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Festering wounds healed by proper conversions – yes it is no scandal to convert in 2008 Anno Domini!!
Pope: Christ Cures Humanity’s Festering Wounds
“The death and resurrection of the Word of God incarnate is an event of invincible love, it is the victory of that Love which has delivered us from the slavery of sin and death,” the Pontiff said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to the crowds gathered in the square below on a rainy Easter morning.
He added, “It has changed the course of history, giving to human life an indestructible and renewed meaning and value.”
“Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we too rise to new life today, and uniting our voice with his, we proclaim that we wish to remain forever with God, our infinitely good and merciful Father,” said the Holy Father.
Benedict XVI continued: “The astonishing event of the resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of love: the Father’s love in handing over his Son for the salvation of the world; the Son’s love in abandoning himself to the Father’s will for us all; the Spirit’s love in raising Jesus from the dead in his transfigured body.
“And there is more: the Father’s love which ‘newly embraces’ the Son, enfolding him in glory; the Son’s love returning to the Father in the power of the Spirit, robed in our transfigured humanity.”
Converts to love
The Pope said at Easter, “we receive an appeal to be converted to Love; we receive an invitation to live by rejecting hatred and selfishness, and to follow with docility in the footsteps of the Lamb that was slain for our salvation.”
He urged, “Let no heart be closed to the omnipotence of this redeeming love!”
“Jesus Christ died and rose for all,” the Pontiff added. “He is our hope — true hope for every human being.”
The Holy Father said by considering the glorious wounds of the resurrected Christ, “we can understand the meaning and value of suffering, we can tend the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day.”
“How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence,” continued Benedict XVI. “These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters.
“They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord [...] and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled.
“It is hoped that these are precisely the places where gestures of moderation and forgiveness will increase!”
“Let us allow the light that streams forth from this solemn day to enlighten us,” the Pontiff urges. “Let us open ourselves in sincere trust to the risen Christ, so that his victory over evil and death may also triumph in each one of us, in our families, in our cities and in our nations. Let it shine forth in every part of the world.”
Pope Baptizes Muslim Journalist at Easter Vigil
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The day Magdi Allam became a Catholic was a beautiful one, according to the Muslim journalist who was baptized by Benedict XVI at Saturday’s Easter Vigil Mass.
Allam, who is originally from Egypt, was one of the seven people — five women and two men — the Pope baptized at St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Holy Father also administered the sacraments of the Eucharist and confirmation to the seven catechumens from five countries: Italy, Cameroon, China, the United States and Peru.
Allam, deputy director of Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s largest and oldest newspapers, has lived in Italy for almost 35 years.
Explaining what led the Pope to administer baptism to the journalist, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, “For the Catholic Church, every person who asks to receive baptism after a deep personal search, a completely free choice and adequate preparation, has the right to receive it.”
“For his part,” Father Lombardi added, “the Holy Father administers baptism during the course of the Easter liturgy to those catechumens who are presented to him, without making ‘a distinction between persons,’ that is, considering all of them equally important before the love of God and welcome in the community of the Church.”
In a letter to the director, which appeared in the Corriere della Sera, Allam, who chose Cristiano as his baptismal name, explained that the witness of Catholics, who “gradually became a point of reference in regard to the certainty of truth and the solidity of values,” played an important role in his conversion.
Among these Catholics, he pointed to the president of Communion and Liberation, Father Julián Carrón; the major rector of the Salesians, Pascual Chávez Villanueva; Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict XVI’s secretary of state; and Bishop Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, who “personally accompanied him in the journey of spiritual acceptance of the Christian faith.”
He said the most decisive influence was that of Benedict XVI, “who I admired and, as a Muslim, defended for his mastery in setting down the indissoluble link between faith and reason as a basis for authentic religion and human civilization, and to whom I fully adhere as a Christian to inspire me with new light in the fulfillment of the mission God has reserved for me.”
“For me it is the most beautiful day of my life,” he added.
Attitude
The Pope said in his homily, addressing himself to the catechumens: “We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life toward the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love.”
The Pontiff explained that conversion is not a choice that is exhausted in one day, but a fundamental attitude that must find its fulfillment in daily life.
Conversion, he emphasized, consists in “turning our soul to Jesus Christ and thus toward the living God, toward the light.”
It is the lifting up of the heart to God, “beyond all of the intertwining of our preoccupations, of our desires, our anxieties, our distractions.”
Converting, the Holy Father added, means “again and again we must turn ourselves away from mistaken directions.”
Benedict XVI concluded his meditation with this invocation: “Yes, Lord, make us become Easter persons, men and women of light, full of fire and your love.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/22/pope.muslim.convert.ap/index.html
Prominent Muslim becomes Catholic on Easter
- Story Highlights
- Magdi Allam was one of seven adults baptized by Pope Benedict XVI
- Allam, a non-practicing Muslim, is the deputy editor of an Italian newspaper
- His criticism of Palestinian suicide bombings prompted threats on his life in 2003
- Allam is married to a Catholic; has made the pilgrimage to Mecca
- VATICAN CITY (AP) — Italy’s most prominent Muslim commentator converted to Roman Catholicism on Saturday during the Vatican’s Easter vigil service presided over by the pope.
The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam often writes on Muslim and Arab affairs.
He told the Il Giornale newspaper in a December interview that his criticism of Palestinian suicide bombings generated threats on his life in 2003, prompting the Italian government to provide him with a sizeable security detail.
Pope Benedict XVI baptized seven adults during the service.
It marks the period between Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said of Allam before the service that anyone who chooses to become a Catholic of his or her own free will has the right to receive the sacrament.
Lombardi said the pope administers the sacrament “without making any ‘difference of people,’ that is, considering all equally important before the love of God and welcoming all in the community of the Church.”
In the Il Giornale interview, Allam explained his complicated relationship with Islam and his affinity for Israel.
“I was never practicing,” he was quoted as saying. “I never prayed five times a day, facing Mecca. I never fasted during Ramadan.”
Yet he said he did make the pilgrimage to Mecca, as is required of all Muslims, with his deeply religious mother in 1991.
Married to a Catholic, with a young son and two adult children from his first marriage, Allam indicated in the interview that he would have no problem converting to Christianity.
He said he had even received Communion once — when he was 13 or 14 — “even though I knew it was an act of blasphemy, not having been baptized.”
Allam also explained his decision to entitle a recent book “Viva Israel” or “Long Live Israel,” saying he wrote it after he received death threats from Hamas.
“Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred, violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants,” he said. “Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life.”
In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1 million Dan David prize, named for the Israeli entrepreneur of the same name. Allam was cited for “his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between cultures.”
Benedict opened the lengthy nighttime service by blessing a white candle, which he then carried down the main aisle of the darkened St. Peter’s Basilica. Slowly, the pews began to light up as his flame was shared with candles carried by the faithful, until the whole basilica twinkled and the main lights came on.
The baptism rite during the vigil service is part of the joyful renewal Christians associate with Easter.
There is no overarching Muslim law on conversion. But under a widespread interpretation of Islamic legal doctrine, converting from Islam is apostasy and punishable by death — though killings are rare.
Egypt’s highest Islamic cleric, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, wrote last year against the killing of apostates, saying there is no worldly retribution for Muslims who abandon their religion and that punishment would come in the afterlife.
