A senior Vatican scholar has said it's OK to believe in aliens. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published on Tuesday, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, who serves as the director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the possibility of extraterrestrial life "doesn't contradict" the Roman Catholic faith and that ruling out the existence of such life forms would be tantamount to "putting limits" on God's creation.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" states Funes in the article entitled The Extraterrestrial Is My Brother. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical organizations in the world. It was founded as part of the church's efforts to reform the Julian calendar in 1592. Today the organization serves as a bridge between church and science. With its help, the Vatican has adopted a somewhat more enlightened and conciliatory approach to science and its practitioners since the days when it imprisoned Galileo for his heretic belief that the earth revolved around the sun (and not vice versa, as the church liked to think at the time).
During an address to The Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1996, Pope John Paul II famously quotedPope Leo XIII saying, "Truth does not contradict truth." Clarifying the church's position further, Funea states that the Bible "is not a science book," and that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" theory to explain the creation of our universe, though he, of course, maintains that the big bang didn't happen by chance, but was instigated by God as part of his universal master plan.
Funes' recent L'Osservatore Romano interview, which has garnered much press, is not the first time the Vatican has gone on the record with regards to embracing the concept of alien life. A colleague of Funes', Brother Guy Consolmagno, the director of the Vatican Observatory's Research Group, which is based at Arizona's Steward Observatory, published a 48-page pamphlet on the subject in 2005 entitled Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic Belief and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life. In it, he posed many religious and philosophical questions about alien life: Do aliens have souls? Are they were subject to original sin? Do they need to be baptized and have a belief in Jesus in order to be saved? Do they even need to be saved? And if so, do we have the right to evangelize alien cultures?
Like Funes, Consolmagno is comfortable with the relationship between the Catholic faith and science, and the possibility of alien life. When asked about "how Catholicism would hold up" if intelligent life was discovered beyond our planet in an interview with the Catholic News Service, he responded by saying it would not mean "everything we believe in is wrong," rather, "we're going to find out that everything is truer in ways we couldn't even yet have imagined."
Don't get mad, get even. This very funny video turns the tables on the likes of Sally Kern. Much truth is often said in jest, and it certainly applies in this case. In 2005, New Scientist reported on a study that suggested that "genes contribute about 40% of the variability in a person's religiousness." A more recent study, also published in New Scientist, found that political ideology may be genetically inherited too. The Daily Mantra wonders if aversion therapy is as useful when used to treat political leanings and/or religion as it is when used to treat homosexuality? Perhaps gene therapy may ultimately provide a more reliable cure for right-wing Christian fundamentalists such a Sally Kern and our old pal Bill Donohue.
File this under bizarre. We're not quite sure of the back-story, but were amused by this random footage we found of a breakdancing crew doing their thing for the previous pontiff, John Paul II.
According to new statistics released by The Vatican, there are now more Muslims in the world than Catholics. "For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the figures for the church's 2008 yearbook.
The Vatican estimates there are around 1.13 billion Catholics worldwide, while United Nations figures put the number of Muslims at around 1.3 billion. However if all denominations of Christianity are clumped together, Jesus still tops the charts, with an estimated 2.1 billion followers in total.
Formenti noted that while the number of Catholics in proportion to the world's population remains stable, Islam's popularity was increasing due to higher birth rates. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Formenti said, "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer."
Despite The Vatican's no waste policy when it comes to sperm, it seems that Catholics have some serious shagging to do if they're to regain the top spot. Certainly it seems Gabriel Archangel, the patron Saint of Conception, needs to pull more weight. In light of his obvious slacking on the job, perhaps The Vatican might think about relaxing its attitude to IVF?
I recently saw a show on the National Geographic Channel about the Shroud of Turin in which they presented many theories about how it came to exist, and speculated on the authenticity of the supposed burial cloth of Jesus. But the idea that excited me the most, which is also explored in the book The Jesus Conspiracy, is that Jesus didn't die on the cross, and that the Shroud of Turin serves a proof that he lived on after his crucifixion, which, in itself, is uncomfortable (to say the least) but not necessarily deadly.
Controversy has surrounded the Shroud of Turin since it appeared on the scene in 1357, when the widow of a French knight put it on display in a church. It wasn't until 1898, after the shroud had been photographed, that the image of a face was clearly seen in a negative. Radiocarbon dating done in 1988 declared the cloth to be from the Middle Ages, approximately 1300 years after Jesus lived.
This is the basis of The Jesus Conspiracy theory. The authors propose that the Roman Catholic Church substituted another cloth during the testing, because they knew that if the Shroud of Turin was shown to be real, and the method of its making revealed, it would prove that Jesus didn't die on the cross, and that knowledge could destroy the church entirely.
The authors believe the image was made after medicine put on Jesus' body after his crucifixion to heal his many wounds seeped into the cloth that covered him to keep the wounds clean. As Jesus lay motionless in a coma in the cave where the "resurrection" is said to have taken place, sunlight shone upon him from an opening above, allowing the image to burn into the cloth like a photograph. Coincidentally, followers of the Islamic faith believe that Jesus lived through the crucifixion before ascending to heaven. Interesting, isn't it?
