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Musa, a Jew, was only 15 years of age when he developed interest in religion. He describes what he saw in Islam in relation to Judaism, which caught his interest and led him to accept it. He narrated his story sometime in 2007. Prior to my conversion to Islam, I lived my life as a Jew. Although my family was not traditional, I learned Judaism from traditional Jews. I went to an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, and an Orthodox Jewish school. I lived, and continue to live, in a Jewish community in the United States where there is little diversity. And...

Spy Wednesday and a Reflection on the Sins of the Clergy By: Msgr. Charles PopeWednesday of Holy Week is traditionally called “Spy Wednesday,” since it was on this day that Judas conspired with the Temple leadership to hand Jesus over. He would not accomplish his task until the evening of the next day, but this day he made the arrangements and was paid.One way to reflect on this terrible sin is to consider that Judas was among the first priests called by Jesus. We see in the call of the Apostles the establishment of the ministerial priesthood. Jesus called these men to...

In certain schools of Christian thought, hell is not everlasting, but a more painful form of purgatory. M any Christians presume that hell is a place where brutally painful punishments are inflicted on evildoers for an indefinite, and perhaps infinite, amount of time in the afterlife. Think of a medieval torture chamber with no exit — or fire extinguishers. But this, as I argued in a recent column, makes no theological sense. If morality is good, then doing the right thing must be its own reward and doing the wrong thing must be its own punishment. To think that a...

Chuck Wooten, a military veteran, was already ticked off about Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pushing through the “bipartisan” budget deal, which includes cuts to veterans’ retirement benefits. So when he got a fundraising email from Ryan’s office asking for money, he decided to really let the Wisconsin congressman know how he feels. The scathing open letter, posted on Facebook last week, is going viral — and you only have to read the first few sentences to know why. It should be noted that because Wooten’s Facebook page is set to private, we weren’t able to...

A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a $2 billion earmark for a Kentucky project. Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123) provided to WFPL News shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Louisville from $775 million to nearly $2. 9 billion.

A long-lost gospel that casts Judas as a co-conspirator of Jesus, rather than a betrayer, was ruled most likely authentic in 2006. Now, scientists reveal they couldn't have made the call without a series of far more mundane documents, including Ancient Egyptian marriage licenses and property contracts. The Gospel of Judas is a fragmented Coptic text, traced back to Egypt, which portrays Judas in a far more sympathetic light than did the gospels that made it into the Bible. In this version of the story, Judas turns Jesus over to the authorities for execution upon Jesus' request, as part of...

Why don’t John McCain and Lindsey Graham just get a room or something. As soon as I heard that Lindsey Graham didn’t like filibuster, I knew that McCain would be soon to follow with the same garbage. Just like clockwork:

The Phantom Stranger #0 is published today – I mentioned it earlier, but there was one point I wanted to highlight separately.The comic does not mention Judas or Jesus by name. But it is very clear who is meant to be who. Middle Eastern characters two thousand years ago, Judas’ suicide, the thirty pieces of silver, his appeal to be forgiven as “he” would forgive, it’s a blatant as it can be without actually naming names.And while we know about the thirty pieces of silver round his neck, and how that becomes a motivating for for him in The Phantom...

Conservatives around the country may be regretting Chief Justice John Roberts’ appointment to the Supreme Court after Thursday’s ruling upholding [Alleged] President Barack Obama’s health care law, but Mitt Romney‘s campaign website still holds him up as the paradigm of a Supreme Court justice. “As president, Mitt will nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts...

A Brazilian actor has died after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play. Tiago Klimeck, 27, was enacting the suicide of Judas during the performance on Good Friday in the city of Itarare. The actor was hanging for four minutes before fellow performers realised something was wrong. Klimeck was taken to hospital suffering from cerebral hypoxia but died on Sunday. The Passion play was being performed in Itarare, 345km (214 miles) west of Sao Paulo. Klimeck was re-enacting the scene in which Judas commits suicide in repentance for his betrayal of Jesus Christ. Police are investigating...

They hugged each other backstage in a full embrace like old friends. She grabbed his arm and whispered in his left ear. She kept talking as he bent to listen, and he kept saying “Uh, huh. Uh, huh.” Huh? “I don’t know if what she was giving him was a sucker punch, but he didn’t put his arm down while she was talking to him,” said the Sneed source.

