Religion News & Religious Videos: Religion News // Current

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Stephen Colbert takes on the Mormon Church's Anti-Gay Ways

Nailed 'Em - Mormon Church Trespassing The Mormon Church arrested Derek Jones and Matt Aune for criminal trespassing, not... more

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Fallen pastor Ted Haggard to again lead worship

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYRqW0CPSppPr0f0AON0osaynCUAD9BP3LO00 Ted Haggard, who was dismissed from the... more

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10 Common Misunderstandings of the Catholic Church EXPLAINED!

why are there so many misunderstandings regarding the Catholic Church and the areas that involve it? We have decided to try and... more

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The War On Christmas Has Begun!

Catholic League President Bill Donohue has made the declaration. For almost three decades, there has been a Christmas parade... more

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Muslim unrest hits US homes...wife attempts to kill husband for not being pious

In what may be the first recorded instance of a Muslim wife attempting to murder her husband for not being pious enough, a Staten... more

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Dutch mark 5th anniversary of filmmaker's murder by Muslim fanatic

The Dutch marked the fifth anniversary Monday of the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim fanatic, a brutal killing that... more

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Jesus Goes to the Dark Carnival: Hell House Gets a Makeover?

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1976/jesus_goes_to_the_dark_carnival%3A_hell_house_gets_a_makeover

A demon guides you through the shadows. The bodies of teenagers are strewn about like broken dolls in the mangled remains of a car, bottles of Jim Beam tellingly scattered about the wreckage. A young woman sits steeped in her own blood, surrounded by what looks like modern medical equipment in a women’s clinic but dying from a “botched abortion” anyway. Finally, an angry voice from a glowing figure shrouded in white orders you off into hell, a basement room where scenes, the likes of which Clive Barker dared not dream, swirl out of the dry ice. Male S&M Demons whip teenage girls who cry out in pain and despair.

These are maybe not the kinds of things you’d expect to see on a crisp fall evening at your local evangelical church. Still, in the 1990s, tens of thousands witnessed these scenes at church sponsored attractions known as “Hell Houses.” Born out of anxiety over the allegedly satanic meanings of Halloween and the desire to convert souls, evangelical churches created these “Christian Haunted Houses” to convince children and adolescents of the reality of the last judgment and damnation. Instead of unquiet spirits, vampires, and chainsaw-wielding madmen, the vengeful ghosts of the culture wars haunted these Houses.

Abundant Life Christian Center in Colorado created one of the first, most successful, and most controversial Hell Houses. Attempting to be as edgy as possible, Abundant Life actually used animal intestines to represent an aborted fetus in the stock “women’s clinic” scene. Gruesome effects such as these proved successful enough to allow Abundant Life to package and franchise their effort, creating a 280-page guide explaining how other evangelical churches could create their own Christian horror show. Hell houses spread throughout the Southern and Western United States garnering lots of attention and claiming plenty of converts. In 2001, filmmaker George Ratliff took notice of the phenomenon in his wonderfully rendered documentary Hell House.

In the last decade, a new version of the Hell House, a softer and gentler version, has appeared known as “Judgement House” (yes, always judgement with two ‘e’s). Judgement House, which specifically presents itself as a remodeled Hell House, points out that Hell Houses tend to deal with “socially controversial issues such as homosexuality, date rape, and suicide.” In contrast, Judgement House claims to avoid such topics preferring, according to its FAQ section, to “show participants the consequences of choosing the gift of eternal salvation… as well as experiencing a small part of the separation from God in hell that is the consequence of rejecting that same gift.”

Although the Judgement House scripts do make a conscious effort to avoid the language of the culture wars, the symbols are still present and powerful. One of their scripts entitled “Home of the Brave, Land of the Free” tells a story of conversion against the backdrop of the Iraq War. An online preview of the script suggests that the narrative marries jingoism with true piety, portraying the heroes of the script, Corey and Kevin, as “living their dream of defending the country they love,” having gone to Iraq to “love and serve Jesus Christ, the Hero of all mankind.”http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1976/jesus_goes_to_the_dark_carnival%3A_hell_house_gets_a_makeover A... more

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5 days ago

Abortion Foe Urged Faithful to Burn Pelosi and Reid

article by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca, from BeyondChron

Right-wing, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she spoke outside the Capitol building last Thursday on the new Democratic healthcare reform bill. Terry yelled, “Nancy Pelosi, you will burn in hell for this!”

