Blog Title: Religious Rant

Letters to God end up in ocean, unread

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Some of the letters are comical (a man asking God to let him win the lottery, twice), others are heartbreaking (a distraught teen asking forgiveness for an abortion, an unwed mother pleading with God to make the baby's father marry her). The letters — about 300 in all, sent to a New Jersey minister — ended up dumped in the ocean, most of them unopened.

The minister died two years ago at 79. How the letters, some dating to 1973, wound up bobbing in the surf is a mystery.

"There are hundreds of lives here, a lot of struggle, washed up on the beach," said Bill Lacovara, a Ventnor insurance adjuster who was fishing last month with his son when he spotted a flowered plastic shopping bag and waded out to retrieve it.

"This is just a hint of what really happens. How many letters like this all over the world aren't being opened or answered?"

Many of the letters were addressed to the Rev. Grady Cooper, though many more simply said "Altar." According to the text of several of them, they were intended to be placed on a church's altar and prayed over by the minister, the congregation or both.

Some were neatly written in script on white-lined paper, others in a feverish scrawl on tattered scraps of parchment or note cards. Many were crinkled from being in the water and then dried out after Lacovara fished them out of the sea.

A dog-eared business card inside one of the letters identified Cooper as associate pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jersey City. A woman who answered the phone at the church office confirmed Cooper once was a minister there, and had died nearly two years ago. The current pastor did not return several calls from The Associated Press over the past few days.
Other documents in the bag, including bank statements and canceled checks, also listed Cooper's name and an address for him in Jersey City. A death certificate issued in 2004 for a Grady Cooper lists the same address as those on the bank documents and some of the letters.
His wife, Frances, whose name also showed up on some of the letters at the same address, died in 2000, according to Hudson County records.

No one answered the door last week at the address where Cooper once lived, and a neighbor said he did not recall anyone by that name. Attempts to locate Cooper's relatives were unsuccessful.

Lacovara speculated that someone cleaning out Cooper's home found the letters and threw them on the beach in Atlantic City, about 100 miles from Jersey City.

"I guess rather than just throw them in the garbage, maybe they thought they'd set them out to sea to bless these people," he said. "So they made a trip to Atlantic City, maybe went to a casino, and put the letters in the water."

The letters, wrapped in several smaller brown paper bags inside the larger plastic bag, did not appear to have been in the water too long, Lacovara said, though about half were too badly damaged to be legible.

He opened a few with his son, Rocky, on the beach. The first few were humorous.
"I'm still praying to hit the lottery twice: first the $50,000," one man wrote. "Than after some changes have taken place let me hit the millionaire."

Another asked God to make a certain someone "leave me alone and stay off my back," while still another asks God to calm a woman who "call the Internal Revenue on me."
One woman complained that her husband always talks about sex, and another writer anonymously dropped a dime to God on someone cheating on his wife, complete with dates, times and locations.

But those, Lacovara soon found, were the exception.

Many more were written by anguished spouses, children or widows, pouring out their hearts to God, asking for help with relatives who were using drugs, gambling or cheating on them. One man wrote from prison, saying he was innocent and wanted to be back home with his family. A woman wrote that her boyfriend was now closing the door to her daughter's bedroom each night when it used to stay open, and wondered why.

A teenager poured out her heart on yellow-lined paper in the curlicue pencil handwriting of a schoolgirl, begging God to forgive her and asking for a second chance.

"Lord, I know that I have had an abortion and I killed one of your angels," she wrote. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about the mistake I made."

One unwed mother wrote that her baby was due in four weeks, and asked God to make the father fall in love with her and marry her so the child would have a father.

Lacovara said he is sad that most of the writers never had their letters read. But he hopes to change that soon: He is putting the collection up for sale on eBay.

Evangelical leader resigns over sex scandal

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The president of the U.S. National Association of Evangelicals, who has had regular talks with the White House and vocally opposes gay marriage, resigned on Thursday after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a male escort.

