Archbishop Urges Prayer and Support for Royal Couple

Writing on his website, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged people to both pray for and support Prince William and Kate Middleton, not only as they say their wedding vows on Friday at 11am London time, but also as they prepare to take up their responsibilities as a royal couple.

“No individual exists alone,” wrote the Archbishop. “People come to their weddings with family and friends around them. And of course with this particular wedding, they’re coming with friends and supporters all around the world, watching and witnessing.

“Every wedding then, sends a message to people. It’s two people declaring something, not only about themselves, but about what they most deeply believe, the values they must deeply hold to, declaring that to the whole world around them.”

Williams added, “A marriage is good news because it says something so deep about our humanity and it tells us that we can have grounds for hope that there are still people around us who want to spend their lives with each other, who want to make this great act of generous commitment to one another and so everybody around the world watching this will have some sense of the commitments that are possible.”

Williams lauded the young couple as being “deeply unpretentious,” and said it had been an absolute please to get to know them.

“I think they have a clear sense of what they believe they’re responsible to. They’re responsible to the whole society, responsible to God for their relationship, and I think it’s impressive that they’ve had that simplicity about it – they’ve known what matters, what’s at the heart of all this.

“Naturally, I want to wish William and Catherine every richest blessing in their life together. But I want to wish them especially the courage and clarity they’ll need to live out this big commitment ... to live it out for the rest of us.”

The archbishop concluded, “I hope they’ll be given the strength and the persistence to go on showing the rest of us what’s possible, for the whole of their life together.”

Christopher Hitchens says he will affirm atheism even in the face of death

The renowned atheist, author and philosopher Christopher Hitchens affirmed to the American Atheists conference over the Easter weekend, that even though he had lost his voice to esophageal cancer, his atheistic beliefs were stronger than ever.

Hitchens wrote a letter to the conference, where he encouraged fellow unbelievers to remain united and to carry on the “secular revolution.”

“Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal; the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need),” wrote Hitchens.

The atheist, made famous by his book “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,”and by the debates he engaged in with well-known Christian leaders, honestly shared that he was in a “long argument” with the “specter of death” in which no one has ever won. Yet, Hitchens assured the conference, as the idea of death becomes more familiar, so the “pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance” becomes “more hollow and artificial”.

Hitchens said he placed his trust in medical science and the support of friends and family rather than the “false consolations of religion.”

Hitchens is presently undergoing experimental cancer treatment for his stage 4 esophageal cancer. One of the doctors that helped design the treatment is none other than the evangelical scientist Francis Collins. Collins is a previous debating opponent of Hitchens, but now they are firm friends.

Hitchens has previously warmly praised Collins, saying they enjoy a “wonderful relationship” despite their religious differences.

Hitchens concluded the letter by encouraging his fellow atheists to continue resisting “this sinister nonsense,” and to defend and uphold the separation of church and state. Hitchens finished with the words "Don’t keep the faith.”

Global Poll reveals that a majority of people believe in God

A massive global poll has shown that 51% of people believe in God, while only 18% don’t and 17% are undecided.

The poll was conducted by the global research company, Ipsos Social Research Institute, and they questioned over 18,000 people based in 23 different countries.

The managing director of Ipsos, Bobby Duffy, informed Reuters, "It may seem to many that we live in a secular world but this survey shows just how important spiritual life is to so many global citizens with half saying they believe in a spiritual being and the same proportion in an afterlife of some sort or other.”

"The other really interesting thing is that such a large proportion of the remaining people are just not sure there is a spiritual explanation either for how they got here or what happens after they die."

South African ranks in the top percentages of countries where a majority of people ascribe to a “definitive belief in a God or Supreme Being," with 83% of South Africans confirming this as their belief, fourth on the list behind Indonesia (93%), Turkey (91%) and Brazil (84%). Those who are most likely to believe in “many Gods or Supreme Beings” live in India (24%), China (14%) and Russia (10%).

Those countries at the top of the list of those who say they don’t believe in God or a Supreme Being(s) are France (39%), Sweden (37%), Belgium (36%), Great Britain (34%), Japan (33%) and Germany (31%).

When it comes to questions of heaven and hell, the statistics roughly match those who believe in God with around half of the global population believing in a form of afterlife. However, nearly a quarter of respondents do not believe in either heaven or hell.

Other findings of interest revealed by the survey shows that 41% of people believe in human evolution, while 28% believe in creationism and 31% are unsure what to believe.

The participating countries for the survey were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.

Have they found the ‘God Particle’?

Rumours emanating from the Large Hadron Collidor project are suggesting that the elusive so-called “God Particle” may have been found.

Unconfirmed reports from a leaked internal memo suggests that one of the detectors at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, might have picked up signals that could be the long sought after particle, called the Higgs boson.

The Large Hadron Collider project aims to use their massive £6 billion atom smasher to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs boson, a theoretical particle believed to give everything in the universe mass.

The particle is an essential aspect of the model used by scientists to describe how particles and atoms are made up, and rumours that evidence of this Higgs boson had been discovered began after an internal memo was posted on the internet.

However, other scientists have been quick to disregard the claim since many candidates for the particle that appear in the collision experiments at the LHC are easily dismissed after closer examination.

Some experts even denounced the memo as a hoax, but a spokesperson for CERN, James Gillies, while admitting the memo was genuine said it was one of thousands currently being produced by the physicists and that it still needed to undergo further assessment.

Gillies said: "It is far too early to say if there is anything to it or not. There are 3,000 scientists working on ATLAS and they divide the analysis work up between them.

"This is an internal communication that highlights something interesting, but it has to go through several stages of assessment by the scientific team before it will be released as an official result by the collaborative team.

"The majority of these things turn out to be nothing at all. It is very speculative at this stage, but there is a great deal of excitement and anticipation that something will be found which is probably why this has found its way onto the internet."

However, the official caution has not served to dampen the intense and excited speculation on various internet blogs and scientific websites.

Prosperity won’t bring you happiness, insists Archbishop in Easter message

The Archbishop of Cathedral, Dr. Rowan Williams, said in his Easter Sermon that the narrow pursuit of material goals won’t bring happiness, but only ''personal and communal fulfilment.''

Williams emphasised that joy was a result of living with an outward focus, by fostering relationships with others and the surrounding world.

The Archbishop referenced the British government’s proposals to try to measure the nation’s well being, and to seek ''happiness rather than just prosperity.''

Williams said: ''Now it's certainly a good thing that people have publicly acknowledged that there is more to life than the level of our Gross National Product, that we're just beginning to say out loud that corporate prosperity divorced from personal and communal fulfilment or stability is an empty thing.

''It seems that, just as we can't find fulfilment in just loving ourselves, so we can't just generate happiness for ourselves. It comes from outside, from relationships, environment, the unexpected stimulus of beauty - but not from any programme that we can identify.''

