…probably not available in the Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s Believe It or Not
Previously, Vatican documents relating to the Catholic sex abuse scandal were classified confidential: only for bishops’ eyes.
However, in an unprecedented move, Pope Benedict XVI has issued an 8-page pastoral (i.e. open) letter talking exclusively about the matter.
A Vatican taboo has been broken.
For sure people will flock to it like it’s some kind of outdoor décor and dissected, analysed, the works.
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Now for something not immediately obvious from web directories like at www.freewebdirectories.org.
There’s a growing chorus asking Pope Benedict XVI to resign over the Catholic sex abuse cases. If he did, he’d be the 3rd Pope in history to do so.
Who were the other 2?
The first one was Pope Celestine V (1209-1296) in 1294, only 5 months into his reign. He first issued a decree declaring it permissible for a pope to resign, then then did so himself, explaining it as such:
… the desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life.
He then lived 2 more years, then later declared saint.
The second was Pope Gregory XII (1326 – 1417), who reigned 1406 – 1415 resigned in order to end the Western Schism i.e. there were 3 popes who all claimed to be the one true pope, including one so-called Antipope.
Source
The BBC
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UPDATE 25 Feb 2010
She has resigned as bishop.
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24 Feb 2010
Margot Käßmann (or Margot Kaessman), 51, was appointed the head of Germany’s 25-million-strong Protestant Church in October 2009, the church’s first ever female leader. In 1999 she became Germany’s youngest bishop.
On 20th February 2010 she drove a VW belonging to her church past a red light in Hanover’s city centre while her blood alcohol level being 3 times over the legal limit.
She has admitted drink driving.
If previously she’d have no problems getting cheap auto insurance quotes from sites like www.carinsurancelist.com, that’s all in the past now.
She told a local paper:
I am shocked at myself that I could have made such a grave error.
She has been controversial for some time, being Germany’s first bishop to divorce 2 years ago. She was married to her husband for 26 years. She has 4 daughters.
Source
The BBC, 23 Feb 2010
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UPDATE 20th February 2009
As on 19th February 2009 Bishop Williamson has been ordered by the Argentinian government to leave the country within 10 days or face expulsion.
Earlier this month he was removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina.
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In November 2008 Bishop Richard Williamson, 48 said to Swedish TV, which was aired on 21 January 2009:
I believe there were no gas chambers. I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers.
As expected, it outraged Jews leaders the world over.
This is a video of the controversial interview, very gripping indeed:
He was one of the appointees of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988, who was possibly the most controversial member of senior Roman Catholic clergy ever.
To add insult to injury, Williamson was recently reinstated into the Church by the Pope because he had “affirmed his willingness to accept Church teachings and papal authority.”
The Vatican then said it didn’t know what Williamson had said about the Holocaust by the time of his reinstatement.
Mordechai Lewy, Israel’s envoy to the Vatican said:
We have no intention of interfering in the internal workings of the Catholic Church, however, the eagerness to bring a Holocaust denier back into the Church will cast a shadow on relations between Jews and the Catholic Church.
Tensions esclated on 28th January 2009 when the Chief Rabbinate of Israel terminated “indefinitely” official ties with the Vatican in protest.
In damage control mode, the Vatican has distanced itself from those remarks; its spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said:
This act regards the lifting of the excommunications, period. It has nothing to do with the personal opinions of a person, which are open to criticism, but are not pertinent to this decree.
Before the dust has even settled, another member of the clergy from the same Society of St Pius X as Bishop Williamson, Father Floriano Abrahamowicz basically said the same thing.
He was quoted to have said, on 29th January 2009, by Italian newspaper La Tribuna di Treviso:
I know gas chambers existed at least to disinfect, I can’t say if anybody was killed in them or not.
What’s going on? Are all SSPX members Holocaust deniers?
Source
The BBC, 24 Jan 09
The BBC, 30 Jan 09
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The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, born in 1947 is the first openly homosexual, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination.
In contrast, the appointment of the self-declared celibate Dr Jeffrey John (born 1953) of the Church of England was announced on 20th May 2003 but he stood down before his ordination due to the controversy the news generated.