Reaction to Allam’s conversion was largely muted from Italy’s Muslim community.
The Union of Islamic Communities in Italy — which Allam has frequently criticized as having links to Hamas — said the baptism was a personal choice.
“He is an adult, free to make his personal choice,” the Apcom news agency quoted the group’s spokesman, Issedin El Zir, as saying.
Lombardi said Thursday that bin Laden’s accusation was baseless. He said Benedict repeatedly criticized the Mohammed cartoons, first published in some European newspapers in 2006 and republished by Danish papers in February.
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=1.0.1988866222
Iran: Parliament to discuss death penalty for converts who leave Islam
Tehran, 19 March (AKI) – In its first session since last week’s general elections, the new Iranian parliament is expected to discuss a law that will condemn to death anyone who decides to leave the Muslim faith and convert to other religions.
The parliament, also known as the Majlis, will debate the new law which has been presented by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Under the proposed law, anyone who is born to Muslim parents and decides to convert to another faith, will face the death penalty.
Currently converts, particularly those who have decided to leave the Muslim faith for Evangelical churches, are arrested and then released after some years of detention.
The new legislation, which has caused concern in Iran and abroad, was proposed mainly because of fears of proselytising activities by Evangelical churches particularly through the use of satellite channels.
There has also been concern over fact that many young people in Iran have abandoned Islam because they’re tired of the many restrictions imposed by the faith.
According to unofficial sources, in the past five years, one million Iranians, particularly young people and women, have abandoned Islam and joined Evangelical churches.
This phenomenon has surprised even the missionaries who carry out their activities in secret in Iran.
An Evangelical priest and former Muslim in Iran told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the conversions were “interesting, enthusiastic but very dangerous”.
“The high number of conversions is the reason that the government has decided to make the repression of Christians official with this new law,” said the priest on condition of anonymity.
“Often we get to know about a new community that has been formed, after a lot of time, given that the people gather in homes to pray and often with rituals that they invent without any real spiritual guide,” he told AKI.
“We find ourselves facing what is more than a conversion to the Christian faith,” he said. “It’s a mass exodus from Islam.”
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, at least eight Christians have been killed for their faith.
Seven of them were found stabbed to death after they were kidnapped while only one, Seyyed Hossein Soudmand was condemned to death.
March 27, 2008
POPE’S GIFT:SURVEY OF NON-PRACTICING CATHOLICS
Just in time for the pope’s visit, The Journal News has decided to conduct an online survey of non-Catholics. The newspaper, which covers the Lower Hudson New York counties of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, posted the following online survey on March 25 and March 26:
· Are you a lapsed Catholic? As part of The Journal News’ coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York next month, we’re hoping to interview Roman Catholics who consider themselves lapsed or non-practicing on their views about the pope’s visit. If you’re willing to be interviewed please contact Ernie Garcia at elgarcia@lohud.com
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:
“This is a gift the pope will surely cherish—knowing how ex-Catholics feel about their former religion. We’d like to return the favor and that is why we have secured the e-mails of 134 Journal News employees, ranging from the Publisher, Michael J. Fisch, to the Gardening & Horticultural Editor, Gayle Williams (sorry, Gayle, but someone has to be last). We are sending them the following survey:
Protestants: Given that no religious group switches denominations more than Protestants, can you tell us what it feels like to bounce around from one contiguous neighborhood to another in search of the ideal church. Jews: Given that the vast majority of Jews do not attend synagogue and that 52 percent of them intermarry, can you tell us what it feels like to be a non-Jewish Jew. Muslims: Given that Muslims who convert may be murdered, can you tell us if you’ve at least fantasized about converting. “Please vet your remarks by first reporting to Ernie Garcia. We have appointed Ernie The Journal News liaison to the Catholic League.”
March 28, 2008
POPE STILL BEING BASHED FOR BAPTISM
Ever since Pope Benedict XVI baptized a Muslim-born journalist at the Easter Vigil, he has been highly criticized for doing so. Magdi Allam was one of seven adults baptized during the vigil, but because he has been an outspoken critic of Islamic extremism, his conversion set off a firestorm. Here’s a sample:
- “I cannot understand the Vatican’s motivation. Why with preparations for dialogue underway…would the pope revive antagonism this way.” [Shelia Musaji, founding editor, The American Muslim]
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“What amazes me is the high profile the Vatican has given this conversion. Why couldn’t he have done this in his local parish?” [Yaha Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, VP of Italian Islamic Religious Community]
- “The problem lies in the vindictive atmosphere surrounding the conversion ceremony.” [Palestinian journalist Khalid Amayreh]
- The baptism was a “deliberate and provocative act…made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points.” [Aref Ali Nayed, head of Jordan’s Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre]
- “A new provocation for the Islamic world.” [Mohamed Yatim, commentator for the Moroccan daily Attajdid]
- “The Vatican’s act seems unnecessarily incendiary and irresponsible.” [Calgary Herald editorial]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows: “This kind of incredibly defensive posture underscores the need for Muslims to embrace religious liberty. People convert from Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism every day, and no one blinks an eye. In any event, kudos to the Jerusalem Post for its analysis: ‘Allam was not a practicing Muslim, was educated in a Catholic school as a teenager, has been married for years to an Italian Catholic, and credits Pope Benedict for having influenced his decision…[and] he has been living under police protection for years, primarily because of his criticism of Islamic terrorism and defense of Israel—which, of course, is the real story here.”
Religious Conversion and Sharia Law
| Author: |
Lionel Beehner
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June 8, 2007
- Introduction
- How does sharia law view religious conversion?
- How do most Muslim states treat apostasy?
- What are the facts of the Malaysian case?
- What is the significance of the Malaysian court’s verdict?
- How have other sharia courts treated religious converts?
- What impact do these verdicts have on secular Muslim states?
- How common is religious conversion in the Muslim world?
Introduction
Malaysia is often held up as a model nation that blends modern secular institutions with a tolerant brand of Islam. Sharia, or Islamic law, is followed but in the context of a constitutional framework. A recent decision, however, by Malaysia’s high court refusing to recognize a Muslim woman’s conversion to Christianity has called into question the country’s freedom of religion and multi-faith identity. Similar cases in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Jordan also have aroused concern among Western-based rights groups about Islam’s compatibility with democracy.
How does sharia law view religious conversion?
Conversion by Muslims to other faiths is forbidden under most interpretations of sharia and converts are considered apostates (non-Muslims, however, are allowed to convert into Islam). Some Muslim clerics equate this apostasy to treason, a crime punishable by death. The legal precedent stretches back to the seventh century when Prophet Mohammed ordered a Muslim man to death who joined the enemies of Islam at a time of war. However, because apostasy is not a crime under the criminal codes of Muslim states, generally the murtad (apostate) is not subject to any criminal sanction. “The Quran contains a provision that says ‘he who has embraced Islam and then abandons it will receive punishment in hell after Judgment Day,” says M. Cherif Bassiouni, an expert on Islamic law at DePaul University College of Law, and therefore there is no punishment on earth. But traditional scholars, in Bassiouni’s opinion, misinterpreted early practices of the Prophet Mohammed and consider apostasy a crime punishable by death. They give religious converts a grace period of up to ten days to reconsider their decision before the judgment is entered.