Mitch McConnell is right now talking about making a historic capitulation. So fearful of being blamed for a default, McConnell is proposing a compromise that lets Barack Obama raise the debt ceiling without making any spending cuts at all. Consider sending McConnell a weasel as testament to his treachery. His address is 601 W. Broadway, Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202 and the phone number is (502) 582-6304. McConnell’s idea is to make the debt ceiling automatic unless Congress, by a 2/3 vote blocks the increase. Oh yes, he put a salve on it by dressing it up in tough talk...

This is what progressives do. Grow power in the executive, at the expense of other branches. Once again, you have the republican establishment snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory and putting defeat right back front and center. It's time to light up McConnell's office, no matter what part of the country you're from. One of the headlines regarding what McConnell just said is this: McConnell Proposal Gives Obama Power to Increase Debt Limit And that's exactly the kind of thing that's going to get tea partiers to form a third party. That's the last thing we need. And...

Michele Bachmann's efforts in 2007-8 to have Drug Dealer and Money Launderer Frank Vennes pardoned for his 1987 convictions have begun to receive some light scrutiny in the media. Some embarrassing details have emerged, including the fact that, while Bachmann was lobbying hard to secure a pardon for him from President Bush, Vennes himself was engaged in a brand new, massive $3.65 billion ponzi scheme, for which he was recently indicted by a Federal Grand Jury. Worse yet, Vennes and his family had donated money to Bachmann--a lot of money--in the 2006 and 2008 campaign cycles, $27,400 to be exact,...

As NewsBusters has been reporting since Monday's Republican presidential debate, MSNBC's Chris Matthews is suddenly a big fan of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.). On Saturday's "Fox News Watch," syndicated columnist Cal Thomas said, "Chris Matthews praises her, which is sort of like getting a civil rights affirmation from David Duke" (video follows with transcript and commentary): JON SCOTT, HOST: That's new Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann striking a cord at a Republican debate earlier this week. Cal, she got some pretty good reviews from the mainstream press, and yet many of those same members of the press were trying to...

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Friday that it's her sense that Republican voters are "very satisfied" with the field of presidential candidates. Following Monday's debate in New Hampshire, Bachmann said voters were happier with their options. "I think people, especially after the debate on Monday night, were very satisfied with what they saw with the candidates," she said on Fox News. [...] She passed, though, both at the debate and on Fox, at leveling tough criticism at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's (R) state healthcare law. [...] Rather, Bachmann suggested she's more likely to train her sights on President Obama...

Michelle Bachmann's new top consultant, Ed Rollins, began his tenure with scathing criticism of potential Bachmann rival Sarah Palin. "Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show, Kilmeade and friends. "She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship." He suggested that the contrast would favor Bachmann. "Michele Bachmann and others [have] worked hard, she has been a leader of the Tea Party which is a very important element here,...

Pop provocateur Lady Gaga has managed to outrage and insult many Catholics by leaking her new song, “Judas” just two days before the start of Holy Week. "It's always edgy and always (about) our religion," Bill Donohue, spokesperson for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said about frequent pop culture attacks on the Church. "(And) all during Holy Week." In “Judas,” Lady Gaga sings about her love for Judas, the infamous apostle who betrayed Jesus. "Jesus in my virtue and Judas is the demon I cling to...I'm just a holy fool, oh baby he's so cruel, but I'm...

Chico Supporter Stirs Controversy, Calls Emanuel “Judas”UPDATED 2/16/11 7:32 p.m. CHICAGO (CBS) – A key supporter of mayoral candidate Gery Chico has raised some eyebrows by saying something about Rahm Emanuel that the Emanuel campaign called blatantly ugly. Jim Sweeney, head of of Operating Engineers Local 150, was endorsing Chico Tuesday night at a labor rally when he called Emanuel a “Wall Street Judas.” **SNIP** Emanuel’s campaign didn’t like any of it. In a statement Wednesday, Emanuel – who is Jewish – said “I have absolute confidence that the people of the city of Chicago will see this comment for...

A La Mesa karate instructor, out on bail while facing chargers of molesting a teenage boy, was back in court Thursday for a bail review. According to prosecutors, Eric Protas, 38, has been spending time on the Internet, posting comments to a Facebook page comparing himself to Jesus and his teen accuser to Judas. Protas is accused of sexually abusing a former student over a one-year period. Prosecutors allege that Protas had sexual contact with the victim 300 times in the past year and a half. Prosecutors asked the judge to increase bail based on the Facebook activity and comments...