National Day of Prayer

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty says of the National Day of Prayer:

In 1952, Congress passed a joint resolution, signed by President Harry Truman, setting aside one day a year for prayer. Since then, presidents have proclaimed a day for prayer observed each year on the first Thursday of May. On April 30, President Barack Obama issued the proclamation of a National Day of Prayer to be held on May 6.

“Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation,” the proclamation states.

The Obama Administration has announced it intends to appeal a federal judge’s ruling in April that the statute establishing the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.

“There is nothing wrong with the American people getting together to pray on a designated day, even public officials,” Hollman said. “In fact every day should be a day of national prayer.

“The problem with the National Day of Prayer is that it is an official act of the government urging citizens to engage in a religious exercise,” Hollman said.

Family Research Council distances itself from Rekers

Family Research Council (FRC) first reaction to the Rent Boy news about former FRC board memeber George A. Rekers was, they “had never heard of Dr. Rekers.”

The corporate attorney was asked to research the matter:

We did verify that Dr. Rekers was a member of the original Family Research Council Board prior to its merger with Focus on the Family in 1987. FRC has had no contact with Dr. Rekers or knowledge of his activities in over a decade, so I can’t speak to what he may or may not have done. However, I can say that while it’s extremely disappointing when any Christian leader engages in the very activities that they “preach” against, it’s not surprising. The Scriptures clearly teach the fallen nature of all people.

The Family Research Council luminary and the Rent Boy

Prof. George Alan Rekers, who helped found the Family Research Council, was caught returning from a time abroad with a male prostitute (Rent Boy).

Of course he had an explanation, which was greeted with derision.

He is, after all, a longtime anti-gay activist with a Ph.D and cannot reasonably expect to strike a convincing pose of naive ignorance.

Repentance, anyone?

Not in fashion this season?

On behalf of stronger laws to protect U.S. child farmworkers

Protect child farmworkers by supporting the CARE Act, recommends Human Rights Watch:

Liberty sticks by embattled seminary president

Officials at Liberty University say accusations of dishonesty against the president of the school’s seminary are neither an ethical nor a moral issue.

Ergun Caner, the president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, is under fire regarding his biographical information, including his Muslim background. The discrepancies have led some to call for the Southern Baptist Convention to distance itself from Caner and others to ask pointed questions of the seminary president.

But Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University and dean of the School of Religion, told Christianity Today that the university’s board of directors held an inquiry and determined that Caner had done nothing theologically inappropriate. He said there will be no official reprimand or demotion of Caner.

“It’s not an ethical issue, it’s not a moral issue,” Towns told the magazine. “We give faculty a certain amount of theological leverage. The arguments of the bloggers would not stand up in court.”

Christianity Today highlights what Caner’s critics call exaggerations and lies, including:

• Growing up in Turkey, when he actually grew up in Ohio.
• Being raised in a devout Muslim home, rather than a nominal one.
• Having been involved in Islamic jihad.
• Having debated dozens of Muslims about the Islamic faith, although there is no video or audio evidence.

Caner must have a ton of “theological leverage” for school officials to consider such issues neither ethical nor moral. The arguments against Caner might not stand up in a government courtroom, but public opinion is another matter.

Towns affects a lack of concern. He said:

We don’t see any way that bloggers will damage Liberty.

Can school officials not see that highlighted publication of Towns’ statement in a national Christian magazine is evidence that damage has already been done? The article’s real subject was how much damage has been done, not whether any will occur.

Liberty officials can expect more, unless they’re willing to deal with the issue more directly.

Some sign of repentance from Caner would be a start.

Update: More damage

Oklahoma Baptist pastor Wade Burleson blogs that after reading the article we commented on above, he can “no longer recommend Liberty University to students or seminarians.”

FBC Jax Watchdog throws up his hands in despair at Christianity Today’s timidity.

Attack rather than repent: Fake Ex Muslims YouTube channel terminated via complaints, thus eliminating a much-linked-to body of evidence from ready access.

At AO, home of links to Ergun Caner Materials, James White is dismayed by the CT piece.

Legionaries’ acceptance

The Legionaries of Christ said on their Web site that they “embrance” Pope Benedict XVI’s May 1 plan for their future “with faith and obedience.” In addition they said:

The Legion of Christ today, May 1, received the statement of the Holy See regarding the apostolic visitation. The Legionaries thank the Holy Father and embrace his provisions with faith and obedience. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the apostolic visitators. And we are grateful for the prayers of so many people of good will who have supported us at this time.

Spill baby, spill: BP oil blowout creeps toward Mississippi Delta: Updated

Tiny, nonprofit SkyTruth has been analyzing the satellite data and forcing changes in official underestimates of the catastrophe’s magnitude. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Saturday, the group updated its analysis to estimate that the slick contained more than 11.1 million gallons of oil, which would make it the largest oil spill in American history. John Amos, the group’s president, also revised the estimate of the rate of oil leaking to 25,000 barrels a day, saying it was a “rock bottom” figure. There are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil.

NASA’s Earth Observatory reported on April 29:

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured a natural-color image of the oil slick just off the Louisiana coast. The top image shows a wide-area view, and the bottom image shows a close-up view of the oil slick (outlined in white in the top image). The oil slick appears as dull gray interlocking comma shapes, one opaque and the other nearly transparent. The northwestern tip of the oil slick almost touches the Mississippi Delta. Sunglint—the mirror-like reflection of the Sun off the water—enchances the oil slick’s visibility.

BP advertising != reality

Death worship takes hold in Mexico

D.E. Campbell writes in Foreign Policy:

Mictlantecuhtli in the Codex Borgia

The barrio of Tepito, where it’s said that everything is for sale except dignity, has been one of Mexico City’s roughest neighborhoods since Aztec times. Famous for its black market and its boxing champions, Tepito is a place where residents learn to fight early and fight hard. These days it has also become the epicenter of Mexico’s fastest-growing faith: Santa Muerte, or Holy Death, a hybrid religion that merges Catholic symbolism with pre-Hispanic worship of the skeletal Mictlantecuhtli and Mictlancihuatl, Lord and Lady of the Dead.

I recently went there for an outdoor mass at one of Santa Muerte’s first public shrines, founded eight years ago by a great-grandmother named Enriqueta Romero. When I visited in November, Romero placed a necklace with skull pendant around my neck as some 5,000 worshippers surged toward the glass-encased skeleton outside her house. Clad in a faded housedress, she told me that Mexico’s Catholic churches stand empty while thousands of Holy Death shrines have spread across the country because “the church reprimands,” but Santa Muerte never does. “She accepts everyone, with faults and without.”

Catholic Bishops Conference of India gets it right: Accused priests would face criminal investigation

Catholic priests accused of sexual predation in India will face the police like everyone else if a Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI) proposal is approved by Pope Benedict XVI:

India’s Roman Catholic bishops are planning to institute a policy of reporting all abuse allegations against priests to the police for criminal investigations, rather than just handling the cases internally, a church spokesman said.

The Times of India reports:

With the clergy facing horrible child sex abuse charges in several countries, Catholic bishops of India have drafted guidelines for the clergymen across the world. From spelling out a general behavioural code for bishops and other priests to defrocking as the ultimate punishment for such crime, the guidelines focus on “wholesome safety of children in and outside our institutions“.

Bold face, ours.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The third Chronicles of Narnia film, based on the C. S. Lewis story for young people and rich in Christian themes, it is to be released in December:

We will re-post a trailer here when we find one which has no apparent copy right issues.