“It’s fine to be a religion man,” a distant relative of two of the defendants in the alleged Fort Dix plot, told the New York Times. “But if you get too much to the religion, you get out of your mind and you do stupid things.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Wiccan pentacle has been added to a list of approved religious symbols for headstones by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This change was part of a settlement of a lawsuit against the VA by plaintiffs represented by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
It usually takes a few months for a petition by a faith group to win the department’s approval, but the Wiccan symbol took 10 years and a lawsuit to gain acceptance. Discrimination was the main factor of the delay, the group believed, and it is apparent that some Americans do hold a bias toward Wicca. For example, when he was Texas governor, George W. Bush opposed allowing Wiccans to worship at Fort Hood, Texas, telling “Good Morning America” in 1999 that “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion.”
But as the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, stated after winning the settlement Monday, the plaintiffs “wanted precisely the same treatment that dozens of other religions already had received from the department, an acknowledgment that their spiritual beliefs were on par with those of everyone else.”
Posted by Ross Stewart
Pope Benedict’s XVI’s trip to Turkey this week offers a rare opportunity to promote, in his words, “dialogue and brotherhood and the commitment for understanding between cultures . . . and for reconciliation.”
Granted, such values were in short supply in September, when many Muslims were insulted when the pope noted a medieval quote about Islam being an “evil and inhuman” religion.
Turkey, the most moderate and pro-Western majority Muslim nation, provides a good venue for the pope to clarify his views about Islam and Christianity and to work for reconciliation.
Benedict has said that he wants a “frank and sincere” dialogue with Islam. The question is: Does the Muslim world want it? Or are moderate Muslims willing to let the radicals set the terms of their relationship with the West?
The pope should continue to press his message about the dangers of fanaticism in religion, as well as the need for reciprocity, the principle that Christian churches should be as protected and welcome in the Muslim world as mosques are in the West.
It’s a risky trip, but the payoffs could be huge if Pope Benedict says the right things. Let’s hope that Muslims, too, see this as an opportunity for real dialogue.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The battle between science and religion is shaping up to be an all-out war. A number of scientists at a forum this month at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies issued a call to arms against religion.
“The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief,” warned Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics. He added: “Anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done and may in the end be our greatest contribution to civilization.”
The frustration of the scientists is understandable — especially by those of us who live in a state where science standards have been under siege. But their hostile, anti-religious rhetoric gives ammunition to fundamentalists who think science is anti-God.
Most Americans and most Christians are more in the middle, looking to science for the how and to religion for the why.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"The Amish have buried their little girls, forgiven the man for his actions, and befriended his family. What a wonderful witness to their faith, and what a contrast for others," an Opinion Line contributor noted. It’s a reaction many Americans shared after being shocked by the Amish school shooting, then amazed by the response of that community.
One Amish man from Lancaster County, Pa., explained: "In forgiveness there is healing." And in their actions, there is a lesson for others.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
At the request of prescient author Joel Rosenberg, polling firm McLaughlin and Associates asked 1,000 adults whether recent world events are evidence of the approaching end times: “Yes,” said 42 percent overall, half of women, 75 percent of blacks and 57 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds. Rosenberg is pushing his new book on the Middle East crisis, “Epicenter.” Maybe this is why so few Americans are saving for retirement.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Attorney General Phill Kline’s “church effort” memo came up in a New York Times article primarily about Wichita-based Operation Rescue West’s loss of its tax-exempt status, specifically the question of whether Kline was advocating that churches do anything illegal that could risk their own status with the Internal Revenue Service. Sherriene Jones, Kline’s communications director, suggested to the Times that Kline was referring in the memo to the churches’ pastors, not the churches themselves, and to the need to recruit volunteers for his receptions, not for his campaign. “The attorney general would never ask a church to do anything illegal,” Jones told the Times. But to many, Jones’ explanation will sound a lot like a distinction without a difference.
Meanwhile, a national religious organization responded to Kline’s memo by sending a letter last week to the Republican and Democratic national parties asking candidates to stop using churches for campaign purposes, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. “Congregations look to their religious leaders for guidance — spiritual, moral and otherwise — not manipulation on behalf of political organizations with a partisan agenda,” said C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance and a pastor at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, La.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is “deeply sorry” for remarks last week that quoted a medieval text calling some of the Prophet Muhammed’s teachings “evil and inhuman.”
Some Muslims still aren’t satisfied, but the pope has apologized enough.
In its spasm of protests and outrage, the Muslim world is missing the pope’s larger point — about the evil of any religion using violence in the name of God — as well as his invitation to engage in honest dialogue.
True, it might have helped if the pope had chosen his words more carefully, as well as acknowledged Christianity’s own checkered past on this point, but Muslims of good faith should accept that the pope’s intent was to respectfully engage them, not condemn them.
Of course, the loud militant minority in the Muslim world doesn’t believe in self-reflection and rational discourse. Its overreaction was predictable: Mobs burned the pope in effigy in several countries, and fanatical groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, vowed to “smash the cross” and “conquer Rome.”
Again — making the pope’s point. Is the Muslim world willing to confront these fanatical elements in its midst?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Archbishop Joseph Naumann (in photo) of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas wrote a commentary criticizing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto last session of a bill that would have imposed more reporting requirements on late-term abortions. His complaint was mostly about Sebelius’ veto message, in which she wrote: “My Catholic faith teaches me that life is sacred. Personally, I believe abortion is wrong.” Naumann said that Sebelius has consistently supported abortion rights, which the Catholic Church opposes.
“In my responsibilities as archbishop, I have an obligation to make certain that Catholics understand clearly the doctrinal and moral teachings of the church,” he wrote. And he urged “all Kansas Catholics to pray for Gov. Sebelius that she might reconsider her long held position supporting legalized abortion.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
An earlier blog item raised the question of whether the Democratic Party can have any success wooing evangelicals. Well, a new poll shows that evangelicals are growing dissatisfied with the GOP, the New York Times reported.
The number of Americans who say the GOP is friendly to religion fell 8 percentage points in the past year, to 47 percent from 55 percent, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The drop was even sharper among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants: down 14 percentage points.
But the Democratic Party isn’t viewed any better, so it is probably not going to pick up many converts. Only 26 percent said that the Democratic Party was friendly to religion, down from 29 percent last year.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
