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Religion & Politics (Religion)

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  • Pray for our American Heroes

    12/21/2012 12:24:39 PM PST · by Kitty Mittens · 10 replies
    12-21-12 | Kitty Mittens
    Psalm 89:13 Thou hast a Mighty Arm: Strong is Thy Hand, and High is Thy Right Hand.
  • Expect More Catholic Caveats about Government

    12/20/2012 7:08:28 AM PST · by marshmallow · 1 replies
    Catholic Culture ^ | 12/19/12 | Dr. Jeff Mirus
    I found some extraordinarily important distinctions in Pope Benedict’s recent address to the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. These distinctions ought to affect significantly how we approach the Church’s social teaching regarding governmental authority in general, and world governmental authority in particular. Recent popes have called for the exercise of administrative authority at the global level to deal with those problems that are global in scope, and therefore not amenable to solution at lower levels. This would seem to be an extension of their call for intervention and collaboration by national governments to address widespread...
  • A Man for This Season, and All Seasons

    12/20/2012 6:48:09 AM PST · by marshmallow · 14 replies
    The Witherspoon Institute, Public Discourse ^ | 12/19/12 | Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
    There is only one Thomas More: A man of tender nobility, subtle intellect, and forceful conviction, all rooted in profound fidelity to the larger commonwealth of Christendom outside and above Tudor England.A day after the 2012 Summer Olympics closed in London, Joseph Pearce wrote that he felt like his “body had been covered in slime. I also felt a great sense of gratitude that I had shaken the smut and dirt from my sandals and had left the sordid culture of which I was once a part.” Given the grand sweep of British history, those are harsh words from a...
  • A "Major Victory" in Federal Court for Those Opposing the HHS Mandate

    12/19/2012 7:21:26 PM PST · by marshmallow · 5 replies
    Catholic World Report ^ | 12/19/12 | Catherine Harmon
    Big news from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm representing those challenging the Obama administration’s contraception mandate:Today [Tuesday, December 18], a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. handed Wheaton College and Belmont Abbey College a major victory in their challenges to the HHS mandate. Last summer, two lower courts had dismissed the Colleges’ cases as premature. Today, the appellate court reinstated those cases, and ordered the Obama Administration to report back every 60 days—starting in mid-February—until the Administration makes good on its promise to issue a new rule that protects the Colleges’ religious freedom. The new rule...
  • Italian Parliament Grants Offical Recognition to Hinduism and Buddhism

    12/19/2012 4:22:34 PM PST · by Jyotishi · 5 replies
    Hinduism Today Magazine ^ | December 15, 2012 | articolotre.com and Hindu Press International,
    Italy, December 14, 2012 (articolotre.com): [HPI notes: This article is a translation of the original Italian language article. The Hindu population of Italy is at least five times greater than the number mentioned here.] A new milestone for religious freedom and equality between religions in Italy: The parliament has finally approved an agreement with the Italian Hindu Union (Sanatana Dharma Sangha) and the Italy Buddhist Union. These religions will now have the ability to open schools and have access to limited state funding. Article 8 of our Constitution provides for freedom for all religions that do not conflict with Italian...
  • Compulsory Abortion for Down’s Syndrome Foetuses, Says UKIP Kent Candidate

    12/19/2012 11:55:05 AM PST · by marshmallow · 42 replies
    Gravesend Reporter ^ | 12/18/12 | Anna Dubuis
    Mothers with foetuses detected to have Down’s syndrome and other disabilities should be forced into a compulsory abortion, according to a UKIP candidate’s ‘personal manifesto’. Geoffrey Clark, who is running in a by-election on Thursday (20) for the Gravesham Rural seat on Kent County Council and the Meopham North seat on Gravesham Borough Council, was labelled ‘abhorrent’ by disability charities and parents. His ideas, published on his website, state: “Consider compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, will render the child a burden on the state as...
  • Abortion lit the way for the Newtown massacre

    12/19/2012 9:19:51 AM PST · by Teófilo · 10 replies
    Vivificat - from Contemplation to Action ^ | 12/17/2012 | Teófilo de Jesús
    It's the Culture of Death, silly! Brothers and Sisters, Peace be with you. Like many of you, I've been perusing the more "thoughtful" introspections by writers of national recognition. One by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker's blog caught my eye. It's titled Newtown and the Madness of Guns. Here's an excerpt: The people who fight and lobby and legislate to make guns regularly available are complicit in the murder of those children. They have made a clear moral choice: that the comfort and emotional reassurance they take from the possession of guns, placed in the balance even against the...
  • The road to Egypt: job creators in the Ancient World