Gay bishops could’ve been around forever but for secrecy – apparently in the 11th century Ralph, the Catholic Archbishop of Tours installed his gay lover as Bishop of Orléans. Pope Urban II and his successor Pope Paschal II apparently knew about it but did not strip them of their titles.
Then there’s the case of Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, bishop in Utah 1971-93 who announced his homosexuality after his retirement. Or Bishop Mervyn Castle who was made a bishop in Cape Town in 1994. Or Bishop Arthur Mervyn Stockwood who was bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. Or Bishop Terry Brown of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Or Bishop Derek Rawcliffe who came out in 1995 after his retirement.
Okay, back to Gene Robinson.
He attended seminary (training institution for would-be priests) in 1969 and received his Master of Divinity degree in 1973 and was ordained priest the same year.
He married Isabella “Boo” McDaniel in 1972, and “privately acknowledged” his gay tendencies to her a month before they married, but decided to go on with the marriage.
They had 2 daughters, Jamee (born 1977) and Ella (born 1981).
He publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, then divorced his wife, in the 1980s.
In 1987 he met his current partner, Mark Andrew. The next year, Robinson and Andrew moved into a new house which was blessed by Douglas Theuner, a bishop. He was married (perhaps the politically correct term is “legally joined”), in a civil union and religious ceremony, to Andrew in June 2008.
He was elected bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the USA in 2003, by delegates to an Episcopal convention, 62 to 45.
During his ordination as bishop, he wore a bulletproof vest. His parents, sister, daughter and their families and his ex-wife Boo all attended. Bishop Frank Griswold presided with 6 co-consecrating bishops. Apparently 48 bishops in all attended.
Indeed his life has not been easy. Some have held him responsible for the split in the 400-year old Anglican network. For example, on 13th July 2008 he was heckled by a long-haired man while giving a sermon at a church in London, who jabbed his finger and shouted, amongst other things, “repent, repent, repent” and “you preached the Gospel but departed from it.” After the man was escorted out, the Bishop asked the congregation to “pray for that man.”
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This is not your usual Christian Sunday Mass or service. This not even your usual Praise and Worship sessions typical of Evangelical meetings.
This is the Metal Mass, or Metallimessu in Finland’s Lutheran Church, the state religion.
Inside church buildings, worshippers scream out hymns as lead singers headbang onstage to extremely loud live heavy metal music, with the pastor and altar, both in white waiting on the sides.
Probably this kind of church service is only available in that country, the land where heavy metal is more mainstream than in others. In Helsinki, the capital, there are many heavy metal karaoke bars, clubs, live concerts and festivals. The radiowaves are filled with heavy metal songs. The Finnish Eurovision Song Contest and the Finnish Idol competition were won with heavy metal songs.
Good thing too, since this has caused churches there to be packed with young people.
Not to say all churches there are like this or in favour of it. Some are dead against it, while some heavy metal fans outside the church accuse the church of using their music to boost church attendances. But mostly response has been encouraging.
The first Metal Mass in the country was held in 2006 at the “Tuska” (in English, “Pain”) festival in Helsinki.
Here are some videos to showing a Metal Mass in action:
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On 28th August 2008 it was reported that Museion museum of the northern Italian city of Bolzano has one display amongst its exhibit that has incurred the wrath of the Pope and condemned as blasphemous: a crucified green frog wearing a loin cloth, 4 feet high, nailed by its hands and feet to a brown cross, green tongue hanging out of its mouth, and holding a beer mug in one hand and an egg in another. It’s entitled “Zuerst die Fuesse” (feet first).
It is a wooden sculpture done by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger in 1990. He died in 1997.
However, the museum said after after voting, it was decided that:
It was a work of art and would stay. It’s a self-portrait illustrating human angst.
An art expert defended the decision to display the work:
Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression.
The Vatican, in its letter, said:
The work wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God’s love.
Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture was so outraged that he went on a hunger strike until he was so sick and had to be sent to hospital. He said:
Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people. This decision to keep the statue there is is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population.
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UPDATE 26th August 2008
The project has been suspended.