Does this negate the celebration of Easter? I don't think it needs to. As the renowned academic and author Joseph Campbell said, "Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble."
During an interview with writer Tom Collins, Campbell explained further, "... the imagery that has to be used in order to tell what can't be told, symbolic imagery, is then understood or interpreted not symbolically but factually, empirically. It's a natural thing, but that's the whole problem with Western religion. All of the symbols are interpreted as if they were historical references. They're not. And if they are, then so what?"
The Bible is the mythology of our day. It's nice to know the historical accuracy of the text, but it's not the most important thing. It is our personal faith and belief that is truly important. The stories give us concepts to discuss and share as a culture. It is their familiarity and the connection to the themes and greater possibilities that stir and inspire.
Since everyone really just believes what they want to believe whether they've got carbon-14 dating equipment, revolutionary new image scanners or a Bible, I'm choosing to believe that Jesus met up with Mary in France, a la The Da Vinci Code, and they went on to live a peaceful life together. I have French ancestry, maybe I am one of their descendants. What an interesting possibility!
Don't try this at home. Devout Catholics in the Philippines are marking Good Friday with ritual flagellation and voluntary crucifixions. At least a dozen people from two villages in the North of the former American colony were crucified with "nails the size of pencils," including a 15-year old boy and an 18-year old girl. Scores more flogged themselves with bamboo whips and paddles tipped with broken glass.
The tradition began in the village of Cutud in the early 1960's. The local passion play has since mushroomed into a major tourist attraction, and has spawned copy-cat productions in nearby villages. At the behest of the country's health minister, participants were urged to have Tetanus injections, and use sterilized whips and nails. "If we can't stop flagellants from whipping their own flesh, the best thing these penitents can do is ensure that their whips are clean and well maintained," said Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
Though the proceedings are officially frowned upon by the Roman Catholic Church, thousands came out to watch the extreme devotional spectacle. In Cutud, the Reuters news agency reports that, "the atmosphere was festive, with hawkers selling beer, ice-cream and souvenir whips." VIPs were able to watch the proceedings, which were the hottest ticket in town, from a "specially elevated viewing platform.”
A new study has concluded that religious people are happier, and better able to cope with bumps in the road of life. Professor Andrew Clark from the Paris School of Economics and Dr Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research analyzed the attitudes expressed in existing household survey data, and concluded that those who had faith to lean on had a more positive outlook on life than atheists or agnostics.
"What we found was that religious people were experiencing current day rewards, rather than storing them up for the future," said Clark, who presented his research at the Royal Economic Society's annual conference in Coventry, England earlier this week. "Churchgoing and prayer are also associated with greater satisfaction," noted Clark. Religion also seemed to help people cope with adversity such as divorce and unemployment, serving as a "buffer" and "insurance policy."
Researches were unable to conclusively clarify however, whether it was faith itself that made people happier, or religion-related lifestyle factors, such as a stable family life, regular consumption of communion wine, or a higher incidence of singing. Either way, the God pill seems to work better than Prozac, which along with other similar drugs was found to be ineffective in all but the most serious cases of depression in another recent study (see previous story).
This is an interesting Current TV video pod on exorcism in England in the 21st century (if player fails to load, click HERE to view). Meanwhile in Australia the Sunday Mail is reporting that there's a shortage of priests trained to perform exorcisms in the Catholic Church there.
One priest, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals (though we're confused as to from whom), claims he carries out exorcisms at an average rate of once a fortnight
"Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one's mental and emotional life," said the priest. "Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued by disturbances. They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep."
To deal with the increased demand for exorcisms worldwide, The Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, has be charged with "setting up exorcism squads to deal with the rampant growth of Satanism" by Pope Benedict XVI.
"There is a progressive distancing from God and this helps the Devil. The action of the Devil is a lot more widespread than in the past not because he has more strength but because he is given more space," said Amorth in a recent CNN/IBN interview which was first broadcast on February 4, 2008.
"We deal with priests and bishops who know nothing about the subject because for three centuries exorcisms were almost totally abandoned. They have never seen exorcisms, they never performed them. They believe in the Devil, but they don't believe much in the actions of the Devil, so they prefer to send everyone to psychiatrists and psychologists," Amorth continues. "Thank God there is a Pope who wants to fight the Devil head on."
Want to commune with God over a pint? On the first Friday of each month between 9p.m. and midnight customers at the Market Cross Pub in Carlisle, PA will be able to do just that thanks to a rather unique outreach program set up by Bethel Assembly of God Church senior pastor Chuck Kish. Through this new monthly ministry, Rev. Chuck hopes to offer inspiration beyond that found in the bottom of a glass, and alternative solutions to those that might otherwise try drinking their troubles away.
