The American public remains concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism in the United States and around the world, but a survey taken shortly after the shootings at Fort Hood shows only a modest increase in these concerns since 2007, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Fifty-two percent of Americans say they are "very concerned" about the possible rise of Islamic extremism in the United States, according to a Pew survey of 1,003 adults conducted from Nov. 12 through 15.

That's up from 46 percent in April 2007. Meanwhile, the percentage who say they are "somewhat concerned" fell by a similar amount, from 32 percent in 2007 to 27 percent this month.

Forty-nine percent of Americans say they are "very concerned" about the possible rise of Islamic extremism around the world, up from 48 percent in 2007. The number who say they are "somewhat concerned" fell 33 pecent to 29 percent.

The survey began one week after the Nov. 5 shootings that left 13 dead an 30 wounded. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim of Palestinian heritage who is said to have been critical of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been charged with premeditated murder in the attacks.

Read the report at pewforum.org.

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The head of Catholic Relief Services is asking his brother bishops a favor: “Brag about us a little bit.”

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who chairs the Baltimore-based relief agency, spoke on Monday to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is meeting this week at the Mariott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore. Dolan said Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. bishops, remains little known even among Catholics:

Even though CRS is recognized as a leader among humanitarian agencies for its professionalism, innovation and efficiency, the fact is that many of your parishioners have not heard of us.

I recently heard a troubling fact. CRS conducted a survey, using an independent polling agency, and asked Catholics to name a humanitarian agency that works overseas. And do you know how many mentioned CRS? Only 22 percent. And that was a huge improvement from the previous year, when only 11 percent named CRS. We have a lot of work to do! We do not spend a lot of money on advertising, as do other similar relief agencies, as less than 5% of our budget goes for overhead.

That’s why I’d like to ask a favor of all of you, my brother bishops. Because CRS is your agency, brag about us a little bit. Perhaps you could write an occasional column in your diocesan newspapers about the work of CRS. Perhaps you could encourage your parishes to get involved in Operation Rice Bowl, the CRS Lenten program. Or maybe you could encourage you priests to mention CRS from time to time in their homilies. Or better yet, they could get involved in our Global Fellows program – we send priests, deacons and seminarians overseas to see the work of CRS first hand, and they come back as some of our best ambassadors.

Dolan concluded with an anecdote that he said illustrated how CRS works, and the impact it has.

Continue reading "CRS head to bishops: Talk us up" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Here’s an odd one. The Associated Press is reporting that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi invited some 200 young Italian women to a party in Rome over the weekend, but when they showed up, they were given a lecture on Islam and copies of the Quran.

The AP says a reporter for Italy's ANSA news agency went undercover with the women, who were hired for 50 Euros (about $75) by a modeling agency for the event Sunday evening. Journalist Paola Lo Mele said the women assembled at a hotel, where some were left behind because they were not tall enough or dressed modestly enough.

Those accepted were taken to a villa, where Gadhafi lectured them on women's rights and religion, and urged them to convert to Islam, according to the AP.

"All the girls expected a party with a gala dinner," Lo Mele told her agency. Instead, "he made a 45-minute speech on Islam and women's role in Islam. It was a bit of an indoctrination session."

Gadhafi was in Rome to attend a U.N. summit on world hunger.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A mosque in Potomac is one of four targeted by federal prosecutors Thursday in what could prove to be one of the largest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, the Associated Press is reporting.

Prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize the four mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by the nonprofit Alavi Foundation, long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.

In all, prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets, including bank accounts, Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story glass office tower in New York.

John D. Winter, the Alavi Foundation's lawyer, told the AP that it intends to litigate the case and prevail. He said the foundation has been cooperating with the government's investigation for the better part of a year.

A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed concern. Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said the move comes at a particularly bad time, as American Muslims are fearful of a backlash resulting from the recent shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas.

“Whatever the details of the government’s case against the owners of the mosques, as a civil rights organization we are concerned that the seizure of American houses of worship could have a chilling effect on the religious freedom of citizens of all faiths and may send a negative message to Muslims worldwide,” he said.

Continue reading "Feds seek seizure of Potomac mosque" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: International, Islam
        

Virtually every American Muslim or Arab that I asked on Friday about the shootings at Fort Hood said his or her first concern was for the victims and the survivors. Some said they were also concerned that the incident would feed negative perceptions of their community.

"I feel nervous when I see a Muslim name or an Arab name," Imam Awni Qudah, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Society of Annapolis said after Friday at the Makkah Learning Center in Gambrills. Qudah said he meets and speaks regularly with his Jewish and Christian counterparts

"What worries me is our neighbors, our reputation," he said. "Whenever something happens, everybody looks at us, and we do not want that barrier."

But others expressed confidence that Americans are unlikely to blame the alleged actions of shooting suspect Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan on his Palestinian roots or his Muslim faith.

"Maybe a few years ago, backlash would have been higher on my list, but the U.S. has really kind of matured on this point," Baltimore attorney and author Alia Malek said. "If there were ever a reason to brace ourselves for a really tremendous backlash, it was after 9/11. And, you know, it wasn't our greatest moment as Americans, but we've come through that with some more curiosity, more openness and more willingness to look at the different communities that make up the United States."

Continue reading "Muslims, Arabs express condolences, confidence" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

We had a story in the newspaper Thursday about a project to digitze the Islamic manuscript collection at the Walters Art Museum and upload it to the World Wide Web, where documents dating back to the ninth century may be seen free of charge by anyone with an Internet connection.

Art historians at the Smithsonian and the British Museum praised the project, which they say puts the Walters at the forefront of a movement to increase online access to such holdings. they are hoping for an explosion in scholarship, as professionals, amateurs and students pore over the richly illuminated Qurans and lavishly illustrated volumes of poetry and history.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The New York Times has an interesting story this week about the apparently growing belief in creationism across the Muslim world. Kenneth Chang writes:

For many Muslims, even evolution and the notion that life flourished without the intervening hand of Allah is largely compatible with their religion. What many find unacceptable is human evolution, the idea that humans evolved from primitive primates. The Koran states that Allah created Adam, the first man, separately out of clay.

Pervez A. Hoodbhoy, a prominent atomic physicist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Pakistan, said that when he gave lectures covering the sweep of cosmological history from the Big Bang to the evolution of life on Earth, the audience listened without objection to most of it. “Everything is O.K. until the apes stand up,” Dr. Hoodbhoy said.

Mentioning human evolution led to near riots, and he had to be escorted out. “That’s the one thing that will never be possible to bridge,” he said. “Your lineage is what determines your worth.”

Participants in a conference last month at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., said the rejection of evolution appears to be growing.

Chang quotes Truman State Univesity physicist Taner Edis as saying that he never encountered creationist undertones when he was growing up in Turkey in the 1970s: “I first noticed creationism when I came to America for graduate school,” he said.

Continue reading "Academics see rise of Muslim creationism" »

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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew had issued his greeting and blessed the few hundred who had waited in the cold outside Ss. Constantine and Helen Orthodox Church in Annapolis – in Greek. He was stepping down from the platform when an aide said something in his ear. Bartholomew, the worldwide leader of Orthodox Christianity, returned to the microphone.

“I was told that I have to speak also in English,” he said. Laughter and cheers from a grateful crowd.

We had a story in Tuesday’s newspaper about the visit of Bartholomew, who as archbishop of Constantinople is first among equals among the 14 patriarchs of Orthodox Christianity. He celebrated the 18th anniversary of his enthronement with a doxology and a dinner at the Annapolis church.

It was his first visit to Maryland since 1997, when he made an appearance at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Baltimore, and his first ever to Annapolis. In attendance were Archbishop Demetrios of America, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States; Metropolitan Evangelos, who heads the Metropolis of New Jersey, which includes Maryland; U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, the Greek-American Democrat from Baltimore County; and Cardinal William Keeler, the former Roman Catholic archbishop of Baltimore.

During his homily, Bartholomew said it was fitting to be celebrating his anniversary at Ss. Constantinople and Helen and in Maryland. A transcript follows, after the jump.

Continue reading "Scenes from Bartholomew's visit" »

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A devastating newspaper series based on the allegations of former high-ranking church officials. A fraud conviction and prison sentences in Europe. The resignation of perhaps the church’s most prestigious celebrity, who writes a letter confirming practices that the church has denied.

