The Vatican and Washing Machines

Tom Ambrose gets it. He has a great posting over at Thinking Anglicans:

According to the official Vatican newspaper, the washing machine has done more to liberate women than anything else in the 20th century. One has to ask where the Vatican gets the information on which to base this kind of conclusion. This is particularly necessary in the light of the public admission that a failure to read the news meant that the Pope committed a major blunder in readmitting to communion someone who denied the Holocaust, Richard Williamson.

Read on: Thinking Anglicans: the washing machine and what it doesn’t mean

Father Jake Stops the World: Howdy Fort Worth!

Did everyone notice that Father Jake Stops the World is back online? Great! Cllick here for Father Jake Stops the World: Howdy Fort Worth!

Mary E Hunt on the Brazil Excommunications

While the family of a 9-year-old incest victim’s abortion is excommunicated, the perpetrator never even made it to the ecclesial radar screen. Let this case signal the end of any credible claim to authority of bishops and the dawn of a new era when local communities determine their own members. I daresay the world will be a safer, kinder place.

. . . My colleagues at Catholicas pelo Direito de Decidir, an international partner to the Washington-based Catholics for Choice, asked in their editorial whether this was a case of Insanity, Cruelty, or Christian Principles? and I applaud them for stating the question so clearly and for answering it without equivocation. Let me simply add indignation, sadness, and affirmation.

It is hard to find words sufficient to convey the moral indignation elicited by the Roman Catholic Church’s actions. As a Catholic feminist theologian who is pro-choice, I have dealt with abortion for decades. I thought I was inured to its callousness. Maybe it’s because I have an 8-year-old daughter that I find the Church’s actions in this case violent beyond defense.

• Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., a feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland.  A Roman Catholic active in the women-church movement, she lectures and writes on theology and ethics. Full article here.

cp: One Episcopalian on Faith

Israel disagrees with US Presiding Bishop

George Conger writes:

Claims that the Israel discriminated against Jerusalem’s Anglican and Lutheran bishops by blocking their attempt to entre Gaza last month are unfounded, the Israeli government has declared.

On March 10, the Israeli Embassy in Washington released a statement chiding US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Lutheran Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson for erroneously concluding the two bishops had been singled out.

The two church leaders wrote Ambassador Sallai Meridor on Feb 6 to express their “grave concerns” and to seek an explanation for “the denial of entry to Gaza” on Feb 4 of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Rev Suheil Dawani, and the Lutheran Bishop of Jordan and the Holy Land, the Rt Rev Munib Younan.

“Although they had received assurances from the Israeli government that they would be allowed to enter, and while the other three members of the delegation were allowed to proceed” the two bishops were prevented from carrying out their “pastoral” visit to Gaza.

“We are concerned that they were not allowed freedom of movement into Gaza to carry out their pastoral responsibilities,” the two presiding bishops wrote, and “we hope that, having discovered the cause of their denial, you will assure that they will be permitted to enter as soon as possible.”
The Israeli government responded that on March 10 “Israel facilitated a pastoral visit to the Gaza Strip,” granting them a “special pastoral exemption” to “fulfill their religious duties.”

Minister Counselor at the Israeli Embassy Martin Peled stated that the two bishops’ Feb 5 letter “strongly implied that Israel was somehow discriminating against Bishops Younan and Dawani as Palestinians. However, quite to the contrary, as you would have discovered had an inquiry been made in an appropriate manner, the Bishops were denied entry because they were being treated as any Israeli citizen or legal resident would be treated.”

More here: Religious Intelligence – News – Israel chides US Presiding Bishop

CNN: Excommunicated doctor hailed for abortion on child rape victim

First, this comment from the Mad Priest at Of Course I Could Be Wrong:

COMMENT: Catholic bishops can be so incredibly stupid. Their complete lack of compassion for this poor, little girl and their victimisation of the brave doctors who saved her life, has now made it 100% certain that the abortion laws in Brazil will be liberalised within the very near future.

