Religion

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  • Anti-Mormon Angst – The Real Truth

    Mormon Apologetic Research Studies
    Timothy Berman
    21 Jan 2012 | 5:44 pm
    Note: The following information is from a public Facebook Group that particular individuals can see. It comes from the group Mormons and Evangelicals. The commentary provided is from a prolific Anti-Mormon by the name of Bob Betts, administrator for Concerned Christians  a counter-cult ministry group that attacks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What he provides … Continue reading »

  • James White Interviews John Samson

    Monergism
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:42 am

  • Chrome Users: Try the WordPress.com Extension

    WordPress.com News
    Christopher Finke
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pm
    Want to receive WordPress.com notifications instantly, even when you’re not on WordPress.com? Add the new WordPress.com extension for Chrome and as soon as you get a new follower or a new like on one of your posts, a notification will appear in your browser: Simply click the icon to view your latest WordPress.com notifications: Start following new blogs without visiting WordPress.com The Chrome extension also makes it easy to follow sites from your WordPress.com account by displaying a Follow button whenever you’re browsing a site that has an RSS feed. Clicking the Follow button…

  • Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi At Davos Debate - Islam and Democracy Are Compatible

    AllAfrica News: Religion
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:33 pm
    Tunisia Live (Tunis)-Rached Ghannouchi, founder and leader of the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda took part today in an AP-organized debate at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, on the subject of "democracy."

  • Transitions: Altmuslim joins Patheos

    altmuslim
    editor@altmuslim.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:21 am
    Brace yourself for some good change: altmuslim is joining the Patheos family. Before Illume, before Islamicity added news and essays to its site, before Beliefnet and later Patheos and Huffington Post Religion created robust Islam sections and/or expanded their coverage of Muslims, there was altmuslim, the cutting-edge website created by Halalfire Network founder Shahed Amanullah. The website was developed to be “an introspective voice that helps promote a critical (and self-critical) analysis of issues regarding the Muslim world.” In its 11 years of existence, it has done just that. From…
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    WordPress.com News

  • Chrome Users: Try the WordPress.com Extension

    Christopher Finke
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pm
    Want to receive WordPress.com notifications instantly, even when you’re not on WordPress.com? Add the new WordPress.com extension for Chrome and as soon as you get a new follower or a new like on one of your posts, a notification will appear in your browser: Simply click the icon to view your latest WordPress.com notifications: Start following new blogs without visiting WordPress.com The Chrome extension also makes it easy to follow sites from your WordPress.com account by displaying a Follow button whenever you’re browsing a site that has an RSS feed. Clicking the Follow button…

  • Your Stats Have a New Home

    Andy Skelton
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    Are you addicted to checking your site stats? You are not alone. The stats dashboard has always been one of the most popular admin screens. It’s gratifying to know that people are visiting your place online. With the WordPress.com front page evolving into a one-stop shop for posting, exploring, following and reading blogs, it seemed natural to put your blog stats there, too.  Stats are becoming more and more about interacting with your readers and other bloggers. You’ll still see your summary stats and chart on your main dashboard, and the full stats page in your dashboard will…

  • Reblogging is Back!

    Erica Johnson
    22 Jan 2012 | 1:27 pm
    As we mentioned last week, you can like and reblog posts directly from your reader, which displays a stream of all the updates published on all the blogs you follow from your WordPress.com account. We’ve also brought the reblog button back to the toolbar that appears at the top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Note that you’ll only see the like and reblog options while you’re looking at individual posts. For example, you’ll see this on the left side of your toolbar while viewing http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/read-blogs: And your…

  • New Theme: Newsy

    Philip Arthur Moore
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:18 pm
    It’s been an extra big week in the news ’round these parts, so much so that the launch announcement of our latest premium theme seems like an extra extra good way to headline our Friday. Newsy is a versatile business and news-friendly theme that offers up to ten different layouts, four footer columns, custom link and accent colors, and a custom site header. Brand and content-focused editorial teams will love publishing with this theme. Newsy: Home Page Designed by Themify, Newsy comes with an impressive set of Theme Options that afford you a great deal of flexibility with how you…

  • Read All Your Favorite Blogs in One Place

    Erica Johnson
    19 Jan 2012 | 6:04 pm
    If you feel like it’s a chore to keep up with all your favorite blogs, you can now read posts from all the blogs you follow (even the ones that aren’t on WordPress.com!) in one convenient place on the WordPress.com home page: Your reader displays all the posts across all the blogs you follow in the order they were published, with the most recent content appearing at the top. You’ll see an excerpt of the introduction to each post, the first image in the post, and thumbnails of any other images that the post contains. You can even like and reblog WordPress.com content directly…
 
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    AllAfrica News: Religion

  • Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi At Davos Debate - Islam and Democracy Are Compatible

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:33 pm
    Tunisia Live (Tunis)-Rached Ghannouchi, founder and leader of the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda took part today in an AP-organized debate at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, on the subject of "democracy."

  • Zambia: Fileisa By Mulenga and Revival Touch

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:31 am
    Times of Zambia (Ndola)-GRANT Mulenga is a new artist on the Zambian music scene, particularly in the gospel music circles, and Fileisa is his debut album, which had the hit title track Fileisa winning Radio Christian Voice song-of-the-year for 2011.

  • South Africa: UN Agency Honours Archbishop Tutu

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:19 am
    CISA (Nairobi)-The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) honoured Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and activist Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for his efforts in the battle against hunger and his advocacy on behalf of the world's most vulnerable people.

  • Africa: UN in New Refugee Strategy

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:19 am
    CISA (Nairobi)-United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced that it is in the process of instituting new ways to ensure its assistance and services at Kenya's Dadab refugee Camp continue uninterrupted.

  • Kenya: Disabled Motivational Speaker Is Back

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:18 am
    CISA (Nairobi)-Simona Atzori an Italian motivational speaker is back in the country following an invitation by St Martins-CSA a religious organization based in Nyahururu. This is Simona's second visit to Kenya after being in the country last year.
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    altmuslim

  • Transitions: Altmuslim joins Patheos

    editor@altmuslim.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:21 am
    Brace yourself for some good change: altmuslim is joining the Patheos family. Before Illume, before Islamicity added news and essays to its site, before Beliefnet and later Patheos and Huffington Post Religion created robust Islam sections and/or expanded their coverage of Muslims, there was altmuslim, the cutting-edge website created by Halalfire Network founder Shahed Amanullah. The website was developed to be “an introspective voice that helps promote a critical (and self-critical) analysis of issues regarding the Muslim world.” In its 11 years of existence, it has done just that. From…

  • Confronting extremism: Mind over jihad

    editor@altmuslim.com
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:40 pm
    The US has taken an initiative to spread the counter-extremist message across Pakistan to prevent the breeding of extremism and to deradicalize militants who were completely taken by the jihadist ideology, which is a tough battle because Pakistan is, perhaps, the only country where the state, with funding from U.S. and Saudi Arabia, financed and trained jihadis to fight Soviet Russia and did nothing to deprogram the mujahideen after the war was over. The one-of-its-kind three-person unit, whose aim is to support grassroots groups and moderate religious leaders to counter extremist ideology,…

  • Remembering MLK: Why my daughter should have MLK day off

    editor@altmuslim.com
    15 Jan 2012 | 7:37 am
    The fact that my daughter's Islamic school does not take MLK day off bothers me. All Islamic schools, except perhaps those established by African-American Muslims, have been built by Muslims who have immigrated to this country from abroad. They, even more than many African-Americans themselves, have benefited from the struggles of the civil rights movement. But for brave Americans like Dr. Martin Luther King, Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rosa Parks, and countless others, immigrant Muslims would not have been able to come to this country, establish themselves economically, live in peace and security,…

  • Social change in 2012: After the revolution

    editor@altmuslim.com
    8 Jan 2012 | 6:45 pm
    The temperatures plummeted to sub-zero in Anchorage, Alaska, in November 2011, but that did not deter the protesters who had gathered to occupy Town Square. They stayed, rotating shifts to ensure that their encampment was never left unoccupied. In the city of Fairbanks, members of the Occupy movement who stayed stalwart even as temperatures dipped to minus 40 insisted that they had to remain to show their solidarity with other protesters around the US. These brave souls in Alaska were not alone. As the editors of Time Magazine were happy to reiterate, 2011 was undoubtedly the year of the…

  • Year in review: The top ten good news stories of 2011

    editor@altmuslim.com
    29 Dec 2011 | 9:35 pm
    Sometimes it seems Muslims can’t get a break, and 2011 was no exception. The "creeping sharia" paranoia in the US continued unabated (despite any evidence that there is any real threat of sharia law supplanting the Constitution) with the passage and/or introduction of anti-sharia legislation in over 20 states, and alleged threats posed by Muslim Americans were brought up at nearly every Republican debate this year. But step back a bit and you’ll see that Muslims in America as generally feeling more hopeful than ever, and the wave of people power that washed over the Middle East has…
 
 
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    Catholic Exchange

  • The Peace of Christ

    Food For Thought
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    First Reading: 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17 Psalm: Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Gospel: Mk 4:35-41 In the first reading, David had sinned not only by taking Uriah’s wife but also when he purposely sent Uriah to die in battle. It seemed apparent that David was not discerning clearly, as far as this matter was concerned. Nathan was reminded by God to admonish David. He started by telling David a parable of the rich man who would take the beloved ewe of the poor man in order to feast with his friend. David was burned with anger at Nathan for telling him this story. But still, Nathan persisted and…

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas

    Saints Editor
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Thomas Aquinas was born at the family castle near Aquino, Italy, in 1225. He was the son of Count Landulf of Aquino. When he was only five years old he was sent to Benedictine Monte Cassino Monastery to be educated. When he was 14 he went to Naples to complete his education and while there joined the Dominicans. His family was so outraged by this that they actually had him kidnapped and held captive at Roccasecca Castle to try to keep him out of the Dominican order. He spent 15 months in the castle, and when released, rejoined the Dominicans and went to study in Paris. He was ordained in…

  • Year of Faith is Pope’s response to ‘profound crisis’

    tkyd
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:57 pm
    “We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today.”

  • Romney, Gingrich focus on Hispanic voters in Fla.

    tkyd
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:55 pm
    Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney pitched their ideas for reforming immigration law and pushing democracy into Cuba and across Latin America.

  • More than 50 killed in 2 days of turmoil in Syria

    tkyd
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:48 pm
    Much of the violence was focused in Homs, where heavy gunfire hammered the city Friday in a second day of chaos.
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    About.com Catholicism

  • When Is Good Friday This Year?

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    Good Friday 2012 is only ten weeks away. Wait—only? Ten weeks may seem like a lot of time, but come Good Friday, many of us will be looking back at Lent and wondering where the time has gone. We enter Lent each year with good intentions. We make our Lenten sacrifices; we plan to pray more often and to make daily Lenten readings from Scripture; we intend to work on bad habits that undermine our spiritual life. Yet after a couple of weeks, we're struggling to hold on to just one or two of our Lenten resolutions. The best laid plans of mice and men . . . That is why it is so important to…

  • What Has Happened to Fr. John Corapi?

    26 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    For several months in mid-2011, the biggest and most divisive story on the Catholic side of the World Wide Web involved the strange case of Fr. John Corapi, a charismatic preacher who announced on Ash Wednesday 2011 that he had been accused of sexual impropriety and drug abuse. Ordered by his superiors in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) to remain silent while the charges were investigated, Father Corapi complied for a few months before bringing the investigation to a halt by announcing that he intended to leave the priesthood. But, Father Corapi promised, he would not…

  • Share Your Catholic Blog!

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:30 am
    When I first decided to sponsor the About.com Catholicism Readers' Choice Awards, I began thinking about how readers would discover Catholic blogs to nominate for Best Catholic Blog. I link out to other blogs fairly frequently, and I have a small (and much neglected) blogroll, but there hundreds, if not thousands, of worthwhile Catholic blogs on the web. To make it easier for the readers of the About.com Catholicism GuideSite to discover Catholic blogs to read, I've created a form that blog authors can use to share their Catholic blogs. If you have a Catholic blog, please take a few minutes…

  • Novena of the Week: To Saint Blaise

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    Most Catholics have heard the name of Saint Blaise, and probably even have had their throats blessed on or near his feast day (February 3). They might even know that we turn to Saint Blaise (sometimes spelled Blase) to protect us from ailments of the throat because he is said to have healed a boy who was choking on a fish bone. But did you know that, according to legend (which, alas, is all we know of him), Saint Blaise was a fourth-century bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, and that he was martyred for the Faith? As his feast day approaches, I have chosen this Prayer to Saint Blaise as our…

  • Are You Ready for Mardi Gras?

    23 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    Mardi Gras is just a month away, and I'm sure that down in New Orleans, the planning is in high gear. But while the Mardi Gras celebration in the Big Easy may have had its roots in French Catholic customs, it's hard to regard it as a religious holiday anymore. For Catholics, however, Mardi Gras cannot be separated from Ash Wednesday and the penitential season of Lent, which gave rise to "Fat Tuesday" (which is what Mardi Gras means in French) and its associated excesses. In times past, Catholics observed the full 40 days of Lent with very strict fasting and abstinence. Mardi Gras was the…
 
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    Phil Cooke

  • When Your Organization Won’t Change

    philcooke
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:38 pm
    Change is hard.  Changing a church or ministry is even harder – sometimes, nearly impossible.  And yet we all know that in today’s world of disruptive, 24/7 change, responding well is critical to our success.  Jesus chastised the religious leaders of his day because they couldn’t read the signs of the times.   And yet, today [...]

  • Know The Difference Between “Con” and “Content”

    philcooke
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:05 am
    One thing you’ll discover living and working in Hollywood is the number of film or TV “producers” who have never actually produced anything. How they make their living, I have no idea, but you see them all the time. Some are young and hopeful, trying to make their mark, but many are simply looking to [...]

  • Is Hollywood Out of Touch with Middle America?

    philcooke
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:17 pm
    Recently, the Christian Post interviewed me about Hollywood. It was a good article, but as most publications do, they only used a few short quotes. I thought I’d post the entire interview in case you might be interested in my comments.  Let me know what you think: Christian Post: Do you think Hollywood is out [...]

  • Don’t Tell Me You Don’t Have Time to Pursue Your Dream

    philcooke
    17 Jan 2012 | 8:54 am
    I hear it over and over again, “Phil, I’d love to write my book (or insert screenplay, make a movie, launch that business, etc..) but I just don’t have the time.”  We all seem so busy these days, how can we possibly find time to write, plan, or produce what we really dream about?  Believe [...]

  • You Don’t Generate Sympathy By Being Negative

    philcooke
    15 Jan 2012 | 6:46 pm
    In my twenties I was working for a production company that created prime time TV specials. You find out pretty quick with network television that deadlines matter. You simply don’t miss them or you’re out of a job. As a result, I spent a lot of time back then pulling all-nighters, editing shows that had [...]
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    Christ and Pop Culture

  • Only Fake Men and Women Text

    Seth T. Hahne
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:19 pm
    As women, I believe we in part perpetuate the man-boy problem by failing to hold the highest standards for ourselves, standards God desires for us. I recently heard a friend complaining that she couldn’t get Phillip to call her. Two minutes later, she responded to his text, “Wanna watch a movie at my house?” in the affirmative. I’ve seen it too many times — brilliant, accomplished, God-fearing women making excuses for the players and the deadbeats and the guy who aren’t interested in anything more than sex. A lot of us have been there. We’re strong.

  • What If a 21-Hour Work Week Was the Norm?

    Erin Straza
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:11 pm
    A new study is highlighted in an article posted at Co.Exist (part of Fast Company Design) proposing the U.S. economy and citizen well-being would improve if everyone worked less . . . as in, 21 hours per week. This would allow more time to live, rather than merely consume, life: The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says there is nothing natural or inevitable about what’s considered a “normal” 40-hour work week today. In its wake, many people are caught in a vicious cycle of work and consumption. They live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume things. I agree with the cycle.

  • The Jesus > Religion Guy Returns!

    Richard Clark
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:40 am
    Jefferson Bethke has wasted no time getting back to it, in spite of the backlash and forwardlash and back-and-forthlash related to his latest slam-poetry piece. I’ll admit, I’m still no fan of the genre, but there’s not much to complain about with his latest piece. Awww, man!

  • John Acuff’s Rap Music Problem, and My Personal Solution

    Richard Clark
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:19 am
    John Acuff was never one to shy away from the truly difficult topics. While listening to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s album, Watch the Throne while running, he noticed the lyrics: Coke on her black skin made a stripe like a zebra I call that jungle fever You will not control the threesome Just roll the weed up until I get me some We formed a new religion No sins as long as there’s permission’ It’s clear that John finds it difficult to listen to lyrics like these and maintain his position that listening to rap music like this can be beneficial. After all, he says “…now I…

  • Pitchfork’s History and Meaning Laid Out

    Luke Larsen
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:17 am
    If you’ve ever been curious about the history of Pitchfork and how online music journalism and indie music got to where it is today, you have to check out this article by n + 1 magazine. We need musicians who know that music can take inspiration not only from other music but from the whole experience of life. Pitchfork and indie rock are currently run by people who behave as though the endless effort to perfect the habits of cultural consumption is the whole experience of life. We should leave these things behind, and instead pursue and invent a musical culture more worth our time. They…
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    Christian Newswire: All Releases

  • Vice President at America's Christian Credit Union Retires After 33 Years of Service

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Contact: Bruce Lund, America's Christian CU, 626-208-5400 ext 5555 or 5411, blund@americasccu.com GLENDORA, Calif., Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Robert S. Bernard, Vice President of Lending at America's Christian Credit Union, will retire on January 31st after 33 years of service. He was among the credit union's longest serving employees at the time of retirement. Mr. Bernard, known as "Bob" to staff, provided an extraordinary commitment of service, vision and leadership to Source: America's Christian Credit Union

  • Hollywood Voice Talent Have the Last 'Word'

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:51 pm
    "Just because people are living in the 'fast lane,' -- figuratively and literally -- they can still have time for the Bible." (Damon Davis, CEO, The Legacy Worldwide Foundation) Contact: Briana Thomas, 770-904-0007 ATLANTA, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- You already know the familiar voices of Oscar winner Marisa Tomei playing "Mona Lisa Vito" in My Cousin Vinny, or of Jim Caviezel in "The Passion of the Christ" and the new CBS series thriller, "Person Of Interest." But y Source: Legacy Worldwide

  • Pro-Life Activist Prevails Against the U.S. Department of Justice

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:34 pm
    Thomas More Society Successfully Blocks Preliminary Injunction Request Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net DENVER, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Yesterday, Thomas More Society attorneys defeated a request by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a preliminary injunction against longtime Denver area pro-life activist Ken Scott. After a full-day hearing, U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer ruled that the Attorney General would not be reasonably likely to prove at tr Source: TC Public Relations

  • NBC Chicago Refuses to Air Super Bowl Ad in Open Violation of FCC Law; Terry Pursues Legal Recourse with FCC Enforcement Bureau

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:01 pm
    Mr. Terry to hold press conference at FCC Enforcement Bureau at 445 12th St. SW, Washington, DC 1:45 PM today. See Mr. Terry's Super Bowl ad, scheduled to run in nearly 20 cities, at: www.TerryForPresident.com Contact: Kathy Veritas, 904-687-9804 CHICAGO, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Randall Terry, Democratic Candidate for President, is filing a complaint with the FCC Enforcement Bureau, to compel NBC Chicago to obey the law, and run Mr. Terry's Presidential Campaign ad Source: Society for Truth and Justice

  • Overseas Chinese Christian Businesswoman Who Visited House Churches in China is Kidnapped, Tortured by State Security Agents

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:35 am
    Contact: Bob Fu, President, Bob@ChinaAid.org; Mark Shan, Spokesperson, Mark@ChinaAid.org; both with China Aid Association, 888-889-7757; 267-205-5210 cell; LA Office: Eddie Romero, 323-521-6777, ChinaAid.LA@gmail.com; www.ChinaAid.org; www.MonitorChina.org LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- A Chinese Christian businesswoman from Canada who visited China late last year was kidnapped and tortured by Chinese state security agents after she visited two persecuted Chi Source: China Aid Association, Inc.
 