“The Church of Scientology,” Associated Press religion reporter Eric Gorski writes, “is going through a difficult season.”

Gorski has produced a useful summary of the events and developments that have rocked the embattled church founded by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Church spokesman Tommy Davis tells Gorski that Scientology is flourishing, with assets and property holdings doubling over the past five years, membership growing in the United States and “absolutely in the millions” worldwide.

"From our perspective, things are going pretty great," Davis says. "In fact, that's downplaying it. Actually, what's happening with the church right now is frankly spectacular. To the degree there are these various things happening, it really is a lot of noise."

But Gorski finds a different picture in the American Religious Identification Survey, which showed that the estimated number of Americans identifying Scientologists rose from 45,000 in 1990 to 55,000 in 2001, then plummeted to 25,000 in 2008, according to the American Religion Identification Survey.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing the church is the allegations raised by four former high-ranking church officials, who told the St. Petersburg Times that they witnessed church leader David Miscavige beating church staff members.

Continue reading "Scientology's 'difficult season'" »

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When I was living in London 20 years ago, I was touched one Halloween when a British friend surprised me with a card to mark the holiday.

It was the first and only Halloween card I've ever received. Obviously, I didn't tell her that. She thought she was helping me to feel at home in her country by remembering a tradition from mine; why tell her that it isn't really a holiday for exchanging cards?

Since then, however, Europeans have become more familiar with Halloween. Which is why the Vatican has grown more vocal in its condemnation of the annual observance.

In an article in L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy See says Halloween is a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death." The official Vatican paper warns parents against allowing children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls.

(We're getting this from British newspapers, because we haven't been able to find the original story at the L'Osservatore Romano Web site.)

The article, headlined “The Dangerous Messages of Halloween,” quotes liturgical expert Joan Maria Canals as saying 'Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian” and urging parents “'to be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death.'

Continue reading "Vatican condemns Halloween" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Catholicism, Culture, Holidays, International, Wicca
        

A Paris court has convicted the Church of Scientology's French branch of fraud and fined it 400,000 Euros -- about $600,000 -- but stopped short of the ban on the group that prosecutors had sought, the Associated Press is reporting.

The court on Tuesday convicted four of six leaders of the group of organized fraud for pressuring members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain, the AP reports. It handed them suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of 1,000 Euros and 2,000 Euros.

The court did not order the group to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway, "outside any legal framework," according to the AP. Prosecutors had requested that the group be dissolved in France and be fined 2 million Euros.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. He left his native Pakistan in 1972 and has been living in the United States since 1980.

As a Pakistani American, I feel obligated to serve the United States in fighting terrorism through development and institution building. Allow me to offer my suggestions on controlling the Taliban/Extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Taliban Background: Who are the Taliban?

They are a byproduct of the Soviet war thirty years ago and received their training in Pakistani madrassas. The Taliban are igniting nationalist passions amongst the uneducated citizens of Afghanistan to stand up and fight outsiders -- read the United States, NATO and the Pakistani and Afghan governments.

The Taliban and Muslim extremists share their ideology with the orthodox brand of Islam practiced today in Saudi Arabia. Sharia/Hadood laws are the backbone of Taliban Ideology. The enforcement of these laws and setting up a government with a spiritual head/Caliph/Khomeni is the goal of these mad zealots. They would like to go back 1400 years and eat “Manna” for dinner.

Supported by drug-money and thugs, the Taliban are not as simple and ordinary as they appear. They have taken a leaf from the Inquisition in Christianity and use fear and public humiliation at the end of a gun to enforce their brand of made-up Islam.

While controlling Swat, these crooks used Robin Hood tactics by seizing land from wealthy owners and giving it away to poor tenants. Of course, the land was never theirs to give away in the first place, but through this fraudulent move they were able to convince some locals.

Pakistan’s involvement in the Soviet war allowed Pakistan’s military dictator Zia-ul-Haq the room to Islamicize Pakistan through fake referendums and, in the process, destroyed Pakistan’s secular character. This Islamicization process has been allowed to continue to this day, notwithstanding General Musharaf’s fake enlightened moderation slogan.

Please note: A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan cannot survive without support from extremist sympathizers in Pakistan.

How do we counter this?

Continue reading "Guest Post: Getting rid of the Taliban cancer" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Guest Posts, International, Islam, Politics
        

The Vatican began talks on Monday with the Society of St. Pius X, the traditionalist faction whose leaders were excommunicated 20 years ago after consecrating their own bishops without the consent of Pope John Paul II.

The effort got off to a rough start earlier this year when one of the four bishops whose excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI turned out to be a Holocaust denier. There have been conflicting reports about whether the Vatican was aware of comments by British Bishop Richard Williamson, who told Swedish television last year that the evidence was “hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed” by the Nazis during World War II.

In any event, negotiations are expected to take years, the Associated Press reports.

"In the best case, humanly speaking, we have several years of discussions ahead of us," the society's delegation leader, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, said in a recent interview posted on the society's Web site. De Galarreta is one of the other bishops whose excommunication was rescinded in January.

The AP has a useful summary of the split between the church and the Society of St. Puis X, also known as Lefebvrists, after founding Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre:

Lefebvre founded the society in 1969, opposed to Vatican II's reforms, which included outreach to Jews and other Christians and the celebration of Mass in the vernacular rather than Latin.

The society's opposition to Vatican II, particularly its teachings on ecumenism and religious freedom, remains at the heart of the dispute with Rome and is the focus of the talks beginning Monday with officials from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Benedict has for two decades tried to bring the society back into the Vatican's fold, first as head of the doctrine office and later as pope — part of his aim of uniting the church and putting a highly conservative stamp on it. ...

In the case of the society, Benedict has risked relations with Jews and liberal Catholic alike to reintegrate Lefebvre's followers even after it emerged that one of the society's four bishops denied the full extent of the Holocaust.

Read the rest of the AP story.

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American Jews who have participated in a 10-year-old program that provides a free trip to Israel have a strengthened connection to the Jewish state, a greater sense of belonging to the Jewish people and an increased interest in building Jewish families, according to a study at Brandeis University.

The study released on Monday by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis sought to document the impact on participants of the Taglit-Birthright Israel experience, which has granted a free, 10-day trip to 220,000 Jews aged 18 to 26 since 2000. It was co-sponsored by Taglit-Birthright Israel.

“In ten short years, Taglit-Birthright Israel has inspired a generation of young Jews to reconnect with Israel and the Jewish community,” said Gidi Mark, CEO of Taglit-Birthright Israel. “With tens of thousands on our waiting list, we are well on our way to establishing an educational trip to Israel as a rite of passage in the Jewish life cycle. That’s going to be the story of our second decade.”

Among key findings:

● Forty-five percent of participants felt the trip was “very much” and 28 percent "somewhat" a life-changing experience

● Participants were 23 percent more likely than non-participants to report feeling “very much” connected to Israel.

● Participants were 24 percent more likely than non-participants to “strongly agree” with the statement, “I have a strong sense of connection to the Jewish people.”

● Married, non-Orthodox participants were 57 percent more likely to be married to a Jew than non-Orthodox non-participants.

● Participants were 30 percent more likely than non-participants to view raising Jewish children as “very important.”

Read the study at brandeis.edu.

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More interesting, perhaps, then the fact that Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo is the first Jewish ambassador from the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain is that the 45-year-old diplomat rose to her post despite being one of only three dozen Jews in the Arab nation.

The Baltimore Jewish Times has a story about Nonoo’s visit this month with a group of Baltimoreans visiting Washington as part of the Jewish Muslim Dialogue coordinated by the Baltimore Jewish Council.

“We have a visible Jewish community in that we have 36 people and we are all related,” said the British-educated Nonoo, the Bahraini ambassador to the United States.

She says her family’s history in Bahrain goes back more than a century, when her grandfather arrived from Iraqi to start a financial business. She described a climate of relative harmony among Jews and Muslims.

“During the festivals, we go to each others houses and our non-Jewish friends come to wish l’shanah tova,” she said. “We wish them well and visit their houses on the Muslim Eid Festival, too.”

Bahrain does not recognize the State of Israel. Nonoo says her country’s role in resolving the conflict is limited.

“We are inviting Israeli journalists to Bahrain, but being a small country we can’t take that first step of making peace,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time.”

Read the rest of the story at jewishtimes.com.