And now, the story from CNN:

BRASILIA, Brazil – A doctor excommunicated by the Catholic Church for performing an abortion on a 9-year-old rape victim received a standing ovation during a national convention on women’s health, according to a local media report.

 

Pictured: Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho excommunicated the doctors who performed the child’s abortion.

The response came during the opening ceremony of an event hosted by Brazilian Minister of Health Jose Gomes Temporao.

The newspaper O Povo reported that Temporao called on the audience to acknowledge the "brilliant" work done by a medical team in the abortion, performed in Brazil’s northeastern city of Recife.

The girl was pregnant with twins after being raped, allegedly by her stepfather, police were quoted in media reports as saying. The abuse had gone on since the girl was 6, authorities said.

The abortion was performed March 4 during the fourth month of pregnancy, according to media reports

Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Recife excommunicated the doctor, the child’s mother and the medical team involved in the procedure.

However, the stepfather was not excommunicated, with Sobrinho telling Globo TV that, "A graver act than (rape) is abortion, to eliminate an innocent life."

The child was not excommunicated, Sobrinho said, because Catholic Church law says minors are exempt from excommunication.

"The church is benevolent when it comes to minors," he told Globo TV. "As for the adults, especially those who approved it, performed this abortion, the excommunication is applicable."

"God’s law is above human laws," Sobrinho said.

The case has outraged the Brazilian public and fueled a controversy reaching the highest levels of church and state in a nation whose law bans abortion except in cases of rape.

Temporao recently said doctors must put law before religion.

"The question posed is very simple. There is a Brazilian law which states that a pregnancy can be interrupted in case of rape," Temporao said.

"It is legitimate for the church to have its dogmas, but these dogmas must not be imposed on society as a whole," he added.

Earlier, a verbal spat ensued between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the archbishop over the church’s decision.

"As a Christian and a Catholic, I find it deeply lamentable that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," Lula said on Globo TV.

"In this case, the medical profession was more right than the church," he said.

Meanwhile, a Vatican cleric told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper that he supports the Brazilian archbishop’s decision to excommunicate all involved in the abortion except for the child.

Dr. Olimpio Moraes, one of the doctors involved in the procedure, said he thanked the archbishop for his excommunication because the controversy sheds light on Brazil’s restrictive abortion laws. He said women in Brazil’s countryside are victimized by Brazil’s ban on abortion.

Some of the doctors vowed to continue attending church services, despite being expelled.

"The fact that I was excommunicated will not keep me from going to Mass, praying, conversing with God, and asking him to illuminate me and my colleagues in our medical team to help us take care of people in similar cases," one doctor said.

TV Globo reported that the child, who is from a town outside Recife, has stayed in the city to recover and to escape media coverage. Her current condition is not known.

A new report by Brazil’s IPAS, a non-governmental organization that works with the health ministry, indicates that more than 1 million women undergo illegal abortions in Brazil each year. About 250,000 are treated by doctors for traumas due to botched abortions, said Beatriz Jalli, an IPAS official.

Studies at a Brazilian hospital dedicated to treating female victims of violence, the Perola Byington in Sao Paulo, indicated that more than 40 percent of the cases involved children.

"This is why the Recife case is so important for women in Brazil," Jalli said.

Jalli said the liberated "Girl from Ipanema" image that many foreigners have of Brazilian women is far from reality.

"We live in a male chauvinistic, patriarchal society with a very high rate of sexual crimes against women and minors," she said. "Our reproductive rights are constantly criminalized."

Meg’s Attack on Christendom

Recommended: Rod Dreher, the Crunchy Con writes:

In the "Collapse of Evangelicalism" below, a commenter named Meg, who identifies herself as a secular liberal, posted the following lengthy indictment of the Christianity in which she was raised.

