B-log

Continued from page 4

Did God Tell Bush to Attack Iraq?
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published excerpts of minutes from a recent meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian factions. During the meeting, Abbas reviewed what happened during the recent summit between himself, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and President Bush. According to Abbas, Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."

Asked about the comment, White House spokesman Ari Fleisher said, "It's beyond a stretch. It's an invention. It was not said."

Posted by Steven Waldman | July 1, 2003 | 6:45 pm

Kashering Middle America
Kosher food products, a staple of most grocery stores in the Northeast and other areas with large Jewish populations, are becoming more commonly seen on the supermarket shelves in cities and towns without substantial Jewish numbers. The New York Times reports that sales of kosher food items have risen dramatically in the past several years. National grocery chains are purposely placing kosher foods in towns without many Jews, and Wal-Mart has begun to offer kosher products in about 600 of its stores.

The increase in kosher food offerings in middle America is thanks not to more Jews keeping kosher, but more non-Jews choosing kosher items because they consider them healthier. There are about 80,000 kosher products on the market today, up from just 16,000 in 1984, according to Menachem Lubinsky, publisher of Kosher Today, the kosher food industry trade publication.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | July 1, 2003 | 2:00 pm

The New Hot-Button Political Issue
Well, that was fast. On Friday, we predicted that the political battle over gay issues will pivot on whether conservatives succeed in casting the Supreme Court's sodomy decision as really being about gay marriage. Conservative leaders came out with a unified message, pushing that theme. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist proposed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Gay activists were perfectly happy to go with the gay marriage story line, since they hope that is the logical outcome.

Newsweek's cover story this week asks, "Is Gay Marriage Next?" Not necessarily, the article concludes. "While gays can now claim some constitutional protection--their new right to privacy under the Lawrence decision--the federal government and the states can override those rights if they have a good enough reason, a 'legitimate state interest.' Thus, national security could trump privacy in the military and preserve the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. Or the state's interest in preserving 'traditional institutions'--like marriage between heterosexual couples--might overcome a homosexual's right to not be 'demeaned,' as Justice Kennedy put it. After Lawrence, gays can no longer be branded as criminals. But that does not mean they will enjoy all the rights of 'straight' citizens."

In other words, gay rights will be fought out in the political arena, with renewed intensity. It will now rise to the level of abortion as a hot-button political issue, affecting state politics, presidential politics, and Supreme Court nominations. Other issues besides marriage will be part of the debate, including gay adoption, gays in the military, and workplace discrimination.

Politically speaking, Democrats would be smart to flip the question around: Do you support nominating a Supreme Court justice that would reverse this ruling and allow states once again to criminalize gay sex? But with both conservatives and gay activists having an interest in focusing on gay marriage, it looks like Democrats will be outmaneuvered.

Posted by Steven Waldman | June 30, 2003 | 4:45 pm

The Real Downward-Facing Dog
The yoga craze has reached toddlers and pregnant moms, and now, thanks to a New York-based gym, another species. Crunch Fitness has begun offering "Ruff Yoga," an outdoor yoga class in which participants share a mat and do poses with their dogs.

"This free yoga class will bring you and your pup closer as you do traditional and non-traditional yoga poses on the same mat," the Crunch website explains. Nine New Yorkers and their dogs attended the first class last night. Ruff Yoga will be offered two more times this summer.

"Some misbehave and bark and run off the mat, but that's part of life and yoga - you have to be present and adaptable," Ruff Yoga creator Suzi Teitelman told the New York Post.

For dog-owning yogis who can't make it to the New York class, Reuters reports that two new books due out this fall may help: "Doga: Yoga for Dogs'' from Chronicle Books, and ''Yoga for Pets and the People who Love Them'' by Bruce Van Horn.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 27, 2003 | 2:00 pm

Michelangelo's Masterpiece--Now on Your Desktop
With all the news that comes out of the Vatican these days--bishops resigning, the pope's travels and possible replacement, etc.--it might be easy to forget, unless you're planning a vacation in Italy, that the Vatican is home to one of the greatest art collections in the world. Yesterday, however, the Vatican unleashed a new way for Catholics and non-Catholics across the globe to appreciate and learn about its collection: the Vatican museums went online.

