Colleagues List, March 17th, 2012
wah...@telusplanet.net
Vol. VII. No. 31
March 17, 2012
*****
ST. PATRICK'S DAY EDITION
*****
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
*****
Colleagues List Blog:
http://colleagueslist.blogspot.com/
Canadian Anglican Google Groups:
http://tinyurl.com/7sepky3
My E-Mail Address:
wah...@telusplanet.net
New "Quicklinks" are now included
with many items. Otherwise, scroll
down to find your selection in the
body of the blog, as in the past.
*****
Special Item in this Issue -
Book Notice:
"When God Talks Back"
Understanding American Evangelicals
by T.M. Luhrmann
___
Colleague Contributions:
Michael Higgins
Jim Taylor
Philip Jenkins
___
Net Notes:
Why Good Men Go Bad
Priest Placed on Leave
Prayers Bring Japanese Together
We Need a Better Understanding of Iran
Archbishop Williams to Quit at Year End
German Guidelines - Interfaith Marriages
Exceptional Woman Honored at the U. of C.
Do Christians Have Right to Wear Crosses?
Christianity Not an Alien Religion in China
'Little Mosque on the Prairie' - US Assessment
Calgary Students Help Design a New Christchurch
___
Global Faith Potpourri:
Eighteen ENI Geneva stories.
___
Wisdom of the Week:
Walker Percy
Martin Buber
Ana�s Nin
James Nayler
Evelyn Underhill
___
On This Day:
K.U. Chernenko, died at age 73.
Politburo member M. S. Gorbachev
was chosen to succeed him (1985)
Truman established the Truman
Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey
resist Communism (1947)
___
On This Day:
Closing Thought - Clarissa Pinkola Estes
***********
Dear Friends:
For those 'lovers of the green' in
my readership, I share several articles
related to St. Patrick and his kind.
I hope you enjoy them.
This week I attended a very interesting
lecture by Dr. Ramez Boutrez of the
University of Toronto. He gave the
University of Calgary Chair of
Christian Thought Lebel Lecture on
"Early Women's Monasticism in Egypt"
that I would like give more thought
to, so that I might better share
insights I think would be helpful.
'Early church monasticism' might seem
like esoteric stuff, but just as we have
learned much in modern times from
women like Julian of Norwich and
Mechthild of Magdeburg - medieval
European women mystics - I sense the
same might be the case with these
previously 'hidden' mentors from
very early Christianity.
---
This week, I provide a book notice for
"When God Talks Back" - a new study on
American Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism
that should cause those of us in the older
established churches to take a second look.
T.M. Luhrmann, a psychological anthropologist
at Stanford and Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, writes a book
that I think will be quoted many years from
now.
Colleague Contributions:
Michael Higgins (Fairfield, CT) tells us
how Irish Catholicism in the old country
and America is changing dramatically.
Jim Taylor (Okanagan, BC) brings St. Patrick
into modern times as only Jim can.
Philip Jenkins (University Park, PA) writes
of holy places that have been 'claimed' by
a series of spiritual traditions over the
centuries.
Net Notes:
"Why Good Men Go Bad" - here is a reflection
on the tragedy of Afghan deaths by a crazed
American soldier this week (The Tablet, UK)
"Priest Placed on Leave" - an American priest
who refused communion to one he knew as a
lesbian has been disciplined (Washington Post)
"Prayers Bring Japanese Together" - as we
acknowledge the first anniversary of the
devastating tsunami disaster in Japan, here
is a report of developments there (Una News)
"We Need a Better Understanding of Iran"
- a timely article that attempts to get
below the surface of Western media hype
(The Guardian, UK)
"Archbishop Williams to Quit at Year End"
- Rowan Williams will step down after a
decade that challenged his leadership
both in the UK and around the world
(ENI, Globe and Mail)
"German Guidelines - Interfaith Marriages"
- a sign that Germany is responding to the
reality of Islamic presence in the country
was reflected in this news (Anglican Journal)
"Exceptional Woman Honored at the U. of C."