Dr Williams requested his listeners to consider Christians around the glob who are persecuted because of their religion, or who are coping with some form of personal grief.

"We might well remember today some of those in such situations - Christians facing threats and attacks in Pakistan or, right at the moment, in Northern Nigeria; and please pray and think of them, as some fanatics of all backgrounds seek to exploit religious differences there, even in the wake of what appears as a free and fair election.

"Or we might think of an aid worker in Congo, or a nurse or teacher in a strained and under-resourced institution, or a carer sitting through the night with a terminally ill child - people such as this will sometimes speak, shockingly, of feeling joy in the middle of what they endure."

Following on from this, Dr Williams also challenged people to look past their own preoccupations and worries.

"What we can contribute by our will or effort is not a system for making ourselves happy but a habit of readiness to receive. The person whose mind is completely cluttered with anxiety, self-absorbed worry or vanity or resentment, is going to find it hard to give way to moments of gift and surprise."

(Image from file).

Chinese Christians arrested in Easter raid

Chinese police arrested dozens of Christians when they moved to prevent a Protestant church from holding its Easter Sunday service.

The arrests form part of a continued crack-down on protesters against one-party rule, and this church in particular has a history of conflict with the government. The arrests were made after the church defied a governmental order denying them permission to worship in a public building.

Worshippers from the church were bussed away while still singing hymns, while church leaders promised to continue the protests.

"The devil Satan has taken advantage of the authority God has granted to the national government and is seeking to destroy God's church," wrote Pastor Jin Tianming. "His devil's claws have finally been revealed. Satan get thee behind me!"

"Between 20 and 30 followers were taken away," said Pastor Jin in a telephone interview from his home, where he has been under house arrest for the past fortnight.

Christians are not allowed to worship in China unless they register with the state-approved churches, but millions of Christians refuse to submit to this level of government control so they are forced to worship underground.

It is estimated that around 40 million Christians currently worship underground, while others claim the figures could be as high as 80 million. The church that endured the Easter arrests is known as Shouwang church and has around 1,500 members.

Human rights groups warn that this form of repression will only serve to raise support for the Christians.

"The Chinese government are playing a very dangerous game," said Mark Shan, a spokesman for ChinaAid, a US-based Christian rights group. "They are pushing the church into a corner and other Christians, when they see how Shouwang have been treated, may react in the same defiant way."

Easter Friday Reflection: The Cry

Who could ever forget those awful clips of 9/11, of airplanes smashing into buildings whilst crowds of people below screamed in terror? What is burnt into my memory is one particular clip where you could actually make out people yelling in fear, “Oh my God, what is happening? My God, this can’t be happening. My God, where are you?”

It’s painful but not strange to hear people calling out to God. Even the staunchest of atheists can yell out for divine assistance as reflex action in times of fear, or pain, or desperation. That’s not strange at all. What does seem strange to us, however, is the thought of God crying. For that’s how Matthew’s Gospel ends Jesus’ life. With a loud sob of desperation, a yell of fear, a cry of abandonment.

That is a strange thought. I mean, this is God after all. We expect God to be powerful and to use power. In fact, that’s why, gathered around Jesus’ cross we find these mocking crowds. People saying things like, “C’mon down from that cross. If you are God, if you are the Messiah, then show us. That cross shouldn’t be able to hold you. You saved others but you can’t even save yourself! Show us your power!”

And so as Jesus shifted on the cross, as he gathered himself to speak, the crowds fell silent – waiting. The disciples tensed up, ‘let this be the moment, show your power’ they might have thought, and they waited as well. They all waited … and then … God cried. Not a sign of power, but one of desperation!

“Eloi, Eloi. Lama sabacthani.’ ‘My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

Now this is strange, even mysterious. It doesn’t sound divine to cry like that, it sounds human. But it shouldn’t be strange. Painful to hear, yes, but not strange. I mean we all know God HAS power, that God created with raw, effortless power. But God has shown again and again that when it comes to saving us, when it comes to finding us, that when it comes to bringing us back into relationship with him, God will not use power.

For God will not force us, he will not kick down the doors of our hearts; he will not leave us without any other choices but him. No. He will love us. And he will reach us by loving us. And that is why God cried! As Jesus said over and over to his disciples – he was prepared to take his journey of love right to it’s inevitable end point, he was prepared to face all of life with us, even those vinegar bitter tasting moments, even if it meant facing death.

Love isn’t really love until we truly share each others experiences, until we learn to walk together with someone through difficult moments. Of course, love is laughing together, but love is also crying together. … and that is why God cried. Jesus’ cry of abandonment on the cross is painful for us to hear, but it is also the most loving thing we will ever hear.

The Cry reminds us that God chooses to share all human experiences with us, even the very worst. The Cry reminds us that what was holding Jesus to the cross while the crowds mocked him was not force, it was not nails … it was love. Choice held him there!

God cried that Friday because that is the way God chooses to reach us, find us and bring us back to him. God shares our deepest places of hurt, he experiences our greatest fears, and he walks through our worst places of abandonment and loneliness. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is the cry of one who has nothing else to give and nowhere else to turn, of one who has done all that has been asked of him in the face of loneliness and betrayal. It is also the deepest cry of God’s heart.

Craig Kocher says that this desperate, anguished, gut-level cry is the cry of parents who receive the phone call of their nightmares. It is the cry of the patient diagnosed with AIDS. It is the cry of a refugee with no place to call home. It is the cry of a family waking up to no feed to eat. It is the cry of a child, orphaned by a road accident. It is the cry of all humanity, longing for a day when tears and crying and death will be no more.

In this cry from the cross, God in Christ goes to the very depths of our sadness, abandonment, sin and death. When God cried he showed us the true power of love for in that moment Jesus gathered up all of humanity’s cries and tears in his own breath and nailed them to the cross in his own body.

And this is why the church insists on calling this Friday ... Good.

For this is the moment when the story turned forever. The Cry is sin’s last gasp effort to maintain control over the world and keep the divide between God and humanity. The Cry is death in the final throes of death, one last fruitless attempt to claim victory over life.

The Cry is that moment when love washed over sin, grace won over loneliness and Life defeated death. The Cry echoes on through history, and weaves its way through all our human experiences, and if we listen carefully this Easter weekend, we will hear it too.

We will hear its good news and feel its embrace. For no matter how we feel, the truth is that we are not alone, and we never will be. We are not abandoned, for God is here.

(Image is Munch’s The Cry).

Easter release of Lady Gaga’s Judas video ruffles religious feathers

Lady Gaga has had her fair share of religious controversy lately, but seems set to stir things up again with plans for an Easter release of the video to her new single Judas.

Lady Gaga’s production team was forced into releasing the song itself a week ago when poor quality copies were made available online.

The song uses Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, as a metaphor for “falling in love with the wrong man over and over again” and going “back again to those evil things”.

Some of the lyrics read: “In the most Biblical sense/I am beyond repentance/Fame hooker, prostitute wench, vomits her mind.”

