eChurch Christian Blog

I noticed earlier that the BBC news website had a headline about the funeral of a retired priest, but frankly couldn’t be bothered to read the article, even though I was quite surprised that a vicar’s funeral should make the BBC news website front page.

Now, thanks to the Biased BBC blog, I understand why:-

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE: GREEN VICAR SHOCK

It’s pretty darn unusual for the BBC website to cover the death of a local Church of England vicar; in fact, pretty much their only interest in Christianity and our established religion these days is in gay bishops. When I was in BBC local radio, it was only when a local bishop popped his clogs that we reached for our microphones.

Unless, that is, he’s a revered green campaigner. Such, apparently, was the Reverend Hereward Cooke, a vicar in the Norwich area, who cycled the 150 miles to Copenhagen to attend the UN summit in December, and there, tragically, died in his sleep. I’ve nothing against Mr Cooke, I am sure he was a god-fearing chap, though it is a pity that he thought ‘climate change‘ so important.

But to the BBC, of course, he’s a saint. Any mention of ‘green’ and ‘climate change‘ – no matter how inconsequential – is front page news.

How true.

I can’t help myself, I like this Pope:-

Catholic Culture

The Vatican has released the prayer intentions of Poep Benedict XVI for January 2010. The Pope’s general intention is: “That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society.” His missionary intention is: “That every believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians is a condition for more effective proclamation of the Gospel.”

It took some folks quite a while to catch on.

Christians Unite

After attending church regularly during the 2008 Presidential campaign, Mr. Obama has not attended church on a regular basis since being elected President and has yet to find a church home.

Just this past week, the President did not attend any Christmas services with his family. President Obama also did not attend any Christmas services in 2008 shortly after he was elected President.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama made his Christian faith and involvement in a local church community with regular church attendance a key component of his campaign. Once he was elected President, there has been no relationship with a local church and he did not even attend any Christmas services celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with his family.

The issue is not if a person has to attend church to be an effective President. They do not. The issue for Mr. Obama is one of integrity and honesty with the American people.

The President’s actions give the appearance, that his regular attendance during the campaign and his comments about how important his local church community was to his family, were not deeply held core beliefs but rather a crass political calculation to curry favor with the faith community.

Along with his lack of church involvement since being elected President, Mr. Obama has shown other troubling signs regarding the depth of his Christian faith. A faith which he says is a foundational aspect of his life.

A few examples:

The President covered up a white cross and a symbol for the name of Jesus at a Georgetown University speech.

President Obama did not publicly celebrate the National Day of Prayer at the White House yet celebrated Gay and Lesbian Pride Month as well as Islamic religious observations at the White House.

For the first time in 43 years, the Obama Administration banned a military flyover at a “God and Country Rally” in Nampa, Idaho.

On a White House Christmas tree, the President asked that no religious ornaments be sent it, yet they displayed an ornament with the image of the brutal dictator, Mao Zedong, a leader who oversaw the deaths of over 50,000,000 million of his own people.

The President issued strong support for a Senate Health Care Bill which included public monies to fund abortions.

In the midst of the worst economic downturn in decades, Team Obama spent $150, 000,000 on the Presidential Inauguration ignoring the needs of the poor and struggling across the country.

President Obama refused to meet with the Dali Lama to discuss human and religious rights after the Chinese government asked him not to.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Washington, D.C. based Christian Defense Coalition, adds these comments and observations,

“It is important to note that it was President Obama who made his regular church attendance and the importance of a local church community a major part of his campaign. He stated in the national press that he, ‘regularly attends church while on the campaign trail.’

“The issue is not whether a President has to attend church on a regular basis to be an effective President. They do not. The issue is one of integrity and honesty. To portray yourself as person of deep Christian faith and very involved in the life of the local church during the campaign and then abandon that position after you are elected reduces faith to a commodity and religion to a political tool.