The new Vatican Museums site offers pictures, descriptions, maps, virtual tours, and more for its major collections and rooms, including the Sistine Chapel, the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, and Raphael's frescoed rooms. Descriptions of the works are available in English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. The site also provides links alongside the pictures to the biblical stories or verses that inspired particular artworks.

More than 3 million people each year already visit the Vatican and its art collection. To reach the rest of the population, the Vatican said its new online resource will use art to "spread the message of evangelization around the world."

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 25, 2003 | 4:00 pm

Christian Jihad Revisited
Time magazine's fascinating cover story this week is about a subject familiar to Beliefnet readers: the debate over whether Christians should evangelize Muslims in Islamic countries.

After evangelist Franklin Graham announced this spring that he was "poised and ready" to head into Iraq with supplies, angry worldwide outcry was swift. Would armies of American Christian soldiers plunder Muslim soil? So evangelicals Christians pulled back and did some soul-searching. How, they asked, could they be true to their mission and not get themselves into trouble?

David Van Biema's article gives us some much-needed answers. According to Time's research, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, suggests that the number of missionaries to Islamic countries nearly doubled between 1982 and 2001--from more than 15,000 to somewhere in excess of 27,000. Approximately 1 out of every 2 is American, and 1 out of every 3 is Evangelical.

Many of these missionaries are clearly concerned about the work they are doing--and the sensitivity with which they should do it. "Evangelicals assert again and again that their message is based in love," Van Biema writes. "They are far better informed and more actively concerned than the average American citizen about the Islamic world's material needs, and their desire to share Christ springs in the main from a similarly generous impulse. Claims that Christian aid groups engage in charity as a 'cover' for proselytizing do a disservice to the sometimes heroic humanitarian efforts by workers."

"Yet there should be no question," Van Biema adds, "that while most evangelical missionaries love Muslims, they hope to replace Islam."

Posted by Deborah Caldwell | June 24, 2003 | 5:30 pm

Baseball Toys Get Biblical
Baseball teams have been giving away bobblehead dolls of their star players to draw more fans to games. Will churches now follow suit? One company has created bobbleheads--dolls with caricatured, oversized heads on small bodies--for the Christian market.

"We should be celebrating Bible heroes as much as we celebrate sports heroes," Isaac Bros. Bible Bobbleheads founder Dan Foote told the Associated Press. So far Foote's company has created bobblehead dolls for Moses, Samson, and Noah. "I even suggested doing one for John the Baptist, where his head falls off and everything," Foote told Gannett News Service.

"In no way do we want to leave the false impression that we are making fun of these great heroes of faith," the Bible Bobbleheads website explains. "In fact, our intent is to create an even greater hunger and desire to go to God's Word and learn more about these imperfect people used by a perfect God."

Another company, Bobble Head World, offers a line of Jesus bobbleheads, including a lifesize Jesus for $2750.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 23, 2003 | 2:30 pm

Teen Preacher Feature
ABC News' two-parter on the American Association of Christian Schools' national preaching competition wraps up tonight on "Nightline." Last night's segment introduced three of the six finalists in the AACS's annual competition, which was held in April, with plenty of footage of the teenaged preachers fighting jitters and cracking voices as they delivered sometimes wall-shaking sermons to panels of frowning, scribbling judges. In the up-close and personal chats with the preachers and their parents, the conflict inherent in preaching for prizes is a constant theme. "They don't oppose one another," says one judge. "The opponent they face is the devil."

In tonight's final-round, envelope-please drama, you won't see overcompetitive fathers or prima-donna pulpit moms. Though the sheer earnestness of the young men profiled (preaching doesn't seem to be a co-ed sport) can put one's teeth on edge, their passion for spreading the Word is, as the teens say, awesome.