It seems that Lady Gaga dresses up as Mary Magdalene in the music video, complete with a black cape and dark make-up.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights criticised the timing of the video launch as a cheap, publicity “stunt”.

“Lady Gaga tries to continue to shock Catholics and Christians in general. She dresses as a nun … she swallows the rosary. She has now morphed into a caricature of herself," said Bill Donohue, a spokesperson for the group who ripped into the pop star.

“She is trying to rip off Christian idolatry to shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances,” he added.

“Is this the only way to jet up her performance? This isn’t random, we are getting closer to Holy Week and Easter. Does she actually believe her own BS?”

Lady Gaga, Bieber and U2 All Outshone by Christian Music Tour

In an announcement that should interest all music lovers, Pollstar have said that the biggest selling concert tour of 2011 is not U2 or Lady Gaga, but rather a Christian music tour.

Pollstar is a worldwide publication that covers the concert industry, and their announcement will have surprised many since their analysis included tours by some of the world’s most popular musicians including Justin Bieber, Bon Jovi, U2, X Factor Live, and Lady Gaga.

The Christian music tour, otherwise known as Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular drew record audiences of over 500,000. The 46-city tour was the brainchild of the Grammy nominated band NewSong and features some of the most popular Christian musicians in the industry, including Newsboys, David Crowder Band, Kutless, Francesca Battistelli, RED, KJ-52.

The tour was accompanied by guest speaker Tony Nolan, and also included a Pre-Jam party presented by the American Bible Society with Sidewalk Prophets, Chris August, Chris Sligh and Jason Castro.

The Winter Jam has been running for the last 16 years, and has been close to the top position before when in 2010 it reached second spot with sales of over 400,000 tickets, surpassing artists such as Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Coldplay and Bon Jovi.

The tour founder, NewSong’s Eddie Carswell, was humbled by the success of the tour, and especially pleased with how many people it reached.

“We are grateful and humbled by the response to this year’s Winter Jam that only God Himself could have orchestrated.

“It is amazing to think that nearly 100,000 people made meaningful, life-changing decisions to follow Christ and that over 13,000 made a commitment to assist orphans through our partnership with Holt. To truly impact lives is the reason that Winter Jam was created 16 years ago.”

The Resurrection Brings ‘Perspective’ says Obama

The U.S. President Barack Obama continued his tradition of hosting an Easter Prayer Breakfast during Holy Week on Tuesday, as an opportunity to connect with Christian leaders as well as reflect on his own faith.

The breakfast occurred a week after Obama hosted an intimate Passover Seder with high-profile Jewish leaders.

The list of around 100 leaders invited to the breakfast included mega-church pastors such as Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House, Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church, and Joel Hunter of Northland Church.

During his address, Obama reflected that the resurrection of Jesus helped him keep things “in perspective.”

"I wanted to host this breakfast for a simple reason – because as busy as we are, as many tasks pile up, during this season, we are reminded that there’s something about the resurrection ... of our savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective," Obama affirmed.

"The triumph of Palm Sunday. The humility of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. His slow march up that hill, and the pain and the scorn and the shame of the cross. And we’re reminded that in that moment, he took on the sins of the world – past, present and future – and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection," he said.

"And that’s why we have this breakfast," Obama later added. "Because in the middle of critical national debates, in the middle of our busy lives, we must always make sure that we are keeping things in perspective."

Obama’s remarks certainly seemed to impact some of the leaders present with mega-church pastor Dave Gibbons of NewSong Community Church later tweeting: "You may find it difficult to believe but Experienced some Holy moments at the White House today."

What the Hell? Barna Study Finds that Many Born-Again Christians Hold Universalist Views

Move over Rob Bell. In a recent detailed analysis of polls conducted by Barna over the last five years, it was found that 25% of born-again Christians believe that all people are eventually saved or accepted by God. An even higher percentage (40%) said they believed that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, while 43% said they agreed with the statement “It doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons,” while 54 percent disagreed with the statement.

For the purposes of this latest study, Barna defined ‘universalism’ as the belief that all human beings will eventually be saved after death, while they defined ‘born-again Christians’ as people who have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and who believe they will go to heaven after death because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.”

The study comes at a time when debate is still raging around the popular author Rob Bell’s latest book, ‘Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.’ Bell’s book raised heated controversy in Christian circles because it seems to endorse universalism, although Rob Bell has emphatically denied this.

Bell’s book has made such an impact on popular culture in the United States that last week Time magazine released its Easter Week version with a special cover story on the controversial views contained in it.

Bell was criticised by many other Christian leaders for the thoughts raised in his book because they believe he has negated the need for Christ to have died on the cross, as well as displacing Scriptural teaching on an eternal hell.

The Bible Outranks Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber on Facebook

According to figures released this week, the Bible page on Facebook has 6.7 million fans making it among the most popular pages on the social networking site outranking Manchester United, Justin Bieber and even Lady Gaga.

Jane Pleace, who manages the page for the United Bible Societies said that approximately one million of the page’s fans regularly wrote messages on the wall and re-posted Bible verses on their own personal page every week.

“With their help, United Bible Societies has shared Scripture over 239 million times on Facebook in the last month alone. It’s wonderful to see people leaving comments saying how they’ve been touched by a particular Bible passage we’ve posted on our page,” said Pleace.

“As many churches grapple how to get people to read the Bible, United Bible Societies is helping nearly seven million people read the Bible daily, using the social networking site Facebook.”

Pleace added that 51% of those fans were under the age of 25-years.

“Young people come to the Bible page with questions about the Christian faith. They ask deeply thoughtful, intelligent and searching questions about the teachings in the Bible,” emphasised Pleace.

“We have the opportunity to address each question individually. We pray for these young people and we’ve been blessed to see some of them come to faith.”

Pleace also said that people of different faith backgrounds also visited the site to debate or discuss issues of faith.

“We love to debate with people who hold different viewpoints,” Pleace said. “We try to demonstrate God’s love for all people in our responses by showing a genuine interest in everyone.

“I’m proud of all the volunteers who respond to provoking questions with good humour and a generous spirit.

“For some people, this is their only contact with Christians, so it’s important that they know we are a loving and accepting community.”

You can visit The Bible page at: www.facebook.com/TheBible

Please note you cannot click on the link in this page but will have to cut and paste it into your browser.

Hell Pizza Offends Christians With Jesus Hot Cross Bun Ad

A New Zealand pizza chain called Hell Pizza has offended Christians with its latest series of adverts. The adverts promote a limited offer of hot cross buns, and the buns are seen complete with an upside-down pentagram inscribed on them, while next to the photo are the words: “For a limited time. A bit like Jesus.”

According to The New Zealand Herald, the Anglican Church through their media officer Lloyd Ashton reacted to the adverts by saying:

“They [Hell Pizza] join a long line of advertising that’s in questionable taste that slings off things that lots of people hold precious.