Ted Haggard, who denied the accusation, also temporarily stepped down as senior pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the church said in a statement.
"I've never had a gay relationship with anyone," Haggard said in an interview with Denver television station KUSA on Wednesday night. "I'm steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife."
The New Life Church statement quoted Haggard as saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date," the church statement quoted Haggard as saying.
Mike Jones, who said he was a male escort, told KUSA on Wednesday he had had a three-year sexual "business relationship" with Haggard.

Haggard, who is often credited with rallying conservative Christians behind
President George W. Bush' for his 2004 re-election, talks to Bush or his advisors every Monday, Harper's Magazine reported last year.

Haggard supports a proposed amendment to the Colorado constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Colorado voters will decide on that issue next week when they vote in the congressional elections.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Such ballot initiatives also help the Republican Party which polls say is in danger of losing control of Congress in Tuesday's midterm vote.

Evangelical Christians have been a key base of support for Bush and the Republican Party.
A father of five, Haggard has long been a leading figure among conservative U.S. evangelical Christians.

Time Magazine included him in its list of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America." Harper's Magazine, an influential liberal periodical, described New Life last year as "America's most powerful megachurch."

While the National Association of Evangelicals is associated with conservative causes it is not as rigidly ideological and staunchly supportive of the Republican Party as other evangelical groups.
Its vice president of governmental affairs, Richard Cizik, is vocal in support of policies to stop global warming, an issue not associated with most Republicans.

Jerry Falwell, a prominent conservative Christian and Republican Party stalwart, was quick to play down the organization's role and Haggard's standing among evangelicals.
"He (Haggard) doesn't really lead the (evangelical) movement. ... He is the president of an association that is very loosely knit and I've never been a member of it," Falwell said in a CNN interview on Thursday.

Irish Catholic over-50s don't all believe in afterlife

About 90 percent of over-50s in Ireland are practising Roman Catholics but a third do not believe in life after death, according to the results of a new survey released.

An Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll found 62 percent of over-50s, Ireland's fastest-growing demographic sector, agree there is life after death, 12 percent disagree, 21 percent say they don't know and 5 percent have no opinion

Me: I think personally this is due to decreasing church-going numbers. There are alot of forces that would make someone determine if there is an after-life. Without church constantly reassuring this notion, well what can you think? Though I still believe it's contradictory to not believe in the afterlife in that religion. It's like, what is even the point. I think some people just call themselves a title such as Roman Catholic with no basis for it other then maybe there parents being of the faith.

Question of the Week

Do you think sects and denomnations of religion will continue to increase are decrease and will it have a positive are negative effect on religion?

Democrats push for own religious voice

"Thirteen years ago, David Wilhelm, then chairman of the Democratic Party, told the conservative Christian Coalition that good Christians could belong to either major political party.
Today, Wilhelm wants to spread that message to a different audience — Democrats. He's hoping for a better response.With a leading poll showing only one in four Americans viewing the Democratic Party as friendly to religion, Wilhelm and a broad-based group of Christian Democratic activists are starting an Internet effort to organize religious voters whose views might be compatible with Democrats."

Me:Just because democrats are tightwads they have to be considered unfriendly to religion. Oh please. I think religion can fit into any part in their own way, which could either be negative are postive, both ways.

Priest dies after trying to walk on water

A priest has died after trying to demonstrate how Jesus walked on water.Evangelist preacher Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle.But he drowned after walking out to sea from a beach in the capital Libreville in Gabon, west Africa.One eyewitness said: "He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus.

Me: Um....leave that to Jesus. And onlyJjesus.

Author sees science, religion saving environment

Scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author E.O. Wilson is out to save life on Earth — literally — and as a secular humanist has decided to enlist people of religious faith in his mission.

The Harvard professor sees science and religion as potential allies for averting the mass extinction of the species being caused by man, as he argues in his latest book, "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth" (W.W. Norton), due out on Tuesday.

Asked whether he could unite two groups with clashing world views, Wilson immediately responded, "I know I can."

Me:Science and religion uniting for the greater good...um...I don't know about that one! The gap is far and wide I think and it would take ALOT to close it. Though I do belivie the seperation is hurting us, but I don't know what could be done, I don't see it happining in my life time. Is that horrible to say?