"He approached me on the idea about a month, a month and a half ago, and I kind of did a double-take on it," said bar owner Jeff Goss in an interview with the local Sentinal newspaper. "Once we started talking about it, I realized what a great idea it was. I'm sort of an internal optimist. Working here for 14 years, I've seen customers, regulars and employees who have had their ups and downs through life."
"There was a lady at one of the bars who was married for 30 years and her husband just up and left her, and she was there about to drink herself into oblivion," explains Rev. Chuck. "The bartender said before she could do that, maybe she'd like to talk to the chaplains. It was a sort of pilot thing for us, and we were able to give help in a very tangible way. That's when I realized, you know, this is going to work."
It could be argued that the warm, friendly, and intimate atmosphere of a pub is far more conducive to confession and communion than the chilly atmosphere of many churches. Certainly the location seems more appealing than that of Rev. Chuck's bricks and mortar church, which is located five miles out of town on State Route 34 next to the Graham Cadillac dealership and Merrick and Fair Performance Dealership.
Rev. Chuck plans to make sure there's at least one male and one female pastor on hand to serve those in need, and he promises they'll be no preaching or proselytizing at the bar. "We're not going in there to strong-arm anybody," Rev. Chuck said. "We give more pastoral care, listening to what you have to say."
The unorthodox pastor, who also serves as the Senior Police Chaplain for Carlisle and North Middleton Police Departments, is no stranger to offbeat outreach. Rev. Chuck runs a youth program called the B.A.D. Attitude tour, and offers a road side ministry on Sunday mornings at the Truck Stop TV Lounge at the Petro Stopping Center on the Harrisburg Pike. "Many drivers have come to accept Christ as their savior during these services."
Let's hope any water into wine miracles are confined to the Market Cross Pub, since though Jesus was partial to a glass with a fish and bread supper, he certainly wouldn't approve of drinking and driving.
To promote togetherness, the Relevant Church in Tampa, Florida is asking its married members take part in a 30-Day Sex Challenge, during which they'll be required to “purposely engage in sexual activity” at least once a day.
A statement on the church's website explains, "People are not having enough sex. An epidemic of breakups prove the needs that lead to a great sex life are being overlooked. Dirty dishes, frumpy clothes, and a lack of authentic connections are killing the romance. A great sex life is a challenge and takes focus, determination, and planning. Some say it's an unrealistic goal, but we disagree. We believe you can have a great sex life, in fact we believe God wants you to have a great sex life."
"We believe this challenge will not only improve sex lives, but also strengthen relationships," the statement continues. "For far too long the church has remained silent on the subject, leading many people to believe that God is against sex, which is completely counter to what the Bible teaches."
Sadly it seems God only wants you to have a great sex life if you're married. The challenge set forth for the church's single parishioners could prove to be a little more, well er, challenging. They're being asked to abstain from all sexual activity for 30 days. There was no information given on what same-sex couples, who are not single but also not married, were expected to do during this 30 day period. But if you have to ask, you probably know the answer.
When we tried to download the official 30-Day Sex Challenge Guide from the church’s website, we were told the page was "temporarily unavailable" due to "capacity problems." We're therefore guessing this idea has been a hit with a least one subsection of the church's Christian soldiers.
Need a distraction? Check out Faith Fighter, a web-based online game where the friendly animation illustrates the sad reality of ongoing religious conflict.
As they use videogames as a political medium, Faith Fighter's creators, a team of Italian designers and game developers want to remind you that if this offends you, don't play.
"Faith Fighter is the ultimate fighting game for these dark times. Choose your belief and kick the shit out of your enemies. Give vent to your intolerance! Religious hate has never been so much fun."
A second anti-Scientology video from hacker group Anonymous has appeared on the web (if player fails to load, click HERE to view). This time the target of the group's frustrations is the press. In a message entitled "Dear News Organizations" an Anonymous digitized voices says:
"The so-called Church of Scientology have actively misused copyright and trademark law in pursuit of its own agenda. They attempt not only to subvert free speech but to recklessly pervert justice to silence those who speak out against them. We find it interesting that you did not mention the other objections in your news reporting: the stifling and punishment of dissent within the totalitarian organization of Scientology, the numerous alleged human right violations, such as the treatment and events that led to the death of victims of the cult such as Lisa McPherson. This cult is nothing but a psychotically driven pyramid scheme. Why are you, the news media, afraid of discussing these matters? It is your duty to report on these matters. You are failing in your duty. Their activities make them an affront to freedom. Remember all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing. This information is everywhere. It is your duty to expose it."
Parodying the now-infamous Tom Cruise/ Scientology promo video, in which the actor states being a Scientologist means that "when you drive past an accident it's not like anyone else because you know you have to do something about it because you know you're the only one that can really help," Anonymous continues....
"When Anonymous sees an evil, fascist, brainwashing organization, Anonymous knows it is to help mankind, because Anonymous knows it is only Anonymous that can help. Members of the church, Anonymous is not your enemy. The Church of Scientology is your enemy. The church has enslaved you. Free yourselves. Change does not roll in on the wills of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. Take it. Demand it.
