Paul Harvey I spent a lot of time growing up waiting in the hospital waiting room. This wasn’t because I was ever ill when younger, or because I sustained any injuries more grievous than spraining my ankle about 10,000 times playing basketball for the last 40 years. Rather, my father, a family physician in a small town and one of just two doctors for one entire county in the Oklahoma Panhandle, got called in a lot — and if my mother wasn’t around, the hospital waiting room was my babysitter
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Cancer Cannot Kill Doggerel
A year after a militant Hindu group came into prominence by engineering a bomb attack on a church in Kathmandu valley that killed three women, another such group is on the rise, seeking to restore Hinduism as Nepals state religion, claims a prominent doctor who was a kidnap victim.
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Doctor claims kidnapped by Hindu militant group
Paul Harvey We’re a bit tardy in taking note of this, but for those who haven’t been following, CNN is the latest entrant into the religious blogosphere, with CNN Belief Blog (now added to our blog sideroll under “BlogFavs”). Noted religious historian Stephen Prothero is one of the contributors.
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Belief Blogging, Protestant Liberalism, and Fundamentalist Originalism
By Sudeshna Sarkar, Kathmandu, June 6: A year after a militant Hindu group came into prominence by engineering a bomb attack on a church in Kathmandu valley that killed three women, another such group is on the rise, seeking to restore Hinduism as Nepal’s state religion, claims a prominent doctor who was a kidnap victim.
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Another Hindu militant group on rise in Nepal?
Peace FM Online and Courthouse News Service report that a lawsuit was filed last Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America against the J. Paul Getty Museum. The suit seeks return of seven illustrated pages, known as the Canon Table, taken from an illuminated Armenian Bible created by Toros Roslin for Constantine I in 1256.
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Armenian Church Sues Getty Museum For Return of Bible Pages
The Shiromani Akali Dal Core Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) called upon the Centre for an expeditious enactment of the Anand Marriage Act for Sikhs, along the lines of similar acts for other religions. Sources said the draft of this Act is ready for ratification by the Union Cabinet. After the clearance, it is likely to be introduced in the Parliament in the next session.
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Enact Anand Marriage Act for Sikhs: SAD urges Centre
Many people simple called him the “reverend,” which was nice since he hated his famous nickname — the Wizard of Westwood. He was constantly reading his Bible, as well as stacks of other books, which was perfectly natural for a former English teacher who hardly ever missed church. However, try to find a picture of this man reading his Bible.
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Wooden: Faith and fidelity (updated)
Today’s first Mass reading is a passage from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy that always moves me. Paul realizes he is “the time of [his] departure is at hand.” Looking back at his life, he writes: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Since I am always so affected by those words, I spent some time reflecting on what Paul is saying in his letter
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I Have Competed Well
This is not a complete post, but it may be helpful. I received the following question from a good friend: I have been asked to preach on psalm 22 and am at the moment soaking myself in it to try and make sure I understand the message, the structure and what God was saying then and is saying now.
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Some Thoughts on Preparing to Preach Psalm 22
(Cross-posted at Juvenile Instructor ) Over at Religion Dispatches, Joanna Brooks has a two-part post asking “Who Says the Tea Party isn’t a Religious Movement?” In challenging Lou Ruprecht’s answer of “no,” Brooks notes that “for the Mormon sector of the movement (including Tea Party icon Glenn Beck), … the Tea Party taps into a powerful and distinctive complex of Mormon beliefs about the divinity of the U.S. Constitution and the last-days role of righteous souls from the Rocky Mountains in saving it from destruction.” It seems to me that Brooks is spot-on in highlighting the religious dimensions of the Tea Party movement in the Jello Belt (that’s the Mormon Corridor in the intermountain West for those unfamiliar).
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The Tea Party as a Religious Movement: A Response
In the post-War swirl of nineteenth century America, with the rise of the corporation, industrialization, dislocation of families, large numbers of immigrants, the theory of evolution, and technological advancements, the religious thought of Americans was undergoing profound challenges. Those who accommodated themselves to evolution and utilitarian philosophy of science found themselves among the rise of religious liberalism. Because these philosophies remove Deity from their worldview and replace it with naturalism, religious liberals consequently had a high view of humanity and believed, because of the new evolutionary model, that given enough time and resources, we can solve all our own problems without God, producing ourselves a better creation and a better humanity.
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Rise of Baptist liberalism (1870-1922)
The head of Canada’s Anglican Church appealed Friday to hundreds of bishops, priests and laypeople that they not let talks on the thorny issue of same-sex unions further divide the church or take on the rancour of the past.
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Anglicans try again to find same-sex blessings consensus
As regular readers know, I’ve been in a bit miffed lately by the Los Angeles Times ’ recent coverage , or lack thereof , when it comes to the presence of the giant, complex and newsworthy Catholic flock that is sitting in its own backyard. So it was nice to see the LAT ahead of the game with this story about whether the District Attorney’s Office had done enough to pursue criminal charges against pedophile priests and Cardinal Roger Mahony, who was, at best, negligent about the behavior of his priests.