In most Muslim states, matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, and other personal-status areas are handled by sharia courts, whose judges tend to be conservative. Yet some experts say these courts’ interpretation of sharia law is outdated. “Sharia judges are usually educated in academic institutions which do not favor intellectual independence,” Bassiouni says. They are taught “to memorize the Quran and the hadith (traditions related to words and deeds of Prophet Mohammed)…consequently, if there is a misinterpretation, they will simply automatically apply it.” Other legal experts say sharia judges are simply upholding an interpretation of Islamic law favored by the majority of the world’s Muslims. Most Muslim states have different bodies of law that apply to such matters as criminal, civil, commercial, labor, and tax matters, which, with a few exceptions, are handled by lay judges who are educated in secular law schools. In some states, there are sharia-trained judges who deal with matters personal status (i.e. marriage). Only in a few states, like Saudia Arabia, Sudan, and Pakistan, will sharia enter into other areas of the law.
How do most Muslim states treat apostasy?
A vast majority of them no longer prescribe death for apostates but mete out some lesser form of punishment. But some states, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, still do hand out death sentences. Perhaps the best-known modern example involved author Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses offended many devout Muslims. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then-Supreme Leader of Iran, declared Rushdie an apostate and condemned him to death. Another case involved Nasr Abu Zayd, a professor whose writings Egypt’s highest court found were evidence of apostasy and in violation of sharia law (though a previous judge rejected the case on the grounds that apostasy does not violate Egypt’s civil code). In 1993, the court ordered that Zayd be divorced from his Muslim wife. Only in rare cases have Muslim courts actually sentenced someone to death for apostasy.
What are the facts of the Malaysian case?
Lina Joy, born an ethnic Malay Muslim, appealed to the nation’s highest court to be recognized as a Christian, the faith of her Indian boyfriend. The forty-three-year-old Joy took up the Catholic faith in 1990, was baptized eight years later, and changed her name to Azlina Jailani in 1999. The next year, Joy sought to remove the word “Islam” from her identification card—that way, she could legally marry her boyfriend—but the lower civil courts ruled that only sharia courts could officially sanction her conversion. Under sharia law in Malaysia, Joy could face criminal prosecution for apostasy, punishable by imprisonment, a hefty fine, or time spent at a “rehabilitation” camp. Last year, she fled into hiding worried for her safety. Malaysia, though a multiconfessional state whose constitution guarantees religious freedoms, has seen rising religious tensions in recent years between its Muslim Malay majority (about 60 percent of its population) and its mostly Indian and Chinese Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian minorities. Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators flanked the federal court building during the decision, shouting “God is great.”
What is the significance of the Malaysian court’s verdict?
The case reveals long-standing contradictions and gray areas inherent in many Islamic legal systems, experts say. “This has been going on for a long time but only recently is getting news attention,” says Nathan Brown, an expert on Islamic law at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The trouble in much of the Muslim world, he says, is that religious conversion does not just define one’s personal beliefs but also one’s legal category. “It’s like saying you used to be Canadian and now you’re Mexican,” says Brown. “It’s taken to be socially breaking your bond with your community and betraying one for another.” The growing role of Islamic law—especially judiciaries’ strict interpretation of sharia—is a matter of contention in secular states like Malaysia or Indonesia.
The Lina Joy case raises legal questions as to what role Islamic law should play in Muslim societies. “Now, the prospects of sharia and civil law peacefully coexisting have grown dim,” writes Angela C. Wu of the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in the Wall Street Journal. Non-Muslim groups across the Muslim world increasingly complain that their rights are being infringed upon by Islamic courts. While constitutions in Muslim countries usually guarantee freedom of religion, they also bow to Islamic law. Iraq’s constitution, for example, states Islam is the official religion and “a source of legislation”—not the sole source of authority—but adds that the government may not enact a law “that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.”
How have other sharia courts treated religious converts?
Not favorably. For instance, in February 2006 an Afghan court struck down a motion by Abdul Rahman to convert to Christianity. He was sentenced to death for apostasy. The court, dominated by religious conservatives, later reversed its decision under international pressure and released Rahman, who then fled and sought asylum in Italy. Opinion surveys at the time showed that most Afghans, given their tribal history and religious conservatism, supported the death sentence for Rahman. The case, writes A. Rashied Omar of the University of Notre Dame, also highlights the controversial role (PDF) of Christian missionaries in Muslim societies, particularly given Islam’s own sense of dawah, or obligation to convert non-Muslims to their faith.
Other recent cases in Jordan, Egypt, and Kuwait were handled in a similar fashion, with the converts serving jail time. “Usually what happens in this case is it’s politically embarrassing and [the authorities] just find some way not to deal with it,” says Brown. However, often Islamic vigilante groups take the law into their own hands and kill converts, as they did in the case of a Bangladeshi Muslim-turned-Christian evangelist in 2003.
What impact do these verdicts have on secular Muslim states?
It’s unclear. Brown says the case, while important, may not reverberate throughout the world’s increasingly dispersed Muslim communities or necessarily indicate a trend in court verdicts blurring the church-state line in secular Muslim states. “It’s more symbolic,” he says. “Like the O.J. [Simpson] trial, it may not be really significant but it attracts attention and gets people’s nerves up because of the emotional issues it hooks into.” Some experts say the biggest impact of these sharia rulings may be the backlash they engender from secular Western societies.
How common is religious conversion in the Muslim world?
While conversions to Islam are commonplace and widely reported, conversions out of Islam are generally kept more hush-hush. In the West, experts estimate thousands of Muslims switch to Christianity every year but keep their conversions secret for fear of retribution. “Converts from Islam, especially those who become involved in Christian ministries, often use assumed names, or only their first names, in order to protect themselves and their families,” writes Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Washington-based terrorism analyst in Commentary. Pockets of Christian minorities are scattered throughout the Arab world. Intermarriages between Christians and Muslims in some majority Muslim countries, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, have not been uncommon, though Muslim spouses rarely formally convert to Christianity.
Links to the penal code:
Part 1: http://www.maavanews.ir/NewsPrint/tabid/602/Code/1657/Default.aspx
Part 2: http://www.maavanews.ir/NewsPrint/tabid/602/Code/1726/Default.aspx (this section contains the articles on apostasy)
Part 3: http://www.maavanews.ir/NewsPrint/tabid/602/Code/1874/Default.aspx
Part 4: http://www.maavanews.ir/NewsArchive/tabid/417/ctl/Edit/mid/4095/Code/1946/Default.aspx
“The draft penal code is gross violation of fundamental and human rights by a regime that has repeatedly abused religious and other minorities,” stated Institute on Religion and Public Policy President Joseph K. Grieboski. “This is simply another legislative attempt on the part of the Iranian regime to persecute religious minorities in the country and around the globe, especially Bahá’ís.”
Article 112 examines the extraterritorial application of the norms of the code, by extending its jurisdiction over actions that take place outside the country. Article 112-3-1 refers to actions “against the government, the independence and the internal and external security of the country.” Security as a term is not defined in the law, thereby making any action qualified as such. Consequently, groups considered dangerous to the regime all over the world can be liable for actions taken outside Iran that are considered as contrary to the security of the country.