    12/19/2012 7:30:53 AM PST · by SeekAndFind · 21 replies
    Times of Israel ^ | 12/19/2012 | DANIEL KAGANOVICH and JEREMY ENGLAND
    In a recent commentary on the Torah portion Parshat Miketz posted in The Times of Israel, Shawn Ruby presents the biblical story of Joseph in Egypt as evidence that having a government-managed economy works. Specifically, he casts Joseph as the first “Keynesian” economist, that is, the first person to realize that a powerful executive with the authority to make economic decisions on behalf of the people can plan consumption patterns more wisely than a group of disorganized individuals, and thereby become the salvation of everyone.Mr. Ruby writes:Whether the famine was supply-side or demand-side in origin, Joseph’s example teaches us...
  • Ireland to Legalise Abortion

    12/19/2012 6:48:59 AM PST · by marshmallow · 29 replies
    The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | Bruno Waterfield
    Ireland is to legalise abortions when the mother's life is at risk, including when she is suicidal, in an historic move expected to spark a major battle with the Roman Catholic church.Ireland’s cabinet took the decision on Tuesday following a huge public outcry over the death of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant woman in October who died after her repeated requests for an abortion were refused while she was suffering a miscarriage. The Irish government has decided to repeal legislation that makes abortion a criminal act and to introduce regulations setting out when doctors can perform an abortion when a woman’s...
  • Finally, Istanbul Gives Syriac Christians a Place to Build: a Cemetery

    12/18/2012 7:17:38 PM PST · by marshmallow · 1 replies
    Istanbul, December 18 (World Watch Monitor) — Three years after a Syrian Orthodox foundation applied to build a church in Istanbul, the Greater Istanbul Municipality has granted them a large plot of land and a building permit. Banner headlines in the Turkish media praised the early-December decision as “a first in the history of the Republic,” declaring that never before had Turkey allowed a non-Muslim minority to build an official new house of worship. Still, Syriac Christians were far from pleased. For one thing, the land they were “granted” by the municipality is, in fact, a Latin Catholic cemetery. “We...
  • Muslims Demand Gay Marriage Exemption [UK]

    12/18/2012 9:29:33 AM PST · by marshmallow · 14 replies
    The Guardian (UK) ^ | 12/18/12 | PA
    Muslim Council of Britain says it is appalled by 'utterly discriminatory' legislation on same-sex marriageMuslim leaders have demanded the same legal exemptions as the Church of England in legislation to introduce gay marriages. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), with more than 500 affiliated mosques, charities and schools, said it was "appalled" by "utterly discriminatory" legislation on same-sex marriage set out by the government. The proposals would allow faith groups to conduct gay marriages but would ban the CofE and the Church in Wales from doing so. The MCB secretary-general, Farooq Murad, said his organisation had strongly opposed gay marriage...
  • ‘Religious Right’ Accused of Exploiting School Massacre

    12/18/2012 8:40:21 AM PST · by CHRISTIAN DIARIST · 17 replies
    The Christian Diarist ^ | December 18, 2012 | JP
    “Wicked.” “Crazy.” “Extremist.” Those are the words Americans United For Separation of Church and State uses in reference to the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. But the organization, which claims to fight to “ensure religious freedom for all Americans,” is not using those words to describe Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who shot and killed 27 innocent souls. No, its reproach is directed at the “religious right,” including such figures as Mike Huckabee and William J. Murray, for daring to suggest that the eviction of God from the nation’s public schools just might have contributed to the rise of school-related violence and...
  • Why the shock and awe?

    12/18/2012 4:19:14 AM PST · by conservatism_IS_compassion · 3 replies
    The Washington Post ^ | 12/15/2012 | Franklin Graham
    . . . When tragedies like these occur, why do we respond with such shock and awe? Psychiatrist Keith Ablow said, “This kind of shock registers with people…because it seems like the unthinkable keeps moving into the sphere of our reality.” The “unthinkable” first surfaced in mankind thousands of years ago when Cain killed his brother Abel out of mere jealousy and rivalry. God had warned Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door,” but Cain ignored God’s word and committed murder. God punished Cain for taking innocent life but the violent shedding of blood has continued for centuries. Why? The...
  • Forcing Catholic school to teach “secular” religion course is 'totalitarian,' critics say

