By Arielle Hawkins, 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: Ryan as VP pick continues election year focus on Catholicism
Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate promises to cast a spotlight on American Catholicism in an election year when the tradition has already been a major focus. Ryan, a Catholic who chairs the House Budget Committee, is better known for his outspoken fiscal conservatism than for leading on conservative Catholic social causes like opposing abortion and gay marriage.
CNN: Evangelist Billy Graham hospitalized
Evangelist Billy Graham was admitted to a hospital overnight for treatment of a pulmonary infection believed to be bronchitis, the hospital said. "Upon admission, he was alert and in good spirits," Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, said in a statement. He was hospitalized for pneumonia last November.
CNN: Barton's 'Jefferson Lies' book yanked
Publisher Thomas Nelson has withdrawn "The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson" after a lengthy review found the author, David Barton, had included "historical details that were not adequately supported," said Brian Hampton, a senior vice president and publisher for Thomas Nelson. In his book Barton attempted to dispel the popular notion that Thomas Jefferson was a secular politician who pioneered the idea of strict church-state separation.
CNN: Sikh iReports speak to long-held fears in their community
After Sunday’s Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin, Sikhs across America started sharing their stories. Stories of shedding their turbans and cutting their hair to avoid ridicule. Stories of facing discrimination for the way they looked. Stories of being labeled Muslims or terrorists. Those stories were among the iReports submitted by Sikhs in the last week.
CNN: Tennessee mosque opens after 2 years of controversy
Friday afternoon, Sbenaty and other Muslims in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, entered a brand new mosque, Tennessee, and fell in prayer to their knees.They'd waited more than two years for the opening of their new Islamic center, delayed by legal wrangling and anti-Muslim sentiment that surfaced through protests, arson and vandalism.
CNN: Sikhs repair, reclaim temple after rampage
Members of the Sikh temple where six people died in a weekend rampage swept, scrubbed and painted over damage to their building Thursday after investigators allowed them back inside.
Tweet of the Day:
Enlightening Reads:
The New York Times: National Nuns’ Group Dodges Showdown With Vatican
The leaders of the nation’s largest group of nuns sidestepped a confrontation with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, announcing Friday that they would “dialogue” with the archbishop appointed by the Vatican to take over their group, but not “compromise the integrity” of their mission.
The Huffington Post: David Conrad Charged With Firing Shots At Chicago-Area Mosque
Mere hours after the Chicago Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed fears that recent statements made by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) could make area Muslims a "target," shots were fired at a suburban Chicago mosque. According to an alert issued by CAIR, two air rifle shots were fired at the outer wall of the Muslim Education Center mosque in Morton Grove Friday evening, while the building was full of worshippers observing Ramadan.
Catholic News Agency: Priest says iPads, tablets no substitute for missalettes
In a recent blog post, Father Antonio Spadaro, known as the Vatican’s “cyber theologian,” said that devices such as iPads, smart phones and tablets should not be used instead of missalettes at Mass. It is “unimaginable that an iPad or a laptop would be carried in procession, or that a monitor would be incensed and kissed during the liturgy,” Fr. Spadaro said.
Opinion of the day:
CNN: My Take: With Olympics, we yearn to be like gods
Joseph Loconte, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history at the King’s College in New York City and the author of The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt. Loconte reflects on the Olympic Games’ affect on our moral imagination.
Join the conversation…
CNN: Gold medalist returns to Olympics as spiritual guide
Madeline Manning Mims has a message for the athletes at the London Olympics. "They are loved. They are a part of humanity in a very special way and what they do matters," Mims said. She's not talking about being loved by the fans – she's talking about being loved by God. Mims is a gospel singer and a sports chaplain, and she's no stranger to the Olympics.
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It was,is and never will be that prayer can heal...if that were the case, than anyone praying to anything they call 'god', can heal...it was, is and always will be that God heals, and the gift of faith He gave to all can also heal..for even Jesus said, "Your faith has healed you."
As for aetheists, every aethist gets to meet God at their funeral...it's just that , others who believe and come to know God , gets to meet HIm before their death day.
God is an idea. Such an improbable idea that many have, to make the idea inarguable, said that the idea is beyond human comprehension and so by doing remove the need but more importantly the ability to prove and so make it an untouchable notion of truth based on an idea. How is that different from being delusional? You hold fast to an idea of an improbable, incomprehensible, and untouchable nature as if it is fact!
Until you have tangible evidence for the existence of god, the notion of god remains in the realm of ideas.
And thats a factual statement!
There is no room in an atheist's life for God. How dare anyone believe they should share the spotlight with anyone, never mind Jesus.
Definition of an atheist "ME, MYSELF, AND I".
Definition of christianity: God sacrificed himself to himself to appease himself so that the wouldn't have to eternally torture a few people more because their great, great, great grandmother got an invisible disease (sin) in an invisible body part (soul) all because she talked to a snake and did something "wrong" before she knew what wrong was because she hadn't yet eaten the fruit that would tell her what wrong was. Stupid religion, stupid god.
Christianity = "The most magnificent, powerful, intelligent super-being imaginable loves ME, talks to ME, walks with ME, and desperately wants to spend eternal bliss with ME."
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Mormon God is a Space Alien, LOL
Mormons Baptize Dead People, L&LOL
Mormon Religion, Big Money, Big Bigotry. L&L&LOL
Mormon man in white underwear, a reference to special Mormon garments. L&L&L&LOL
Prayer changes things
No no no!!!! It is simply a placebo!!
"Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.
And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.
Because it is the most scientifically rigorous investigation of whether prayer can heal illness, the study, begun almost a decade ago and involving more than 1,800 patients, has for years been the subject of speculation.
The question has been a contentious one among researchers. Proponents have argued that prayer is perhaps the most deeply human response to disease, and that it may relieve suffering by some mechanism that is not yet understood. Skeptics have contended that studying prayer is a waste of money and that it presupposes supernatural intervention, putting it by definition beyond the reach of science.
At least 10 studies of the effects of prayer have been carried out in the last six years, with mixed results. The new study was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations. The report was scheduled to appear in The American Heart Journal next week, but the journal's publisher released it online yesterday. " (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?pagewanted=all)
They just don't understand that prayer is a Jedi mind trick that works well on the weak-minded.
Too funny. The unrighteous spiritually dead are trying to tell the righteous spiritually alive how to live.
Show us there actually IS a "spirit" first.
MIrosal, we are spirits housed in human form to go through this test called life to see if we will love and follow Jesus' truth, or be selfish, take the easy way out, and love and follow satan's lies. Yes, it's easy to be and live a life of an atheist. It takes courage to be and live life as a Christian.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews: Now prove that god wrote it!! There is no evidence supporting the existence of a god, it is only your own delusions and gullibility that make you believe such irrational trash!
Prayer does 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!
Prayer changes things
Proven
HeavenSentJustSayinUnHealthy, does shit stick to your fur like it does to your tongue?
Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things. Proof provided by tina.
You're a proven liar. Prayer does 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! `