- I had the privilege of being invited to
a special event last week. A Muslim student
wanted me to attend an event to honor her
accomplishments (UToday - U. of Calgary)
"Do Christians Have Right to Wear Crosses?"
- an issue in the UK right now has to do
with the right Christians to wear religious
symbols at work (The Telegraph, UK)
http://tinyurl.com/7aukara
http://tinyurl.com/6rh68a8
"Christianity Not an Alien Religion in China"
- a sign that Christian faith is emerging as
an indigenous expression occurred this week
(Anglican Journal)
"'Little Mosque on the Prairie' - US Assessment"
- originally a Canadian (CBC) drama, a series
that employs humor to engage interfaith issues
is now reviewed in the USA (Sightings)
"Calgary Students Help Design a New Christchurch"
- it is now a year since the earthquakes began
impacting New Zealand. Calgary students are
contributing to a major rebuilding project there
(UToday, U. of Calgary)
Global Faith Potpourri:
Eighteen world-wide religious stories are
provided this week from Ecumenical News
International, Geneva.
___
Wisdom of the Week:
Walker Percy, Martin Buber, Ana�s Nin,
James Nayler and Evelyn Underhill share
their insights with us.
___
On This Day:
K.U. Chernenko, died at age 73.
Politburo member M. S. Gorbachev
was chosen to succeed him (1985)
Truman established the Truman
Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey
resist Communism (1947)
On This Day:
Closing Thought - on women's
spirituality is provided again
this week by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
___
Blessings,
Wayne
********************************
St. David's and ACTS Ministry Announce:
OUR SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR FOR 2013
TURKEY AND THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
April 22nd - May 8th, 2013
Tour sale begins with deposit starting June, 2012
Full payment due, January, 2013
More details such as costs to be made available
in the Sunday worship guide and the St. David's
Spiritual Travelers Discussion List Group as they
become available.
To join the list discussion contact:
Deb. Charnusaki - debcha...@hotmail.com
Your tour hosts:
Marlene and Wayne Holst
wah...@telusplanet.net (or)
marlen...@gmail.com
403-286-7416
*****
SPECIAL WINTER STUDY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Introducing the Full Program
ST. DAVID'S MONDAY NIGHT STUDY
WINTER 2012
"The Other Face of God:
When the Stranger Calls Us Home"
by Mary Jo Leddy
Ten Monday Nights -
January 16th - March 26th, 2012
See the study schedule:
http://tinyurl.com/78f2ll2
Information about the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/c6aror6
Visit Romero House, Toronto on the web:
http://tinyurl.com/7c9dsb4
NOTE: Mary Jo Leddy is coming to St. David's
the weekend of April 20th-22nd. Watch for new
information as it becomes available.
*****
ST. DAVID'S ACTS MINISTRY AND
THE FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
ON THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY CAMPUS
Welcome to our -
LENTEN STUDIES 2012
Noon Hour Book Discussions for Faculty,
Staff and Students Winter Series for 2012:
"An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor
Discovering God in the ordinary experiences of life
March 2nd - March 30th - five Friday noon sessions
Time and Location for all sessions:
12:00 to 1:00PM in the Native Centre Board Room
Located above the Dairy Queen, Mac Hall Student's
Centre
Led by: Wayne Holst,
Coordinator of the ACTS Ministry, St. David's United
and a Faith and Spirituality Centre Liaison.
Cost of the book: $15.00 each
http://tinyurl.com/7qpxcmw
http://www.ucalgary.ca/faithandspirituality/
Join us this year for stiumlating campus discussions!
