Sometimes it just is a little depressing
I’m not sure if it’s me or if most Christian stuff out there on the Interweb is a little negative today.
Anyway, Seismic Shock takes our first cursory gander at the the new Palestinian President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), who is most certainly not very Zionist friendly, to say the least:
Recently Bishop Younan was interviewed by a Danish newspaper. He was asked for his opinion of Christian Zionism and the bishop said, “I hereby declare that Christian Zionism is not only a sick theology but it is a heresy, right along with Arianism and Nestorianism and others. I believe it is time we named this misinterpretation of Christ and the gospel for what it is.”
Richard Bartholomew informs us of a Channel 4 Dispatches programme to be aired tonight, on the traumatic and sickening subject of child-witch accusations in churches in the UK!
Dispatches goes undercover in some African churches in the UK, where evangelical pastors perpetuate a strong belief in witchcraft. They preach that some people are possessed by evil spirits, and that these spirits bring bad luck into the lives of others.
The only way to rid the possessed from the witchcraft spell and lift their curse is to ‘deliver’ them: a kind of exorcism that can be very traumatic. Some pastors charge significant sums of money to perform these deliverances.
Often it is children who are denounced as witches by these pastors, and this labelling can lead to the physical and emotional abuse of those children at the hands of their families. In extreme cases it has led to the deaths of some children.
In parts of Africa, branding a child a witch is now outlawed, but in Britain this practise is perfectly legal, despite the fact it can have horrific consequences.
Dispatches reveals just what goes on behind closed doors in these African churches, exposing the pastors who exploit the religious beliefs of the most vulnerable.
Over at the Problem with Religion blog, the topic of religion in overseas development and corruption is discussed:
Corruption is perhaps one of those fears we all have concerning overseas aid. The research presented involved two projects, one in India and the other in Nigeria and the aim of the research was to examine if religious belief had effect on people attitudes to corruption. In Indian the researchers found that although people talked freely about corruption, religion was rarely mentioned as something that would modify behaviour – though some subjects were aware of Hinduism’s condemnation of corruption (here it must be remembered that Hinduism does not have one sacred text, as is found in Christianity or Islam, but has a body of writing (mainly much older than the Bible or Qur’an)). Whereas in Nigeria, many subjects, both Christian and Muslim, made reference to sacred texts and religious ideas and ideals. The general belief was that if people were more religious then there would be less corruption. Of course in reality it is both the religious and none religious who engage in corruption. Indeed, it is one of the sad truths of modern day life, that, in general, the more overtly religious a country the more incidents of corruption. China is an exception to this rule, in that it is not an overtly religious nation, yet has high rates of corruption; however I ventured to suggest that perhaps what could explain this anomaly is the notion of ideology – in China there is the ideology of Communism, in Nigeria there is religion, yet it seems (to me at least) that both fulfil the same role: a solution in consciousness to that which is insoluble in actuality. Individuals can believe they are good Party Members or good Christians, while at the same time paying and taking bribes.
Read All (ps this is a very well written, engaging and interesting piece and well worth popping over to read the whole thing…)
And as if all of this wasn’t bad enough, J John laments the all too oft poor quality of coffee in our churches:
Not all church coffee is bad, but the issue that poor church coffee raises is deeper and more troubling. It is that much of what we do as churches can often be described as substandard, second best, mediocre or weak.
Why does the coffee always taste so bloomin’ awful in church? Can anyone tell me?
July 26th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Because you guys do not have Community Coffee. All other coffee is disgusting by comparison.
July 26th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I’ve never even heard of community coffee, is it nice?
July 26th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
It is from southern Louisiana and the ONLY coffee anyone should ever have to drink.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Has anyone smelt the water used in church? Our church water smells strongly of clorine. Whatever type of coffee used (and it is ‘fairtrade’) it tastes awful! a small filter jug would be the answer but it is a bit of a faff.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
@TerryB Ugh that’s the worst I’ve heard yet!