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Reverend Father Antonio Rungi is an Italian Roman Catholic priest, based in the southern city of Naples.
He wants to organise the world’s first beauty pageant for nuns, dubbed The Miss Sister Italy.
Why? In his own words:
I want to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour. Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God. This contest will be a way to show there isn’t just the beauty we see on television but also a more discreet charm. You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn’t the case anymore. Plus, the idea of staging such a contest had been suggested by nuns themselves!
But forget about your fantasies of nuns parading in bathing suits, the furthest they’re expected to go is uncover their heads.
Of course we can always look forward to nuns who look like actress Sophia Loren who played a nun in the movie White Sister (1972) which incidentally is Fr Rungi’s “feminine ideal.”
Rev Fr Rungi’s modus operandi:
1. Ask nuns to send their photos to him, complete with the nun’s own account of her life, personality, daily activities and spiritual development. He expects at least 1,000 nuns to respond, many of them non-Italian. He said there were nuns from Africa and Latin America who were “really very, very pretty. The Brazilian girls above all.” However, contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 40. They can be either full members of an order or novices.
2. Conduct the contest entirely online via his blog (currently down), starting September 2008, then ask internet users to choose the winner.
Source
The BBC
The Times UK
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It is one of the most successful duets in Christmas music history, and definitely the most bizarre.
Then, Big Crosby, 73 is Mr White Christmas himself, the most straight-as-a-ruler, mainstream, 1940s whitebread crooning musician of his generation, while David Bowie, 30, the avant-garde “androgynous Ziggy Stardust” & glam rocker is the total opposite: the most offbeat musician of his generation.
The idea to pair the unlikeliest duet ever belongs to Bing Crosby’s Christmas TV Special producers, Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion.
But when the producers asked Bowie to sing “The Little Drummer Boy” on 11th September 1977, a few hours before shooting was sopposed to start, he refused, because he hated the song.
So what did they do? A team of songwriters worked frantically for 75 minutes to create an original melody and lyrics that could be sung together with “The Little Drummer Boy.” They called it “Peace on Earth.” Fortunately, Bowie liked it, and actually SANG it.
With less than an hour of rehearsals, Bowie and Crosby nailed it.
In the following years, from being a cult classic, it became a holiday staple.
It was first released as a single in 1982, and still sells today.
Poignantly, a month after the video shoot, Crosby died of a heart attack. The program was then first on CBS a month later.
Folks, Unconventional World Records wishes you A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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A Christmas card, poststamped 23rd December 1914 was posted for a Ms Ethel Martin of Oberlin, Kansas.
It was from her cousins in Alma, Nebraska.
After 93 years, it finally arrived at its destination, in perfect shape. Too bad Ms Martin was by then already passed on.
The card in postcard format shows a colour drawing of Santa Claus and a young girl.
The front: [pic source]
The back: [pic source]
As to where it spent the most of the 20th century is still a mystery. Indeed, it’s surprising that it never got thrown away and somehow someone found it and placed it inside another envelope with modern postage for the trip to Oberlin.
The original 1-cent postage stamp, the original cost of postage when it was first sent would not have been enough.
The card is now with Bernice Martin, Ethel’s sister-in-law. After it was featured in the media, she said she’d received calls from as far away as Japan and Iraq, even offers to purchase the card.
Source
CNN, 14th Dec 2007
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Update: Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is the 9th Muslim in space, not the 3rd as I mentioned earlier.
The full list:
1. Prince Sultan bin Salman AbdulAziz Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia, 1985
2. Muhammed Faris, Syria, July 1987
3. Musa Manarov, Azerbaijan, December 1987
4. Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghanistan, August 1988
5. Tokhtar Aubakirov, Kazakhstan, 1991
6. Talgat Musabayev, Kazakhstan, 1994
7. Salihzan Shakirovich Sharipov, Uzbekistan, January 1998
8. Anousheh Ansari, Iran, September 2006
9. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Malaysia, October 2007
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Anousheh Ansari, is second, when on 18th September 2006, a few days shy of her 40th birthday, she became the first female Muslim, the first Iranian, the first female space tourist and fourth overall space tourist.