Article 225-7 of the code states, “Punishment for an Innate Apostate is death,” while Article 225-8 says, “Punishment for a Parental Apostate is death, but after the final sentencing for three days he/she would be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant his/her belief and if he/she refused, the death penalty would be carried out.”
“A careful review of the draft clearly shows that it is nothing more than a legislative tool to consolidate power around the regime and extend its religious tyranny globally,” Mr. Grieboski commented. “Such legislation will not be accepted by the international community and that message must resoundingly be sent to Tehran.”
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3109
The Islamification of France
The French website 5 Years Later has posted maps that illustrate the advance of Islam in France. I’ve taken the latest one from 2008 showing through shades of green the areas of implantation of the religion of peace and tolerance. The numbers on the map are those of the departments and have nothing to do with numbers of Muslims. The chart at the bottom runs from fewer than 5 to more than 30 mosques, prayer rooms or meeting houses. So we see that, in the southwest, department 33 has more than 30 while department 40 has fewer than 5.
For a complete list of all places of Islamic worship in France, click the link above. Even if you don’t know French you will find the listing impressive.
You will note also the inset in the upper left showing Paris (75) and its three surrounding suburbs. The name for that whole region is Ile-de-France, but someone has chosen to emend it to Êl-de-France.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7307192.stm
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Sweden feels strain of refugees
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No European country has welcomed as many Iraqi refugees as Sweden. In 2007 alone, 18,599 Iraqis applied for asylum – far more than anywhere else in the EU. But the influx is placing Sweden’s towns and cities under severe strain, and has prompted a national debate on immigration. Matthew (not his real name) clasps his hands neatly in front of him and explains why he left Iraq to start a new life. “If you stay, you die,” he says. “If you leave, you live.” The 26-year-old doctor pauses for a moment, looking down at his hands.
He contemplates his former life in Baghdad and the stark choices it left him. “They ask you – ‘why are you a Christian? Why do you live here? It’s not a Christian country’. “A couple of guys with guns came and tried to kill us. After that moment I can’t live there any longer. It’s a matter of life or death.” In September 2007 Matthew chose life, and left Iraq for good. Safe haven He is now studying to practice medicine in Sweden. He lives in Soedertaelje, a small industrial town some 35km (22 miles) south-west of Stockholm. Matthew came to Soedertaelje because so many like him have come before him.
An estimated 40% of Soedertaelje’s 80,000 inhabitants are first or second-generation immigrants. Most are Assyrians – a Christian minority fleeing persecution in the Middle East. “I can now live without fear,” he says. “When you hear that Sweden has fought its last war 400 years ago, there’s no expecting any war. “So you feel you can live in safety. You feel more human.” Workers welcomed Soedertaelje is the birthplace of tennis legend Bjorn Borg. It is also the headquarters of both the Scania truck manufacturer and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company. Those companies were hungry for workers, and over the decades Soedertaelje welcomed waves of immigrants. First came Finns. Then Assyrian immigrants, from Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Today, Soedertaelje is home to one of Europe’s largest Assyrian exile communities. There are two Assyrian football teams and even an Assyrian satellite TV station – Suroyo TV. Since the 2003 war, however, the trickle of Assyrian refugees from Iraq has become a flood. An estimated 5,000 have settled here since the war began. Soedertaelje’s mayor, Anders Lago, estimates that about 30 asylum seekers arrive from Iraq each week. Many of their children end up in special preparatory classes at the Ronna School, a mixed primary and secondary school in a heavily Assyrian area of Soedertaelje. Former pupil The classes are run by Gabriella Barsoum, a 27-year-old Assyrian Christian whose parents were from Syria and Turkey. Gabriella, who was born in Soedertaelje, attended the Ronna School as a girl. “What is important here is some students don’t want to think back about hard times and I must respect that,” she says. “Not all students want to tell us what they have been through.” For those who do, Gabriella is ready to listen. Witnessing how immigrants are welcomed to a small town like Soedertaelje, it is not hard to see why so many Iraqi asylum seekers have chosen Sweden.
But the liberal Swedish asylum system that allows immigrants to choose where to live has created a problem. There are now so many immigrants in Soedertaelje that up to 15 are sharing one apartment. With little Swedish, jobs are hard to come by, and the strain on Soedertaelje’s educational and social services is evident. Soedertaelje is not alone. Other towns and cities in Sweden are reporting similar problems of overcrowding. That has prompted a national debate about immigration, one that has produced some surprising results in a country traditionally so immigrant-friendly. A poll conducted last year by the Swedish Integration Board suggested one in four Swedes were prepared to vote for a party that would restrict the rights of immigrants. Door closing
Sweden’s Minister for Migration and Asylum, Tobias Billstroem, says his country remains open to immigrants, but he too sounds a note of alarm. “It is the firm belief of the Swedish government and the Swedish people that Sweden should stand up for those who are persecuted or pursued in their home countries,” he says. “However, it is also important to understand the strain it puts on the society if you take in a large number of people in a very short time.” To ease that strain, the centre-right government is to introduce a number of measures, including a proposal that would only allow immigrants to bring in their families once they have proved they can feed and house them. Mr Billstroem says that does not mean Sweden is shutting the door to Iraqi asylum seekers. The statistics, however, would seem to tell a different story. In 2007, Sweden’s Migration Board approved 72% of all Iraqi asylum requests. The Migration Board, however, has since ruled there is no longer an armed conflict in Iraq. In January and February of this year, the majority of Iraqi requests for asylum were turned down. |
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You feel you can live in safety, you feel more human 
ON FITNA
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3135
2.
‘We and G’ the new Babylonian Jews
German Jewish leader criticizes Pope over prayer
var storyKeywords = “US POPE JEWS GERMANY”; var RTR_ArticleTitle = “German Jewish leader criticizes Pope over prayer”; var RTR_ArticleBlurb = “BERLIN (Reuters) – The leader of Germany’s Jewish community said on Friday she was surprised Pope Benedict could have allowed a new version of a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews. Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of…”; Related News
Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters Television she could not fathom Pope Benedict putting forward the new decree because he experienced discrimination against Jews in Germany as a young man.
“I would have assumed that this German pope, of all people, had got to know first hand the ostracizing of Jewry,” she said. “I could not have imagined that this same German pope could now impose such phrases upon his church.”
Jewish groups complained last year when the Pope issued a decree allowing wider use of the old-style Latin Mass and a missal, or prayer book, that was phased out after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which met from 1962 to 1965.
They protested against the re-introduction of the old prayer for conversion of the Jews and asked the Pope to change it.
The Vatican last month revised the contested Latin prayer used by a traditionalist minority on Good Friday, the day marking Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, removing a reference to Jewish “blindness” over Christ and deleting a phrase asking God to “remove the veil from their hearts”.
Jews criticized the new version because it still says they should recognize Jesus Christ as the savior of all men. It asks that “all Israel may be saved” and Jews say it keeps an underlying call to conversion that they had wanted removed.
Knobloch said that she could not envision a continuation of the inter-religious dialogue as long as the old prayer stands.
“The inter-religious dialogue has suffered an enormous setback because of this version and I assume that one will find a way very soon to continue the dialogue, but at the moment I don’t see it happening,” she said.
