BibleBeltBlogger

Probably a good time to mention my Nixon White House collectibles

flockwood — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:59:14 +0000

The Colson Center is featuring the Bible Belt Blog on its Facebook page and Twitter accounts today.

That’s Colson as in Chuck Colson, the former Nixon Watergate figure who found Christ, wrote a best-selling book, and started an influential prison ministry. [Time named him one of America's 25-Most-Influential Evangelicals. See the profile here.]

I want to thank Colson Center coordinator Billy Atwell and I want to welcome Colson Center visitors. For those of us who believe in redemption and second chances, Chuck Colson is an inspiring figure…

And, yes, I do have some Nixon-era collectibles. Specifically, a complete set of church bulletins from the Sunday morning worship services that were held in the White House periodically throughout the Nixon administration.

A former White House correspondent donated the collection to the Religion Newswriters Association and I bought it at a silent auction in San Antonio in 2007.

Five of the programs are autographed by the former President. None of them, unfortunately, are autographed by the man from North Carolina who delivered the messages at least once or twice: evangelist Billy Graham.

Standing Committees back openly-lesbian bishop

flockwood — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:48:33 +0000

A majority of the Episcopal Church’s standing committees have consented to the election of an openly-lesbian woman as bishop suffragan of Los Angeles, according to the Episcopal News Service.

A majority of the church’s “bishops with jurisdiction” must also give their consent. That hurdle will likely be cleared shortly.

What impact, if any, that this has on the worldwide Anglican Communion remains to be seen.

Glenn Beck: ‘Run’ from churches that tout ’social justice’

flockwood — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:03:35 +0000

Glenn Beck is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a famous conservative talk show host.

He’s created a stir by denouncing churches that trumpet social justice:

“I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”

Somewhat coincidentally, (after I’d seen a headline about the controversy, but before I’d read the above quote about checking out church Web sites), I went to the Mormon Church’s official Web site and searched for the terms “social justice”, “economic justice” and “social gospel.”

I can sum up what I found in four words: Run, Glenn Beck, Run.

Elder James E. Faust of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve, writing in the church’s Ensign magazine, said the following:

“It is unfortunate that it is taking so long to bring full economic justice to women. The feminization of poverty is both real and tragic. That is why you should work very hard to prepare for your future by gaining some marketable skills.

The struggle to improve the place of women in society has been a noble cause, and I sincerely hope the day will come when women with equal skills will be fully equal with men in the marketplace.”

Not just “economic justice” but full economic justice.

For women!!

Head for the hills, Mr. Beck. Hurry!

All kidding aside, Glenn Beck is making today’s headlines by resurrecting yesterday’s ecclesiastical controversies. On his program, last week, he suggested the Social Justice is a code phrase for the Communists.

That claim has been around for a long, long time.

Charles Edward Coughlin preached a sermon about “Social Justice and Communism” in about 1940.

But if you do a Google search, you’ll discover nineteenth-century rabble rousers were also trying to link God Almighty and “Social Justice.”

Which rabble rousers? The ones that won the Civil War.

The official “Decoration Day” order of services for the Grand Army of the Republic in 1881.

As they stood in the cemeteries of Arlington and Gettyburg and elsewhere, surrounded by Republican emancipators, the Northern chaplains asked God to give His wisdom “to those steadfast in the cause of human rights and liberty, of law and order, of social justice and national rectitude…”

Criticism of the social gospel has been around a long time. And it’s not just Glenn Beck who has criticized the social gospel — or at least a type of gospel that is exclusively social and not spiritual as well.

Mormons, as well as many Protestants and Catholics would object to any gospel that places a higher priority on politics than on souls, on the temporal instead of the eternal.

Does America need Protestant Supreme Court justices?

flockwood — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:21:40 +0000

Currently, there are 6 Catholics, 2 Jews and 1 Protestant serving on the nation’s highest court. But the lone Protestant, John Paul Stevens, turns 90 next month, and there is speculation that he may retire soon.

The Washington Post raises the possibility that there could soon be — for the first time in history — no Protestants on the court, and asks if that matters.

My take: American Christianity is no longer divided, primarily, between Protestants and Catholics. Today, the fault lines run between those who believe the Apostles Creed and those who do not, between those who believe that man is sinful and in need of a Savior, and those who don’t. The labels matter less than ever. The world view matters more.

Most evangelical leaders, I’m guessing, would rather see a Catholic like Scalia than a Protestant like Stevens.