Anonymous began their campaign in response to the Church of Scientology's efforts to suppress the leaked Cruise promotional video. According to the New York Post a spokesman for the Church of Scientology has claimed the publicity surrounding the leaked propaganda video, which was filmed in 2004 when Cruise was honored with a Freedom Medal of Valor award at an International Association of Scientologists event, has actually helped the organization since it “resulted in people searching for Church of Scientology Web sites.”
Meanwhile many Hollywood celebs, such as Cheers star Kirstie Alley (who appears in an early Scientology recruiting video obtained by Defamer.com), have been weighing in on the controversy and coming to their pal’s defense."Tom was using words meant for a Scientology audience. On the web, the video is taken out of context," said Alley, referring to the acronyms Cruise used, such as KSW (which refers to a policy known as “Keep Scientology Working”) and SP (which is short for "suppressive person")."It's like a rabbi addressing a Christian church, speaking in Hebrew. No one would understand him." Fershtay?
A subversive group of hackers called Anonymous have declared war on the Church of Scientology, releasing a press release on January 21 and a YouTube video on January 22 outlining their intentions. Using strategies Scientology founder, science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, might have written about, over the past week the group have mounted a space-age, hi-tech offensive. As part of their campaign, which the group have christened Project Chanology, Anonymous have clogged church phone lines and sent endless blank faxes, and have crippled the Scientology.org website using denial of service software.
The attack is in response to the Church of Scientology's efforts to suppress a leaked promotional video that featured Tom Cruise (see previous story). The church has taken legal action against Gawker.com for hosting the video, and, according to Anonymous's press release have "filtered anti-Scientology comments" on YouTube and Digg, replacing any negative content with the text "This comment is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International."
"Over the years we have been watching you, your campaigns of misinformation, your suppression of dissent and your litigious nature. All of these things have caught our eye," says a creepy, digitized Anonymous voice on their video manifesto (click HERE to view). "With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you as leaders has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed."
Xenu.net, a website which disseminates information The Church of Scientology would rather keep away from the public eyes, estimates "the current (conservative) total cost" of the courses required to take members up to "OT9 readiness" is between $365,000 - $380,000. The church has also been accused of preying on the weak, and systematically separating them from friends and family.
Meanwhile the Hollywood film community has come to the defense of the church and its superstar member. In an exclusive statement sent to People magazine, comic actor Adam Sandler said, "To see anyone's private life invaded and mocked like this is sickening. It's especially gross when it happens to a guy like Cruise, who's a great dad, a great husband, and a great friend."
Dustin Hoffman also defended the maligned Mission Impossible actor, saying, "Tom Cruise is an American and has the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion." Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, and mogul Harvey Weinstein have also spoken out in defense of their friend. And in a promotional video for the church obtained by Defamer.com, Cheers actress Kirstie Alley says "Honest to God truth, without Scientology, I would be dead. Personally, I recommend it."
I wrote a recent post on blind faith and how faith without reason is taking its toll on education, science, the environment, and ultimately our nation as a whole, and it reminded me of a report I saw on Go Left TV a few months ago about the documentary Jesus Camp. The film ventures behind the scenes at a North Dakota Evangelical Christian "Kids On Fire" summer camp, which targeted children between the ages of 7 and 9 and was organized by a group called Kids In Ministry.
In one of the many disturbing scenes we see young children being asked to kiss the feet of a cardboard cut out of George Bush. The "reasoning" behind it, as Kids In Ministry Director and Pastor Becky Fischer explains, is that "the bible tells us to pray for those in authority over us, to pray for all those in government, whether they're good leaders or bad leaders, so that we might live in peace." Also shown on the video is a group of kids who are taken on a field trip to a political protest. “I feel like we’re kinda being trained to be warriors only in a much funner way,” says one blond haired young girl.
I guess the question is are these kids being educated or brainwashed? Watch the clip, peruse the Kids In Ministry website, and if you're inclined watch the full Jesus Camp documentary, and then, armed with knowledge come to your own conclusion, a process, personally, I don't think the kids had the option of on this (blind) faith camp.
Shame on everyone who took part in the brawl at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. According to an AFP report, seven people were injured today (Thursday 27th December 2008) when a fight broke out between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests at the church which is said to mark the site of Christ's birth. The fracas began after Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders, which encroached on space set aside for the Armenian priests, while attempting to clean up their part of the shared church. Palestinian police were called in to stop what the BBC called "pitched battles" which involved about 80 "holy" men wielding brooms.
How can any of those involved dare to call themselves followers of Christ and behave like this? Their behavior is especially shameful at such a place and time! I mean how hard is it to understand the meaning of "love thy neighbor" (Mark 12:33) and "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39). Both are concepts we expect Sunday school kids to understand, never mind grown men of the cloth. The priests on either side shouldn’t be allowed to preach to anyone until they all make amends to the brothers they were so readily brawling with today.
