Theology in the News

So called ‘blasphemy laws’ are used in Islamic nations to persecute, subjugate and intimidate religious minorities – such as Christians – and so I read with interest about a UN Human Rights Committee statement on freedom of speech, which states:

Laws restricting blasphemy as such are incompatible with universal human rights standards.

Although this will be trumpeted as a triumph for secularists, this would – if adhered to – also set Christians free from the accusation of blasphemy.

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A bipartisan survey of American Jewish voters by McLaughlin & Associates found that an overwhelming majority oppose dividing Jerusalem as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents believe Jerusalem must remain fully under Israeli control, even though the Palestinians have made it a “red line” demand that they receive control over the holy city’s eastern half.

The poll results were somewhat surprising in this regard, as a majority of the American Jewish community is in favor of the “two-state solution” and the creation of a Palestinian Arab state as an end to the Middle East conflict.

But American Jewish views may be shifting as the community increasingly sees Israel as facing an existential threat that will eventually reach them as well.

Firm majorities said that both Iran and the Palestinians will continue their efforts to eliminate Israel regardless of whatever concessions they are offered.

Very few American Jews still believe a lasting and genuine peace is achievable via diplomatic means.

….continue

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Jerusalem will never be divided. His long-standing policy puts him at odds with the Palestinians and much of the world.

Netanyahu spoke late Tuesday on the eve of Jerusalem Day, which commemorates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.

“The rocks and archaeological artifacts found in Jerusalem expose the deep ties between the Jewish people and its capital,” Netanyahu said.

….continue reading

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This is absolutely super news folks.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) – comprising 57 Islamic nations – have been trying for years to introduce a ‘Defemation of Religion” UN resolution. They have now dropped this pursuit.

This would have only favoured Islam and ushered in a dangerous global blasphemy law.

I think we’ve all seen how blasphemy laws are used in Islamic nations to terrify, subjugate, and in some cases, murder religious minority groups.

Previous posts on this can be found here and here.

Islamic countries set aside their 12-year campaign to have religions protected from “defamation”, allowing the U.N. Human Rights Council to approve a plan to promote religious tolerance on Thursday.

….continue reading

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Mike Huckabee thinks Islam is wrong and evidently the chattering classes think this is a serious issue.

The Christians of Constantinople cannot use one of the ancient churches of Christendom, because Islamic rulers will not allow it, but Mike Huckabee said something harsh about Islam so he must be rebuked.

The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch, cannot open a seminary, because the Muslim rulers of his nation will not condone it, but a Fox news commentator said something that offends Muslims so we must attend.

There is no land where Muslims are the majority and Christians are not second-class citizens, but a former Baptist minister publicly disagrees with Islam and we must ponder the pain Huckabee may have caused Muslims.

I have friends doing humanitarian work in nations where Islamic tribes enslave Christians, but a former governor of Arkansas was politically incorrect, so Americans must discuss Christian tolerance of Islam.

This year Christians have been martyred all over the Islamic world, whether they were from families that have been Christian for centuries or were recent converts to Christianity, but Mike Huckabee may not understand Islamic history well so we should educate him.

Forgetting the Christians, God help Jewish people dwelling in majority Islamic lands.

Southern Baptists like Mike Huckabee are fighting in nations all over the world and have liberated millions of Islamic people from the tyranny of Islamic rulers. Southern Baptists like Mike Huckabee may not fully understand Islam, but no mainstream American Baptist, including Mike Huckabee, would deny the right to vote or hold office to Muslims.

Millions of Baptists voted for a man named Barack Hussein Obama and millions of Baptists who did not, including Mike Huckabee, loyally follow our Christian President. There is no majority Muslim land where a Muslim with a Christian name will be elected to lead anything, but we worry that Baptists, and Mike Huckabee, may be bigoted.

…..continue reading

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Many economists warn that the government’s huge national debt is a looming threat to long-term prosperity. But is it also immoral?

According to a growing number of conservative Christians, the answer is a resounding “Yes.”

As Washington debates President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget, the immorality of the deficit has become the hot topic on right-leaning Christian blogs, radio programs and political mailings.

The concern is not only that the estimated $14.13 trillion debt could cripple the economy, some conservative Christian leaders say, but also that borrowing so much money violates important biblical tenets.

And while religious conservatives have long mapped personal piety onto national politics, some of the moral arguments against excessive borrowing are getting a new hearing among Christians already anxious about the economy.

“America’s growing debt is a not just a financial issue, it’s a spiritual one,” said Jerry Newcombe, host of “The Coral Ridge Hour,” a television program broadcast by Coral Ridge Ministries. “The Bible is very clear about the moral dangers of debt.”

….continue reading

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I love reading about – and blogging on – the rise and rise of the phoenix that is the Russian Orthodox Church, and especially Patriarch Kirill’s ever growing political power.

And here’s a juicy article on this subject for our consumption, if you’re in to this kind of thing….

The growing interpenetration between the Russian Orthodox Church and political power, the public privileges which Patriarch Kirill enjoys and the proposal to establish a “civil orthodox ideology” to combat Islamic terrorism in Russia are issues at the heart of a debate on cooperation between church and state. The theme is again under the spotlight in Russian media as a series of events coincide: the Council of Russian Orthodox bishops (2 to 5 February), the second anniversary of the Patriarch Kirill’s installation and the efforts of the Kremlin to find solutions to the long standing problem of terrorism, especially after the attack on January 24th on Moscow’s International Airport Domodedovo.