“As long as the Catholic Church, that is to say Pope Benedict, does not return to the previous wording, I assume that there will not be any further dialogue in the form that we were able to have in the past,” Knobloch said.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Giles Elgood)
http://www.newadvent.org/bible/rom011.htm
Romans Chapter 11
God hath not cast off all Israel. The Gentiles must not be proud but stand in faith and fear.
1 I say then: Hath God cast away his people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Know you not what the scripture saith of Elias, how he calleth on God against Israel? 3 Lord, they have slain thy prophets, they have dug down thy altars. And I am left alone: and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the divine answer to him? I have left me seven thousand men that have not bowed their knees to Baal. Seven thousand, etc… This is very ill alleged by some, against the perpetual visibility of the church of Christ; the more, because however the number of the faithful might be abridged by the persecution of Jezabel in the kingdom of the ten tribes, the church was at the same time in a most flourishing condition (under Asa and Josaphat) in the kingdom of Judah. 5 Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace. It is not now by works, etc… If salvation were to come by works, done by nature, without faith and grace, salvation would not be a grace or favour, but a debt; but such dead works are indeed of no value in the sight of God towards salvation. It is not the same with regard to works done with, and by, God’s grace; for to such works as these, he has promised eternal salvation. 7 What then? That which Israel sought, he hath not obtained: but the election hath obtained it. And the rest have been blinded. 8 As it is written: God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, until this present day. God hath given them, etc… Not by his working or acting in them; but by his permission, and by withdrawing his grace in punishment of their obstinacy. 9 And David saith: Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see: and bow down their back always.
11 I say then: Have they so stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid! But by their offence salvation is come to the Gentiles, that they may be emulous of them. That they should fall… The nation of the Jews is not absolutely and without remedy cast off for ever; but in part only, (many thousands of them having been at first converted), and for a time; which fall of theirs, God has been pleased to turn to the good of the Gentiles. 12 Now if the offence of them be the riches of the world and the diminution of them the riches of the Gentiles: how much more the fulness of them? 13 For I say to you, Gentiles: As long indeed as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will honour my ministry, 14 If, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh and may save some of them. 15 For if the loss of them be the reconciliation of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, so is the lump also: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken and thou, being a wild olive, art ingrafted in them and art made partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree: 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root: but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. 20 Well: because of unbelief they were broken off. But thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear. Thou standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear… We see here that he who standeth by faith may fall from it; and therefore must live in fear, and not in the vain presumption and security of modern sectaries. 21 For if God hath not spared the natural branches, fear lest perhaps also he spare not thee. 22 See then the goodness and the severity of God: towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness. Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off… The Gentiles are here admonished not to be proud, nor to glory against the Jews: but to take occasion rather from their fall to fear and to be humble, lest they be cast off. Not that the whole church of Christ can ever fall from him; having been secured by so many divine promises in holy writ; but that each one in particular may fall; and therefore all in general are to be admonished to beware of that, which may happen to any one in particular. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou were cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and, contrary to nature, wert grafted into the good olive tree: how much more shall they that are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in. 26 And so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27 And this is to them my covenant: when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are most dear for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. For the gifts and the calling of God are without… his repenting himself of them; for the promises of God are unchangeable, nor can he repent of conferring his gifts. 30 For as you also in times past did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy, through their unbelief: 31 So these also now have not believed, for your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all. Concluded all in unbelief… He hath found all nations, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief and sin; not by his causing, but by the abuse of their own free will; so that their calling and election is purely owing to his mercy.
33 O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? 36 For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.
Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899
http://www.spiritdaily.com/bonniefatherangels.htm
__________________________________________________
DEATH OF DAD CAME WITH INCREDIBLE TOUCH OF
DIVINE MERCY AND PRESENCE OF ANGELS
By Bonnie Lewis
My father, Chet Coldren, died of Alzheimer’s disease on December 5th, 2007 — last Christmastime.
I would like to share my story of an answer to prayer just hours before my father took his last breath.
On the day that I received a call from my sister, Jo, that Dad was failing quickly, Cincinnati was experiencing a terrible ice storm.
I so badly wanted to be at his side but told my sister I wouldn’t be able to make the four-hour trip to Canton, Ohio.
I mentioned to her how important it was to say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for a dying person. I asked her if she and the other family members who were coming would say it for him. She assured me they would.
After I hung up the phone, I got down on my knees in my bedroom and prayed the Chaplet with tears streaming down my face. When I finished I asked my guardian angel to please take my prayer to the bedside of my dad.
About thirty minutes later, my sister called and said she had an idea: They were going to put me on speaker phone and asked if I would like to lead the Chaplet right now while family members were around my father’s bed? I was thrilled to be able to do this and began the Chaplet.
When I finished my sister asked me if I had heard people coming into the room.
I said that I didn’t hear a thing. She said at first she was upset because right at the beginning of saying the Chaplet two strangers opened the door and walked in. They didn’t say a thing but went right to the bedside of my dad, took out their Rosaries, folded their hands, and began praying the Chaplet along with everyone else.
My sister couldn’t believe they knew the words.
She then passed the phone to my aunt so she could talk with them and find out who they were.
They told her they were from a local church not far away. One was a deacon and the two of them often come on Wednesdays to pray with patients.
When they left, the nurses at the care center came running in to apologize to our family about letting these two people in the room during a very personal and solemn moment.
The nurses said they had never seen them before and didn’t know who they were or where they came from.
As soon as I found this out, I knew in my heart that they were angels in disguise. I truly believe one of these two strangers was my Guardian Angel who answered my prayer, and the other one was my father’s Guardian Angel. My aunt said she knew immediately the two strangers were angels when they began to pray. She felt a wonderful Holy Presence fill the room while they were there. What a tremendous gift from God! Our dear father received the last rights, was surrounded by angels and family, and died peacefully that evening.
[reminder: Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday]
[resources: Guardian Angels]
LIES LIES LIES - A symbol of Death and War - the upside down cross- the symbol of peace destruction
http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/8514/runes.html
What is known as the Peace Sign is a Nazi Rune symbolising DEATH
The Toten-Rune or Death Rune represented death and was used on Waffen-SS graves together with the Leben-Rune to indicate date of birth and date of death.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080317/ap_en_re/book_review_peace
Peace symbol turns 50
By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 17, 2:49 PM ET
“Peace: The Biography of a Symbol” (National Geographic Books. 175 pages. $25), by Ken Kolsbun with Michael Sweeney: Baby Boomers may recall it through a swirl of tear gas, scrawled on walls, on signs in marches and silent sit-ins, or on the helmet covers of weary Vietnam soldiers.
Since its inception, it has been revered as a sign of our better angels and cursed as the “footprint of the American chicken.”
The symbol that helped define a generation is less evident now, but it is far from forgotten. After what it went through, how could it be?
National Geographic Books is out with “Peace: The Biography of a Symbol,” by Ken Kolsbun and Michael Sweeney, which traces the simple symbol from its scratched-out origins based on the semaphore flag positions for N and D (nuclear disarmament) to the influence it had, and retains, in social movements.
While the book details how the symbol came to be and how it spread, it focuses more on the backdrop of the peace movement generally, from its antecedents in the McCarthyism of the 1950s to nuclear proliferation, Vietnam, Kent State and the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention to its later promotions of other causes.
It has become “a rallying cry for almost any group working for social change,” the authors write.
The book is enhanced by numerous photos, some chillingly familiar, some simply nostalgic.