Does one size fit all when it comes to worship? And should that size be XXL? Brian Tome, the lead pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, OH seems to think so as he proselytizes on the benefits of consolidation.
"There too many freakin' churches in every city. It's crazy that you've got a town of maybe ten thousand people and you have ten churches of the same exact denomination in that town," says Tome, in this Current TV interview (click HERE to view if player fails to load). Tome feels the megachurch phenomenon, which has grown tenfold in the last three decades, is the work of God. He also seems to want his parish to become a little over-dependent on his Goliath of a church, which is more than a little worrying.
"If it wasn't for this church we would be screwed," says Tome, "that should be the legacy of every single church." Hmnn? Would the big guy really approve of such megalomania? I hope not. "If the community that you're residing in doesn't come to the recognition where if you were extracted and left there, that they would be screwed, then you should screw yourself," Tome continues. "You should just leave right now. You're taking up valuable land that could be a Target."
Perhaps Wal-Mart may be a better analogy in Tome's last statement. As super-churches push the little guys out, surely the community suffers as they trade their individuality to join a larger flock. How can a pastor possibly get to know each and every one of his parishioners in a church as large as Crossroads? How can they understand and serve the needs of five thousand? Don't we suffer from too much consolidation in our lives, rather than not enough, as Tome seems to think?
Hey, I get the fact that some people may appreciate the relative anonymity of being a small fish in a big pond. Others might get off on the energy that large gatherings create, and the rock concert-worthy service production values that such organizations can support. People have different needs from their churches, and different ways of feeling closer to their god, which is why I disagree with Tome's bigger is better philosophy. Bigger is not necessarily better, just different, which is what some individuals may want.
On the upside, though Tome's church looks like a Discount Shoe Warehouse from the outside, he shuns the buy-your-way-to-faith markets found in many other blockbuster churches. At Crossroads they give away books and CDs, feeling their mission is to "bless people" rather than cash in on the congregation, which puts them way ahead of many more commercialized mega-churches in my book.
"Modern day Christianity no longer seems Christian,” writes the author of a revealing new book. UnChristian is a data-driven study written by David Kinnaman, the son of an Arizona pastor, who serves as the president of The Barna Group, a Christian Gallup-like research organization based in Ventura, CA. Analyzing information culled from extensive surveys and numerous interviews, Kinnaman, with the help of co-author Gabe Lyons, reports on the state of contemporary Christian culture and how it's perceived. “What began as a three month project has turned into a three-year study to grasp the picture God was revealing through the data,” writes Kinnaman in the book’s preface. “It was not a pretty picture.”
38% of outsiders surveyed had a bad impression of Christianity, 45% had a neutral one, and just 16% had a good impression. Furthermore 91% of outsiders felt that Christianity was anti-homosexual, 87% said it was judgmental and 85% thought it was hypocritical. 84% of outsiders claimed to know a Christian, yet only 15% could see a lifestyle difference that indicated that their friends practiced what they preached. In light of these findings, The Daily Mantra caught up with Kinnaman to find out if, and how, Christianity can get back on track.
DM: In the first chapter of your book you start by saying “Christianity has an image problem.” Is it really the image that’s the problem or the underlying substance?
DK: I’m glad that I wrote that sentence, because it’s provocative. It’s tough for Christians to understand what a substance problem really is. All the people that work at the Barna Group come back around to that question of the substance/image problem. If you look at the stuff that we’ve done, we make more enemies with Christians than we do with outsiders because much of the information that we put out is not very flattering to the Christian church.
Around the time 400 A.D. Constantine made an official Christian nation out of The Roman Empire and for sixteen hundred years since then we’ve lived in Christendom in the west, which is this idea that society is essentially Christianized. America is a quote-un-quote Christian nation, in the sense that 83% of Americans say they’re Christian and seven out of ten say they’ve made a commitment to Christ that’s still important in their life. I am as concerned about superficial Christianity as I am about anything else in our culture. What does it really mean to be a Christ follower in a country where almost everyone says that they are? How do we really be the kind of people that Jesus asked us to be? So few people really live like that. If the first sentence of the book is that ‘Christianity has an image problem,’ the last sentence of the book ought to be ‘Christianity has a substance problem.’
DM: You also say ‘they react negatively to our swagger,’ but I think that more than the swagger it would be the stance.
DK: Yes, I can understand that. I think we’ve been so busy defending a fort that we forgot why we built the fort in the first place. The Church is supposed to be a beacon of hope for people, and that is really why we’re known as unchristian because after sixteen hundred years of Christendom, after creating higher education and many of the hospitals, and creating many of the non-profits that have benefited society, we’ve been more concerned about reacting against things that we are fearful of, rather than trying to recreate and reclaim those ways of making life better for people. We have become more known for talking about sin than doing anything for those people affected by sin.
It seems the Pope John Paul II is about to make a posthumous debut as a contemporary recording star. On Dec 4th the Universal Music Group will release Santo Subito, which the producers claim is “the first music DVD to embody the voice and the images of John Paul II.”