For more information: Adriana Tulissi 403-220-5451
Co-ordinator, Faith and Spirituality Centre, U. of
C. - artu...@ucalgary.ca
*****
SPECIAL ST. DAVID'S LINKS
Contact us at: as...@sduc.ca (or)ad...@sduc.ca
St. David's Web Address - http://sduc.ca/
Listen to audio recordings of Sunday services -
http://sduc.ca/St_Davids_United_Church/Audio.html
*****
STUDY ARCHIVES
An accumulation of thirty-five books studied
since 2000 can quickly be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/6oxmyj4
This collection of study resources represents
more than a decade of Monday Night Studies at
St. David's, plus extra courses too!
You are welcome to use our course outlines,
class notes and resource pages in your personal
and group reflections.
******************************************
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
WHEN GOD TALKS BACK
Understanding the American
Evangelical Relationship with God,
by T. M. Luhrmann. March 27th, 2012.
Random House of Canada, 434 pages.
$34.00 CAD. ISBN #978-0-307-26479-4.
Colleague Phyliss Tickle writes:
"Not since Robert Bellah's 'Habits
of the Heart' a quarter century ago,
has there been so readable, so informing,
so scholarly, and yet so winsome a report
about any group of American believers as
Luhrmann's "When God Talks Back."
"This is religion writing at its best - a
masterful examination that is a candid,
humble, clear-eyed, and affirming record
of what faith looks like and how it operates."
---
Publisher's Promo:
How does God become and remain real for modern
evangelicals? How are rational, sensible people
of faith able to experience the presence of a
powerful yet invisible being and sustain that
belief in an environment of overwhelming
skepticism?
T. M. Luhrmann, an anthropologist trained in
psychology and the acclaimed author of Of Two
Minds, explores the extraordinary process that
leads some believers to a place where God is
profoundly real and his voice can be heard amid
the clutter of everyday thoughts.
While attending services and various small group
meetings at her local branch of the Vineyard, an
evangelical church with hundreds of congregations
across the country, Luhrmann sought to understand
how some members were able to communicate with
God, not just through one-sided prayers but with
discernable feedback. Some saw visions, while
others claimed to hear the voice of God himself.
For these congregants and many other Christians,
God was intensely alive. After holding a series
of honest, personal interviews with Vineyard
members who claimed to have had isolated or
ongoing supernatural experiences with God,
Luhrmann hypothesized that the practice of
prayer could train a person to hear God�s
voice�to use one�s mind differently and focus
on God�s voice until it became clear.
A subsequent experiment conducted between people
who were and weren�t practiced in prayer further
illuminated her conclusion. For those who have
trained themselves to concentrate on their inner
experiences, God is experienced in the brain as
an actual social relationship: his voice was
identified, and that identification was trusted
and regarded as real and interactive.
Astute, deeply intelligent, and sensitive, When
God Talks Back is a remarkable approach to the
intersection of religion, psychology, and science,
and the effect it has on the daily practices of
the faithful.
___
Author's Words:
Many Americans not only believe in God in some
general way but experience God directly and
report repeated contact with the supernatural.
Many (of these) Christians come to their
religious commitments slowly, carefully and
deliberately... and they doubt.
Faith is hard because it is a decision to live
as if a set of claims are real, even when one
doubts...
This book does not answer the question of
whether God exists... I am a social scientist
and I do not believe that social science can
answer these questions.
I wrote this book because I think I can explain
to nonbelievers how people come to experience
God as real.
... the feature that most deeply characterizes
American evangelicals is that the God they seek
is more personally intimate, and more intimately
experienced, than the God most Americans grew
up with...
Ordinary Americans are now embracing a spirituality
that mid-twentieth-century generations had regarded
as vulgar, overemotional, or even psychotic...
What enables them to sustain their commitment is a
learning process that changes their experience of
mind.
This book explains how this new use of the mind
allows God to come alive for people. It explains
what people learn, how deep the learning goes,
and how powerful it is. This will not change a
skeptic into a believer, but it will help explain
how a reasonable person could choose to become
and remain this kind of Christian. Perhaps that
will serve as a bridge across the divide, and
help us to respect one another...