“Finally, the White House has said they have not found a church home for President Obama and his family in Washington, D.C. because they do not want to be a disruptive factor for the local church. This is a completely disingenuous and misleading argument. The overwhelming majority of churches in the Washington would love to have the President and his family attend their church and would welcome them with open arms.

“Simply stated; Mr. President if your Christian faith and involvement with a local church means as much to you as you say it does please find a vibrant local community for you and your family to worship Christ.”

Ugh, just like the Telegraph, the BBC have rolled out a completely dreary and negative list of so called ‘top religious stories of 2009′.

BBC – Top Ten Religion Stories of the Year

Positive religious news obviously doesn’t sell.

Also, this very blog was started in ’09′ and is not even mentioned on the BBC list, how utterly ridiculous….

I’ll tell you what, I won’t just moan, but offer up here my number one story of 2009:-

Pakistan university Janitor Pervez Masih, rose above the barriers of caste, creed and sectarian terrorism. Despite being a Christian, he sacrificed his life to save the Muslim girls.

That’s better! And whilst I’m at it, this is my second:-

After 255 days in an Iranian prison, Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad told they will be released today!

Brave, brave girls, who would rather face the fury of the Islamic Iranian ‘judicial system’, than deny their faith in Jesus. What an example to all of us.

Now these are what I call ‘top stories of the year’.

Interesting little article in the Guardian by Sarah Posner, which seeks to answer the posed question: “What did the noughties mean for religion?”

In the early part of the noughties, Rev Jerry Falwell declared on national television that the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US were the result of “throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked.”

“We have sinned against Almighty God, at the highest level of our government, we’ve stuck our finger in your eye,” agreed Pat Robertson, who was hosting Falwell on his 700 Club programme.

The mockery of the hellfire-breathing duo was swift and unrelenting. Robertson and Falwell, brand names of the religious right, had become embarrassments to evangelicalism. They had outlived their usefulness, and were too old, musty, and unabashedly nutty for the new evangelical cool.

As their stars were fading, evangelicalism’s emerging celebrities were employing savvy public relations specialists and rebranding themselves as your best friend, your entertainer, or your shrink – not the mouthpiece for a vengeful God. By the time Falwell died suddenly in 2007, a “new” kind of evangelical had seized the virtual pulpit of America’s attention.

The re-branding was the product of evangelicalism’s survival instinct in the face of the parody-ready Falwell prototype. One of America’s leading evangelicals is now Rick Warren, whose mega-bestseller, The Purpose-Driven Life (2002), begins: “This is more than a book; it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for?”

The new evangelicals write books not about how God will smite you, but how God loves you and wants nothing more than your greatest personal, spiritual, and material fulfillment. The middle of the decade saw the publication of televangelist Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential (2004) and TD Jakes’ Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits (2007). Joyce Meyer’s Seven Things That Steal Your Joy: Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Happiness (2004) and Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone (2005) are equally at home at Bible study and coffee klatch, in the church bookstore and at Wal-Mart.

Even with the makeover, though, evangelicalism isn’t all smiles and gratification. Warren recently gave in to pressure to denounce a proposed bill in Uganda that would make homosexuality punishable by death in certain circumstances; while condemning the notion of criminalising gay people he still maintained homosexuality was unbiblical. (The new evangelicals hope to “cure” homosexuals rather than consigning them to hell.) He still considers abortion a “Holocaust,” even as he says he doesn’t take sides in political debates.

The new evangelicalism presents itself as being about a different kind of politics; unlike Falwell and Robertson, the new evangelicals operate in the realm of hearts and minds, not political precincts.

As the decade closed, though, a group of prominent evangelicals partnered with Catholics in signing the Manhattan Declaration, which promised civil disobedience of laws that supposedly violated their religious freedom by granting rights to gay people or reproductive freedom to women. A call to revival of the culture wars, the declaration highlights how the evangelical rebranding hasn’t stuck: as much as the movement tries to present itself as a path to personal fulfillment, it still aims to be a means of political dominance.