The DVD (click HERE to view trailer) is a montage of footage set to music by film composer Simon Boswell, whose previous credits include Shallow Grave, Hackers, and Michael Hoffman’s 1999 retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The composer mixes classical scoring with trip-hop and jazz-trance, drawing on radio archives of the Pope speaking and singing, as well as other historical recordings such as Gregorian chants found in the Vatican’s vaults.
Boswell told the BBC he was "very nervous about interfering with the pontiff's voice." The composer had to use modern tuning and effects techniques to integrate Pope John Paul’s voice into his music which raised "one slight complaint from the Vatican" –– after all, how can you improve on the infallibility of papal perfection?
"I have felt very moved by doing the thing, and I've almost felt guided or watched over in a way I haven't felt before,” said Boswell of the creative process. "I've felt privileged and an empathy towards the subject that I very often don't."
The DVD is part of a greater campaign to speed up the canonization of Pope John Paul, hence the title Santo Subito which means “sainthood now.” Using the internet to promote the cause, the DVD can be viewed in webisode format via You Tube, and the official Santo Subito website polls visitors on whether they’d like to see instant canonization for the beloved former pope. At the time we checked in, 95% of those who participated in the survey wanted Pope John Paul to be proclaimed a saint immediately, with 61% wanting him to be appointed the patron and protector of young people.
"Seeing the power of his speech, and the millions and millions of people over the world mesmerized by him, I actually felt quite moved. He was saying things that any nice human being couldn't refuse, “ says Boswell, who is not a Catholic himself. "I can't think of a better person to be made a saint. Why not have saints in the world?"
Co-author of The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx famously quipped, “I am not a Marxist.” Had he lived long enough to see the birth of Christianity, would Jesus, another Jewish revolutionary of even greater cultural significance, similarly have declared “I am not a Christian”? Although it may be tempting to imagine Jesus disavowing conservative, fundamentalist Christianity, to quote a recent sermon by Rev. Joan Steadman of the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, “Who knows what the dude was thinking.”
A new book by self-proclaimed heretic and Baptist minister Robert V. Thompson provides a refreshing take on the Christian God or, given the tome’s universalizing impulse, on God in general. Borrowing from a passage by medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, Thompson has named his book A Voluptuous God, a title that suggests the tack — counter to his faith’s traditional emphasis on suffering — that the author is taking.
Not one to shy away from the sensual, Thompson goes so far as to describe God as “delicious” and hearteningly proclaims “that laughter is the best medicine, that only love can heal what ails us, and that only joy can cause our hearts to sing.” Sounding a bit like a marriage counselor, he invites readers to greater intimacy with God, an experience he locates in the here and now “where we belong to God and to each other.”
Along with the rehabilitation of pleasure as a Christian value, Thompson emphasizes the importance of ambiguity over doctrine. He reminds us that Christianity’s very roots were heretical with Jesus time and again ignoring accepted norms in favor of the dictates of the heart. Hence Thompson’s distinction between heart-centered and head-centered religion:
Religion of the head involves thinking about life’s questions in order to come up with answers. Religion of the heart is about seeing our innate and unalterable connection to all others as both the question and the answer. The heart is a compass that points to specific experiences that carry universal meaning, beyond doctrinal formula.
Given these sentiments and ideas, it is unsurprising that New Age stalwarts like Deepak Chopra and Joan Borysenko have praised A Voluptuous God. As Borysenko’s blurb reminds us, “when all the dogma of religious difference is peeled away…we finally realize that we are all travelers on the same journey.”
Have you ever wondered how Popes get the top job? Do you think you have what it takes to be a pontiff? Well now you can find out thanks to the Vatican Board Game, which is an accurate simulation of the papal election process, and was developed to reveal the mysterious inner workings of The Roman Catholic Church.
The brain behind the board game, Stephen Haliczer, is one of the world’s leading early modern historians, appearing earlier this year on the four-part PBS docudrama, Secret Files of the Inquisition. Since we have papal aspirations ourselves (we just need to change those pesky rules that don’t let chicks become popettes), we called Haliczer and asked him for some tips. Turns out Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown should’ve done the same thing, since Haliczer says his book Angels and Demons, which is set against the backdrop of a papal election, is riddled with factual inaccuracies, though he does concede that is “a great read.”
DM: What did Dan Brown get wrong?
Haliczer: For example, Dan Brown tells us that the papal election turns on four specific candidates. He says these are the four candidates for which the cardinals can cast their votes. Well that’s not the case, they can vote for any cardinal they want. There’s no specific number of candidates or specific candidates. The press identified as many as fifteen possible candidates before the election of 2005, and Dan Brown’s telling us there are only four actual candidates, that’s completely untrue.
DM: Why did you create the game?