During the Council, held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savoir in Moscow, discussions were dominated by the subject of the role of the church in society. This relationship is a leitmotif that has accompanied Kirill’s mandate from the outset. So much so that, on the anniversary of his election as leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, he stressed the need for the Church to be allowed operate in society and act in the public sphere against those who, instead, would have it relegated to the margins of the nation’s life.

As if to reinforce this position, the Council has authorized priests to participate in elections even if only in exceptional cases. If, that is, “the election of members of the hierarchy or the clergy in legislative bodies is suggested by the need to oppose those forces, including those that are schismatic or unorthodox, that attempt to use the vote to fight the Orthodox Church.”

The Kremlin continues to give signs of its approval. Speaking at the council, President Dmtri Medvedev reminded the religious leaders of the importance of teaching the basics of Orthodox culture and religion “in high schools, as well as the presence of clergy in the army, two of the major achievements over the last three years achieved by the Church on a social level”. The leader of the Kremlin, dealing with a country under constant threat of Islamic terrorism and a growing xenophobia against migrants from the Caucasus and former Soviet republics, the Church’s presence in schools and support in the military is “fundamental in the fight against bigotry and the promotion of interethnic and interreligious dialogue”.

One of Russia’s most renowned political analysts Vitaly Tretyakov, also addressed this issue. In an article in the newspaper Izvestia, entitled “Ideology of Terror”, he proposed creating a ‘civil orthodox ideology “to fight terrorists. He argues society should be based on a kind of civic ideology inspired by Orthodox values, because “without faith and ideas we can not be truly overcome extremism.”

….continue reading

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Oh for the separation of Church and State!

A group of influential MPs will tomorrow call for Parliament to intervene over the historic reform as fears grow that the Church will reject plans allowing female bishops.

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However, Mr Field has tabled an early day motion, which could abolish the Church’s current exemption from equality laws relating to gender discrimination and ultimately force it to consecrate women.

….read all

Ironically, the Member of Parliament – Frank Field – pushing for this, is Chairman of the King James Bible Trust and Vice-President of the Prayer Book Society!

For further links and analysis click here.

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Perhaps the greatest disparity between the religious makeup of Congress and the people it represents, however, is in the percentage of the unaffiliated – those who describe their religion as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” According to information gathered by CQ Roll Call and the Pew Forum, no members of Congress say they are unaffiliated. By contrast, about one-sixth of U.S. adults (16%) are not affiliated with any particular faith. Only six members of the 112th Congress (about 1%) do not specify a religious affiliation, which is similar to the percentage of the public that says they don’t know or refuses to specify their faith.

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Of the 535 members of the new Congress, 304 – or 57% – are Protestants, which is slightly higher than the share of Protestants in the U.S. adult population (51%). Compared with the previous Congress, the 112th Congress has added 12 Protestants, an increase of roughly two percentage points.

Baptists remain the largest Protestant denominational family in Congress, essentially unchanged from the 111th Congress, though there are somewhat fewer self-described Baptists on Capitol Hill (13%) than in the national population (17%). Methodists have declined slightly in their proportion of Congress, dropping by six members, or about one percentage point. Nonetheless, Methodists still comprise a larger share of Congress (10%) than of the public (6%).

Some other Protestant groups also are overrepresented in Congress relative to their numbers in the general population. For instance, while fewer than 2% of American adults identify themselves as Episcopalians, about 8% of Congress is affiliated with the Episcopal Church. In addition, 8% of Congress is Presbyterian, about three times the percentage of American adults who say they are Presbyterians (3%).

Protestants who do not specify a particular denomination grew the most from the 111th to the 112th Congress, increasing their ranks by 19 members, to a total of 58. They now comprise 11% of Congress, up from 7% two years ago. The proportion of unspecified Protestants is nearly as high among incumbents (10%) as among newly elected members (13%). It is unclear whether any of these unspecified Protestants are affiliated with nondenominational churches; just two members of the 112th Congress specify that they belong to nondenominational Protestant churches.

If Protestants are not counted together but as separate denominations, then Catholics are the largest religious group in the 112th Congress, with 156 members. Compared with the previous Congress, their ranks have thinned by five members. Still, Catholics comprise about 29% of the House and Senate, compared with about one-quarter of the U.S. adult population (24%).

Jews, who make up about 2% of the U.S. adult population, account for 7% of Congress as a whole and 12% of the Senate. However, there are six fewer Jewish members in the 112th Congress than there were in the 111th, a one-percentage-point decline. Mormons also make up about 2% of the U.S. public and a slightly larger portion of Congress (nearly 3%). That figure is about the same as in the previous Congress; there are 15 Mormons in the 112th Congress, one more than previously.

Some other small religious groups are about as numerically well-represented on Capitol Hill as in the general population. Muslims, who account for 0.6% of the U.S. adult population, make up 0.4% of Congress, while Buddhists make up 0.7% of the U.S. adult population and 0.6% of Congress. There are no Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus or people who practice other world religions in Congress; these groups each have a small presence (less than 1%) in the U.S. population as a whole.

….read all

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So, the controversial US Pastor Terry Jones – of the burn a Qur’an fame – has been banned from entering the UK by the government.

I’m no fan of Terry Jones and I object to his shenanigans on many fronts. I’ve previously noted my concern of a backlash meted out against our Christian brothers and sisters in Islamic lands, as witnessed following his previous antics.

But what crime has he committed to warrant being banned from the UK?

He hasn’t incited violence as far as I know.

I believe this ban sets a terrible precedent and is nothing less than an assault on freedom of speech and expression.

What say ye?

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