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The New York Times has convened an august panel of Vatican watchers to comment on the moves this week to make it easier for Episcopalians to cross the Tiber.

“ 'Cafeteria Catholic' is about the worst epithet that conservative Catholics can hurl at liberals, with its implications of a pick-and-choose faith rather than a consistent fidelity to every jot and tittle of the catechism," writes David Gibson, author of "The Rule of Benedict." "But after the news that the Vatican is effectively carving out a special church-within-a-church to shelter traditionalist Anglicans upset at gay priests and women bishops in their own church, one has to wonder if the cafeteria line isn’t forming to the right.

"While both Pope John Paul II and his successor Benedict XVI have been known as staunch conservatives, they have in fact shown a remarkably liberal willingness to bend the rules when it comes to certain groups."

"The news that the Vatican will create special structures for disaffected Anglicans will likely be criticized in some quarters as 'anti-ecumenical,' meaning a blow to good relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church," writes John L. Allen Jr., author of "The Rise of Benedict XVI." "That’s because Anglicans already seem on the brink of schism over issues like women priests (and bishops), gay marriage and the ordination of gay clergy, and now the conservative opposition has a Vatican-sanctioned exit strategy.

"Such criticism, however, tends to presume that the Vatican’s choice was between accepting these Anglicans and keeping them at arm’s length. In truth, the latter was never a serious option, because Catholicism is in the business of encouraging converts, not spurning them."

Read more at nytimes.com.

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Muslim leaders in the Philippines are condemning the kidnapping of a Catholic priest, saying the act is contrary to the religious values of both Islam and Christianity, zenit.org is reporting.

The Rev. Michael Sinnott, a 79-year-old Columban father who moved from Ireland to the Philippines four decades ago, was abducted Oct. 11 from his home in Pagadian City, zenit.org reports. Sinnott has been frail and in need of medication since an open heart surgery he underwent in July.

The National Ulema Conference of the Philippines, a body of Muslim leaders, issued an appeal for the release of the priest, according to AsiaNews, stating that the act "contrary to the principles of Islam, Christianity and other religions.”

The Filipino government, meanwhile, has appealed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group, for help in finding the kidnapped priest, zenit.org reports. Although there has been violent conflict between the two forces that resulted in hundreds of deaths only months ago, they agreed last week to work together to rescue Sinnott.

The Inquirer Mindanao has reported that the Moro Islamic forces are closing in on the location and identities of the kidnappers, zenit.org reports. The Muslim forces plan to surround the captors and cut off escape while allowing the government authorities to take the lead on the final confrontation.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the global leader of the 300 million-member Orthodox Christian Church, will visit Sts. Constantine and Helen Church in Annapolis next month as part of his sixth visit to the United States.

Styled "The Green Patriarch," the ecologically aware Bartholomew has come to preside over the eighth Religion, Science and the Environment Symposium, to be convenved on Tuesday in New Orleans around the subject of "Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River." While in the country, he will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the enthronement of Archbishop Demetrios of America as the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

In Annapolis on Nov. 2, Batholomew will mark his 18th year as ecumenical patriarch in a Doxology service at Sts. Constantine and Helen.

"Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's visit comes at a time of spiritual rejuvenation for our Holy Metropolis and his presence among us will inspire us to continue serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength," Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey, whose Metropolis includes Maryland, said in statement. "I am confident that all of our pious Orthodox faithful appreciate and realize the great honor that His All Holiness bestows upon us once again by visiting us during the his visit to the United States."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: International, Orthodox Christianity, People
        

Pope Benedict XVI has created a new church structure for Anglicans who want to join the Catholic Church, responding to the disillusionment of some Anglicans over the ordination of women and the election of openly gay bishops, the Associated Press is reporting.

The new provision will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining their Anglican identity and many of their liturgical traditions, Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal official, told a news conference in Vatican City.

The move comes weeks after 10 of 12 Episcopalian nuns and their chaplain at a Catonsville convent left their church en masse to become Roman Catholic, citing the stability of church teaching and the unananimity of its leaders on social issues as factors.

From the Associated Press:

The new church structure, called Personal Ordinariates, will be units of faithful within the local Catholic Church headed by former Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual care for Anglicans who wish to become Catholic.

"Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church," Levada said. "At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey."

Levada said the new canonical structure is a response to the many requests that have come to the Vatican over the years from Anglicans who have become increasingly disillusioned with the ordination of women, the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions in the 77-million strong Anglican Communion. He declined to give figures on the number of requests that have come to the Vatican, or on the anticipated number of Anglicans who might take advantage of the new structure.

Continue reading "Catholic church makes it easier for Anglicans to join" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

On the eve of an event honoring local veterans of the Israel Defense Forces, the Baltimore Jewish Times has an interesting feature profiling five local men who served.

Shlomo Cohen, 58, speaks of capturing mountaintops in Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Uzi Merles, 32, recalls the absurdity of stopping respectful older Palestinains at checkpoints while watching others in the distance using trails to slip into the towns.

Michael Field, 48, concluded from his service that Israel has no choice but to find a way to make peace with the Palestinians, because the only way to win the conflict would be to commit genocide.

The Maryland Chapter of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces will honor local veterans at 6 p.m. Thursday at Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Stevenson. Former Ambassador John Bolton will speak; tickets are required. More information is available by calling 410-486-0004 or e-mailing Charlie.levine@israelsoldiers.org.

Read more at jewishtimes.com.

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We wrote several weeks ago about plans by a Korean-American congregation in Silver Spring to build a large new church straddling the Frederick and Montgomery county line, as a way of discussing the opposition that seems always to rise up against such projects.

The Frederick County Planning Commisison now has rejected the proposal by the Global Mission Church, a 30-year-old Baptist congregation. From the Associated Press:

Panel members denied the project on a 6-1 vote Wednesday after questioning whether a planned well and septic system were enough for the nearly 1,200-seat Global Mission Church, its 60 meeting rooms and 500-seat dining hall.

An attorney for the Silver Spring-based church is calling the decision unreasonable. The church could appeal to the county's zoning appeals board.

Attorney David Severn also says he's concerned about commission chairwoman Catherine Forrence's comment that the county should consider limiting the size and scope of places of worship on agricultural land.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (32)
        

We were going to post the video in which Sarah Silverman proposes that the pope solve world hunger by selling the Vatican. Then we watched it.

There's a question of taste.

Still, the video is interesting in part for the thoughtful reaction it has provoked from the Rev. James Martin over at America magazine. We can excerpt from an Associated Press story that summarizes both the video and the response:

In a new profanity-laced monologue making the rounds on YouTube in time for U.N. World Food Day on Friday, Silverman suggests that it's time for the pope to "move out of your house that is a city" and use the proceeds to feed the world's poor.

"On an ego level alone you will be the biggest hero in the history of ever!" she exclaimed. "Sell the Vatican. Feed the world."

The Vatican clearly has no plans to follow suit. On Thursday, a spokesman declined to comment. But the Catholic League, the U.S. Catholic civil rights organization, denounced Silverman and cable broadcaster HBO for her "obscene" and "filthy diatribe."

Continue reading "Silverman to church: Sell Vatican, feed the world" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Like everyone else, I was surprised to wake up to the news this morning that President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize -- particularly because he had been president less than two weeks before nominations were due.

It may be a sign of how polarized the country is -- or, at least, how polarized I imagine it to be -- that my first thoughts went to the reaction of political opponents who have long ridiculed the hype that they say surrounds the Obama.

Next, I thought of the protests I covered at Yale in 2001 when the university awarded an honorary degree to President George W. Bush, just months into his administration. Students and alumni said it was too soon to honor the first-term president.

And then, I thought that this may have been the third peace prize awarded at least partially in reaction to Bush, following those given in 2002 to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter for his mediation in international conflicts and in 2007 to Al Gore, Bush's opponent in the 2000 presidential election, for raising awareness about climate change.

Reading the comments of the Nobel Committee, this year's peace prize appears to have been awarded at least partially in prospect.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."

Added Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: "The exciting and important thing about this prize is that it's given to someone ... who has the power to contribute to peace."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Israel's foreign minister declared Thursday that there is no chance of reaching a final accord with the Palestinians any time soon, and suggested instead that the two sides come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure prosperity, security and stability, the Associated Press is reporting.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes amid war — "to a much later stage." He did not elaborate or give a timeline.

"Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict ... simply doesn't understand the situation and spreads delusions, ultimately leading to disappointments and an all-out confrontation here," Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Other conflicts have been defused with the sides making a "dramatic decision" to renounce violence and enter into a period of calm that would allow an accord, Lieberman said.

"People have learned to live with it," he said.

Read the Associated Press report here.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Jewish?

If he is not, The Telegraph reports, the bitter critic of Israel clearly has Jewish roots. So the British newspaper has concluded from a photograph taken last year of Ahmadinejad holding up an identity document that shows that his surname was once Sabourjian, identified as a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver:

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust and threatened Israel. On his alleged Jewish heritage, the Telegraph quotes Ali Nourizadeh of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies as saying "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.

"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith," Nourizadeh said.

"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."

Nonsense, Meir Javedanfar writes in The Guardian. He quotes two sources as saying that Ahmadinejad's father was in fact a religious Shia who taught the Quran before and after the future president's birth and their move to Tehran, and that Ahmadinejad's mother is a Seyyede, a title given to women who are believed to be direct bloodline descendants of Muhammad.

Continue reading "Iran's Jewish president?" »

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Categories: International, Islam, Judaism, People, Politics
        

I've been away the last couple of days, and will be back to posting full-time on Thursday. In the meantime, we did have a couple of stories in the newspaper on Sunday that you might have missed.

In the first, a Muslim scholar told a Baltimore conference on Saturday that the use of Islam to justify killing is "an innovation" in the religion, and added: "Most innovations lead to hellfire."

"The Satan always has people that he will be able to deceive," Dr. Waleed Basyouni told hundreds at Ilm Fest 2009, an Islamic education conference making its first appearance in Baltimore. "The good news," he said during a presentation he called "Reclaiming Islam from the Jihadists," is that "the nature of the Muslim community is to fight terrorism. The nature of the Muslim community is to reject extremism."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

In the second, we reviewed preparations for H1N1 among different faith congregations. We were interested in the comments of the Rev. John Kingsbury, pastor of St. Mary's in Annapolis. He had taken precautions against the spread of the virus during Mass, but worried that the spiritual impact of the pandemic "has yet to be faced,"

"There will be less, probably, Communions to hospitals," he said. "I'm guessing the hospitals will begin to become stricter with people visiting if things become more serious.

"People dealing with mass suffering -- by which I mean, a lot of people sick -- are going to want spiritual comfort at the very time that it's going to be the most difficult to give it."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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The United Nations' refugee agency is planning to include the Holocaust in a new human-rights curriculum for pupils in its Gaza secondary schools despite strident opposition to the idea from within Hamas, The Independent reports.

The director of operations in Gaza for The U.N. Relief and Works Agency told the British newspaper that he was "confident and determined" that the Holocaust would feature for the first time in a wide-ranging curriculum now being drafted.

"No human-rights curriculum is complete without the inclusion of the facts of the Holocaust, and its lessons," said John Ging, described as a "passionate advocate" for Palestinian civilians. More from the story:

The draft, to be completed within weeks and then put out for consultation with parents and the public, is built on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was agreed by the UN General Assembly in 1948 in the shadow of what it called the "barbarous acts" committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The one-time Irish Army officer has long been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy towards Gaza, including the conduct of last winter's lethal military offensive and what he described more than once in his interview as the "illegal siege".

Mr Ging said the curriculum would explain the genesis, and "inculcate the values" of the Universal Declaration which stipulates that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person". He pointed out that the UN General Assembly in 2005 unanimously urged "all countries to teach the lessons of the Holocaust to children so that we learn from history, so that we don't repeat history".

The Independent quotes religious leader Yunis al Astal, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as saying that including the Holocaust in the curriculum would be "marketing a lie" and a "war crime."

Read the rest of the story at independent.co.uk.

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Hundreds of Muslims are expected Saturday and Sunday at the Baltimore Convention Center for Ilm Fest, an educational conference organized by the AlMaghrib Institute.

"Ilm" is Arabic for knowledge, and "Al Maghrib" is Arabic for the West. Organizers say the event has been set up to help young American Muslims live their faith in the United States.

We have a story in Saturday's Baltimore Sun.

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The Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours, an international Catholic order founded in Paris 185 years ago, is moving its world headquarters to Maryland, congregation officials said Friday.

“This is an exciting time in the history of our congregation as we strive to work as one international community, carrying our message of ‘Good Help to Those in Need’ around the world,” Sister Patricia A. Eck, elected to lead the congregation, said in a statement. “I … will build on the rich tradition of those very strong women who have come before me while helping the Congregation evolve to meet today’s needs.”

The sisters are scheduled to move their world headquarters from Paris to Marriottsville, currently home to the Sisters of Bon Secours, U.S.A., Bon Secours Health System Inc. and Bon Secours Spiritual Center, on Dec. 1. At the same time, they plan to consolidate their provinces in the United States, France, Britain, Ireland and Peru into a single international congregation, under Eck’s leadership.

“Her vision and commitment to be a prophetic voice throughout the organization, combined with her strong governance and sponsorship capabilities, are models for all of Catholic health care today,” Sister Alice M. Talone, president of the Sisters of Bon Secours, U.S.A., said in a statement. “To Sr. Pat, ‘the struggle for a more humane world is not an option; but, an integral part of spreading the gospel.”

A nurse and health administrator, Eck has chaired the board of Bon Secours Health System Inc. since 1997. She has served as chairwoman of the Catholic Health Association and of the Corporate Members of Mercy Housing.

Continue reading "From Paris to Marriottsvile" »

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Adherents of the world's major religions are urging political leaders, businessmen and individuals to renounce short-term gains and greed, telling a U.N. climate conference in Bangkok that reversing global warming is a moral duty, the Associated Press reports.

"Stewardship and reverence for creation are central tenants of all faiths on Earth," said the Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change, endorsed by prominent adherents of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism and handed to U.N.Climate Chief Yvo de Boer on Wednesday.

The declaration came as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that global waming could cut food production in poor countries by 21 per cent by 2050, and the Asian Development Bank said it could lead to a surge of migration into the region's already crowded cities.

"The food and energy security of every Asian is threatened by climate change, but it's the poor - and especially poor women - who are most vulnerable and most likely to migrate as a consequence," Asian Developlment Bank Vice Pesident Ursula Schaefer Preuss said in a statement.

Negotiators from around the world at the two-week conference are working on a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. They are working on an agreement for a major climate forum in Copenhagen in December.

Religious leaders chastised governments for placing national advantage ahead of preserving the human species and negotiators for lacking a sense of urgency.

Continue reading "Faith leaders urge U.N. action on climate change" »

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From former Sun religion writer John Rivera, now at Catholic Relief Services, comes this photograph of Our Lady of Perpetual Help chapel in Marikina, Philippines. Note the pew lodged in the rafters during tropical storm Ketsana over the weekend.

Laura Sheahen, the Baltimore-based organization's regional information director for Asia and the Pacific rim, writes:

Pew, that was close

Flood survivors receive aid at a chapel in Marikina, Philippines. When tropical storm Ketsana hit the island, massive flooding drove thousands from their homes. Father Javier Mexicano, shown here standing, was caught in his small parish house during the storm. He and another priest broke through the roof, waited there for the waters to settle, and eventually swam to safety.

A pew is lodged in the rafters of the chapel, where it floated during the flood.

Read Sheahen's blog post on the storm and its aftermath at the CRS Voices blog.

Photo by Laura Sheahen/Catholic Relief Services

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From the address of Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday to officials in Prague.

Associated Press video

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Some 3,000 Muslims attended a Juma prayer service on the grounds of the Capitol last week, The Washington Times reports, a gathering that participants called historic.

"Islam is part of America," Amina Haqq said. "It is not a Judeo-Christian society; it is a Judeo-Christian-Muslim society."

Rally organizer Abdul Malik praised American freedom.

"What we've done today, you couldn't do in any Muslim country," the Brooklyn imam said. "If you prayed on the palace lawn there, they'd lock you up."

The Washington Times story refers to "the taunts of Christian evangelists on the surrounding sidewalks" but provides no details; the comments section, though, has plenty.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

Several Catholic bishops in the United States have come out in favor of extending some form of health insurance to illegal immigrants. At least one now is linking the issue to abortion.

"If [health care reform] leaves out immigrants, it is doing what some people want it to do in terms of the unborn," Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., told the Catholic News Service.