Haliczer: The Vatican board game really is an effort to dispel some of the mythology surrounding the Catholic Church. In popular culture there’s not only a great deal of curiosity about the inner workings of the Catholic Church, there’s also a great deal of confusion because of the secretive nature of some of its deliberations and processes.
DM: It does seem so much is done behind closed doors, which in a democratic society is not necessarily seen as a very good thing?
Haliczer: But the church is not a democratic society. Ironically, at the very apex it is, because you do have an election for the supreme leader, but otherwise it’s not democratic it’s hierarchical like an old fashioned monarchy.
DM: So in understanding how it all works, do you think people will have more or less respect for the institution?
Haliczer: I think if they play the game they’ll understand a great deal more about it, and they’ll see that the process involves a careful nurturing of talent over a long period of time. In other words the cardinals that do emerge as possible papal material are cardinals that are seasoned. They have a distinguished record in a pastoral sense as archbishops. For example Pope Benedict XVI, as Archbishop of Munich, was very widely respected in his role as pastoral leader. And then they have experience in two very important areas, serving in episcopal organizations like bishops conferences and synods on the one hand, and serving the central administration of the church, the curia. My game reflects that.
DM: I think from the outside, that’s where some of the criticism lies; It’s not the Mother Teresa types, who have seriously served the poor, that get to be pope, it’s the people that are good at playing politics.
Haliczer: You’ll probably find it curious but I don’t like to use the word politics. There is a political dimension to it, but I think it’s more a matter of service and experience, that’s what one finds, and that’s what’s reflected in my game, and in the reality. My game is based on a deep study of the careers of dozens of leading cardinals.
"And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” Revelation 17:10, 11.
Will Pope John Paul II come back to us, resurrected as an instrument of the Devil as the Book of Revelations plays out? That’s what The World’s Last Chance Ministry claim will come to pass in their latest video, a sequel to last year’s You Tube hit Prophecy of the Century.
The original Prophecy of the Century was produced in response to the fiery apparition of Pope John Paul II that appeared in a bonfire in Poland on the second anniversary of his death. The images appeared in many newspapers and broadcast news reports, and caused hysteria among believers. To put this in perspective however, many holy visions have appeared to the faithful, including that of the Virgin Mary, which appeared on a toasted cheese sandwich, which was subsequently sold to an online casino on eBay for $28,000 dollars after generating 1.7 million web hits. But we digress.
The first video claims that it is prophesied that The Beast of Revelation 17 will come from within the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore they claim that Pope John Paul II is Revelation’s Seventh King, being the seventh Pope after the Holy See was given sovereignty over the Vatican City by the Italian government in the 1929 Lateran Treaty, which effectively made the popes kings of their newly sovereign domain. That makes current Pope Benedict XVI the seventh king. And, according to Revelation “the eighth king is going to be one of the previous seven kings.” Fueled by the vision in the flames, the World’s Last Chance Ministry therefore hypothesizes that Pope John Paul II in the prime candidate to be this eighth king, and “beast that was, and is not.”
"Just think of the sensational excitement generated by the flicker of the image of Pope John Paul II waving in the bonfire lit in Southern Poland. Then imagine what will be the response of the world when we behold the exact impersonation of John Paul II 'resurrected,'" said Dahlia Doss of The World's Last Chance Ministry. In their sequel, the newly released Prophecy of the Century Part II, the ministry sights as evidence the fact that Pope John Paul II was buried in a lead-lined, trapezoidal, vampire-like coffin (the trapezoid also being a sign of the occult). They also claim an insignia on the coffin consisted of an upside down Satanic cross, and the letter M, which the church claimed was for Mary, but the World’s Last Chance claim was in fact a Masonic symbol.
"Revelation 17 proves that the end is nearer than we imagine. From all the apocalyptic prophecies nothing is as clear as this study in revealing that the Second Coming of our beloved Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ will take place in a matter few years from now. And that the next pope, John Paul II impersonated, will also be the final pope before the Second Coming of Christ," concludes Doss. Gripping stuff. We can’t wait for the Hollywood blockbuster movie version and feel Anthony Hopkins would be a good choice for the lead Pope/Beast role. Just don't cast Tom Hanks in this religious epic; he may have triumphed against the Opus Dei dorks in the Da Vinci Code, but he's way too wimpy to save the world from Satan.
On October 25th the Vatican Secret Archives are releasing a 300-page volume entitled Processus contra Templario (Latin for "Trial against the Templars"), which includes a reproduction of a key document known as The Chinon Parchment, which formally absolves the Knights Templar of heresy. The Chinon Parchment had been “misplaced” by the Vatican for many years, and was rediscovered by Professor Barbara Frale, a medievalist at the Vatican’s Secret Archives in 2001.
"The parchment was cataloged incorrectly at some point in history. At first I couldn't believe my eyes…This was the document that a lot of historians were looking for,” says Frale in an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail. “There was an archiving error, an error in how the document was described," Frale elaborated in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from her home in Viterbo, north of Rome. "More than an error, it was a little sketchy."
