ON THIS DAY

Freedom of religion was granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam on 20 April 1657.

Quote of The Day

"Christianity is dying in Western Europe, even in Spain and Ireland. It is not exactly in robust health in the United States either with church membership and attendance declining across the board, especially among the young. The moral authority that Christianity once enjoyed among non-Christians eroded away long ago by scandal, hypocrisy, and identification with right wing reactionary politics (just ask the Spanish Catholics). Though Africa now has the embattled convert's fervor, it is not unreasonable to think that the same process of decline could happen there too. There are times when I think the Christian religion should die in order that the Christian faith might continue. But, a lot of babies would be lost with that bath water, perhaps too many to make the sacrifice worthwhile."
- Doug Blanchard/Counterlight's Peculiars in a much broader, lengthy essay, The Perils of Episcopalianism - "on the current tensions between the Episcopal Church and the Archbishop of Canterbury," - well worth the read in its entirety.

Take your wafer and stick it. Or not

"A priest refusal to grant communion to a gay man has led to uproar in the Catholic south of the Netherlands. A multitude of gay men now look set to descend on Sunday mass in the city of Den Bosch."

Call it the stimulus package from God

From Juan Gonzalez in the Daily News, April 22, 2009

Manhattan's Riverside Church - one of the country's most illustrious religious institutions - is paying its new senior pastor, the Rev. Brad Braxton, more than $600,000 in annual compensation.

That's twice what Braxton's predecessor, James Forbes, one of the country's best-known preachers, was getting after running Riverside for more than 18 years.

It amounts to almost 10 times what William Sloane Coffin, the legendary anti-Vietnam War clergyman, was paid in his last year as senior minister at Riverside in 1987.

COMMENT: "No mere man since the Fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the Commandments."> - Book of Common Prayer, Shorter Catechism

IT MUST BE THOSE HARD CIDER WINTERS

To add to the North/South divide: Via Faith Central, the results of a 2008 gallup poll show that Mississippi is the most religious state; Vermont is the least.

HUMAN ECOLOGY

From THINKING ANGLICANS

human ecology

The Pope, speaking on issues of sexuality, argues from the position of an organisation which has a vested interested in preserving a traditional totally male hierarchy. It reflects a view, now not universally accepted, that women have no voice and no vote, where husbands take over the property and the rights of wives, and in which the woman is ceremonially handed over from her father to her husband at her wedding.

Women’s emancipation in society has been one of the chief causes of a serious rift between Church and State in many countries where the ministry of Churches has remained restricted to men. Even formerly Catholic countries now describe themselves as having a secular constitution, and signs or the rift are most noticeable in areas relating to human sexuality:

* Female emancipation
* Legalisation of contraception
* Legalisation of abortion
* Liberalisation of divorce laws
* Decriminalisation of homosexual acts
* Equal rights for women
* An end to oppression of gay and lesbian people
* Legal frameworks for gay partnerships

It would be difficult to cite any other area in which Church and State have been more out of step with each other.

This unfortunately gives the impression that the only morality of interest to the Church is sexual morality. Indeed, it would now appear that the last time the Church could ever claim to lead a moral crusade to promote human equality it was over the ending of slavery, some two centuries ago. Since then it has been the State which has been in the forefront of promoting the dignity and equality of all people, whilst the Church has maintained its traditional inequalities by arguing for an opt out from national legislation.

Clearly Church and State perceive society very differently. The State sees all people as having an equal and valid contribution to make, whereas the Church, in preserving a traditional male hierarchy, has a structure which appears more primitive and tribal.

Homo sapiens evolved the capability of operating in larger units than any other large mammal. As this happened the pattern of a clan under the headship of a dominant male required some adjustment.

With children taking many years to come to maturity, grandparents became important in helping them acquire the skills they would need for survival. And it was no longer only the breeding couples of this largely monogamous species which held the fabric of society together. A significant contribution has always been made by those who did not marry. Those who did not have the constant responsibility of feeding and rearing their own children had time to develop skills and enrich the community in other ways which would make them valuable to the whole group.