The major shift in American spirituality over the
past half century has been toward a God who is
not only vividly present but also deeply kind. He
is no longer the benign sovereign of the old
mainstream church, nor is he the harsh tyrant of
the Hebrew Bible. He is personal and intimate.
This new, modern God is eager for the tiniest
details of a worshiper's life.
The evidence for (the divinity of this God) does
not come directly from the senses. It usually
comes indirectly, from other, more unreliable
sources.
I set out many years ago to understand how God
becomes real for modern people... The Vineyard
Fellowship is a new denomination, a few decades
old, and it represents this shift in American
imagination of God.
The Americans in this church are ordinary
Americans... The Vineyard is arguably the most
successful example of what one sociologist has
called 'new paradigm' Protestantism, the infusion
of a more intensely expressive spirituality into
white middle-class Christianity.
(A Pew Research survey (2006) reports that nearly
one quarter of all Americans embrace this kind of
spirituality and Vineyard typifies this powerful,
new impulse.)
In effect, people train the mind in such a way
that they experience part of their mind as the
presence of God... They experience the mind
differently and they give significance to thoughts
and feelings in new ways...
These practices work. They change people. That is,
they change mental experience, and how these
changes help people to experience God as more real.
Anthropologists are taught as students to seek to
understand before we judge. We want to understand
how people interpret their worlds before passing
judgement on whether their interpretation is
right or wrong...
The goal of this book is simply to help readers
understand the problem of (God's) presence more
deeply... and to explain how, in this day and age,
people are nonetheless able to identify that
presence and to experience it as real.
---
My Thoughts:
This is a sympathetic and intelligent book
about modern American evangelicalism that
was written by a social scientist with good
credentials, who happens also to be a member
of the evangelical faith community.
The author, Ms Luhrmann, has written previous
recognized studies that sought to provide a
thoughtful interpretation of religion to a
skeptical world.
An important insight in this book is that she
continues her work as a quality academician
who has a high regard for the mind and honest
doubt. At the same time, she believes - as
many of us who teach religion in secular
environments - that one has to draw the line
between matters of faith and reason when it
comes down to it. This is what she sees as
an important characteristic of modern American
evangelicalism - reflected in the Vineyard
Fellowship expression of that tradition.
Anti-intellectualism is out. Faith struggle is in.
A 'distant God' is out. A 'personal God' is in.
In the end, you can't convince a skeptic about
the existence or non-existence of God, but you
can share your own personal experience of what
that God means to you. You do it not so much
to 'convert' as to 'bear witness' to the
truth that lies within you.
I have often found myself in the situation
she describes. When thoughtful, non-believing
students ask me why I am a Christian, I have
to admit to them that I agree with much of
what turns them off to traditional church.
Still, I remain a member of a faith community.
I do this because I believe that community
represents, for me, an important reality of
what it means to be a believer today.
I remain there, and seek to be a daily
witness to the Christian faith it represents.
Interestingly, however, the church to which
I belong is part of mainline Protestantism.
This tells me that what is 'new' can still
be 'classic' and that there are many vital
Christians out there who are not contemporary
'evangelicals' in the strict sense of the
term.
---
I see the kind of evangelicalism the author
describes as a kind of 'third-way' Christianity
that can bridge chasms that have developed
between traditional mainstream Christianity,
religious skepticism, and those who seek to
be followers of Christ in our secular times.
The fact that faith is portrayed as a journey,
not a destination; a spiritual quest, not
a fait accompli, and a community, not an
institution - are appealing characteristics
to me.
Recorded in the almost 400 pages of this
substantive but accessible study is quality
anecdotal evidence to support the author's
conclusions. It is satisfying to realize -
as she draws her current research report to
a close - that new lifestreams can emerge
out of old sources.
Once again, modern Pentecostalism is here
portrayed as something more substantive and
respectable than may have been been previously
recognized.
