So, did you hear about that major victory for religious-liberty activists the other day?
In this case, the reference to “religious liberty” in that first statement is not framed in scare quotes for a simple reason. This particular case did not have anything to do with debates about the Sexual Revolution clashing with ancient religious doctrines and traditions.
This important case involved a win for Muslims in Somerset County, N.J., who have been fighting their suburban powers in defense of their right to build themselves a mosque.
This is where things get interesting. The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge had the U.S. Department of Justice on its side, but also received help from a broad coalition of religious-liberty activists. This was a rare sighting of the old left-right coalition that used to stand together back in the heady days in the 1990s, when Democrats and Republicans all embraced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (click here for GetReligion links on that).
Trump: ‘In America we don’t worship government, we worship God’
TheHill.com
Speaking to a friendly crowd at the country’s largest Christian university on Saturday, President Trump told the graduating class that “in America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”
“America has always been the land of dreams because America is a nation of true believers,” Trump told those gathered at Liberty University.
“When the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they prayed. When the founders wrote the Declaration of Independence, they invoked our creator four times. Because in America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”
“It is why our currency proudly declares, ‘In God We Trust,'” Trump continued. “And it is why we proudly proclaim that we are one nation, under God, every time we say the Pledge of Allegiance.
By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 08, 2017 at 8:38 AM, updated February 08, 2017 at 10:18 AM
Peter West, an avowed supporter of President Donald Trump, doesn’t shrink from calling it as he sees it.
Posting on Facebook and Twitter up to a dozen times a day, he has repeatedly railed against Muslims, calling moderate Islam “a myth” and voicing strong support for the president’s travel ban, which temporarily barred immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries before a judge issued a stay last week.
West has assailed millennials as “snowflakes” who attend “cry-ins” and described liberals as “smug and arrogant” people who find solace in puppies and Play-Doh.
He has called Hillary Clinton an “evil witch” and former President Barack Obama a “bum,” at one point sharing a post that challenged Obama’s authenticity as an African-American because he wasn’t raised by a poor single mother in the inner city.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Conservative criticism of Pope Francis intensified Saturday after his intervention in the Knights of Malta order, with posters appearing around Rome citing his actions against conservative Catholics and asking: “Where’s your mercy?”
The posters appeared on the same day that Francis cemented his authority over the Knights by naming a top Vatican archbishop, Angelo Becciu, to be his special delegate to the ancient aristocratic order.
Francis gave Becciu, the No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, “all necessary powers” to help lay the groundwork for a new constitution for the order, lead the spiritual renewal of its professed knights and prepare for the election of a new grand master, expected in three months.
The Vatican’s intervention with the sovereign group had provided fuel for Francis’ conservative critics, who until Saturday had largely confined their concern with his mercy-over-morals papacy to blogs, interviews and conferences.
Vatican City, Mother Teresa has been declared a saint in a canonization mass held by Pope Francis in the Vatican.Pope Francis delivered the formula nun’s canonization before huge crowds of Catholic pilgrims.Two miraculous cures of the sick after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997 have been attributed to her intercession.
Fr. James Martin, SJ commented on Facebook, “Just canonized this morning by Pope Francis, I believe her to be the greatest saint of modern times. Why? Because other saints have done what she did–lead a life of heroic sanctity, serve the poor and found a religious order. But all of them had the benefit of a rich prayer life. Mother Teresa, as letters published after her death, would show, did not. She suffered from a feeling of distance from God for the last 50 years of her life, after an earlier series of mystical experiences. She did what she did on an empty tank, relying on those earlier experiences. Her life, then, was a remarkable and unprecedented act of fidelity. St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!”
“Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor.”
“Do good… be rich in good works… be generous and ready to share.”
Christians consider the Bible to be our source of truth in matters of faith. And the Bible says more about money than it does about heaven and hell combined. Nearly half of Jesus’ teaching related to money, and there are over 2,300 verses pertaining to money in the Bible. Clearly, it occupies an important place in what we consider to be God’s inspired word. So, what does it say?
In short, three things:
• All of our wealth originates from and belongs to God.
• In light of this, our wealth should be used for God’s purposes.
• God’s purpose is to restore the world to wholeness. This occurs spiritually through salvation in Jesus Christ, and physically through our service and giving to serve the poor, needy, and weak.
Implicit in these three statements is the idea that our wealth is not our own. As followers of Jesus we believe that we have been bought with a price – when He died for us, we were purchased into His eternal family, accepted and redeemed. In light of what He’s done for us, nothing but radical and total submission to His purposes would be reasonable.