Pelosi responded by thanking the “insurance companies of America.” Terry and his small crew of right-wing Christian militants staged a street theatre protest earlier that day as Congressional workers were arriving at their jobs. The handful of protesters were dressed for the upcoming pagan holiday as demons, with one wearing a Pelosi face mask, and another the likeness of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Terry, who founded the notorious Operation Rescue, is on a crusade against healthcare reform that includes a government option because he says it will provide abortions, even though President Obama has stated that it will not. Since August, Terry has been running around the country disrupting town hall meetings and threatening violence to government officials who support abortion.

Terry used the upcoming Halloween holiday to announce a scary contest for the conservative Christian set. The kind who run around with “fags burn in hell” signs at funerals.

Terry called on his comrades to participate in “Burn in Hell,” anti-healthcare reform protests by lighting up effigies of Pelosi and Reid. There’s even a youtube video showing the faithful how to build the effigies and set them ablaze.

Participants in these demonstrations were encouraged to send in their photos and videos from their Halloween burnings for a chance at prizes, including a Washington trip during Roe v. Wade anniversary week in January. Roe v. Wade was the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in America.

Explained Terry, “We are giving people a way to peacefully vent their anger at the murder that Pelosi and Reid are trying to ram down our throats.”

Of course, by “murder” he’s not referring to the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or the countless poor folks who die because they cannot afford to pay for healthcare.

“If Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid force us to pay for child killing and they die unrepentant, they will burn in hell for this,” Terry told the Huffington Post. But not for allowing more children to die in the wars or because their parents can’t afford healthcare.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, was not thrilled with the contest: "I don't think appealing to people's anger and in effect inciting them to acts which either display or in any way project violent acts is consistent with rational discussion of very critical issues."

But it is consistent with the way right-wing Christians have always dealt with those they don’t like. When they weren’t burning witches and faggots in ages past, they were inciting violence against Jews and others.

Terry can say that the intention of his burnings was a peaceful venting of anger, but those of us who have been victims of his brand of Christianity don’t find his words very reassuring.article by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca, from BeyondChron Right-wing, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry interrupted House Speaker... more

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5 days ago

Bob McDonnell's Christian vision for Viginia...including regulating sex lives of citizens?

Politician Bob McDonnell is the front runner in Virginia's gubernatorial race. Reuters reports that he's opened up a 17 point lead over his opponent, Creigh Deeds.

Based on McDonnell's thesis which he wrote for his masters degree from televangelist Pat Robertson's law school, McDonnell thinks it's a good idea for the state to regulate the sex lives of its citizens.

On pages seven and eight of his thesis McDonnell wrote complaining about "radical individualism" of Americans and lamented the fact that the court case of Griswold v. Connecticut "postulated a new view of marriage by asserting that the 'preservation of marital privacy' precludes state interference with the right to use contraceptives, even though the state had long been empowered to regulate the legal and sexual relationships of marriage."

It's common knowledge that politicians from both political parties say what they think you want to hear. Once in office they do what their handlers with the cash want, not what the voters want or what America needs. Following this rule of politicians, McDonnell is trying to distance himself from his thesis and the anti-freedom/anti-individualism dogma his thesis promotes, knowing full well that Americans don't want the government regulating their sex lives.

The Washington Post reports that when McDonnell was in the Virginia General Assembly he tried to push through 10 of his policy goals that are in his thesis. This is in line with the goal of the Christian Reconstructionists which is to subvert the American government and change it from a Constitutional government to a theocracy based on the Bible.

Many people who believe the Bible to be the word of God have never actually read it for themselves. If they did, they would know that there are many unAmerican and unnatural teachings in the Bible. For example, how do you feel about slavery? The Bible does not condemn nor outlaw slavery. One restriction it does put on Hebrews who own slaves is that it requires them to free their Hebrew slaves after six years of bondage. However, the Hebrews are permitted to keep Gentile slaves “for ever” and to pass them on to their children. (Leviticus 25:39-46) If the Christian Reconstructionists do succeed in turning America and the world into a giant Bible-based theocracy, will they allow the Jews to keep Christians and other Gentiles as slaves “for ever”?Politician Bob McDonnell is the front runner in Virginia's gubernatorial race. Reuters reports that he's opened up a 17... more

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5 days ago

A victory against hate considered a dark day for American Christianity.

Barrack Obama knew that in order to win the US Presidential election, he had to win over a large voting bloc: evangelical born-again Christians. So he put on a good act, tried to talk the talk, and managed to convince many gullible believers that he was one of them.

Of course now that he is firmly ensconced in the White House, he can leave all pretense behind, and pursue his real agenda – an agenda which is quite far removed from biblical Christianity. Each week he seems to implement more policies and practices which are diametrically opposed to the Christian worldview.

Many of these have to do with his radical pro-abortion position, and his relentless attempts to placate and promote homosexual activism. His most recent slap in the face of Christianity was his signing into law of the notorious “hate crimes” bill.