---
This is a book that is both groundbreaking
and trendsetting. It should have a long
shelf-life, so if you are interested in
collecting and immersing yourself in studies
that should be relevant even decades from now,
I would seriously recommend this one to you.
*****
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/87f78v6
*****
COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
MICHAEL HIGGINS
Fairfield, CT
Globe and Mail
March 16th, 2012
St. Patrick's Day:
For Irish and US Catholics
How Things Change
***
JIM TAYLOR
Okanagan, BC
Personal Blog
March 13th, 2012
"On a Pilgrimage with St. Patrick"
March 11th, 2012
"Robocalls"
***
PHILIP JENKINS
Christian Century
March 8th, 2012
"Whose Holy Ground?"
*****
NET NOTES
WHY GOOD MEN GO BAD
The Afghanistan Murders
The Tablet, UK
March 17th, 2012
*****
PRIEST PLACED ON LEAVE
Refused Lesbian Communion
Washington Post
March 11th, 2012
*****
PRAYERS BRING JAPANESE TOGETHER
One Year After Fatal Tsumami
Una News
March 12th, 2012
*****
WE NEED A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF IRAN
The Guardian
March 12th, 2012
*****
ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS
TO QUIT AS OF YEAR END
ENI Geneva
March 16th, 2012
Archbishop of Canterbury to step down,
accepts position at Cambridge
(ENI news) - The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Rowan Williams, announced on 16 March that
he will step down from the post at the end
of 2012 and has accepted the position of
Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge
University. Williams, 61, was appointed in
2002 and will take up the academic post as
of January, 2013, according to a news
release from Lambeth Palace in London.
He will continue to carry out all the
duties and responsibilities of his office
until yearend, the news release said.
---
The Globe and Mail
March 16th, 2012
*****
GERMAN CHURCH GUIDELINES
FOR INTER-FAITH MARRIAGES
Anglican Journal
March 12th, 2012
*****
RESOURCE CENTRE CELEBRATES
EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN AT THE U. of C.
Muslim Ola Mahojer Wins Top Award
UToday
March 15th, 2012
*****
DO CHRISTIANS HAVE RIGHT
TO WEAR CROSSES TO WORK?
UK Court to Rule
The Telegraph, UK
March 10th, 2012
---
Rowan Williams:
"Wearing a Cross Does Not
Offend Non-Christians"
The Telegraph, UK
March 16th, 2012
*****
CHRISTIANITY NO LONGER AN
'ALIEN RELIGION' IN CHINA
Anglican Journal
March15th, 2012
*****
BELIEVING, BELONGING AND LAUGHTING
IN 'LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE'
Sightings
March 15th, 2012
*****
CALGARY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
HELP DESIGN NEW CHRISTCHURCH
UToday
March 12th, 2012
*****
GLOBAL FAITH POTPOURRI
Ecumenical News International
News Highlights
12 March 2012
A grieving Japan marks disaster anniversary
Tokyo (ENI news) - A nation paused in grief
on 11 March as Japan marked the one-year
anniversary of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake,
tsunami and nuclear accident that took 19,000
lives and triggered a continuing reconstruction
crisis. As Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
reminded the Japanese people that their
predecessors "have repeatedly risen up from
crises," faith communities throughout the
country remembered the victims through prayer
and acts of worship.
_____
Church council pays tribute to Japanese
nuclear accident survivors
Geneva (ENI news) - On the first anniversary
of the 11 March nuclear accident in Japan,
the World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed
solidarity with the victims and encouraged
governments to take steps to avoid such
tragedies in future. The magnitude-9.0
earthquake and tsunami on 11 March last
year crippled the Daiichi nuclear power
station at Fukushima, exposing people in
the area to radiation, killing workers at
the plant and forcing more than 100,000
people to abandon their homes, the Geneva-
based WCC said in a news release.
