novgorod, west Russia, said that the chapel in which the men were married had been destroyed because the marriage ceremony had "desecrated" it.

Father Andriy, spokesman for the Nizhni Novgorod eparchy told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: "Father Vladimir Enert, who married the gay couple, committed a sin in doing so. He desecrated the place. We therefore needed to destroy the chapel."

He added that Vladmir Enert had been defrocked by Russian Orthodox Church officials.

I guess there's no question where the Russian Orthodox Church stands on homosexual "marriage".

THE VATICAN ON CONDOMS & AIDS

To the dismay of the World Health Organization, the Vatican is claiming that condoms don't stop Aids:

The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which the HIV virus can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.
The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to the HIV virus.

A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are untrue.

True or untrue--would you have even 'protected' intercourse with someone you knew to have HIV? Then why would anyone be willing to risk infection when you don't know one way or the other?

HOMOSEXUALS SEEK TO DE-LEGALIZE MARRIAGE

Homosexual activists are now seeking to de-legalize traditional marriage:

A group of legal scholars and gay advocacy groups are calling for marriage to be de-legalized in order to make the distribution of benefits more fair for people who aren’t married, including gay couples.

University of Houston Law School professor Victor Flatt cites social security, immigration, tax benefits and travel benefits as some of the perks married couples receive.

"Their idea is why should you be treated differently by the law just because you're married," said David Blankenhorn at the Institute for American Values (search). "Why should society hold up one particular family form and say we protect and support this family form but not others. That would be their main argument."

Whether de-legalizing God ordained marriage or legalizing homosexual "marriage" the ultimate goal is the same: remove any distinctions in society between the family unit that has formed the very foundation of Western society and behavior that has traditionally been looked upon as destructive. Regrettably the forces of decadence are waxing stronger.

THE U.N. NEEDS A FLOGGING

In its infinite wisdom the United Nations has ruled that Canada should ban spanking:

As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canada is obligated to make periodic appearances before the U.N.'s Committee on Rights of the Child, which said the country should "adopt legislation to remove the existing authorization of the use of 'reasonable force' in disciplining children," the National Post reported.

The U.N. body says Canada should "explicitly prohibit all forms of violence against children, however light, within the family, in schools and in other institutions where children might be placed."

As nutty as that is, this is a trend Americans must watch. Thankfully the U.S. is not (yet) a signatory of the U.N.'s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nontheless, how many feel comfortable spanking their child in any sort of public place? No matter what the little terrors might be doing that needs reining in you're watching over your shoulder for the state social services to swoop in.

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him." --Proverbs 22:15

AMERICANS SAY 'YES' TO RELIGIOUS DISPLAYS

Recent Gallup polling has found that a majority of Americans favor the display of religious symbols, including the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building:

Three separate Gallup Polls conducted over the last month confirm that 7 in 10 Americans approve of the display of a Ten Commandments monument in a public area. These results come on the heels of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's suspension for defying a federal judge's order to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery. Additional polling shows that Americans' attitudes are complex when it comes to the issue of the relationship between church and state. On the one hand, Americans clearly feel that religious symbols should be allowed in public places. However, the public finds the display of Christian symbols acceptable as long as symbols of all religions are displayed, and does not feel the presence of a Ten Commandments monument sends a message that the justice system shows special consideration to Jews and Christians.

It appears that it's mainly the judiciary and the ACLU that wants to drive religion from the public square.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

We'll continue our all Mel all the time coverage. Aaron D. Wolf discovers the real scandal always turns out to be the Gospel message itself. And, of course, that's been true for going on 2000 years now.

BOWDLERIZING JOHN

Terry Lane finds that Mel's Jesus movie teaches us one thing: that we must avoid The Gospel of John at all costs!

From beginning to end, the fourth gospel is an anti-Jewish tract. Perhaps it is intended as an argument that Christianity is not simply a Jewish sect, but a brand new, superior religion. Anyone looking for a libretto for an oratorio or a screenplay for a film should avoid John's gospel. While John, whoever he might have been, was probably not an anti-semite in the racist sense of the term, he was certainly anti-Jewish, rather like a Protestant might be anti-Catholic. And the catastrophic fact of the matter is that this gospel, presumed to be "the Word of God" by Christians, has caused more misery and suffering than any other book ever written.