"How can we say that we're a country of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all who come to our shores if we say, 'except the unborn.' Or, if we say, 'except the handicapped.' Or, if we say, 'except the new person,' asked Murphy, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. "Then we have not lived up to the high ideal of our country. And we have introduced a sense of injustice into a plan that should be just for all."

As the CNS story notes, most U.S. bishops who have spoken publicly about health care reform "have expressed the opinion that one of the richest countries in the world should find a way to guarantee that everyone within its borders has access to medical care, from conception to natural death."

CNS quotes Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., on concerns among bishops that even legal immigrants might be left out of the system. Soto told CNS that reform "has to include at a minimum some kind of safety net for the undocumented," particularly if the goal of a nationwide health care reform plan is to improve the overall health of society.

"We realize it's a very contentious issue," Bishop Soto said. "But there has to be some kind of a safety net."

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Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, scheduled to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, say they will seek the release of three Americans detained in Iran since July.

Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd apparently strayed into Iran while hiking in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. CAIR has been active in seeking their release.

“We hope that President Ahmadinejad will take this opportunity for a humanitarian gesture to create a more positive atmosphere for constructive dialogue between our two nations by releasing the American detainees,” CAIR National Board Chairman Larry Shaw said in a statement. “As an American organization, we must do what we can to help our nation’s citizens when they are swept up in international events.”

Ahmadinejad already has said he will seek leniency for the hikers, who are in their 20s and 30s.
"What I can ask is that the judiciary expedites the process and gives it its full attention, and to basically look at the case with maximum leniency," he said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "The judiciary has its own procedures to follow, but I'm hopeful.”

CAIR said it would give Ahmadinejad a letter from the families of the hikers, and also a letter from the family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who has been missing in Iran since 2007.

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A Swedish television program airing Wednesday claims that top Vatican officials knew that Bishop Richard Williamson was a Holocaust denier when they lifted his excommunication in January, the Associated Press is reporting.

The report comes on the eve of reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, whose leaders were excommunicated in 1988 after they consecrated Williamson and three other priests as bishops in defiance of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI has made a priority of reconciling with the society, whose members seek a return to the church as it was before the Second Vatican Council. But the effort provoked a furor in January when Sweden’s SVT aired an interview taped in November 2008 in which Williamson denied key elements of the Holocaust. The British bishop disputed the commonly cited figure of 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II, saying the actual number was no more than 300,000, and said none were gassed.

Vatican officials have said they were unaware of Williamson’s beliefs when his excommunication was rescinded in January. But SVT says Catholic officials in Sweden knew of his remarks in the interview in November and made a full report to the apostolic nuncio in Stockholm, the representative of the Vatican in Sweden, who passed the information on to Rome.

“Naturally we passed all the information that we had on to the nuncio,” Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm told SVT, according to the AP. “After that I don’t really know how it moved along.”

In a statement Wednesday, the AP reports, the diocese reiterated that it had sent a report about the interview to the Vatican last November. The SVT program says the nuncio, Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, confirmed off-camera that he had contacted several people in the Vatican, including Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who was then leading the effort to reconcile with the Society of St. Pius X.

The report contradicts the statement of Castrillon Hoyos, who told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January that no one at the Vatican knew of Williamson’s beliefs until after his excommunication had been lifted.

Continue reading "Report: Vatican knew of Holocaust denier" »

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Categories: Catholicism, Interfaith, International, Judaism, People, Politics
        

News of the impending shake-up of the Legion of Christ gives me another reason to wish that the great and gentlemanly journalist Jerry Renner were still with us.

Jerry, a friend and mentor from our time together at The Hartford Courant, had a keen interest in exposing faith leaders who abused the trust of their followers. He was among the first reporters – and certainly the most persistent – to uncover and write about the abuses of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion.

Maciel is alleged to have molested generations of seminarians, some of them children. Since his death in 2008, the Legionaries have acknowledged that he fathered at least one child.

Earlier this year, the general director of the Legion expressed sadness and sorrow for Maciel’s actions, and asked forgiveness from God and those affected. Legion officials in the United States have added their regret that their “inability to detect, and thus accept and remedy, Father Maciel’s failings has caused even more suffering.”

Among Maciel’s critics is Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of Baltimore, who said earlier this year that he could not recommend that anyone join the Legion or Regnum Christi, its lay movement.

“It seems to me and many others that this was a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends,” O’Brien told The Catholic Review in February. “Father Maciel deserves our prayers, as every Christian who dies does, that he’ll be forgiven and we leave the final judgment to God as to what his life and death amounted to.”

Jerry reported the allegations against Maciel more than a decade ago, first in stories in The Courant – the Legionaries have their U.S. headquarters in Connecticut – and later in “Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II,” the book he co-wrote with collaborator Jason Berry.

Continue reading "Thinking of Jerry" »

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The Catholic Church doesn’t support lawbreaking, Cardinal Francis George said over the weekend. But it should encourage respect among neighbors – including those who came to the United States illegally.

George, the archbishop of Chicago, spoke to a Catholic group in Yakima, Wash., where he served as bishop in the 1990s. His comments were reported by the Yakima Herald-Republic.

The church does not encourage illegal immigration, “but we should also say you have to respect the people in front of you,” he said. “If you have neighbors and family members who have been subjected to society financially, socially and religiously for decades, they should be able to live here with security.”

Read the rest of the story at yakima-herald.com.

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We’ve been following with interest the different reactions to the decision of the Yale University Press, now preparing a scholarly work on the Danish cartoon depictions of Muhammad that inspired riots in 2005 and 2006, not to include the pictures themselves in the book. Yale reportedly consulted two dozen experts on the likelihood that their publication would lead to further violence before opting against it.

The decision has aroused concerns – which we share – about the power that it awards to the violent few to deny the free flow of information among the many. But one of the more interesting takes we’ve seen on it approaches the issue from a different angle: What it says about attitudes towards Muslims.

Entitled "Satanic or Silly: Does Yale Press Censorship of Cartoons Insult Muslims?" the piece by Daniel Martin Varisco over at Religion Dispatches reads in part:

The cautious reaction by Yale University Press is understandable, but I find the rationale troubling, as it assumes that Muslims extremists await any new pretext to spur violence and that “moderate” Muslims are at their mercy. Given the ongoing United States military presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, drone bombings in Pakistan and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there are far more relevant pretexts available than an Ivy League book that may not even warrant review in major newspapers. The peddlers of Islamophobia in the media, popular trade books, and blogs would have us believe that radical extremists are lurking everywhere just waiting for an excuse to promote violence. To suggest that deadly protest over these images can be rekindled by a book that attempts to explain the whole affair in academic prose is an insult to the vast majority of Muslims, especially those in the United States.

Continue reading "Is it the cartoons, or the censorship?" »

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Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special meeting of bishops next year to discuss Middle East peace efforts and the role of the Catholic Church in the region, the Associated Press is reporting.

We are reminded of the difficulties this pontiff has had with both Muslims (his decision in a 2006 address to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor critical of Islam inspired riots) and Jews (who are wary of his interest in reinstating elements of the pre-Vatican II church), and wonder how receptive the region is likely to be to the Vatican’s counsel.

From the Associated Press:

Addressing bishops and patriarchs from Eastern rite churches, Benedict said Saturday that the meeting will take place Oct. 10-24, 2010, and will be titled "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony."

The meeting of bishops, called a synod, will gather church leaders from the Middle East and around the world.

The pope and the Vatican have long been active on the Middle East diplomatic front, seeking to protect Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the region while supporting efforts to solve the Israel-Palestinian dispute.

Read the Associated Press story here.

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 In 1966, Time religion editor John T. Elson posed the question that gave the magazine its bestselling issue since World War II, and still reverberates through popular debate more than 40 years later:

Is God Dead?

The Canadian journalist, whom former Time managing editor Jim Kelly described to The New York Times as “catholic with a capital C and a small c in his interests,” has himself died. He was 78.

Elson’s story, in the words of Times obituary writer William Grimes, “remains a signpost of the 1960s, testimony to the wrenching social changes transforming the United States.”

Entitled “Toward a Hidden God,” the story – which was the result, Grimes writes, of a yearlong effort involving 30 correspondents and 300 interviews – begins with the question.

Is God dead? It is a question that tantalizes both believers, who perhaps secretly fear that he is, and atheists, who possibly suspect that the answer is no.