_____
Germany celebrates 60th annual
Christian-Jewish Brotherhood Week
Berlin (ENI news) - Germany's 60th annual
Brotherhood Week, celebrating cooperation
between Christians and Jews, opened on 11
March with organizers recalling the event's
founding in the years after the Holocaust.
In 1952, "the aim was to focus for one week
on tolerance, understanding and acceptance
of the other without trying to convince him
of your religion or values," said Eva Schulz-
Jander, one of three presidents of the German
Coordinating Council of Societies for
Christian-Jewish Cooperation.
_____
Nigeria seeing expansion
of religious-based attacks
(ENI news) - Christian leaders in Nigeria
were urging calm on 12 March as reprisals
attacks continued to rock central Plateau
State a day after suicide bombers attacked
a Roman Catholic church in the state's city
of Jos. Since the blasts on St. Finbar Church
on 11 March in which 11 people were killed,
several reprisal attacks followed the blasts,
resulting in the deaths of 20 people,
according to reports. Since 2009, the
militant Islamist group called Boko Haram
has concentrated attacks in northern Nigeria,
but in the past six months the sect has
expanded attacks in 10 other states.
13 March 2012
_____
U.S. Christians hope for
an 'ecumenical spring'
(ENI news) - For years, advocates for greater
unity among Christian churches have wrung their
hands amid talk of an "ecumenical winter." But
now, 10 years after leaders took the first
steps toward forming the broad-based group
Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT),
some have hopes that U.S. churches may be
entering a new season of closer relations.
At a recent CCT meeting in Memphis, Tennessee,
85 Christians - Catholic, Protestant and
Orthodox, white and nonwhite - made pilgrimages
to historic sites of the civil rights movement,
Religion News Service reports. They also made
plans to pursue anti-poverty projects with
houses of worship unlike their own. "I would
like to think of it as an ecumenical spring
and that we do not yet know what will break
forth," said the Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr.,
Ecumenical staff officer of the United
Methodist Church. "I think that there's
the potential for the ecumenical movement
to be more alive than it's ever been because
it will be more inclusive."
_____
Australian Aboriginal archdeacon
supports reconciliation
(ENI news) - The Anglican Church in
Australia's first female indigenous
archdeacon, Karen Kime, said she sees
her role as improving communication
with the nation's aboriginal communities
and supporting reconciliation with the
church and the wider society. "All clergy
have a responsibility to indigenous people,"
Kime said in an interview with the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. (ABC). "It's about teaching
our people that there's a role for them to
play in the church ... and helping other
people to see that." Canberra-Goulburn
Bishop Stuart Robinson, who conducted Kime's
ordination service on 25 February, told the
Daily Advertiser that this sends a strong
signal that indigenous ministry is now on
the church's agenda.
_____
14 March 2012
In Pakistan, minority Hindus
see court ruling as a victory
(ENI news) - The minority Hindu community
in Pakistan is seeing a recent Supreme Court
decision as a victory in an onging fight
against the kidnapping of Hindu women and
forced conversions to Islam and marriages
to Muslims. The Supreme Court ruled on 8
March that police in the southern Sindh
province should trace and produce in court
three allegedly abducted Hindu women. The
order was issued in response to a
constitutional petition filed by the
Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC). Attorney
general Anwar-ul-Haq, appearing on behalf
of the government, requested the court to
give him time to seek instructions from
authorities. The court subsequently
adjourned the case till 26 March,
according to a report in the Times of
India.
_____
Ugandan faith leaders critique
viral Internet video on Kony
(ENI news)- A film detailing atrocities
committed by the Northern Uganda rebel
leader Joseph Kony has become an Internet
sensation, but faith leaders in the region
said they fear the production will cause
further trauma to the population who are
recovering from a 23-year brutal war.
The 30-minute film, titled "Kony 2012,"
was released on 5 March by Invisible
Children, based in San Diego, California.
