Tag Archives: Christianity

Interesting Atheist

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My first brush with this atheist blogger has been a pleasant one. It’ll be interesting
to discover how I feel as I read more posts.

“Thought-Provoking
Criticism”

Woke up this morning and discovered that I have been linked by a Christian blog.
Of course, I am honored. It’s all part of my insidious plan, you know–get Christians
reading my blog as an attempt to enhance the dialogue between the religious and
the irreligious, and maybe everybody will finally admit that we have much more to
gain from embracing our shared humanity than from playing metaphysical war games
with each other.

I Say Potato

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You say potahto. Either way, it’s spin. I take back the nice things I said about the Bishops’ response to Communiongate. Like so many Church documents, it has too much wiggle room to have any real force or meaning (for any side).

Communion: more feedback

In a further indication that the leadership of the Church is endeavouring to take the heat out of communion being used as a political battering ram, the respected CNS news agency is reporting that the American Bishops are trying "to move abortion politics away from the Communion rail and into the hearts of individual Catholics".

Women in the Church

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I generally find that women don't appreciate being instructed about their proper roles from men. That's understandable. I'd imagine most men don't like being told their roles by women, either (though my gut tells me women hate hearing about womanhood from men more than the reverse). The author of the following defense of the all-male priesthood is a women. Even cooler, she's an ex-Lutheran minister (I'm an ex-Lutheran as well).

Former Lutheran Pastor Debunks Women's Ordination (Part 1)
Jennifer Ferrara Was Won Over by the Pope's Theology of the Body

SPRING CITY, Pennsylvania, JUNE 21, 2004 (Zenit.org).- When she was younger, Jennifer Ferrara never would have foreseen the day when she became a sort of apologist for the all-male Catholic priesthood.

Former Lutheran Pastor Defends All-Male Priesthood (Part 2)
Jennifer Ferrara on Proper Roles in the Church

SPRING CITY, Pennsylvania, JUNE 22, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Women can find innumerable opportunities for service in the Church if only they embrace their proper role, says a former Lutheran minister who now extols the all-male Catholic priesthood.

Also regarding women in the Church:

Scholars rethink image of biblical figure
By Mary Kaye Ritz, The Honolulu Advertiser

How did Mary Magdalene, who has inspired legions of the faithful, gnostics and scholars, and even affected pop culture, come to be so popular — and so misunderstood?

Bedfellows

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Proposal Warns Evangelicals on Politics
Sun Jun 20, 6:31 PM ET

LOS ANGELES – A national evangelical group is mulling guidelines that would warn the faithful against allying themselves too closely with any one political party, “lest nonbelievers think that Christian faith is essentially political in nature.”

I’m all for keeping faith separate from party affiliation. If you vote for a certain party’s candidate because his views line up well with those your faith inspire in you, that’s fine. However, the blind faith most Evangelicals seem to have in Bush is disturbing and impedes any intelligent debate about religion and politics with them. “Let the Christian who opposes Bush be anathema.”

Dodging!

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The American Life League seems to not find the USCCB’s recent political statement
as tasteful as I did.

American Life League Response to USCCB Statement on ‘Catholics in Political Life:’ The American Bishops Have Failed
Mon Jun 21,10:46 AM ET
Contact: Joseph R. Giganti of the American Life League, 703-928-9695 or jgiganti@all.org,
Web site: http://www.all.org

WASHINGTON, June 21 /U.S. Newswire/ — “The American bishops have failed,” said American Life League president Judie Brown. “The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had an opportunity to provide strong leadership on the question of Catholic public figures who favor legal abortion. However, their statement misses the mark on several points. As a result, election year politics has trumped the right to life of the innocent and the protection of Christ from sacrilege.”