Thus, our wealth is not to be used for our own goals, but rather subsumed into the greater purposes of God. Since we believe it is God who enables us to get wealth in the first place, and that we are the recipients of His great grace in our lives, our natural and joyful response is to engage in radical generosity on behalf of the Christian church and the poor.
This gets expressed in a variety of ways, but a few real-life examples might paint a picture of what 21st-century Christian giving looks like in its highest and best form:
• Mark and Megan, in their late 20’s, are so thankful for Mark’s $50,000 bonus he earned at his law firm. Joyfully and with a great sense of purpose, they give the entire amount away toward international justice efforts for the poor, and a Christian camp they admire. They rank the opportunity to give to God’s work more highly than their own potential enjoyment of this money, including their imminent need for a home down-payment.
• Tom and Bree relocate to a poor neighborhood, despite Tom’s very high income. They read about God’s heart for the poor in the Bible, and they want to know God’s heart. They lead a Bible study for the community, and eventually welcome a family in need to stay in their home for a while, while they get back on their feet. They give a huge fraction of their income away, raising their family on the median family income out of a desire to serve the world around them.
• Greg and Alison are home shopping. They buy a house that is only about half of the value of what they can afford, because they want to be able to give generously to address international poverty and spread the Christian message of hope, and don’t want to be tied down by their mortgage. The house is less than what they’d like to have, but they’re thankful God has given them money to share with others.
Paul’s Goodbye
The Apostle Paul stands second only to Jesus in his influence on the Christian faith. In his final goodbye to the Christian community around him, he gave them this charge:
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
He commends them to the word of God’s grace – i.e. the Christian message of spiritual salvation. And then, he tells them that he never coveted money, and goes on to charge them to help the weak and remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Why is Paul mixing up money behaviors with the spiritual message of God’s grace? Consistent with the rest of the Bible, Paul didn’t see money and spiritual matters as separable. His life, free of covetousness and fully generous, was evidence of God’s grace acting in his heart. As the well-known Christian Pastor Tim Keller says, reflecting on this passage,
“To the degree you understand the Gospel of grace, you will live a radically generous life! If you truly have a spiritual inheritance, you are going to be promiscuously generous with your earthly inheritance.”
Christian giving springs from our view of God. Because we believe he emptied himself and gave everything for us, we have no proper response but to turn around, face the world around us, and give ourselves away.
John Cortines, 27, is the co-author of God and Money: How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School (https://www.amazon.com/God-Money-Discovered-Business-Foreword/dp/1628624078). All book royalties are given to charity. John lives in Orlando with his family and works for Generous Giving (www.generousgiving.org), an organization that can help you host a Journey of Generosity (www.generousgiving.org/smallgatherings) retreat with your friends to further explore this message. John has shared the biblical message of generosity on national radio, TV, and at conferences around the country.
Calvary United Methodist Church
185 W. Madison Avenue
Dumont, NJ 07628
JUNE 29:
STOP VIOLENCE & PROMOTE PEACE INTERFAITH SERVICE
Clergy Representing Diverse Faith Communities Lead Special Service and Call to Action
Members of the media are invited to attend this event, which will include interview and photo opportunities (no flash photography during the service).
WHO: Calvary United Methodist Church and Interfaith clergy including:
Rev. Elaine Wing, Calvary UMC, Dumont; Peggy Niederer, President, Bergen County Council of Churches; Rev. David Wehrle, Leonia UMC; Rev. Susan Kerr, Old North Reformed Church, Dumont; Rev. Cyndy Stouffer, Pearl River UMC; Rabbi Paul Jacobson, Temple Avodat Shalom, River Edge; Alka Chandra, Hindu Community, Bergen County; Ercan Tozan, Executive Director, Peace Islands Institute (Hasbrouck Heights); Imam Mohammed Charaf, Elzahra Islamic Center (Midland Park) and Rev. Jongln Lee, Good Shepherd UMC, Bergenfield
Special music by Calvary UMC’s Praise Band and Choir; Lauren D’ Imperio and Nancy Quinn, vocalists; and Pianist Nathan Pezzotti, graduate of The Julliard School and Music Director at Calvary UMC.
WHAT: Will officiate an interfaith service of music, prayer and readings with a strong call for action; Information will be available about mental health and gun control options and organizations. There will be an opportunity to sign posters which will be delivered to victims, first responders, medical staff, and others who assisted victims in Orlando, Fl.
WHERE: Calvary UMC, 185 W. Madison Avenue, Dumont, NJ
Parking is in the rear of the building off Cooper Street and the sanctuary is wheelchair accessible.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at 7:30 PM
WHY: To gather persons of all faiths for a message of hope and to encourage greater awareness and action promoting peace and reducing violence and homicide through the use of handguns and assault weapons.