Posted by Paul O'Donnell | June 20, 2003 | 2:15 pm

Jesus Returns--For His Shoes
The satire magazine The Onion has announced that Jesus Christ has triumphantly returned to pick up some old sandals and other items he left on Earth. "'I realize this isn't exactly how the world's Christians were imagining it, but I left a really comfortable pair of sandals in Galilee, and I wanted them back,' said Christ, who died for our sins," according to the Onion.

For more stories like this, visit the Onion's complete archive of "America's finest" religion reporting.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 19, 2003 | 6:45 pm

No Boys Allowed
A high school prom is a rite of passage for most American teenagers.

But for pious teenage Muslims, for whom dating, intergender mingling and touching are forbidden, this is an American experience that is off-limits.

However, a few creative and proactive teens in California have successfully blended their religious heritage and their American upbringing to create the all-girl prom.

Makeup, ballgowns, Mom's jewelry, and pop music hits--they had it all!

All except the boys, that is.

And really, aren't they more trouble than they're worth, anyway?

Posted by Caryn Solly | June 18, 2003 | 6:10 pm

Anniversary for Prayerless Schools
Today (June 17) is the 40th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court school prayer decision, Abington Township School District v. Schempp. Though another school prayer case, Engel v. Vitale, was decided by the Court a year earlier, the 1963 case (paired with Madalyn Murray O'Hair's Murray v. Curlett) was more far-reaching. The decision declared, ".no state law or school board may require that passages from the Bible be read or that the Lord's Prayer be recited in the public schools of a State at the beginning of each school day - even if individual students may be excused from attending or participating in such exercises upon written request of their parents."

Charles Haynes, a scholar at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center, calls Abington v. Schempp "one of the most vilified, controversial and widely misunderstood decisions in American history." Haynes explains that the decision does not completely exclude religion from public schools, which is what many school prayer proponents claim. Individuals still have the right to pray on their own or bring sacred texts to school to share with others. But even self-initiated prayer is controversial. A federal appeals court is currently hearing a Nebraska case to decide whether a school board official who recited the Lord's Prayer at a public school graduation did so on his own or acted on behalf of the board.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 17, 2003 | 3:05 pm

Scandal-Plagued Bishop Arrested in Hit-and-Run Case
Last year, Beliefnet cited Phoenix bishop Thomas O'Brien as having one of the most troubling records on handling clergy sexual abuse.

Several weeks ago, Bishop O'Brien came to an unprecedented agreement with prosecutors, admitting that he allowed priests to work with minors despite knowing about sexual misconduct claims. The deal shields him from criminal charges related to the coverups.

Now, the bishop has been arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident. The Arizona Republic reports that O'Brien has been charged with hitting and killing a 43-year-old pedestrian as the man was jaywalking across a street, then driving away from the scene of the accident.

The newspaper calls the Phoenix diocese's turmoil "nearly biblical in scope."

Posted by Laura Sheahen | June 16, 2003 | 6:45 pm

Is New York Becoming Less Jewish?
A report released today by UJA-Federation of New York reveals that the town that introduced America to bagels, Yiddish, and Woody Allen is becoming less Jewish. For the first time in a century, the Jewish population of New York City has fallen below 1 million people.

The study found 972,000 Jews in metropolitan New York in 2002, a decline of 5 percent since 1991. In the late 1950s, more than 2 million Jews lived in New York's five boroughs. A huge wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s kept New York Jewish numbers from plunging even lower.

Former New York mayor (and Jewish New Yorker) Ed Koch told the New York Times that he expected this decline to change the liberal nature of the city. "The Jews have set the philosophical agenda based on their history, the idea of `We have to take care of everybody' and `Justice, justice,' " Koch said. "I think there will be less of that."