The comments are worth skimming as well: Meg’s Attack Upon Christendom – Crunchy Con

A Fair Shake: More on Christian Salt

Eleanor Goldberg in Forward: The Jewish Daily:

Have you had a recipe call for Christian salt lately? By next week, you just might.

Joe Godlewski, a retired barber from Cresaptown, Md., was fed up with television chefs constantly beckoning for kosher salt. So, he put his styling skills to use and created the first-ever Blessed Christians Salt, a seasoning blessed by an Episcopal priest. The packaging features a bright-red cross.

Godlewski has made his objectives clear to the Associated Press: “This is about keeping Christianity in front of the public so that it doesn’t die. I want to keep Christianity on the table, in the household, however I can do it.” Godlewski plans to offer some proceeds to Christian charities.

But Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, a kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, thinks that the new product may reflect Godlewski’s ignorance of Jewish dietary restrictions, since all salt is inherently kosher. The only distinction between kosher salt and other salts on the market is the former’s coarse-grained nature. Its composition enables butchers to drain the meat’s blood, which Jews are prohibited from consuming. Most chefs prefer the kosher stuff because it’s easy to pinch and portion, and gives their dishes a crisp, clean flavor.

Godlewski is insistent that he has no ill will toward Jews: “There’s no antisemitism. I love Jesus Christ, and he was a Jew.” Considering that the company manufacturing the salt, ICA Gourmet Seasonings, is Jewish owned and sells only kosher products, we’ll take his word for it.

If the salt gains popularity, Godlewski said, he will launch an entire line of Christian-branded foods, including rye bread, bagels and pickles. We hope he won’t mess with gefilte fish, though.

Source: A Fair Shake: Christian Salt Makes its Debut – Forward.com

Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland Denounce Attacks

Voice of America is reporting:

Thousands of people in Northern Ireland have marched against republican dissidents responsible for killing a police officer and two British soldiers in the British-controlled province.

Catholic and Protestant politicians joined forces Wednesday with demonstrators in Belfast and other cities in a show of unity not seen in decades. Even members of historically rival paramilitary units took part.

Full story: VOA News – Catholics, Protestants in Northern Ireland Denounce Attacks

Christianity on Facebook Hacked

Rick C. Hodgin at TG Daily:

Chicago (IL) – The Facebook group, Christians On Facebook, has become the latest target of attack for hackers who are posting pro-Islam messages. At 11:15am CDT today, the group’s name was changed to "La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah", which means "There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Since then the name has changed no fewer than ten times.

The Christians on Facebook group itself has over 327,000 members from all variations of the Christian faith. This channel or group hack appears to have been designed to replace the fundamental tenants of Christianity with those of Islam.

At 11:58am, the name began changing repeatedly to variations of the following:

"La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah"

"La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah — In ALLAH We Believe"

"La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah – There Is No God But ALLAH"

"There is No God but ALLAH; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"

The attack appears to be ongoing as the group’s image has been changed, and the group’s Basic Info section has also been changed to carry several paragraphs which claim to report on the foundation of Islam, including the first principle declaration in two parts, and several passages relating to the deity Allah and his prophet/servant/apostle Muhammad.

TG Daily – Religious hack attack against Christianity seen on Facebook

How Textbooks Distort History And Religion

Maxime Myer-Smith reviews “The Trouble with Textbooks: ”

The investigation uncovered 500 misrepresentations about Islam, Christianity and Judaism, including disparate treatment of the three religions. For instance, the authors found that the teacher’s overview for World Cultures and Geography: Eastern Hemisphere and Europe (McDougal Littell) suggests that "Judaism is a story of exile" and "Christians believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah." In contrast, about Islam, the same textbook stated: "The Qu’ran is the collection of God’s revelations to Muhammad." (Emphases appear in The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion.) The authors note that the wording dealing with Judaism and Christianity implies those religions are based on fables, whereas the language about Islam suggests that it is a religion based on fact and should be treated with due reverence.