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    Company of Prayer - Daily Prayers

  • Pray for those who’ve been beaten down; may they not lose their enthusiasm

    admin
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:02 pm
    At Alaska Airlines, we have provided prayer cards to our customers for more than 30 years. A former marketing executive borrowed the idea from another airline and introduced the cards to our passengers in the late 1970s to differentiate our service. The cards have been provided only to our First Class customers since meal tray service ended in coach six years ago. Beginning February 1, 2012, however, we’ll be eliminating the cards entirely. – Bill Ayer, Chairman and CEO, Alaska Air Group & Brad Tilden, President, Alaska AirlinesIn a letter to their customers

  • Let us continue to keep in our prayers those seeking employment

    admin
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    Companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles and online quizzes to gauge candidates’ suitability for a job. While most still request a résumé as part of the application package, some are bypassing the staid requirement altogether. – Rachel Emma Silverman, The Wall Street JournalNo More Résumés, Say Some Firms

  • For all those dealing with the catastrophic aftermath of others’ poor decisions, we pray

    admin
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    The chief executive, chairman and part owner of Carnival Corp. has largely kept himself and Carnival out of the spotlight since one of the company’s ships struck rocks off the Italian coast Jan. 13. On Sunday, a 13th person was confirmed dead and at least 19 were still missing. – The Wall Street JournalCarnival CEO Lies Low After Wreck

  • Lord, tell me how I can be of service to you today

    admin
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    Instead of taking someone else’s word on what God wants us to do, what possible harm can come from taking God’s hand and simply asking? – Hugh PratherSpiritual Notes to Myself: Essential Wisdom for the 21st Century

  • For those who have returned to work while still grieving, let us remember in our prayers

    admin
    22 Jan 2012 | 11:13 pm
    Winter is a season of some very real losses. The flowers of springtime are gone; leaves fall. Trees stand bare and revealed. But from these losses are gifts to be had. – Kathleen FischerWinter Grace: Spirituality and Aging
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    Texas Faith Blog

  • TEXAS FAITH: What do you think about Tebowing?

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:44 am
    The Denver Broncos may be out of the NFL playoffs, but Denver QB Tim Tebow is not out of the news. In fact, the art of Tebowing , where people record themselves bowing in prayer on one knee like Tebow does, has become a phenomenon. The online world has plenty of examples of Tebowing. And the mainstream media has published article after article about Tebowing and the football player's public display of faith. Of course, Tebow's explicit display of religion has led to a fair share of criticism. He's seen as too proselytizing or violating the biblical injunction to pray in your room. Tebow told…

  • Texas Faith: Beyond King, which religious leader(s) has had a major impact on American politics or culture?

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:36 pm
    On Monday, we paused to honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He arguably had the greatest influence of any religious figure on American politics and culture. And his contributions have been appropriately chronicled. Because of his work, many aspects of American life have changed since the 1960s. But beyond Dr. King, which religious figure has had a major impact on American politics or culture through their preaching, ideas or actions? Perhaps the person you have in mind is obscure, but don't worry about that. I'd like to hear from you which religious figure(s) have had an…

  • TEXAS FAITH: Evangelical leaders finding an alternative to Romney

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist
    12 Jan 2012 | 12:01 pm
    The Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater and Texas Faith moderator Wayne Slater reported last week that a group of prominent conservative evangelical leaders are gathering at a Texas ranch this weekend to decide about a candidate they could unite behind as an alternative to Mitt Romney. The invited include James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee, Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Institute and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association. Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler is hosting them. With that as the…

  • Texas Faith: Do we need a Steve Jobs of religion?

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist
    4 Jan 2012 | 12:02 pm
    In this New York Times essay, which panelist Cynthia Rigby sent along, author Eric Weiner talks about the rise of the Nones, those who polling data suggests are neither "true believers" nor "angry atheists." Nones have no religious affiliation, but that doesn't mean they are turning away from God, as Weiner writes. The part of the piece that interested me most comes at the last. Weiner offers this provocative conclusion: We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious. Like Mr. Jobs's creations, this new way would…

  • Texas Faith will return on January 4, 2012

    William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist
    27 Dec 2011 | 1:53 pm
    Texas Faith will return on Wednesday, January 4. Until then, have a happy new year!
 
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    Frederica Here and Now

  • A Christian Ending

    18 Jan 2012 | 9:05 am
    Frederica interviews Dn. Mark and Mat. Elizabeth Barna, authors of A Christian Ending: A Handbook for Burial in the Ancient Christian Tradition, published by Divine Ascent Press.

  • Sum

    4 Jan 2012 | 9:33 am
    Frederica discusses the fiction book Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, written by the neuroscientist David Eagleman, as well as the non-fiction book A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

  • Magnolia

    20 Dec 2011 | 11:30 pm
    Frederica interviews her musician son David Mathewes about music composition, as well as his new CD titled Magnolia.

  • Meatless Friday

    7 Dec 2011 | 10:53 am
    Frederica examines a statement by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales about reinstating the Friday fast.

  • Heaven Is for Real

    22 Nov 2011 | 3:12 pm
    Frederica recommends the book Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo.
 
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    World news: Religion | guardian.co.uk

  • Archbishop of York: don't legalise gay marriage

    Conal Urquhart
    28 Jan 2012 | 5:47 am
    Dr John Sentamu says government should not alter centuries-old social structures, but rights campaigner accuses him of being 'religious authoritarian'The government should not overturn centuries of tradition by legalising gay marriage, the archbishop of York has said.Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior bishop in the Church of England, said the church did not object to the introduction of civil partnerships in 2004, but that marriage should only be between men and women."If you genuinely would like the registration of civil partnerships to happen in a more general way, most people will say…

  • Time management: sustain your soul with structure

    Alain de Botton
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:24 pm
    Structuring time doesn't have to be about work. Make appointments to reconnect with something personally importantMost of us are painfully aware of, and sad about, how highly structured our time is. Anyone in employment or with children to look after knows just how many appointments litter the diary. The weeks are filled with engagements: finance meetings, tax inspections, deliveries, school plays and so on. When we imagine a better life, it tends to be one in which there are simply far fewer stretches of time devoted to any one thing in particular. The opposite of work is a category,…

  • Nigeria: fundamental issues | Editorial

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    Boko Haram's gruesome rise has prised open crevices where ethnic, religious and socioeconomic fault lines intersectA bombing campaign is reductionist by design. Complex societies with long and painful histories end up being reduced to simple dichotomies : north v south, Muslim v Christian, poor v rich. Or in Boko Haram's case, the righteous v the apostate. There is something particularly chilling in the interview which we publish today with a representative of the Islamic militant group, whose campaign of violent jihad has claimed hundreds of lives already this year. It is when he claims that…

  • Capitalism only creates misery – we need a system that puts human wellbeing first

    Jonathan Bartley
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    It is the Green party that now embodies the natural political expression of the more progressive traditions found in dissenting movements such as Quakerism and radical CatholicismEd Miliband has accepted David Cameron's cuts. Ken Livingstone shares Boris Johnson's commitment to business. And according to one-time wannabe Scottish leader Tom Harris, Labour "want you to get rich". Today's party owes little to Methodism, let alone Marx. But if Labour has lost its soul, the Tories never had one and the Lib Dems sold theirs a long time ago.All three embrace a materialistic commitment to modern…

  • Why are people friendly? | Andrew Brown

    Andrew Brown
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:28 am
    Without selection between competing groups, the advantages of co-operation are not great enough to make it spreadThis week's Nature has a report on how hunter-gatherers co-operate, which shows the way in which the scientific study of altruism has moved on since The Selfish Gene. That book popularised two explanations for our unselfish instincts and behaviour. The first, and nowadays obvious, reason is that it causes genes associated with it to spread: if I am helpful to my relatives, my descendants will have more relatives. The second is Robert Trivers's model of "reciprocal altruism": over…
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    IslamiCity Articles

  • Bridge Building Between Christians and Muslims

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    With nearly one billion followers each, Islam and Christianity are major religions that influence the thinking and values of over 40 percent of the World population ..

  • The House as a Private Haven

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    The house is a symbol of man's noble status on earth, relative liberty and independence. It affords him the necessary comfort, retreat, security and safety, functioning as his shelter and safest haven on earth.

  • At War's Door: Confusion or Deliberate Duality in Reading Iran

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    That inertia now promises a fertile ground among the people of a wide range of western countries for waging yet another unaccountable war, this time against Iran.

  • Waiting for False Prophets: The Puzzling Matter of the Israeli Liberals

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    Not even the one-sided war on Gaza, which resulted in the killing of over 1400 Palestinians, was enough to raise the level of mass consciousness to challenge political and military apparatuses in Israel in any meaningful way.

  • Separation of Work and Faith

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:42 am
    When work seems to spill over into life and people are discouraged from bringing religion into the workplace, how does a Muslim reconcile the demands of the workplace without compromising his or her faith?
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    L.A. Times - Religious News

  • Obama's former church expands its vision

    22 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    With fewer distractions these days, Trinity United in Chicago plans a sustainable urban community as part of a growing green ministry.Trinity United Church of Christ hasn't changed its priorities. But four years after the Protestant church on Chicago's South Side came under siege during the 2008 presidential campaign, it faces fewer distractions.

  • Egypt Islamists get majority of parliament seats in final tally

    21 Jan 2012 | 9:24 pm
    Top-vote-getter Muslim Brotherhood and the new parliament face big problems: unemployment, inflation, strikes, shrinking foreign investment and foreign currency reserves and declining tourism.A new political era in Egypt began Saturday as Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliamentary elections to inherit a nation mired in economic crisis and desperate to move beyond military rule and the corrupt legacy of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

  • 'Pirate man' recalled as neighborhood character

    18 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Homeless victim Paulus Smit liked the freedom of the streets, a scavenger who called dumpsters 'the gettin' place.' Despite his appearance, neighbors, friends and children remember him warmly.In many ways, Paulus Smit had made the Yorba Linda library his home. It was there that he read his favorite car magazines and daily newspapers and on sunny days, more often than not, sat under one of the magnolia trees. He was not consistently homeless, yet Smit, 57, had become a friendly fixture in the small town, where horse trails run along sidewalks and residents feel connected.

  • Priest gets 3 years in prison for stealing from church

    13 Jan 2012 | 10:54 pm
    Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe stole about $650,000 from his Las Vegas-area parish over nearly a decade to feed a gambling addiction. His parishioners had urged the judge to show mercy.For years, Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe lived something of a double life.

  • Mormons feel rooted and happy, but marginalized, poll finds

    12 Jan 2012 | 7:16 pm
    Mitt Romney's success in the GOP race is one element of what is called the Mormon Moment. And at this moment, many Mormons feel particular hostility from evangelical Christians, a Pew survey finds.Mormons sometimes refer to themselves as a "peculiar people," a reference to what they believe is a unique covenant with God. Yet as they bask in what has been called the Mormon Moment — and may soon be the Mitt Moment — a new survey suggests that many also hold uncommon views about their place in American life, feeling deeply rooted but outside the mainstream.
 
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    Religion

  • A Lawyer, Not A Sage, Creates Talmud Index

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Generations of scholars have studied the ancient, 63-volume central text of Jewish faith, law and practice without the help of an index. But Daniel Retter has recently created what is believed to be the first comprehensive index for the Talmud. He speaks with host Michel Martin about spending seven years on the massive project.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Muslim Men Rescue Bagel Shop And Keep It Kosher

    24 Jan 2012 | 3:20 pm
    Coney Island Bialys and Bagels, a historic bagel shop in New York City, was almost toast when two Pakistani men rescued it. Zafaryab Ali and Peerzada Shah, both Muslim, say they plan to keep the shop kosher. "Kosher and halal is very, very close, like brother and sister, maybe twins," Ali says.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • 10 Years On, Clergy Abuse Scandal Still Reverberates

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:07 pm
    The Boston Globe broke the story of sex abuse within the Catholic Church's Boston diocese, and a systematic cover up, in 2002. Since then, hundreds of victims have come forward with their stories. After resistance, the Church changed course, but many complain it hasn't gone far enough.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Greek Village's Muslim Culture Clashes With Athens

    22 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Komotini is a village in the Greek province of Thrace. Its Muslim population dates back to the time of Ottoman occupation. They still speak Turkish and Shariah law still applies to Muslim residents in family matters, a state of affairs that has inflamed some politicians in Athens. Meanwhile, residents say their bigger problem is poverty.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Wins In Landslide

    21 Jan 2012 | 8:27 am
    The final election results were read out Saturday with little ceremony, but the final tally cemented what most people in Egypt already know: Islamist groups are the new political powerhouse in post-revolutionary Egypt.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us
 
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    Front Page Stories

  • Court: 'Tolerance is a two-way street'

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    The Sixth Circuit has ruled in favor of a Christian graduate student who almost three years ago was expelled from a university counseling program for her religious beliefs.

  • Gov't forces unbalanced set of standards

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    In putting together the Common-Core Standards for education, the United States ironically drew on a variety of standards from other countries.

  • Politics and the housing market

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    While the housing market has stabilized, some believe it still faces significant challenges as government regulations have smothered the industry. One expert says Florida has been one of the hardest hit.

  • News of imprisonment delayed

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    Thirty-five Christians have been jailed in Saudi Arabia for worshipping in their own homes according to a recent report. The news only surfaced this week that the Christians have been imprisoned for over a month.

  • Complaints from radical Muslims shut down documentary

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    The producers of an explosive documentary on radical Islam are responding to attacks from an Islamic advocacy group that has ties to terrorism.
 
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    proverbs31-woman.com

  • Do tell!

    proverbs31
    10 Jan 2012 | 1:05 am
    It’s been a few months since I last wrote here.  My husband is healing but still has a way to go. It’s been just over 8 months since his accident and we’ve been told it could be 12-18 months after the accident before he’s at 95% recovery.  He still suffers a lot of pain and remains on pain killers. Some days are better than others but he is working fulltime, although mostly from home. And he has adjusted to it and actually likes working at home now.  Some years ago when he tore his achilles tendon he hated being stuck at home, even though he was working – he…

  • There is healing in love

    proverbs31
    20 Jun 2011 | 5:01 am
    As mentioned recently, my husband has been in hospital for many weeks.  I was anxious for his return home, just as he was.  We missed one another very much – I was lonely at home, and he was missing everything that home represented. Funny, but home seemed so empty with his absence, although in normal circumstances he’s only here at night time, most of the time. He’s away at work Monday-Friday and on weekends usually on mountain bike rides (the cause of the accident) or trail building or out with his mate.  He’ll be home in the evenings and we go to church together…

  • Bless, don’t mess

    proverbs31
    5 Jun 2011 | 4:36 am
    Our responsibility as Proverbs 31 Women isn’t just to our family but to those who surround us too.  Verse 15 speaks of the ‘servant girls’, verse 20 the ‘poor and needy’, verse 24 of ‘merchants’ and verse 31 talks of the ‘city gate’.  In other words, everyone we are in community with. Verse 26 says ‘She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue’ and while much of this passage relates to the family of the Proverbs 31 Woman, I believe we are encouraged to conduct ourselves in such a way towards all we…

  • Mother’s Day

    proverbs31
    7 May 2011 | 6:48 pm
    A day when all mothers should be shown appreciation and love, but sadly, that isn’t always the case.   Some mothers are estranged from their children, some live a big distance away, often because children have moved, some are just not appreciated.  Some mothers never got the opportunity to see their children grown up because the child was taken from them when only a baby. And yet God intended for the relationship between mothers and their children to be a blessed one. Proverbs 31:28 “Her children arise and called her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her”. How do…

  • It’s daughters week!

    proverbs31
    12 Mar 2011 | 3:17 pm
    ??????????????? ????? ????????????????? It’s daughters Week! If you have a beautiful daughter/s that you love more than you can describe, copy and paste this to your status for a little while, but hold them in your heart for a lifetime The above was posted by a friend on Facebook and I dutifully copied and pasted it onto my wall.  I have daughters I love and am proud of and they are all beautiful people.  I loved them very much as children, but now as adults they are people in their own right, fashioned by their parents and by the world that surrounds them. They are, indeed, held in…
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    Mormon Apologetic Research Studies

  • Jonah Tried It!

