A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:
Catholic Boy Richard – “Getting It Straight” on Same-Gender Attraction…And Rick Santorum
Liberal Conspiracy – Why was my friend jailed over botched attempt to end his own life?
Dreaming Beneath the Spires – Successful Christians; Hidden Christians
Get Religion – Last temptation of Castro
Psych Central – Are You In Recovery But Not Really Recovering?
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.
SOURCE: G. K. Chesterton
A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:
Future Shape of Church – Ecumenical Matters
Parchment and Pen – When God Does Not Show Up
Center for Law and Religion – Can the State Order a Church to “De-Baptize” Someone?
Chelliah Laity – Bishops Accused of Not Being So Christian
Slate – That’s Obama’s Jobs Plan?
MercatorNet – Will the “Great Satan” strike a deal with Iran?
As it’s customary for more established blogs to support and introduce the newbies, this seems an opportune moment to bring to your attention the new God and Politics in the UK Blog written by Gillan Scott.
His current post looks at UK foreign aid given to countries known for persecuting Christians and argues – as I have done so many times in the past – that this aid should be directly tied to the recipient country’s treatment of religious minority groups.
I like what I’ve read so far on Gillian’s blog and especially what I’d term as the “Outward Look”, in other words, the interplay between Christianity and society.
Why not hop over to his blog and give him a boost.
As I played my part in introducing Gillian to Twitter, why not give him a follow.
Welcome to the blogosphere Gillian.
Christianity is one of the greatest strengths Europe has, and if it is lost, “we will be condemned to the erosion of the European spirit,” the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek has said.
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In an address at the European Prayer Breakfast, Mr Buzek, the former Prime Minister of Poland, and a Protestant, reminded his audience that “the founding fathers of the united Europe were active Christians”.
He went on: “At the same time, the question arises whether Christian heritage is still valuable, if it is not just another historical costume – respectable but useless?
“Let me be clear – a courageous testimony of Christians, present also in politics – tolerant and open to others – is one of the greatest strengths we have.
“If we give it up, we will be condemned to the erosion of the European spirit, digested by nationalism and atomisation; and also by increased feeling of spiritual emptiness – disease of a world of excessive consumption.”
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He said: “In this context, it is difficult not to notice that in Europe we have recently been witnesses of aggressive secularism. This is something I would call negative tolerance. One example can be the question of the cross in the public space.
“An aggressive, and in reality intolerant, minority would like to lock our faith in to the small box of our privacy.”
Such a move, he said “would mean to scrap the idea of religious freedom”.
Mr Buzek said: “History shows that the empty space left by the removed cross has always been conquered by totalitarian ideologies. The disappearance of the cross often resulted not in the release but the enslavement of man.
“I am convinced that we can not only save our faith, but through our attitude in a secularised world, we Christians can also be the salt of this earth and a light for everyone.”
I totally support the campaign against the proposed cuts in Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and will break the habit of a lifetime and link to an important document held on the Ekklesia website:
A Report on the proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance (PDF)
Chelliah Laity tells us of a vigil outside Parliament tomorrow.
Here are some other Ekklesia links:
Boris Johnson attacks government on Disability Living Allowance
Disabled people say that government welfare reforms are a ‘sham’
‘Spartacus report’ on disability takes Internet by storm
Disabled activists pause because of illness, but campaign goes on
They always attack the weakest in society…..
Some members of the Catholic Bloggers Guild – Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma- are getting behind US presidential candidate Rick Santorum and have proposed a Rosary campaign. Remarkably, news of this has spread as far as Spain!
On the topic of Rick Santorum, I was among those disturbed by an article written by Mehdi Hasan in the New Statesman entitled: 10 things you didn’t know about Rick Santorum. Item number eight was:
When his baby Gabriel died at childbirth, Santorum and his wife spent the night in a hospital bed with the body and then took it home where, joined by their other children, they prayed over it, cuddled with it and welcomed the baby into the family.
This was deemed by many as inappopropriate for this list and much criticism was levelled against Mehdi Hasan. Hasan has now responded to his critics and there is a superb analysis of this controvery written by Dr Petra.
I know next to nothing relating to the intricacies of the controversy surrounding Hungary’s new constitution, but have seen a few bits and bobs discussing it and so thought this information of interest and a little disturbing.
Over 300 religious groups – including several Christian denominations – have lost official recognition in Hungary under the country’s controversial new constitution.
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It grants state recognition to 14 religious groups and decertifies the rest, meaning that over 300 denominations lose their official status, including their tax exemptions and freedom to run state-funded schools.
These include a number of major Protestant denominations, including Episcopalians, Methodists and all but one of the evangelical churches, as well as many small Catholic orders. No version of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism can operate with state approval any longer.
A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:
pmphillips’s posterous – The Way of Death is paved with…
Left Foot Forward – 2012 – the year the world must wake up to Christian persecution
NewScientist – The hard way: Our odd desire to do it ourselves
Trinitarian Dance – Dealing with personal sin is like extracting an ingrown toenail.
USAToday – The God effect: ambition drops with temptation
Linen on the Hedgerow – Be Gay friendly – or go to jail!
Science and Religion Today – How Can You Tell How Humble Someone Is?
Cranmer – The quest for the elusive ‘Conservative Particle’ in the Coalition Collider
Christian medical Comment – Lessons from Stephen Hawking and Kathryn Higham about assisted suicide
Even more interesting was Mark Mardell’s report from Iowa in which he described Rick Santorum as an “evangelical Christian.” Rick Santorum is of course a devout Roman Catholic.
This could be seen in two ways. It could, like the previous example, be in line with the cultural bias of the BBC and be an attempt to label Santorum with a denigrating label. In the BBC mindset evangelicals are really foaming at the mouth fundamentalists who wish to stone homosexuals and force everyone else to wear chastity belts. If they are Americans they also speak in tongues, marry their sisters and handle snakes. Scary or what?