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 16, 2003 | 4:20 pm

'Mad Max' Mad at Bishops, ADL
Actor-producer Mel Gibson recently threatened legal action against religious watchdogs who questioned his upcoming film about Jesus. Gibson indicated he might sue the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as a result of their critique of the script of "Passion." He's now reached an agreement with Catholic and Jewish scholars from the group, stipulating that they return the script and refrain from commenting on the film until its scheduled 2004 release.

Earlier this year, an article in The New York Times Magazine suggested that the movie's portrayal of Jesus' death might revive anti-Semitic interpretations of the event, views that the church has rejected in the past few decades. Gibson strongly denies "that the film negatively portrays Jews as responsible for Jesus' death," according to Religion News Service.

Sister Mary Boys, a theology professor and frequent participant in Catholic-Jewish dialogue, said the ADL and USSCB jointly reviewed the script and had "concerns about the role of Jews in the movie." They sent a report to Gibson's company "hoping to get some changes. Mr Gibson's company ...retaliated by threatening a lawsuit."

According to the Australian news report, Jesuit priest and Aramaic expert William Fulco said he saw no evidence of anti-Semitism while translating the script.

As part of the agreement, Gibson also received an apology from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Posted by Laura Sheahen | June 13, 2003 | 5:25 pm

Toil and Trouble Over Loch Ness Monster
A British witch plans to cast a spell to lure the Loch Ness Monster out of hiding, according to BBC reports.

East Sussex resident Kevin Carlyon, a high priest of the British Coven of White Witches (some witches refer to themselves as "white witches" to clarify their rejection of bad or "black" magic), will perform the ritual on the shores of the famous lake. Wearing his white witch robes, Carlyon will make a circle of stones and burn incense while casting a spell invoking earth, air, fire and water.

Mr. Carlyon claims that he cast a protection spell on "Nessie" in 2001, and that's why there have been few sightings since then. "I left the protection spell running and now I want to undo it slightly so Nessie can make an appearance," he says.

Posted by Laura Sheahen | June 12, 2003 | 5:15 pm

Gun-Toting Faithful
A pre-Father's Day raffle that annually raises thousands of dollars for St. Jerome's Catholic Church in the D.C. area is drawing fire from some members. The reason? The raffle prize is a Mossberg Model 500 shotgun, raffled off by the Catholic Sportsmen's Organization. As the Washington Post reports, the division over whether the church should accept money from the raffle has caused some members to leave the church. Washington's Theodore Cardinal McCarrick has ruled that the sporting group could help raise money for the church, but not through the sale of guns.

Catholics aren't the only religious group with believers who support handgun ownership. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership was formed to educate "the Jewish community about the historical evils that Jews have suffered when they have been disarmed" and offers t-shirts, videos, and more for sale on its website. And Beliefnet columnist John D. Spalding investigated the Christian hunting community in this column.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 11, 2003 | 6:05 pm

Bringing Down the Commandments--By Crane
Moses was able to carry the Ten Commandments down Mount Sinai by himself, but in West Union, Ohio this week, it took large cranes to remove the 800-pound granite tablets from four local schools. A Cincinnati judge ruled last year that it was unconstitutional to display the commandments on public school grounds, and ordered them to be removed Monday, after the school year finished.

At least 30 protesters were arrested for trying to stop the removal of the monuments, and some had to be forcibly carried off the school grounds.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 10, 2003 | 6:40 pm

A Bright Unto the World?
Atheists and other nonbelievers often lament their lack of unity and political clout. Now two atheists in Sacramento are aiming to solve this problem by coining a new term--and a new movement: the "Brights." According to their website, Brights have "a naturalistic worldview, free from supernatural and mystical forces."

The founders, who also developed the website Teaching About Religion, describe their goal as: "To gradually bring together under the name, the Brights, large numbers of the supernaturalism-free individuals and begin to form an identifiable and visible civic constituency."

Not all nonbelievers are happy with this new terminology, however. Posters on atheist newsgroups have debated what the term 'Bright' implies about those who do believe in the supernatural ("Atheists that would label themselves a 'Bright' absolutely says that believers are dim! That is absurd and arrogant," one poster wrote), as well as whether there needs to be a new term at all ("I frankly think we need to EDUCATE people about the MEANING of the word 'a-theist', rather than changing the word...," another suggested).