“It’s disrespectful to what a lot of people hold very dear.”

The Anglican Church received support from an editorial in the same paper which stated that ad is offensive even to non-Christians because it is a “gratuitous, if incoherent, attempt at provocation …”

“[It] is hard not to feel some sympathy for Christians, who are implicitly characterized as humorless if they object to the articles of their faith being ridiculed, or at least exploited, for commercial gains,” read the article.

“The tenets of Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism would not be so abused – quite possibly because the juveniles who design this sort of thing would not know enough about those religions to make fun of them. But the Christian religion is somehow seen as fair game.”

However, the Hell Pizza director Warren Powell reacted impatiently with the protest against his adverts.

“First of all, we’re acknowledging that Jesus Christ may have been on Earth for a limited time,” said Powell. “Again, it’s a debate. I think if people take it that way then they’re being a little bit single-minded.”

Hell Pizza has been in the news on a number of occasions due to their provocative and offensive advertising, the most well known being a commercial in 2008 that depicted Sir Edmund Hillary – a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist – actor Heath Ledger, and Queen Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon of England emerging from their graves to dance to Michael Jackson’s hit song “Thriller.”

This advert was pulled due to the number of complaints received, including from the Hillary family.

7,000 babies stillborn every day, says report

Approximately 7,000 stillbirths happen worldwide every day, with 98% of these occurring in middle and low-income countries, says a report published in The Lancet.

The report also emphasises that improved clinical care and pregnancy/birth monitoring could cut this number drastically, by as much as 50% by 2020.

"Care at birth will give us the biggest return and saves mothers, newborns and children," Dr Joy Lawn of Save the Children informed the BBC in an interview.

"Another really missed opportunity is treating syphilis during pregnancy and particularly in southern Africa, syphilis still kills babies and we estimate that around 136,000 stillbirths could be averted every year and that's at relatively low cost - it's about making your antenatal clinic services work.

"Other critical things would be treating hypertension in pregnancy, identifying diabetes in women who are pregnant and managing that better and then identifying babies that aren't growing well."

Countries such as Columbia, China, Mexico and Argentina have shown the way forward for the rest of the world, as their preventive measures have reduced stillbirth rates by 40% to 50% in recent years.

Secret Church Service Held to Confirm Kate Middleton

A secret church service was recently held to confirm Kate Middleton into the Church of England before her marriage to Prince William.

The ceremony was conducted by the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, who will give the sermon at the actual wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey on April 29.

Middleton was baptised as a baby but never confirmed as a teenager. The confirmation service marks the point where baptised Christians make a firm commitment to their faith, and it was during her marriage preparation counselling that Middleton decided she would like to be confirmed. Sources close to her have said she made the decision due to a "personal journey" of faith.

A St James's Palace spokesman stated: "Catherine Middleton was confirmed by the Bishop of London at a private service at St James's Palace attended by her family and Prince William.

"Miss Middleton, who was already baptised, decided to be confirmed as part of her marriage preparations."

The service was attended by Kate Middleton’s family and Prince William.

It is understood that Bishop Chartres is a great favourite of all the Royal family and highly regarded for his advice and wisdom. The Bishop confirmed Prince William as a 14-year-old and also officiated at the funeral of William’s mother, Diana.

Scottish Churches Embark On King James Bible Reading Marathon

Two churches based in Fife, Scotland have set their sights on becoming the first in Scotland to read the entire King James Bible in a week.

Largo and Newburn Parish Church and Largo St David’s will embark on a King James Bible reading marathon as part of celebrations taking place this year to mark the 400th anniversary of the completion of the King James Bible.

The reading of all 66 books of the Authorised Version will start on a Wednesday at 7am and will involve around 80 hours of reading through the course of seven days.

The reading gets underway on Wednesday morning at 7am and the Minister of Largo and Newburn Parish Church, the Rev John Murdoch, estimated that it will take around 80 hours of reading to read the Bible cover to cover. 



“This is a massive project and I very much hope that those taking part with us will enjoy reading the Bible from beginning to end," said the Rev John Murdoch, the minister of the two churches.

The reading marathon will be undertaken by readers in groups of four to six who will read for an hour.



"Obviously we wish as many groups as possible to read for as long as possible," Murdoch said, adding that he was very pleased with the public’s response to the marathon.

“We have already had a number of people sign up from all over the country. There’s a good mix of people out with the Church of Scotland, including Scottish Episcopalians, Baptists and Roman Catholics."


The ‘Bible-thon’ will attempt to raise donations in support of the Scottish Bible Society and an appeal fund for street children in Brazil.

Experts Laugh Off Claims that Crucifixion Nails Have Been Found

The Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici made the remarkable claim during a press conference in Jerusalem recently that he has found the original nails used to crucify Jesus.

Jacobovici said that the nails were discovered in 1990 during the excavation of a first century Jewish tomb that has links to Jesus.

However, experts and scholars are laughing off Jacobovici’s claims, saying they are nothing more than efforts to drum up publicity for his latest documentary, "The Nails of the Cross." The documentary details the search for the missing crucifixion nails.

The two corroded iron nails were found in what is believed to have been the tomb of the High Priest Caiaphas, who presided over the trial of Jesus. The nails have spent the last two decades in a laboratory in Tel Aviv where forensic anthropologist Israel Hershkowitz had been intensively studying them.

“These are probably, possibly, the nails from that Caiaphas tomb,” Jacobovici said, in a report filed by The Media Line. “So, if you accept that this is the tomb of Caiaphas and, if you accept that these nails came from that tomb, given that Caiaphas is only associated with the crucifixion of Jesus they very well could be those nails.”

Jacobovici’s claims are made all the more bolder because they are based only on empirical data, since it is impossible at this stage to extract DNA from iron.

“I think they have been looked at to see if there is bone residue and none has been found,” said the reporter. “I don’t think you can get blood and flesh.”

The documentary’s guest archaeologist, Gaby Barkay, made the point that iron nails are rarely found in tombs.

“There’s no proof that the nails are connected to any bones or proof from textual data that Caiaphas had the nails for the crucifixion with him after the crucifixion took place and after Jesus was taken down from the cross,” Barkay insisted. “On the other hand, those are possible things.”

Jacobovici believes that Caiaphas may well have kept the nails as a type of talisman offering protection while alive and in the afterlife because he either became a follower or Christ or witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion.

Yet the Israel Antiques Authority has said that the tomb has not yet been proven to belong to Caiaphas; and it could easily have belonged to another family with the same name.

IAA said in a statement, "There is no doubt that the talented director Simcha Jacobovici created an interesting film, at the center of which is a genuine archaeological artifact. However, the interpretation presented in it has no basis in the find or in archaeological research."

(Image depicts the journalist Simcha Jacobovici holding up one of the nails).