The Templar Knights, or the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon to give them their full name, were born out of the free for all that was the First Crusade, a holy war launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II in an effort to unite the Christian world behind the Roman Catholic Church. With his Deus Vult (God wills it!) rallying cry in their ears, his coalition of willing Christians from all walks of life piled into the Middle East to seize the Muslim held Holy Lands. Many peasant crusaders also began persecuting Jews throughout Europe at this frenzied time, blaming them for the crucifixion of Jesus, in what was later called the First Holocaust.
Founded by French knight Hugues de Payens shortly after the Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Templar Knights’ mission was to ensure the safe passage of the mass of European pilgrims heading east. They were named after the headquarters they were given by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem on Temple Mount, which is said to be the site of the Temple of Solomon. This location was, in part, what gave rise to the various legends (as portrayed in the book Da Vinci Code) that the Templars were guardians of hallowed relics such as The Holy Grail and The Ark of Covenant (which proved to be as elusive as WMDs). It has also been theorized that they found manuscripts that revealed that Jesus was a man rather than a deity, who preached a form of spirituality that was in line with Judaic and Egyptian traditions, which directly contradicted Roman Catholic doctrine.
After the Templars were endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129 the organization’s size and wealth increased dramatically. They were the charity du jour amongst the European nobility, who joined their ranks and swelled their coffers, and were given further papal protection in a 1139 order which excepted them from local laws and taxes. The Templars ventured into banking and financial management; issuing an early form of traveler's checks to nobility who didn’t want to tempt thieves by traveling to the Holy Lands with their wealth in their pockets. The Templars would also manage the estates of the nobility while they were away, and thus they became the world's first multinational, full-service financial institution. By developing such an infrastructure, the Templars amassed unprecedented power and wealth above sovereign laws (thanks to those handy papal orders), which ultimately lead to the organization's downfall.
In 1187 Jerusalem was captured by Saladin, the Muslim Sultan of Egypt who was widely admired, even in the Christian world, for his chivalry, a concept the Templar Knights brought back to Europe. After more than a century of skirmishes, the Templars lost their final foothold in the Holy Lands in 1303, and with it their fundamental purpose. Their infrastructure in Europe remained, and as the continent’s leading bankers they loaned King Philip IV of France money for his war with England –– money the spendthrift monarch had no hope of repaying. Seizing on rumor and innuendo centered around the monastic military order's slightly bizarre initiation rituals, which included spitting on a cross, on Friday October 13th, 1307 the King issued orders to arrest Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and his fellow knights. Charged with heresy, among other things, they were tortured, and false confessions were extorted. The enterprising King charged the order for the privilege of board while their knights were imprisoned. Under pressure from Philip, the vulnerable Pope Clement V, who just a couple of years later fled a hostile Rome and set up court in Avignon, issued an order instructing Christian monarchs to arrest the Templars and seize their assets. A further papal order officially disbanded the organization, whose reputation was irrevocably tarnished, in 1312.
On March 8th 1314 de Molay was burnt at the stake in Paris. Legend has it that he cursed the King and Pope as he died in the flames, saying they would both meet him soon before God. As it turned out, Pope Clement and King Philip both died within a year, on April 20th and November 29th 1314 respectively. However, in the Chinon Parchment dated August 17–20, 1308, Pope Clement V recognized that the Templars were not guilty of the heresies they were charged with, and secretly pardoned the knights and their leader de Moley, “restoring him to unity with the Church and reinstating him to communion of the faithful and sacraments of the Church."
“Simply put, the pope recognized that they were not heretics but guilty of many other minor crimes -- such as abuses, violence and sinful acts within the order," says Frale in a Telegraph article. “For 700 years we have believed that the Templars died as cursed men, and this absolves them.”
Only 799 copies of Processus contra Templario will be sold, with the 800th copy going to Pope Benedict XVI. The book carries a hefty $8,377 price tag, and is expected to be bought mostly by academic institutions. "This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp of authority to the entire project," says Frale. "Nothing before this offered scholars original documents of the trials of the Templars."
A senior Vatican scholar has said it's OK to believe in aliens. In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published on Tuesday, 
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Have you ever wondered how Popes get the top job? Do you think you have what it takes to be a pontiff? Well now you can find out thanks to the 
On October 25th the 
After the Templars were endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129 the organization’s size and wealth increased dramatically. They were the charity du jour amongst the European nobility, who joined their ranks and swelled their coffers, and were given further papal protection in a 
On March 8th 1314 de Molay was burnt at the stake in Paris. Legend has it that he cursed the King and Pope as he died in the flames, saying they would both meet him soon before God. As it turned out, Pope Clement and King Philip both died within a year, on April 20th and November 29th 1314 respectively. However, in the Chinon Parchment dated August 17–20, 1308, Pope Clement V recognized that the Templars were not guilty of the heresies they were charged with, and secretly pardoned the knights and their leader de Moley, “restoring him to unity with the Church and reinstating him to communion of the faithful and sacraments of the Church."