CAMERA: Book Review: The Trouble With Textbooks: Distorting History And Religion

The Pope and the Internet: Will he Twitter?

Ruth Gledhill of the Times tells us, “Pope admits fallibility and pledges to start using Internet.” It is an entertaining posting.

Quoting:

. . . ‘Let us begin with the "mistakes" acknowledged. They are essentially two: the Holy See was not aware that via the "Internet" one could come to know the negationist statements of Williamson which instead were superimposed in a "unforeseeable" way on the remission of the excommunication, causing a media short circuit that caused the whole affair to be misrepresented. From now on, is the conclusion, the Vatican will have to pay more attention to the Internet as a source of information. . . .’

She concludes:

A bit of time on the Internet will do [the Pope] the world of good, thought it is perhaps hoping for too much to expect the Holy See to set up an account on Twitter.

Read it:  Ruth Gledhill – Times Online – WBLG: Pope admits fallibility and pledges to start using Internet

cp: One Episcopalian on Faith

Students forge ties in wake of schism

Elaine Bartlett, Correspondent, The Durham News

When the students of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke University speak about their community, they often speak of friendship and pain in the same sentence.

At the AEHS, part of Duke Divinity School, future church leaders pray together, take communion together, share classes and meals and conversation. Most are preparing for ordination as deacons or priests.

Yet despite their common goals, recent controversies in the Episcopal Church have complicated their sense of unity, particularly about the role of gay clergy and some dioceses’ decision to bless same-sex marriages.

Read more: The Durham News | Students forge ties in wake of schism

Great Comments on the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) from the Atheist Ethicist

I congratulate Alonzo Fyfe who has written a significant article in his blog, Atheist Ethicist. I highly recommend it:

It appears that the atheist blogsphere is celebrating the results of the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey. It shows that the percentage of people who claim to have no religion has gone up from 14.2 percent to 15 percent.

Of course, for the sake of celebrating, we are going to ignore the fact that the survey that shows a 0.8 percent increase in the number of people who claim to have no religion has an error range of plus or minus 3 percent.

And we are going to ignore the fact that many atheists would disavow many others who claim "no religion" and subject them to as much if not more criticism as they do many of those who claim to belong to some religion or other.

And we are going to ignore the fact that the survey actually measures willingness to admit a lack of belief to a pollster which, in turn, presumes a willingness to admit a lack of belief to oneself.

My biggest lament is that all of this tribal "us" versus "them" energy could not be harnessed and put to work for peaceful purposes.

If all I knew about a person was that he was an atheist, then that would mean almost nothing to me. I am not one to assume that, just because a person does not believe in God, he is somebody who can be trusted. Nor am I prepared to assume that the fact that somebody believes in God means that he is a threat. So, I am not prepared to draw the conclusion that just because the number of people willing to claim that they do not follow an organized religion has gone up that the world is necessarily a better place.

We need to ask the question, "What kind of atheists are these?"

Are these the atheists who have perverted the teachings of Ayn Rand into a philosophy of life that says, "Take what you can, give nothing back."?

Or are these internalist atheists who believe that evolution has written a moral law onto their genes and all they need to do to determine if something is right or wrong is to contemplate how they feel about it. This is a frightening group of atheists because history gives us many unpleasant lessons on what a person can feel comfortable with.

My lament, as I said, is that this energy cannot be put to useful purposes. The divisions that I would most be willing to track are the numbers of people who are willing to protect children from harm versus those who seek to harm children. I am interested in the number of people willing to defend freedom of speech versus those willing to destroy it. The number of people willing to use deceit and rhetoric as a political weapon versus the number who prefer to give what, to them, seems true in an open court.

There is a message here for those of us who believe in God; for those of us who call ourselves Christians: What kind of Christians are we?