    Timothy Berman
    22 Jan 2012 | 11:52 pm
    What did Jonah try? How can we apply this thought and the story of Jonah in our lives today? Why are we running from the Lord and not walking in obedience to those things that will help strengthen and build up our faith? This is an interesting conversation paper that Ronnie Bray has published. It … Continue reading »

  • Anti-Mormon Angst – The Real Truth

    Timothy Berman
    21 Jan 2012 | 5:44 pm
    Note: The following information is from a public Facebook Group that particular individuals can see. It comes from the group Mormons and Evangelicals. The commentary provided is from a prolific Anti-Mormon by the name of Bob Betts, administrator for Concerned Christians  a counter-cult ministry group that attacks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What he provides … Continue reading »

  • Behind the Mask, Behind the Curtain: Uncovering the Illusion – Brant Gardner – FARMS Review – Volume 17 – Issue 2

    Timothy Berman
    21 Jan 2012 | 1:21 am
    Living Hope Ministry profits from lies and deceptions. They utilize special pleading and misdirection. Read this review by Brant Gardner who takes to task all elements of The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon and see how the master illusions of deceit are exposed for lying to their audience and performing misdirection of what they claim … Continue reading »

  • Yellow journalism and Anti-Mormon rhetoric – Seattle LDS Church | Examiner.com

    Timothy Berman
    20 Jan 2012 | 1:37 am
    Unfortunately, wherever there is a form of written communication, yellow journalism will have prevalence. We find this in the political arena, social arena, and more specifically within the religious community of faith believing individuals. Even more specific, yellow journalism can be found within a narrowly defined group of individuals who have taken up the cause … Continue reading »

  • Responding to Connie Raddon – Living the Abundant Life

    Timothy Berman
    18 Jan 2012 | 3:17 am
    Connie Raddon is a prolific blogger that operates the following blogspot: The Ensign and Other Mormon Teachings vs. The Bible. The premise for her blog, as she explains, is to accept the challenge of Brigham Young “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latterday (sic) Saints with it, and see if it will … Continue reading »
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    Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly » Podcast

  • January 27, 2012: Listen Now

    Fred Yi
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    Listen to this episode now: Download this episode as an MP3. Files can be saved to your computer or opened online with your favorite MP3 player. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/10/ListenNow.jpg Listen to this week’s show.

  • January 20, 2012: Listen Now

    Fred Yi
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:30 pm
    Listen to this episode now: Download this episode as an MP3. Files can be saved to your computer or opened online with your favorite MP3 player. Listen to this week’s show. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/10/ListenNow.jpg

  • January 13, 2012: Listen Now

    Fred Yi
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:12 pm
    Listen to this episode now: Download this episode as an MP3. Files can be saved to your computer or opened online with your favorite MP3 player. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/10/ListenNow.jpg Listen to this week’s show.

  • January 6, 2012: Listen Now

    Fred Yi
    6 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    Listen to this episode now: Download this episode as an MP3. Files can be saved to your computer or opened online with your favorite MP3 player. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/10/ListenNow.jpg Listen to this week’s show.

  • December 30, 2011: Listen Now

    Fred Yi
    30 Dec 2011 | 2:32 pm
    Listen to this episode now: Download this episode as an MP3. Files can be saved to your computer or opened online with your favorite MP3 player. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/10/ListenNow.jpg Listen to this week’s show.
 
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    Religion News Blog

  • ‘Witch torture’ trial: Hair cut to ‘release kindoki’

    Religion News Blog
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:43 am
    A man accused of killing a teenage boy he thought was a witch cut the hair of a young woman to "release the witchcraft", the Old Bailey has heard.

  • FLDS media blitz: repent (and free Warren Jeffs), or else…

    Religion News Blog
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:22 am
    God wants Warren Jeffs and other FLDS members released from prison. The cult leader -- sentenced last August to life plus 20 years in prison for charges resulting from his 'spiritual marriages' to two teenaged girls -- says so in a slew of revelations, some of which have been published in newspaper ads throughout the US and Canada.

  • Shared Paradise: the Church of Kopimism

    Religion News Blog
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:11 pm
    In the study of religion, we long ago gave up on creating a taxonomy that would—once and for all—allow us to demarcate the sacred from the profane and religious groups from secular. Nevertheless, there is something profoundly unreligious about Kopimism, and it is hard to overlook this glaring reality.

  • Brazil plans to build Christ the Redeemer replica statue in London

    Religion News Blog
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:14 pm
    There are 'secret' plans to build a giant replica of the Rio de Janeiro statue Christ the Redeemer near the summit of Primrose Hill in London to promote the 2016 Olympics. The project, funded by the Brazilian government, has already divided opinion in the celebrity neighbourhood, amid fears it will ruin the view.

  • Skeptic Magazine makes case for decline and fall of Scientology

    Religion News Blog
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am
    The current issue of Skeptic Magazine features a cover article titled, "The Decline and (Probable) Fall of the Scientology Empire!" Scientology watcher Tony Ortega says for those who have wanted a compact overview of where Scientology has been and where it is going, this is a handy guide.
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    Irtiqa

  • On creationists...

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:55 pm
    Tip from Farid Alvie.I have a whole collection of these 'ascent of man' cartoons. Of course, they also propagate the erroneous ladder view of evolution. But what can we do? They provide for some nice comic opportunities. Here is one of my favorites, from the New Yorker:

  • Gender issues in Pakistani schools

    26 Jan 2012 | 11:02 am
    by Salman HameedKamila Shamsie, the author several novels set in Karachi (for example, In the City by the Sea, Kartography), had an interesting article in Guernica about schools in Pakistan. The challenges are immense. It is not just a matter of creating more schools - after all, the Taliban are also "students". It is about the quality of education and its accessibility to all Pakistanis.Here she talks about the infiltration of religion in textbooks (for example, on the encouragement of raising cattle, since it is a Sunnah of the Prophet), and a bit on ghost schools - schools that exist only…

  • Arabia IMAX/3D: a fancy documercial for Saudi Arabia

    23 Jan 2012 | 10:25 am
    This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah and is the author of Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science. Last February, when I visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC (recall my “What makes us human?” post), I noticed that there was a documentary titled ‘Arabia’ playing in the IMAX theater. I made a mental note of it and went to the ‘human origins’ exhibit. The “documentary”…

  • Saturday Video: Appreciating religious values within Atheism

    22 Jan 2012 | 11:43 am
    by Salman HameedHere is an excellent talk by Alain de Botton called Atheism 2.0. Instead of ridiculing religions, he looks at the positive virtues they have to offer and suggests ways in which they can be incorporates within atheism. He makes an interesting point that in the 19th century, with the decline of religion in Europe, many turned to literature to find lessons in life and morality.By the way, I had to chance to give a TEDx talk at Amherst College yesterday as part of TEDx Pioneer Valley. It was a fantastic experience and the whole atmosphere was phenomenal. Plus all the talks…

  • A novel about growing up Muslim in Wisconsin

    20 Jan 2012 | 11:07 am
    by Salman HameedEnglish writers of Pakistani descent are becoming more and more prominent. A recent issue of Granta, for example, was dedicated to these writers (see: Granta - and a flock of new Pakistani writers). Uzma Aslan Khan even mixed in the fossil riches of Pakistan with the debate over evolution in her novel The Geometry of God. Now we have another one about growing up Pakistani-Muslim in Wisconsin: American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar. It brings up issues of identity in a different way. Ayad's own parents are both from Pakistan and also secular humanists. Ayad grew up fascinated by…
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    Christianpost.com > Homepage

  • College Student Counselor Can Defer Homosexual Clients, Court Rules

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:29 pm
    The Sixth Circuit ruled Friday in favor of Christian graduate student Julea Ward, who nearly three years ago was expelled from Eastern Michigan University's counseling program for trying to have a homosexual client reassigned to someone else because of her religious beliefs.

  • Dying to Meet Him: Coming to Terms With Losses

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:26 pm
    So the last seizure left me with fewer brain cells or something, but I can't focus enough to read much or write much without stopping, starting, stopping. I was afraid to write a journal entry yesterday because this is a new thing to me. Reading and writing – the two loves of my life, the two things that used to come so easily to me – are so hard now.

  • Pennsylvania Legislature Declares 2012 'Year of the Bible'

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:16 pm
    In a unanimous vote earlier this week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring 2012 the "Year of the Bible."

  • Did the Media Forget About the March for Life?

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:49 pm
    Both the West Coast Walk for Life and the D.C. March for Life hosted large rallies to commemorate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade this week. Organizers say the former drew over 40,000 participants, and the latter, 400,000, but neither event drew much coverage from major media outlets.

  • Haitians Turning to Christ, Abandoning Voodoo Practices 2 Years After Earthquake

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:39 pm
    Two years after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, Christianity is fast replacing Voodoo in the lives and practices of the people, a missionary has revealed.
 
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    The Christian Pulse

  • A New Year’s Resolution Solution: It’s All in Your Head!

    Laurette Willis
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Laurette Willis - Does fitness begin by doing physical acrobatics or is it mental acrobatics that must come first? God gives us the answer in Romans 12:2 (NIV). “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” It’s what’s on your mind that counts! It’s estimated that we think about 60,000 thoughts per day at a speed of 600-800 words per minute. Do you find your thoughts consistently running along positive paths or negative ones? When something bad…

  • Endurance Training

    Jennifer Slattery
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Jennifer Slattery – A few years ago, I underwent intense training in order to compete in a triathlon. Having a defined goal to shoot for encouraged me to push past laziness, run through drizzle, and fight against my self-justifying tendencies. I had a two part-goal: To develop endurance and to train muscle memory. Muscle memory is when your body responds as if by instinct, allowing your body to work more effectively. Endurance comes through repetition and consistently pushing your body one step, one hill, one mile farther. They call this “brick-workouts” and like the cement blocks…

  • Even Toed Ungulate Mammal

    Elaine James
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Elaine James - While my family and I drove an hour from our house to a popular farm, we made a pact to purchase fresh cider, donuts and produce, and then leave. Our motto is “Get in, get out.” We got out of there so fast we still had sugar on our faces from the donuts! The next day my daughter approached me with the question “How do you hide an even-toed ungulate mammal, more commonly known as a giraffe?” I looked puzzled at my daughter, who has a lifelong dream of one day being able to pet a giraffe, and I asked “What?” She burst into tears and stated “The farm we went to…

  • A Steady Outlook: Joy

    Carin LeRoy
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Carin LeRoy - What is the difference between happiness and joy? We think the meaning would be the same, but there is a distinction. Theologians define happiness as a temporal fleeting emotion, while joy is something that goes deeper. Many people can be tossed around in life depending on their circumstance–having gladness in the good times, but miserable in the difficult. Their emotions vacillate according to their situation. Even though life brings its high and low moments, as believers we can have a steady grasp and outlook on life because we walk with God through them. Scripture…

  • Oh, Those Senior Moments!

    Karen OConnor
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Karen O’Connor – I left the women’s luncheon feeling like a million. I made new friends, enjoyed a delicious meal, was inspired by the music, and felt great about my presentation as the keynote speaker. Then it happened. I walked out the front door of the banquet hall with two other women and I went blank. There in front of me was a sea of cars––but I had no idea where mine was located. I started walking––praying. Where are you little Escort? I couldn’t lose my cool in front of these women. They were impressed with me. They thought I was a celebrity! They wanted…
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    Global Sikh News

  • Updates on Mata Sahib Kaur Sikh Academy

    SSNews
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:04 am
    Guru Roop Saad Sangat Jeeo, WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa, WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh! As you may be aware that towards the end of last year, a group of Sikhs from across the country were in negotiations with the current legal owner of the premises at which the Gurdwara Mata Sahib Sikh Academy is located.  With [...]

  • US State Dept defends Jay Leno’s right to joke about Sikh Gurdwara

    SSNews
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pm
    Washington DC: The State Department said today that Jay Leno has the right to make jokes about religions, even if they offend people in foreign countries, as did his Jan. 19 joke about GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s summer home being a famous Sikh temple. The Indian Sikh community is in an uproar about the [...]

  • Sikh Holy Scripture Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee for Blinds

    SSNews
    22 Jan 2012 | 5:41 pm
    Amritsar, Punjab: Guru Granth Sahib Jee for Blinds in Braille language (ਬਰੇਲ ਲਿੱਪੀ ਵਿਚ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਤਿਆਰ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲੇ) : Bhai Gurmej Singh Sabka Huzoori Ragi Sri Harmandir Sahib Bhai Gurmej Singh Ji has made his dream and the dreams of thousands of others come true. The release of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji [...]

  • Police booked BJP MLA for storing liquor in bulk quantity

    SSNews
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:03 pm
    Amritsar, Punjab: Police said that on the tip of Congress activists a surprise raid was conducted by police party where police seized 294 boxes of liquors which belonged to Anil Joshi who has been booked but not arrested and further investigation was still under process. Sitting Hardline MLA and BJP candidate from Amritsar Anil Joshi [...]

  • Ex-SGPC President Jagir Kaur booked for liquor haul

    SSNews
    16 Jan 2012 | 4:40 pm
    Amritsar, Punjab: Punjab Police on Sunday registered a case against Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Bibi Jagir Kaur and 4 aides for allegedly distributing liquor to voters to influence them. They acted on a tip-off from Congress candidate Sukhpal Singh Khera and seized a vehicle laden with 183 cases of liquor in Kapurthala on Friday. This [...]
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    Century Blog

  • Systemic distortion

    Carol Howard Merritt
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    We hear stories of systemic discrimination on a constant basis. What are we going to do about it?  read more

  • "Grace and Truth"

    James Calvin Schaap
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    Confession time. Once, years ago, when I was a college student home for a break, my mother, who taught piano for most of her life, declared that she would bestow upon her son a 10-dollar bill if he would only sit down at the piano in the den and pound out a hymn, any hymn at all. read more

  • Friday digest

    Steve Thorngate
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    New today from the Century. read more

  • Politicizing Gabby Giffords

    Debra Dean Murphy
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    By all accounts Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is a remarkable woman: A respected, conciliatory colleague in the contentious House of Representatives long before the tragic shooting in Tucson; a hardworking politician deeply committed to the concerns of her constituents (which is why she was in a suburban parking lot that fateful Saturday morning); a supportive spouse read more

  • Thursday digest

    Steve Thorngate
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    New today from the Century. read more
 
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    The Christian Pulse

  • A New Year’s Resolution Solution: It’s All in Your Head!

    Laurette Willis
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Laurette Willis - Does fitness begin by doing physical acrobatics or is it mental acrobatics that must come first? God gives us the answer in Romans 12:2 (NIV). “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” It’s what’s on your mind that counts! It’s estimated that we think about 60,000 thoughts per day at a speed of 600-800 words per minute. Do you find your thoughts consistently running along positive paths or negative ones? When something bad…

  • Endurance Training

    Jennifer Slattery
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Jennifer Slattery – A few years ago, I underwent intense training in order to compete in a triathlon. Having a defined goal to shoot for encouraged me to push past laziness, run through drizzle, and fight against my self-justifying tendencies. I had a two part-goal: To develop endurance and to train muscle memory. Muscle memory is when your body responds as if by instinct, allowing your body to work more effectively. Endurance comes through repetition and consistently pushing your body one step, one hill, one mile farther. They call this “brick-workouts” and like the cement blocks…

  • Even Toed Ungulate Mammal

    Elaine James
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Elaine James - While my family and I drove an hour from our house to a popular farm, we made a pact to purchase fresh cider, donuts and produce, and then leave. Our motto is “Get in, get out.” We got out of there so fast we still had sugar on our faces from the donuts! The next day my daughter approached me with the question “How do you hide an even-toed ungulate mammal, more commonly known as a giraffe?” I looked puzzled at my daughter, who has a lifelong dream of one day being able to pet a giraffe, and I asked “What?” She burst into tears and stated “The farm we went to…

  • A Steady Outlook: Joy

    Carin LeRoy
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Carin LeRoy - What is the difference between happiness and joy? We think the meaning would be the same, but there is a distinction. Theologians define happiness as a temporal fleeting emotion, while joy is something that goes deeper. Many people can be tossed around in life depending on their circumstance–having gladness in the good times, but miserable in the difficult. Their emotions vacillate according to their situation. Even though life brings its high and low moments, as believers we can have a steady grasp and outlook on life because we walk with God through them. Scripture…

  • Oh, Those Senior Moments!