Spiritual counselor fights removal of Jesus statue

A Greensboro spiritual counselor is considering suing the city after workers confiscated a 6-foot-tall, half-ton statue of Jesus from his front yard. City officials say the life-size statue violates zoning restrictions ordinance and threatens public safety. Owner Nickie Marks, though, calls it an expression of his faith. He and his attorney argue that by removing the statue, the city is violating his free speech rights.

"I just want my statue back in my yard," Marks said. "Why would they move it? It wasn't hurting anybody. People actually liked it — they have been very supportive of our case."

Arizona couple in drug case say marijuana is sacrament

A couple from Pima, Ariz., arrested in a car that contained 172 pounds of marijuana say the drug is a sacrament in their religion. The U.S. attorney's office says the pair is trying to use religion as a cover for a drug organization.

Danuel and Mary Quaintance were arrested in February on drug charges in the New Mexican town of Lordsburg near the Arizona state line.The Quaintances believe marijuana is haoma.

Hmm well the judge might even dismiss the chargers. I say they SHOULD drop the chargers it is an "actual" religion and don't native americans have freedom to use the "drug." I think they should attack more important drug issuses and people who are actually trying to smuggle, etc. What do you guys think?

Doubt cast over brain 'God spot'

A University of Montreal team found Christian mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions.

Researchers asked 15 nuns to recount mystical experiences while studying them on MRI scanners, the journal, Neuroscience Letters reported.There has been much debate about how the brain reacts during connections with God among religious followers.This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God Dr Mario Beauregard, lead researcher.Some people went as far as suggesting there was a specific brain region designed for communication with God.

Desperate Catholics find "rent-a-priests" online

Some are Catholics who see their church as stuck in the past. Others are believers who happen to be divorced, pregnant before marriage or gay. A few just can't find a priest when they need one.
Roman Catholics shunned by the official church are "renting" married priests in times of crisis and celebration.

They turn to http://www.rentapriest.com, a Web site with 2,500 Catholic priests in a national database known as "God's Yellow Pages."

Virtually all the priests in the database have left their official clerical ministries due to the Roman Catholic Church's mandatory celibacy rule, but they continue to conduct weddings, usually for a fee, while performing baptisms, last rites and funerals for free, in keeping with the practice of officially recognized priests.

Are they using religion for personal gain here? I’m surprised they can still be considered priest even though they had intercourse and are married. Unless they believe in revelations I don't know how they can continue to bend the "rules" more and more to cater to changing society. What do you guys think?

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Quote of the week

“If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.”
-- Senate candidate Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., telling Florida Baptist Witness on Aug. 24 that the separation of church and state is “so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers.” She pointed to abortion and gay marriage as examples of sin.

Um...no comment.

Study Says Muslim Men Saw Wages Drop After Sept. 11

Post-9/11 anti-Islamic and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment hasn't just taken an emotional toll on Muslim and Arab men living in the United States. It has also put a dent in their checkbooks, a study indicates.
Arab and Muslim men saw their wages and weekly earnings drop by 10 percent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the research reveals.

The largest decreases, according to the data collected from over 4,000 men between 1997 and 2005, occurred in locations that reported higher rates of ethnic and religious-based hate crimes.

Ok im ashamed of america. Yes I said it! I thought we were better then this are were atleast getting better. It's like when we decided to toss asians-americans in horse stalls when we had a war with asians. It's pathetic. What do you guys think?

'Hitler' restaurant to change name

BOMBAY, India - The owner of a restaurant named after Adolf Hitler said Thursday he will change its name because it angered so many people.

Ok not to mention he used a swastika as his logo! He said it would attract attention to his store...um yea! Negative attention. I’m seeing more and more people trying to use sensitive issues as publicity. Like with the whole survivor race issues. Shame shame! What do you guys think?

POLL: MANY AMERICANS UNEASY WITH MIX OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

The relationship between religion and politics is a controversial one. While the public remains more supportive of religion’s role in public life than in the 1960s, Americans are uneasy with the approaches offered by both liberals and conservatives. Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. But the proportion expressing reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values has edged up in the past year, with about half the public (49%) now expressing wariness about this.

