You can
place your Classified Ad yourself
at any time
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View from the axis
"North Korea, he says, is a modern-day Nazi Germany...." |
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Critics deride the "axis of evil" rhetoric but eyewitnesses know better. In North Korea, evil only begins to describe the everyday horror of life under "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
"When Norbert Vollertsen hears critics rip President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" remarks, he can't help rolling his eyes. North Koreans, he says, "are so happy about the president's speech-and they will tell you that he is absolutely right..."
"Dr. Vollertsen has had access to witness North Korea's famine conditions in a way no other Westerners have..."
Vollertsen Wall Street Journal article |
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| China cuts power, water to elderly Christians
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China cut off power and water on Friday to a group of elderly Christians, detained during U.S. President George W. Bush's recent visit, in an attempt to evict them from an old people's home, its manager said on Friday.
Chen Zhongxin, 63, manager of the home where police picked up 47 Christians when they gathered to pray last week, said local officials had dispatched workers to shut off electricity and water at the home in northern Beijing's Changping district.
Nine elderly Christians, the oldest 98, and two children, one blind and one
retarded, live at the makeshift brick facility on the outskirts of the capital, he said. |
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From lamentation to rejoicing
By Rev. Don Stroud, Minister of Outreach and Reconciliation, That All May Freely Serve - Baltimore |
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"...Some have suggested that GLBT and allied activists' "untoward" advocacy for the equality of GLBT members with the other members of the church caused a predictable backlash from the fundamentalist/reactionary element in the PC(USA). It was suggested that we had only ourselves to blame for the growth of the so-called "confessing church movement," which was offended by the prospect of a fully inclusive church. I disagree...
"Many are now engaging in services of lament over the defeat of "01-A." I strongly caution that we be careful to balance our need to lament with a strong commitment to work with new determination to counter the structural injustice in the PC(USA)...
"For several years it has been suggested that the "great middle" of the church was just waiting for an opportunity to do the right thing and the just thing and to act to end the unjust treatment of GLBT people as second class members of the church. The "great middle" has refused to act..."
"If there is now to be any confrontation against injustice, faithful presbyteries and churches and members must be willing to become involved in conscientious acts of ecclesiastical disobedience..."
Services of lament and recommitment announced on TAMFS event page. |
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| Confessing Church 'celebration' moves between a political rally and a worship service - By LeslieScanlon, Outlook |
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There was little to celebrate — and much anger over a presbytery PJC decision in Florida — as the Confessing Church Movement, a self-styled grassroots movement, helds its first national meeting in Atlanta.
Address by Mark Achtemeier |
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'Let's get on with the task of being the Church'
Address to the National Celebration of Confessing Churches
By Parker T. Williamson |
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"...look what has happened during these past 10 months. Denounced by the moderator, by the Presbyterian Outlook, by the Covenant Network, and by some who straddle a yellow stripe called the "middle of the road," you have held fast to your confession, and you have prospered. God has blessed your courageous and faithful witness, so much so that many who opposed you in the beginning now presume to advise you..." |
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On the Covenant Network web site:
Two sermons after the defeat of Amendment 01-A |
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John Buchanan: What Wondrous Love Is This? |
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Sheila Gustafson: The Journey Is Our Home |
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Welfare plan announced
Faith-based initiatives receive presidential spotlight
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online |
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Williamson traveled to one of D.C.'s blighted neighborhoods where President George W. Bush employed phrases drawn from Scripture to announce a renewed offensive in America's war on poverty. |
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Nixon, Graham anti-semitism on tape
By James Warren, Chicago Tribune |
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Rev. Billy Graham openly voiced a belief that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon, according to a tape of the Oval Office meeting released Thursday by the National Archives.
"This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain," the nation's best-known preacher declared as he agreed with a stream of bigoted Nixon comments about Jews and their perceived influence in American life.
"You believe that?" Nixon says after the "stranglehold" comment.
"Yes, sir," Graham says.