Atheist Publishes ‘Secular Bible’

British academic A.C. Grayling says that he has been long been pondering the following possibility: What if those ancient authors and editors who produced Bibles and other religious works over the centuries had instead focussed their efforts on compiling the greatest non-religious wisdom of their cultures?

This question resulted in a “lifetime’s work” for Grayling who recently published this exact kind of book - a book filled with the wisdom of Aristotle and other of civilisation’s great thinkers, reports CNN.com. Grayling has called his publication “The Good Book: A Humanist Bible,” subtitled “A Secular Bible” in the United Kingdom.

The Bible would surely have been “a very different book and may have produced a very different history for mankind,” had it relied upon the thoughts of philosophers and not prophets insists the atheist Grayling, a philosopher and professor at Birkbeck College, University of London.

“Humanist ethics didn’t claim to be derived from a deity," he says. "(They) tended to start from a sympathetic understanding of human nature and accept that there’s a responsibility that each individual has to work out the values they live by and especially to recognize that the best of our good lives revolve around having good relationships with people.”

Humanists and some atheists attempt to find meaning and purpose in life through human reason rather than religious experience.

As part of a concerted attempt to make his work accessible to ordinary folk, Grayling wrote his ‘secular’ Bible much like the original Bible, complete with double columns, chapters (the first is even called Genesis) and short verses.

Furthermore, "The Good Book," opens with a garden scene just as the original Bible does, but instead of featuring Adam and Eve, Grayling’s version includes Isaac Newton, the British scientist who pioneered the study of gravity.

"It was from the fall of fruit from such a tree that new inspiration came for inquiry into the nature of things," states a verse from "The Good Book's" opening chapter.

"When Newton sat in his garden, and saw what no one had seen before: that an apple draws the earth to itself, and the earth the apple," the verse continues, "Through a mutual force of nature that holds all things, from the planets to the stars, in unifying embrace."

The book's last chapter includes a secular humanist version of the Ten Commandments: "Love well, seek the good in all things, harm no others, think for yourself, take responsibility, respect nature, do your utmost, be informed, be kind, be courageous: at least, sincerely try."

Grayling has often been described as the “velvet atheist” or the “acceptable face of atheism,” since his style is so much more gentle than the fiercely anti-religious atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.

While Grayling admits he has written critically of religion in the past, he insists he is not trying to pick a fight with “The Good Book.”

“It’s not part of a quarrel,” Grayling said. “It’s a modest offering… another contribution to the conversation that mankind must have with itself.”

With that in mind, Grayling hopes that everyone will appreciate and read his book, and that includes Bible lovers.

Grayling’s main aim with “The Good Book” is that it will encourage people to “go beyond your teachers, your text” to understand that “we have to respect and relate to one another.”

“The Good Book” is already number 41 on Amazon’s UK bestseller list.

Donald Trump: I am a ‘Sunday church person’ and the Bible is ‘the thing’

Billionaire businessman and star of the reality TV show 'The Apprentice' Donald Trump has long been rumoured to have political ambitions, and as a potential GOP presidential contender he recently spoke freely about his faith saying he is a "Sunday church person."

“I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book. It is the thing," Trump informed the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody.

In the interview Trump also said that he used to attend First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica Queens.

"I'm a Protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.”

When asked about his actual church attendance at the moment, Trump seemed less sure of himself.

”Well, I go as much as I can. Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there's a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I'm a Sunday church person. I'll go when I can.”

Brody also asked Trump what he does with all the Bibles sent to him by the public.

"There's no way I would ever throw anything, to do anything negative to a Bible, so what we do is we keep all of the Bibles," said Trump. "I would have a fear of doing something other than very positive so actually I store them and keep them and sometimes give them away to other people."

The big business mogul has given a number of interviews since indicating interest in a 2012 presidential bid and this latest one with CBN could indicate an attempt to impress American evangelicals - a powerful voting bloc in the United States.

In other interviews, Trump has repeatedly taken conservative positions on social issues, saying he opposes single-sex marriage and civil unions and is pro-life.

Trump's has previously stated he will announce in June whether he will run for office or not.

He’s no caveman and he may not be gay, say archaeologists

A curiously buried 5,000 year-old skeleton has caused some researchers to speculate he could have been gay or transsexual.

The recently discovered male skeleton is believed to have belonged to the Corded Ware culture, which flourished in North Europe between 2500 and 2900 BCE. The Corded Ware culture is well-known for their meticulous burial practices, which included burying men with their heads facing west and with weapons of war. Yet, this skeleton was found facing east and with domestic items included in his grave, the exact same method used for the burial of women. This has led scholars to theorise he could have been homosexual or transsexual.

"From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously, so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake," Kamila Remisova Vesinova, a researcher with the Czech Archaeological Society said as she announced the discovery in a news conference.

"So we think, based on data, that it could be a member of a so-called third gender, which were people either with different sexual orientation or transsexuals or just people who identified themselves differently from the rest of the society."

However, other scholars have since criticised newspapers for trumpeting the finding of a “gay caveman,” because there is so much more research to do before this conclusion can be safely reached. Archaeologists point out that the “gay caveman” label is incorrect on two counts - firstly, because the term "cavemen" typically refers to Neanderthals who lived 30,000 years ago; and secondly because there are many other possible reasons for the strange burial method used in this instance.

Kristina Killgrove, an anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of North Carolina, made this clear when she wrote:
"Just because all the burials you've found to date are coded male and female based on grave goods doesn't mean there aren't alternate forms you haven't found and doesn't mean that the alternate form you have found has a lot of significance."

"If this burial represents a transgendered individual (as well it could), that doesn't necessarily mean the person had a 'different sexual orientation' and certainly doesn't mean that he would have considered himself (or that his culture would have considered him) 'homosexual'."

Rosemary Joyce, from the University of California, Berkeley, is an anthropologist who focuses on sex and gender in archaeology, agreed with this line of thinking as she stated there is not enough proof to yet prove the skeleton’s sexual identity either way. Joyce asserts that the only thing that can be proved at this stage is an “anomalous burial” and also suggested that a third-sexed individual would probably have received a third format of burial distinguishable from men and women altogether.

Teenager Suicide Bomber Recruited Outside Pakistani School

In a disturbing interview with a Pakistan TV news channel, a 14-year old suicide bomber, Umar Fidayee, testified how he was recruited outside the gates of his school in North Waziristan.

The teenager is recovering in hospital from the injuries he received after detonating a hand grenade in the April 4 attack that killed 50 people at the shrine of 13th-century Muslim Sufi saint Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan. It was Pakistan's deadliest bomb attack since November.

Covered in tubes and bandages, Fidayee told how a man he identified as Qari Muhammad Zafar convinced him to begin a life of militancy.

"He told me that all this education is useless and said 'become a fighter and you will go to heaven,’" Fidayee said.