    Karen OConnor
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    By Karen O’Connor – I left the women’s luncheon feeling like a million. I made new friends, enjoyed a delicious meal, was inspired by the music, and felt great about my presentation as the keynote speaker. Then it happened. I walked out the front door of the banquet hall with two other women and I went blank. There in front of me was a sea of cars––but I had no idea where mine was located. I started walking––praying. Where are you little Escort? I couldn’t lose my cool in front of these women. They were impressed with me. They thought I was a celebrity! They wanted…
 
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    The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow

  • The Conversion of St. Paul

    Robert Llizo
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:18 am
    Christmas was exactly one month ago, and now, we celebrate another birth, or should I say , a new birth: the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, once fierce persecutor of the followers of Christ, now a formidable soldier for Christ. We can say with certainty that ignorance of St. Paul is ignorance of Christ, especially since much of the New Testament is comprised of his epistles, fourteen in all. Preacher, missionary, and theologian–these activities sum up his post-conversion life. This is a conversion that moved the world. St. Augustine picks up on Paul’s conversion from a persecutor…

  • Not Your Old New Trinitarianism, A New New Trinitarianism

    Fred Sanders
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:26 am
    “Remythologizing” is a mouthful of a word, and it may scare people a few away from Kevin Vanhoozer’s fascinating book Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship (2010: Cambridge University Press). Vanhoozer explains in great detail what he means by it, and I won’t rehearse that here. But one of the reasons he picked the title was because it rhymes with the famous mid-century buzzword of a certain kind of liberalism, Rudolf Bultmann’s demythologizing. Vanhoozer’s style of theology is certainly setting out on drastically non-Bultmannian…

  • Live Blog of NBC Florida

    John Mark Reynolds
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:03 pm
    Pre-debate- Mitt Romney must turn the tide. Newt has the momentum. Here we go. Newt gets to go first. Why? Reagan as Newt. Washington establishment is uncomfortable. Newt is not going to respond because he is above it. Mitt got under Newt’s skin. “You are a bad historian . . .” That is a lame response. Santorum says he has the right plan. It strikes me as irrelevant in the discussion. Paul just confirmed that Newt made a mess of the House and that he left because forced. Santorum talked about allowing banks to go under. This is a good point. He is very sharp. Gingrich is now…

  • Mitt Romney, a Latter-day Republican

    John Mark Reynolds
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    A love for the soul of the Republican party necessitates an evangelical vote for Mitt Romney. The Republican party was born appealing to northern evangelical voters and those voters helped elect Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln led them in a great crusade to save the Union and free the slaves. Those old-line voters still exist in states like Iowa and Ohio where evangelicals still are a big force in the politics of the GOP. These are the voters who can sing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” with no apologies. New England, part of the Republican heartland, grew more secular and less reliable for the…

  • South Carolina: Live Blogging the Primary at Dad’s House

    John Mark Reynolds
    21 Jan 2012 | 5:20 pm
    The long time reader of these primary pieces will know our family has not been keen on the Gingrich candidacy. We think him unfit to serve in the office of President, but that doesn’t mean we do not appreciate the good he has done. The family rule has been that if we oppose a person to think of ten nice things to say about him. We owe him that as a brother in Christ. So before what looks to be his day of triumph here are: Ten Nice Things About Newt Gingrich First, he believed in a Republican House majority when few others did. He has vision. Second, he likes to read in an age when few…
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    Real Live Preacher

  • Falling into Open Arms

    rlp
    10 Jan 2012 | 9:45 am
    In my first post as Pilgrim, I mentioned that I used to be a pastor. I wouldn’t say that I have left the ministry, since all Christians are supposed to serve Christ in some way. I guess I would say that in February of 2010 I discovered that being a pastor is no longer what I am called to do and be. I haven’t exactly settled on what kind of ministry I will do in the future. I haven’t even found a church to join yet. And it’s not that I haven’t tried. I go to church almost every Sunday. But I’m still in a state of confusion. I walk into a church and feel rather lost. I see people…

  • What a Fool Believes

    rlp
    4 Jan 2012 | 11:34 am
    Foy Davis driving up highway 1 north of Los Angeles in a red Mustang convertible. His left hand is on the steering wheel and his right hand is holding a half-eaten In-N-Out Burger. On the passenger side floor is a cooler filled with Diet Cokes. On the seat beside him is a computer and a bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. He’s listening to the Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits CD and has it turned up loud. A range of steep hills are on the right; the Pacific Ocean is on the left. He sees a hitchhiker on the right side of the road. As he passes the man, they make eye contact. Foy turns his head,…

  • A Closer Look (Pilgrim Post at Laity Lodge)

    rlp
    16 Dec 2011 | 8:55 am
    Do you have the perseverance to find something unique in one leaf, pulled from a tree full of leaves that any reasonable person would say are identical? Or did you want to be a reasonable person? Read this essay at the Laity Lodge website.

  • Babette's Feast Meets Animal House

    rlp
    21 Nov 2011 | 10:15 am
    And now I’m at this retreat listening to Cliff and Christine Warner talk about their family with its wonderful Sabbath tradition of sharing carefully planned meals with their children and how they like to invite friends over for nutritious, locally grown, beautifully prepared meals that feed both body and soul. They seem to be living Babette’s Feast while my life looks like the cafeteria scene from Animal House... Read this essay at the Laity Lodge website.

  • Babette's Feast Meets Animal House

    rlp
    21 Nov 2011 | 10:15 am
    And now I’m at this retreat listening to Cliff and Christine Warner talk about their family with its wonderful Sabbath tradition of sharing carefully planned meals with their children and how they like to invite friends over for nutritious, locally grown, beautifully prepared meals that feed both body and soul. They seem to be living Babette’s Feast while my life looks like the cafeteria scene from Animal House... Read this essay at the Laity Lodge website.
 
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    Iskcon Universe

  • Book Distribution Up 23% in North America

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:22 pm
    By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News on 28 Jan 2012 At the recent 2012 North American Governing Body and Temple President meetings in Dallas, Texas on January 13th, Book Distribution Minister Vaisesika Dasa had some exciting news for the more than sixty leaders from across the US and Canada in attendance.
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    Velveteen Rabbi

  • Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach 7.2 - abridged AND expanded!

    rbarenblat@gmail.com (Velveteen Rabbi)
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:00 pm
    Hey: did you realize that Passover begins in just over ten weeks? :-) I've been working this winter on a revision of the Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach -- specifically, a revision which is suitable for use at my congregation. This is substantially abridged from the most recent edition of the VR Haggadah (7.1, released in March 2011). Over the years, my haggadah has grown by accretion (as indeed the classical haggadah did!) and I've added all sorts of fabulous things without removing the older material. When I use the haggadah at home, I pick and choose, depending on who's there and…

  • Interview with Linda Hirschhorn now in Zeek

    rbarenblat@gmail.com (Velveteen Rabbi)
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Two years-and-a-bit ago, at the ALEPH Kallah in Ohio, I had the opportunity to sing with Linda Hirschhorn. While I was there, I interviewed her for Zeek. (I mentioned that in one of my blog posts from the conference that year: Kallah, another day in the life.) For reasons which don't bear exploration at this juncture, the interview has just now been published! Hopefully it's timeless enough to still make good reading. Here's a taste: (From my introduction) A lover of Talmud and a college philosophy major, Hirschhorn sees polyvocal harmonies as emblematic of the same kind of…

  • Passing the virtual hat for a vandalized shul

    rbarenblat@gmail.com (Velveteen Rabbi)
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:58 am
    Just before this past Shabbat, a small shul in New York City was broken-into and vandalized. The shul is Temple Beth-El of City Island -- "your shul by the sea" -- and its spiritual leader is Rabbi Shohama Wiener, the director of the ALEPH Hashpa'ah (spiritual direction) ordination program through which I was just ordained as a mashpi'ah. Working by her side is rabbinic student David Markus, one of my dearest friends. (Members of CBI, my shul here in the Berkshires, may remember him from his most recent visit to lead davenen with me -- he taught us to sing "Mi Chamocha" to the tune of "The…

  • New essay in Religion & Literature: "Transformative Work: Midrash & Fanfiction"

    rbarenblat@gmail.com (Velveteen Rabbi)
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:12 am
    Contributors' copies of Religion & Literature volume 43.2! The genre is an ancient one. Throughout the history of the Diaspora, Jewish imagination has flourished through midrash, elaborating on the tales and characters of the Hebrew Bible. But the postwar period has produced a surge of provocatively original midrashic writing in America, which seems to be accelerating like a kind of cosmic dark energy... A new midrash is a juicy green leaflet on an ancient tree. Yet contemporary midrash has less to do with faith, or even McClure's "partial faith," than with what Adrienne Rich once called…

  • Jewish Renewal and my red boots

    rbarenblat@gmail.com (Velveteen Rabbi)
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:17 pm
    I am utterly, endlessly, delighted to have sparked Rabbi Barbara (Shulamit) Thiede's essay Jewish Renewal's Red Boots. Reb Shulamit and I were admitted to the ALEPH rabbinic ordination program at the same time. (Somewhere I still have the email which Reb Marcia, our dean, sent to the student e-mail list in which she invited them to welcome two extraordinary new talmidim). Reb Shulamit and I were in DLTI together; we took countless classes together; and last year we were blessed to receive smicha together. And at this year's Ohalah conference, to which I took only two pairs of shoes (including…
 
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    Jade Mountains - Practice Within the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives

  • Join The Flock #still4amo

    Rev. Mugo
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:16 pm
    They approached as if I were one of them.... but no. What ever your feelings about sheep and farming and the wool industry do Join The Flock. I've downloaded the kit and instructions, now all I have to do is get on and make my first sheep! Ah, collective effort. Still with others.

  • Grappling With Teaching

    Rev. Mugo
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:42 pm
    Just because it was there...! I've received several appreciative emails following the long post about Being Good For Others. It really points to, or tries to address, the testing question of 'teaching'. Perhaps more in the informal sense of teaching. Walter very kindly sent in a link to a YouTube video of the last section of Amongst White Clouds a film about hermits in the mountains of China. The ancient monk is grappling with the matter of teaching from ones own experience. He is a humble monk, and he glows. Just watching his face is teaching enough. Thanks Walter, as always.

  • Norman's Chair #still4amo

    Rev. Mugo
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:02 pm
    Studio chair, Normans chair I can picture him working away in his art studio all day then, realizing it's 5.00 pm, brushes himself off and is still for a moment or two. Then resuming work on what ever it is he is doing. Having a place and a chair, familiar and comfortable, are no small gifts. Many do not have that. Thanks Norman for the photograph which I tinkered with a bit. Came out nicely I think.

  • Ringing Mobile Phone - Addressed Skillfully

    Rev. Mugo
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:37 am
    Sometimes people forget to switch off their mobile phones in circumstances when, if it rings, it disrupts. Phones have gone off during Dharma Talks and meditation periods and it's hard to address the disruption in a way that is both skillful and clear. Here is somebody who addressed the problem during a musical recital with skill, poise, kindness and humour. Slovakian viola player Lukas Kmit reacted coolly when a mobile phone interrupted his recital at the Orthodox Synagogue in Presov, in Slovakia. Rather than losing his temper, Kmit adapted the notorious Nokia theme, much to the delight of…

  • Being 'Good' For Others

    Rev. Mugo
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:06 pm
    Here is a letter from a reader, with my responses. Published with permission. Dear Reverend Mugo, I was interested in your writing that sitting still is enough to do great good for oneself and others. (See this post.) After I wrote the post where I say 'sitting still is enough' I realized that saying just that without further explanation can be seriously misunderstood. There can, for example, be an implication that practice is about passivity. Nothing could be further from the truth of it. People sit still for all sorts of reasons but it isn't necessarily the fully intentional 'sitting still'…
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    بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Sufi News and Sufism World Report

  • A Buffer Zone

    Marina Montanaro
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    By Fatimah Hussain/Sarah Sikander *Across enemy lines* - The Friday Times - Pakistan; January 20-26, 2012 - Vol. XXIII, No. 49Fatima Hussain is an historian who specializes in the political history of Sufism. She is also an Indian Muslim married to a Pakistani. She talks to Sarah Sikander about the many lines she crosses and uncrosses in her life In the withering heat of Lahore on a day like any other I found myself in a room that miraculously distracted my attention from the intense feeling of my back melting into its walls. History spoke through them and all the photographs, medals and…

  • Sufism to the Rescue?

    Marina Montanaro
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    By Bahzad Alam Khan, *Sufism to the rescue* - Herald/Dawn - Karachi, Pakistan; Monday, January 16, 2012The Trappist monks of Gethsemani Farms in central Kentucky, USA, bake the most divine fruitcake.Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Sufi University that was supposed to have started functioning in Bhit Shah,Pakistan, a year ago. But there is food for thought in the holy men’s occupation — could the power of Sufism transform legions of potential Taliban into peaceable chefs, making biryani on order or sweetening palates with fresh rabri? Perhaps, that’s stretching…

  • ‘Celebrating Abilities' Show

    Marina Montanaro
    22 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    By Staff Reporter, *Gifted with ‘abilities' par excellence* - The Hindu - India; Tuesday, January 18, 2012Gifted with ‘abilities' par excellenceThe Bharatanatyam performance on wheel-chairs and yoga by physically challenged persons mesmerise audience Clothed in white long skirts and hat of camel's hair, they danced the quintessential ‘dervish dance' with an ease characteristic of seasoned professionals.And to the soothing Sufi tunes, they whirled unmindful of all distractions. This and more they did, amid a shaken audience, on wheelchairs indispensible to them. Differently-abled, but…

  • As Much As It Can Hold

    Marina Montanaro
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    By Ellie Armon Azoulay *A new retrospective shows how far Palestinian art has come* - Haaretz.com - Israel; Saturday, January 14, 2012A new retrospective shows how far Palestinian art has come: The Walid Abu Shakra retrospective − being held simultaneously at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and in Umm al-Fahm − reflects the London-based artist’s longings for his childhood."Mintarat al-Batten,” a retrospective showcasing the work of Palestinian artist Walid Abu Shakra, is one of the most fascinating political events in the history of Israel art in general and Palestinian art in particular.

  • The Revolution Continues

    Marina Montanaro
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    By Staff Reporter, *Sufi orders announce participation in 25 January celebrations* - Al-Masri Al-Youm - Cairo, Egypt; Thursday, January 12, 2012Sufi orders announce participation in 25 January celebrationsThe Sufi orders, on Thursday, announced they would participate in the 25 January celebration to mark the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution that toppled the ousted President Hosni Mubarak.Abdel Hadi al-Qasby, head of the Sufi orders, told al-Masry al-Youm that they agreed with the Islamist, political and popular forces to participate in the 25 January celebrations in order to show…
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    Technology of the Heart

  • Allahu Shahidi, Allahu Naziri, Allahu Ma'i - three statements of truth that transformed Sahl al-Tustari into a master of knowers

    28 Jan 2012 | 3:18 am
    1. "Allah is the qibla of intention; intention is the qibla of the heart; the heart is the qibla of the body; the body is the qibla of the limbs; and the limbs are the qibla of dunya." - saying of Shaykh Sahl al-Tustari Asked "What is food?" Tustari replied: "Food is contemplation of the Living One: al-Hayy." Sahl al-Tustari was one of the great servant of God, a profoundly deep mystic and aref-billah, knower of God (gnostic). He was born in the southwestern Iran and lived between 818 - 896 AD. His full name was Abu Muhammed Sahl ibn 'Abd Allah. He founded the Salimiyah Muslim theological…

  • Book Review: Sufism for Western Seekers by Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

    26 Jan 2012 | 5:50 am
    1. The Book  The Sufi work is foremost the quest for gnosis (ma'rifah) - the state of opening or illumination in union with God. Sufism undeniably exists as a living esoteric tradition of human transformation and as such is a valuable resource for the Western seeker. - The Sufi Conundrum, Jay Kinney Sufism for Western Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Everyday Life is Dr. Stewart Bitkoff's first hand account of spiritual learning in two modern Sufi mystical schools. The message is intended for western spiritual travelers and to help this transmission the author has successfully…

  • A Sufi Parable of Sea

    24 Jan 2012 | 11:47 am
    Painting by Edward Mitchell Bannister, Boat on Sea Our Master, the great servant of God, may Allah be pleased with his servitude one day was by the Sea. This was his time for public discourse before his sunset prayer. Now today a great multitude of people gathered other than his inner circle of disciples to hear his words of wisdom that gives life to the heart. So he bade the boatman nearby and got up into the boat and asked the boat to be anchored near to the shore. He instructed the boat to be placed at such a distance that everyone in the crowd could behold his face as he spoke. Even the…

  • The Chapter of Jonah, First Ten Verses

    23 Jan 2012 | 9:42 pm
    In the Name of Allah, the Universally Merciful, the Singularly Compassionate ALIF, LAAAM, RA. These are the Signs of the Book of Wisdom. Are mankind amazed that We have revealed to a human being from amongst them, "Warn all the people and give good news to those who believe, that they will arrive at their Lord in truth?" Those who cover up (the Truth) say, "Surely this is nothing but magic!" Truly your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, then assumed the Seat of Authority governing all that exists. There is no intercessor except with His Permission. That is…

  • Allah Hi Rahem - An Intoxicating Sufi Composition

    19 Jan 2012 | 8:25 am
    Arabic Calligraphy: Allah Allah hi Rahem, Maula hi Rahem Allah hi Rahem, Maula hi Rahem  Kaise ishq se sajh gayi raahein Jab se dekhi hai Teri nigaahein ya Khuda! Main to Tera ho gaya Tu jo karam pharmaye, adam insaan ho jaaye Mastana ho ke, deewana ho ke Tujhe pal mein paa jaaye Saans-e-fiza mein tu hai, rooh-e-bayan mein tu hai Har ibtidaa mein, har inteha mein, har ek nazar-e-zabaan Tu hai Allah hi Rahem, Maula hi Rahem Allah hi Rahem, Maula hi Rahem O har zarre mein Tu hai chupa Phir doondhe kyun Tera pataa? Tu hai dhoop mein, Tu hai saaye mein Apne mein hai, Tu paraye mein Allah,…
 
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    La Shawn Barber's Corner

  • BreakPoint’s Reviews and Features

    La Shawn
    4 Jan 2012 | 2:18 pm
    Whether you’re an adult or a teenager who likes to read young adult novels, you might want to check out book reviews at Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint. Editor Gina Dalfonzo created the Youth Reads section to give Christians some guidance on the latest (and popular) young adult novels. I’ve written a few reviews for the site, and I have an upcoming short feature on sex-selective abortions. For more information on the topic, see Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. The author is “pro-choice,” but the book is…

  • He Came to Dwell Among Us

    La Shawn
    23 Dec 2011 | 8:00 am
    And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her…

  • Ryan’s Song

    La Shawn
    8 Nov 2011 | 6:50 am
    Every day you faced the questions Torn by the lot you had received Every tear was a reminder Of how I was conceived. But in the middle of the confusion You found strength to make it through And now I can love and be loved All because of you The Man Ryan Bomberger tears up when he recites the lyrics to “Meant to Be,” a song he wrote as a tribute to his birth mother—a woman he’s never met. The man behind the controversial pro-life billboard campaign, Too Many Aborted, was conceived in rape. His birth mother was white, and the rapist was black. Despite the circumstances of…

  • Jon Bernthal and The Walking Dead

    La Shawn
    18 Oct 2011 | 6:15 am
    I hear the zombie show on AMC, “The Walking Dead,” is getting hot. The second season premiere broke records. Good for them. Zombies are underrated, don’t you think? In 2008, I interviewed the actor Jon Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh. I’d reviewed an independent film called Day Zero for Blog Critics and wanted to talk to one of the actors. From the available actors I chose Bernthal. Day Zero is set in the near future, and America is going to war. Three friends receive draft notices and have 30 days to report for duty. Bernthal played a cab driver, and his…

  • OccupySomething – Updated

    La Shawn
    13 Oct 2011 | 7:05 am
    From Brett McCracken: “As a ‘movement,’ Occupy Wall Street doesn’t reveal an organized grassroots agenda as much as it represents a general climate of anger, frustration, and antagonism against the ‘haves’–a suspiciously narrow (1%), heartless, no good very bad group whose entrepreneurial success and capitalistic success apparently oppress the 99% of us have-nots who are being unfairly kept from sharing in the 1 percent’s riches. “Mostly, though, Occupy Wall Street represents the natural discontent of an entitled generation raised on the…
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    Episcopal Cafe

  • Three cheers for the conversation between science and faith!