SIGNIFICANCE:
In response to tragedies including the shootings in Orlando, Charleston, Newton, Aurora and other acts of gun violence which occur daily, the Stop Violence & Promote Peace service brings together Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus to promote peace, unity and understanding in a time of fear and divisiveness in our nation.
Need some supernatural aid to change your luck? Enchantments in the East Village offers candles, books and incense to work some positive magic
Enchantments, the oldest witchcraft store in New York, has not been open for an hour but already it’s buzzing. A middle-aged man in a neat blue dress shirt, cellphone clipped to his belt is in the back of the shop, talking to one of the employees who carves custom candles for spells. He needs luck, he explains, to close a business deal. The deal could fall apart even after a contract is signed, so the spell had to last, he carefully explains.
As the employee – perched on a stool under a sign that reads “The Witch Is In” – starts to carve intricate symbols into a huge pillar candle for the businessman, shop owner Stacy Rapp, enters in a whirlwind. A slender energetic woman, her arms and chest covered in intricate tattoos of pentagrams to ravens and her vibrant pink hair covered in a black bandanna, she seems incapable of standing still for more than a few minutes. Her arms are full of plants for the shop’s back garden, where ritual sabbaths, open to the community, are held eight times a year.
After 34 years in business in the East Village, with the recession and the rising rents of gentrification claiming so many small businesses, Enchantments’ survival might make anyone believe in magic. The carved candles are the shop’s specialty and bestselling item, but the shop also offers a fully stocked apothecary with everything from mugwort to rosehips, an entire binder of custom oils and incense and a large selection of books. Behind a glass case in front of the cash register are a variety of tarot cards and silver occult jewelry, a shelf of statuettes of gods and goddesses of every ilk adorns one side of the shop and behind the front door, a small altar is tucked out of the way of customers’ feet.
Haifa resident asks court to keep the Almighty away, claiming He is being mean to him
BY STUART WINER May 4, 2016, 2:54 pm
An Israeli man has petitioned the Haifa Magistrate’s Court for a restraining order against God, claiming the Almighty has been particularly unkind to him.
The initiator of the request, a resident of the northern port city, represented himself in court, the Walla news site reported on Wednesday.
A protocol of the hearing noted that God did not turn up for the session, although it did not specify how the court determined the Omnipresent was not in fact there, as opposed to merely exercising the right to remain silent.
The petitioner, who was not named in the report, noted that he had tried to obtain the restraining order from police for the past three years but that police had merely sent a patrol car to his home on 10 occasions.
Ed Fitch, a Wiccan senior high priest, prepares for a blessing ritual at a Wiccan gathering in Monkey Nest Coffee, Austin. Qiling Wang/Reporting Texas
Mary Caldwell has spiky pink hair, tattooed arms and works in customer service for a software company. She’s also the leader of a Wicca meet-up that gathers every other Monday at Monkey Nest Coffee on Burnet Road.
On a recent Monday evening, she led the group in a discussion of numerology – the belief that numbers have mystical meanings – as well as rituals and personal experiences with spirits. Recently, some members of the group had visited a local cemetery to commune with spirits.
“Some of the people in the group just see them, some just hear them and some of them just smell them,” said Caldwell, 44. “It was great fun.”
Wicca is a modern version of ancient pagan religions, created in England and brought to the United States in the 1960s. Its followers worship a goddess and a god, honor the Earth and practice ritual magic. They follow the Wiccan Rede, a statement of principles that stresses the importance of doing no harm.
“We believe that everything is part of the One,” said Ed Fitch, 80, a Wiccan senior high priest and a member of Caldwell’s meet-up group, one of several Wiccan or witches’ groups in Austin. “Everything in the universe is linked to everything else in the universe.”
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY2:17 p.m. EST February 12, 2016
Despite famine, religious wars, worldwide conflict and the spread of civilization, the heads of the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox churches haven’t spoken since the Great Schism of 1054 shattered Christendom, so they have a lot of catching up to do at their historic meeting Friday in Cuba.
The pope, en route to a visit to Mexico, landed Friday afternoon at Havana’s José Martí International Airport where he will meet Patriarch Kirill for a two-hour “personal conversation” and sign a joint declaration.
On Arrival, he was warmly greeted on the tarmac by Cuban president Raul Castro, who clasped the pope’s outstretched hands in both of his.
The split between the two churches nearly 1,000 years has festered over issues such as the primacy of the pope and accusations by the Russian Orthodox Church that the Catholic Church tries to poach converts in Russia.