Is God dead? The three words represent a summons to reflect on the meaning of existence. No longer is the question the taunting jest of skeptics for whom unbelief is the test of wisdom and for whom Nietzsche is the prophet who gave the right answer a century ago. Even within Christianity, now confidently renewing itself in spirit as well as form, a small band of radical theologians has seriously argued that the churches must accept the fact of God's death, and get along without him. How does the issue differ from the age-old assertion that God does not and never did exist? Nietzsche's thesis was that striving, self-centered man had killed God, and that settled that. The current death-of-God group* believes that God is indeed absolutely dead, but proposes to carry on and write a theology without theos, without God. Less radical Christian thinkers hold that at the very least God in the image of man, God sitting in heaven, is dead, and—in the central task of religion today—they seek to imagine and define a God who can touch men's emotions and engage men's minds.

Continue reading "Is God Dead? writer dead" »

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 Pope Benedict XVI marked the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II on Sunday by saying religion should promote peace and fight racism and totalitarianism, the Associated Press reports.

The German-born pontiff, who was forced to serve in the Hitler Youth Corps and later the army before he deserted near the end of the war, said the memory of the war should serve as a warning to never repeat such a "barbarity" as the Holocaust and the extermination of millions of innocents, the AP reports.

"The contribution that religion can and must make is particularly important in promoting forgiveness and reconciliation against violence, racism, totalitarianism and extremism, which defile the image of the Creator in man," he said in Viterbo, Italy, during his traditional Sunday blessing.

Read the Associated Press story.

Associated Press photograph

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President Barack Obama continued his Ramadan-timed Muslim outreach with a White House dinner on Tuesday. But this time, he invited some prominent Israeli and Jewish leaders to join their Muslim counterparts at the fast-breaking meal called Iftar.

The guest list included Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Nathan Diament, director of public affairs of the Orthodox Union, and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

They joined diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and other Muslim countries and the chief of mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Also on hand were Reps. Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, the first Muslims to serve in Congress, and other prominent American Muslims.

"I want to welcome all the American Muslims from many walks of life who are here," Obama said. "This is just one part of our effort to celebrate Ramadan, and continues a long tradition of hosting iftars here at the White House.

"For well over a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection. It's a time of service and support for those in need. And it is also a time for family and friends to come together in a celebration of their faith, their communities, and the common humanity that all of us share. It is in that spirit that I welcome each and every one of you to the White House.

"Tonight's iftar is a ritual that is also being carried out this Ramadan at kitchen tables and mosques in all 50 states. Islam, as we know, is part of America. And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity -- with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world.

"Indeed, the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country. American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine. Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens.

"So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small."

Following is the White House transcript of Obama's remarks.

Continue reading "Obama invites Jewish leaders to Ramadan dinner" »

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From London comes news of a new Catholic prayer book that includes a prayer for couples before sex.

“I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognizing that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife,' Bishop Paul Hendricks tells the Daily Mail. “'It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life.”

From the Daily Mail:

Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sex.

A book published by a prominent Church group invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.

It is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.

The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.

It adds: 'Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.

'Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.'

The 64-page book has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society.

Read the rest of the story at dailymail.co.uk.

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Following, courtesy of the Associated Press, is the text of the letter from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to Pope Benedict XVI delivered last month by President Barack Obama. After that comes the Vatican response, which Time writer Jeff Israely -- whom we quoted at length last week on the exchange -- calls "pro forma."

Most Holy Father,

I asked President Obama to personally hand deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Roman Catholic faith is to me and I am so deeply grateful to him. I hope this letter finds you in good health. I pray that you have all of God’s blessings as you lead our church and inspire our world during challenging times.

I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer over a year ago and although I am undergoing treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me.

I am 77-years-old and preparing for the next passage of life. I’ve been blessed to be part of a wonderful family and both my parents, specifically my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives. That gift of faith has sustained and nurtured and provided solace to me in the darkest hours. I know that i have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my past.

I want you to know, your Holiness, that in my 50 years of elected office I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I’ve worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I’ve opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a U.S. Senator.

Continue reading "The senator and the pope, Part III" »

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On Friday, we mentioned the sealed envelope that an ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy asked President Barack Obama to deliver last month to Pope Benedict XVI. At the time, the White House said no one, not even Obama, knew what it contained.

During the graveside service Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick read from Kennedy's letter, and shared the Vatican's response.

From the Associated Press:

McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, read from a letter from Kennedy to Pope Benedict XVI, hand-delivered earlier this year by Obama.

"I know that I have been an imperfect human being but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path," the dying senator wrote. He wrote the pontiff "with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines."

The Vatican responded with a letter that said "his Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope."

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Over at Time Magazine, Jeff Israely has an interesting examination of the Kennedy family’s changing relationship with the Catholic Church. Israely describes Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as the nation’s most prominent Roman Catholic politician these last four decades – a man who received his first communion from Pope Pius XII, whose mother once expressed hope that he would enter the priesthood, whose first marriage was celebrated by Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York.

But then, there’s that business about abandoning his early opposition to abortion to become one of the Senate’s most powerful advocates for legal access to the procedure that the church condemns.

During his meeting last month with Pope Benedict XVI, President Barack Obama handed the pontiff a sealed letter from Kennedy — the White House says nobody, not even Obama, knows what it contained — and asked him to pray for the Massachusetts director.

Israely notes the silence from Benedict following Kennedy’s death, and catalogs areas of conflict between Kennedy and the church.

His first marriage, to former model Virginia Joan Bennett, ended in divorce in 1982, with the marriage annulled by the Roman Rota more than a decade later. And there are the infamous episodes in his life that showed a man not quite in control of his demons. But ultimately, beyond his personal travails, Kennedy's relationship with the Church hierarchy was destined for conflict because of politics. The Senator became both the face and the engine of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party that has long led the battle for abortion rights, stem-cell research and gay marriage, all of which Catholic doctrine strictly forbids.

"He is a complicated figure," the Rev. James Martin, an editor with the Jesuit magazine America, tells Israely. "Catholics on the right are critical because of his stance on abortion. Catholics on the left celebrate his achievements on immigration, fighting poverty and other legislation that is a virtual mirror of the Church's social teaching.”

Continue reading "The senator and the pope" »

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Ireland is drawing international criticism for a new anti-blasphemy law set to take effect in October.

The legislation would provide for fines up to 25,000 Euros – about $35,750 – for publishing or speaking anything intended to be “grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says it was written to clarify a blasphemy provision in the Irish Constitution. But in an age when countries are repealing such regulations, critics say it is a step backwards.

“One of the world’s most beautiful and best-loved countries, Ireland has recently become one of the most respected as well: dynamic, go-ahead, modern, civilised – a green and pleasant silicon valley. This preposterous blasphemy law puts all that respect at risk,” the British atheist Richard Dawkins said in a statement read last month at the first meeting of Atheist Ireland. “It is a wretched, backward, uncivilised regression to the middle ages. Who was the bright spark who thought to besmirch the revered name of Ireland by proposing anything so stupid?”

According to Padraig Reidy, the answer is: No one.

Continue reading "Ireland adopting anti-blasphemy law" »

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President Barack Obama is taking advantage of the start of Ramadan on Saturday to make another overture to the Muslim world. In a holiday message now on the White House Web site, he wishes Muslims Ramadan Kareem, and then details U.S. efforts to engage Muslims in much the same language that he used during his address in Cairo in June.

“Beyond America’s borders, we are … committed to keeping our responsibility to build a world that is more peaceful and secure,” Obama says in the new message. “That is why we are responsibly ending the war in Iraq. That is why we are isolating violent extremists while empowering the people in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we are unyielding in our support for a two-state solution that recognizes the rights of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. ...

“All of these efforts are a part of America’s commitment to engage Muslims and Muslim-majority nations on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. And at this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world.”

The complete transcript follows, after the jump.

Continue reading "On Ramadan, more U.S. outreach to Muslims" »

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We had been wanting look at the relationship between Baltimore's Jewish community and Ashkelon, the southern Israeli seaport that it adopted five years ago as a twin city, and we saw our opportunity with the visit of Tal Bouhnik and Liron Menashe, who are now finishing their year representing the Jewish state here in the United States.