It has put fresh attention on atrocities
committed by the Ugandan rebel group
called the Lord's Resistance Army, but
also attracted praise and criticism from
faith leaders, the conflict's victims and
The public. "It should have been released
in 2003, but now that it is drawing
attention to the problem, we would like
the international community to find ways
of stopping Kony. He is still there,"
Anglican Bishop Johnson Gakumba of Northern
Uganda diocese told ENInews.
_____
Church council seeks to
re-define mission and evangelism
(ENI news) - Some 300 church leaders from
various parts worldwide will be gathering
in Manila from 22 to 27 March for a pre-
assembly of the World Council of Churches'
(WCC) Commission on World Mission and
Evangelism. Hosted by the National Council
of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the
gathering is expected to update the WCC's
mission and evangelism statement, which was
written in 1982. "The Philippines can help
take a look at mission and evangelism from
the side of the oppressed and not only from
the traditional understanding of conversion,"
NCCP general secretary Fr. Rex Reyes told
ENI news.
*****
15 March 2012
British government launches consultation
on same-sex marriage
(ENI news) - The British government on 15
March launched a 12-week consultation in
England and Wales that is widely expected
to lead to the legalization of same-sex
marriage, despite strong opposition from
the Roman Catholic Church and conservative
elements within the Church of England.
"Should two people who care deeply for
each other, who love each other and who
want to spend the rest of their lives
together be allowed to marry?" Home
Secretary Theresa May asked in The
Times on 15 March. "That is the
essential question behind the debate
over the government's plans to extend
civil marriage to same sex couples,"
she said.
_____
French Protestants call for 'truth
and solidarity' in political campaigns
Paris (ENI news) As the French election
battle gets more fiery, religious groups
have stepped into the fray, concerned
that the various presidential candidates
are damaging "social cohesion" by
appealing to popular prejudices and
fears. "When fear of the other as well
as fear of the future motivates behavior,
it becomes a matter of urgency to regain
the path that leads to people as they
are and not to their caricatures," said
the president of the Protestant
Federation of France, Pastor Claude
Baty, in a message aimed at politicians
and their supporters.
_____
In French campaign, halal
and kosher meat become key issue
Paris (ENI news) - French president Nicolas
Sarkozy's call for labeling meat from animals
slaughtered in line with religious rules has
sparked outrage among France's Muslim and
Jewish leaders, who say it would stigmatize
their communities. Sarkozy, a moderate-right
candidate for re-election, urged the mandatory
labeling as concerns about immigration from
North Africa took center stage as a campaign
issue ahead of the two-stage vote in April
and May. Opponents of immigration claim it
is changing France's cultural values.
*****
16 March 2012
Church leaders support Sri Lankan bishop
seeking human rights probe
(ENI news) - A group of more than 60 church
leaders and social activists in Sri Lanka has
rallied behind a Catholic bishop, Rayappu
Joseph, who has called for an international
investigation into massive human rights
violations in the closing stage of the war
against Tamil rebels. The support came in
response to the demand by the Sinhahala
Urumaya Hela (Sinhala Heritage Party) and
the National Freedom Front, coalition
partners in the Sri Lankan government,
for the arrest of Joseph on the grounds
of "defaming" the government.
_____
Williams' return to academia
marks a career of scholarship
(ENI news) - Rowan Williams' decision to
resign the post of Archbishop of Canterbury
and accept a position at Cambridge University
represents a departure from Anglican Communion
controversies and a return to an academic
environment that has embraced the noted
theologian, scholar and poet throughout his
career. Williams is a scholar of the early
church theologians known as the Church Fathers
and on the history of Christian spirituality.
His doctoral studies focused on Vladimir
Lossky, a prominent 20th century Russian
Orthodox theologian. Williams has expressed
liberal views on social issues, participating
in anti-nuclear demonstrations and expressing
progressive opinions on homosexuality and the
Bible, while holding orthodox views on
Christianity.