Such people were not perceived as a threat to married couples. The man who did not covet his neighbour’s wife has always been less of a danger to society than the heterosexual man who might want to tempt her away. The reason for having strict marriage laws is not because of what gay people might do, but in order to protect couples from heterosexual predators. It would therefore appear that once again the Pope has shown that the Church is out of step with society in its understanding of human sexuality. There is no danger to the species from gay people whilst 90% of people are attracted to the opposite sex. Gay people have never posed any threat to those who wish to live as heterosexual couples. They simply accept this as a valid lifestyle for those who wish to enjoy it.

Society in Britain, North America, and much of Europe is happy with this situation and has framed legislation to protect the rights of all people. By contrast the Pope is the personification of a wrong human ecology; one which fails to give rights to all people. And people wonder, seeing the Church of England’s hesitation over the ordination of women to the episcopate, whether having an Established Church which retains such an outmoded view of women has anything to commend it.

BENNY: HOMOPHOBE OF THE YEAR

Rick Warren's nut-job pronouncements of this year are most likely due to spiked grape juice, but what's in Bishop of Rome's communion wafers?

From REUTERS

Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

"(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.

"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."

The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."

He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."

I wonder how Akinola and the GAFCONistas will react. The Lead has more comments.

THE SELECTION OF RICK WARREN

THE LEAD carries a letter from John B Chane, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, on Obama's choice of Rick Warren to say the invocation prayer at the inauguration.

I am profoundly disappointed by President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to invite Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to offer the invocation at his inauguration. The president-elect has bestowed a great honor on a man whose recent comments suggest he is both homophobic, xenophobic, and willing to use the machinery of the state to enforce his prejudices—even going so far as to support the assassination of foreign leaders.

In his home state of California, Mr. Warren’s campaigned aggressively to deny gay and lesbian couples equal rights under the law, relying on arguments that are both morally offensive and theologically crude. Christian leaders differ passionately with one another over the morality of same-sex relationships, but only the most extreme liken the loving, lifelong partnerships of their fellow citizens to incest and pedophilia, as Mr. Warren has done. The president-elect’s willingness to associate himself with a man who espouses these views as a means of reaching out to religious conservatives suggests a willingness to use the aspirations of gay and lesbian Americans as bargaining chips, and I find this deeply troubling.

Mr. Warren has been rightly praised for his efforts to deepen the engagement of evangelical Christians with impoverished Africans. He has been justifiably lauded for putting the AIDS epidemic and global warming on the political agenda of the Christian right. Yet extravagant compassion toward some of God’s people does not justify the repression of others. Jesus came to save all of humankind, and as Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pointed out, “All means all.” But rather than embrace the wisdom of Archbishop Tutu, Mr. Warren has allied himself with men such as Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda who seek to “purify” the Anglican Communion, of which my Church is a member, by driving out gay and lesbian Christians and their supporters.

In choosing Mr. Warren, the president-elect has sent a distressing message internationally as well. In a recent television interview, Mr. Warren voiced his support for the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These bizarre and regrettable remarks come at a time when much of the Muslim world already fears a Christian crusade against Islamic countries. Imagine our justifiable outrage if an Iranian cleric who advocated the assassination of President Bush had been selected to offer prayers when Ahmadinejad was sworn in.

I have worked with former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to improve the relationship between our two countries as hawkish members of the Bush administration pushed for another war. He has spoken at the National Cathedral, which will host the president-elect’s inaugural prayer service, and I have visited with him several times in Iran and elsewhere. Iranian clerics are intensely interested in the religious attitudes of America’s leaders. In choosing Mr. Warren to offer the invocation at his inauguration, the president-elect has sent the chilling, and, I feel certain, unintended message that he is comfortable with Christians who can justify lethal violence against Muslims.

Obama's advisors have mainstreamed Warren as a moderate to woo the right wing evangelicals and bigots. Bishop Chane labels Warren as a moderate, but clearly his examples show that he's an extremist. As a queer man, it's a slap in the face. But I wonder if the Democratic Party pimpin' Human Rights Campaigners who supported Barack Obama are having second thoughts and will wake up.

UPDATE: With thanks to Richard at American Leftist, here's progressive blogger Jane Hamsher of firedoglake battling it out with Rick Sanchez on CNN:

COFFIN ON LISTENING, A COMMON SECURITY & MEDIATION

American churches can contribute enormously by seeing how pathologically dysfunctional war is rapidly becoming. Let them affirm the psalmist’s contention that “the war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save” (33:17). Churches have a special obligation to point out that “God’n’country” is not one word, and to summon America to a higher vision of its meaning and destiny.

