Week of January 1 -7
“Before the tsunami, many Buddhists thought that Christians were trying to convert the Buddhists by our social service. But our tsunami relief work has started removing that fear.”
– The Rev. Lesley Weerasinghe, Methodist pastor in the southern port city of Galle, Sri Lanka, where more than 4,000 people perished during the tsunami of December 2004.
______________________________
Week of January 15 – 21
“I must be able to do things in my free time without being confronted with the fact that I am a clergyman.”
– Einar Gelius, Lutheran vicar in Oslo, Norway. Gelius was responding to criticism of his decision to serve as a judge for the Miss Norway Pageant. Gelius ultimately withdrew his participation from the pageant at the request of Oslo bishop Ole Christian Kvarme.
______________________________
Week of January 22 – 28
“We wanted to look at the Gospels as if they were written by spindoctors and to strip that away and look at the truth. The truth is that Christ was born in an occupied state and preached equality at a time when that wasn’t very acceptable.”
– Mark Dornford-May, director of Son of Man, a movie which retells the passion of Christ by placing Jesus in a modern African state in a state of civil war. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on January 22.
______________________________
Week of February 19 -25
“All atonement theories root in a sense of human alienation and with it a sense of human powerlessness. “Without Thee we can do nothing good!” So we develop legends about the God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. . . . As we Christians tell the story of Jesus’ dying for our sins in doctrine, hymns and liturgy, we quite unknowingly turn God into an ogre, a deity who practices child sacrifice and a guilt-producing figure, who tells us that our sinfulness is the cause of the death of Jesus. God did it to him instead of to us who deserved it. Somehow that is supposed to make it both antiseptic and worthwhile. It doesn’t. I think we can and must break the power of these images.
– The Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Newark (Ret.).
______________________________
Week of February 26 – March 4
“You know, they marched in Berlin, and the Berlin Wall fell. They marched in South Africa, and apartheid fell. Now we march in Porto Alegre, and violence will end!”
– The Rt. Rev. Desmond Tutu, retired bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Capetown (RSA), speaking at a peace march in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Tutu was in Brazil to take part in an assembly of the World Council of Churches.
______________________________
Week of March 19 – 25
“You were not born a revolutionary, and I was not born a bishop, but history has drawn us into events by which we’ve been shaped and molded.”
– The Most Rev. Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, addressing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Griswold met with Castro during a five day visit to Cuba in February.
______________________________
Week of March 26 – April 1
“[W]hat if the Bible is more realistically read symbolically and not literally? What if that’s the case even to the point of seeing Christ’s claim to being the son of God as simply a way of conveying fundamental moral principles? What if the resurrection is metaphor? What if ‘God’ is just the name we give to the mystery that is beyond our ability to comprehend through reason?
“In such a conception of faith, an atheist can be a Christian. A Hindu can be a Christian. Anyone can be a Christian, and a Christian can find a connection to other perspectives and be part of other faiths. With such a conception of faith, a real ecumenical spirit and practice is possible. Identification with a religious tradition can become a way to lower barriers between people, not raise them ever higher.”
– Robert Jensen, professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, in an article entitled “Why I am a Christian (Sort Of)” in the Palestinian Chronicle.
______________________________
Week of April 9 – 15
“Even the churches where the Americans pray are led by Jews who were converted to Christianity, but they were converted to keep controlling the Americans.
“I made a study and I know very well that all this radicalism in some parts of the Christianity, (including) the Anglicans who are being led by Bush, is because of the control of Zionists.”
– Mohammad Abu Tir, a senior Hamas official, asserting that Christians are being encouraged to support Israel by Jewish Zionists who converted to Christianity for that purpose.
______________________________
Week of May 7 – 13
“It’s been difficult to find a rabbi who will referee on the Sabbath, but we are trusting in God.”
– Reverend Christopher Jage-Bowler, organizer of a soccer match between Islamic imams and Christian priests in Berlin, Germany on May 7. The match was an attempt to encourage better relations between the faith traditions in Europe, and was refereed by two rabbis serving as linesmen. The Christian clergy won 12-1.
______________________________
Week of May 14 – 20
“Our Bolivarian revolution is very Christian and I have a friend who isn’t Christian, but lately has said he is a Christian in the social aspect: his name is Fidel Castro. I talk to (Castro) a lot about Christ each time we see each other, and he told me recently, ‘Chavez, I’m Christian in the social sense.'”
– Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez was responding to statements from the Vatican criticizing the President’s positions on abortion, freedom of the press, and control over the nominations of bishops in Venezuela.
______________________________
Week of May 28 – June 3
“When a novelist plays fast and loose with the facts it’s called entertainment. When religion plays fast and loose with the facts it’s called doctrine.”
– Vince Isner, director of faithfulamerica.org, a program of the National Council of Churches dedicated to promoting a liberal political agenda. The remarks are a response to the controversy surrounding the release of the movie, The Da Vinci Code.
______________________________
Week of June 4 – 10
“Who was Jesus’ mystery lover? Maybe it was Mary Magdalene, like the movie says. But pioneering scholars say that Jesus had a male lover. . . .
