News from the World of Religion

Hispanic Leader Calls Immigration Resolution 'A Tipping Point' | Liveblog | Christianity Today

October 9, 2009 2:04PM

Hispanic Leader Calls Immigration Resolution 'A Tipping Point'

NAE president: 'Jesus was a refugee.'

via blog.christianitytoday.com

Judge to Order Christian Convert to Return to Ohio | Liveblog | Christianity Today

October 13, 2009 4:53PM

Judge to Order Christian Convert to Return to Ohio

Rifqa Bary ran away to Florida, saying she believed her Muslim family would harm her for converting to Christianity.

via blog.christianitytoday.com

Rev. Forrest Church of All Souls Unitarian Church Is Dead at 61 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

y WILLIAM GRIMES

Published: September 25, 2009

The Rev. Forrest Church, a longtime pastor at the Unitarian Church of All Souls on the Upper East Side who spent the last three years of his life, after being told he had terminal cancer, articulating a philosophy of death and dying and a complete expression of his liberal theology in two books, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 61. The cause was complications of esophogeal cancer, said his wife, Carolyn Buck Luce.

via www.nytimes.com

The Religion Forum - messages #168109

This year the 9/11 anniversary falls on a Friday, which is the Islamic weekday for communal prayers where Muslims gather to hear the kutbah/sermon given by imams at local mosques.  It also falls in the Islamic month of Ramadan, the month that the Qur'an was first revealed, which a ritual fast is observed by many Muslims throughout the daylight hours. 

For many American Muslims this is a day where they not only feel the horrible sense of loss for those who perished that day, but also a time when they are fearful that they will be singled out and blamed for having perpetrated them.  It is a time of bad memories of the prejudices that they faced by those who unfairly conflated them with the terrorists because of their religious and/or ethnic backgrounds. 

DISCUSS AT THE LINK BELOW:

via community.netscape.com

Judge: SoCal church must relinquish property - California - fresnobee.com

LOS ANGELES -- A judge has ordered a parish that separated from the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese over the consecration of an openly gay bishop to relinquish church property by Oct. 12.

Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr. issued his order Wednesday after the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case concerning what is now St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta.

via www.fresnobee.com

This is different than the issues related to the San Joaquin Diocese where the entire Diocese left the larger body.

However, it does relate.

Lodi council unanimously supports prayer policy - California - fresnobee.com

LODI, Calif. -- The Lodi City Council is unanimously supporting a policy of allowing religious leaders to give uncensored prayers before meetings despite criticism that it promotes Christianity.

Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, which promotes separation of church and state, sent the council a letter in May saying that it should make all prayers nondenominational and nonsectarian. The group threatened a lawsuit if the council didn't comply.

The letter prompted the council to call a meeting on the issue Wednesday night attended by about 500 people, many of whom supported the prayers.

At the end of the meeting, the council directed the city attorney to draft a policy allowing uncensored prayer. Addressing the lawsuit threat, members say they'll hold the prayers before council meetings are called to order.

via www.fresnobee.com

Christian Fellowship Forum - messages #119724

Read the rest here: State to mom: Stop baby-sitting neighbors' kids

By JAMES PRICHARD (AP) – 8 hours ago

IRVING TOWNSHIP, Mich. — "Each day before the school bus comes to pick up the neighborhood's children, Lisa Snyder did a favor for three of her fellow moms, welcoming their children into her home for about an hour before they left for school.

Regulators who oversee child care, however, don't see it as charity. Days after the start of the new school year, Snyder received a letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services warning her that if she continued, she'd be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers."

---

So for being a good neighbor, this woman was turned in by a complainer that apparently didn't like her helping the community and the State of Michigan told her if she didn't stop, she would face legal penalties because she didn't have a daycare "license"

TO DISCUSS, VISIT:  community.netscape.com

Baptist Press - Muslims pray on Capitol Hill - News with a Christian Perspective

Posted on Sep 28, 2009 | by Staff

WASHINGTON (BP)--Thousands of Muslims gathered Sept. 25 on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol for prayer in what may have been the first such event of its kind at the site.

Although organizers announced on the "Islam on Capitol Hill" website their expectation of a gathering of 50,000, the attendance appeared to be no more than 7,000 to 8,000. The U.S. Capitol Police do not make crowd estimates, a spokeswoman told Baptist Press.

The event included recitations from the Qur'an, a sermon and the Friday prayer observed by Muslims. Those attending sat segregated by gender on the ground facing east toward the Capitol and Mecca, the sacred site of Islam in Saudi Arabia.

During his sermon, Abdul Malik encouraged Muslims while trying to reassure Americans of their support for this country.

"I want the American people to know: We love you.... America, this is our country. We are with you," said Malik, a New York imam who plans to move soon to Washington to serve as chief executive officer of Islam on Capitol Hill.

via www.bpnews.net

The Right Way to Pray? - NYTimes.com

The Brooklyn Tabernacle, a 3,500-seat evangelical prayer palace in downtown Brooklyn, was built in 1918 as one of the largest and grandest vaudeville houses in North America. It is still a hot ticket. Its youngish, racially diverse congregation packs the pews each week to praise God and bask in the sounds of a Grammy-winning 250-voice gospel choir. But the tabernacle is more than just a popular church. It is also a destination for evangelicals from all around the United States and beyond, laymen and ministers alike, who come as acolytes to study prayer.

via www.nytimes.com

Modern Slavery, Modern Abolitionists - Justin Fung - God’s Politics Blog

Modern Slavery, Modern Abolitionists

by Justin Fung 09-25-2009

Two hundred years after slavery was declared illegal in Great Britain, and 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States, an estimated 27 million people remain enslaved around the world. And most people remain unaware of this reality.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Labor released a report documenting goods on the U.S. market that had been produced by child and/or forced labor. The report highlighted 122 goods in 58 countries, and confirmed what many in the anti-human trafficking movement already know — that goods tainted by child and/or forced labor are commonly found in American homes.

via blog.sojo.net

Click above to read the full story.

Just because we don't see the problem every day, does not mean it is not pervasive and compelling.

The fact that this evil exists and persists in the world requires us to respond with more than indignation. It calls for action.