Who can forget the frantic teenager kneeling over the fallen student at Kent State University. Or the student sticking a flower in the barrel of a National Guard rifle? Or the whaling ship bearing down on a Greenpeace raft? Or Woodstock?
The symbol itself was created by a British pacifist textile designer, Gerald Holtom, who initially considered using a cross but got an icy reception from some of the churches he sought as allies.
So on a wet, chilly Good Friday — April 4, 1958 — the symbol as we know it made its debut in London’s Trafalgar Square where thousands gathered to support a “ban the bomb” movement and to make a long march to Aldermaston, where atomic weapons research was being done.
While Holtom designed the symbol, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office ruled in 1970 that it is in the public domain. It was quickly commercialized, showing up, among other places, on packages of Lucky Strike cigarettes, but also on a 1999 postage stamp after a public vote to pick 15 commemoratives to honor the 1960s.
Kolsbun is a jack of many trades that include longtime and enthusiastic peace activism, a propensity that shows through. Sweeney is a professor of journalism at Utah State University.
If you recall the mood and times of the ’60s and 1970s, the book will take you back. Depending on your level of enthusiasm then, you might imagine a whiff of tear gas. Or recall the better times of the 1967 Summer of Love, which a lot of GIs remember another way.
Holtom clung to his pacifist beliefs to the end, which came on Sept. 18, 1985 at 71. His will requested that his grave marker be carved with two of his peace symbols, inverted.
For reasons unclear, the authors write, they aren’t inverted. They’re exactly the way he made them.
Maybe that’s why.
http://oblivion.splinder.com/archive/2004-05
Un simbolo che ultimamente mi mette i brividi, vedendolo più volte durante la giornata, è il seguente:
Le vie attraverso cui la controiniziazione tenta di infiltrarsi nella vita degli uomini sono, in prima battuta, quelle dei Simboli, esotericamente intesi. Si appropria quindi di tutti quei sigilli che veicolano la Verità, cercando bene di plasmarne il significato, modificarlo ad usum delphini, snaturandolo in senso opposto a quello “benefico” nonché “originario” (il significato è volutamente doppio semanticamente).
Punto di partenza è la Runa Algiz/Eiwaz (nella serie lunga). Nella serie runica breve viene chiamata invece Man.
Questa Runa è collegato ad un significato fausto, positivo, in primo luogo collegato con animali sacri quali il cigno (in protogermanico: alkaz) e l’alce (indoeuropeo: olkis). Il Cigno è animale in cui si tramutano le Valkyrie: esse possiedono e trasmettono i segreti celesti, sono simbolo dell’epifania del divino; per questo sono dette bianche e luminose.
Le corna dei cervidi, invece, simboleggiano l’eterno ritorno, il risveglio primaverile, in ambito celtico non è difficile perciò pensare a Kernumnos, dio della fertilità e della ricchezza. O ancora, oltre allo stesso cigno, anche il cervo è sacro all’Apollo iperboreo, in questo senso ci si può riferire alla resurrezione come ritorno al Centro Spirituale originario, la runa assume così anche il significato dell’”orante”, l’uomo che saluta il Sole con le braccia levate.
La similitudine morfologica e semantica più significativa c’è nell’avvicinare l’Algiz al greco Alké che il Benveniste traduce con: fare fronte al pericolo senza mai indietreggiare; non cedere all’assalto, resistere validamente nel corpo a corpo. Ma l’alké è ben diversa dalla pura forza fisica (sthenos): sono gli dei e Zeus in particolare, che concedono l’alké immutabile, qualunque sia il Destino individuale.
Per questo si può sintetizzare l’Algiz come runa tipicamente sacerdotale, essa è l’archetipo dell’uomo aperto alle influenze celesti, superne, attraverso cui viene permesso di resistere spiritualmente, proteggendo da qualsiasi attacco nefasto.
Pace senza Valore
Torniamo al simbolo della “pace”, segno grafico ereditato da quel movimento identificato come beat generation. Il simbolo in questione, depurato dei necessari adattamentio grafici per camuffarlo adeguatamente, rivela di essere nient’altro che una Algiz rovesciata: la runa chiamata Yr.
Il significato di Yr è l’esatto opposto di quello Solare di Algiz, il nome con cui è meglio conosciuta è toten-rune, runa della Morte. Essa rappresenta la Luna che scompare, calante, mutevole, come lunatica è l’essenza femminile, così ritratta dall’Havamal:
Delle parole delle fanciulle nessuno si deve fidare,
né di quel che dicono le donne,
poiché su una ruota che gira furono fatti i loro cuori,
e l’incostanza è nascosta nel petto loro.
La runa Yr dunque è la runa dell’errore, della confusione, sia attraverso l’eccitamento della passione (amore, gioco, bere), sia attraverso le parole false, che cercano di piegare l’oppositore con parole pretestuose piuttosto che con reali ragioni. L’uomo di Yr, pertanto è “rovesciato”, aperto alle influenze subliminali, notturne ed infere.
Non a caso egli vuole la “Pace” come principio avulso dall’unico significato che essa comporta: il ritorno all’Ordine. La Pace (in questo caso coincidente con il Dharma) non è un valore di per sé, lo diviene nel momento in cui essa rivela la Perfezione, l’Equilibrio, l’Armonia, termini che sono quasi sinonimi ed esprimono, sotto diversi aspetti, il riflesso dell’Unità nella Molteplicità. “Pace” che comporta la medesima perfezione a livello Macrocosmico e Microcosmico, risultato della Piccola Guerra Santa (el-jihaadul-açgar) e della Grande Guerra Santa (el-jihaadul-akbar).
La “Pace” di chi espone quel simbolo non è altro che l’opportunismo che proviene dalla propria dimensione materiale ed esclusiva, l’uomo del Chaos interiore ed esteriore, contro la semplicità e la geometricità dell’uomo aperto alla dimensione del Cosmòs.
5.
USA and the Pope
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120659621981720.xml&coll=1
How the Pope might influence election
Two days after the 2004 presidential election William Portier ran into an acquaintance at the grocery store.
The man was a strong opponent of the Iraq war and had demonstrated against it, but when it came time to vote, he chose not to.
“He said he couldn’t vote for (George) Bush because of the war, and he couldn’t vote for (John) Kerry because of his support for abortion,” said Portier, a distinguished professor of religious studies and chair in Catholic theology at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Pope Benedict XVI arrives for his first visit in the United States next month with the country once again in the middle of a heated presidential election.
And while no one believes the pope will speak directly about the presidential election during his visit, the tone and focus of his speeches could help influence millions of Catholic voters, many of whom live in key swing states such as Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which holds its primary next month.
If Benedict speaks pointedly about abortion, it could give a lift to Republican Sen. John McCain, even though McCain is at odds with the church on one key issue: embryonic stem cell research.
“John Paul II made it quite clear that the litmus test for Catholic orthodoxy was abortion, with sexuality not being far behind,” said Mary E. Hunt, of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. “But I’m not sure how Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict will go on about that in the public arena in the states, whereas John Paul II had no compunction about bringing it up. He put it front and center like red meat.”
But if Benedict also focuses more on world peace, poverty and church positions against capital punishment and punitive immigration laws, then many Catholics may consider supporting whichever Democrat gets the nomination, experts say.
If Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton can make even small inroads among the deeply religious Catholics who have voted Republican in recent elections, they could improve their chances of winning key swing states.
Theologians agree this election will be less rancorous among Catholics than in 2004 because there is no Catholic candidate and because the debate over gay marriage is now being held at the state level rather than national, as it was in 2004.
During the 2004 presidential election, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops debated at great length whether a pro-abortion Catholic politician — such as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, although the bishops never mentioned him by name — should be denied Communion. In the end the bishops put the responsibility on the candidates, saying if a Catholic lawmaker knew he was out of step with fundamental church teaching on issues of life, he should stay away from the altar.
Also expected to be missing this year will be heated national discussion on same-sex marriage laws. A constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage supported by the Bush administration — and the Catholic Church — was defeated in the U.S. Senate in 2006. McCain voted against the amendment which would have banned same-sex marriages.
Thus what Catholic voters may struggle to find come November, is a clear political home. Of the three candidates, none is perfect fit for Catholics hoping to elect a president sensitive to all their issues.
HOW TO DECIDE
To help Catholics sort out their responsibilities both as citizens and members of the church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops periodically publishes a document called “Forming Consciousness for Faithful Citizenship.” But depending on who you are, or how you read the most recent issue, published last fall, the advice can be confusing.
Abortion is considered an “intrinsic evil” by the church, meaning the action is a moral evil and against the will of god. Euthanasia, cloning, legalizing same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research are also considered intrinsic evils.
Some Catholic theologians hold that if a political candidate supports such an “intrinsic evil,” Catholics simply cannot vote for him or her because it is the sanctity of human life from which all issues flow.
Clinton and Obama support abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. And although McCain supports embryonic stem cell research, he agrees with church on abortion and same-sex marriage, despite his vote against the federal amendment.
“The issue for Catholics is whether they agree with the teachings of the church on the question of the killing of innocent life,” said the Rev. Richard Neuhaus, the editor of First Things, a journal of religion, culture and public life. “The protection of life takes priority over a whole range of issues that reasonable people can disagree about.”
The Faithful Citizenship document, however, states that if a candidate opposes an intrinsic evil, but is indifferent to other important church issues — such as capital punishment, reducing poverty, ending the war in Iraq — a Catholic voter could support another candidate for what are called “morally grave reasons” and not compromise him or herself in the eyes of the church.
“In other words,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, “you’ve got a pro-choice candidate running for office and (a voter says), ‘I think there are morally compelling reasons why I should vote for this candidate’ because, for example, this candidate is in favor of health care for children and treatment for pregnant women. That would be a compelling reason.”
But don’t look for the bishops as a group to tell Catholics specifically how to vote. A November press release from the United States Council on Bishops on the Faithful Citizenship document specifically noted that the group was not trying to instruct its members — who accounted for 25 percent of actual voters in the 2004 presidential election — what to do in the polling booth.
“What the church does want,” says the Rev. Drew Christiansen, editor of America magazine, “is for its members to think.
“You have to have a well-informed conscience and know the church’s teaching on all these choices and make a conscience decision on who will best serve the country and the church,” said Christiansen.
The bishops conference doesn’t favor one political party over the other, said Reese, and has never been happy with either group’s platforms.
“They’re not happy with pro-choice Democrats, although if you go through (the Faithful Citizenship) document when they start giving examples of what the government should do, overwhelming the bishops on public policy are to the left of liberal Democrats,” said Reese. “So only three things in the Faithful Citizenship document would be close to Republican positions: abortion, gay marriage and aid to Catholic schools.”
VOTES UP FOR GRAB
What the fall election will be more about is “can good Catholics vote for Clinton or Obama and it seems to me they can,” said Portier of the University of Dayton.
“This is a great opportunity for one or both of them to kind of make a move in the direction of Catholic Democrats in Pennsylvania by departing or nuancing the Roe v. Wade orthodoxy,” he said, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973.
Clinton, he said, has sort of inherited her husband’s “safe, legal and rare,” position, referring to former President Bill Clinton’s policy on abortion.
“She could say more, like, ‘(Abortion is) a moral question for a lot of people, but we don’t have a majority consensus on what the law should be,’ and admit that it’s more complex,” he said.
As for Obama, “I think (he’s) also in a good position to do that. Catholics are going to vote for who they’re going to vote for, but there are a whole lot of people for whom abortion and stem cells are very important issues, and if a Democratic candidate made a gesture and recognized there are these concerns, they might have a better shot in places like Pennsylvania.”
Americans looking for direction on Benedict’s public policy priorities may find clues when he addresses the United Nations.
Reese said he believes Benedict will talk about a host of issues important to the church and not just focus on abortion and sexuality.’
“His political agenda is big and expansive and very much focused on issues of peace, justice and human rights and within human rights he sees the right to life being the pre-eminent human right,” said Reese. “To paint him as a one-issue person is to close your eyes to all the issues that he’s concerned about.”
Elizabeth Birge may be reached at ebirge@starledger.com or (973)-392-1760.
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3177&Itemid=48
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McCain and the Pope
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by Robert R. Reilly
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3/26/08
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http://catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12176
US
.- The Saint Michael the Archangel Organization is attempting to organize one million people in the United States to pray the Rosary for unborn babies on Saturday, May 3.
Organizers of the prayer event, called One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies, are asking participants to pray during the same 60-minute time span, beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
Patrick Benedict, President of the Saint Michael the Archangel Organization, said, “The primary way to stop the killing of unborn babies is not by way of politics and is not by way of education.”
“The person battling the ‘Culture of Death’ is primarily in a spiritual battle and needs to use spiritual weaponry,” he continued.
“The Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon, and I hope there will be at least one million people in the United States taking hold of their Rosaries on May 3.”
The organization is asking Pope Benedict XVI to re-establish the practice of offering prayers such as the Hail Mary and the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel after Mass. The organization also asks that these prayers be offered for the intention of ending the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn babies.
Participants can register for the event at www.SaintMichaelTheArchangelOrganization.org
By Heather Sells
CBN News Reporter
March 27, 2008
CBNNews.com – The fate of 400,000 embryos, frozen in labs around the country, is up for grabs. The government is spending millions to encourage their adoption, concerned that many will not survive.
Getting the message out to the public is a complicated task – from defining embryos to explaining their plight. But a little boy named Noah from New Orleans may be the best publicity of all. How His Life Began
Noah recently celebrated his first birthday. And for his family there’s much to celebrate.
Robert P. George is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and co-author of the book Embryo. George joined the 700 Club today for a full length interview on the subject of embryo adoption. Click play to watch.
Noah began his life as an embryo, frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in a canister at the Fertility Institute in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, doctors at the clinic realized a lack of air-conditioning jeopardized Noah’s little life and 1,400 other embryos in storage there. The heat could easily thaw them.
The doctors arranged a rescue operation that was primitive at best but effective. Louisiana State Police and Illinois Conservation Police provided flat-bottomed boats and escorted the canisters filled with tiny lives through flooded waters to safety.
Noah’s mother, Rebekah Markham, remembers, “It wasn’t until about 3 weeks after the storm that I called the fertility institute and asked about the embryos and they told me about the rescue and said that everything is fine.”