    Andrew Gerns
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:00 pm
    Our own Nick Knisely, Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Pheonix, Arizona, thinks alot about science and faith and talks about the breathless news reports that physicists were ready to announce that they’d discovered, at long last, the Higgs Boson – the so-called “God Particle.” It turns out that the actual announcement was not nearly as exciting. Dean Knisely reflects on what these events teach us: The possibility that the Higgs won’t be found is worth reflecting on. Because the furor that would result shows the difference between the scientific method and religious practice. Science is…

  • Faith, Myth and Star Wars

    Andrew Gerns
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:00 pm
    Liel Leibovitz writes in the Tablet why George Lucas' new film Red Tails is forcing him to look at the original Star Wars trilogy in a new light, reflecting on the difference between faith and myth. From faith stems nuance. From myth, generalities. And, sadly for us, the spirit of myth is winning: We revere Star Wars because to our minds—modern machines that equate religion with superstition and are willing to disregard imperfections in science but never in dogma—the movies represent transcendentalist humanism at its best, a perfect manifestation of that noxious label, “spiritual,”…

  • A new black theology that recovers ancient texts and forumlae

    Andrew Gerns
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Jonathan Tran reviews three books that he says redefine both black theology and challenges many assumptions white theologians hold about the relationship between race and the theological enterprise. The Christian Century: Instead of Christianity being expressed in a colonizing and slaveholding universalism, Christ is inscribed in the flesh of those whose slave narratives proclaim the good news. Rather than look for the triumph of the universal over the particular, the slave finds her particularity marked in the particularity of Christ's sufferings and resurrection, which universally gathers…

  • Breaking: Executive Council receives dueling budget proposals

    Jim Naughton
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:41 pm
    Updated with Episcopal News Service story. Executive Council has received two different budget proposals from its Executive Committee. One sets the diocesan asking at the current level of 19 percent, and requires cuts of almost $6 million from the $140 million 2010-2012 budget adopted by the General Convention. The other lowers the diocesan asking to 15 percent and requires cuts of almost $21 million from the current budget. Bishop Jefferts Schori favors the 19 percent asking. President Anderson favors the 15 percent asking. In her opening remarks to the council, Anderson said: "Let’s…

  • Birth registration as a basic human right

    Andrew Gerns
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    The International Anglican Family Network (IAFN) has launched a global campaign to register births. The network is calling on Anglican churches to partner with government and other agencies to ensure that babies born in 2012 and after are registered. Anglican Journal: "More than just a legal formality, birth registration opens the door to education and healthcare," the IAFN said in a recent news release. "Without it, people may not be able to obtain a passport, own a house or land, or marry." The network points out that more than one-third of children never have their births registered, "and…
 
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    Speaking the Truth in Love

  • Bishops - Part 26: The 7th Ecumenical Council part 2

    13 Jan 2012 | 3:20 pm
    Fr. Tom is exploring the canons of the 7th Ecumenical Council held in Nicea and today talks about bishops who are appointed by secular heads of state as well as the frequency and nature of the meetings of bishops.

  • Bishops - Part 25: The 7th Ecumenical Council

    3 Jan 2012 | 11:37 am
    The Orthodox Church is the Church of the 7 Councils and the 7th one is far more important than some would believe. Learn about the importance of Icons as well as the importance of the Holy Scriptures.

  • Our Use of Words

    27 Dec 2011 | 9:12 am
    Fr.Tom asks us to heed the scriptures and use our words carefully. Specifically he identifies several terms that are often incorrectly used in Orthodoxy today.

  • Bishops - Part 24: 8th Century Iconoclasm

    13 Dec 2011 | 4:45 pm
    An intense and violent period in Church history surrounded the veneration of icons. Learn about those who gave their lives for the preservation of this important physical demonstration of the Incarnation as well as those Bishops who sided with with the iconoclasts and were later identified as heretics.

  • St. Andrew the Apostle

    3 Dec 2011 | 3:36 pm
    On November 30, we celebrated the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. On that day, Fr. Tom reflected on this great apostle as well as some of the legends that surround him. In particular, he talks about the dubious history of Andrew's alledged founding of the Church in Constantinople.
 
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    Jewish Treats

  • Destructive M’lachot?

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:05 am
    The laws of guarding Shabbat guarantee that the Jewish people will maintain the Shabbat as a day sacred and distinct from the six work days of the week. The prohibited acts are known as m’lachot, which is best translated as acts of “creative labor,” and the 39 specific categories from which all m’lachot are derived are based on the specific acts involved in the creation of the Mishkan (the portable Tabernacle) in the wilderness.Within the 39 m’lachot, it is interesting to note that there are four distinct pairs of what could be called opposites: sewing and tearing, writing and…

  • Positive Shabbat

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    Spend Shabbat connecting with your friends and family.

  • Where To Wear Tefillin

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:53 am
    While Jewish Treats has previously discussed the requirements for kosher tefillin (Click here for a full description of tefillin, including the difference between the box worn on the head and the box worn on the arm), it should be noted that the ways in which the tefillin are worn have profoundly symbolic. The actual method for “laying tefillin,” as it is called, is intricate and should be reviewed with a rabbi or one experienced in putting on tefillin.The tefillin shel yad (of the arm) is always placed on the “weaker” arm. Thus righties place them on their left arms and lefties on…

  • Lending Friend

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:52 am
    If a friend is without a pair of tefillin, allow him to put yours on.

  • Thoughts on Shevat

    25 Jan 2012 | 5:05 am
    Although the Torah implies that Abraham and his descendants are removed from the fate of the stars (based on Genesis 15:5, Nedarim 32a) - meaning that their personal destinies are not determined through astrology - Judaism does acknowledge the basic astrological map of the sky, but not its efficacy. (For Rabbi Buchwald’s insights into this topic, click here.) The Talmud even includes a list of the Zodiacal signs that correspond to the twelve months of the Hebrew year. Like its corresponding zodiac sign Aquarius, the Hebrew month of Shevat is represented by the water-bearer.Water is a…
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    Missionary Confidential

  • Question: What Book(s) Would You Recommend to People Who Want to be a Missionary?

    C. Holland
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:58 pm
    Question: What Book(s) Would You Recommend to People Who Want to be a Missionary?New Post from: Missionary Confidential I’d like to read more this year, and missiology/missions is definitely on the subject list. I’m thinking of possibly reviewing some of those books on this site so: What book(s) would you recommend to someone who says, “I’m thinking of becoming a missionary/going on a short-term mission trip” or asks the question, “What’s it like to be a missionary?” Hit the comments below! Related posts: Question Week: What Books Would You…

  • Do You Give Christmas Gifts to Your Supporters?

    C. Holland
    19 Dec 2011 | 7:27 pm
    Do You Give Christmas Gifts to Your Supporters?New Post from: Missionary Confidential The latest newsletter from The Body Builders talks about the importance of sending gifts to your supporters, not only to encourage better relationships with your financial partners but also to help maintain giving. I have to be honest; in our almost five years in the field, we never sent Christmas gifts. As much as we communicated and made sure to send letters, postcards and make phone calls to our supporters, we just couldn’t afford to buy and ship packages from our field. The cost was too high. But…

  • Roll the Dice, Get a Prize, Give to Missions?

    C. Holland
    21 Oct 2011 | 1:09 pm
    Roll the Dice, Get a Prize, Give to Missions?New Post from: Missionary Confidential I’m rethinking a lot about missions these days while back in the States. Much, much more to come, but a friend recently sent us this: “Girls Night Out – Bunko With a Mission”! Mark your calendars for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at [church]. Prizes and raffling off gift baskets from [Local Restaurant], Starbucks, Lacome, Mary Kay, [Tutoring], Bath & Body, [Football Team tickets] and much more. Suggested donation $10. Feel free to invite a friend…Please R.S.V.P. There are so many ways to…

  • Yet Sometimes God Closes the Door

    C. Holland
    16 Sep 2011 | 2:04 pm
    Yet Sometimes God Closes the DoorNew Post from: Missionary Confidential We’re back in the States. For now. We’ve been back for a few months. Praying, waiting, seeking God’s direction. I didn’t mean to leave the blog with the cliffhanger of  “The Voices in Your Head”, but shortly after that entry things went horribly wrong at the church we were serving. Elders, deacons and church members spoke some of those exact words I had typed in April. Those voices became real. And there’s no way they read the blog; only my Other Half knows about it. But that’s not the problem. We’ve…

  • The Voices in Your Head

    C. Holland
    18 Apr 2011 | 10:22 am
    The Voices in Your HeadNew Post from: Missionary Confidential On the mission field you see a lot of things, hear a lot of things, feel a lot of things. But the hardest thing to overcome is the voices in your head. You know what I’m talking about. They’re not audible (we’re not talking schizophrenia here), they don’t make logical sense, but they’re always there. Hanging on your every hang-up, weakness, and self-doubt, those voices know exactly how to get to you. And even though there’s no actual proof for 99% of it, you just feel that it’s so believable. Oh, I had those voices…
 
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    Mormanity - A Mormon Blog (But Not Just for Mormons)

  • "Everyday Church" in Hong Kong

    Jeff Lindsay:
    22 Jan 2012 | 9:08 am
    While visiting Hong Kong recently, I learned about a remarkable example of flexibility in the LDS Church to better meet local needs. While attending church services in the beautiful multistory red-brick building on Hong Kong island where several wards meet, I learned that there are actually church services every day of the week to meet the needs of the large population of foreign housekeepers, mostly from the Philippines, who have only one day a week off, usually a day other than Sunday. Many of these hard-working Latter-day Saints would almost never be able to attend church were it not for…

  • Three Chiseled Stones and the Increasing Evidence from the Arabian Peninsula for the Plausibility of the Book of Mormon

    Jeff Lindsay:
    15 Jan 2012 | 3:59 am
    When it comes to evidences for the plausibility of the Book of Mormon text, the most exciting finds come from the Old World, where we have the significant advantage of knowing the precise starting point of Nephi's account and where we have far more archaeological work to draw upon than we do in the New World. As Latter-day Saints in upcoming Sunday School lessons review the stories of Nephi's journey out of Jerusalem and across the Arabian Peninsula to Bountiful, I hope some of them will learn that trek as described in First Nephi 16 and 17 is remarkably "interesting" in terms of its…

  • Nephi the Hebrew

    Jeff Lindsay:
    10 Jan 2012 | 6:03 pm
    Discussions of the Book of Mormon here have frequently included complaints from critics about the poor writing style, especially the annoying use of the phrase "and it came to pass." Critics say that Joseph was just imitating Bible language in his clumsy fraud, but it doesn't take much reading to realize that when it comes to awkward KJV language, the Book of Mormon definitely exceeds the Bible. "And it came to pass" occurs much more frequently. Laziness on Joseph's part? Perhaps. Or there could be another reason. Donald W. Parry, Donald W. Parry, an instructor in biblical Hebrew at Brigham…

  • DNA and the Book of Mormon: Rejecting an Absurd Oversimplication

    Jeff Lindsay:
    8 Jan 2012 | 8:22 am
    Critics of the Book of Mormon want the world to think that it requires nothing but Jewish ancestry for all Native Americas. This is an "absurd simplification," per Nibley in a passage quoted below. In fact, the account of the Jaredites in the Book of Ether points to Asiatic origins for an ancient migration. Though Ether saw a great battle with few survivors as the Jaredite civilization collapsed, the Book of Mormon provides subtle hints that Jaredite influence remained in population groups that mixed with the Nephites and Lamanites.As Hugh Nibley explained in 1952, in an article printed in…

  • Two Paths in a Complex Book

    Jeff Lindsay:
    5 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    In my last post, I discussed the issue of war in the Book of Mormon and the diverse experiences it covers. One reader commented that the Book of Mormon doesn't deal with diversity, but with a shallow dichotomy. I'd like to respond a little more fully, or rather, let Hugh Nibley do most of the responding for me. The Book of Mormon emphasizes an ancient doctrine, the doctrine of the Two Ways, which Hugh Nibley discussed in several of his writings. Yes, the complexity of life still involves an ultimate choice between opposing forces: do we choose God and life, or something else? The ancient…
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    Blogging Theologically | Jesus, Books, Culture, & Theology

  • The Dangerous Side of Being an Encourager

    Aaron Armstrong
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    People like Barnabas are always needed in the church. They are peacemakers, the go-betweens who seek no glory for themselves but only seek to bring out the best in others. But “would-be” Barnabases of today need to hear a further lesson from this outstanding biblical figure. Barnabases want everyone to be happy, but sometimes it simply is not possible to please everyone without serious compromise of one’s basic convictions. Barnabas found that out later at Antioch when, in order to placate the conservative Jewish Christians “from James” (Jerusalem), he withdrew from table…

  • Creativity, Christianity, and Developing Your Personal Style

    Aaron Armstrong
    26 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    I love this advice from C.S. Lewis: The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it. In another writing, Lewis expands on this advice: (1) Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your…

  • You Might Be Killing Your Ministry (And Not Even Know It)

    Aaron Armstrong
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    What is the one thing that will kill your ministry faster than anything else? Consider that question as you read. I frequently love to read Proverbs. Reading these principles of life and godliness often serves as a corrective for me as I work and pursue ministry. Something I mentioned a few weeks back was a tendency toward performancism—that is, a tendency to turn the gifts and abilities that God has given as the measure of my worth. So when I’m doing lots and being productive, then I’m great and God’s favor is upon me. When life starts to turn to a subtle shade of…

  • Book Review: Education or Imitation by Curtis Allen

    Aaron Armstrong
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    What does it take to interpret Scripture correctly? Education? A seminary degree? Learning Greek and Hebrew? These are great and helpful things, but argues Curtis (Voice) Allen, they’re not the secret to becoming a good interpreter of Scripture. The secret is imitating Jesus. “Interpretation of Scripture, followed by right application, is the primary way that we are to be like God,” he writes in his new book, Education or Imitation?: Bible Interpretation for Dummies Like You and Me. “This is not an issue of education. It’s an issue of imitation” (p.

  • Your Work is Your Calling

    Aaron Armstrong
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    photo by Piotr Bizior What’s the purpose of having a sense of calling? A sense of calling—understanding that God has put you where you are for His purposes—is important because some days, it’s the only thing that will stop you from going on a rampage or quitting and going to work at Starbucks (I hear the benefits are great, incidentally). A sense of calling is important, but we have to be careful that we don’t hyper-spiritualize the idea. Even typing that seems odd, though. I mean, how can you over-spiritualize a sense of being called by God? The answer is by limiting…
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    WordPress.com News

  • Chrome Users: Try the WordPress.com Extension

    Christopher Finke
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pm
    Want to receive WordPress.com notifications instantly, even when you’re not on WordPress.com? Add the new WordPress.com extension for Chrome and as soon as you get a new follower or a new like on one of your posts, a notification will appear in your browser: Simply click the icon to view your latest WordPress.com notifications: Start following new blogs without visiting WordPress.com The Chrome extension also makes it easy to follow sites from your WordPress.com account by displaying a Follow button whenever you’re browsing a site that has an RSS feed. Clicking the Follow button…

  • Your Stats Have a New Home

    Andy Skelton
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    Are you addicted to checking your site stats? You are not alone. The stats dashboard has always been one of the most popular admin screens. It’s gratifying to know that people are visiting your place online. With the WordPress.com front page evolving into a one-stop shop for posting, exploring, following and reading blogs, it seemed natural to put your blog stats there, too.  Stats are becoming more and more about interacting with your readers and other bloggers. You’ll still see your summary stats and chart on your main dashboard, and the full stats page in your dashboard will…

  • Reblogging is Back!

    Erica Johnson
    22 Jan 2012 | 1:27 pm
    As we mentioned last week, you can like and reblog posts directly from your reader, which displays a stream of all the updates published on all the blogs you follow from your WordPress.com account. We’ve also brought the reblog button back to the toolbar that appears at the top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Note that you’ll only see the like and reblog options while you’re looking at individual posts. For example, you’ll see this on the left side of your toolbar while viewing http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/read-blogs: And your…

  • New Theme: Newsy

    Philip Arthur Moore
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:18 pm
    It’s been an extra big week in the news ’round these parts, so much so that the launch announcement of our latest premium theme seems like an extra extra good way to headline our Friday. Newsy is a versatile business and news-friendly theme that offers up to ten different layouts, four footer columns, custom link and accent colors, and a custom site header. Brand and content-focused editorial teams will love publishing with this theme. Newsy: Home Page Designed by Themify, Newsy comes with an impressive set of Theme Options that afford you a great deal of flexibility with how you…

  • Read All Your Favorite Blogs in One Place

    Erica Johnson
    19 Jan 2012 | 6:04 pm
    If you feel like it’s a chore to keep up with all your favorite blogs, you can now read posts from all the blogs you follow (even the ones that aren’t on WordPress.com!) in one convenient place on the WordPress.com home page: Your reader displays all the posts across all the blogs you follow in the order they were published, with the most recent content appearing at the top. You’ll see an excerpt of the introduction to each post, the first image in the post, and thumbnails of any other images that the post contains. You can even like and reblog WordPress.com content directly…
 
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    Killing the Buddha

  • Telling Trans Stories

    Becky Garrison
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:44 pm
    While reporting on trans issues, a friend connected me with Shay Kearns (aka Anarchist Reverend). In my email exchanges with this seminary graduate (M.Div from Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY), I found myself drawn to his exploration of a new way forward for queer theology; one that isn’t focused on apologetics but instead is interested in making queer experience central to the conversation and allowing queer experience to inform and enlighten the rest of the church. Those interested in similar explorations of a queer theology that embraces all within the LGBT spectrum can…

  • A Message from Prison

    Greg Bottoms
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:07 pm
    Wall of room in Ward Retreat 1 at St. Elizabeth's psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. Credit: the Otis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine. I received an email from a Department of Corrections social worker about four years ago. She had a message for me from my older brother Michael. He wanted contact with his family after fifteen years in a prison psychiatric treatment facility, to which he had been sentenced after trying unsuccessfully to murder my mother, father, and younger brother in an arson attempt at our home in suburban Tidewater, Virginia. In February…

  • OWS Library Update

    Mary Valle
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:01 pm
    Back in November of 2011, an epic act of state occurred in New York City—the seizure and destruction of the OWS library. More seizures ensued. The library reappeared on the Brooklyn Bridge. Readers and writers all over the world spoke out against the so-called Bloomberg Bibliocide. What’s been happening with our favorite library? KtB recently caught up with People’s Librarian Betsy Fagin via email. KtB: Hi Betsy. Thanks for chatting. What is the status of the OWS Library? BF: As of January 2012, the library still exists, but most of the collection is currently in storage.