The first Muslim, the first Arab, and first member of royalty in space is Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, then 29, who went up for 7 days in June 1985 as a Payload Specialist on STS-51-G Discovery. He was a member of a 7 person international crew. He represented the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (ARABSAT) in deploying their satellite.
He is now an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force.
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A 2001 article published by US Department of Defense stated that there are between 5 and 7 million muslims in the United States, and that they make up between 10,000 and 20,000 members of the American military, although some other estimate put that number lower, at 4,000. There are estimated to be 1.4 million active members of the US military.
The first ever Muslim chaplain (imam) in US military history is Army Chaplain (Major) Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, 54 who joined the military in 1982 and was appointed chaplain in 1993.
Meanwhile, The BBC reported on 20th June 2007 that the first Muslim chaplain of the elite US Marines, and only the second in the whole US Navy is Navy Lieutenant Commander Abuhena Saifulislam (Chaplain Saif), 45.
Arriving from Bangladesh in 1989, he enlisted in the Navy as a payroll specialist in 1992, became a US citizen in 1995, and 3 years later signed up for a chaplain’s candidate program.
Sources
defenselink.mil
The American Muslim – Muslims and Arabs in the US military
The BBC
usmilitary.com
defendamerica.mil
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The BBC reported in June 2007 that Prince Philip (The Duke of Edinburgh) the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is regarded as a god by the Yaohnanen tribe who live on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu in the South Pacific. They believe that he is divine and son of a mountain spirit.
Exactly how he became to be regarded as a god is unclear, but ancient tales told of the story of the son traveling to a faraway land, married a lady of power and would later return. Back in the 1950s or 60s, the Yaohnanen saw that Queen Elizabeth II was treated with respect by British colonial officers. Somehow they concluded that her husband is none other than the son of their mountain spirit. Hence the birth of the cult.
As fate would have it, the Royal Couple visited Vanuatu in 1974 and villagers had the opportunity to see the prince for themselves.
Prince Philip initially did not know that he’s regarded as a god until John Champion, the British Resident Commissioner in Vanuatu between 1975 and 1978 told him. Perhaps mischievously, Champion suggested that Prince Philip give them a portrait. He discreetly did, but not before autographing it.
Chief Jack Naiva, 80 holding the first picture given by the Prince: (more…)
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According to the Asia-Europe Foundation website, Dr Patricia Martinez is an Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow for Religion & Culture, and Head of Intercultural Studies at the Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya.
She is also the Head of the Intercultural Studies Research Hub.
She is the first non-Muslim Malaysian with a Ph.D specialising in Islam.
Her current research project is as the Malaysian collaborator of a multi-nation study on Ethnic and Religious Conflict and Peace-building Capacities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.
She is on the International Board of Directors of the Islam and Pluralism Project, Indonesia, as well as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, Japan. Dr. Martinez has served as a consultant to UNICEF Indonesia in 2000-2 for a pilot education project to revise curricula to enable schoolchildren to deal with ethnic and religious difference.
She has been awarded a number of fellowships including at the East-West Center in Hawaii and a Fulbright Award at Stanford Univeristy, USA.
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Beach volleyball’s penchant for bikinis meets the conservative Muslim city of Doha in Qatar, host of the 2006 Asian Games. (more…)
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As reported by angolapress.com on 10th October:
Nairobi: A Kenyan court Monday sentenced a couple to 18 months in prison each for having sexual relations inside a Mosque at Gilgil, about 100-km northwest of Nairobi. (more…)
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According to the testimony, Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu (above) was almost dead for a few days but when he came to, he told of his vision.
What he said is highly controversial, especially his vision of hell: (more…)
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This has got to be a supreme act of recklessness and stupidity: the act itself is stupid, but videoing yourself in plain view in action? Unspeakable.
It was originally shown at his myspace account, but both his account and the video has been either deleted by him or myspace.
But it’s still available to be seen at The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) website.
