By Laura Koran, 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: Same-sex ceremony on Army post draws fire
A same-sex ceremony between an enlisted woman and a civilian woman on a U.S. Army post last month drew protests from lawmakers Thursday. The "private religious ceremony" took place at Fort Polk in Louisiana in May, post spokesman Scott Stearns said, but he would confirm few other details. Rep. John Fleming, a Louisiana Republican whose congressional district includes the Army post, said the military confirmed to him that the same-sex ceremony was performed by an Army chaplain in the chapel.
Tweet of the Day:
[tweet https://twitter.com/publicreligion/status/210763303360790529%5D
Enlightening Reads:
Religion News Service: Franciscan friars back American nuns in Vatican spat
The brothers have come to the sisters’ defense. Leaders from the seven Franciscan provinces in the U.S. publicly backed a group of American nuns on Thursday (June 7), calling a Vatican crackdown on the women “excessive.” The Franciscan friars are believed to be the first Catholic religious order to voice support for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious since the Vatican announced a full-scale makeover of the group in April.
The Huffington Post: Birth Control Morally Acceptable To Catholics, Most Americans
The controversial contraception mandate proposed by the president had Congress debating about the morality of birth control, however according to a recent Gallup poll, 89 percent of all Americans and 82 percent of U.S. Catholics agree that birth control is morally acceptable.
The Los Angeles Times: Lodi prays to 'Deity Supreme,' not Jesus, after atheists complain
A prayer before Lodi's City Council on Wednesday asked for meditation on the "transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme." Lodi made national headlines in 2009 when an atheist group threatened a lawsuit over the frequently long prayers centered around Jesus that marked the beginning of council meetings. The council considered ending the prayer tradition to avoid a possibly expensive lawsuit, but in the end voted for non-denominational invocations, and invited people of all faiths to offer a blessing.
Quote of the Day:
Wouldn't it be interesting to do a study between those that are on welfare and see how much and how often they read the Bible. You know, if Booker T. Washington is right that Christianity and reading the Bible increases your desires and therefore your ability for hard work; does that–if we take that as an axiom–does that mean that the people that are getting government assistance spend nearly no time in the Bible, therefore have no desire, and therefore no ability for hard work?
David Barton, Founder and President of WallBuilders, an organization “dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built,” said on the organization’s podcast on Wednesday.
Join the conversation…
CNN: Muslims sue over New York police surveillance
New Jersey Muslims filed a lawsuit against the City of New York on Wednesday, accusing police of using unconstitutional tactics to spy on them in the years after September 11, casting an unwarranted shadow of suspicion on the community.
god is a farce.
He was just saying you were.
@Funny
Prove it. Or better yet, prove god exists. Why should anyone believe in a being that can't be proved? You don't believe in Santa do you?
For you.
A thought to consider without a typical ego response
Accept Jesus christ as your lord and saviour. You never know how soon is too late. Transcend the worldly illusion of enslavement.
The world denounces truth....
Accepting Jesus Christ (for me) resulted in something like seeng a new colour. You will see it .....but will not be able to clearly explain it to anyone else..... Its meant to be that way to transend any selfism within you.
Also... much the world arranges "surrounding dark matter into something to be debated" in such a way that protects/inflates the ego.
The key is be present and transcend our own desire to physically see evidence. We don't know anyways by defending our own perception of dark matter.
Currently.... most of us are constructing our own path that suits our sin lifestyle. Were all sinners. Knowing that we are is often an issue. But both christians and non are sinners.
We don't like to Let go and let god. We want control to some degree. This is what Jesus asks us to do. "Follow me".
It's the hardest thing to do... but is done by letting the truth of scripture lead you (redemptive revelation)... as I said .
Try reading corinthians and see if it makes sense to you. Try it without a pre conceived notion of it being a fairy tale.
See the truth...
do we do what it says in todays society... is it relevant... so many have not recently read and only hinge their philosophy on what they have heard from som other person...which may have been full of arogance pride or vanity..
Look closely at the economy ponzi, look at how society idolizes Lust , greed , envy, sloth, pride of life, desire for knowledge, desire for power, desire for revencge,gluttony with food etc .
Trancsend the temporal world.
Just think if you can find any truth you can take with you ....in any of these things. When you die your riches go to someone who will spend away your life..... You will be forgotten.... history will repeat iteslf.... the greatest minds knowledge fade or are eventually plagerzed..... your good deeds will be forgotten and only give you a fleeting temporary reward . your learned teachings are forgotten or mutated..... your gold is transfered back to the rullers that rule you through deception. Your grave will grow over . This is truth .