No pope has ever visited Russia. En route to the historic visit Friday, journalists asked Pope Francis if a visit to the nation is on his papal bucket list.
“China and Russia, I have them here,” Francis said, pointing to his heart. “Pray.”
Few people expect Friday’s two-hour meeting — which took two years of secret planning to pull off — will wipe away centuries of distrust and suspicion in a few hours, but it will be a groundbreaking step toward Catholic-Orthodox relations.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA Applauds President Obama’s Remarks At Mosque Visit
Invites nation to act on President’s remarks and endorse the True Islam campaign
February 4,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA applauds President Obama’s historic mosque visit. President Obama’s visit comes at a time of rising Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence. The President championed freedom of religion for all faiths, our collective responsibility to speak up against discrimination in a unified voice, and reassured American Muslim youth that they belong here. “As President of the United States, let me clear, you fit in right here,” said President Obama, “You belong here. You’re part of America. You’re not Muslim or American. You’re Muslim and American. Stay engaged in your community. Help move our country, your country, forward.”
“This speech and visit is a reassurance for all American Muslims and indeed all Americans,” said Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, National Vice President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, “We must act on President Obama’s remarks about setting aside sectarian differences, remaining united, and teaching our youth to be proud American Muslims. We invite all our fellow Americans, regardless of faith, to embrace this unity by endorsing the True Islam campaign.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA launched the “True Islam and the Extremists” campaign in December 2015 to unite Muslims and non-Muslims. To date, thousands have endorsed the True Islam campaign, including several members of Congress, police chiefs, and community activists. The True Islam campaign educates all Americans about true Islam, distinguish it from extremism, and to promote national security. We invite all Americans to visit www.TrueIslam.comand endorse the eleven points.
About Ahmadiyya Muslim Community:
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a dynamic, reformist and fast-growing international movement within Islam. Founded in 1889, the Community spans over 200 nations with membership exceeding tens of millions. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, established in 1920, is among the oldest American-Muslim organizations.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the only Islamic organization to believe that the long- awaited messiah has come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) of Qadian, India. Ahmad claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus of Nazareth and the divine guide, whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. The Community believes that God sent Ahmad, like Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace. Ahmad’s advent has brought about an unprecedented era of Islamic revival and moderation. He divested Muslims of fanatical beliefs and practices by vigorously championing Islam’s true and essential teachings.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA seeks to strengthen interfaith relations
Ridgewood NJ, The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA looks forward to President Obama’s first mosque visit at the Islamic Society in Baltimore, MD. This visit comes at a time of rising Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence. In an Oval Office address last December the President implored, “Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes – and our men and women in uniform defending our country.” We welcome the President’s ongoing drive to build a strong relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in America, as these efforts also strengthen national security.
“President Obama’s visit during tense times comes as a reassurance to all American Muslims,” said Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, Senior National Vice President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, “that American Muslims are part and parcel of the American fabric. We will continue work together to make America a better and safer nation by inviting all Americans to stand united against extremism, and with the narrative of true Islam.”
What: President Obama’s first mosque visit in America
Where: Islamic Society, Baltimore, Maryland
When: 9 AM on Wednesday, February 3
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a dynamic, reformist and fast-growing international movement within Islam. Founded in 1889, the Community spans 207 nations with membership exceeding tens of millions. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, established in 1920, is among the oldest American-Muslim organizations.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the only Islamic organization to believe that the long- awaited messiah has come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) of Qadian, India. Ahmad claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus of Nazareth and the divine guide, whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. The Community believes that God sent Ahmad, like Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace. Ahmad’s advent has brought about an unprecedented era of Islamic revival and moderation. He divested Muslims of fanatical beliefs and practices by vigorously championing Islam’s true and essential teachings.
Like many other Jesuits I know (including many in my community), I’m a big fan of “Downton Abbey.” This is the case even though, as I wrote during its first season, I sometimes feel guilty about enjoying a show that is, in essence, all about England’s one percent enjoying their perks.
One of the charms of this wonderful show is its almost slavish insistence to authenticity. There was even a recent BBC special (which I watched, dutifully) about the man whose sole job it was to ensure the absolute authenticity of the show. The dress, the posture, the way that the family and the downstairs staff would eat, how the butler (not to mention the sub-butler) would behave in the presence of a lord or lady, and so on, are all the source of scrupulous attention. Nothing is left out, seemingly.
Which leads to one obvious question about recreating this period between the wars: “Where’s God?”