The Shinshinim program that brought the two 19-year-olds here is one of several links between Baltimore and Ashkelon. Thousands of Baltimoreans have traveled to Ashkelon in the last five years for cultural exchanges, service projects, business or tourism; hundreds of Ashkelonians have visited Baltimore. The local community has contributed nearly $8 million to the Israeli city, including rapid assistance during the conflict with Gaza in the form of emergency vehicles, workshops for adults under stress and toys for children in shelters.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Sun

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Associated Press photo

Ian Shapira has an interesting story in the Washington Post about the differing reactions to the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi by two relatives of victims in the 1988 attack.

Megrahi was released Thursday by Scottish authorities on humanitarian grounds. He was diagnosed last year with advanced prostate cancer; he recently was given months to live.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the release was motivated by Scottish values to show mercy.

"Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade," MacAskill said, according to the Associated Press. "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power."

Megrahi, the only suspect convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, continues to protest his innocence. As the AP describes it, his 2001 conviction was based largely on the testimony of a shopkeeper who identified him as having bought a man's shirt in his store in Malta; Scraps of the garment were later found wrapped around a timing device discovered in the wreckage of the airliner. Critics of the conviction question the reliability of the store owner's evidence; to many in Libya and some in the West, Megrahi is an innocent scapegoat.

"I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear — all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do," he said in a statement on his release. "To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this, they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered."

Nonetheless, U.S. officials urged their Scottish counterparts against the release, and President Obama called it "a mistake."

The Post story includes comment from Anastasios Vrenios, 68, a singing teacher in Northwest Washington, and Stephanie Bernstein, 58, a Bethesda rabbi. Shapira writes that Vrenios, whose son Nicholas was a passenger on Flight 103, is "unbothered" by Megrahi's releaase.

Continue reading "Mercy and the Lockerbie bomber" »

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Colleague Brent Jones has a compelling story in today's newspaper about Morris Kornberg, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor awaiting word on whether he will receive 2,000 Euros (about $2,827) in reparations from the German government.

The Waldorf man, a Polish Jew who was arrested in 1941, describes hard labor and starvation at Auschwitz. He says he doesn't know why he didn't follow fellow prisoners who killed themselves by running into the electric fence that enclosed the camp.

Now he is waiting to hear whether he will be approved for the check from the German Ghetto Workers Fund, established by the German government in 2007 to distribute money to camp survivors who have not participated in other compensation programs. If he gets the money, he says, he will donate it to The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

"For going through [ the Holocaust], 2,000 is not a big deal," he told Jones. "This is not for my enjoyment. I just don't want to leave the money for [the government]."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Chiaki Kawajiri/Baltimore Sun

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Eric Fingerhut at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency does a nice job chronicling the back-and-forth over efforts by Rush Limbaugh and others to bring Nazi imagery into the debate over healthcare reform.

The conservative radio host has drawn condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress and the Simon Weisenthal Center for a lengthy bit in which he compared “the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in German.”

“Well, the Nazis were against big business,” Limbaugh said. “They hated big business and, of course, we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution. They were for two years of mandatory voluntary service to Germany. They had a whole bunch of make-work projects to keep people working, one of which was the Autobahn.”

Jewish Democrats have pressured House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a Jewish Republican from Virginia who has said the GOP needs Limbaugh, to repudiate his comments. But some Jewish Republicans say a Democratic congressman should also be held accountable for bringing “brown shirts” into the debate over healthcare reform.

Rep. Brian Baird, a Washington state Democrat, had said he would not be holding public meetings with constituents during the August recess out of concern for the possibility of being ambushed by critics of healthcare reform, who have disrupted other such events.

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics,” Baird told the Columbian of Vancouver, Wash. “I mean that very seriously.”

According to Fingerhut, the controversy “underscores the degree to which Jewish organizations continue to lose ground in their fight to keep partisans on all sides from demonizing their political opponents as Nazis.”

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. He left his native Pakistan in 1972 and has been living in the United States since 1980.

Religous laws supporting Taliban ideology must be amended in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The so-called Hadood ordinance to enforce Sharia in Pakistan, and certain laws incorporated into the Afghanistan constitution -- especially those relating to family laws and women -- provide the Taliban the opportunity to use these laws as part of their manifesto for setting up an Islamic kingdom run by a caliph.

Sharia/Hadood laws in Pakistan, if fully enforced, are not very different from what the Taliban are prescribing. Both restrict minority and women's rights and are biased in favor of men when it involves matters concerning divorce & polygamy.

Religous and right-wing parties in Pakistan are sitting on the fence for political gain when it comes to dealing with extremists living in Madrassas all over Pakistan. Time has come for the Pakistan Peoples Party, which enjoys a majority in parliament, to repeal the Hadood ordinance promulgated under false pretence by a military dictator. This will have the powerful effect of forcing extremist/Taliban sympathizers to come out in the open, should they opt to oppose this legislation under the "Burqa" of 1,400-year old Sharia law.

Without doing this, the environment for viable economic activity cannot be created and the Taliban, as direct decedents of the "Mujahidin heroes" who fought the Soviet infidel, will continue to destroy humanity on both sides of the border.

Continue reading "Guest post: How to deafeat the Taliban, Part III" »

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Given the opportunity to address U.S. military and other officials at a symposium on nuclear deterrence on Wednesday, Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said Catholic teaching calls on policymakers to work toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons altogther.

"As the U.S. bishops wrote in 1983: 'Deterrence is not an adequate strategy as a long-term basis for peace; it is a transitional strategy justifiable only in conjunction with resolute determination to pursue arms control and disarmament,' O'Brien said at the symposium hosted by the U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha, Neb.

"In Catholic teaching, the task is not to make the world safer through the threat of nuclear weapons, but rather to make the world safer from nuclear weapons through mutual and verifiable nuclear disarmament."

A former chaplain at West Point and with the Army in Vietnam, O'Brien was the Catholic archbishop for the military services before coming to Baltimore. He spoke of his respect for the military and its institutions before discoursing on church teaching on just war and on nuclear weapons.

Becaue it's an area of Catholic teaching that's frequently cited but not widely understood, we'll quote at length:

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When President Barack Obama meets on Friday with Pope Benedict XVI, he’ll present the pontiff with a gift that has a Baltimore connection.

The Redemptorists have given Obama a stole that was used to dress the body of St. John Neumann. The 19th-century priest was pastor of Baltimore's St. Alphonsus Church from 1849 to 1852.

It was during his time in the city that the Bohemia-born Neumann was naturalized a U.S. citizen. He would leave Baltimore to serve as bishop of Philadelphia, a position he held until his death in 1860. He is a patron saint of immigrants and sick children.

“It’s a delight that something of one of our Redemptorist saints would be given to our Holy Father,” the Rev. Patrick Woods, provincial of the Baltimore Province, said in a statement. “We’re delighted as Americans that our president is visiting the Holy Father, and delighted that something belonging to our province would be given to him.”

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. He left his native Pakistan in 1972 and has been living in the United States since 1980.

At last, the people of Pakistan are convinced that the Taliban are traitors and must be eliminated. Now Pakistan’s elected National Assembly must validate the military action by the Pakistan Army in support of U.S. action. Unless and until the voters' representatives are seen and heard condemning the Taliban by passing a resolution, all action against the Taliban will be seen by many Pakistanis as America's war against terror.

Many lawmakers, especially those from the religious parties and the right, are sitting on the fence when it comes to openly condemning the mad Taliban. They see the National Assembly as a rubber-stamp body that is under the president, a legacy of the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf.

Powers usurped by military dictators must be restored to the "people's house" to win confidence of Pakistani voters. A bill should be passed in the elected National Assembly authorizing the monitoring of all Madrassas and the conversion of all Madrassas to regular schools with the help of regional school boards in Pakistan using U.S. aid dollars.

Madrassas should no longer be allowed to become recruiting grounds for suicide bombers, Taliban and murderers hiding behind the “Burqa” of Sharia.

Continue reading "Guest post: How to defeat the Taliban, Part II" »

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. A native of Pakistan, he arrived in the United States in 1980.

Sharia laws are being used by terrorists to violate divine human rights.

Great Britain and France, as colonial powers, must share in the blame for not encouraging or allowing democracy to take root in Muslim countries. This is one reason why Sharia features so prominently in the legal systems of Muslim countries as the only acceptable form of justice. Autocratic rule, out-dated customs and lack of education prevented the judiciary in almost every Muslim country to develop a rule of law in which no one is above the law.