CAIR said the perpetrators of the incident videotaped their actions and then posted the video online. (The video was placed online June 17, 2006, but the actual incident may have taken place last summer.) The two men are first shown shooting a copy of the Quran…. with a “Colt M-16.” …a fully-automatic military weapon that is not legal for personal use. They then take the Quran to a mosque and throw it at the entrance while shouting what sounds like “Jesus rocks.”
source:
cair-net.org: video shows bullet-riddled Quran thrown at Tennessee mosque
Tags: quran, religion, shooting+quran
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If you see something like this, don’t be deceived.
Someone’s playing a prank. I mean, that scene was during his election as Pope, broadcast live the world over, where perhaps even more people watching it than any World Cup Final. If he really did wear that, what do you think the immediate reaction would be???
The original photo, of which many can be sourced from the internet.
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The World Cup is the world’s biggest event for the world’s most popular sport. When your team wins, you can feel great; when your team loses, you can feel terrible. It’s what makes soccer exciting — some years your team does great, other years it may be a real struggle. If soccer is your source of happiness, then your life can go up and down.
There is just one source of peace and joy that doesn’t change — and that is God. Having a personal relationship with God can give you true peace no matter what happens on the soccer field. Here are 4 key steps you can take to begin a personal relationship with God.
http://www.jesusandtheworldcup.com
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There is surprisingly a lot of discussion on this matter on the Net. Just google “Vedic Past of Pre-Islamic Arabia” and you will see the original work of P.N. Oak and Robert A. Morey in several places. The most interesting places are of course the online forums, where minds and emotions do sabre-fencing.
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My mom frantically called me last night to watch National Geographic’s coverage on the above.
The central controversy regarding it is that the document paints Judas Iscariot in a positive light, and describes him as obeying God’s command in handing over Jesus to the authorities for the salvation of the world. In other words, the documents says that Judas didnt do it on his own accord, nor the Devil’s.
Catholic.org asked Legionary Rev Fr Thomas D. Williams, Dean of Theology at the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome for his comments on the issue.
The gist of his replies: (more…)
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from the BBC:
Pope Benedict XVI has asked the Afghan president to show clemency towards Abdul Rahman, who’s facing possible execution for converting to Christianity.
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And now, an interesting twist.
Apparently the cartoons were published in an Egyptian tabloid 5 months before the current controversy, but they did not cause any uproar at all.
According to Freedom For Egyptians blog entry,
[The timing of the outrage is] a sign that this violent response to the cartoons is politically-motivated by Muslim extremists in Europe and the so-called secular governments of the Middle East. I want also to mention that despite the fact that all editors who tried to reprint the cartoons in the Middle East nowadays were arrested, the Egyptian editors went unharmed.
Someone commented that the said Egyptian tabloid is a “lower level” tabloid, i.e. would also publish articles with titles like “the moon is going to crash into the earth”, hence people didnt take it seriously.
Another commented that:
What happened was that some Muslims fell into zionists and neocons trap. Because of the repetititive broadcast worldwide by ABC, BBC, CNN, Jazeera , etc on the cartoon issues succeeded in inciting the ‘ignorant’ muslims. The Egyptian Newspapers failed to incite because they were locally distributed and printed only once.
Worldwide Media (ABC, BBC, CNN, Jazeera, FOX etc) is one of the best propaganda machine that zionists have in their hand. The Zionist did not highlight the Egyptian newspapers but chose to highlight the other ‘westerns’ (zionists own) newspapers… nice way to bring about the ‘clash of civilizations’
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Being in Malaysia, it’s interesting to read people’s reaction on the matter above in yahoo.com, in possibly the world’s most active forum. More than 48,000 comments after only 90 minutes of posting!
Of course some of the comments are childish, but some are worthy of insight.
One of them led me to Robert Spencer’s article entitled “Cartoon Rage vs. Freedom of Speech.”
Robert who? Mr Spencer is
…a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of five books, seven monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest Growing Faith and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). He is also an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Regarding recent debates on Christianity, perhaps the only thing that can challenge the U.S. debate over intelligent design versus evolution in enormity and possible repercussions is the question of whether Jesus was mere myth.
An Italian court is tackling Jesus – and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago.
What makes it even more interesting is the perpetrator, devoted atheist Luigi Cascioli was once a trainee priest, but “drifted away from the Church and has spent much of his life as a committed atheist and anti-religion campaigner. ”
He even wrote a book “The Fable of Christ” and has a website.
