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Feminist group to re-think major faiths

A group of progressive female theologians of various faiths in Germany formed a religious group to reflect on their traditions from a feminist perspective.
The Inter-religious Conference of European Women Theologians is a conglomeration of Muslim, Christian and Jewish women who want to take religious interpretation into their own hands, Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday.
“Until now, dialogue among women in the church was kept at the level of exchanging recipes or pouring each other tea,” said Rabeya Muller[German convert to Islam], one of the group’s founders.
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Navy Chaplain Goes on Hunger Strike Outside White House Over Uniformed Prayer Rules

Thursday, December 22, 2005

WHITE HOUSE — It’s almost Christmas, and U.S. Navy chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt is on a hunger strike that includes nightly prayers outside the White House.

Lieutenant Klingenschmitt, an Evangelical Episcopal priest, says he won’t eat until President Bush signs an executive order allowing military chaplains to pray according to their beliefs.

Klingenschmitt, who began his fast on Tuesday, says Navy admirals have told him that he can’t pray publicly in Jesus’ name unless he’s wearing civilian clothes. He’s continuing to pray as the Bible says Jesus instructed, but not in uniform.
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Moscow Patriarchate has common views with Vatican – Alexy II

MOSCOW, December 28 (Itar-Tass) – Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said the Moscow Patriarchate expects Vatican to take concrete steps towards settling disagreements between the two major Christian churches.

In an interview with the BBC Russian Service on Wednesday, Alexy II said, “Now it is early to speak about concrete progress in relations. We laud the statements by the new pontiff who calls for continuing a dialogue. We hope that actions will follow words.”

“What we should meet for in order to show the world that we have no problems? But we have problems too. First it is necessary to overcome problems and then meet. We should solve problems that arouse concern in the Russian Orthodox Church and its flock,” the patriarch explained.

He condemned continuing proselytism by Catholics in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. “People, especially children, who are baptised as Orthodox Christians are being tried to catholicise. Many Catholics missioners in Russia create children boarding schools, place kids baptised in the Orthodox Church and teach them as Catholics,” Alexy II said.
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Russian Orthodox Church Suspends Relations With Swedish Lutherans Over Gay Marriages

MosNews

The Moscow Patriarchate has suspended relations with the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Sweden after it decided to establish an official ceremony to bless homosexual couples, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.

“We have received with great disappointment and grief the news that not only does the Lutheran Church of Sweden not oppose so-called homosexual marriages, but has even ruled to establish an official blessing ceremony,” the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in a statement at a session in Moscow.
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Christ is Born! Glory Him! – 2005

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Orthodox Nativity Hymns

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee.

Today, the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, and the earth presents the cave to Him who is beyond reach. Angels, along with shepherds glorify Him. The Magi make their way to Him by a star. For a new child has been born for us, the God before all ages.

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Home for Christmas — Susette Kelo’s story

Wall Street Journal MELANIE KIRKPATRICK Saturday, December 24, 2005

Home for Christmas
Susette Kelo’s story: from humble abode to eminent domain.

NEW LONDON, Conn.–It’s the week before Christmas, and as my train from Manhattan nears this old New England seaport, I can’t help but hum a few bars of that seasonal favorite, “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays.”

I’m here to meet with New London’s most famous resident since Nathan Hale, the schoolteacher-spy who was hanged by the British in 1776. Susette Kelo’s life isn’t in jeopardy, but her home is–and her fight to keep it has taken her all the way to the Supreme Court, making her a national celebrity along the way and igniting a nationwide movement to protect private property rights. If June’s ruling in Kelo v. City of New London is carried out, this could be Ms. Kelo’s last Christmas in the home she loves.

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Sweet Charity: The American people are extraordinarily generous

Wall Street Opinion Journal Saturday, December 24, 2005

Americans are “stingy.” This was the accusation hurled at the U.S. almost exactly one year ago today by Jan England, United Nations Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs, immediately after the Asian tsunami disaster.

Even by U.N. standards, it was a particularly absurd anti-American slur–although it no doubt expresses the view of many foreign elites, who have come to believe that government is the only true source of goodness and charity. In the weeks and months that followed the tsunami, American citizens dug deep into their wallets, donating some $1.78 billion to the relief effort in Asia–dwarfing the contributions of other developed nations. Since October Americans have also contributed $78 million to assist the casualties of the Pakistan earthquake.

And lest there be any doubt that the Good Samaritan ethic is alive and well in America, consider the latest totals of charitable giving to help the New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University announced last week that the total value of private donations in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has reached $3.12 billion, thus “setting what is believed to be a record for a single disaster and recovery effort.” This tsunami of aid dollars was donated in just three and a half months.

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ON TRIAL

The New Yorker Orhan Pamuk Posted 2005-12-12

Turkish author on trial for writing about the Turkish massacre of Armenians.

In Istanbul this Friday—in Şişli, the district where I have spent my whole life, in the courthouse directly opposite the three-story house where my grandmother lived alone for forty years—I will stand before a judge. My crime is to have “publicly denigrated Turkish identity.” The prosecutor will ask that I be imprisoned for three years. I should perhaps find it worrying that the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was tried in the same court for the same offense, under Article 301 of the same statute, and was found guilty, but I remain optimistic. For, like my lawyer, I believe that the case against me is thin; I do not think I will end up in jail.

This makes it somewhat embarrassing to see my trial overdramatized. I am only too aware that most of the Istanbul friends from whom I have sought advice have at some point undergone much harsher interrogation and lost many years to court cases and prison sentences just because of a book, just because of something they had written. Living as I do in a country that honors its pashas, saints, and policemen at every opportunity but refuses to honor its writers until they have spent years in courts and in prisons, I cannot say I was surprised to be put on trial. I understand why friends smile and say that I am at last “a real Turkish writer.” But when I uttered the words that landed me in trouble I was not seeking that kind of honor.

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1st Amendment ‘doesn’t create church-state wall of separation’

WorldNetDaily.com December 20, 2005

Court whacks civil-liberties group, OKs Ten Commandments display

A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, “The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.”

Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice successfully argued the case on behalf of Mercer County, Ky., and a display of historical documents placed in the county courthouse. The panel voted 3-0 to reject the ACLU’s contention the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

The county display the ACLU sued over included the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Star Spangled Banner, the national motto, the preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights to the U. S. Constitution and a picture of Lady Justice.

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New American Envoy Predicts Big Change in Cuba After Castro

Human Events Online Jim Burns December 19, 2005

America’s newest top diplomat to Cuba is predicting that the Communist nation will change from its current system even if dictator Fidel Castro stays in power for many more years.

Michael Parmly, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, told Reuters news service he could not be specific as to what kind of change will occur on the island or when or how it will happen.

Parmly cited his experience as an American diplomat in Romania where he witnessed the ouster of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in the early 1990s as proof that people will rise up and topple Communist regimes. Ceausescu was later executed by the new Romanian government.

But in Cuba, Parmly envisions “revolt spreading like wildfire in the streets.”

“You cannot predict these things, but you do try to prepare for them when you are pretty sure they are coming, and I am pretty sure it is coming,” Parmly said.

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