Unusual Radio Format: Hot Christian A Cappella

flockwood — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:57:26 +0000

I stumbled upon an unusual radio format today: Hot Christian A Cappella.

I saw the link while visiting TheChristianChronicle.org, a Web site dedicated to the Churches of Christ.

[Churches of Christ have been, historically, a cappella.]

By the way, there’s a fascinating story by Bobby Ross about Kenneth Starr.

While at historically-Church of Christ Pepperdine, Starr attended a Church of Christ congregation. But now that Starr has been picked to lead historically-Baptist Baylor University, he has said he plans to join a Baptist congregation.

Mr. Phelps goes to Washington

flockwood — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:50:17 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is getting involved in the legal fight over the anti-gay protesters who show up at military funerals with inflammatory messages like “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

The court agreed Monday to consider whether the protesters’ message, no matter how provocative and upsetting, is protected by the First Amendment. Members of a Kansas-based church have picketed military funerals to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

The justices will hear an appeal from the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the protesters, after they picketed outside his son’s funeral in Maryland.

A jury in Baltimore awarded Albert Snyder damages for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, but a federal appeals court threw out the verdict. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the signs contained “imaginative and hyperbolic rhetoric” protected by the First Amendment.

The funeral for Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Md., was among many that have been picketed by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps and other members have used the funeral protests to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. One of the signs at Snyder’s funeral combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto with a slur against gay men.

Other signs carred by members of the Topeka, Kan.-based church said, “America is Doomed,” “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “Priests Rape Boys” and “Thank God for IEDs,” a reference to the roadside bombs that have killed many U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The case will be argued in the fall.
The case is Snyder v. Phelps, 09-751.

Openly-gay priest takes helm in Lexington parish

flockwood — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:35:20 +0000

The Harvard Crimson has all the details:

“While homosexuality is not considered a sin in the Episcopal Church, which is known for being more progressive than other denominations, Rev. Timothy R. Fleck said that he had his doubts about living with another man in an openly gay relationship when he was first invited to Kentucky.”

St. Martha’s, you’ll recall, is the congregation that took over Church of the Apostles’ building after Apostles’ members voted to leave the Episcopal Church USA.

A celestial Communion — a lunar Eucharist

flockwood — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:51:15 +0000

A little-known fact about the first moon landing. Astronaut Buzz Aldwin celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, drinking wine from a small silver chalice.

The act of worship was not revealed until after the flight. Sitting in the lunar module, Aldwin, a Presbyterian, read a verse from the New Testament before partaking.

Which verse? John 15:5. In the verse, Jesus says:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”

To read Aldwin’s full account, click here.

h/t: StandFirminFaith.com for spotting this gem.

Stampede kills 63 at Hindu temple

flockwood — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:32:28 +0000

Many of the dead were children. Families of the victims will receive 10,000 rupees ($220) each.

By RAJESH KUMAR SINGH
Associated Press Writer
KUNDA, India (AP) — A stampede among thousands of poor villagers scrambling for free food and clothes at a commemorative event killed 63 people Thursday at a Hindu temple in northern India and injured dozens of others.

Nearly all the victims were women and children. The stampede was so intense it knocked down a gate at the compound surrounding the temple in the small town of Kunda, on the northern plains of Uttar Pradesh state.

“How could this happen in such a holy place?” cried Phool Chand Saroj, a 48-year-old farmer whose wife, daughter and grandmother were killed in the stampede. “If they had been more careful about letting in the crowds this would not have happened.”

While most men in the farming region worked in their fields, women from surrounding villages gathered with their children Thursday in Kunda for a midday handout of donations, an anniversary event marking the death of the wife of local religious leader Kripalu Maharaj. Giving food and other alms to the poor on death anniversaries is a common Hindu tradition.

The crush of people turned into a stampede that killed 63 and injured 44, government official Ashok Kumar said.

Hours after the tragedy, piles of unclaimed shoes sat inside the compound where victims had placed them before entering the temple.

The compound in Kunda, some 110 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of the state capital of Lucknow, appeared to have been undergoing renovations. Bamboo and iron rods used in construction were strewn about the grounds, possibly causing some people to trip.
By late afternoon police had cleared the compound and taken all the bodies to an adjacent hospital, run by the temple, for identification and autopsies, said police official K.G. Khan. Outside, villagers wailed in anguish upon receiving word that their loved ones had perished.

Gudal, a 38-year-old farmer who uses only one name, wept over the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Ranjana.