The rescued embryo that would become Noah was implanted in his mother’s womb in May 2006. On January 16, 2007, Noah Benton Markham was born to his grateful parents, Rebekah and Glen Markham.
Do Embryos Have Rights?
As quality of life debates move from fetuses to embryos, Noah’s story has captured the hearts of Americans across the country and made its point: What rights will we grant to embryos?
At issue is embryonic stem cell research and what we will allow to be done to embryos in the name of science and helping others.
Also, decisions must be made about what to do with the thousands of embryos routinely made during in-vitro fertilization which remain in storage.
Doctors often fertilize many more eggs than are needed to save couples the time and money from having to go through the process again.
Call it a Baby
Rod Stoddart oversees Nightlight Christian Services in California which began the country’s first embryo adoption program. Stoddart’s passion for the job is clear.
“An embryo,” he says, “is not an egg, not sperm, it’s a baby. It’s a baby at its very earliest stage of development but it’s a baby and destroying it is the same as abortion.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is spending millions in grants to Nightlight and other agencies, hoping to educate Americans about the existence of frozen embryos available for adoption.
Council of Europe Wants Total Decriminalisation of Abortion
A quote from Life Site, 19 March 2008
A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has now officially recommended that those few countries in Europe that still restrict abortions should guarantee unrestricted access to abortion. The draft resolution from the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men says countries should “decriminalise abortion, if they have not already done so.” The Committee also recommended that sex education be made mandatory for young people. […]
The Committee criticised even those legal restrictions that did not specifically prohibit abortion, saying, “The repeated medical consultations required, the time allowed for changing one’s mind and the waiting time for the abortion all have the potential to make access to abortion more difficult, or even impossible in practice”. […]
The Council of Europe, distinct from the Council or Parliament of the European Union, does not have legal authority under European treaties to require compliance, but nonetheless is an influential part of the European legal machinery and its recommendations are taken seriously in member states and the drafting of EU laws.
Like most international and pan-European bodies, the Council of Europe is known among life and family advocates for its strong secularist bias and support for the full programme of the abortion and pan-sexualist movement and anti-Christian bias.
by Bill McAllister
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
JUNEAU, Alaska — The state House of Representatives voted Tuesday for an expanded definition of partial-birth abortion that critics say effectively would be a ban on all abortions.
The debate became emotional at times on the House floor.
Supporters of the bill, who compare partial-birth abortion to infanticide, are trying to get around a previous Alaska Supreme Court ruling against a ban on the procedure, using language from the federal law that has been upheld by the nation’s highest court.
But opponents say it’s really an unconstitutional challenge to a woman’s right to choose.
When it comes to abortion, and more than on any other issue, lawmakers really say what they think, whether they fall into the pro-choice or pro-life camp.
“We lead the nation in violence to women. This legislation is, to me, an assault,” said Rep. Sharon Cissna, D-Anchorage.
“This is a form of human abuse, both for the mother, I think, and also for the child. For heaven’s sakes, draw the line at infanticide,” said Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage.
Supporters of a new ban on partial-birth abortions say it’s a gruesome procedure and abhorrent because a baby is actually in the process of being delivered.
“I see potentially a baby there who can’t speak, who can’t raise their hand and even gesture for anyone to help them, who can’t say, ‘please, stop and rethink this.’ Who can’t say, ‘please, there are other options out there,’” said Rep. Nancy Dahlstron, R-Eagle River.
But opponents say the ban would apply to all abortions and would make no exceptions when a woman’s health is at stake.
“This bill’s going to last 10 minutes on the books and it’s going to be struck down. So for $800,000, the cost of the legal fees that are going to be incurred by this bill, go ahead, try and take away a woman’s right to choose, try and take away a woman’s right to a first-trimester abortion,” said Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage.
The House approved the bill without a vote to spare.
But as most lawmakers acknowledged, it’s a debate that’s not going to end any time soon.
A companion bill has gotten a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but passage in the Senate seems doubtful, given the bipartisan coalition that’s running the chamber.
Even if it did pass, all abortion legislation ends up in the courts. The state Supreme Court struck down the previous partial-birth abortion ban.
Supporters are using the definition of partial-birth abortion passed by Congress and upheld by the United States Supreme Court, so they say they should be on firm ground.
But pro-choice lawmakers note that the state constitution has an explicit right to privacy, which the federal Constitution does not.
Contact Bill McAllister at bmcallister@ktuu.com
Any attempt at diverting the debate by calling for “rights for abortion” is one of the most dishonest strategies commonly used by the pro-abortion side. This is a shameful attempt by members of the council to demonize any state or person who may object to abortion, even if their position is based upon sound pro-life values and documented scientific facts. It is all the more detestable as the Council of Europe are supposed to champion human rights yet are calling for member countries to allow laws that clearly contradict the very nature of our humanity.
It is not surprising that in the line-up of professional advisors to the council are a wide range of pro-abortion experts representing different views on abortion: These include the infamous the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), whoa re the foremost International promoters of abortion. the Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (IEPFPD), the International Federation of Professional Abortion and Contraception Associates, “Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle” (Germany), the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), “Abortion Rights” (United Kingdom).
The fact that no pro-life group was invited to give testimony is most revealing in itself.
Gift of Life will be monitoring the situation, especially the events of the 14 and 18 April 2008 carefully as we re-launch the +9 right to life campaign in Malta.
Gift of Life
Catholic leader attacks “monstrous” embryo research
LONDON (Reuters) – Research using hybrid human-animal embryos for experiments is “monstrous” and should be banned, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said on Friday.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien said a proposed new law — the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill — should outlaw the practice.
The House of Lords rejected attempts earlier this year to include a ban on hybrid research in the draft legislation.
“This Bill represents a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life,” O’Brien will say in his Easter Sunday sermon, according to extracts published in Friday’s Daily Record newspaper. “In some other European countries, one could be jailed for doing what we intend to make legal.”
In an interview with BBC radio on Friday, he added: “This is Frankenstein science and it must be stopped.”
Scientists said the cardinal did not understand the issue properly and accused him of “scaremongering”.
Supporters of hybrid research say it will give scientists the large number of embryos they need to make stem cells to help find cures for a range of diseases.
Researchers create inter-species hybrids by injecting human DNA into a hollowed-out animal egg cell. The resulting embryo is 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal.
Britain is one of the leading states for stem cell research, attracting scientists from around the world with a permissive environment that allows embryo studies within strict guidelines.
Scientists in China, the United States and Canada have carried out similar work, the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal.
Dr Stephen Minger, director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, King’s College London, said the cardinal “didn’t understand the basic facts”.
“The church should carefully review the science they are commenting on, and ensure that their official comments are accurate, before seriously misinforming their congregations,” he said in a statement.
Dr Lyle Armstrong, of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, northeast England, said: “The aim of our experiments is to discover ways to make stem cells for anyone that will be invaluable in treating human diseases, not to give birth to some abnormal chimera.”
The BBC reported on Friday that at least one member of the cabinet may resign over the proposed law. It did not name the politician.
A spokeswoman at the prime minister’s office said there would be no response to the cardinal or the BBC report.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which regulates the research, gave permission to two groups of UK-based scientists to use hybrids in January.
The draft law is making its way through parliament and is due to return to the House of Commons in the coming weeks.
(Editing by Paul Majendie and Tim Pearce)
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