With chilling detail, Fidayee also told he was instructed to make his attack 30 minutes after two other men had detonated their bombs so as to cause maximum carnage among those rushing to aid casualties of the first two blasts.

The 14-year old boy also said that up to 400 suicide bombers were presently being trained in North Waziristan, the premier al-Qaeda and Taliban fortress in Pakistan's tribal belt.

"Three hundred and fifty to 400 would-be suicide bombers are getting training in Mir Ali in North Waziristan," the youngster said. "I was trained for two months and saw many boys being trained there."

The teenager also begged fellow Pakistanis to "please forgive me."

"God has given me a new life but I am sad that we killed innocent people, innocent children," he said.

Fidayi also sent a strong message to other potential suicide bombers: "Please refuse to carry suicide attacks. Such attacks are forbidden in Islam."

How The Kings of Leon Lost Their Faith

The Kings of Leon new documentary - or “rockumentary” - entitled “Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon” describes exactly how the group went from poor Pentecostals to hard-partying rock stars.

The documentary has still to be completed, but follows the group’s ultra-strict upbringing under their evangelist father and worship leader mother to detailing their present fallout with church and faith.

Included in the documentary are home videos of the Followill brothers (and cousin) depicting their youth spent traveling across various Bible belts of the American South with their ministering parents. It then contrasts this with their present lifestyles of hard rocking complete with lots of whiskey, sex and parties.

One particular scene has a voice over from one of the band members saying, “As soon as I knew we got a record deal, that whole night I never slept because I knew I was going to hell and I wasn’t going to be a preacher.”

Their father, Ivan Leon Followill, is understated when commentating on his boys’ new lives, “I don’t want to say my kids are going to hell you know, nothing like that, but as far as what I envisioned, it’s a little different.”

So what exacted happened to the Followills? How did children who grew up with their lives so immersed in Christianity lose faith? Well, it seems the answer to that question lies with their father.

In 1997, their father resigned from the church and divorced his wife, leaving his sons shattered and disillusioned. This came after Followill senior endured a long battle with alcoholism.

“Our parents’ divorce shattered the whole mirage of this perfect little existence the outside world couldn’t touch and couldn’t pollute,” the oldest Followill brother, Nathan, told Relevant Magazine.

“We realised that our dad, the greatest man we ever knew, in our eyes, was only human. And so are we … this whole new world was open to us.”

Caleb Followill, the lead vocals and guitarist, similarly once informed The Independent, “I’d put my faith in my dad and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I’d always look up to ministers, but at about fifteen I started to see that they were just normal men and it broke my heart. I closed myself off to pretty much everyone and dropped out of school.”

Nathan and Caleb left home and went to Nashville, where after six months they were signed with a record company. The older brothers then asked their youngest sibling Jared and cousin Matthew to join their band.

However, it seems that not all connection with their roots was broken, as the boys named the band after their father and grandfather. Also, the brothers are clearly not quite ready to completely disassociate themselves from their faith.

“We realise now looking back on it that the way we were raised definitely shaped us into the guys that we are. There are definitely things from that time of life that I want to keep, especially being a good person and being thankful for everything that you have,” Nathan told Relevant Magazine.

Nathan also told the magazine that they still believed in God, gave money to churches, prayed every night and even attended church occasionally.

Caleb echoed Nathan’s hope when he confessed to The Independant that “To be a man means that you are born into sin, so you might as well be honest about it.

“Look at David in the Old Testament. He was a man after God’s own heart, yet he plotted the death of one of his generals so that he could marry the guy’s wife Bathsheba,” he added.

“So if he’s the man after God’s own heart, well, maybe when you’re at your roughest moment, that’s when He’s watching over you and smiling.”

Archbishop Asks the U.S. Government to Arrest Koran-burning Pastor

The Archbishop of Lahore, Lawrence Saldanha, has made an appeal to the U.S. government to detain the pastor responsible for allowing the burning of a Koran in his church, reports the Catholic News Agency.

“The U.S. government talks about religious freedom – but we call upon the U.S. government to prevent such actions by extremists and other fundamentalist Christians,” the president of the Pakistan bishops’ conference said.

“The U.S. government should detain the pastor for some time,” the archbishop added. “In view of the effects his actions have had all over the world, he should be controlled and understand the harm that has been done.”

On March 20, pastor Terry Jones of a Florida-based church called the Dove World Outreach Center supervised the burning of the Koran in front of about 50 people, after the Islamic holy book was put through a mock trial and sentenced.

While U.S. press tried to keep the story low-profile, a video was posted on the church’s website that went international and enraged Muslims all over the world. Violent protests in Afghanistan led to the deaths of at least 24 people, including seven U.N. staff.

Pastor Jones has refused to accept any responsibility for these deaths, in fact, he has justified them by saying the Koran deserved to be placed ‘on trial’ because if taken literally, the book can “lead to violence and terrorist activities, [do] promote racism or prejudice against minorities, against Christians, against women.”

Archbishop Saldanha feared that Christians in Muslim-dominated countries could be targeted for reprisals.

“Although there have not been any reactions against Christians, it could become ugly,” he lamented.

U.S. President Barack Obama responded to the Koran burning and the subsequent violence by saying:

“The desecration of any holy text, including the Quran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry. However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous and an affront to human decency and dignity.”

John Piper: Burning the Koran is Comparable to Crucifying Christ

The author and speaker John Piper recently stated that burning the Koran to Muslims is comparable to what the crucifixion of Christ is to Christians.

To help him reflect on the Koran burning incident that occurred last week in a Florida church resulting in violent protests throughout Afghanistan killing 24 people, including seven United Nations employees, Piper read through a book by the British scholar Andrew Walls called “The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History.”

In this book, Walls makes the point that one major difference between Islam and Christianity is that one is readily translatable while the other resists translation.

“Islamic absolutes are fixed in a particular language, and in the conditions of a particular period of human history. The divine Word is the Koran, fixed in heaven forever in Arabic, the language of original revelation,” wrote Walls.

“For Christians, however, the divine Word is translatable, infinitely translatable.

“Much misunderstanding between Christians and Muslims has arisen from the assumption that the Koran is for Muslims what the Bible is for Christians,” Walls continued.

“It would be truer to say that the Koran is for Muslims what Christ is for Christians," he said.

This last line led Piper to write in his own blog that the parallel between Christianity and Islam is not of Christ to the Muslim prophet Muhammad and the Koran to the Bible. Rather, the Koran parallels Christ.

“The giving of the Koran is in Islam what the incarnation of Christ is to Christianity,” wrote Piper on his Desiring God website. “If this is so, then Koran-burning is parallel to Christ-crucifying.”

Piper insisted that the burning of a book should not be seen as the moral equivalent of taking another human’s life, but that rather this understanding would help explain why Muslims are so outraged over the incident.

The pastor then stressed it is important for leaders in the two religions to teach their followers how to react when their sensibilities are offended. Piper argued that forgiveness should be the major paradigm in this regard, and violent responses should never be an option.

