Theology in the News

Q. You say women in their second trimester often have the most compelling need for an abortion. Why?

A. They lack access to health care or don’t have an understanding of their body changes, and often figure out later that they’re pregnant. Or they find out early enough that they’re pregnant, but their lack of access to health care or volatile, dysfunctional relationships delay seeking help.

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The rapture will be “completed” later this month.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-update-rapture-will-probably-finish-oct-21-57197/

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I’m popping this one on for the quirkiness:

It seems the majority of Americans approve of God’s job performance, which is more than President Obama can say.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) released the results of their poll on Tuesday in which 928 Americans were asked questions like, “If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its performance?” and “If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its handling of natural disasters?”

Fifty two percent of Americans were recorded as approving of God’s performance, nine percent disapprove, and 40 percent said they weren’t sure. This, according to the PPP, makes “God as popular as (Rupert) Murdoch is unpopular.”

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The lengths folk will go to:

An elaborate hoax Tuesday claimed that the Southern Baptist Convention was on the verge of formally supporting “gay marriage” and repenting of its stance on homosexuality, and the hoax backed up the false claim with a press release, phone number and website.

The stunt was pulled off by a group calling itself the Center for Responsible Christian Living, but the group didn’t identity itself until later in the day and only after one major Catholic blog had posted the release as legitimate.

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The Center for Responsible Living — which does not have a website — said the hoax was to “highlight the Southern Baptists’ anti-gay stance as both irresponsible and unchristian.”

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The fake press release — sent out early in the morning — and fake website falsely claimed that the Executive Committee, “meeting in extraordinary emergency session,” had asked that the SBC adopt a statement defining marriage as “two partners” because “loving and committed homosexual relationships must have the right to acknowledgment in the eyes of God.” The hoax further said the Executive Committee had proposed a resolution urging “our agencies and institutions seek diligently to bring about greater diversity from the LGBT community.” The fake resolution also said Southern Baptists were repenting of their past stance.

….real all

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Yesterday, Washington’s Reagan National Airport shut down for 20 minutes, and today, the cause emerges: A woman drove to the Dayton Airport and told a ticket-counter agent there that God told her there was a bomb on a plane en route to Washington. Authorities found no explosives on US Airways Flight 2596 when it arrived at Reagan, but the scare was enough to briefly close the airport and prompt the FBI to interview the plane’s 44 passengers.

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I promised myself I wouldn’t succumb to the temptation of posting about Harold Camping, but like so many others, I simply can’t help myself.

He’s now saying that although he thought May 21st would be a physical rapture and judgement day, he was wrong. He’s now claiming a new interpretation in which judgement did indeed occur on the 21st, albeit, in a spiritual not physical sense.

OK, if he wants to believe that, then so be it. I just hope nobody takes him seriously anymore, if they ever did.

But the most dangerous aspect of his ‘new’ message, is that it’s now too late for anyone to be saved and accept Jesus as saviour. He’s throwing away the tracts and advocating an end to evangelism.

And that to me is his most pernicious deception so far.

Camping has been asked: “How can you tell who’s a false prophet?”, to which he answered: “If what the person claims is not from the Bible, that is a false prophet”.

And my answer to this question? If what he prophesises doesn’t come to pass.

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I know this is preposterous and trivial, but I just can’t pass it up, it’s my nature. I’m sorry.

The group is asking translators of the New International Version (NIV) to remove what it calls “speciesist” language and refer to animals as “he” or “she” instead of “it.”

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PETA is hoping the move toward greater gender inclusiveness will continue toward animals as well.

“When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area … it wasn’t much of a stretch to suggest they move toward inclusively in this area,” Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s vice president for policy, told CNN.

Friedrich, a practicing Roman Catholic, said, “Language matters. Calling an animal ‘it’ denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God.”

“God’s covenant is with humans and animals. God cares about animals,” Friedrich said. “I would think that’s a rather unanimous opinion among biblical scholars today, where that might not have been the case 200 years ago.”

Friedrich, who is also a vegan and suggests the Bible promotes vegetarianism, puts a religious face on PETA’s ethical arguments.

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PETA’s Friedrich said his group’s position has been bolstered by the creation care movement, in which many evangelicals are becoming more conscience about the environment.

“The creation care movement is certainly helpful,” he said.

Whether their arguments will be enough to sway the translators is yet to be seen. Friedrich said he has yet to hear back from the Committee on Bible Translation.

….read all

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Hat-tip: Lisa Graas

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Could it be the potato salad? Young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age as young adults with no religious involvement, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. This is the first longitudinal study to examine the development of obesity in people with various degrees of religious involvement.

“We don’t know why frequent religious participation is associated with development of obesity, but the upshot is these findings highlight a group that could benefit from targeted efforts at obesity prevention,” said Matthew Feinstein, the study’s lead investigator and a fourth-year student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. ”It’s

possible that getting together once a week and associating good works and happiness with eating unhealthy foods could lead to the development of habits that are associated with greater body weight and obesity.”

Previous Northwestern Medicine research established a correlation between religious involvement and obesity in middle-age and older adults at a single point in time. By tracking participants’ weight gain over time, the new study makes it clear that normal weight younger adults with high religious involvement became obese, rather than obese adults becoming more religious.

The research is being presented at the American Heart Association’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Scientific Sessions 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The study, which tracked 2,433 men and women for 18 years, found normal weight young adults ages 20 to 32 years with a high frequency of religious participation were 50 percent more likely to be obese by middle age after adjusting for differences in age, race, sex, education, income and baseline body mass index. High frequency of religious participation was defined as attending a religious function at least once a week.

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There’s a little background on this story here.

A western Pennsylvania man has been ordered to remove a 24-foot illuminated cross from his front yard following complaints by his neighbor, who claims the act of faith is actually an act of revenge.

Carl Behr, 24, of Baldwin, Pa., received a notice on Monday ordering him to remove the cross within five days or face a penalty. But Behr plans to fight the order at a Baldwin Borough meeting late Tuesday.

….continue reading

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