Yesterday he enacted the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. The worrying hate crimes law was actually just one segment of a larger bill, so he in effect had to sneak it through, albeit sadly with the support of many federal politicians.

Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association said that the new law “creates a kind of caste system in law enforcement, where the perverse thing is that people who engage in non-normative sexual behavior will have more legal protection than heterosexuals. This kind of inequality before the law is simply un-American.”

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said this: “It is fundamentally unjust for the government to treat some crime victims more favorably than others, just because they are homosexual or transsexual. This bill is an unnecessary federal intrusion into state law enforcement authority, and it is an unwise step toward silencing religious and moral viewpoints.”

“The fact the hate bill had to be passed in such an unscrupulous and cynical manner (attaching it to the Defense Authorization Act) reveals the depth of President Obama’s commitment to a radical, anti- Christian agenda. He will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for his campaign and worked to get him elected. To sign the bill in the Rose Garden is another slap in the face and shows the level of contempt President Obama has for the majority of Americans who oppose the ‘homosexualization’ of marriage and public education.”

And as Peter J. Smith notes, “The bill has also been labeled the ‘pedophile protection act,’ in large part due to the refusal of House members to approve an amendment specifying that the bill would not penalize the free speech of those objecting to homosexual perversions such as pedophilia. The term ‘sexual orientation’ is not defined in the bill, an oversight that some legislators charged could lead to an overly broad interpretation – since the term is used by psychologists to encompass a variety of sexual deviancies (including pedophilia), and not just homosexuality.”

The US now joins nations like Canada and England with these fundamentally flawed and unjust hate crimes laws. We already know the grief Christians in particular have been put through in these other nations because of such wretched laws. Now believers in the US will have their turn.

And of course there are activists here in Australia working on the very same thing. The only sure way these laws will come to pass here is if no resistance is offered. Are we willing to stand up and be counted, or will we simply cave in yet again, and allow more Christian freedoms to be stripped away? The choice is ours.Barrack Obama knew that in order to win the US Presidential election, he had to win over a large voting bloc: evangelical... more

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5 days ago

Who needs an actual church when there's the internet?

The fact that the churches are built in the World Wide Web became wide-spread. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet offshoots that go far beyond streaming weekly services. The sites are fully interactive, it is possible to see a dedicated Internet pastor, use a live chat in an online "lobby," Bible study, one-on-one prayer through IM and communion. The viewers on one site can accept Christ as their savior clicking on the tab during worship. Flamingo Road Church, based in Cooper City, Fla., twice conducted long-distance baptisms using the Internet.

When the religion became interactive, the Christians were forced to re-examine their idea of church. This is a many-sided matter involving theology, tradition and cultural expectations of Christianity. Even developers of Internet church sites have the various opinions. The critics affirm that true Christian community requires in-person interaction. They ridicule the sites and call them religious fast food or Christianity lite. But advocates regard the Internet just another neighborhood where real relationships also the religious ones can be built. Granger Community Church of Indiana is one of the churches which are going to launch its Internet campus soon, considering the Internet the church's "front porch." Pastors who back the sites say they feel a religious duty to harness this new way for reaching the spiritually lost. Central Christian Church started a new church service this fall on Facebook creating for people the ability to go to church online as they bank online, date online and so on.

Rock-style worship music and a sermon recorded at the in-person weekend service that is mixed with live or recorded greetings expressly for online viewers – this is the same basics such sites share. Volunteers on live chat emphasize that day's Bible teaching and block inappropriate posts.

Each site also has its individual features. For example, at Seacoast Church, based in Mount Pleasant, S.C., online viewers can repent by posting a private record of their sins on a cross. On the Granger site, visitors will be able to choose "seats" in an auditorium, and then click on surrounding seats to exchange Facebook and Twitter addresses.

There is no an exact count of interactive online campuses for the present day. The Leadership Network, which studies and supports innovative churches, has found at least 40 and this number permanently grows.

Everything started from Oklahoma megachurch named LifeChurch.tv in a nod to its use of technology. The congregation had already expanded to physical sites in several cities when in 2006, pastors launched what they now call Church Online. LifeChurch.tv now broadcasts more than 25 online services each week and plans more. The services collectively draw up to 60,000 unique viewers from 140 countries weekly, although the number of new computers that log on for several minutes is about 5,000. There is also an uncommon way to attract people who are far from pious invented by LifeChurch.tv. The congregation buys Google ad words so that a person searching for them sees an ad inviting them to a live worship service instead. The goal is to move people into some in-person Christian experience, in church, a small Bible group or even a group that watches online services together, as explained Bobby Gruenewald, a pastor.The fact that the churches are built in the World Wide Web became wide-spread. A growing number of congregations are creating... more

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6 days ago

Clinic Forbids Muslim Doctor to Wear Headscarf

A Muslim doctor interviewing for a job at a suburban Dallas medical clinic says officials there told her she couldn't wear... more

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8 days ago

Why was late Archbishop of Canterbury's treasure found in river?