  • Some Great Cause, God’s New Messiah

    Nathan Schneider
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:52 pm
    Early this past summer, I came across a certain quotation opening an essay by Mary Elizabeth King—now a columnist for Waging Nonviolence and a friend. This was right about the time I first got the idea in my head that I needed to learn how to tell the stories of how great resistance movements are planned, during a conference where I was meeting revolutionaries from around the world. The quotation was from “The Present Crisis,” penned by nineteenth-century poet James Russell Lowell, and which became a hymn popular during the civil rights era: Once to every man and nation comes…

  • And on the CJR Business Pages…

    KtBniks
    11 Jan 2012 | 8:14 am
    Killing the Buddha got a nice mention by Ryan Chittum and Catherine Rampell in Audit Notes at the Columbia Journalism Review. They were fascinated by Rowan Moore Gerety’s piece “Buying the Body of Christ“, especially the killer quote by communion-wafer maker Cavanagh Company’s general manager: “We take a lot of pride in putting our family name on a product that will eventually become the body and blood of Jesus.” I mean, really, who wouldn’t? The piece also received a top mention on the ever lovely Arts & Letter Daily, under Articles of Note.
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    Religion Dispatches - Stories

  • A Nobel Prize for LGBT Civil Rights?

    Jay Michaelson
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    Today marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of Ugandan gay-rights advocate David Kato, 46, who was killed after months of right-wing threats; most notably being featured on the front page of a Ugandan right-wing newspaper...

  • An Open Letter to Rabbi Dov Linzer on Modesty and Jewish Law

    Shaul Magid
    26 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pm
    While the Talmud dictates that both men and women dress modestly, the legal tradition that follows in its wake makes dress requirements for women much more rigid. Thus, the fact that in many Orthodox summer camps, or Kibbutzim, one can readily find young Orthodox men in shorts and T-shirts while young girls wear skirts and longer sleeves is not inconsequential. And how often are religious boys told, “Don’t wear that, it’s not tznius (modest)!”? Not very often. 

  • How Anne Frank Turned Up At Occupy

    Peter Manseau
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Throughout his 32-minute set, Mangum returned more than once to the sad fate of the teenage diarist, and in doing so he created a moment that seemed at once a communal high point of the movement and a peculiarly ominous sing-along, Kumbaya mashed up with catastrophe.

  • Death of an Occult Crime Expert Reawakens Controversy

    Joseph Laycock
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Rimer’s passing has led to an lively online conversation among Pagan and vampire groups. Many of these groups regarded Rimer as a political enemy and some individuals expressed relief that Rimer will not be holding any more seminars. However, important leaders of these communities have called for respect. One community member invoked Proverbs 24:17, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls.”

  • Zeroes and Sums: Is It Wrong to Praise Paul’s Positions?

    Peter Laarman
    20 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    In the Department of No Surprise, we report this week on the excommunication from polite conversation of one Ron Paul, the odd-man-out candidate for the Republican–presidential nomination. Odd man, because Paul is just his own oddly compounded self and stays that way.
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    On Being Both

  • Good and Bad Interfaith Marriage: On Stage, and Off

    Susan Katz Miller
    17 Jan 2012 | 8:13 am
    It is second nature to look for reflections of our own lives, and affirmation for our own choices, in both fiction and in the media. Happy interfaith families are rarely rewarded with seeing our experiences depicted in print, or on the screen, or on the stage. Happiness is boring. Conflict is necessary to drama, whether it is the “real life” drama in a blogger’s column, or the more constructed drama of the theater. So I was prepared for the inevitability that the interfaith marriage in Renee Calarco’s new play “The Religion Thing,” (at Theater J at the…

  • Three New Year’s Resolutions: Interfaith Mom

    Susan Katz Miller
    2 Jan 2012 | 7:37 am
    Entering the New Year, wearing the glittering, particoloured hat of an interfaith mom, I have three main goals for 2012: 1) Gracefully release my first child into the world. My daughter’s about to turn 18; she will leave for college this year. I have spent much of the past few months interviewing college students and young adults who graduated from interfaith education programs like ours, as part of the research for my book. I am examining the role religion plays in their lives once they are outside the protective bubble of an independent interfaith community. As she leaves our family,…

  • Interfaith Children: Born This Way

    Susan Katz Miller
    19 Dec 2011 | 11:06 pm
    I often wonder if people who are not born into interfaith families can ever truly understand, on the gut level, the positive aspects of growing up in an interfaith family. Whether we grow up practicing one religion, two religions, or no religions, as interfaith children we are nourished by parents who model the art of communication, respect for the other, and love that transcends boundaries. And often, in December, that communication and respect and transcendence involve Christmas trees. This week, Debra Nussbaum Cohen, a blogger for The Jewish Daily Forward, wrote a post in the form of a…

  • Advent, Christmas, Hanukkah, Welcome Yule! Interfaith Families Doing the Most

    Susan Katz Miller
    14 Dec 2011 | 2:25 pm
    This time of year, interfaith families make our annual appearance in the media. The world wants to know: How do we do it all? Are we confused? Are we superficial? Are we exhausted? For readers of this blog, my current column at Huffington Post, about why we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, may seem rather obvious, but it is still stirring up a snowball fight of comments, both from people who insist we cannot do what we are doing, and people who appreciate our approach. Join the fray! Meanwhile, here’s a series of small moments from the interfaith holiday season in our family.

  • Interfaith Families Pioneer: Remembering Ned Rosenbaum

    Susan Katz Miller
    4 Dec 2011 | 7:54 pm
    The idea that interfaith families could speak out, advocate for themselves, organize, and support each other is relatively new in American history. Ned and Mary Rosenbaum have been the founders and rabble-rousers, organizers and guides, advising and connecting younger interfaith couples and families. Thus, it is with deep sadness that I learned of Ned’s death this week. Wanting the world to understand the national (and international) significance of his work, I quickly posted this remembrance on Huffington Post: For more than fifteen years now, interfaith families across the country…
 
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    Is it really Love? Spiritual Way of the Six Loves

  • Eps 40 What is Healthy Spirituality? Pt 1

    Craig Owen
    18 Jan 2012 | 7:10 pm
         In this episode we are moving in a new direction.  This will be the first of several episodes that looks at the question 'What is healthy sprituality?'  We do not have to look far to see examples of bad spirituality, so it is important to know what the good kind looks like.  Before we can answer that question, though, we must look at several issues.  First, what is religion?  What is faith?  Is spirituality different from religion and faith?      In this first installment, we will look at a couple of definitions…

  • Eps 39 Does Love Survive Death?

    Craig Owen
    28 Dec 2011 | 10:38 am
        Perhaps the ultimate question we all face is do we survive beyond death?  In the context of this series, the question would become 'Does love survive beyond death?'  Many of you listening have lost loved ones, as have I.  You cannot help but wonder does the love we still feel for the ones we lost tell us anything?  Is it futile to still love someone who is no longer here, or is it a sign of something beyond this life?      In the the next episode we will start a new series about faith and spirituality, based on my recent book WHY ARE WE HERE?

  • Eps 38 What is Family Love?

    Craig Owen
    16 Sep 2011 | 10:42 pm
         In this episode, we will look at a love that is closely related Marital Love, which is Family love.  I offer a suggested definition of family love and then examine it phrase by phrase.  Not everyone who is in a marriage chooses to have children, but for those who do, my suggested definition might be helpful.      In the next episode, we will look at the question of whether or not love survives beyond death. This podcast series is based on my book, The Six Faces of Love, which can be viewed at…

  • Eps 37 What is Marital Love? pt 3

    Craig Owen
    27 Aug 2011 | 10:52 pm
         When is a marriage no longer workable?  This is a difficult question to answer in a short podcast.  I discuss the spirituality of marital love to offer a suggested answer to the question.  I look at two common mistakes couples make regarding the spiritual stages and rates of spiritual growth of their partners. Very seldom are a husband and wife at the spiritual stages or experiencing spiritual growth at the same rate.   Failing to understand these two things can cause stress in a marriage that is completely unnecessary.  I also…

  • Eps 36 What is Marital Love? Pt 2

    Craig Owen
    9 Jul 2011 | 9:20 pm
         When is a couple ready to get married?  In the past, one answer was that individuals must first do therapy and become emotionally mature before they should get married.  When I gave pre-marital counseling to couples and tried to use this answer, I found something unusual.  No couple I counseled seemed to meet this test, where both people had completley reached emotional maturity.  I discuss how I modified my approach in counseling engaged couples, changing the 'therapuetic' model that was unrealistic in its demands.      Next…
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    Jóvenes Adventistas en Línea - Adventist Youth Online

  • ¿Limites al poder de Dios?

    dguzman
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:31 pm
    Sean buenos y compasivos unos con otros. Efesios 4:32 Cuando yo era adolescente, no se usaba la palabra «discapacitado». Ni siquiera sé si existía. Pero es que tampoco la habríamos usado. Para la pandilla del barrio, era más fácil llamar a la gente aludiendo a sus defectos físicos: «el Tuerto», «el Mono», o «Cabeza de melón». Hace poco leí un relato que me hizo acordar de esos días, y también lo crueles que podemos ser hacia personas que sufren de limitaciones físicas. Es un relato que cuenta Tony Campólo en su libro You Can Make a Difference (Tú puedes marcar una…

  • EL DIOS DE GRACIA Y JUICIO

    ojohnson
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:30 am
    Resumen Escuela Sabática para el Sábado 28 de Enero de 2012 “Porque Dios traerá toda obra a juicio, juntamente con toda cosa encubierta, sea buena o sea mala” (Ecl. 12:14). Descarga la presentación (PPTX -2007) o (PPT – 2003/Xp) por la Flia. Fustero y el comentario de escuela sabática (PDF) por el Pr. Alfredo Padilla C. Si necesitas descargar algunos de los folletos para repasar la lección puedes hacerlo aquí. Presentación de Powerpoint Lee noticias adventistas de todo el mundo y descubre nuevos sitios adventistas en la red en: Epicentro ASD Artículos…

  • El Gusanito de la envidia

    dguzman
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:53 pm
    Es cierto que al necio lo mata la ira y al codicioso lo consume la envidia. Job 5:2 Dicen que el envidioso se mata con sus propias flechas. La conocida historia de Dionisio y Damocles parece confirmarlo. Dionisio era rey de Siracusa, una de las ciudades más ricas de Sicilia. Por ser el rey, vivía en un lujoso palacio rodeado de placeres. Pero también era objeto de la envidia de muchos, entre ellos de su amigo Damocles. Cada vez que se presentaba la oportunidad, Damocles decía que Dionisio debía ser el hombre más feliz del mundo. Un día Dionisio se cansó de escucharlo. Damocles,…

  • EL DIOS DE GRACIA Y JUICIO (Recursos)

    ojohnson
    21 Jan 2012 | 4:30 am
    Lección 4: El Dios de Gracia y Juicio Descargue los folletos en PDF para estudiar la lección de la escuela sabática del Primer trimestre de 2012 titulada: El Evangelio en Gálatas. Espere el resumen escuela sabática todos los Viernes. Recursos para descargar de escuela sabática Notas de Elena G. White Folleto Adultos Escuela Sabática Folleto Maestros Escuela Sabática Libro Complementario Lección de Cuna Lección de Infantes Lección de Primarios Lección de Intermediarios Lección Juvenil (El Universitario) “No olvides enviarle este artículo por correo electrónico a tus…

  • DIOS COMO REDENTOR (Resumen)

    ojohnson
    20 Jan 2012 | 4:30 am
    Resumen Escuela Sabática para el Sábado 21 de Enero de 2012 “El Cordero que fue inmolado es digno de tomar el poder, las riquezas, la sabi­duría, la fortaleza, la honra, la gloria y la alabanza” (Apoc. 5:12). Descarga la presentación (PPTX -2007) o (PPT – 2003/Xp) por la Flia. Fustero y el comentario de escuela sabática (PDF) por el Prof. Sikberto Renaldo Marks. Si necesitas descargar algunos de los folletos para repasar la lección puedes hacerlo aquí. Presentación de Powerpoint Lee noticias adventistas de todo el mundo y descubre nuevos sitios adventistas en la red…
 
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    Franciscan Quote of the Day

  • A more honorable lineage…

    a secular franciscan
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:50 pm
    “Do you mark all this well, King Caspian?” “I do indeed, Sir,” said Caspian. “I was wishing that I came of a more honorable lineage.” “You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.” ~C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia Tags: beggar, c s lewis, earth, emperor, lady eve, Poor, prince

  • It’s really very simple…

    a secular franciscan
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:39 pm
    It’s really very simple. Am I building up the kingdom of heaven or am I building up my own kingdom? Am I putting God’s name first and proclaiming His name, or am I proclaiming my name? Am I doing everything for God’s glory, or for my glory? We have to focus on this every day. If I am going to live God’s will, it has to be because I first seek the kingdom. Then He promises everything else will fall into place. ~Fr. Larry Richards, Surrender!  The Life-Changing Power of Doing God’s Will Tags: kingdom of heaven, larry richards, Power, proclaiming, surrender

  • What a waste of a day!

    a secular franciscan
    22 Jan 2012 | 12:42 pm
    What this means is if we are going to do the will of God, every day is going to be a day of self-sacrifice. Again, to make this real and practical I tell people that they should examine their consciences every night before they go to bed and ask, “Did I do at least one act of unselfishness today? Did I give my life away at least once today?” If the answer is no, then they squandered the whole day on themselves, only did what they wanted, only took care of themselves. What a waste of a day! ~Fr. Larry Richards, Surrender!  The Life-Changing Power of Doing God’s Will Tags: god,…

  • All these are things we can do

    a secular franciscan
    13 Jul 2011 | 6:51 pm
    To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do. ~Hermann Hesse (via The Hammock Papers) Tags: Faith, faithful, hermann hesse, love, patience, work, world

  • What creates despair…

    a secular franciscan
    30 Jun 2011 | 10:53 pm
    It is not hard to live through a day, if you can live through a moment. What creates despair is the imagination, which pretends there is a future, and insists on predicting millions of moments, thousands of days, and so drains you that you cannot live the moment at hand. ~Andre Dubus, “A Father’s Story,” Selected Stories (via Country Contemplative) Tags: andre dubus, despair, father, future, imagination, moment
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    Amish America

  • Preview: PBS/American Experience special ‘The Amish’

    Erik/Amish America
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:10 am
    In yesterday’s interview, Saloma mentioned an upcoming PBS special on the Amish, part of the American Experience series.   American Experience has a good reputation for in-depth documentary films, mainly of a historical nature. “The Amish” is a 2-hour film described as “an extraordinarily intimate portrait of contemporary Amish faith and life”.  Quite a few Amish participated as well as numerous experts on the Amish. You can view a preview below (this segment focuses on Nickel Mines).  What do you think? Watch Amish Preview Clip on PBS. See more from American…

  • Saloma Miller Furlong on Why I Left the Amish (giveaway)

    Erik/Amish America
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:12 am
    Saloma Miller Furlong was raised Amish in Ohio.  Why I Left the Amish is the story of her childhood and adolescence, and eventual departure from Amish society. I enjoyed meeting Saloma for the first time this summer while in PA, and have always appreciated her comments here on the blog.  I just recently had a chance to read Why I Left the Amish and found her story to be filled with tough moments but quite a page-turner (maybe for that very reason). Saloma’s story is not a rose-colored version of Amish life but a real look at one person’s experience growing up in difficult…

  • More of your Amish questions answered

    Erik/Amish America
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:15 am
    I had originally planned to try a separate post for each question, but realized that would take awhile and that some can probably be answered in shorter form. So here are some more of your questions from the “Submit your Amish questions” page.  We’ll get to more later: Fr. Andre Leveille, CSC:  Do the Amish have baptism, communion, confirmation, marriage, ordination and annointing of the sick like some mainline Christian religions? Amish do have all of these except for confirmation.  Baptism differs from the Catholic sacrament most obviously by the age of those baptized…

  • Is Amish clothing really “Plain”?

    Erik/Amish America
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:27 am
    Stephen B writes: While I certainly understand the idea behind Plain-ness, of not calling undue attention to one’s self out of modesty and of not wanting to be too much of this world, it seems to me that as times and fashions change, the Amish haven’t really updated their fashions enough to actually *stay* plain. That is, it was one thing, back when, to wear plain-looking pants, no zippers, shoes, and what have you, to stay plain, but it seems to me, the real way to stay plain in this day and age would be to wear some no-name jeans, a plain tee-shirt, solid-color, with no other printing…

  • The Amish of St. Joseph County, Michigan (Centreville)

    Erik/Amish America
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:59 am
    Michigan’s largest Amish settlement Michigan currently occupies 6th place when it comes to the size of their Amish population.  The state is home to nearly 12,000 Amish in 3 dozen communities (see Young Center 2011 Amish statistics). An Amish farm in St. Joseph County, Michigan Over one-tenth of the Michigan Amish population is found in St. Joseph County, in a settlement located near the town of Centreville.  This group consisted of 11 Amish church districts as of 2011.  This makes the St. Joseph County community over twice as big as the next largest Michigan community.  You can…
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    Italian Mother Syndrome

  • The stubborn heart is a lonely one

    Julia Rocchi
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:13 pm
    Photo by Amelien (Fr) Scene: The living room on a snow-quiet day. Life -- a tacked-together body of friends, family, lovers, God whispers, decisions, consequences, moments, and good meals -- is lounging on the sofa. Heart -- who is a heart -- curls up in the armchair. She is frowning. Both have tea. Life: Oh come on. It's not that bad. Heart: Yes it is. It's wracking and profound and worthy of endless, cyclical, non-conclusive thought. Life: You are whacked. They love you. They ALL love you. In fact, you have more love than you know what to do with. Heart: Then why doesn't he say what I want…

  • Against sanctifying Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Julia Rocchi
    16 Jan 2012 | 2:48 pm
    H/T to Alison McQuade for leading me to ill doctrine's awesome video blog Every year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I have to remind myself that Martin Luther King, Jr. was not a saint. He was a complex, complicated man at the epicenter of one of American history's greatest arcs. He made difficult choices in a gray era. He couldn't and didn't please everyone all the time. He faced setbacks amid the steps forward. He was radical (adj. far-reaching) and a radical (n. an advocate for complete, thorough political and social reform). Now 50-odd years removed from his work (with whole generations…

  • How Jane Eyre saved my relationship

    Julia Rocchi
    7 Jan 2012 | 9:06 pm
    Do you think I am an automaton? ­a machine without feelings? ... Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong — I have as much soul as you, — and full as much heart ... I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh; — it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal, — as we are ... -- Jane Eyre Potential title of this post: How Jane Eyre ruined my relationship. I never thought I'd say something…

  • Why I will never achieve my resolutions

    Julia Rocchi
    1 Jan 2012 | 12:12 pm
    Taken in Spain, Sept. 2011. Way back on January 1, 2009, I wrote a post about the one resolution you can't live without -- not my own, but rather the overarching truths and lessons of goal-setting, what it means to truly resolve. Each year since, I have written a litany of earnest resolutions and attendant goals in my journal, and they're often the same items. Every year I tell myself to make more time for writing. Every year I say I will travel to new places. Every year I vow to be a more loving person. And every year I think I have failed. But the march of time -- in this case, at least --…

  • Christmas! It's here!