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Update
On 23rd January, the Syariah Court decided that she was not a Muslim when she died. Court proceedings in the case was the first time non-Muslims were allowed to testify.
One thing that disturbed me:
Syariah Court Judge Mohd Shukor Sabudin, in his judgment, quoted Muslim scholar Syaikh Abu Syujak.
The scholar had said in his book Kifayatul-Akhyarhe should be killed, his body cannot be bathed according to Muslim rites, prayers cannot be performed for him and he cannot be buried in a Muslim cemetery. that a person who had left the Muslim faith should be asked to repent three times and if he did not,
TPM said the verdict was not rigged so as not to offend non-muslims.
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After the Moorthy case, which was not even an unprecedented case, another headache is looming.
So how?
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Worldwide organization of practicing Catholics formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
The relevance of priestly celibacy today by Crescenzio Sepe, Titular Archbishop of Grado
Official website of the United States Conference of Bishops, has a special section on the abuse scandal.
LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE JOHN PAUL II TO PRIESTS FOR HOLY THURSDAY 2002
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)
Develop a response to the problems of clergy sexual abuse and the various institutional religions failures.
Boston Globe spotlight investigation: abuse in the catholic church
Catholic Panel Rebukes Bishops for Abuse
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
WASHINGTON – A panel of prominent Roman Catholics rebuked U.S. bishops Friday for failing to stop widespread clerical sex abuse over the last half-century, calling the leaders’ performance “shameful to the church.”
The comments came as the National Review Board, a lay watchdog panel formed by the bishops, issued two highly anticipated studies documenting the molestation problem from 1950 to 2002.
One report is the first church-sanctioned tally of abuse cases: It found there have been 10,667 abuse claims over those 52 years. More than 80 percent of the alleged victims were male and over half said they were between ages 11 and 14 when they were assaulted.
About 4 percent of all American clerics who served during the years studied � 4,392 of the 109,694 priests and others under vows to the church � were accused of abuse.
The second report examines the causes of the molestation crisis and puts much of the blame on American bishops for not cracking down on errant priests.
“This is a failing not simply on the part of the priests who sexually abused minors but also on the part of those bishops and other church leaders who did not act effectively to preclude that abuse in the first instance or respond appropriately when it occurred,” the review board said in a summary of its findings.
“These leadership failings have been shameful to the church.”
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice conducted the tally of abuse claims for review board, receiving survey responses from 97 percent of the nation’s 195 dioceses, plus 142 religious communities.
It found that, of the 10,667 reports of assaults on minors, more than 10 percent were unsubstantiated and roughly 20 percent were not investigated because the priest accused was dead or inactive when the allegation was received. The Diocese of Yakima, Wash., said in a news release that approximately 6,700 claims were substantiated.
The John Jay report also calculated abuse-related costs such as litigation and counseling at $572 million, and noted that the figure does not cover settlements within the past year including $85 million in Boston.
The abuse tally also shows that the number of reported cases grew through the 1950s and ’60s and peaked in the 1970s, then began to drop off � slipping notably in the last decade. Victims’ advocates say that’s because there is a reporting lag; they say abuse victims often do not come forward for years or even decades.
The report on the causes of the crisis was based on interviews with clergy, victims, experts on sex offenders and others who have studied molestation.
The findings are sure to fuel debate among Catholics on two controversial issues: whether the church should try to screen out gay priests and whether celibacy for clergy should be optional.
The board said celibacy was not a cause of the scandal, but that the celibacy requirement may have attracted candidates for the priesthood who were seeking an escape from their sexual problems.
The board came to no direct conclusions about whether gays should be ordained. However, it noted that “any evaluation of the causes and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than 80 percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature.”
The board acknowledged that some bishops recognized the gravity of the problem early on, and spent years lobbying the Vatican (news – web sites) to change church law so they could move faster against abusers.
The study also said the bishops were sometimes ill-served by the therapists and lawyers they sought out for guidance. Yet the board still called the prelates to task for what it said were a “significant and disturbing” number of cases.