Um I personally think this is a good thing. I think yes religion could minimally be involved in politics and government but not majority. I was bit surprised by: Overall 63% of the public says the will of the American people – rather than the Bible – should be the more important influence on U.S. laws. I think it should be the will of the people. I think it goes against what America is about, freedom, if politics is governed by religion because you can get into whose religion exactly and so forth. What do you guys think?

GOP dips in religion poll

The number of people who consider the Republican Party friendly to religion has dipped below half in the last year, with declines among white evangelicals and white Catholics. But the GOP remains far more closely tied to religion than the Democratic Party.
The number of people who consider the GOP friendly to religion dropped from 55 percent to 47 percent — with a 14-point drop among white evangelical conservatives and an 11-point drop among white Catholics, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Hm, I wonder why that could be....(not really.)

Comedian sues Jews for Jesus over pamphlet

Jews for Jesus thought it was amusing to put comedian Jackie Mason's image on a pamphlet aimed at converting Jews to Christianity, but Mason found it no laughing matter and has sued the group for $4 million.

"I found it disgusting and obnoxious, and I find it even more disgusting and obnoxious that the spokesman for that organization says, 'Why doesn't he have a sense of humor about it?"' Mason, 75 and famously Jewish, told Reuters on Friday.

Ok so much for "fine line" the things im reading are getting more outrageous everyday. I think this is just plain silly! Come on! I really think this is about money, nothing less nothing more. Any thoughts?

Indian Hindus, Muslims find miracles, but some sceptical

Barbara Rao, an American software designer of Indian descent, relies on reason in her job, but, like tens of thousands of other Hindus, is now seeking answers of a different nature.

Rao is one of tens of thousands who have thronged temples across India this week following weekend reports that gods and goddesses were "drinking" proffered milk -- a phenomenon seen as a miracle by the country's Hindus.

Um wow ok. Some are claiming it's pure simple superstition while others are claming miracles. Is it bad to say I want to see it for my eyes? Or is that some sort of harsh disbelief. Someone could easily counter "well you can't see god" kind of thing. People have claimed miracles throughout all religions so who can cast doubt? I dunno, what do you guys think?

Museum Depicts Creationist History

Like most natural history museums, this one has exhibits showing dinosaurs roaming the Earth. Except here, the giant reptiles share the forest with Adam and Eve.
That, of course, is contradicted by science, but that's the point of the $25 million Creation Museum rising fast in rural Kentucky. Its inspiration is the Bible -- the literal interpretation that contends God created the heavens and the Earth and everything in them just a few thousand years ago.

"If the Bible is the word of God, and its history really is true, that's our presupposition or axiom, and we are starting there," museum founder Ken Ham said during recent tour of the sleek and modern facility, which is due to open next year.

I think people are making a big deal out of this museum not just because it debunks evolution but also the age of the planet earth and it's doing something that probably was never done. Hey I say more power to them, if creationist believes all that they do, then why not? Most religions are creationist anyway right? Yet would it seem weird to you Noah's arc confronting a robotic t-rex? (Yes apparently that happens) What do you guys think?

Once Muslim, Now Christian and Caught in the Courts

Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah courts have prevented a convert to Christianity from marrying a Christian man, creating a firestorm in a country that considers itself moderate and modern.

A leading Malaysian civil rights lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who is Muslim, has advocated for Lina Joy, a Malay who converted from Islam to Christianity and now wants to marry. Under Malaysian law, ethnic Malays are Muslim, and need permission from an Islamic court to marry. Those challenging this contention have received death threats.

Wow I didn't know that. That under law if you’re a certain ethnicity you are strictly and automatically that religion. I’m sure people would maybe assume you might be a religion because of your ethic background but not the law. Well anyway they are calling this converter an apostate and things of that degree. Cleary love has no boundaries since she is fighting this amidst death threats; I guess I can just say I hope things work out.

School religion rules unworkable

Under new guidelines on religion, schools will be advised that they should seek permission from parents who want their children to take part in voluntary religious activities rather than asking parents if they want their child to be formally excused from such activities.

