False Sense of Maturity

It has all the makings of a reality show: president-elect Obama is suspected to be looking for a church near the White House, and there are many eager contestants:

Churches in Washington, D.C., have started extending invitations to President-elect Barack Obama and his family, touting their African-American roots, their ties to presidents past and to Obama himself.

The choices are abundant. Numerous, thriving congregations are an easy walk from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Just across Lafayette Square from the White House is St. John’s Church, an Episcopal parish known as the “Church of the Presidents,” where presidents as far back as James Madison have worshipped. St. John’s has a standing invitation: Pew 54 is the President’s Pew, reserved for the nation’s leader.

I’d like to see him eliminate one church a week in the style of The Bachelor or Flavor of Love. But instead of giving out the advancing churches a rose or giant clock necklace, he could hand out mini crucifixes, or maybe a page that he rips out of a Bible. Or better yet, if Obama wants to be certain to avoid another Rev. Wright type fiasco, he could stop going to church permanently.

As the Dalai Lama’s health weakens, he is planning the best way to deal with the battle over Tibet after he has died (or been reincarnated, according to his Buddhist beliefs). The Chinese government is planning ahead too, and figure their best way to gain the upper hand in Tibet is to control the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation by changing the law:

Last year the Chinese passed a law that gives Beijing the power to approve the reincarnation of living Buddhas or lamas, of whom the Dalai Lama is the highest in the Tibetan hierarchy.

Not to be outdone, the Dalai Lama may change how he is reincarnated:

In turn, the Dalai Lama has raised the possibility to forgo his rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive so that he, not China, can choose his successor.

I recently discovered RaptureReady.com - which proudly announces that it’s “your prophecy resource for the end times” - via this Newsweek article. Rapture Ready is the brainchild of Todd Strandberg, a man who is constantly on the lookout for signs that the world is ending. One of the hottest topics over on Rapture Ready is what impact Barack Obama will have in bringing the Rapture, and if he is indeed the Antichrist. Even the most circumstantial of evidence is considered:

Already Barack Obama had drawn the attention of apocalypse watchers after an anonymous e-mail circulated among conservative Christians in October implying that he was the Antichrist. Former “Saturday Night Live” ingénue Victoria Jackson fueled the fire when, according to news reports, she wrote on her Web site that Obama “bears traits that resemble the anti-Christ.” Now Strandberg was receiving up-to-the-minute news from his constituents in Illinois. One of the winning lottery numbers in the president-elect’s home state was 666— which, as everyone knows, is the sign of the Beast (also known as the Antichrist). “It is very eerie, and I take it for a sign as to who he really is,” wrote one of Strandberg’s correspondents.

A British bishop blames a better educated population for a drop in the number of practicing Catholics:

The Rt Rev Patrick O’Donoghue, the Bishop of Lancaster, has claimed that graduates are spreading scepticism and sowing dissent. Instead of following the Church’s teaching they are “hedonistic”, “selfish” and “egocentric”, he said.

In particular, the bishop complained that influential Catholics in politics and the media were undermining the Church.

While not naming names, he suggested that such people had been compromised by their education, which he said had a “dark side, due to original sin”.

There you have it, straight from a bishop: ignorance is a powerful tool for the Church.

There is nothing like a harsh, Islam-inspired anti-pornography law to bring out protesters, as is happening on the Indonesian island of Bali:

About 400 people marched through the Balinese capital Denpasar in defiance of the law passed by mainly Muslim lawmakers in Jakarta last month.

Protesters denounced as too broad the law’s definition of pornography, saying it was a threat to Indonesia’s diverse non-Muslim minorities and could shatter national unity.

High-spirited protesters in traditional sarongs and translucent temple blouses marched toward the provincial governor’s office, cheering wildly at traditional dances and performances by local pop singers in curve-hugging pants.

Some Russians were able to find a practical use for a nearby church:

. . . Orthodox officials in a central Russian region say an abandoned church building that was to be put back into use has been stolen by local villagers.

Orthodox priest Vitaly of the Ivanovo-Voskresenskaya diocese said officials last saw the two-story Church of Resurrection intact in late July. Sometime in early October, however, people from the nearby village of Komarovo, northeast of Moscow, dismantled the building, he said.

Villagers apparently sold it to a local businessman, one ruble (about 4 cents) per brick, Vitaly said. Orthodox priests use only one name.

It’s sort of sad, considering the church was 200-years-old, and it’s likely that the thieves will use the money to buy booze and drugs. Still, you have to admire their confidence that there is no hell.

This comes highly recommended…especially to those who don’t quite see the slippery slope yet. I think CNN will be replaying it and I’ll post it when I get it. (Been having TV tuner card issues) …I never knew there were people that survived let alone ones that survived and no one else (everyone else was dead or scattered) knew that they existed. Well they do and they are now telling an amazing story!

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

I still despise Ted Haggard, the former mega-pastor who met his downfall after frequenting a meth dealing male prostitute, though now I also feel a little bad for him after he revealed being sexually abused as a child in two recent sermons:

Haggard said one of his father’s employees “had a sexual experience with me” when Haggard was 7, according to audio recordings of the sermons posted on the ABC News Web site.

Haggard said he later became “a conservative Republican, loving the word of God, an evangelical, born-again, spirit-filled, charismatic, all those things.

The good people at the American Humanist Association are decking out Washington DC buses in time for the holiday season:

Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.

In lifting lyrics from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.”We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group.

If I’ve ever learned anything useful about Catholicism, it’s not to mess with the communion wafers, or you might end up in jail like this crazy guy:

Meet Jonathan Ricci. The Florida man was arrested Saturday morning after he allegedly tried to steal “a handful of communion wafers” from a priest at a Catholic church in Jensen Beach. Ricci, 33, sought to swipe 15 wafers valued at $1, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office report, a copy of which you’ll find here. During mass at around 9 AM, Ricci accepted a wafer on the Communion line, but “walked away without taking the communion into his mouth.” After refusing a priest’s requests to “accept” the wafer, Ricci “turned to the priest and grabbed a handful of the wafers from the plate and attempted to leave” St. Martin de Porres Church, according to the report. “Due to the religious significance of the holy communion, the parishioners were very upset at his callous treatment of their holy ritual” and sought to detain him. An “enraged” Ricci then began to act “crazy” and scuffled with parishioners, two of whom (men aged 82 and 66) sustained minor injuries. Ricci, pictured in the below mug shot, was charged with theft, battery, and disrupting a religious assembly.

Well, at a pricey dollar a pop, I could see why he’d want to steal them. The funny thing is, I’ve heard that they don’t taste all that great, so he would have been better off stealing from a bakery.