The bishops have apologized repeatedly for any wrongdoing and have enacted several reforms to protect children since the long-simmering abuse problem erupted more than two years ago in Boston. The discipline policy they adopted in June 2002 bars sex offenders from all public ministry.
And the bishops authorized the landmark studies to restore trust in their leadership. No other profession or religious group has exposed itself to such scrutiny on the abuse issue, even though molestation is an acknowledged problem among coaches, teachers and clergy of other faiths.
Estimates of the number of guilty clerics have varied dramatically over the years. Church officials have said anywhere between 1 percent and 3 percent of clergy abused minors, while projections by outside experts ranged from 4 percent to 5 percent.
Experts say there’s no way to know whether priests are more or less likely to abuse minors because studies of society at large are deeply flawed.
——————–
10,667 Children Report Abuse by Priests – Study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 10,600 children said they were molested by priests since 1950 in an epidemic of child sexual abuse involving at least 4 percent of U.S. Roman Catholic priests, two studies reported on Friday.
The two studies, which were commissioned by U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002, said the abuse peaked with the ordination class of 1970, from which one in 10 priests was eventually accused of abuse.
The report revealed that 10,667 children were allegedly victimized by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002, but said the figures depend on self-reporting by American bishops and were probably an undercount.
The Archdiocese of Boston on Thursday released local figures from the reports, saying 7 percent of its priests were accused of abuse in the last 50 years.
A group of academics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York conducted one of the reports. It said 97 percent of the dioceses filled out its surveys.
The other report, on the causes and context of the crisis, was written by a team of prominent Catholic lawyers, judges, business people and bishop-appointed professionals on a national review board.
It used interviews with 85 bishops and cardinals, Vatican (news – web sites) officials, experts and a handful of victims.
The 145-page report looked at the culture in Catholic seminaries, where priests are trained, and chanceries that it said tolerated moral laxity and a gay subculture.
While the report made recommendations for reform, it did not say if church doctrine or rules needed to be changed.
“The problem facing the church was not caused by church doctrine, and the solution does not lie in questioning doctrine,” said the review board’s report.
Between 1950 and 2003, 162 priests were accused of molesting minors, the archdiocese of Boston said, citing the John Jay report. (Additional reporting by Sinead Carew)
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Commentary: Saddam’s loyal ‘Christian’
By Uwe Siemon-Netto
UPI Religion Editor
Published 2/17/2003 5:38 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) — If the times weren’t so serious, one would be tempted to laugh at Tariq Aziz’s Roman road show. Here was Saddam Hussein’s token “Christian” paying the pope a visit, but not kissing his ring. Here he was — a “Christian,” remember? — refusing to answer an Israeli reporter’s question at a press conference, for which he earned hisses from the other journalists. Bless them!
And then we saw Iraq’s deputy prime minister, accompanied by Franciscan friars, getting on his knees in Assisi to pray for peace. Would you believe it? The most loyal servant of the genocidal Saddam Hussein presents himself as a faithful man of peace!
Well now, is Tariq Aziz actually a Christian? It’s a matter of interpretation. According to bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, first ordinary of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the United States, he is a Christian “because he was baptized.”
In fact, he was baptized Michael Yohanna some 66 years ago in the village of Telkaz, near the town of Mosul in northern Iraq. So why does he call himself Tariq Aziz? Because he thought this would make him more acceptable in the eyes of the Muslim majority in Iraq, exiled Iraqis told United Press International on Monday.
Is he still a Christian, then?
“Well,” said bishop Ibrahim, “his wife is very faithful. She attends mass every day.”
What about Tariq Aziz, though? “No,” allowed the bishop, “but I did see him at his mother’s and his brother’s funerals.”
But that doesn’t make him a practicing Christian?
“No,” admitted the bishop, “a practicing Christian he is not.”
Aha, but now he has himself filmed on his knees in Assisi.
“He’s just using religion to serve Saddam Hussein’s purposes,” said Mowfaq Fattohi, a Prague-based member of the opposition Iraqi National Congress’s central council, and himself a Chaldean Catholic.
Albert Yelda, the INC’s highest-ranking Christian, reported that Tariq Aziz is the one man Christians in his homeland hate the most.