“So the Koran has been burned and the Christ has been crucified – and continues to be crucified,” Piper concluded. “The test is in the response.”

Tutu calls for reconciliation not retaliation in Ivory Coast

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Elders group of global leaders have issued a statement condemning the violence and “grave violations of human rights” in the Ivory Coast.

The Elders said they were “deeply saddened” by the “tragic loss of life” in the violence stirred up by incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to hand over the presidential reins to Alassane Ouattara, who won last year’s presidential election and as such is the Ivory Coast’s internationally recognised President.

Gbagbo refuses to surrender despite being surrounding in the presidential palace in Abidjan by forces loyal to Ouattara.

The Elders said that while Gbagbo must bear “primary responsibility” for the violence, they added that Ouattara should also shoulder some responsibility for allowing the violence to escalate by forces under his control.

“They must demand an immediate end to the attacks on civilians and UN personnel,” the Elders insisted.

Archbishop Tutu called upon Ouattara to publicly become accountable to a process of peaceful transformation and takeover of power.

“His actions and words in the coming days are critical to the future of the Ivory Coast,” Tutu said.

“The people need reconciliation, not retaliation. They need a leader who can bring peace and put the country back on the path to prosperity.

“He can do this by demonstrating that he will govern for all Ivorians, and is worthy of the trust placed in him through the elections.”

Tutu’s fellow Elder and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said: “The violence must stop and the atrocities and human rights abuses must be investigated.

“Those who perpetrated these terrible crimes, in Duekoue and elsewhere, must be held accountable.

“There is only one Ivory Coast and the leaders and the people must understand that. They have no option but to reconcile, heal and live together.

“This will be a difficult process, but the country needs to find a path to national unity.”

(Image from file).

Could this be the earliest portrait of Jesus?

It is an eerily familiar image: a young man with long curly hair and beard. After lying hidden for nearly two thousand years in a small niche at the back of a cave, the fine details are difficult to make out, but what is clearly evident is the crown of thorns worn on the young man’s brow.

This extraordinary picture could well be the first ever picture of Jesus, and can bee seen on one of the recently discovered 70 lead credit-card sized codices (booklets) found in a cave overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

What is even more exciting, is that if this picture is genuine, it could have been made by someone who actually knew Jesus. One of the other booklets bears the words ‘Saviour of Israel’ - one of the few phrases so far translated.

The find was only made after rain washed away the back of a Jordanian cave to reveal a previously hidden niche. Bible scholars and historians are desperate to investigate the find more closely as most of the books have not been opened or studied since they are extremely fragile due to the ravages of time.

It has also come to light that this discovery was actually made five years ago, and the codices spent time on the black market before finding their way into the hands of a Bedouin trucker Hassan Saido who refuses to sell them, but has agreed for samples to be sent to Europe for testing.

It is for this reason that debate rages over whether these booklets are genuine, with the Israeli archaeological establishment casting doubt on their authenticity. However, the country where they were originally discovered, Jordan, has announced it will "exert all efforts at every level" to get the relics repatriated.

The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, has few doubts about the authenticity of the booklets. He is convinced they may indeed have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately following his crucifixion.

“They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,” he stated. “The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.”

Atheist Christopher Hitchens Praises the 'timeless' KJV

It seems a strange thing for philosopher Christopher Hitchens to be lauding a version of the Bible, since he is perhaps most famous for his atheism. Hitchens is the author of ‘God is not Great’ and regularly debates well-known Christian thinkers claiming that religion does more harm than good in society.

Yet, Hitchens is the second man made famous by his atheism, after the scientist Richard Dawkins, to praise the King James Bible in honour of the 400th anniversary of the translation, although it must be noted his praise was for its impact on literature rather anything religious.

"Though I am sometimes reluctant to admit it, there really is something 'timeless' in the Tyndale/King James synthesis," Hitchens admitted in a commentary featured in Vanity Fair.

"For generations, it provided a common stock of references and allusions, rivalled only by Shakespeare in this respect.

"It resounded in the minds and memories of literate people, as well as of those who acquired it only by listening."

While Hitchens praises the KJV, which was first published in 1611, he is scathing in his criticism of other translations that attempt to modernise and update it.

Offering one comparison, Hitchens quotes a passage in the New Testament book of Philippians, which he read at his father's funeral:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (King James Version).

The same passage in the Contemporary English Version states: "Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.”

Hitchens terms the contemporary version "pancake-flat" and more suited for "a basement meeting of AA".

"[T]hese words could not hope to penetrate the torpid, resistant fog in the mind of a 16-year-old boy, as their original had done for me," he asserts.

Hitchens also laughs off gender neutral language versions of the Bible as "slightly ingratiating obeisance".

"[T]to suggest that Saint Paul, of all people, was gender-neutral is to re-write the history as well as to rinse out the prose," Hitchens states.

In fact, Hitchens laments the slow eclipse of the KJV at the hands of these other translations.

"A culture that does not possess this common store of image and allegory will be a perilously thin one. To seek restlessly to update it or make it 'relevant' is to miss the point, like yearning for a hip-hop Shakespeare," he wrote. "'Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward,' says the Book of Job. Want to try to improve that for Twitter?"

Although, true to form, and amidst all the praise, Hitchens could resist the temptation to state his own beliefs as he concluded by stating his unwavering belief that "religion is man-made, with inky human fingerprints all over its supposedly inspired and unalterable texts".

Tackling Biblical Illiteracy One Blog at a Time

With growing concerns over the increasing Biblical illiteracy revealed in research by The Barna Group, Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology has launched a new blog as a way of making free education available to people, as well as providing a public forum platform.

Updated daily, the “The Good Book Blog,” will be written entirely by seminary faculty and maintained by 30 professors.

“At a time when biblical literacy is at an all-time low, and there are so many muddled, uninformed views of the Bible, something like The Good Book Blog is such a breath of fresh air,” said Brett McCracken, author of Hipster Christianity and regular blogger.

“For a seminary to take its vast academic resources and put it online for the world’s benefit is not only to be lauded, but it’s to be modeled. More schools should be doing things like this.”

By sharing their expertise in different areas such as biblical studies, theology, philosophy, spiritual formation, and Christian education, the professors hope to combat biblical illiteracy, and resource the wider church.

With posts ranging from topics like “Actually Praying” to “Theotechnos: Some Reflections on the Intersection of Social Media and Theology,” The Good Book Blog offers resources to Christians of all levels and backgrounds.

For more information, visit www.thegoodbookblog.com.

Please note that you cannot access the link here, but will need to cut and paste it into your browser.

Koran-burning Aftermath: Afghanistan death toll rises

Sunday saw a day of violent protests in Afghanistan against the recent burning of a Koran at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.

Two police officers were killed, while around 30 people were injured in the demonstrations that included shouting anti-US slogans and the burning of an effigy of US President Barack Obama.