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 9, 2003 | 3:15 pm

Demi Moore, Kabbalah Evangelist
A new name to add to the ever-growing list of celebrity kabbalah enthusiasts--actress Demi Moore. MSNBC reports that Moore was preaching kabbalistic wisdom "to anyone who would listen" on the set of the upcoming "Charlie's Angels" sequel. "She was encouraging people to take classes and read up on it," a source said about Moore's appreciation for the ancient Jewish mystical tradition.

This news comes amid last week's revelation that Madonna has donated $5 million to build a new kabbalah center in London. Test your knowledge of other celebrities' involvement in kabbalah here.

Posted by Rebecca Phillips | June 6, 2003 | 11:15 am

Tony and the Tao
Once upon a time (in 1982), Benjamin Hoff's "Tao of Pooh" intertwined A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh tales with the Tao Te Ching for a wry and insightful exposition of both classics. The "Tao of..." conceit has gotten the kiss of death (we can only hope) with the publication of "The Tao of Bada Bing: Words of Wisdom from 'The Sopranos'," by the actor who plays Furio Giunta on HBO's Mafia-based drama.

Posted by Paul O'Donnell | June 5, 2003 | 6:17 pm

Sex and the Unhappy Teen
A new study from the Heritage Foundation links teen sexual intercourse with depression and suicide attempts. The conservative think tank found the connection strongest among girls. About 25% of sexually active girls say they are depressed all, most, or a lot of the time, compared with 8% of girls who are not sexually active. And some 14% of girls who had intercourse attempted suicide, while only 5% of sexually inactive girls have attempted it.

Tamara Kreinin of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) told USA Today it is a "disservice" to blame sexual activity while ignoring "divorce, domestic violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse" and other factors in kids' lives.

Posted by Wendy Schuman | June 4, 2003 | 6:00 pm

Osama Bin Laden--Trusted to "Do the Right Thing"
The new Pew study of Global Attitudes is full of fascinating findings. Among the most interesting results related to religion:

Negative views of the U.S. among Muslims, "which had been largely limited to countries in the Middle East, have spread to Muslim populations in Indonesia and Nigeria. Since last summer, favorable ratings of the U.S. have fallen from 61% to 15% in Indonesia and from 71% to 38% among Muslims in Nigeria."

Osama Bin Laden is trusted to "do the right thing" more than George Bush in Indonesia, Jordan, Morroco, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority.

The majorities of the people in 7 out of 8 Muslim countries believe the U.S. might become a military threat to their countries.

In most Muslim countries the people want both a large role for Islam or Muslim leaders and a strong commitment to religious freedom and democracy. The majority in all Muslim countires but one (Jordan) supported religious freedom and most supported western style democracy.

Asked whether it is necessary to believe in God to be moral, 58% of those in the United States said yes--a smaller number than in Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria and other Muslim countries.

Asked if religion is a personal matter that should be "kept separate from government," 55% in the United States agreed. Support for separation of church and state--or mosque and state--was actually higher than in the U.S. among those Muslim-majority countries with secular traditions: Turkey, Mali, and Senegal. Six in ten Muslims in Nigeria support separation.

Posted by Steven Waldman | June 3, 2003 | 5:00 pm

From Abortion to Fetal Rights
This week's Newsweek magazine examines the murder of Laci Peterson not as a tabloid crime story, but as a barometer of Americans' attitudes about abortion. Inspired by cases like Peterson's, in which the pregnant woman's fetus died as a result of her murder, legislators around the country are making killing a fetus equal to homocide. This creates troubling questions not only for the pro-choice crowd, but for fertility clinics and supporters of stem-cell research. You can read Beliefnet's coverage of these issues here.

Posted by Paul O'Donnell | June 2, 2003 | 5:45 pm

Continued on page 6: »