    Julia Rocchi
    24 Dec 2011 | 6:30 pm
    Photo by storebukkebruse Christ of the cosmos, living Word, come to heal and save... Incognito, in our streets, beneath the concrete, between the cracks, behind the curtains, within the dreams, in ageing memories, in childhood wonder, in secret ponds, in broken hearts, in Bethlehem stable, still small voice, Word of God, amongst us. -- Brian Woodcock & Jan Pickard With great love and hope, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
 
 
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    Life Changing Preaching and Teaching

  • He Cares For Us All

    embcministry
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:42 pm
    Missionary Latoya Gaines preaches to show us that no matter how we view someone’s lifestyle, God still cares for them.  Send us your email to embc510@sbcglobal.net or call 414-372-8568 to let us know how this message has helped you. For additional information please visit our website at www.embcministry.org

  • Purpose In My Pain

    embcministry
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:21 am
    Have you experience pain in your life that has caused you to give up on love, maybe take your life or give up on God? Minister DuShun Beck preaches to show us  that our pain has a purpose. Send us your email to embc510@sbcglobal.net or call 414-372-8568 to let us know how this message has helped you. For additional information please visit our website at www.embcministry.org

  • How To Behave Yourself In The House Of God

    embcministry
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:49 am
    Pastor Joe H. Todd preaches to enlighten us to the qualifications of church leaders.  Send us your email to embc510@sbcglobal.net or call 414-372-8568 to let us know how this message has helped you. For additional information please visit our website at www.embcministry.org

  • The Model Church

    embcministry
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:19 am
    What does the way you live your  life say about Jesus Christ? Pastor Joe Todd preaches to show us how we are to be the model church. Send us your email to embc510@sbcglobal.net or call 414-372-8568 to let us know how this message has helped you. For additional information please visit our website at www.embcministry.org

  • Look Past Your Distraction And Walk Into Your Destiny

    embcministry
    15 Jan 2012 | 3:20 pm
    Minister A. Maurice Drane preaches to show us how we are  guaranteed to arrive at our destiny.   Send us your email to embc510@sbcglobal.net or call 414-372-8568 to let us know how this message has helped you. For additional information please visit our website at www.embcministry.org
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    SCOAN London

  • ‘Your Relationship With Jesus’ – An Inspiring Message From T.B. Joshua

    SCOAN London
    18 Jan 2012 | 1:59 pm
    Emmanuel! Here is a summary of key points from the message preached by Prophet T.B. Joshua on Sunday 15th January 2012, titled, ‘Your Relationship With Jesus’.We pray God would open your heart to His Word as you read, and inspire you to not just be a hearer of the Word but a doer! John 21:15-17 – Jesus asked Peter one of the most significant and penetrating – in fact, one of the most dangerous questions ever asked: ‘Do you love Me?’ Three times, Jesus asked Peter, ‘Do you love Me?’ Three times, Peter answered, ‘You know I love You.’ Three times Jesus responded…

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis: God Healed Me!

    SCOAN London
    10 Jan 2012 | 10:50 am
    At a tender age and in the height of her academic pursuits, Liliosa’s life literally turned upside down. Smitten by a strange and sudden ailment, almost every day became a gruelling battle amidst pain and painkillers. It was rheumatoid arthritis, a disease normally associated with people in the latter stages of their life and one with no known medical cure. In the midst of her physical frailty, Liliosa also faced challenges in her marriage. Here is her remarkable story of restoration through Jesus Christ– one that touched her physical body, spiritual life and marital home. Hospitalised…

  • 2012: The Year Of Comeback – T.B. Joshua’s New Year Message

    SCOAN London
    2 Jan 2012 | 6:33 pm
    Emmanuel! Happy New Year 2012, a year Prophet T.B. Joshua has termed ‘The Year Of Comeback’! Here are some key points from the message preached at The SCOAN Candlelight Service on December 31st 2011, as seen on Emmanuel TV: 2012 is the year of comeback! That is, come back to worship God in spirit and truth. A comeback is a return to a place of significance, a place that was lost for a period of time. In the year 2011, we worshiped our possessions rather than the Giver. This New Year is a year of comeback to worship the Giver. Sometimes, we need to hear about others setback and…

  • SCOAN Candlelight Service Live On Emmanuel TV!

    SCOAN London
    29 Dec 2011 | 8:11 am
    This Saturday 31st December 2011, we encourage you to catch the fire and join Prophet T.B. Joshua LIVE on Emmanuel TV to enter the New Year 2012 in a powerful time of prayer and praise! SCOAN London Venue If you are based in the UK, we warmly invite you to our special New Year’s Eve service at the Thistle Hotel, Heathrow in London from 10pm to 1am where we will link up live to the service in SCOAN Lagos and pray with T.B. Joshua into the New Year 2012. Please CLICK HERE for full details and directions! In preparation, here is a video of last year’s service at The SCOAN…

  • SCOAN UK Christmas Greetings!

    SCOAN London
    25 Dec 2011 | 3:15 am
    Emmanuel! On behalf of SCOAN UK, we wish you all a very merry Christmas! This season, we encourage you to pray to the Holy Spirit: O Holy Spirit, impress Your law in my heart O Holy Spirit, pour into me the treasure of Your grace O Holy Spirit, enlighten me with your Divine inspiration O Holy Spirit, inspire in me the practice of virtues O Holy Spirit, grant me the grace of all virtues Remember, without Jesus Christ there would be no Christmas. God so loved us that He planted His best Seed in the earth so that His peace might abide with men forever. The seed gave Himself up as a living…
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    CNA Daily News

  • Military archbishop: U.S. invasion led to fewer Iraqi Christians

    28 Jan 2012 | 6:03 am
    Rome, Italy, Jan 28, 2012 / 07:03 am (CNA).- U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio says the collapse of Iraq’s Christian population is among the legacies of America's invasion in 2003. “Yes, you can say in a certain sense that the invasion of Iraq did provoke this tremendous diminution of the Christian population in that country. And what the future holds, that still remains to be seen,” the archbishop for the armed forces told CNA during his visit to Rome on Jan. 16. His comments come only a month after the final pull-out of U.S. troops from Iraq, where they remained following…

  • God’s love will not fail you, archbishop tells leprosy victims

    27 Jan 2012 | 6:26 pm
    Vatican City, Jan 27, 2012 / 07:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski told those affected by leprosy that God's love will never fail them. In statement for the 59th World Leprosy Day, which will be observed on Jan. 29, the archbishop addressed survivors of the disease and those still suffering from it around the globe. “He who is in suffering and … prays to the Lord is certain that God's love will never abandon him,” the Archbishop told those who are suffering from the disease. Archbishop Zimowski, who heads the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, said that those…

  • English seminary in Rome celebrates its 650th birthday

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:10 pm
    Rome, Italy, Jan 27, 2012 / 06:10 pm (CNA).- The Catholic seminary in Rome where young Englishmen are trained for the priesthood turned 650 years-old on Jan. 27. It was on that day in 1362 that the forerunner of the Venerable English College, a house for English and Welsh pilgrims to Rome, was founded. In the 16th century it became a seminary. “It is right in the heart of Rome. It is a wonderful location,” said vice rector Fr. Mark Harold, as he gave a tour of the college to CNA. The English College “is a really historic place and we believe it is the oldest English institution in the…

  • Peruvians must overcome hatred of terrorists, archbishop says

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:03 pm
    Lima, Peru, Jan 27, 2012 / 03:03 pm (CNA).- The new president of the Bishops’ Conference of Peru, Archbishop Salvador Pineiro Garcia Calderon of Ayacucho exhorted Peruvians to work for forgiveness and overcome the hatred sown by terrorism. In a Jan. 26 press conference at the bishops’ conference offices, Archbishop Garcia Calderon called for peace and reconciliation but also said Peruvians must not forget “those difficult hours of humiliation, vengeance and hatred” they lived through during the 1980s and 90s because of the Shining Path, a Maoist rebel…

  • Year of Faith is Pope's response to 'profound crisis'

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:48 pm
    Vatican City, Jan 27, 2012 / 01:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The upcoming 2012-2013 “Year of Faith” seeks to awaken humanity at a critical moment, Pope Benedict XVI said as he addressed the Church's highest doctrinal office on Jan. 27. “In vast areas of the earth the faith risks being extinguished, like a flame without fuel,” the Pope told assembled members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who met in a plenary session on Friday. “We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of a religious sense which represents one of the greatest challenges for the Church today.”…
 
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    FaithLab Articles

  • Of Jaws, Fishing for Men, and the Kingdom of God (Or, We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!)

    Bert Montgomery
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:08 pm
    Quint the fisherman, played to perfection by the scene-stealing Robert Shaw in the 1975 Steven Spielberg masterpiece, Jaws, was a rugged, thick-skinned, and independent man who played by his own rules and offered to hunt, kill, and bring back to shore the shark that was terrorizing a small coastal town – for the right price, of course.I've met some fishermen like Mr. Quint down on Louisiana's Gulf Coast. You'd have to be tough and unlikable to some degree to choose to live alone or in small groups out on the open waters, far from shore, with little or no shelter from the terrible…

  • Mev Puleo, Friend of the Poor, One Who Lived A Life "Crammed With Meaning"

    Joshua Hearne
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:10 am
    Mev Puleo didn't want you to have the opportunity to look away from the unpleasant. One of her many passions was art and her medium was photography.With a point, a click, and some strange alchemy of chemicals and paper she was able to grasp the face of a child or the body racked by poverty and make a statement that could not be ignored. With the permanence of the photographic image, she was able to convict the hearts and minds of many people who would much rather simply wait a moment and forget all about the plight of the less fortunate. Mev couldn't look away from the passion that for the…

  • Unanimous, For Once

    David Adams
    18 Jan 2012 | 5:39 am
    Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that religious organizations could practice discrimination in their employment practices. I’ll admit that the previous summary was extremely terse and doesn’t deal with any of the nuances of the case, but it’s not any more terse than referring to the controversial and wrong-headed split decision on “Citizens United” as the day the Court determined that corporations are people.That said, there has been a lot of conversation on either side of this. One of the better arguments I’ve heard…

  • A Burger in Jackson

    Michael R. Duncan
    16 Jan 2012 | 9:29 am
    The year was 1967. The place was Jackson, Tennessee. I was a college freshman about to learn a lesson.The campus of Union University was not overly crowded on the weekends back in 1967. By the way, this was the old campus, the one that looked like a place of learning. I lived in Adams Hall, a dorm in which the ground floor rooms were reserved for the basketball players. On any given weekend, the dorm would be vacated by most of the students, leaving only the basketball players and a few of us who lived too far away to drive home for the weekend.Jackson was a great college town . . . if you…

  • A Prayer for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

    Rabbi Seth F. Oppenheimer
    16 Jan 2012 | 7:11 am
    The sages teach:At the Sea of Reeds, Moses thrust out his staff; nothing happened.Then Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Judah, in his courage and faith, stepped into the sea, the waves pushing him back. He stepped up to his knees, his waist, his neck. A small step and the water surged just below his nostrils, one more step to immerse entirely and, behold! The sea split and Nachshon led the people across to the other side.There is in front of us a sea of injustice. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his faith and courage, marched into that sea. Unlike Nachson, Dr. King did not survive his…
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    Reflect

  • What are you hoping for?

    Jann Cobb
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    Leaning up against a gas station wall stood a disheveled man, shivering from the cold. In Grand Rapids there are many homeless people and it is quite possible that he also fell into this category. In one hand he held his gloves and in the other he grasped a lottery ticket that he was furiously working on. Hoping it would be a winner. I wondered what else he was hoping for? Why would he spend the money that he begged for on such a slim chance? The odds of winning the lottery usually have odds 18 million to 1 and some have odds as high as 120 million to 1. With those…

  • Memories of Jesus

    Jann Cobb
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pm
    I saw something this week that brought back a flood of memories! A picture that was created for Crossroad Youth ministry took me back, way back to 1976!From 1976-1980 while I was in High school, this greeted me each time I entered into the building. It holds a deep, deep place in my heart! I have incredible memories! Memories of hundreds of high school students declaring their love for Jesus and encouraging others to do so also!  I remember the first night that I came into this room and by the end of the evening I was a part of God's family! I remember silly dramas, deep conversations,…

  • Combative Cover ups

    Jann Cobb
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:30 am
    I am so fortunate! My mother loves to iron and every week she comes to my house and irons. meticulously creating creases on my husbands shirts and proudly lining up her completed masterpieces, she is am ironing wonder! I am so blessed by her love of ironing!This week, upon returning home from school, I walked into an interesting sight. On the kitchen floor was a bright blue sheet wadded up against the dishwasher. My mother declared that the dishwasher was spitting out water! A couple things ran through my mind.I had turned the dishwasher on before I left in the morning.Did she use dish…

  • The Descendants

    Jann Cobb
    22 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    I went to see the movie The Descendants this week. I love George Clooney and had heard the buzz about how good the performances were. I did not know anything about the plot, characters or setting. All I knew about this film was that my friend George ( I have a slight crush) was in it.Sometimes I invent a scenario about a movie before I see it.  In this case I predicted that the movie was going to be about family relationships through out the generations, hence the name The Descendants.The movie was not what I expected although many reviewers raved about it.  Rotten…

  • River otters chasing a butterfly!

    Jann Cobb
    20 Jan 2012 | 3:30 am
    Watch this video of River otters chasing after a butterfly.It reminds me that joy can be found in simple things. When you know the one who created all things you can have joy.Joy can be found inA smilea bike rideTime in prayerExtra time to sleepLooking at the sunsetGod's word shared with youThe bible verse that hits homeA book, blanket and a fireplaceSnuggling with your kidsThe perfect cup of coffeeLong conversationsA loving embraceYummy dessertsDark chocolateWhen you see God in the midst of these and other events of your day there is Joy! Seek Him! Look for Him today!You will seek…
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    The Daily Register

  • Next Church Doctor is Model for Evangelization

    NCRegister
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    By CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY | ROME—Today’s world can learn a lot from St. John of Avila, according to those who have studied the life of the newest Doctor of the Church. “St. John of Avila is far from us in time, but nearby for his figure, his life, his evangelizing witness and for his teaching,” Archbishop Juan del Río Martín of …

  • Register Radio: Same-sex "Marriage" and Top Films of 2011

    NCRegister
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    By Tim Drake | Today on Register Radio, Thomas McDonald, correspondent for the National Catholic Register, provides a thorough history of so-called “same-sex marriage” legislation in the state of New Jersey. Democrats in the legislature have introduced same-sex marriage legislation despite already having a civil union law which permits same-sex unions. “They got civil unions, which is marriage in all but …

  • Keepers of the Lost Ark, Gods Own Architect, B16 Creates New Science and Faith Foundation, and more!

    NCRegister
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    By TITO EDWARDS | Keepers of the Lost Ark - Robert Spencer, Crisis Magazine Pugin: God’s Own Architect - Fr. Lawrence Lew OP, New Liturgical Movement Pope Benedict Creates New Science & Faith Foundation - David Kerr, Catholic News Agency It’s More Than Talk; Pro-Life and More - Robert J. Gieb, Catholic Lane Jesus v. Religion? - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery …

  • Removal of Extra Baggage, Hildegard of Bingen, 10 Tips for Successful Catholic Blogging, and more!