“They found he was not friend. He supported Saddam Hussein’s decision that Christians must learn the Koran. He stood behind the government when it denied all basic human and cultural rights to the Assyrians,” the ancient minority that has been Christian since the 2nd century A.D.
“Tariq Aziz a Christian? That’s laughable,” agreed Mohammed Mohammed Ali, a top Shiite Muslim scholar in the INC. “He’s an atheist. We all know it. He participated in the repression of all sorts of religious leaders — Muslim, Jewish and Christian. He was there when many of them were hanged in Baghdad’s Albab al-Sharqi Square back in 1969.”
“Perhaps ‘atheist’ is too strong a term,” cautioned bishop Ibrahim. “Tariq Aziz is a Baathist.” Now, the Baathists are pan-Arab socialists with a strong Socialist bent.
“Well, call him ‘laic’ in the French sense of the word.” Ah, Tariq Aziz, a former English teacher and editor-in-chief of two socialist newspapers is something like a French “instituteur” (elementary school teacher) — the proverbial antagonist of the Catholic Church.
That may be about right — but then can you imagine a French “instituteur” on his knees in Assisi?
Most likely, Tariq Aziz is what he is: Just a loyal minion of another Baath Party “laic” and hedonist who nevertheless found it expedient recently to have the entire Koran written in his own blood — Saddam Hussein.
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Online Razanne merchant + pics
http://www.noorart.com/razanne.shtml
original newsstory:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=10&u=/ap/20031008/ap_on_re_us/muslim_barbie
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The Gutenberg Bible is now online, courtesy of Ransom Center, University of Texas.
Original news source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=4&u=/ap/20030723/ap_on_hi_te/digital_scripture_2
The Ransom Center edition is not the first to go digital. Gutenberg Bibles in England and Japan already have been posted on the Internet and the Library of Congress (news – web sites) has one available on CD-ROM, said Richard Oram, head librarian at the university’s Harry Ransom Center, one of the world’s top cultural archives.
However, Ransom Center officials think their copy is the best of the lot, calling it the most-used version still in existence
Gutenberg’s Bible revolutionized printing in Western civilization. Printed in Mainz, Germany, in the 1450s, the books were the first major Western book printed from movable type.
According to the Ransom Center, only about 200 were produced and only 48 copies exist today, each one of them unique since local artisans were hired to illuminate the letters opening each book.
The Ransom Center acquired its two-volume copy, which includes some illuminations in gold leaf, in 1978. Oram estimated the copy, which is 1,268 pages in two volumes, is worth up to $20 million.
The Texas Gutenberg was used in monasteries in southern Germany as late as the 1760s. It was marked up by monks who scratched out some passages and corrected others. Other markings indicate which sections were to be read aloud or reserved for church services.
“Our copy is the most interesting in the world,” Oram said.
One top scholar agreed.
“This is probably the most extensively annotated and corrected copy surviving,” said Paul Needham of Princeton University’s Scheide Library. “This is a very great treasure.”
Needham said the online access, and the soon-to-be-developed high resolution CD-ROM, will be a boon to scholars who want to look at the Bible without traveling to Austin where it is enclosed in temperature-controlled glass and under the watch of 24-hour security.
Ransom Center staff began digitally scanning the Bible’s linen pages in June 2002. The finished project gives Web viewers 7,000 images and special software was used to allow for full visibility of the text and illuminations.
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Now that I’ve hooked onto Rev Jim Jones, the People’s Temple and the tragedy that was Jonestown
Most Peoples Temple Documents Still Sealed
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We’ve probably been receiving and forwarding the following via email and SMS, but probably never had the time or bothered to read the verses. Well, here they are…………..
“Info on SARS is in Bible Deuteronomy 28:20-22. God’s protection is in Exodus 15:26 and Psalm 91. Have faith in God and just trust Him. Bless and send to others.”
The verses are NIV version at: http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible
Deuteronomy 28
20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. [1] 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.
Exodus 15
26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD , who heals you.”
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [1]
2 I will say [2] of the LORD , “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling-
even the LORD , who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD , “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
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