The Nixon-Graham remarks came during a 90-minute session after a prayer breakfast the men attended on Feb. 1, 1972. |
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| Billy Graham apologizes for comment |
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The Rev. Billy Graham apologized Friday for a 1972 conversation with former President Nixon in which he said the Jewish "stranglehold'' of the media was ruining the country and must be broken.
"Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently
made in an Oval Office conversation with President Nixon ... some 30 years ago,'' Graham said in a statement released by his Texas public relations firm. "They do not reflect my views and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks.''
"Throughout my ministry, I have sought to build bridges between Jews and Christians," Graham said. "I will continue to strongly support all future efforts to advance understanding and mutual respect between our communities." |
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The church and reparations - A UMNS commentary
By the Rev. Anthony C. Hunt |
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"What does the United States owe African Americans? What does the United Methodist Church owe black Methodists?...
"Today, the debate about reparations continues to rage in academic and political circles. Richard America, a Georgetown University professor, estimates the U.S. government owes African-Americans $5 trillion to $10 trillion for the slavery that people were forced to endure..." |
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| Educators want to join with churches to help minority students |
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Educators want to team with black churches to help students pass California's new mandatory high school exam and prepare for college.
Helping black students, who scored below other groups on voluntary math and English exams last spring, was the subject of the Black Education Summit on Thursday and Friday. The conference, at Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland, was attended by about 300 educators, parents, grandparents and church leaders. |
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| Executive Council of Episcopal Church fears schism |
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A resolution says that the coexistence of parallel bodies within one province, with both claiming communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, is "untenable."
A conservative group, calling itself the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), has several bishops who have been consecrated by bishops from other countries, and functions separately from the Episcopal Church.
The statement ends by calling for "dialogue at the deepest level regarding our differences." It was passed unanimously. |
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Same name, different face
The Jesus of Islamic literature has rough words for those who collude with government |
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Reviewer Thomas D'Evelyn: This short book contains a millennium's worth of sayings and stories of Jesus drawn from Islamic literature.
"In Muslim writings, Jesus has a life of his own. His miraculous birth is emphasized, but there's no mention of the Passion. Here Jesus companions with ascetics rather than with sinners, as in the Gospels..."
The book is written by Tarif Khalidi, Sir Thomas Adams professor of Arabic
and director of the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at
King's College, Cambridge.
You can order this book now
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| Death toll in India strife nears 300 |
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AHMADABAD, India - Hindu attackers burned Muslims in their homes and stalked them in the streets on Friday, pushing the death toll in India's worst religious violence in a decade to nearly 300. |
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| Worship music rides second wave
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Tired of stale hymns and musty choir robes, Christian pop and rock artists have revolutionized praise and worship music.
This isn't the traditional "Precious Lord" type of worship music; it's guitar, bass and drums pounding out energetic songs more conducive to dancing than to swaying in pews.
"It's a whole new fresh expression for singing to God," said Michael Coleman, CEO of Integrity Incorporated, which produces Time Life Music's successful "Songs 4 Worship" series. |
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| Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
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The truism that Americans don't stay in one place for long applies to worship -- a survey last year of 350,000 people in 50 denominations found that nearly one-third have changed congregations the past five years. |
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| Yes, God is everywhere, even at the local mall |
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Some 100 of the nation's nearly 1,200 enclosed malls have some religious presence, typically bookstores with religion themes but occasionally churches.
Some are full- fledged churches that own the property on which they rest. Others are spaces leased, usually at market rates and primarily for the purpose of holding periodic services. The common denominator is that they are placed deliberately at a crossroads of community life.
"Our congregation sensed that locating in the mall was the kind of thing Jesus would do," Mr. Knight said. "He'd be in
the gathering place." |
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| Changing the bully pulpit |
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Jutting a prophetic finger in the air, the Rev. Madeline McClenney-Sadler declared that something had gone awry in the church.
The problem was centered right where she stood, she said. In the pulpit.
