Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

My Faith: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), from Catholic to Muslim
CNN ^ | 9/1/11 | Chris Welch

Posted on 09/02/2011 9:07:47 AM PDT by marshmallow

Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.

But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.

“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.

“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”

Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.

But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.

“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”

It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”

(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Islam; Theology
KEYWORDS: blackmuslims; islam; keithellison; muslim
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 961-980981-1,0001,001-1,020 ... 4,661-4,676 next last
To: smvoice; MarkBsnr

Hardly — the problem occurs when one rates Paul’s words over the words of Christ. Paul’s writings are scripture, but to quote Paul’s writings in opposition to the Gospels is just wrong. And that is what many do.


981 posted on 09/05/2011 9:11:50 PM PDT by Cronos (www.forfiter.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 976 | View Replies]

To: Quix
I can’t recall such perverse obtuseness in any other group

oh, I can recall such a lot of it from your group when it supports Benny Hinn and Jesse Duplantis!

982 posted on 09/05/2011 9:13:13 PM PDT by Cronos (www.forfiter.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 913 | View Replies]

To: Quix
Yet a lot of Proddys don’t realize a similar idolizing of their organizations,

We've shown above that going by your group's posts the term "Proddy" is not "Protestant" but just your group with its aliens are God beliefs and considering Jesse Duplantis as real.

983 posted on 09/05/2011 9:14:32 PM PDT by Cronos (www.forfiter.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 913 | View Replies]

To: Cronos
Photobucket

WELL BEYOND

SUPREMELY PONTIFICALLY PRISSILY ABSURD!


984 posted on 09/05/2011 9:20:42 PM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 978 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Just one question. How can Paul’s words be rated over the words of Christ when it is Christ who by direct revelations to Paul gave him his calling, commission, the dispensation of the grace of God, and the forming of the Church the Body of Christ? The words that Paul received were received by direct revelation of Jesus Christ. Christ spoke to him. Face to face and mouth to mouth. As his Epistles and letters prove.


985 posted on 09/05/2011 9:28:47 PM PDT by smvoice (The Cross was NOT God's Plan B.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 981 | View Replies]

To: CynicalBear; Mad Dawg; MarkBsnr
Didn't this whole “generation” argument start when Markbsnr stated that “generations” passed after Jesus’ Ascension before the Gospels and Epistles were written?

What is it with guys, carrying on with the incessant arguments over such a simple thing???

986 posted on 09/05/2011 9:37:07 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 846 | View Replies]

To: boatbums

Yeah, I think that’s how it did start. It was then contended that a generation was only 20 years when I pointed out that all of the New Testament books were written by 96AD. I had posted a list of the NT books and the dates attributed to them saying it had not been generations after Christ.


987 posted on 09/05/2011 9:42:27 PM PDT by CynicalBear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 986 | View Replies]

To: Jvette
But, Mary said yes and it is through her that God became Man and it is her flesh that clothes Him in His Incarnate form.

Just getting caught up, so if you haven't gotten to my previous question about alternates for Mary, don't worry about it. You have answered it here.

This last sentence caught my eye. You said Mary's "flesh" clothed Jesus in his incarnate form. Are you familiar with embryology? The fertilized egg and then embryo (we don't know at what exact stage the human Jesus took up residence in Mary's womb) is completely separate from the mother's. The DNA is different and even the blood type is different. The baby is NOT and never has been the "flesh" of the mother. In fact, in some cases, the developing child gets treated as a foreign substance in some mothers and her antibodies work to kill the invading cells. A negative Rh factor mother will develop antibodies against an Rh positive baby, and after the first child is born - without a special injection to prevent it from happening - subsequent pregnancies with Rh positive babies are threatened.

Not intending to give a biology lesson, but I was surprised to see a statement that implied Jesus' incarnate body was clothed with Mary's flesh. That is not a correct statement. If you mean her womb protected Jesus' incarnate body for the months he was in utero, then - never mind. ;o)

988 posted on 09/05/2011 9:59:24 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 852 | View Replies]

To: MarkBsnr
The 'praise' consists of the acknowledgement that they have a distant and imperfect glimpse of the True God, but that they are totally wrong in how they worship Him.

That is how you see it, but to a Muslim - based on what the Catechism says as well as what your Pope said to the Muslim youth - they are told they worship the SAME god. I know it is hard to admit that the higher-ups in your church could ever be wrong about anything, but they are about this. Pretending that Allah and Jehovah are the same is diabolical! It does NOT help in evangelizing them to the truth.

Nope, they simply understand how things are. This is the wisdom of the Magisterium, not the god that so many Protestants see starting back at them when they look in the mirror.

This little hobby-horse of yours calling non-Catholics worshipers of themselves is stale and broken. Your "wise" magesterium have failed miserably with the Muslim issue. It's too bad those who hold your eternity in their hands can be so clumsy.

989 posted on 09/05/2011 10:12:50 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 857 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy
Agreed. And earlier a non-Catholic spoke about receiving communion during a Mass. He was told he was wrong to do so because NOBODY can receive the Eucharist unless they are in FULL communion with the Catholic Church - which means you must hold to all the doctrines of the church. I wonder how some here justify their infidelity to the very tenets of the Christian faith? Do they receive communion faithfully? Do they have to confess such unbelief before they go to Mass? I guess the cafeteria Catholics are even present on this forum.
990 posted on 09/05/2011 10:20:03 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 863 | View Replies]

To: MarkBsnr
My point is that there was a body of extraScriptural work that the Church kept which influenced their theology and their decisions as to things like the Creed and the Canon of Scripture.

