Oregon’s Department of Human Services on Tuesday won custody of a child who faced blindness in one eye after her parents treated her with prayer instead of seeking medical care. The girl’s parents, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland , face criminal charges for failing to provide adequate care
View original post here:
State wins custody rights over girl in Oregon City faith-healing case
I read an article in Insight Newsletter , the Newsletter of the Insight Meditation Society, talking about efforts of various people involved in social justice work. The article began by pointing out the obvious, that “[w]hen you look at what’s going on in the world, it’s a challenge not to be extremely angry and harrowed.” There are sufferings of the world that just make me sad – a tsunami that kills many people.
More here:
Motivation for (Social) Change
We can subconsciously slip into viewing preaching as something other than communication. How so? Well, we can slip into thinking it is about simply teaching information, or view it as a literary exercise (written and read), or view it as a liturgical procedure
Continued here:
People Communicate
It is generous of Cathy Lynn Grossman to walk us through the hazards of posing thoughtless rhetorical questions: [Jerry] Coyne argues we must clear vision from the fog of belief and religious structures that nourish communities of faith. No common awe for the dazzling sunrise here
Here is the original:
A Rhetorical Scared Straight
Speaking to a meeting of Hasidic Jewish leaders on Sunday, New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino said, “I don’t want [children] to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option” to heterosexuality. Religious organizations and people frequently lead opposition to gay rights in the United States
See the original post:
God and gays
Today’s post is over on the Cor Deo site. I raise the issue of offering unhelpful assurance to people that may or may not have eternal life. In particular I focus in on one verse that seems to be massively neglected in this matter. To read the article, please click here.
View original here:
Unhelpful Assurance?
From overweight 40-year-old men playing Dungeons & Dragons in Mommy’s garage to now, being an official tax bracket, it seems worshiping the sun, moon, stars and tree sap is finally paying off, according to The Telegraph (UK).
Read the original here:
Boys under the hood: Druids finally a religion.
There has been much discussion in Catholic circles about the new English-language translation of the Mass texts, not to mention the process that led to the recent approval by the Vatican of the final version. The changes are to be implemented during Advent 2011. Reaction among Catholics has been mixed.
Continued here:
For All or For Many
Nicholas Kristof has created a quiz that exposes unflattering passages from all the leading brands of revealed faith — Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. What is the point of his little quiz? [T]he point of this little quiz is that religion is more complicated than it sometimes seems, and that we should be wary of rushing to inflammatory conclusions about any faith, especially based on cherry-picking texts.
Original post:
Scriptures Demoted
Episcopal Cafe notes that Fortune (the mag, rather than the really really powerful lady Fortune) lists Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as “a powerful female in the category of religion.” Here is a quote from her from Fortune, by way of the Cafe” “As a church in a rapidly evolving society, we have to be more nimble. .
More:
Presiding Bishop, Powerful Woman, speaks nimbly and with power.