“She had just wandered in to see what was happening,” she said.
Deadly stampedes are a relatively common at temples in India, where large crowds — sometimes numbering hundreds of thousands — gather in tiny areas with no safety measures or crowd control. In 2008, more than 145 people died in a stampede at a remote Hindu temple at the foothills of the Himalayas.

The handout in Kunda is an annual tradition arranged by Maharaj and usually draws a few hundred people, but the event was announced more broadly this year and drew several thousand villagers, said state lawmaker Raghuraj Pratap Singh, who represents Kunda.

By Thursday evening, all the victims had been identified and police handed bodies over to relatives to carry back to home villages, Khan said. As bodies were claimed, temple officials at the hospital gave donations of 10,000 rupees (220 dollars) to families who lost relatives.

Police deployed an ambulance for Saroj, the farmer, to take the bodies of his three relatives on the 5-kilometer (3-mile) trip back to his village of Kazipur ahead of a cremation ceremony planned for Friday.
———
Associated Press reporter Biswajeet Banerjee contributed to this story from Lucknow, India.

Bible Belt Blogger recognized as top blog

flockwood — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:24:40 +0000

The Social Science Research Council has issued a report entitled “The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere”.

The report

“surveys nearly 100 of the most influential blogs that contribute to an online discussion about religion in the public sphere and the academy.”

I was surprised and pleased to find out today that the Bible Belt Blogger was included on the most influential blogs list.

h/t to Jose for pointing me to the list. Thanks to all of the regulars who have visited my blog and posted comments over the past three years.

ABC NEWS: ‘History’ is on Romney’s side

flockwood — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:55:24 +0000

ABC News says Mitt Romney has a”decent chance” of winning the Republican nomination in 2012. Why? Because he lost the Republican nomination in 2008. Here’s ABC’s (somewhat shaky) logic:

“If history is any guide, however, Romney stands a decent chance of getting his party’s nod. Although he was hurt last time by questions about his authenticity, Republicans have a long tradition of nominating second-time candidates: think Richard Nixon in 1968, Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1988, Bob Dole in 1996, and John McCain in 2008.”

[To read the entire article, click here.

Yes, by losing a race for the Republican nomination in 2008, Mitt Romney has given himself a “decent chance” of winning a race for the Republican nomination in 2012.

That news will, no doubt, boost the spirits of Romney — not to mention Mike Huckabee, Rudolph Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, Lamar Alexander, Marion G. “Pat”, Robertson, Harold Stassen….and a host of other people who have run, unsuccessfully, for the Republican nomination over the years.

ABC has a point. Sometimes the Republican party’s presidential nomination is the equivalent of an honorary lifetime achievement award at the Oscars. It goes to an elder statesman who has served the party faithfully for decades without receiving the party’s highest honor (i.e. Bob Dole in 1996, John McCain in 2008). Or to a sitting or former vice president who has served the party faithfully for decades (Nixon, Bush). Or a politician who came within a whisker of winning either the presidency (Nixon in 1960) or the party’s nomination (Ronald Reagan in 1976) or the vice presidency (Dole in 1976). Or somebody who ran a strong second in a previous election (Dole in 1988, McCain in 2000, Bush in 1980, Reagan in 1976.)

They won’t turn to Romney because he “came close” in 2008. He wasn’t close two years ago.

Republicans won’t give the nomination to Romney in 2012 simply because “it’s his turn.” Others have a lot more seniority.

If the Republican Party choose Romney in 2012, it won’t be acting out of love or loyalty. Republicans will pick Romney for one reason and one reason only — because they believe he has the best chance of beating Barack Obama.

They’ll ask these questions:

1.) Does Romney have a biography that will appeal to voters?

2.) Can Romney raise money and build a strong organization?

3.) Does Romney have the discipline to run a strong campaign, to stay ‘on message’ and to handle the heat?

4.) Will Romney sufficiently defend and uphold Republican values?

5.) Can Romney fire up the Republican base, woo independents and win in 2012?

In Virginia, a clothing-optional church

flockwood — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:27:32 +0000

This has to be the strangest story I’ve seen this week.

Times of London finds new book of Bible

flockwood — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:25:08 +0000

It’s called the Book of Prophets, and you won’t find it in the Authorized Version.

By James Hider, Jerusalem

To have a dozen of your agents identified in police tapes after an extrajudicial killing is embarrassing. To have almost 30 operatives left with their covers blown — as appears to have happened after Dubai police released fresh details of the Hamas assassination last month — might be considered reckless.

On the official website of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, is the biblical verse from Prophets, 11:14 — “where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”.