And exactly what would that "extra-Scriptural" work be? I contend that it was the teachings of Jesus as well as the disciples to whom he both taught and later, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, brought to their memories and further revealed to them. That revelation is contained within the Scriptures and I do not think one bit of truth was omitted from them. We have today what God intended for us to know and have. Every basic tenet of the Christian faith is authorized by Scripture. Any doctrine contrived outside of the authority of Scripture is not and should not be binding upon a believer.

991 posted on 09/05/2011 10:36:54 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 874 | View Replies]

To: MarkBsnr
This is good link to a discussion of the Trinity throughout Scripture, Old and New Testaments. Please take a look and we can discuss it if you want to. The site is Trinity in the Scriptures
992 posted on 09/05/2011 10:47:35 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 874 | View Replies]

To: Mad Dawg; MarkBsnr
Thanks for your input. I agree that the early councils convened to “formalize” the central doctrines of the Christian faith and on the subject of the Trinity I honestly believe they did pretty well for their times. What they learned from the Apostles and their disciples aided them in their understanding and, hence, their recording of their deliberations and conclusions. Although I agree the Nicean description is not perfectly spelled out in Scripture in the exact same way, I also know that the truths ARE in the Scriptures. Even the feeble attempts of humans - and as smart and Spirit-lead as most of them were - are insufficient to encompass the full glory and majesty of the triune nature of Almighty God. Many people - Christian people even - struggle to get their minds around the concept and it is hardly difficult to know why seeing as we have finite minds incapable of comprehending the infinite. It was a good try, and it is why it is still around in use today practically unchanged.
993 posted on 09/05/2011 11:17:51 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 885 | View Replies]

To: Natural Law
Then you admit that you are a polytheist acknowledging the existence of lesser gods?

Don't make me laugh! Can you acknowledge that false religions worship false gods? In many cases these "gods" do not exist in any form or manner and in others, it is really a demon that is being worshiped. My stating someone worships a false god does not say I believe there are actually other gods than the one, true, Almighty God - Jehovah. C'mon, you can do better than that!

994 posted on 09/05/2011 11:35:27 PM PDT by boatbums ( God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 895 | View Replies]

To: HossB86
Saw all kinds of mess about Mary...none about me.

Of course you didn't. You weren't reading the part about the kingly priesthood of all the saints.

since Christ is the only intercessor foe man.

I think you meant fo' man. Fo' sho'? :-)

It helps to read on either side of the text one which one is relying:

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. 3 This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
I think Paul says that we are "in Christ", that we are a new creation. It is neither we on our own toot or Mary on HER own toot who can possibly serve as mediators of any kind. But to be in Christ, to be vivified with his spirit (because we have died in him and the natural tendency to death of rebellious flesh has, in some sense, come to its deathly conclusion) is to share in his ministry. That is why there is also a ministry of reconciliation which is given to at least some because they are in Him.

He is the one mediator. We are in Him. We share in his mediating work.

Because we forget this, we end up sounding foolish and say things like, "Prayer works," which by themselves sound magical. It is God who works. He worked in and through Jesus. And now that we are in Jesus, He works in and through us, not through our merits or indeed anything that is ours, but through the merits, the very being, of the slain and risen God.

That's how I see it. Otherwise all talk of human mediation, whether of Mary or of you, is silly. But when you, being in Christ, say, "I'll pray for you," that's some powerful stuff.

995 posted on 09/06/2011 1:03:32 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 907 | View Replies]

To: Quix

Kind of you to say so, bro.

I DO recognize that, if it weren’t for my modesty, my genius would be dazzling.

Os is that the insomnia talking?


996 posted on 09/06/2011 1:06:43 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 911 | View Replies]

To: Jvette; HossB86
To be scrupulously fair, I can see that sometimes (a) what we say COULD SEEM to present Mary as a source of all grace. it6 helps to have and to 'cleave to' a rigorous conceptof parenthood. A mother is in some sense source, but of something that is only half hers. We can think of the faucet as the source of water, but we also remember that the water came from something even 'behind and prior to' the well.

It is in that sense, or something like it, that Mary is a source.

(b) Occasionally some writers, de Montfort (whom I simply LOVE) among them, will go clear over the top, and if it weren't for other assurances of their orthodoxy, one could think they were mariolaters.

Our non- and anti- Catholics brethren come into the discussion sure we are unorthodox, and they see texts which seem safe if enthusiastic to us and draw conclusions from which, if they had drunk deep of the Pierian Spring, their sober consideration would protect them.

(My syntax IS involved when I write in my sleep.)

997 posted on 09/06/2011 1:16:41 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 915 | View Replies]

To: CynicalBear
I have long ago severed ties with any organized religion.

You'd be comfortable among the Catholics then. I've been Catholic for almost 17 years, and a more disorganized bunch I have never seen.

998 posted on 09/06/2011 1:18:02 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 916 | View Replies]

To: smvoice
If her life was SINLESS, she had no need of a Savior. He would have saved her from what, exactly? Sin? She had NONE, according to your Catechism. A PERFECTLY SINLESS LIFE means exactly what it says.

There are two ways I can save you from quicksand. I can pull you out once you are in, or I cankeep you from falling in in the first place. In either case I have 'saved' you.

Mary was prevented, we think, from falling in in the first place, so she was 'saved' the second way.

999 posted on 09/06/2011 1:20:30 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 917 | View Replies]

To: Natural Law; Iscool
It's our Church and our lexicon.

Yeah. We had it first.

It is true that when one approaches the study of Catholic teaching one is coming late to a conversation of, in some sense, almost 2,000 years duration.

Consequently, just as any group engaged in the same enterprise develops its own jargon, Catholic teaching has developed a vocabulary which may seem opaque or arbitrary to those who left the conversation almost half a thousand years ago.

1,000 posted on 09/06/2011 1:23:58 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 922 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 961-980981-1,0001,001-1,020 ... 4,661-4,676 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson