Both Vice-president Pence and Mike Pompeo are active evangelicals, believing in the whole evangelical package, including the so-called rapture, a final battle between good and evil, and the second coming of Jesus, when the faithful will ascend to heaven and the rest of us will go to hell. One of the preconditions for this event …
At the Second Lateran Council 1139 Rome imposed mandatory celibacy for priests. The issue was money because, under primogeniture (now disappeared) the sons of bishops and priests had a legal claim on the land and holdings of the priestly “living.” Celibacy was instituted, but at the same time the Church, not then or since, has …
In an interview published on Wednesday evening by Religion Digital, the religious portal of the Spanish-language news site Periodista Digital, Cardinal Maradiaga once again strongly criticized Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò for having gone public about McCarrick’s sexual predations and the protection the Cardinal received from the highest spheres in the Vatican, especially since Pope Francis …
Continue reading ‘The scandal in the Catholic church goes from bad to overwhelming’ »
A highly placed Vatican source claims that Cardinal Gerhard Müller, together with three experienced CDF priests, was dismissed by Pope Francis because they all had tried to follow loyally the Church’s standing rules concerning abusive clergymen. In one specific case, Müller opposed the Pope’s re-instatement of Don Mauro Inzoli, an unmistakably cruel abuser of many …
We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” (Richard Dawkins)
Liberals in Iran have recently been outraged by the arrest of a teenage gymnast who posted videos of herself dancing in her bedroom. Maedeh Hojabri, who has tens of thousands of social media followers, was seen crying on state TV last week during what some suspected was a forced confession: under Iran’s sharia law, it …
Continue reading ‘The reactionary ayatollahs should be ashamed of themselves’ »
It appears that the governor of Jubaland, Somalia, has banned the use of single-use plastic bags on the grounds that “they pose a serious threat to the well-being of humans and animals alike”. It has also forbidden the logging of rare trees. The governor, Mohammed Abu Abdullah, is head of a terrorist group allied with …
The “Epicurean paradox” or “Riddle of Epicurus” is a version of the problem of evil. Lactantius attributes this trilemma to Epicurus in De Ira Dei: “God,” he says, “either wishes to take away evils, and is unable; or He is able, and is unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able, or He is both …
“At a Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, TX, I witnessed something that is now seared into my mind: A large warehouse facility with cells constructed of fence posts and chain link fencing—like dog kennels or large cages. “But the style of construction isn’t the issue. What is the issue is that in that facility …
“If God answers prayers, we should see miraculous effects of prayer. With millions of prayers having been said every day for thousands of years, we would expect some to have been answered by now in a verifiable way. They have not. “If God has revealed truths to humanity, then these truths should be testable. Over …
On 25 May, Ireland will vote on whether to repeal the 8th Amendment to its constitution, which prohibits abortion unless a mother’s life is threatened. Based on opinion polling, the Repeal campaign should win. But polls have tightened in recent weeks. About a fifth of Irishmen are undecided. The result will almost certainly not be …
Continue reading ‘Abortion in Ireland: the weaknesses of the Repeal campaign.’ »
Paige Patterson is president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Fort Worth school whose website says it is one of the largest seminaries in the world. About 15 million people are part of Southern Baptist churches, the largest Protestant group in the United States. Patterson is slated to deliver the primary sermon — a …
Continue reading ‘American evangelicals: why are there so many of them?’ »
The secularist drive to rid France of any hint of its Christian past is becoming “insane”, says Gilles-William Goldnadel. A court has just ruled that a cross atop a statue of Pope John Paul II in the town of Ploërmel in Brittany – sculpted by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli – must be removed. Apparently it …
The Guardian of March 30, 2018 carried an article by Peter Ormerod that suggested that “In the light of widespread rejection among Europe’s young people“, Christianity as a default, as a norm, is gone, and is probably gone for good.” He suggested that this might, long term, actually be good news for Christianity, which started …
Continue reading ‘Will Christianity decline but be re- born?’ »
Stephen Hawking, who has unfortunately just died, famously declared that there was no need for a creator. He was an atheist who stated that science offered a more convincing explanation of life and the universe than god or gods. He believed that the universe is governed by the laws of science. In his 2010 book, …
The number of confirmed exoplanets stands at 3,500, of which, scientists believe, at least some are potential Earths, with very similar characteristics. This poses a theological and philosophical conundrum for many religions, especially Christianity, which focuses on mankind and teaches that God created man in his own image, exclusively on our one small planet. So …
Continue reading ‘Religion and the possible discovery of people on other planets’ »
I am British. Some while ago I visited the American South Western states, including Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona, and was amazed at the lack of general knowledge among the people we met and with whom we had lovely conversations . May I suggest that the basic reason for the USA evangelicals’ take on life is …
It once had a claim to be the fastest-growing religious sect in American history, but the prospects don’t look so rosy for the Mormon Church these days. The sense of confidence and momentum is absent in the current Church, which is registering only 1.59% annual growth – its “slowest pace since 1937”. That’s still a …
(This message was sent to my sister in England. She and her family met the writer during a visit to Israel) “Christians in the middle east are both worried and upset by the American declaration that Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel. They are particularly concerned about the uncritical support given by American Evangelical …
Continue reading ‘A message from Rev. Dr. Jack Sara, Palestinian pastor and evangelical Christian’ »
Posted by rhanrott on 10 January 2018, The following is an email sent me years ago from Australia when this blog was first launched. It is very touching: From. joan.garvan@anu.edu.au I am writing today because I was an unwanted child. I am now 55 years old and my mum just passed away a week or …