Both Jews and Palestinians have reason to rue the day John took up his stylus to write.

Christians have a tendency to mine the gospels for quotable quotes, rather than reading the books as biographical narratives. They avoid confronting the bits that make them squirm.

But the Gibson epic might make people read John as a life story of Jesus and his enemies and ask what is to be done with it in the 21st century. It will take some exegetic wizardry to make it palatable.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Yes, venomous words from the Gospel of Love that ought to make anyone squirm.

SCIENCE: THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES

Fred Reed explains why good questions are better than bad answers:

I often meet a—to me—curious sort of fellow who simply cannot comprehend what religion might be about. He is puzzled as distinct from contemptuous or haughty. He genuinely sees no difference between religious faith and believing that the earth is flat. He is like a congenitally deaf man watching a symphony orchestra: with all the good will in the world he doesn’t see the profit in all that sawing with bows and blowing into things.

But it is science, Reed discovers, that in fact fails to tell us anything.

STUDIOS STEERING CLEAR OF MEL'S PASSION

Newsweek reports that major studios are taking a pass on serving as distributors of Mel Gibson's Jesus movie, The Passion:

"It's not worth the aggravation," says a studio head. "Even if it makes money, it's not going to be 'Titanic.'" Studios are worried about protests, hate mail and boycotts.

"Even if it doesn't deserve it," says another film executive, "it's going to be used as a political football."

That's all well and good, but the reason given is that the last time they dealt with a Jesus movie they ran into all sorts of trouble:

Some studio executives point to the last controversial movie about Christ as a case in point.

In 1988, Universal released Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," which proposed that Christ was plagued with the same doubts and appetites as normal men. The movie was met with outrage.

"There were millions of letters written and 25,000 people marched on Universal," says Tom Pollock, then a top exec at the studio. "There were death threats against my chairman, myself and Marty Scorsese. There was security in our lives for years."

It's nice to get a window into the head of Hollywood: Jesus movie=The Last Temptation of Christ. Hey if the world didn't like that one, we'd better steer clear of any Jesus movie. Good thinkin'.

JEWISH SQUABBLE OVER GOSPEL MOVIES

With Mel Gibson's movie The Passion in production and an adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew hitting theaters, Jews are far from united in their reactions to the films:

Much of the media coverage has focused on the conflict between Gibson, who belongs to a traditionalist Catholic sect opposed to Vatican reforms in general, and some Jewish figures who warn the film will stir anti-Semitism by splicing together the most anti-Jewish portions of the New Testament gospels with extra-biblical writings of mystics who blamed all Jews for the crucifixion.

Now that debate is turning inward, as Jews point fingers at one another over the way they have dealt with Gibson and argue over just how Jews should deal with Christian portrayals of the Jesus story in popular culture.

The internal conflict over the Gibson movie, meanwhile, comes amid Jewish disagreement over the release of yet another movie about Jesus, “The Gospel of John,” which some Jews are calling a more sensitive portrayal of events.

Observant Jewish film critic Michael Medved sees a reason for the Matthew movie getting a pass:

Medved said the ADL’s praise of the lesser-known Jesus film showed the “tremendous hypocrisy” of Jewish organizations.

While the credits in “The Gospel of John” were laden with Jewish names, Medved said, Gibson “made the mistake of not inviting that kind of Jewish participation.”

Foxman, however, dismissed Medved’s criticism. He said the ADL’s assessment of “The Gospel of John” had nothing to do with its Jewish credits.

“We don’t look at the names,” he said, noting that he didn’t even know there were Jews associated with the film.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Say no more.

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO ME

A teacher in Casablanca has literally thrown two schoolboys out of her classroom after warnings:

Two Moroccan schoolboys have sustained injuries after a female teacher threw them out of a first floor classroom window for being too noisy.