Via Speaking to the Soul - From “Beyond War” in A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches by William Sloane Coffin (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004):

Churches all over the world must see to it that nonviolence becomes a strategy not only for individuals and groups, but one taught to governments. If arms reductions are to become more likely and wars less so, then new measures have to be devised for conflict resolution. . . . Mediation must become the order of the day. Every nation should abandon its claim to be a judge in its own cause. Nations must learn to listen to one another, to affirm the valid interests of adversaries, to cease judgmental propaganda, to heed international law. We must replace the concept of national security with that of common security, an understanding that the security of countries cannot be imagined separately, for none is really secure until all are secure.

(Flag graphic courtesy of catholicanarchy.org.)

BLAIR MOVES TO ROME

Old news of course, but a few months ago, it was announced that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, raised an Anglican (one step from Rome), had been received in the Roman Catholic Church. I saw this apt letter today from the Guardian about his conversion.

Blair's conversion and the archers of 1066


Monday December 24, 2007
The Guardian

How times change when it comes to full communion with the Catholic church.

After the battle of Hastings substantial penances were imposed on William the Conqueror's soldiers by the bishops at the Council of Westminster. Even the archers who fought at long range and did not know whether they had killed anyone had to do penance for three successive Lents.

They got off lightly. After the battle of Soissons (923) all those who took part had a year of excommunication, and then bread and water only, for three days a week. Tony Blair has had it easy.
Bruce Kent and Valerie Flessati
London

LAIKA OF BLESSED MEMORY

From It's a Dog's Life - Laika was a Russian space dog which became the first recorded living creature from Earth to enter orbit. At one time a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, she was selected from an animal shelter.



OCIBW/MadPriest

I must thank you for your responses to Saint Laika Day [link], not only at OCICBW... but on your own blogs and on other threads. I was worried that you would consider me flippant and soppy, but you all seemed to instinctively get where I was coming from. You knew I was being very serious, in deed.

Laika is one of the icons through through which I peer to contemplate Jesus on the cross. It's a gut thing rather than a worked out theology and all the more real because of that. I had thought that the story of the little dog was just a nightmare from my own childhood, but on researching this matter I found that she has become part of contemporary folklore throughout the world. I doubt if another dog has ever had so many songs and pieces of music written for and about them, both classical and popular. The number of poems concerning her is countless. And we are not just talking about people of my age and older. She is part of the culture of people born well after her iconic journey.

Of course, every day, millions of animals suffer because of human greed, viciousness and callousness. But that is the point. Through the Laika Icon we see the suffering of all God's creatures and we see Jesus dying for the sins we have committed against these innocent ones.

BEYOND THE ATHEISM-RELIGION DIVIDE

SPEAKING OF FAITH Beyond the atheism-religion divide

Krista Tippett has a conversation with Harvey Cox, the Harvard theologian who wrote The Secular City in the mid 1960s and more recently, When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today. They discuss many topics, but two comments by Cox struck out to me particularly.

On small-scale activism

---
Mr Cox: Now, as far as trying to help make the world somewhat better, we have more students involved now in soup kitchens and shelters and in tutoring kids down in the ghetto than we've ever had. They're just out there all over the place and also in various places in the world doing these things on their vacations. But it's kind of small scale. I mean, they want to do things on a small scale where they can see some real difference and have — are pretty skeptical about big scale changes the way, say, the kids in the '60s were when they thought they were really going to change the world.

Ms. Tippett: Right. They were going to change the world. Yeah. These kids are pragmatic aren't they? They…

Mr. Cox: Yes, yes. That's right. And probably smarter and wiser for it.

Ms. Tippett: Yeah.

Mr. Cox: But they're very admirable in many instances. And there is some me-too-ism. There's no doubt about that. But I don't think it's the commanding sentiment of these students at all.

On the illusions of free market capitalism

---
Ms. Tippett: [...] You talked about these qualities we associate with the market with, of omniscient, omnipresence, and omnipotent.

Mr. Cox: Yeah. Even with its own rituals and its priests and its ceremonies. It's all there.[...] So it suggested to me that people need some kind of a transcended framework of values and meanings or they just can't get on with it. And we've made the market, to my mind, alas, we've made the market really kind of the great adjudicator of all these things. And it's dehumanizing. It's producing, in many people, a kind of anxiety that a consumer society produces. And it can't go on forever. The kind of economy we have is based on infinite expansion. That's what it's about. It's going to expand every year. And we live on a finite planet. So somewhere or another, there's going to be a collision or taking a little costs accounting that has to go on here.