This violence followed on from the ugly massacre of seven UN workers in an attack on a compound in Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday, and brings the total of those killed in the Koran-burning aftermath to around 24.

The Koran was publicly burnt by Pastor Wayne Sapp under the watchful eye of the notorious Pastor Terry Jones, who gained international infamy late last year after threats to burn a copy of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11.

Jones shows no remorse for the violence this Koran-burning has caused, and refuses to cancel a planned protest outside a mosque in Michigan on April 22.

“Our aim is to make an awareness of the radical element of Islam. Obviously it is terrible any time people are murdered or killed. I think that on the other hand, it shows the radical element of Islam,” Jones insisted.

US President Barack Obama has already condemned the destructive acts of Jones and his church.

“The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

“However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency dignity.”

The World Evangelical Alliance has also responded by both condemning the church’s actions and the violent responses.

“No matter how much we disagree and find abhorrent the actions of [Terry] Jones, responding in violence can never be justified,” said Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, chief executive officer and secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance.

The WEA urged Muslim leaders to call for an end to the violence and “explain … that the actions of this tiny extremist group who have burnt the Quran are absolutely condemned by Christians globally”.

We need more exorcists, says the Catholic Church

Exorcism is the main topic of a week-long conference being held this week in Rome under the Vatican’s authority, reports The Telegraph.

Experts are saying that the web has made it dangerously easy to access information on Devil-worshipping and the occult.

"The internet makes it much easier than in the past to find information about Satanism," stated Carlo Climati, a member of the Vatican university who specialises in the dangers posed to young people by Satanism.

"In just a few minutes you can contact Satanist groups and research occultism. The conference is not about how to become an exorcist. It's to share information about exorcism, Satanism and sects. It's to give help to families and priests. There is a particular risk for young people who are in difficulties or who are emotionally fragile," said Mr Climati.

The object of the Vatican-sponsored seminar was to investigate the phenomenon of Satanism with "seriousness and scientific rigour", avoiding a "superficial or sensational approach" he added.

The conference brought together over 60 Catholic clergy as well as doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers and youth workers to discuss how to combat the dangers of Devil-worship.

Organisers are convinced that the rise of Satan worship has grown dangerously over the last few years.

"There's been a revival," said Father Gabriele Nanni, a former exorcist and another speaker at the course.

Father Nanni said that although the number of genuine possessions is relatively small, "we must be on guard because occult and Satanist practices are spreading a great deal, in part with the help of the internet and new technologies that make it easier to access these rituals."

Although any priest could perform an exorcism, Vatican experts have urged their clergy to call in professional exorcists whenever "the moral certainty has been reached that the person is possessed."

Possessed behaviour could include radical and disturbing changes in the person's behaviour and voice, or an ability to garble in foreign languages or nonsensical gibberish.

Father Gabriele Amorth stated people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron, scream, dribble and slobber, utter blasphemies and have to be physically restrained.

Amorth also believes that the sex abuse scandals devastating the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, are proof that the anti-Christ was waging a war against the Church.

(Image is Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's official exorcist).

Obama says faith and prayer are key to his presidency

In an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, the US President Barack Obama said that he has been doing "a lot of praying" recently as he has faced difficult choices on Libya and other crises at home and abroad.

"I am praying that I'm making the best possible decisions, and that I've got the strength to serve the American people well," he admitted to Sawyer.

Obama has never shied away from sharing about the role faith plays in his life, despite the fact many have accused him of not truly following Christianity. Bizarrely enough, according to a 2010 poll conduced by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one in five Americans incorrectly believes that Obama is actually a Muslim.

However, at the National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington last month, Obama shared how the shooting tragedy in Tucson, had deepened his faith and that the experience of fatherhood made him personally even more reliant on God.

"My prayers sometimes are general: Lord, give me the strength to meet the challenges of my office," he smiled. "Sometimes they're specific: Lord, give me patience as I watch Malia go to her first dance. Where there will be boys, Lord, have that skirt get longer as she travels to that dance."

The US president also said that,"My Christian faith ... has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years -- all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us but whether we're being true to our conscience and true to our God."

Rob Bell speaks of hurt, and affirms his belief in hell

Rob Bell has endured a tumultous few weeks after his new book, ‘Love Wins - A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived‘ raised a storm of controversy. The book, which has reached No 2 on the New York Best Sellers list, resulted in Bell being accused of a litany of 'heresies,' including not believing in an eternal hell, and universalism (that everyone will be saved at the end, whether they want it or not).

In a recent interview with Sally Quinn of The Washington Post, Bell responded unequivocally to a direct question posed by Quinn: If there is no hell, then why did Jesus die for our sins?

“I believe in hell now, I believe in hell when you die,” Bell asserted. “I believe God gives people the right to say no, to resist, to refuse, to reject, to cling to their sins, to cling to their version of their story.

“So the Bible, there’s a whole chapter in the book about hell, and I think we should take hell very seriously. I think it exists, and so, there being no hell isn’t something that I believe.”

Bell, who never claimed to not believe in hell in his book, rather stated that he struggles with the traditional teaching on heaven and hell because it seems contradictory that a loving God would send billions of people who never heard of Jesus and thus never had the chance to accept Jesus as their saviour to hell.

During the Washington Post interview, Quinn also questioned Bell about this, saying, “What if you are wrong about hell?”

“If, billions and billions and billions of people, God is going to torture them in hell forever – people who never heard about Jesus are going to suffer in eternal agony because they didn’t believe in the Jesus they never heard of – then at that point we will have far bigger problems than a book from a pastor from Grand Rapids,” responded Bell, who had earlier passionately asserted that he considered himself a “serious follower of Jesus.”

The Michigan megachurch pastor, who first rose to fame through his NOOMA videos, told Quinn of his hurt in being misunderstood, and also the concern he feels about how non-Christians perceive the way Christians have treated each other over his book during the last few weeks.

“To be honest with you, I am passionate about all the people out there who want to know Jesus, they want to know God, and they are sick of a system that is hung up on a bunch of things that have nothing to do with the love of God,” said a visibly emotional Bell. “They say, ‘If that is how you act, why would I ever want to know your Jesus. You are not even kind at a basic human level, let alone to people who are apparently on your team, so to speak. You crucify them. That’s what you do? Why would I want what you have?’

“So for me it’s about my friends and neighbors who want nothing to do with this, but are open to Jesus. And it’s a justice issue. They need to know the Good News.”

Interestingly enough, Bell did receive some support from an unexpected area this last week, as the U.K.-based Evangelical Alliance, the world’s oldest evangelical alliance, said that Bell apparently adopts a “wider hope” theology, which believes that God will ultimately save most people, even, perhaps, all people.

The Alliance then confirmed that it is open to “wider hope” for those who have never heard the Gospel, children who die in infancy (including the unborn), and those who have limited mental capacity.