    12/17/2012 7:23:43 PM PST · by ReformationFan · 26 replies
    Life Site News ^ | 12-14-12 | Peter Baklinski
    The government of Quebec is forcing Catholic schools to replace the Christian religion with the state’s “neutral” alternative based on moral relativism. That’s how defenders of religious freedom have responded to last week’s court ruling that a private Catholic high school must teach the state’s “secular” Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course. Barbara Kay slammed the judges’ decision in the National Post on Wednesday, arguing that it empowers a government to “compel a faith community to jettison its driving beliefs in order to promote the state’s secular religion of multiculturalism; or indeed, in the future, to compel promotion of any...
  • What if Mary Had Known About Abortion?

    12/17/2012 11:03:53 AM PST · by SeekAndFind · 37 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 12/17/2012 | Rev. Mark H. Creech
    Recently I saw a t-shirt that said, "The Virgin Mary was an Unwed Teenage Mother." That's true and it reminded me of an interruption that took place at a Quebec pro-life conference back in October of this year. LifeSiteNews.com says about a dozen pro-choice protestors descended upon an evangelical church where the conference was being held, chanting blasphemous slogans, one of which was a French pro-abortion sing-song against the Virgin Mary: Ah si Marie avait connu l'avortment, on n'aurait pas tous ces emmerdement.s. Translated this means, "Oh, If Mary had known about abortion, we wouldn't have to deal with all...
  • Gov. Jindal Draws Correction from Church for Contraception Op-Ed

    12/17/2012 8:38:45 AM PST · by marshmallow · 48 replies
    EWTN News ^ | 12/15/12 | Hillary Senour
    Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has voiced his support for over-the-counter access to birth control, a position that Church representatives say goes against Catholic teaching on contraception. “The Archdiocese of New Orleans disagrees with Governor Jindal’s stance on this issue, as the use of birth control and contraceptives are against Catholic Church teaching,” Communications Director for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Sarah Comiskey McDonald, told EWTN News on Dec. 14. Robert Tasman, Associate Director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, also echoed the archdiocese’s statement. Gov. Jindal, a Catholic, argued in a Dec. 13 editorial for the Wall Street Journal...
  • Should Church Boards Be Able To Decide Which Pastor A Particular Church Gets To Vote On

    12/17/2012 7:10:15 AM PST · by Laissez-faire capitalist · 43 replies
    12/17/2012 | Laissez-Faire Capitalist
    A vacancy occurs within a church (as in the pastoral position), and let's say an interim pastor steps in for a certain amount of time until a replacement pastor is voted in. Let's say 4-5/6 licensed/ordained ministers within that denomination apply for the open position and thus for a chance to preach before the church - and the church members who will later hear those ministers will pray about which one they desire to be their pastor and eventually vote one in. Should the board get to toss any of those names from consideration, if those licensed/ordained ministers are in...
  • Pray For Our American Heroes And Nation

    12/16/2012 5:16:50 PM PST · by Kitty Mittens · 15 replies
    12-16-12 | Kitty Mittens
    Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore Come Boldly unto the Throne of Grace, That we May Obtain Mercy, And Find Grace to Help in Time of Need.
  • Our God-Forsaken Schools

    12/16/2012 8:43:47 AM PST · by Guido2012 · 26 replies
    Set Our Children Free ^ | 12/16/12 | Tony Caruso
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…. Proverbs 1:7 What is truly detestable about the state of public schools in this country is how far they have strayed from their historical roots. Most of the schools in this country, as well as many of the prestigious Ivy League universities were founded for the sole purpose of educating the populace in the Scriptures. Noah Webster, one of our nation’s leading educators, said, "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to...
  • Praise for church cover-up admission

    12/14/2012 7:28:20 AM PST · by Alex Murphy · 1 replies
    Canberra Times ^ | Barney Zwartz
    FOR the first time, a Catholic spokesman has acknowledged that the church in Australia covered up sex abuse, according to a reform group of Catholics. The group praised Francis Sullivan, CEO of the yet-to-be-formed Catholic Truth, Justice and Healing Commission, for admitting to the media this week that he was personally scandalised and disillusioned by the church's history of cover-ups. Peter Johnstone, chairman of Catholics for Renewal, said on Friday the church had previously acknowledged that it had mishandled abuse cases, but not cover-ups. He welcomed this week's announcement of the lay-led Catholic council to advise the bishops about sex...