"Coercion as a clergy leadership style is overused in a widespread way," she said. "There is a crisis of ethical leadership in our churches." |
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Shattered trust
Victims of abuse by clergy carry lifelong scars |
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Some spiral into suicide or lonely despair; others become articulate crusaders for change, supported by loving families. The common bond, for victims of sexual abuse by clergymen, is a piercing sense of betrayal.
"There is an element that hits your soul, and you think it was God who treated you that way," said Cindy Desrosiers, who successfully sued a priest for molesting her as a little girl. "It takes an effort to realize, 'No, it was a human being who was the furthest thing from God.' |
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Who goes to church?
By Dalia Sussman, ABC News
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Not counting weddings and funerals, 38 percent of Americans say they go to religious services at least once a week. But there are big differences across demographic groups, with self-reported attendance peaking among older people, women, Southerners and Baptists, among others.
The biggest gap is between the oldest and youngest age groups. Sixty percent of people age 65 and older report attending religious services at least once a week; among 18 to 30-year-olds, just 28 percent go that often.
Previous ABCNEWS polls, similarly, have found that religious belief and practice increase with age. |
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| Famous atheist's son now campaigning for prayer in schools |
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As the son of a famous atheist, William Murray thought it was great when, as a teen, he learned the U.S. Supreme Court ordered religion out of public schools.
Today at age 56, having completely rejected the teachings of his late mother, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Murray is lobbying to bring prayer back to schools.
"Good Christian education works - it's working for 4.5 million students in the United States right now," Murray said in a phone interview from his Virginia office. "On average, those 4.5 million students are performing at two grade levels beyond their peers in public schools." |
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| Now that's a joyful noise |
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Didja hear
the one about the Christian comedian? It's no joke--religious humor is a growing trend.
"There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be a born-again Christian. It's pretty simple, really. You just bow your head, say a simple prayer, and when you open your eyes you're a registered Republican with a firearm." --Christian comedian Thor Ramsey
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The vote on Amendment 01-A: 41 yes - 115 no (3/2)
Details on our acclaimed, fast-loading Vote chart
See Graph: Cumulative Presbytery Votes by month (updated 3/2)
and the Chart of votes per Synod (updated 3/2) |
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Results of this week :
YES: Monmouth (switch, voted "no" on 97-A)
NO: Pines; Grace; Mission; Kendall; Atlantic Korean; Savannah; South Dakota; Detroit (switched sides, a big surprise); Philadelphia; Charlotte; Cherokee
If the remaining presbyteries vote on 01-A as they did on 97-A, amendment 01-A will fail by 46 yes - 127 no (latest adjustment: 2/28)
(See our analysis "Will results be close to those of 97-A?")
Please,
to us. Thank you!
Official tally on all 8 amendments |
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| Letters from readers |
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Donald D. Denton "...those supporting the goals expressed through that now defeated amendment regularly portrayed the bulk of the denomination as poised to conduct 'witch hunts' upon them. It seems that the recent activities around the Sebastian congregation all too clearly illustrate who is interested in hunting witches and heresy..." |
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Edwin [Ed] Bernard responds to Winfield Casey Jones' analysis of the PJC decision in the Sebastian case. |
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Hal Porter replies to George Lenz, Robert Austell, Doug Ramaker, and Bruce Byrne as to their concerns with the article on "Straight or Gay – A Commentary on Matthew 23". |
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Earl H. Tilford, Jr. responds to Timothy Cahn's assertion, "I don't think that it does much good to rehearse and rehash arguments concerning Biblical interpretations that have been advanced, and refuted, many times on this web site over the years." |
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Chris Brundage "Philip Warren is disappointed in the quality of my responses to Dean Waldt... I used to oppose homosexuality. My mind began to change when I read J.S. Mill's Essay on Liberty... Some time later I was reading Romans 13 in daily prayer and was taken with verse 8: "One who loves another has fulfilled the law." |
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