Read the rest of Beyond the atheism-religion divide...

TUTU IS OFF TO LAKE WOBEGON COUNTRY AFTER ALL

This news, from MadPriest --

Less than a week after it was revealed that Tutu's appearance at the University of St. Thomas was nixed over comments deemed offensive to Jews, the university's president announced Wednesday he had made a mistake by disinviting Tutu.

"I have wrestled with what is the right thing to do in this situation, and I have concluded that I made the wrong decision earlier this year not to invite the archbishop," the Rev. Dennis Dease said. "Although well intentioned, I did not have all of the facts and points of view, but now I do."

Francis of Assisi, Friar, 4 October 1226

Today is the Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar and patron saint of animals. Here are the appointed readings for use on this day.

Psalm 148:7-14 Page 806, BCP
Laudate Dominum

7 Praise the LORD from the earth, *
you sea-monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and fog, *
tempestuous wind, doing his will;

9 Mountains and all hills, *
fruit trees and all cedars;

10 Wild beasts and all cattle, *
creeping things and winged birds;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, *
princes and all rulers of the world;

12 Young men and maidens, *
old and young together.

13 Let them praise the Name of the LORD, *
for his Name only is exalted,
his splendor is over earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up strength for his people
and praise for all his loyal servants, *
the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
Hallelujah!

Animal Welfare Sunday (Sunday 7 October 2007)

From Ekklesia

Clergy and congregations are being asked to celebrate the life and animal welfare work of William Wilberforce this Animal Welfare Sunday (Sunday 7 October 2007).

A keen supporter of animal welfare, Wilberforce helped set up the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on 16 June 1824. It was the first national animal protection organisation and helped enforce a new law to prevent cruelty to cattle, sheep and horses. Queen Victoria later allowed the Society to use the word ‘Royal’ in its title because she was so impressed with its work. The RSPCA has since become the biggest animal welfare charity in the world.

Oxford theologian the Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey said: “William Wilberforce is rightly celebrated for his pioneering work that led to the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago, but it’s not always remembered that he was also a leading light in the campaign against animal cruelty.”

The RSPCA came into existence as the result of Christian vision. A London vicar, the Reverend Arthur Broome, called the meeting that led to the foundation of the Society. Its first minute book records the declaration that: “the proceedings of this Society are entirely based on the Christian Faith and on Christian Principles”.

Professor Linzey added: “We tend to forget that the movement for a cruelty-free world owes much to luminaries like Wilberforce and Broome. They faced public ridicule and strong opposition in their work for animals, but they soldiered on. We best honour Wilberforce and his colleagues by following their example.”

In the first week of October each year, hundreds of churches of all denominations hold animal services or animal blessing services. Animals are brought into church to be blessed and clergy are encouraged to preach about responsibility for the care of creation. Thursday 4 October is the World Day for Animals and also St Francis’ Day.

The RSPCA has published a Service for Animal Welfare, written by Professor Linzey, for use by clergy and congregations.

RSPCS Service for Animal Welfare (.pdf file)

If you want to do more than just pray for the animals, check out Green Mountain Animal Defenders, PETA, and/or Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
1,000 wags to MadPriest. Awwww Bless!

NAMASTE

MadPriest on the situation in Burma --

In everyday life, "namaste" is not consciously considered a religious gesture. However, many believe it has a spiritual basis, in recognizing a common divinity within the other person.


The military junta in Burma are making noises about cracking down on the (approximately) 100000 peace protesters. The last time this happened in 1988, at least, 3000 people were murdered by the military.

My friends, what is going down in Burma is the most important thing going down in world at this moment in time. If the bishops in New Orleans do not give a clear indication that gay people are to be regarded exactly the same as straight people in all matters then more gay people will die at the hands of bigots than they would if the Church acknowledged them as co-heirs of the Kingdom. We pray that the bishops will make righteous decisions. However, our prayers today must primarily be for the people of Burma because it is right that we pray for others before ourselves. In doing so the spiritual strength of the monks will become our strength through the transforming power of our common divinity.