ENGLAND — A fresh mystery is gripping Britain’s religious community: Just how did a treasure-trove of rare medallions... more

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8 days ago

15,000 Bibles seized in Malaysia

Malaysian authorities have confiscated more than 15,000 Bibles in recent months because they referred to "God" as... more

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8 days ago

Good Without God: A Positive Take on Secularism

As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of negativity that, in my perception, we often put forward to the rest of the world. It’s a concern I much share with Paul Kurtz, a secularist hero and my former boss at the Center for Inquiry in Buffalo, NY, who has long been worried about ensuring that humanists have positive, constructive messages to offer about the virtues of a life of unbelief.

So how fortunate to have just learned of the release of the Harvard humanist chaplain Greg Epstein’s new book Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. The book description suggests that it is exactly what I, and Kurtz, are looking for:

With the current state of the economy, the ongoing wars that rage across the globe, and the unsettling changes to the earth’s climate, questions about the role of God and religion in world affairs have never been more relevant or felt more powerfully. Many of us are searching for a place where we can find not only facts and scientific reason but also hope and the moral courage needed to overcome such challenges. For some, answers to the most challenging questions are found in the divine. For others, including the New Atheists, religion has no place in the world and is, in fact, an “enemy.”

But in Good Without God, Greg Epstein presents another, more balanced and inclusive response: Humanism. With a focus on the positive, he highlights humanity’s potential for goodness and the ways in which Humanists lead lives of purpose and compassion. Humanism can offer the sense of community we want and often need in good times and bad, as we celebrate marriages and the birth of our children, and as we care for those who are elderly or sick. In short, Humanism teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without supernaturalism, without higher powers . . . without God.

In this constructive response not only to his fellow atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris but also to contemporary religious leaders such as Rick Warren and Jim Wallis, Epstein makes a bold claim for what nonbelievers do share and believe. At a time when the debate about morality rages more fiercely than ever—and when millions are searching for something they can put their faith in—Humanism offers a comfort and hope that affirms our ability to live ethical lives of personal fulfillment, aspiring together for the greater good of all.As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of negativity that, in my perception, we often... more

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9 days ago

Atheism's own fundamentalists lead 'religion' of 'Not'

Forget God, let's talk about arrogance. That's not exactly the way Rice University humanities professor Anthony Pinn,... more

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9 days ago

Anti-abortion activist holds ‘Burn in Hell’ contest

An anti-abortion activist is holding a “Burn in Hell” contest to protest the health care reform proposals before... more

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9 days ago

Zombies and vampires beware! Pastor to hold traditional service in graveyard!

Church tradition and customs of the Middle Ages are not lost to Pastor Ryan Stout and his congregation at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York Mills.

Along with the candy and trick-or-treating, Halloween is often thought of in today’s society as a scary night of ghouls, goblins, death, and often evil.

Not so, says Pastor Stout, who plans to hold a non-traditional church service Halloween night in the cemetery.

Despite its image of vampires, werewolves, and walking dead, Halloween is actually an important date on the Christian calendar. It’s a holiday associated with Hallowtide, which is a three-day celebration of Halloween (Oct. 31), All Saints Day (Nov. 1), and All Souls Day (Nov. 2).

Stout wants to push aside some of Halloween’s scariness and underlying evil, and celebrate the night by resurrecting some of the Christian traditions the holiday holds.

What better way to dig up the overlooked Christian holiday of Halloween by holding a church service in a graveyard... at night, as a light fog slowly creeps over the headstones?

We’ve come to know Halloween as a fun fright night, perpetuated by spooky cemetery scenes from pop culture icons like Scooby-Doo. Zoinks!

“We tend to think of Halloween as something scary and don’t think of it as something associated with Christianity,” Stout says. “Some even think of it as anti-Christian.”

Pastor Stout chose four Biblical readings for this service, to be read by members of the church. Those interested in attending the service will meet in the cemetery, and it’s a good idea to bring a flashlight.

Different points along the walking service will have people set up to do readings, and act out different scenes in the Bible.

Readers will be dressed in costume to fit the appropriate Bible passage. Stout expects to see a witch, possibly a skeleton and other characters with Halloween and Biblical associations.

“We’re not doing anything weird,” Stout claims. “We’re reclaiming the Christian roots of Halloween.”Church tradition and customs of the Middle Ages are not lost to Pastor Ryan Stout and his congregation at St. Peter’s... more