    NCRegister
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    By TITO EDWARDS | Getting Rid of Excess Baggage - Randy Hain, Integrated Catholic Life™ St. Hildegard of Bingen: Voice of the Living Light - Sandra Miesel, Catholic World Report Ten Tips for Successful Catholic Blogging - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery The Greatest App You Will Ever Purchase - Marc Barnes, Patheos/Bad Catholic Pope Praises Silence & Potential of Social Media …

  • Holy See Considers Legal Action Against TV Station

    NCRegister
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    By EDWARD PENTIN | VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has threatened legal action against an Italian television station for using “questionable journalistic methods” in a program that alleged a former senior Vatican official had been transferred against his will after complaining about internal corruption. The program, called The Untouchables and broadcast on the channel La 7 on Wednesday night, showed several …
 
 
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    JonathanPearson.net

  • 1 Thing Holding You Back

    Jonathan Pearson
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    Fear. You have an idea, you think it’s a good one, but you fear what it will take to get there. You have a goal, but you’re scared of the effort and sacrifices you’ll have to make to accomplish it. You have a conviction, but you’re nervous about what other people will say if you start or stop because of it. The great part about acknowledging that fear is the thing holding you back? You can begin to move past it. Do. Not. Fear. Rise Above It. What holds you back? 1 Thing Holding You Back is a post from: JonathanPearson.net

  • #ImA

    Jonathan Pearson
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    Saw this new “I’m a Pepper” commercial Sunday while watching football. Very thoughtful and creative ad. Fill in the blank: I’m A __________. #ImA is a post from: JonathanPearson.net

  • 3 Lessons From the Life of #JoePa

    Jonathan Pearson
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    In case you didn’t hear, yesterday a legend in the sports world passed away. Joe Paterno was the head coach for the Penn St Nittany Lions for 46 years… 46 very successful years. He was with the university for a total of 61 years. Joe Pa wasn’t perfect (none of us are) , but there are still things we can glean from his life… 1. Dedication is essential to success. Joe Paterno was dedicated to the Penn St football program. His 40+ years proved that he believed commitment was important if he wanted to win. He was committed to building excellence and being a part of…

  • 3 Signs You Need to Find Another Place

    Jonathan Pearson
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    1. Your current place is draining you rather than fulfilling you. We all have those days. Those days when we wanna just go home and give up. Those times when where we are and what we do seems to cause more stress than good. Usually, though, in the middle of these times, we still know we’re being fulfilled. That we’re doing what we were created to do. It’s fulfilling us. When where you are quits fulfilling you, you may need to find somewhere or something else. That’s no good way to live. 2. You’re giving your current place only half effort. Whatever you do…

  • 8 on 8′s – GOSPEL

    Jonathan Pearson
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    Thanks to Sandy Bowers for today’s 8 on 8′s. See all of the 8 on 8 posts here. 8 on 8′s – GOSPEL is a post from: JonathanPearson.net
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    esoriano

  • Still Stuck on Mass and the Eucharist

    Brother Eliseo F. Soriano
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:35 pm
    One of my readers named Babe asked me: Why do some people keep on wasting their time criticizing the belief of others? Is this a Christian work? Or is it just you? My answer:  It’s not just me and my own; it is Christ’s way of liberating people from errors and fallacies! It is from Him we pattern our interactions, especially as he said in MARK 7:7, Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Jesus Christ criticized the man-made doctrines of the Jews! So we also criticize the practices of some – not to waste our time – but for errors and…

  • The Invented Roman Catholic Church

    Brother Eliseo F. Soriano
    14 Jan 2012 | 8:24 pm
    The Mass is one of the many invented doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church! It is regarded as the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and is the central act of worship of the Catholic Church. Let us see how they define “mass” and “eucharist” first. MODERN CATHOLIC DICTIONARY (MCD) MASS. The Sacrifice of the Eucharist as the central act of worship of the Catholic Church. The “Mass” is a late form of missio (sending), from which the faithful are sent to put into practice what they have learned and use the graces they have received in the Eucharistic liturgy. As defined by the…

  • Beauty Beyond The Senses

    Brother Eliseo F. Soriano
    8 Jan 2012 | 6:19 pm
    My attention was caught by a comment posted on my blogsite by someone who introduced himself as Angelo DF. There are some favorable remarks he wrote about my understanding of the Scriptures. Whether they came from the heart or they are praises undeserved, let me emphasize that I do not accept them! Glory, honor and praises belong to the Creator! As for insults and defamations imputed on me and posted on my blogsite, let them stay there! Comments that come show me two opposites: beauty and ugliness. Beauty is in everything created by God. Harmony, orderliness, gentleness and wisdom abide in…

  • Prophecies Fulfilled In Roman Catholicism

    Brother Eliseo F. Soriano
    1 Nov 2011 | 10:54 am
    Prophecies fulfilled in Roman Catholicism Biblical prophecies are meant to be fulfilled without fail. The fulfillment proves the existence of the God who foretold them. ISAIAH 46:9-10 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Only the true God has the power to see the future. No human being by his own intelligence equipped with the most modern technological know-how…

  • Human Souls Are Purged But Not in Purgatory

    Brother Eliseo F. Soriano
    22 Oct 2011 | 2:03 am
    II TIMOTHY 3:16 (THE AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION) Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. All Scriptures inspired of God are profitable for: •        Teaching •        Reproof •        Correction •        Instruction These are the main concerns of every Scripture inspired of God! Historical wise, Scriptures teach, reprove, correct and instruct in righteousness. The long history of the Israelites as a people teaches every generation thereafter with correction,…
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    World Revival Network Blog

  • Gospel Of The Glory

    26 Jan 2012 | 12:18 pm
    I've found that believers have a lot to say about the gospel. Their words often imbibe the intricacies of sin, redemption and hope for the future.As I try to perk up my ears, I'm always amazed by all the nuances of the work of Christ. Yet, I sense something more should be arising in our conversations. It's not that our words are wrong; they're just inadequate to fully describe what's transpiring.I sense that others feel this way too. In my desire to go beyond the constraints of religious discourse, I recently uncovered a unique biblical excerpt. Perhaps you will be as impacted by it as I…

  • Questions You Need to Consider

    12 Jan 2012 | 10:32 pm
    When it comes to finding ways to develop your leadership and influence, I've discovered some relevant questions that you should consider. Take a little time and consider what the answer of each of these questions will mean for you. Your future impact and influence may be depending on it.Identity - Who Are We?Purpose - What is the broader overarching goal?Values - What are the beliefs that underline our actions?Priorities - What are we focusing our energy and resources on?Practices - What are the methods and approaches we are using to accomplish what we want to do?Personnel - Who are we…

  • What's In You Could Derail You

    6 Jan 2012 | 12:29 am
    Have you ever found yourself in a challenging situation? I certainly have.  Not long ago I inherited a demanding leadership responsibility. All of the sudden, I had to excel in something that I felt rather ill-equipped to accomplish. To my dismay I allowed some wrong attitudes to arise. Sooner or later, every leader faces a similar conflict within their heart. They must not only come to grips with their own constraints, they must also come to acknowledge their narrow approach to management. So what did I do to overcome this problem? In the midst of my struggle I was impacted by a…

  • Three Things Ministry Leaders Often Overlook

    27 Dec 2011 | 4:44 pm
    As I'veworked alongside churches and ministry organizations over the last severalyears, I've observed three things that strongly shape their receptivity and impact. They are: content, experiences and relationships.ContentFor me, contentrefers to quality of what's being shared. If the communicationlacks depth or application, listeners will quickly disengage. People simply willnot listen to things they don't receive value from. Growing ministries continuallyproduce desirable content in their teachings, literature and online media. Quality content certainly makes a…

  • Stop One Thing That Drains You And Your Ministry

    15 Dec 2011 | 7:57 pm
    Ministry can be a rather difficult area to labor in. Whenever people try to serve the Body of Christ, they often experience obstacles and severe discord; things that they should not have to face from fellow Christians. Many Spirit-filled leaders mistakenly believe they have to continually accept severe opposition and criticism. Out of some sense of ministerial duty, they keep taking the harsh phone calls and making room for people whose sole purpose in life is to obstruct the move of God. I know they want to be loving, but leaders don’t have to keep taking that kind of…
 
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    The Dude Abides

  • Our Darling Cleo Has Left Us

    tgf
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:46 am
    For those of you who read Sin Boldly (or who followed me in the Chicago Sun-Times several years back, I have some news to share that breaks my heart: Our beloved cat, Cleo, died unexpectedly last night at home in Laguna Beach. She went quickly and peacefully. We are just gutted.

  • Justin Bieber’s Ecce Homo

    tgf
    10 Jan 2012 | 10:44 pm
    You might not have a clue who Bieber is. Or, if you are aware of the existence of the crown prince of Stratford, Ontario, you might not give two hoots about him. But I’m guessing that there is a young person in your life who does. So, for the sake of the children, please hear me out.

  • GG makes a BELIEBER! out of Steve Brown: Listen for yourself!

    tgf
    6 Jan 2012 | 7:40 pm
    Ya know, I've been interviewed a lot over the last five or six years and I have to say that, hands down, my favorite venue to be grilled publicly is on the Steve Brown Show. Earlier today I recorded a new episode with "The Old White Guy," as Pastor Brown calls himself, about BELIEBER! and it was an absolute hoot. The show airs this weekend on the Salem Radio Network (click HERE to find stations and air times), but you can listen to it now by clicking on the link below.

  • An Invitation to The Great Conversation

    tgf
    5 Jan 2012 | 2:56 pm
    A California vicar I know likes to describe the life of faith — the Church — as “The Great Conversation.” It is a conversation to which we all (and what part of alldon’t you understand?) are invited. When followers of Christ share their faith with others, they are inviting them to join the sacred conversation. This is evangelicalism in its truest sense. This is what we are called to do. By the One, by Emmanuel, “God with us.”

  • Waiting to Exhale

    tgf
    5 Jan 2012 | 2:36 pm
    Lately, I’ve been holding my breath. It’s actually something I inherited from my mother’s side of the family. Many of my female relatives on the Irish side of the clan have this habit of holding our breath when we’re talking—or rather, listening—or concentrating, or thinking. And especially when we’re anxious. Stress makes many people turn [...]
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    Confessions of a Christian Dropout

  • The Most Depressing Week of the Year

    Bill
    21 Jan 2012 | 7:37 am
    I saw a story in the news that the third week of January is typically considered by many to be the most depressing week of the year kicked off by what is known as "Blue Monday." A combination of factors bears the blame. The joy rush of the holiday season has subsided. The memories made with family members seen only at that time of the year have begun to fade. Credit card bills from lavish holiday spending are coming due. In many places winter at it's worst has set in. Perhaps the greatest contributor to this eerily predictable season of sadness is the fact that, after two…

  • Join Me at You 2.0

    Bill
    14 Jan 2012 | 2:04 pm
    For about a month now I've been working on building a new online presence called You 2.0 where I, along with guest writers, will focus on topics such as career, money, relationships, religion-free spirituality, and personal transformation. Nothing would make me happier than for the audience here to join me there. Click here, or the banner below, to be magically transported to the new site.

  • How Adam & Eve Founded Religion

    Bill
    14 Jan 2012 | 9:23 am
    "So the image of God is not simply a characteristic of who we are, which may or may not be there, depending on whether or not we have been baptized. The image of God is the essence of our being. It is the core of the human soul. We are sacred not because we have been baptized or because we belong to one faith tradition over another. We are sacred because we have been born." ~ J. Philip Newell; Christ of the Celts The narrative of the first few chapters of the first book of the Bible introduces us to the first days of creation, the first animals, the first garden home, the first man,…

  • The Bondage of Beliefs

    Bill
    30 Dec 2011 | 10:24 am
    There are some who believe that if, while driving or walking, a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck. There are some who believe that breaking a mirror, walking under a ladder, or waking up on Friday the 13th brings misfortune. There are individuals who believe that leaving the house and being in public is dangerous. Some are certain that being in a high place will lead to disaster. These are people who endure each day in bondage. They are superstitious. They are phobic. They are controlled by beliefs that have been instilled in them by others, or by past random experiences.

  • A Delightful Distraction

    Bill
    11 Dec 2011 | 12:18 pm
    The self-important part of my psyche imagines that you, my faithful readers, have been wondering where I've been. The realist in me realizes that when you see this post in your feed your response will be something like, "Oh yeah, him." Nevertheless I wanted to write a brief post to greet you and tell you about the last few weeks. A week or so before Thanksgiving I began to seriously consider and outline a path forward in my life toward the work that I believe I am meant to do. Writing, speaking, teaching, and coaching are to be the central elements of my life and work in the…
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    DAVE TIECHE

  • The Raft :: 1.27.12

    dave
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:27 pm

  • Indecision 2012 :: Part One

    dave
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:04 pm
    NOTE: Being an American Christian during the Presidential Election cycle can be really confusing. But it’s even *more* maddening if you’re a pastor. The rhetoric cranks up about four notches and loads of people (other pastors, your own congregants, the people you lead, your friends) all have varied expectations of you. Today, I received an email + letter + MP3 file from Jim Garlow, the senior pastor of SkyLine Church in La Mesa, CA. I did not sign up for his email distribution list, so I don’t know how he got my name. But here was my response to him. I figure that if I…

  • NextStep Mission to Navajo Nation :: 2012

    dave
    13 Jan 2012 | 2:17 pm
    Support-Raising Letter Click here.2012 NextStep Mission Trip Itinerary Click here.

  • I Live On the Worst Street in America

    dave
    11 Jan 2012 | 11:38 am
    The other day, I was out with my son and his friends from next door (great kids, Josiah and his older brother Jacob). We were hanging out, and I was just filming them with my iPhone and I captured these three moments which prove to me – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that we have to move soon. Garrison Circle is just much too dangerous:Reason 1: Reckless, Dangerous Drivers Jacob *barely* gets out of the way of this fast-moving vehicle. And he was on the SIDEWALK!Reason 2: Our Block Has *Terrible* Weather As if earthquakes aren’t enough. What is this? What is this? The terrible…

  • Three Stories of Christmas

    dave
    24 Dec 2011 | 9:10 pm
    The reason we do not run to God is because we do not know how much trouble we are in. – Dallas WillardWhy Jesus’ Birth Even Matters This Christmas, at Family Community Church, we tried to answer the question, “Why does the birth of Jesus, which happened more than 2000 years old, matter for you and I.”And the answer is that Jesus came to rescue us. And that was the theme of this morning’s service. Rescue. Below are four unique stories from people in our church community who Jesus rescued. Some of them – at the time – might not have even thought that they needed…
 
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    Virtual Religion

  • Cute little Krishna – animated god and saviour

    admin
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:05 am
    By Hans Olav Arnesen The fact that animated films and television series about religious characters, and even gods, are good entertainment is old news. Disney has paved the way with for example Hercules and Moses, but they have for the most part kept to characters from the Judeo-Christian heritage or from Greek-Roman paganism in their productions. India, of course, provides a plethora of heroes (or villains), waiting to be “animated”. One of these gods is of course Vishnu, and one of his avatars, Krishna, is perhaps particularly well suited for a young audience. There are many…

  • Even the Vatican makes use of Wikipidea

    admin
    18 Jan 2012 | 1:51 am
    By Hans Olav Arnesen Wikipedia has proven to be an extremely useful asset for a lot of people in a lot of different professions. Even though, or perhaps because, the articles are not peer-reviewed, they are just so numerous that they make Wikipedia, arguably, the most practical online encyclopaedia. Chances are that the article you are looking for is on Wikipedia, even if it´s missing from one of your more respected encyclopaedias. Thats why even academics, who often choose not to write articles on Wikipedia, sometimes use the online resource themselves to get a quick overview on a new…

  • Sharing files from your computer is a religious act – at least in Sweden

    virtualreligion
    6 Jan 2012 | 12:17 pm
      By Hans Olav Arnesen In Sweden, the home of piratebay.com, file-sharing is now an act of religion, at least if you belong to The Church of Kopymism. This religious community has ties with the Pirate-movement, and shares the same adress as the youth section of the Pirate Party, according to SvD (Swedish text). “Copying and spreading are our most important religious tenets, ” According to the high-priest of Kopyism, Isak Gerson, also a student of philosophy at Uppsala university. He also claims that Kopyism have a mission to spread their faith, and will try to convince…

  • Religious wallpapers from iDesigniPhone.com

    admin
    5 Jan 2012 | 8:11 am
    By Hans Olav Arnesen I´ve written so much about various applications lately that there is a chance this blog will be percieved as some sort of Apple-marketing effort. It is not. Before we, hopefully, move on to other virtual religious stuff, I want to point out one more website that provides services for iPhone users. iDesigniPhone.com sells wallpapers for your iPhone (sorry to all you non-iPhone usersI). There´s lots to choose from, including about 45 various religious themes. If you want to check them out I suggest you visit their web-site, but I´m sure they won´t mind if we give you a…

  • Reasonable Faith application – easy access to daily life theology

    admin
    4 Jan 2012 | 4:05 pm
        By Hans Olav Arnesen The immensely productive and vigorous Christian apologist, philosopher and theologian, William Craig Lane, has soothed many troubled souls, as well as providing the arguments for countless Christians who already know the answers, but who lack the means of explaining them to outsiders. As a champion of Christianity he has stood against the enemies of the Faith, such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. His work, consisting of more than 30 books and countless articles, lectures, videos and podcasts are therefore valuable tools for the convinced theist…
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    The Word Composed | Song Revelation 5

  • The December funds have been received!

    The Word Composed | Write --> Sell = Give
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:57 am
    The Word Composed has raised $4.55 so far in song sales. Next month our trending reports for the New Year will be posted and I will see how much we have raised at that point. As of right now, the $4.55 will be saved in a donation fund until we see how much more funds are coming in. Please help spread the word in any way you can either by liking this post on Facebook, or posting the link to the iTunes store. Let’s bless others by sharing information about this fund raiser! Also feel free to use the PayPal donation button below to make a donation. Here’s the song “Revelation 5” And…

  • Olivia Broadfield (Esco Remix) – Say

    The Word Composed | Write --> Sell = Give
    2 Jan 2012 | 11:03 am
    I entered a competition remixing a song by artist “Olivia Broadfield” titled “Say” and if I win, I get $1000.00 in prizes and major exposure. Please give the track a listen and let me know what you think. Here’s a link to the original track so you can compare the two songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL-V4E8fveA CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON ON THE PLAYER BELOW TO PREVIEW WHAT I’VE DONE: While working on the track, I do realize that it is more then likely secular in nature however… I picture the song as a heartfelt cry from the perspective of Jesus’…

  • 2011 in review

    The Word Composed | Write --> Sell = Give
    31 Dec 2011 | 8:20 pm
    The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the complete report.

  • Is this a thought? Or is it God’s will?

    The Word Composed | Write --> Sell = Give
    26 Dec 2011 | 8:22 pm
    We all have that moment, where we have a thought. We aren’t sure if the thought is “just some crazy idea” or is it “God’s will”. You may have had this thought a few weeks ago, or a few years ago. The Point is, the thought was there and now it more then likely isn’t. A great example is http://www.thnkwater.com, when Chris Webb had that thought. He had to decide if it was just a good idea or if it was the very will of God. In 26 days his water campaign raised $2333.00 forever changing the lives of over 100 people. What if Chris would have decided that…

  • Revelation 5 has hit YouTube!

    The Word Composed | Write --> Sell = Give
    13 Dec 2011 | 1:15 am
    Feel free to share this YouTube video of Revelation 5! Special thanks to http://veritasindagator.wordpress.com/ for the suggestion!
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    ATLAH Media Network

  • All Things True

    admin
    28 Jan 2012 | 6:31 am
    Dr. James David Manning speaks about his past experiences. Recorded on 27 January 2012.

  • Satan Pays Extremely Well

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:34 pm
    Dr. James David Manning says Mitt Romney earns $22 million per year, Bill O’Reilly $43 million, Rush Limbaugh $50 million, and Joel Olsteen $100 million. Recorded on 25 January 2011.

  • Newt And Nancy Were Lovers

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:32 pm
    Dr. James David Manning says Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi were lovers. Recorded on 25 January 2012.

  • The Manning Report – 27 January 2012

    atlahbennett
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:36 pm
    This is a 3-hour audio broadcast archived from the live Manning Report broadcast. Check Out ATLAH Worldwide on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/ATLAHWorldwide/150345810898 01-27-12

  • I told you

    barbarian
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:11 am
 
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