Link

Amnesty faces ban in Northern Ireland's Catholic schools

The Catholic church in Northern Ireland has started to instruct schools to disband Amnesty International support groups because of the human rights organisation's pro-abortion stance.

A spokesman for the church in Ireland confirmed that one of its grammar schools in Greater Belfast had been advised to wind up its Amnesty group. He also revealed that the Irish bishops will meet next month to discuss the presence of Amnesty in all Catholic schools.

Amnesty's policy that rape and incest victims should be entitled to abortions has led to calls from senior members of the Catholic church in Britain and Rome for a withdrawal of support from the organisation.

The Guardian has the full story.

Give me that ol' time religion to woo the voters

Richard Estes at American Leftists writes that John McCain...

has always been a man who celebrates the use of violence against defenseless people to achieve the imperial ends of the US. It is difficult, if not impossible, to name a prominent American political figure who has advocated the use of military force as frequently, and as intensely, as John McCain.

So it's not surprising to read this bullshit about Sen. McCain - Associated Press -

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has long identified himself as an Episcopalian, said this weekend that he is a Baptist and has been for years. Campaigning in this conservative, predominantly Baptist state, McCain called himself a Baptist when speaking to reporters Sunday and noted that he and his family have been members of the North Phoenix Baptist Church in his home state of Arizona for more than 15 years. "It's well known because I'm an active member of the church," the Arizona senator said. While McCain has long talked about his family's and his own attendance at the Arizona church, he appears to have consistently referred to himself as Episcopalian in media reports. In a June interview with McClatchy Newspapers, the senator said his wife and two of their children have been baptized in the Arizona Baptist church, but he had not. "I didn't find it necessary to do so for my spiritual needs," he said. He told McClatchy he found the Baptist church more fulfilling than the Episcopalian church, but still referred to himself as an Episcopalian.
---
The Associated Press asked McCain on Saturday how his Episcopal faith plays a role in his campaign and life. McCain grew up Episcopalian and attended an Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Va.

"It plays a role in my life. By the way, I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist," McCain said. "Do I advertise my faith? Do I talk about it all the time? No."

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, We beseech Thee to teach us to forgive the revolting hypocracy of these folks. It's getting harder every day. Amen

Missionary Position

THE LEAD: A group of young Mormons, out to counter their church's stodgy image have hit upon the idea of a beefcake calendar. As they explain it:

The 2008 Men on a Mission calendar features twelve handsome returned Mormon missionaries from across the United States who, for the first time ever, have dared to pose bare-chested in a steamy national calendar.

Usually seen riding their bicycles and preaching door-to-door, these hunky young men of faith explode with sexuality on each calendar page. Hand-selected for their striking appearances and powerful spiritual commitment, the "devout dozen" are stepping away from the Mormon traditions of modest dress, and "baring their testimony" to demonstrate that they can have strong faith and be proud of who they are, both with a sense of individualism and a sense of humor.

There's even a fan club to pick your secret missionary crush.

Dutch politician sets up Committee for ex-Muslims

Ehsan Jami, the eloquent, Persian-born, PVdA (Labour Party) polititican, committee founder, the Dutch male Hirsi Ali... much debated/debating rising star...best protected man in NL nowadays... who rejected Islam after the attack on the twin towers in 2001, has received death threats by Muslims, was physically attacked a few weeks ago and forced into hiding.

Mr Jami, 22, who has abandoned his studies as his political career has taken off, denied that the choice of September 11 was deliberately provocative towards the Islamic Establishment. “We chose the date because we want to make a clear statement that we no longer tolerate the intolerence of Islam, the terrorist attacks,” he said.

“In 1965 the Church in Holland made a declaration that freedom of conscience is above hanging on to religion, so you can choose whether you are going to be a Christian or not. What we are seeking is the same thing for Islam.”

But Maryam Namazie, chair of the Council of ex-Muslims in the UK who came to The Hague to sign a declaration of support for Ehsan Jami, doesn't see anything wrong with the date.

"If you're against the slaughter of people who were going about their daily business like New York and you're criticizing the movement that was responsible, what does that have to do with ordinary Muslims? I think that this is what political Islam often tries to do: equate themselves with all Muslims as a way of saying: 'If you criticise it, you're racist, you're attacking all Muslims'. That's not the case."