- Religion News
- Unification Church target of lawsuit by Moon’s son: The third son of Moon Sun-myung, the founder and leader of the controversial Unification Church, has filed a lawsuit against his mother to get back his company’s money allegedly sent to her missionary group without his consent, court officials said yesterday.
- Man on trial is in cult-like gang, expert testifies: A man accused of chopping his mother-in-law to death with a hatchet is a member of the Insane Clown Posse gang, an expert testified Monday. Insane Clown Posse gang members live on the edge of society and adhere to an “almost cult-like religion,” said Detective Sgt. Tom Walker, supervisor of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office’s gang investigation unit.
- Australian bishop quits over Vatican row: An Australian Roman Catholic bishop has quit his post over a row with the Vatican about women priests and other liberal reforms.
- Australian bishop fired after suggesting women be ordained accuses church of authoritarianism: Community members rallied around Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba diocese, west of Brisbane, and eight priests signed a letter of support for the popular parish leader, calling his removal disrespectful.
- Muslim American leaders hope bin Laden’s death starts a new chapter for Muslims: Leaders of several prominent Muslim American organizations celebrated the killing of Osama bin Laden on Monday, saying they hoped it would remove the “sexy face” of terrorism for young radicals and allow America’s relations with Muslim nations to stop revolving around the issue of terrorism. “We feel a sense of immense relief. His perversion of Islam has been a blot on history,” said Harris Tarin, office director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a Washington-based advocacy group that sometimes partners with the State Department to promote moderate Islam. [See: Islam and terrorism]
- Vatican invites Catholic bloggers for first summit: The Vatican has invited 150 Catholic bloggers to attend a first-ever blogging summit Monday, increasingly aware of the role that faith-based blogging is playing in spreading Catholicism.
- Coleman computer linked to pre-murder threats: The menacing, obscenity-laced emails to Christopher Coleman began with one clear message: “Your family is done.”
Somebody was demanding that televangelist Joyce Meyer stop her type of ministry or the family of Coleman, her bodyguard, would pay. “Tell Joyce to stop preaching [expletive] or Chris’s family will die,” said one email. Another stated: “I will kill them all as they sleep.” Once the emails stopped, printed threats appeared in the mailbox. The writer would go on to strangle Sheri Coleman and her sons, prosecutors claim, but the motive wasn’t Meyer’s preaching and the killer was really sending the threats to himself. On trial for the murders is Meyer’s former security guard, Chris Coleman.
- Analysis, Commentary, Opinion
- On bin Laden, Christians should choose justice, not revenge: Christians know that Osama bin Laden escaped the reach of full human justice and a trial for his crimes, but he will not escape the judgment that is to come. Bin Laden will not escape his trial before the court of God. Until then, sober satisfaction must be enough for those still in the land of the living.
- The Death of Osama bin Laden: What Kind of Justice Has Been Done?: The news should again remind us of the difference between the City of Man and the City of God.
- ‘Do Not Gloat’ vs. ‘Joy to the Righteous’: The verses most quoted on Twitter and Facebook after the news of the death of Osama bin Laden.
- How Should Christians Respond to Osama bin Laden’s Death?
- The End of the Jihadist Dream: To the Qaeda members I interrogated at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere in the aftermath of 9/11, Osama bin Laden was never just the founder and leader of the group, but also an idea. He embodied the belief that their version of Islam was correct, that terrorism was the right weapon, and that they would ultimately be victorious. Bin Laden’s death did not kill that idea, but did deal it a mortal blow.
- The Shocking Truth That God Loves Osama Bin Laden Too
- Are al-Qaida and the Taliban driven by the desire to help others?: It seems hard to countenance, but could academics be right in thinking that Islamist terrorists are driven by ‘basically altruistic’ thoughts?
- Remembering David Wilkerson: How the pastor/evangelist, who died in a car accident last week, shaped the Pentecostal and evangelical movements—and the world.
- Blessed proof that popes are still potent: The beatification of Pope John Paul II in Rome illustrates the vitality of the Catholic Church in so many lives, writes Peter Stanford.
- San Francisco mulls circumcision ban: Is procedure mutilation – or good medicine?: Since circumcision is a ritual practice for Jews and Muslims, some legal experts say such a ban might prove an unconstitutional infringement of religious freedom, Time reported. But others say religions don’t get a “free pass.”
- ‘Inerrantists’ aim to keep women ‘in their place’: Any time the word “inerrancy” is mentioned with regard to the interpretation of Scripture, the subject of a “woman’s place” is never far behind. Whenever women challenge the status quo, it takes only a moment for husbands and church leaders threatened by loss of control to begin intoning “my Bible clearly says” in an attempt to weight their argument.
- Investigating Global Religious Dynamics of Christians and Muslims: A statistic I have often cited when speaking about the status of world evangelization is this: that for the past century, Christianity has been stagnant at about 33% of the world. We know that the fastest growing world religion is not Christianity (growing at 1.36% p.a. in AD 2000) but rather Islam (growing at 2.13% p.a. in AD 2000). (I know that we like to compare the growth of evangelicals with that of Islam, but that, in my opinion, is rather like comparing apples to oranges.)
- Also Noted
- Our Lady of Malawi: Kabbalah teaches that only giving will bring a soul out of the darkness. So Madonna planned a splendid gift for an impoverished African nation. Somebody turn on the light. A look at the Kabbalah Centre and Madonna’s Malawi fiasco.
- Denver pastor turns heads by blending tradition and irreverence: Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber is a dichotomy wrapped in a paradox covered in tattoos. Creation, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost — practically the entire liturgical year — unfurl in technicolor ink from her shoulder to her wrist. That’s just her left arm. Mary Magdalene and Lazarus rising from the dead are on the long right arm of this 6-foot-1 Christian billboard. The 42-year-old came to Jesus later in life but then pursued a vocation in Christ full throttle. In a state where Focus on the Family and other strands of evangelical Christianity have long grabbed most headlines, a progressive Lutheran is now stealing the marquee.
- King James Bible finds new life in Mormon Church: Mormons are not scriptural inerrantists and they reject the fundamentalism of the KJV-only school. But they do continue to cling to this venerable old translation after most other Christians have already moved on. Mormons tend to view the KJV as solid, conservative, and durable. As old as it is, the KJV continues to be a force in the life of the Church even to this day, 400 years after its first publication. [Note that the author mistakenly equates Mormons with ‘other Christians.’ Mormonism is a cult of Christianity, are Mormons are therefore considered to be outside the historic boundaries of the Christian faith. Too, It should be noted that the LDS Church has published its own version of the King James Bible, incorporating footnotes explaining what corrections from Joseph Smith’s “inspired version” of the Bible (a version full of errors and plagiarized material) should be taken into account.]
- ‘Playing Jesus wrecked my career’: Passion of the Christ actor Jim Caviezel said Hollywood has shunned him
- Saint of Death casts pall: Known as the patron saint of death, Santa Muerte‘s presence in statues, candles and tattoos has mirrored the rise of Mexican drug cartels.
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