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On a frosty December night last year, about two dozen guests slipped into the Alta Club, a century-old private retreat a block away from the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that dominates Salt Lake City. Two men, who didn't know each other, were the reason for the dinner: church lobbyist Bill Evans and gay rights leader Rick Jacobs. Evans was a point man for the church's successful effort to pass California's gay marriage ban, known as Prop 8, in 2008. Jacobs, leader of Courage Campaign, produced a 2008 commercial against the ban showing Mormon missionaries...

Just wanted to report that today I saw kids praying in public school. About eight of them. High school age boys! I attended a music competition to see my daughter's high school band perform. As the group waited outside to go into the warm-up room, prior to performing for the judges, a boy said, "Well, guys, we should pray." There was a little back and forth as it was sorted out who was Christian and who was not interested, and a huddle of guys formed, with their arms around each others' shoulders, seriously praying for their performance to go well...

In a profoundly symbolic gesture (hat tip Tundra Tabloids), which epitomizes the Catholic Church's abject dhimmitude, high-profile Muslim convert to Christianity Magdi Christiano Allam, has renounced his Catholicism because of what he terms the Church's weakness toward, and legitimation of, Islam. Allam, who remains a Christian, reiterated his belief that Islam is inherently violent, to both its own votaries, and non-Muslims, and criticized The Church for lacking "the vision and courage to denounce the incompatibility of Islam with our [Western] civilization and fundamental rights of the person." When Benedict XVI himself oversaw Magdi Allam's public Easter 2008 conversion from Islam...

Different Marxist factions had different ideas about how best to go about this. The Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci drew a distinction between what he called a "war of manoeuvre" and a "war of position." The war of manoeuvre was the Stalinist model. One simply used political violence to achieve one's ends. But Gramsci thought this would not work in the more highly developed Western countries. For these countries, he recommended a war of position. A war of position is one in which one first identifies "switch-points of social power" and then one seeks to peacefully take control of those switch-points....

A prominent anti-Islam advocate’s hatred of Islam has now led him to abandon his Catholic faith: Magdi Cristiano Allam, an Egyptian-born Muslim whom Pope Benedict publicly baptised at Easter five years ago in St Peter’s Basilica has announced that he is leaving the Church because it has taken too soft a stand against Islam.“My conversion to Catholicism, which came at the hands of Benedict XVI during the Easter Vigil on 22 March 2008, I now consider finished in combination with the end of his pontificate,” Mr Allam wrote on Monday in the right-wing Milan daily, Il Giornale. . . .“The...

High profile Muslim convert quits Catholic Church25 March 2013 Magdi Cristiano Allam, an Egyptian-born Muslim whom Pope Benedict publicly baptised at Easter five years ago in St Peter's Basilica has announced that he is leaving the Church because it has taken too soft a stand against Islam."My conversion to Catholicism, which came at the hands of Benedict XVI during the Easter Vigil on 22 March 2008, I now consider finished in combination with the end of his pontificate," Mr Allam wrote on Monday in the right-wing Milan daily, Il Giornale.The 61-year-old journalist and right-wing politician has long been an Italian...

(This was actually a reply to another thread but thought I'd re-post it as its own thread) I think I was at least partially responsible for approximately 10 friends and my entire family (parents & siblings). I may have lucked out but some things to note that I think helped me was: 1) I never came across as angry or bitter. I was always nice, friendly and self assured (but not arrogant or condescending) 2) They all knew I was a "good" Mormon so they were all very curious as to why I left when it wasn't because of being...

The dictionary defines irony as “a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.” Well, the election of Pope Francis, first of that name, was certainly that. The cardinal electors, most of whom rarely if ever see poor people, chose to be pope someone who has, day after day over many years. The cardinal electors, most of whom live very well indeed, chose someone who lives extremely simply, even cooking his own meals. The cardinals, most of whom do not even do very much to make sure that Church teaching...

A British judge upheld on Friday a decision to ban a Christian group from placing adverts on London buses that suggested people could be cured of homosexuality. The group, Core Issues Trust, wanted to place adverts on the side of London's distinctive red double-decker buses that read: "Not gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!" The proposed adverts were a response to a campaign by gay rights group Stonewall, which had run adverts on London buses that read: "Some people are gay. Get over it!" In a 35-page ruling, High Court judge Beverley Lang dismissed Core Issues Trust's claim...

SNIP Surely we must appear at times to be very amateurish when compared to the professional clergy of other churches. One doctrine presents a particular challenge. It is our firm conviction that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is...“the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” (D&C 1:30) This doctrine often generates resistance and repels the casual investigator. Some have said, “We want nothing to do with anyone who makes so presumptuous a claim as that.” The early Latter-day Saints were...the butt of many clever stories. We, of course, are not free from...

The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. (Joel 1:1-4) “I will repay you for...

I came across this while doing some research on the Anti-Chist. Sound familiar? 46 Prophecies the Antichrist will fulfill 1. The antichrist will be a man - Daniel 7:24-25 2. He will confirm a covenant for 7 years - Daniel 9:27 Now also, this does not mean that he creates this covenant. The word here for "confirm" is 1396 gabar (gaw-bar'); a primitive root; to be strong; by implication, to prevail, act insolently: KJV-- exceed, confirm, be great, be mighty, prevail, put to more [strength], strengthen, be stronger, be valiant. The antichrist will strengthen a covenant for a 7 year...

Bird's Eye View of Saint Peter's & the Apostolic Palace Our Holy Father Pope Francis has yet to take residence in the papal apartments known as the "Apostolic Palace" in the Vatican. If you've been to Rome, and you're facing the facade of Saint Peter's basilica, it would be to your right (to the north). Please see the photo above. When escorted through the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis is rumored to have exclaimed, "Three hundred people could live in here!" In the mean time, Pope Francis has remained in the Vatican's guest house Domus Sanctae Marthae - House of Saint Martha,...

Does anyone know the story behind Lorenzo Snow marrying a sweet 16 year old girl...?

Mar Louis Raphael I Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, extends an invitation to the pontiff when the two met this morning in the Vatican. The Holy Father is moved by the suffering of Iraqi Christians. Dialogue with Muslims is a priority.Roma (AsiaNews) - As Saint San Francis travelled to the East where he met Sultan Malik al-Kamil, so we hope Pope Francis "may come to Iraq to confirm us our faith and give our small community in the land of Abraham courage and hope," said His Beatitude Mar Louis Raphael I Sako during an audience with the pontiff this...

And Cubans Able to Follow Some of Pope Francis' 1st DaysThe Cuban government announced that Good Friday will be a public holiday in Cuba. The news was published Monday in the Granma newspaper, indicating that the measure was established in Resolution 24 on March 29, 2009. The following day, the same newspaper, which is the official publication of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, published a note stating that "by an error the newspaper's editorial board omitted yesterday to state that the labor recess of the 29th is for Friday of Holy Week, the omission sparking numerous criticisms...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Dressed in orange safety vests, green jumpsuits or other workers' attire, Vatican gardeners, garbage collectors and cleaning crews joined Pope Francis for a 7 a.m. Mass March 22. Usually in the Vatican, "we're the invisible ones," Luciano Cecchetti, coordinator of the Vatican gardeners and sanitation workers, told Vatican Radio after the Mass. "To find ourselves before the Holy Father, at a Mass for us, is something that doesn't happen every day. I turned and looked at the faces of the employees: We all left there misty-eyed," he said. After the Mass, there was time for private...

Michael Voris has some good things to say about the negative reactions to Pope Francis. Attacking the Pope - You Tube Video