By Dan Merica, CNN
Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.
From the Blog:
CNN: White House, State Department condemn Iran on pastor’s execution orders
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Christian charged with leaving Islam, has received a local trial courts final verdict, according to sources close to his legal team, and may now be executed for leaving Islam.
Marco Rubio - a man of many faiths.
CNN: Sen. Marco Rubio's religious journey: Catholic to Mormon to Catholic to Baptist and Catholic
A new wrinkle emerged Thursday in the autobiography of a rising Republican star: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, was once a Mormon. Rubio, a Cuban-American who has played up his Catholic roots on the campaign trail and today attends Catholic churches as well as a Southern Baptist megachurch, was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young boy.
Tweet of the Day:
From @EboPatel: Watching @camanpour on @ac360 speaking passionately about need to aid Syrian ppl. I remember her vital Bosnia reporting. A true hero. #fb
Enlightening Reads:
The Guardian: NYPD intelligence chief wanted sources in every mosque within 250 miles
The most senior intelligence chief in the New York police department wanted a source in every mosque "within a 250-mile radius" of the city, according to the latest in a series of revelations about NYPD-led surveillance of Muslims across north-eastern America.
Pew: Religion in the News: Islam and Politics Dominate Religion Coverage in 2011
The biggest religion stories of 2011 involved tensions over Islam and questions about faith in presidential politics, especially Mormonism, according to an annual review of religion in the news by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) and the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Over the past few weeks, President Obama has been attacked for what some are calling his war on religion.
Huffington Post: President Obama’s Faith Inspires Pastor’s Defense Of White House Religion Policies
Religious and nonprofit group leaders Thursday defended President Barack Obama's spiritual beliefs and his administration's support of faith-based groups, rebuffing conservative accusations that the White House is waging a war on religion.
Quote of the Day:
I am disappointed that the Empire State Building’s Lighting Partner Committee has declined the opportunity to honor New York’s Cardinal Dolan, and I strongly encourage them to reconsider their position.
NY Daily News: Empire State Building Won't Go "Cardinal Red" For Timothy Dolan
Rep. Michael Grimm is not happy that when it comes to lighting the Empire State Building, Timothy Dolan being elevated to cardinal apparently doesn't make the cut.
One more for New York:
Jewish Daily Forward: Park Slope Food Coop’s BDS Battle
The Park Slope Food Coop is finally inching closer to a resolution in a debate that seems to rival only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its intractability. On March 27th, members of the Brooklyn food coop will meet in a nearby high school auditorium to decide whether or not to bring a ban on Israeli goods to a vote, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Join the conversation…
CNN: Americans are polarized on religion but agreeable about it, authors say
Forget the economy. Debate about contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, even Satan, has attracted just as much attention on the presidential campaign trail in recent weeks.
Prayer takes people away from actually working on real solutions to their problems.
Prayer prevents you from getting badly needed exercise.
Prayer makes you fat.
Prayer wears out your clothes prematurely.
Prayer contributes to global warming through excess CO2 emissions.
Prayer fucks up your knees and your neck and your back.
Prayer can cause heart attacks, especially among the elderly.
Prayer reveals how stupid you are to the world.
Prayer exposes your backside to pervert priests.
Prayer makes you think doilies are exciting.
Prayer makes you secretively flatulent and embarrassed about it.
Prayer makes your kids avoid spending time with you.
Prayer has been shown to have no discernible effect towards what was prayed for.
Prayer gives you knobbly knees.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just google him to find out.
Prayer dulls your senses.
Prayer makes you post really stupid shit.
Prayer makes you hoard cats.
Prayer makes you smell like shitty kitty litter and leads you on to harder drugs.
Prayer wastes time.
speaking to just spewing sm.ut, ivanka, and living things
wow its almost like your all the same loser.... pathic really...
At the end we win you lose, it is written. Still time to join us.
@just sayin
Reminds me of an old song...
COME JOIN US
so you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round
and you can't find the truth in the things you've found
and you're scared sh1tless 'cuz evil abounds
come and join us
well I heard you were looking for a place to fit in
full of adherent people with the same objective
a family to cling to and call brethren
come and join us
all we want to do is change your mind
all you need to do is close your eyes
so come and join us
don't you see the trouble that most people are in
and that they just want you for their own advantage
but I swear to you we're different from all of them
come and join us
I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live
where truth is determined by consensus
full of codified arbitrary directives
come and join us
all we want to have is your small mind
turn it into one of our own kind
you can go through life adrift and alone
desperate, desolate, on your own
but we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones
so come and join us
come and join us
come and join us
– Dr. Greg Graffin (Bad Religion)
Prayer changes things.
Prayer takes people away from actually working on real solutions to their problems.
Prayer has been shown to have no discernible effect towards what was prayed for.
Prayer prevents you from getting badly needed exercise.
Prayer makes you fat.
Prayer wears out your clothes prematurely.
Prayer contributes to global warming through excess CO2 emissions.
Prayer fucks up your knees and your neck and your back.
Prayer can cause heart attacks, especially among the elderly.
Prayer reveals how stupid you are to the world.
Prayer exposes your backside to pervert priests.
Prayer makes you think doilies are exciting.
Prayer makes you secretively flatulent and embarrassed about it.
Prayer makes your kids avoid spending time with you.
Prayer gives you knobbly knees.
Prayer makes you frothy like Rick Santorum. Just google him to find out.
Prayer dulls your senses.
Prayer makes you post really stupid shit.
Prayer makes you hoard cats.
Prayer makes you smell like shitty kitty litter and leads you on to harder drugs.
Prayer wastes time.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs.
Without God the week would be:
Sinday
Mournday
Tearsday
Wasteday
Thirstday
Fightday
Shatterday
Seven days without God makes one weak 🙁
Gotta love it, well done !
Did you ever wonder where the English names of the days of the week came from? They came Middle- and Old-English sources, as well as Germanic.
Sunday and Monday were of course named for the Sun and the Moon. Tuesday was named for Tiu, the Anglo-Saxon god of war. Wednesday was named for Woden, the Anglo-Saxon version of Odin, and Thursday was named for Thor, the Norse god of Thunder. Friday was for Frigg, the Norse version of Venus, and Saturday kept it's Roman roots by keeping the name of Saturn, the god of Agriculture.
If you were to list the days of the week in French, the names would reflect the Roman gods.
Watch out Tallulah – they used to burn people like you at the stake.
And Shatterday was a short story by Harlan Ellison, who would be highly offended that his work was being purloined by a "christian" to try to make a feeble point of some kind.