GOD, CHRIST: QUESTIONS & FAITH

Long Quote for Today on the Brazil Excommunications of the Victims

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.

Quote for Today on the Atheist Bus Campaign (in Montreal and elsewhere)

In advertising the alleged non-existence of God, less than bright “Brights” are actually raising consciousness to God. Doh! . . . I have no problem at all with the Atheist Bus advertising campaign coming to Montreal. In fact, I look forward to it, as it will provoke discussion about God. Who would have thought that evangelical militant atheists would ever give God free publicity?

• Robin Edgar, The Emerson Avenger: The Atheist Bus Campaign *And* The Unitarian Church Of Montreal Get Reflected In The Montreal Mirror aka The Less Than Magic Bus That Takes Me To U*Us

Quote for Today on Nigeria’s Anglican Archbishop Akinola

And finally, why is this sort of naked bigotry, roundly condemned elsewhere, not considered a problem worthy of discussion when Anglican leaders convene? We've spent six years fussing about an openly gay bishop who harms no one while Archbishop Akinola's hate-mongering elicits not a peep from the leadership of the Communion.

• Jim Naughton, Episcopal Diocese of Washington

Context:  The Anglican Church of Nigeria, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola, supports legislation to criminalize direct or indirect, public or private displays of same-sex affection.

Amnesty International:

If passed, the bill would give license to the authorities to raid public or private gatherings of any group of people they suspect to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The measure would also increase the risk of violence and other acts of discrimination against individuals who are suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

“It is simply unacceptable to single out one group of people to be deprived of the rights we all enjoy,” said Aster Van Kregten, Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher. “Legalising discrimination is reprehensible in itself and can only promote acts of hatred.”

Human Rights Watch:

"This bill masquerades as a law on marriage, but in fact it violates the privacy of anyone even suspected of an intimate relationship with a person of the same sex," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "It also threatens basic freedoms by punishing human rights defenders who speak out for unpopular causes."

Content from The Lead

Good Grief Quote for Today: “and I'm a Christian”

If we capture an enemy combatant in the battlefield -- or we can use Osama bin Laden -- who may have information about a pending attack. You know what, I don't have any problem taking his head sticking it underwater and scaring the living daylights out of him and making him think we're drowning him, and I'm a Christian.

• Sean Hannity

Hat tip: The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (March 12, 2009) - Quote For The Day

Quote for Today on the Excommunications in Brazil

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.

• MadPriest at Of course, I could be wrong...: latest news from pharisee central. <<-- And this is where you will find the whole story.

The Breakfast Hymn

Bruce Tomaso calls it priceless. I agree.

Tomaso at Twitter (Dallas Morning News)

Internet and the Pope: 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

Obama and Stem Cell Research – The Media

Terry Mattingly has written a powerful analysis of the news reporting on President Obama and stem cell research. He has injected some important observations into his piece entitled, “Hey, Politico! Quote the bishops?:” For instance:

In other words, Obama’s team has set up an open clash with Rome on a variety of issues, including the moral standing of late-term abortions and the right to legally restrict abortions in any way. This is territory that is thick with landmines for the evangelical-Catholic left, in part because the American public — check the Pew Forum numbers — clearly want to see compromise here, with the government seeking middle ground that mixes legal restrictions on abortion, especially after viability, and new efforts to support mothers and their children. Keep an eye on the actions of Democrats For Life.

But — Hey! Politico! — where are the mainstream Catholic voices? Where is the archbishop of DC? There’s a story here. Clearly there is a growing rift in the evangelical world. But how about the Catholic mainstream in America?

This religion and science story will play out for quite some time.

Quote for Today on Pastoral Visitors to the Episcopal Church

One wonders: Why in the world didn't Rowan Williams appoint Archbishop Tutu as one of the "Pastoral Visitors"?? [Story here.] Surely no one in the world is better qualified in the ministry of reconciliation.

• List Fox in My Manner of Life: Joy Personified

Hat tip to the MadPriest

A Welcome Perspective on the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS)

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?

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