_____
Amid protests in Tibet, Chinese government
announces pensions for monks and nuns
(ENI news) - In a bid to defuse tension in Tibet
amid public protests and self-immolations, the
Chinese government announced pensions for Buddhist
monks and nuns. According to Xinhua, China's state
-run news agency, 37 monks in the Tibetan capital
of Lhasa began receiving a basic monthly pension
of 120 yuan (US$19) each on 12 March. A government
official in Lhasa was quoted as saying that it was
the "first time in the 1,300-year history of
Tibetan Buddhism that its clergies have been
given a pension from the local government."
_____
As Williams' tenure assessed,
attention turns to possible successor
Canterbury, England (ENI news) - Gender and
sexuality issues defined Rowan Williams' decade
as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, leader
of the Church of England and worldwide Anglican
Communion. With the news that he will step down
at the end of 2012, attention is focused on who
will be his successor.
Appointed in 2002, Williams' decade-long
tenure early faced controversy over whether
homosexuality is contrary to biblical orthodoxy.
Two names mentioned prominently as possible
successors are the Archbishop of York, John
Sentamu, who is from Uganda and would be the
first black Archbishop of Canterbury, and the
bishop of London, Richard Chartres.
_____
Quebec parties challenge halal meat laws
(ENI news) - In Canada, two political parties
in Quebec are speaking out against the ritual
slaughter of meat, saying the practice runs
counter to the province's secular "values."
The opposition Parti Quebecois (PQ) on 14
March declared concerns about halal meat,
which is slaughtered according to Islamic
law. A PQ legislator said halal slaughter
is an affront to animal rights and "slams
directly against Quebecois values." The
pro-independence party said it is worried
that mainstream companies are selling halal
meat without proper labeling to unsuspecting
consumers. It wants to know how many companies
produce halal meat and how many animals are
being slaughtered annually under Islamic
rituals.
_____
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners Online
March 12th, 2012
"The search is what anyone would undertake
if he were not sunk in the everydayness of
his own life. To become aware of the
possibility of the search is to be on to
something. Not to be on to something is
to be in despair."
- Walker Percy
---
March 13th, 2012
"That you need God more than anything, you know
at all times in your heart. But don�t you know
also that God needs you � in the fullness of
[God's] eternity, you?"
- Martin Buber
---
March 14th, 2012
"There are very few human beings who receive
the truth, complete and staggering, by instant
illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment
by fragment, on a small scale, by successive
developments, cellularly, like a laborious
mosaic."
- Ana�s Nin
---
March 15th, 2012
�Can I, imprisoned, body-bounded, touch/
The starry robe of God, and from my soul,/
My tiny Part, reach forth to [God�s] great Whole,/
And spread my Little to the infinite Much,/
When Truth forever slips out of my clutch/
And what I take indeed, I do but dole,/
In cupfuls from a rimless ocean-bowl/
That holds a million million million such?�
- James Nayler
---
March 16th, 2012
"Love is creative. It does not flow along the
easy paths, spending itself in the attractive.
It cuts new channels, goes where it is needed."
- Evelyn Underhill
*****
ON THIS DAY
Provided from the archives
of the New York Times
On March 10, 1985 - Konstantin U. Chernenko,
Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at
age 73. His death was announced on March 11th.
Politburo member Mikhail S. Gorbachev was
chosen to succeed him.
---
On March 12, 1947 - Truman established what
became known as the Truman Doctrine to help
Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT
"Negative complexes are banished or transformed -
your dreams will guide you the last part of the
way - by putting your foot down, once and for all,
and by saying "I love my creative life more than
I love cooperating with my own oppression."
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
We have to stand up and put our foot down. We
have to take a stand. We have to declare: "I love
my creative life more than I love cooperating with
my own oppression."
That is when creativity begins. How are we doing?
Have we chosen creativity yet? When was the last
time you put your foot down to resist cooperating
with your own oppression.?
Matthew Fox
(end)