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LATimes: Back to clergy sex news
A hospital has won the right to give a child potentially life-saving blood transfusions despite the religious objections of the boy and his family. In a South Australian legal first, the Supreme Court this afternoon gave the Women’s and Children’s Hospital the right to give a 10-year-old boy – a member of the Jehovah’s Witness faith – transfusions as part of his cancer treatment
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Court orders Jehovah’s Witness boy be given blood transfusion
New online Short Quotes To the Ancients, Earth was a Living Being New online All Considering Spiritual Blog Buddha on Good and Bad Karma (quotes and explanation) (11) My spiritual quotes Buddha quotes on karma Buddhist quotes about rebirth, reincarnation and karma Squidoo Best Zen Buddhism Books Celtic Calendars and Planners 2010-2011 Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience (book review) Buddhism and Buddha bags Buddhist Goddesses Art by Romio Shrestha Short Quotes Buddha, Dhammapada , Translation Juan Mascaro 165 By oneself the evil is done, and it is oneself who suffers: by oneself the evil is not done, and by one’s Self one becomes pure.
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NDE, Buddha on karma, Zen Buddhism books
In a case with a complicated procedural history, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again certified three questions of state constitutional law to the California Supreme Court in a case challenging leasing (at nominal or no rent) of camp ground and aquatic center space by the city of San Diego, California to the Boy Scouts. Plaintiffs object to the Scouts’ exclusion of atheists, agnostics and homosexuals as volunteers or members.
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9th Circuit Re-Certifies Issues To California High Court In Boy Scout Case
In Shippen v. Shippen , (NC App., May 18, 2010), a North Carolina appellate court upheld a contempt finding against a husband who failed to pay child support and post-separation support to his wife. Shortly after the court ordered the support payments, husband John Lee Shippen joined the Twelve Tribes of Israel, a religious commune that prohibits its members from earning outside income.
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Joining Religious Commune Does Not Excuse Support Payments
In San Joaquin County Human Services Agency v. Marcus W., (CA App., June 2, 2010), a California appellate court essentially invalidated an arrangement that the County Human Services Agency had made over a decade ago with a Jehovah’s Witnesses organization.
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Court Invalidates Arrangement With Jehovah’s Witnesses On Orders For Blood Transfusions
Yesterday’s Jewish Chronicle reports on an unusual order in a bitter custody battle over their 7-year old son between Elina Margolina, an Orthodox Jew, and her former husband, Nelson Derbigney who is now remarried to an Hispanic Catholic woman. Elina complained that her former husband was ruining their son’s religious upbringing. She alleged he fed him a non-kosher hot dog and mocked the kippah (skull cap) he wore.
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Judge Orders Observance of Religious Rules In Custody Decision
Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari has signed the Instrument of Ratification for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention Against Torture , according to the Associated Press of Pakistan yesterday. The instruments of ratification will now be deposited with the United Nations. The ICCPR includes protections for freedom of religion, thought and conscience, including the right to adopt a religion of one’s choice.
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Pakistan Ratifies Convention on Civil and Political Rights
A federal judge on Thursday tossed out a lawsuit by a Salt Lake City religious group seeking equal space for its own marker in a Pleasant Grove city park that has a Ten Commandments monument.
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Judge dismisses Summum request for equal space with Ten Commandments
Throughout Scripture God is seen as sovereign and providentially involved in all aspects of life. When there were natural disasters in Israel, the prophets called the people to respond to the God who created everything. When war or famine hit, they interpreted it in light of the covenant they were under, but also always recognizing and promoting the reality of a God who is present and immanent and involved. Today we see two concerning alternatives: Alternative A – God is Absent
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Biblical Worldview and Ours
WASHINGTON — American churches have less than two weeks to change their wireless microphone equipment or face more than $100,000 in fines. In January, the Federal Communications Commission mandated that anyone using wireless microphones on the 700 MHz band must stop by June 12 in order to make room for use by police, fire and emergency services.
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Churches scramble to meet FCC rules on wireless mics
WASHINGTON — Facing a reduced budget and a third round of layoffs, officials at Washington National Cathedral are considering disposing of priceless treasures — including a trove of rare books — that are no longer considered part of its central mission.
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Cash-strapped National Cathedral may sell its treasures
Fans of the Newsboys will get to hear the first full-length album with new singer Michael Tait on July 13, when Born Again is officially released as the band’s 15th studio project. Its first single is available for download on iTunes and has been a chart-topper two weeks in a row
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Music: Newsboys putting up walls — in a good way
Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard said Wednesday that he will launch a new church from his Colorado Springs home, 3 1/2 years after he resigned from his ministry amid an embarrassing and devastating sex scandal. Haggard said he doesn’t know how many people will attend his new church, but he said the ordeal he and his wife, Gayle, went through has prepared them to help others.
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Ted Haggard to start new church in Colo. Springs
Ofttimes in the world of law enforcement, the bad guys get away. Then, with some due diligence, the bad guys gets caught and are thrown in the pokey
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Baptist girl raped by church member, forced to apologize then relocated