(Full story here)

That quotation from the book of Prophets bears a striking resemblance to another passage in Proverbs 11:14.

Presiding Bishop: ECUSA began decline before gay bishop

flockwood — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:39:29 +0000

Top-notch Episcopal Church statistician Kirk Hadaway gave a presentation to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other church leaders — and the numbers don’t look good.

After the ordination of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003, the Episcopal Church lost roughlyone-tenth of its members. Roughly One-seventh of its weekly churchgoers stopped attending.

Is there a big correlation between Robinson’s ordination and the plummeting membership and attendance figures? The presiding bishop doesn’t seem to think so, if this Episcopal News Service article is any indication.

“Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said after Hadaway’s report that she was struck that the most recent trend of declining membership began in 2000 and 2001, ‘long before the actions of General Convention 2003, which is often the spin that is out there.’ That meeting of convention consented to the ordination and consecration of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson as the first openly gay and partnered bishop in the Anglican Communion. That decision caused intense debate across the church and the fracturing of some congregations and dioceses.”

But here’s what the church’s own statistics show:

Membership decline from 1998 through 2002 = 1%
Membership decline from 1998 through 2008 = 12%

The pattern is even more striking for church attendance.

Church attendance from 1998 through 2002 actually increased by 0.5% But average Sunday attendance between 1998 and 2008 decreased 16 percent.

CBN: 5 Muslim troops questioned at Fort Jackson

flockwood — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:30:53 +0000

This is a story that is flying under the mainstream media radar.

Benny Hinn’s wife files for divorce

flockwood — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:17:22 +0000

Televangelist’s spouse claims “irreconcilable differences.”

Hinn’s ministry has posted a statement here.

If the couple go to court to divide their assets, this could get really interesting…

Tiger turns to faith in wake of scandal

flockwood — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:16:21 +0000

But not the variety that FOX News senior political analyst Brit Hume had recommended.

Instead, Tiger Woods discussed his Buddhist beliefs during his televised mea culpa. (Full transcript here.)

“I owe it to my family to become a better person. I owe it to those closest to me to become a better man. That’s where my focus will be. I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it.

Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist and I actively practised my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years.

Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes and unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.”

For those who watched it all this morning, what did you think of Tiger’s statement?

Lesbian appears likely to be approved as bishop

flockwood — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:29:12 +0000

At least 45 dioceses (through their so-called “standing committees) have consented to the election of Mary Douglas Glasspool as suffragin bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the LA diocese reports. Glasspool will need the backing of 56 dioceses (plus a majority of “bishops with jurisdiction”) in order to become the first openly-lesbian bishop in the Anglican Communion.

Mainline Protestant churches decline

flockwood — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:31:41 +0000

The 2010 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches is out. (An order form is available here.)

And it contains few surprises. Mainline Protestant churches are shrinking. So are most evangelical churches. Which groups are growing? Roman Catholics. Pentecostals. Jehovah’s Witnesses. And Mormons.

The top 25 churches reported in the 2010 Yearbook are in order of size:

1. The Catholic Church, 68,115,001 members, up 1.49 percent.

2. Southern Baptist Convention,16,228,438 members, down 0.24percent.

3. The United Methodist Church, 7,853,987 members, down 0.98 percent.

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,974,041 members, up 1.71 percent.

5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.

6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc, 5,000,000 members, no membership updates reported.

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,633,887 members, down1.62 percent.

8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

9. Assemblies of God (ranked 10 last year), 2,899,702 members, up 1.27 percent.

10. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 1(ranked 9 last year), 2,844,952 members, down 3.28 percent.

11. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

11. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. 2,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

14. The Lutheran Church– Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,337,349 members, down 1.92 percent.

15. The Episcopal Church, 2,057,292 members, down 2.81 percent.

16. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no membership updates reported.

19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,400,000 members, members, no membership updates reported.

20. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., 1,331,127 members, down 2.00 percent.

21. Baptist Bible Fellowship International (ranked 22 last year), 1,200,000 members, no membership updates reported.

22. Jehovah’s Witnesses (ranked 23 last year) 1,114,009members, up 2.00 percent.

23. United Church of Christ (ranked 22 last year), 1,111,691 members, down 2.93 percent.

24. Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), (ranked 25 last year), 1,072,169 members, up 1.76 percent.

25. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (ranked 24 last year), 1,071,616 members, no membership updates reported.

Federal agency accused of religious bias?

flockwood — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:27:35 +0000

Which one? The one responsible for monitoring international religious freedom, according to the Washington Post.