This was especially obvious at the long-awaited wedding, last night, of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes (now Mr. and Mrs. Carson). There they were, in a lovely stone chapel, with a vicar pronouncing a Trinitarian blessing over their rings, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
It was striking. Because all three of them have been otherwise absent from the series, now in its final season.
If you’ve read any books written at that time, or written about that time, you’ll find an England steeped in, well, religion. This is not to say that everyone was religious, or that some of the gestures were not simply window dressing, but many books of the time talk about vicars and chapels and Christianity quite regularly.
To wit, I’m currently rereading some of P.J. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” stories, which are roughly contemporaneous, and there are more than a few vicars, vicar’s nieces, and vicarages peppered throughout. It was simply part of the atmosphere. It’s just as much an element of Bertie Wooster’s world as the Drones Club. (E.g., “‘There is the risk, of course that the vicar will recognize him….’ said Gussie broodingly.”) Or read “To Serve them All My Days,” by R.M. Delderfield, another novel, set in an English boarding school, which takes place during the same period. One of the main characters, Algy Herries, is an Anglican vicar.
So where is religion in “Downton Abbey”? Yes, I know we’re not at Brideshead (and yes, I know, not Anglican) but why do we never see Lord Grantham and his family saying grace before meals, even perfunctorily, as they surely would have? Why are they never at church on Sundays? After all, they have a chapel on the grounds of their estate, as far as I can tell. Why, in conversations about the right thing to do (which is about half the show) don’t they talk about, as they surely would have, the “Christian thing” to do?
Most likely, this is a case of the producers not wanting to offend the sensibilities of the English and American audiences. But it is interesting that authenticity only goes so far.
As many of you know, David Bowie died last night. What you may not know is that shortly before his death he released a meditation on life, death and, it seems to me, resurrection, in a song (and video) entitled “Lazarus.” Mr. Bowie had been suffering for the past 18 months from cancer, and so when he made this video, released a few days ago, he knew death was imminent.
Most Christians, even many non-Christians, know the story of the Raising of Lazarus as told in the Gospel of John. Mary and Martha, two of Jesus’s close friends, who live in the town of Bethany, near Jerusalem, send word that their brother is ill. But they don’t say “Our brother Lazarus is ill,” or even “Lazarus of Bethany is ill.” Instead they say, “He whom you love is ill.” It’s a sign of the deep affection that Jesus has for the man. Jesus waits several days before traveling to Bethany, where he is confronted by the two sisters who say to him, separately, “If you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus then is brought to the tomb, where he weeps openly. Then he stands at the tomb, asks for the stone to be rolled away, and calls out, “Lazarus, come forth!” The dead man emerges, “his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.” And Jesus says to the crowd, “Untie him, and let him go.”
In his video, David Bowie, who like Lazarus is bandaged, sings, “Look up here, I’m in heaven. I’ve got scars that can’t be seen. I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen. Everybody knows me now.” In the first part of the video, Bowie writhes in his bandages in a hospital bed; in the second part “another” Bowie stands and dances, freed from his bandages, in the same room. At the close of the video he enters into a dark closet.
The video is rich with imagery, and will speak to people in various ways.
For me it’s a complex image of life, death and the afterlife. (As well as sight and blindness: as he lays in bed, his eyes are covered by small metal bolts, which may call to mind stories of Jesus’s healing of the blind.) Much of the video resonated deeply with me. On the one hand, one will indeed enter into God’s presence carrying with us all the “drama” of our lives. One will also be welcomed into the presence of those who know us, and into a place where we will be known fully, by God. And one will be freed of the limitations of physical pain and of the confining “bandages” of our existence.
On the other hand, the “scars,” I believe, will be seen by those in heaven, God included. For nothing is lost to God. We are welcomed, scars and all. Remember that when Jesus returns from the dead he shows his disciples his physical wounds, his scars. The Risen One carries in himself, and on himself, the experiences, visible and invisible, of his humanity.
At the close of the video, Bowie recedes into a dark closet. It’s a reverse image of conclusion of the story of Lazarus, who, in the Gospels emerges from a dark tomb into the light. (Needless to say, it may be a Johannine image, a nod to Bowie’s sexuality, or something else entirely.)
It’s not surprising that someone would struggle with issues of illness, death and the afterlife. Even believers do. And I’m not sure what Bowie’s religious or spiritual beliefs were. But it’s a gift when an artist shares himself or herself with the world in so personal and creative a way, particularly in the midst of the final struggle.
“Oh I’ll be free/Just like that bluebird,” he sings. “Oh I’ll be free/Ain’t that just like me?”
As an artist, David Bowie always confounded expectations. Perhaps, like most of us, he struggled with a God who confounded him near the end. Now may that same God surprise him. With new life.