Trancsend your egoism and free yourself from this dominion of satan. Understand you are a sinner and part of the collective problem of this worldly matrix... Repent.... Repent means knowing (to change) The Holy spirit (within) will convict you beyond what you think you can do by yourself. Grace is given to those who renounce the world. That are" in" the world but not "of " the world.
Evidence follows faith. Faith does not follow evidence..... Faith above reason in Jesus Christ.
Faith comes by Reading or Hearing the word of god from the bible . Ask Jesus in faith for dicernment and start reading the new testament... You will be shocked when you lay down your preconceived notions and ....see and hear truth ... see how christ sets an example ... feel the truth....
Read Ecclesiastes. Read corinthians.
You cant trancend your own egoism by adapting a world philosophy to suit your needs. Seek the truth in Christ.
Sell all your cleverness and purchase true bewilderment. You don't get what you want ....you get what you are in christ.
I promise this has been the truth for me. In Jesus christ .
Think of what you really have to lose. ...your ego?
Break the Matrix of illusion that holds your senses captive.
once you do . you too will have the wisdom of God that comes only through the Holy Spirit. Saved By grace through Faith. Just like seeing a new colour.... can't explain it to a transient caught in the matrix of worldly deception.
You will also see how the world suppresses this information and distorts it
You're all smart people . I tell the truth. Its hard to think out of the box when earthly thinking is the box.
I'ts a personal free experience you can do it free anytime . Don't wait till you are about to die.. START PUTTING YOUR TREASURES WHERE THEY REALLY MATTER >
Its awsome and It's just between you and Jesus
my testimony
Your "testimony" is garbage.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
Amen.
Prayer changes things
Prayer doesn’t not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
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!
Change my ring form silver to gold and I'll consider your proposal.
Why do you want to change a ring form?
I'm dyslexic jack@ss.
Prayer is a SELF-DELUSION! Prayer changes NOTHING... If you REALLY want something to change, you must get off your rear end and ACTUALLY do something constructive! Prayer is "actively" DOING NOTHING...
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
Gee, a quote from a brainwashed minion of a medieval pope .. yeah, that carrries a lot of weight. I spent 12 years in school with nuns and Jesuits .. do you have anything else?
I was hoping you would agree and carry on about your way, this would be the intersection of what I believe and what you don't but even with that, you still want to complain. And you consider yourself liberated.
"I'm all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius." Leo Szilard
That is probably why we don't have two presidents
Faith is belief without evidence, thus you don't care that what you believe is true!
Fides et Ratio
Romans 8 is a must read for the non-believer.
TruthPrevails :-),
The secular definition of faith is belief without evidence
The biblical definition of faith from Heb. 11:1 is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Or, in modern English, faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. This is true for a believer the faith brings the spirit which gives the believer all the proof they need. So, the faith through the spirit is the evidence for the believer.
Faith works equally well for any believer of any belief. That's why its unneeded to run your computer or to make drugs work on an organism, and it's why it's crucial to all god myths.
He didn't hold the sacraments expected of a Christian. He did not follow Christ's commandments. He put himself above others. He lacked Faith, Hope and Love so...no...he wasn't.
The sacraments are meaningless... I have had 5 of the 7. 4 of them before the age of 13 ... talk about brainwashing!! But, I made a full recovery.
Pray for me then when you get a chance
I do not waste my energies praying to mythical figures. Paryer has no purpose, since your "god" is suppoed to be omniscient. The outcome is already known, and prayer won't change it. If prayer DID change it, then your god isn't omniscient, and not very powerful. I'd rather spend my time doing something that's actually constructive. 2 hands working do a LOT more than 1000 hands clasped in prayer.
How do you know that 2 hands working is not a result of 1,000 hands clasped in prayer.
StandupforTruth: Prove prayer works first. Prove your god exists. Prove the stories of the buybull are true. Prove that heaven and hell and a soul exist. When you can provide the evidence for all of that, we may be able to agree that those 2 working hands are the result of speaking to yourself (the true definition of prayer in the rational 11st century).
oop[s should have read 21st not 11th
I prayed for strength, He gave me pain which made me grow stronger.
@Standup
You can achieve the exact same result by praying to a milk carton.
No, you don't pray to milk, you drink it. Silly rabbit.
Prayer proven to work. Canadian national anthem is a prayer. God keep our land...
"Prayer proven to work"
Prayer doesn’t not. A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
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!
CASE CLOSED!
Fail
No you fail
.
Hitler said, "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."
As an atheist Hitler made no distinction between Jews or sincere Christians. To use Hitler as a source of truth is the height of insanity. God bless
Neither Hitler nor Stalin's beliefs about the existence of god have anything to do with...well, anything.
they murdered millions
Except that as Christians, so did they.
you should leave it alone moron