Almost every Muslim country except for Turkey has some form of Sharia incorporated into the constitution. Another reason for this inclusion is the legacy of a natural alliance between the clergy and a dictatorship. Both need each other for legitimacy. Even the Burmese military dictatorship had an understanding with the monks.

Through this alliance a dictatorship can suppress rights and freedoms taken for granted in democratic countries. A suffocating environment that stifles human development takes root, which is avoided by all prospective investors and visitors — unless they have no choice – leading to severe economic decline. Sharia is being enforced in Somalia today and the results are not very good.

Enforcers and supporters of Sharia say that things are economically bad because we are not following Sharia and God is angry. It is interesting to recall that some mullahs blamed the 2005 Earthquake in Pakistan on cable television.

Continue reading "Guest post: Reconsidering Sharia" »

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The Islamic tradition of generosity toward people fleeing persecution has had more influence on modern international refugee law than any other historical source, according to a study published Tuesday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

“The international community should value this 14-century-old tradition of generosity and hospitality and recognize its contributions to modern law,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres writes in his forward to “The Right to Asylum Between Islamic Shari’ah and International Refugee Law: A Comparative Study.”

The report was commissioned by UNHCR in cooperation with Saudi Arabia’s Naif Arab University for Security Sciences and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. It was written by Ahmed Abu Al-Wafa, a professor and dean of the law faculty at Cairo University.

“Today, the majority of refugees worldwide are Muslims,” Guterres writes. “This fact occurs at a time when the level of extremism -- ethnic and religious -- is on the rise around the globe, even in the world’s most developed societies. Racism, xenophobia and populist fear-mongering manipulate public opinion and confuse refugees with illegal migrants and even terrorists.

“These attitudes have also contributed to misperceptions about Islam, and Muslim refugees have paid a heavy price. Let us be clear: refugees are not terrorists. They are first and foremost the victims of terrorism. This book reminds us of our duty to counter such attitudes.”

The Organization of the Islamic Conference stipulated every human being fleeing persecution has the right to seek asylum and receive protection in another country in its 1990 Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.

Continue reading "Islam is greatest contributor to refugee law: UNHCR" »

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The American Jewish World Service says the Obama administration is “sending contradictory signals in recognizing the magnitude of what has taken place and continues to occur on the ground in Darfur.”

The organization, long active on Darfur, expressed concern Friday after Gen. J. Scott Gration, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, referred to conditions there as the “remnants of genocide.”
Earlier, Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, had described the current situation in Darfur as “genocide.”

"We believe that when conditions are as deplorable as they are, when millions remain displaced from their homes — many of them victims of rape and assault — lacking sufficient food and drinking water, it is dangerous to disagree in public about whether the genocide continues," AJWS president Ruth Messinger said in a statement.

"What is essential is that we get assurances that the full complement of humanitarian aid has been completely restored and that the Obama administration recognizes that the status quo of the past seven years is unacceptable,” she said. “This is particularly the case when the onset of the rainy season continues to pose the threat that waterborne illness will spread rapidly among the population in the camps. This would cause widespread and rapid loss of life, advancing the concerted effort of the Sudanese government to cause a massive civilian death toll.

Continue reading "Group: Administration sending mixed signals on Darfur" »

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. A native of Pakistan, he arrived in the United States in 1980.

In Pakistan, the religious schools called madrassas were created during the Afghan war as factories for producing future mujahedeen to fight the Soviet infidels. It was a win for all parties involved. They were financed by Middle East money and America’s acquiescence.

Today there are thousands of madrassas scattered all over Pakistan providing lodging and shelter to poor children, who have nowhere else to turn. Each madrassa is like an orphanage run by fascist clerics.

Madrassas today teach hatred of non-Muslims using an orthodox interpretation of the Quran taught by self-serving mullahs lacking formal education. Brainwashed children graduating as clerics are taught to believe that salvation is only possibly by establishing an Islamic kingdom governed under their interpretation of Sharia law.

All actions -- training suicide bombers, storing weapons, harassing local citizens, beheading, whipping and stoning -- are justifiable in this struggle. madrassas share the Taliban’s ideology and are their natural partners and allies.

Continue reading "Guest Post: How to defeat the Taliban" »

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President Barack Obama went to Egypt this month to create common ground between America and Islam. In the process, Morgan State University historian Lawrence A. Peskin says, he whitewashed America's early, troubled history with the Islamic world.

Writing Thursday at baltimoresun.com, Peskin takes issue with Obama’s version of events:

In his speech at Cairo University, the president noted that "Islam has always been a part of America's story." He cited Morocco's early recognition of American independence in 1778. He also reminded his audience of the U.S.-Tripoli treaty of 1796-97, which denied that the United States bore any "enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity" of Muslims.

In so doing, the president created a mythic tale of longstanding friendship and understanding on the part of Americans and Islamic North Africans. Although it may have diplomatic uses, this tale has little historical basis.

President Obama correctly stated that Morocco was the first nation to recognize American independence. However, he omitted the fact that shortly thereafter, Moroccans captured an American ship and its crew to force the United States to sign a pay-for-peace treaty with Morocco's ruler.

The payment did stop Morocco from capturing more Americans, but soon its next-door neighbor, Algeria, began capturing American ships. Ultimately it held more than 100 American crew members for ransom, some for a dozen years. Nor did a similar arrangement with Tripoli stop that country from capturing more Americans.

Read the rest of Peskin's piece at baltimoresun.com.

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Worshippers at a Severn church on Sunday will walk in the footsteps of the poor as part of a national charity drive intended to provide shoes for the needy.

Grace Pointe Community Church of the Nazarene, which worships in the Kerr Center for the Arts on the upper campus of Annapolis Area Christian School, is one of thousands of congregations across the country participating in “Barefoot Sunday,” according to event organizers.

Church members will be asked to leave the shoes on the altar and walk out of services barefoot. The footwear will be collected by Soles4Souls Inc., which provides new and gently worn shoes to victims of disasters and those living in extreme poverty.

The Nashville-based outfit says it has distributed 4.3 million pairs of shoes in more than 125 countries including the United States.

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A trio of Lutheran pastors from West Virginia will be wheeling their bamboo bicycle-built-for-three into Baltimore next week to talk about hunger here and around the world.

Baltimore is one of 65 cities that the Revs. Reinold “Ron” Schlak Jr., Frederick A. “Fred” Soltow Jr. and David A. Twedt are planning to visit during their 100-day, 13,000-mile Tour de Revs. The riders are hoping to raise $5 million for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America World Hunger and Disaster Appeal.

“We will be encouraging people to make giving to the [appeal] a regular part of their stewardship, not just contributing when a special offering is collected,” Twedt said in a release. “Beyond that, I would hope and expect that this church will continue to increase its support of those who, through no fault of their own, can not support themselves. Jesus is saying that to me in Matthew 25.”

Matthew 25:40 includes the injunction: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”

Schlak, Soltow and Twedt, who describe their goals as “revelation, revolution and revenue,” will enter Baltimore on Monday via the Gwynns Falls Bike Trail. They are to be received at the Lutheran Center by Bishop H. Gerard Knoche, the Rev. John Nunes of Lutheran World Relief, Ralston Deffenbaugh of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and Jill Schumann from Lutheran Services in America.

Continue reading "'Tour de Revs' pastors riding to fight world hunger" »

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Pope Benedict XVI issued a plea for the dwindling Christian community of the Holy Land during his trip last week to the Middle East. Now National Geopraphic has made their plight the cover story of its latest issue.

"Today native Christians in the Levant are the envoys of a forgotten world, bearing the fierce and hunted spirit of the early church," Don Belt writes in the June issue, which landed in our mailbox over the weekend. "Their communities, composed of various Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant sects, have dwindled in the past century from a quarter to about 8 percent of the population as the current generation leaves for economic reasons, to escape the region's violence, or because they have relatives in the West who help them emigrate. Their departure, sadly, deprives the Levant of some of its best educated and most politically moderate citizens—the people these societies can least afford to lose."

Another cause for the dispersal: The war in Iraq. When I traveled last year to Jordan and Syria to report on the Iraqi refugee crisis, I met several Christians who said they had fled Iraq in fear for their lives. (They are among several religious minorities who have been persecuted in Iraq; others include Sabean Mandaens -- followers of John the Baptist -- and Sunni Muslims, who were favored under Saddam Hussein).

Continue reading "Attention for the Christians of the Holy Land" »

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