Source: Atheist Ethicist: The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey

cp: One Episcopalian on Faith

Technorati Tags: Atheism,Religion,Christianity,Ethics,Alonzo Fyfe,Episcopalian

More on the “Buddhist” Bishop Dust Up

Michael Daley writes in Anglican Comment that “Ruth Gledhill [of the Times] asks for a little calm in Michigan.” Daley’s message is important enough to warrants full repetition here:

No doubt many of us have been watching with interest the ongoing problems in the United States of the Americas (Anglican Americans tend to be navel gazers, and Canadians seem to let them run the show, hence the name…but we’re going off topic, here).  There have been rather profound outcries from some members of the religious-American-right regarding the newly elected Episcopal Bishop who happens to use Buddhist meditation techniques.

It seems to me rather inconsistent to on the one hand condemn this fellow and on the other heartily endorse Nostra Aetate, which states that the “Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions.”

While conservatives in the Episcopal Church of the Americas clamber over each other to be first in line to crow about how awful this chap is, Ruth Gledhill makes a very good point – which seems to be missed in this self-righteous melee.

She writes:

“Back in the 1970s, my own father in his ministry as a deeply-orthodox Anglican clergyman used to go for study retreats to Mirfield, the UK’s main centre at the time of Anglo-Catholic contemplative spirituality. His spiritual director there suggested he learn Zen techniques of meditation to help him on his Christian spiritual journey. For three years, at my request he took me with him to the Zen yoga classes in a little school hall outside Uttoxeter. I started at about 12. This was the 1970s in remote Staffordshire, so there were no candles, no incense, just dusty bare floorboards and baking oil-fired radiators. We had an exotic young woman teacher with mirrored skirts who seemed to come from another planet. Our silences were punctuated by the sounds of mooing cows clomping by at milking time. The practices I learned there serve me to this day.

And it is the case that many clergy and laity from England, Wales and Scotland make pilgrimage to Northern Michigan to learn from the Episcopalians there how to use these techniques and others in their own church lives, and how to use them while staying true to the Gospel.”

One can almost feel the ghastly silence from the religious-American-right.  What to do about this woman who has been championed as their ally in the fight against the evil hordes of pointy-hatted heretics threatening their very lives, who has now come out positively about their latest whipping-boy?

I think Ruthie’s take on the whole situation is entirely rational, faithful to the Gospel of Christ and – well – so very English.  So bravo to her for sharing something that may upset her readership – though one hopes it would, rather, challenge them to think just a little more about what that gentleman in Rome had to say.  And – perhaps – what this fellow in Michigan is really all about.

I don’t know the man, but it seems to me that if you’re going to condemn someone, you should at least have a little more than “we don’t like him because he meditates like a Buddhist.”

Source: Anglican Comment » Ruth Gledhill asks for a little calm in Michigan

Drop in Percentage of Americans Identifying as Christians

Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post Staff Writer, on the Trinity College Program on Public Values Survey: 

The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the past two decades, and those who do are increasingly identifying themselves without traditional denomination labels, according to a major study of U.S. religion being released today.

The survey of more than 54,000 people conducted between February and November of last year showed that the percentage of Americans identifying as Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990. Those who do call themselves Christian are more frequently describing themselves as "nondenominational" "evangelical" or "born again," according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

The survey is conducted by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and funded by the Lilly Endowment and the Posen Foundation. Conducted in 1990, 2001 and last year, it is one of the nation’s largest major surveys of religion.

The increase in people labeling themselves in more generic Christian terms corresponds strongly with the decline in people identifying themselves as Protestant, the survey found. People calling themselves mainline Protestants, including Methodists and Lutherans, have dropped to 13 percent of the population, down from 19 percent in 1990. The number of people who describe themselves as generically "Protestant" went from approximately 17 million in 1990 to 5 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people who use nondenominational terms has gone from 194,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million.

"There is now this shift in the non-Catholic population — and maybe among American Christians in general — into a sort of generic, soft evangelicalism," said Mark Silk, who directs Trinity’s Program on Public Values and helped supervise the survey.