Making students "opt out" if they did not want to do a religious activity could place pressure on them to take part and be seen as discriminatory under the Bill of Rights Act.The advice will also reiterate that religious education and observance are illegal in primary and intermediate schools' normal hours under the 1964 Education Act.

Um ok isn't that much pretty the same thing? Someone is always going to feel ignored are discriminated against. I remember when they had a Halloween parade at my school, it was of course voluntary! Yet my dad wouldn't let me, citing something about devil worship. Me and my brothers and sisters felt so left out, but that just comes with being a kid I guess. I don't see a problem if there is always a choice. Like with the pledge of allegiance I think it wouldn't be right if a kid got in trouble by the teacher for not participating. What do you guys think?

Are Islam and the West Incompatible?

Is there a growing rift between Muslims and non-Muslims? Certainly there is. The situation has deteriorated enormously, and it’s something to be very concerned about.

That's one of the Q&A from Newsweek with Anjem Choudary a Muslim who has been with two outlawed Muslim groups and continues to speak out on Islamic issues. I do believe there is a growing rift between Islam and other cultures and religion, especially western culture. Yesterday I saw someone see a person who could of been Muslim, based on an appearance of course. He gave a smug look and said "terrorist." I’m personally worried by that seeming like it can only go down from there, unless something is done about it.

Atheist Soldiers Demand to Be Recognized

There are no atheists in foxholes," the old saw goes. The line, attributed to a WWII chaplain, has since been uttered countless times by grunts, chaplains and news anchors. But an increasingly vocal group of activists and soldiers—atheist soldiers—disagrees. "It's a denial of our contributions," says Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, who founded the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. "A lot of people manage to serve without having to call on a higher power."

It's an ongoing battle. Just last month Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said, "Agnostics, atheists and bigots suddenly lose all that when their life is on the line." Atheist groups reacted swiftly, releasing a statement that "Nonbelievers are serving, and have served, in our nation's military with distinction!" The National Guard said it received about 20 letters objecting to Blum's statement, and said his comments were "intended to clearly illustrate the positive spirit of camaraderie, human understanding and inclusion of our fine men and women in the National Guard."

Ok is this over-religious bombardment are do they have a right on what they are saying? We know religion is deeply intertwined with the whole "I love America military motto" yet I say it's a bit un-American completely destroying "land of the free" are "free speech." I’m pretty sure religion covers a broad spectrum when considering people in the military. I’m going to have to say I think Steve blum crossed the line on this one.

Woman leads Catholic service in Calif.

SAN DIEGO - A woman who says she has been ordained a Roman Catholic priest led a service during the weekend — despite the risk of being excommunicated.
Jane Via, 58, is among 15 American women who have recently gone through ordination ceremonies that are not sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, which bars women from becoming priests or deacons.

I feel like this strongly relates to my last posting. Are they willing to make a small change in language (how she puts it) to open up things that has been in place for hundreds of years, probably longer. If they are to ordain women, wow. That would be one huge leap! But will it be one leap back are one leap forward? What do you guys think?

Canterbury asks for bishops meeting

NEW YORK - The spiritual leader of world Anglicanism has asked six Episcopal bishops to meet in New York next month to try and resolve differences over homosexuality tearing at their church.
The gathering is part of a broad effort by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to preserve the global Anglican fellowship despite a hardening conservative-liberal divide over whether the Bible bars gay relationships. The Episcopal Church represents Anglicanism in the United States.

The Anglican Communion Office in London announced the summit in a brief news release Friday, but did not give specifics about the date and location. The six invited bishops reflect the spectrum of belief across the American church, including conservatives who disagree about whether their dioceses should break from the national denomination.

Wow this is pretty interesting to me to say the least! The issue of homosexuality is a hot issue and the fact that they invited bishops that reflect the so called "spectrum of belief” across the American church. My issue with this is, isn't their supposed to be no spectrum? I personally think this issue will not go away in tell it is resolved how it could be resolved, I don't know. I just can't imagine what kind of conversation will be going down in that room. What do you guys think?