One of the boys, a nine-year-old, has been taken to hospital with a fractured shoulder and serious facial and head injuries while the other, aged ten, suffered slight wounds.

A government official in Casablanca has stated the female teacher had warned the two she would throw them out if they were not quiet.

"They did not listen. They should have listened," the official said, adding that the teacher "suffers depression."

Finally, a government official who will stand behind disciplinary action!

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

Mark your calendars for next Sunday when you can witness a clown deliver a high-wire church sermon in a cathedral in Herts, England:

Canon Stephen Lake, Acting Dean of St Albans, said: "We're looking forward to welcoming the clowns and seeing how they use fun and laughter to communicate the Christian message. Sometimes we can take ourselves too seriously, so when they approached us to help celebrate their anniversary, we were happy to accept."

Neil Wilkin, 'chair fool' of Holy Fools, who lives in St Albans, said: "We are inviting people to fall in love with the fun and foolishness of the clown, and to be caught up in the magic and mystery of Christ's message to the world."

The clowns will take part in a Parish Eucharist at the Cathedral at 9.30am.

What Would Bozo Do?

LEAVE MEL ALONE

Rabbi Daniel Lapin tells fellow Jews Stop bothering Mel Gibson, and discovers a double standard:

Surely Jewish organizations would carry just a little more moral authority if they routinely protested all attacks on faith, not only those troubling to Judaism.

Amen to that.

BUT THEN THERE'S THIS...

R. Scott Colglazier, senior minister of University Christian Church in Fort Worth, Texas, thinks Mel deserves all the criticism, and finds that Gibson's theology is terribly outdated and naive to boot:

Gibson seems oblivious to the fact that biblical "accounts" of the Crucifixion are not really accounts at all, at least not in the journalistic sense of the word. What we have in the four Gospels are theological portraits of Jesus. The Gospel writers often contradict one another when recounting details about the death of Jesus. And it seems the writers were more concerned with what was occurring at the end of the first century in their own churches than about what happened on the day Jesus was crucified. The villainization of Jews found in these narratives reflects, as much as anything, a strained relationship between church and synagogue at the end of the first century.

Why is it that I find myself siding with a Jewish rabbi instead of the good "senior minister"? I suppose it's because I'm "oblivious", too. I guess I need to attend Colglazier's Christian church so I can be taught how the Bible isn't true after all.

[Thanks to David M. for the link.]

ARCHAEOLOGY'S TOP 10

Biblical scholar Ben Witherington gives us his Top Ten New Testament Archaeological Finds of the Past 150 Years. And yes, he includes the James ossuary.

BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST

My plane arrived at the Birmingham airport last night carrying a tired me. I was glad to get home and see all my girls. The trip to Oregon was fascinating and fun. The Willamette Valley is a geographical wonder, as is the Oregon coast. Perhaps I can get some pics up for folks to see.

The Market Street church seemed to be a fine group of folks. They treated (and fed!) me royally. I must now devote myself to prayer and fasting in order to recover from the feasting. The folks there had very kind words about my lessons on Ephesians and were a great encouragement to me. I hope I can make it back out there sometime.

NO FREEDOM OF DISSENT

Episcopal theologian Paul Zahl of Birmingham, Alabama has exposed a systematic plan to suppress dissent of those who opposed the appointment of openly homosexual bishop Eugene Robinson:

Zahl said he was accidentally given an agenda and strategy memo by the staff of the Anglican Consultative Council of London that lays out a plan for dealing with conservatives who opposed approval of the U.S. Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop.

"They are circumventing and pre-empting a genuine exchange of fair opinion," Zahl said.

Zahl said the two secret documents were a tightly scripted agenda for the meeting and a memo to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, advising him how to avoid allowing conservatives to effectively voice their opinion about Robinson.

The memo to the archbishop of Canterbury argued that it was imperative to frustrate the will of archbishops from Third World countries who are generally conservative and strongly opposed to the U.S. church's stance on homosexuality, Zahl said.

Which shows the stance of the left continues to be all views need to be heard as long as they agree with their views. Oh, and whatever happened to the great concern for those in the Third World--or is that as long as they do as they're told?