The survey substantiated several general trends already identified by sociologists: the slipping importance of denomination in America, the growing number of people who say they have "no" religion and the increase in religious minorities including Muslims, Mormons and such movements as Wicca and paganism.

Trinity College Program on Public Values Survey Finds Drop in Percentage of Americans Identifying as Christian

Stem cell decision, contrasting religious views

From an AP Story:

President Barack Obama’s order Monday opening the door for federal taxpayer dollars to fund expanded embryonic stem cell research again brings those often colliding interests to the fore.

Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called Obama’s move "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics."

"This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested," Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, said in a statement.

On the other side is the Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ minister and a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.

"There is an ethical imperative to relieve suffering and promote healing," she said. "This is good policy for a religiously pluralistic society that cares about human suffering and the relief of human suffering."

Obama alluded to religion in announcing the changes, saying, "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."

Some religious traditions teach that because life begins at conception, any research that destroys a human embryo, as this research does, is tantamount to murder and is never justified. The Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention are among those that oppose the research.

Other more liberal traditions, including mainline Protestant and Jewish institutions, believe the promise to relieve suffering is paramount. In 2004, the governing body of the Episcopal Church said it would favor the research as long as it used embryos that otherwise would have been destroyed, that embryos were not created for research purposes, or were not bought and sold.

Under Jewish law, an embryo is genetic material that does not have the status of a person. According to the Talmud, the embryo is "simply water" in the first 40 days of gestation. Healing and preserving human life takes precedence over all the other commandments in Judaism.

Some groups and faiths are divided on the issue. Muslims disagree over — among other things — whether an embryo in the early stage of development has a soul. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church, has not taken a position.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor from Orlando, Fla., who serves on an Obama White House advisory panel, said he was encouraged by Monday’s developments.

"The principle is still that it’s not only understandable but in some ways moral to use embryonic stem cells that are destined for destruction for research for helping people," he said. "I think we have to tread very lightly and very carefully, and I think we have to be vigilant for years to come."

But most evangelicals criticized Obama’s move.

The Associated Press: Stem cell decision exposes religious divides

Helmet, Dog Collar, Union Jack and Cross: The Rev. Andrew White, Anglican Priest in Iraq

The emergence of consensus on abortion

From the blog, Secular Right: Reality and Reason:

Remember that Ronald Reagan signed a bill which loosened abortion laws in California in the late 1960s. George H. W. Bush had supported abortion rights until 1980, and his father had close ties to Planned Parenthood. This is not to say that I deny that those who oppose abortion do so sincerely. Rather, my point is that the “Culture Wars” which we see around us today may seem clear, distinct, and natural, but their shape was far different even a generation back. The flip side of this is that many atheists can not understand how one could be pro-life and atheist, but I would offer that to a great extent this too is an expression of the evolution of a group identity and coalitional politics. There are prominent atheists such as Nat Hentoff & Christopher Hitchens, who oppose abortion rights.

Secular Right » The emergence of consensus

Crunchy Con on new American Religious Identification Survey

Rod Dreher writes:

Well, look, as someone born Methodist, converted to Catholicism, and now to Orthodoxy, I’m hardly in a position to criticize others for jumping traditions. Conscious of the weakness of my own position, I will say, though, that the major thrust of my own pilgrimages has been looking for a stable tradition in a society in which everything is in rapid flux.

Note that this rapid change happened in only 18 years. What will the next 18 years bring, given that so many Americans will have been raised with little if any vestige of traditional religion, or to think in traditional religious categories? Here comes the further mainstreaming of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Gimme that freelance religion – Crunchy Con

Grace From A Convicted Rapist

Watch the videos at BagOfNothing; at least watch the first one. As a commenter wrote:

I’m so glad I took the time to listen to this. Such a powerful story.

Click on BagOfNothing.com » Grace From A Convicted Rapist