“Let’s take back Jesus. The success of The Da Vinci Code shows that Jesus belongs to the people, not just to sex-negative churches. In particular, the gay Jesus empowers gays and lesbians who turned away from spirituality because of the Religious Right.”
– Kittredge Cherry, lesbian author and founder of JesusInLove.org, “the first website to focus on the queer Christ.”
______________________________
Week of June 25 – 29
“Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation and we are his children.”
– The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, ECUSA Presiding Bishop-elect, in her first sermon at General Convention
______________________________
Week of July 16 – 22
“Jesus Christ, if not a pacifist himself, would certainly resemble Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King in terms of his political strategies. Like Gandhi and King, Jesus understood power and like them he built a power base. That’s why the Romans executed him.”
– Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society. Winkler was addressing a gathering of liberal religious activists at Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, DC.
______________________________
Week of July 30 – August 5
“. . . there has been some renewal of hope for peace in the Middle East as new Palestinian leadership [Hamas] has emerged through elections.”
– The New York Annual Conference of the United Methodsit Church, in a resolution titled “Act For Peace In The Middle East.” The Resolution calls for the United Methodist Church to pursue divestment strategies from corporations aiding Israel “in the destruction of the Palestinian economy.”
______________________________
Week of August 13 – 19
“Without David, I would not just lose my faith in Christianity, I would almost lose my faith in the humanity of Christians.”
– Kevin Barrett, a Muslim lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, praising David Ray Griffin, professor emeritus of theology at Claremont School of Theology. In his book, Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action, Griffin makes the claim the attacks of September 11, 2001 were orchestrated by the United States government. The book is published by Westminster John Knox Press, the official publishing house of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
______________________________
Week of August 20 – 26
“Buddhists are amazing because they are so humble. They are an example of a non-judgmental religion. There is no concept of sin. They accept people as they are.”
– Dr Manoj Kurian, Coordinator of HIV and AIDS programs for the World Council of Churches, promoting Buddhism as a model for Christians in dealing with AIDS. Dr. Kurian was speaking at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
______________________________
Week of September 3 – 9
“At the very least everyone [should] know that there will always be an atmosphere of open and mutual respect. And no one should be asked to join the church unless and until they can demonstrate their appreciation for and comfort with this openness.”
– Blogger and IRD critic John Dorhauer, lamenting the lack of “openness” in mainline churches, which he attributes to groups like IRD that train “activists, moles, and outside agitators.”
______________________________
Week of September 10 – 16
“Behind modern fanatical Islamic terrorism lie many spiritual and religious passions and narratives also found in the Christian tradition.
“Blind Samson, his hairy growth returning, commits an act of suicidal terrorism as he destroys the pillars of the pagan temple. . .
“We cannot simply ignore the violent passion of Jesus cleansing the temple with whips. We are never told of the collateral damage possibly resulting from his actions.
“In the Christian tradition we rejoice over the passionate commitment and bloody deaths of numerous martyrs. We need to consider the same religious passion and spiritual single mindedness lies at the heart of a London bomber and a Christian crusader.”
– Canon Philip Gray, chaplain to the Anglican Bishop of Blackburn, writing in a church magazine
______________________________
Week of September 24 -30
“Jonathan Edwards would share with me that God has revealed to us the rich variety of human sexuality. And that the church is called by God to reform, to change toward embracing all of God’s children, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.”
– Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister Janet Edwards. Edwards has been charged by the Pittsburgh Presbytery with violating the denominational policy against performing same-sex marriages. Edwards is a direct descendant of the famous 18th century theologian and evangelist Johnathan Edwards, who authored the famous sermon “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.”
______________________________
Week of October 15 – 21
“In this period of testing, you can prove to the world that the Nation of Islam is more than the charisma, eloquence and personality of Louis Farrakhan.”
– Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, announcing his declining health to members of the religious organization. Farrakhan has ceded leadership of the movement to an executive board during his illness.
______________________________
Week of October 29 – November 4
“Bach and Handel were the popular music of their day, and they had trouble getting played in church. The Methodist hymn writers once wrote contemporary music. Are we worshipping Bono? Absolutely not. No more than we worship Martin Luther when we sing `A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.'”
– The Rev. Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, who has developed the “U2 Eucharist” that involves using the music of the Irish rock band led by Bono as the hymns during an Episcopal liturgy.
______________________________
Week of November 5 – 11
“My friend Lincoln Davis, who chairs this campaign, says there is one big difference between us and … Republicans when it comes to our faith. He said ‘Republicans fear the Lord. Democrats fear and love the Lord.'”
– U.S. Senatorial candidate Harold Ford, Jr., speaking at a campaign event in Tennessee. Lincoln Davis (D-TN) is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ford was quoted in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.
______________________________
Week of November 12 – 18
“Jesus was an illegal alien and that ought to shape how we enter the current debate. But too often political ideology clouds good theology.”
– Rev. Shaun Casey, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary
______________________________
Week of November 26 – December 2
“[Syria is] a moderate country, and the official government rule and position is not to allow any extremism of any kind.”
– Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, and author of the best selling book The Purpose Driven Life. Syria has been designated as a state sponsor of terror by the U.S. Department of State. Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups maintain offices in Damascus, with the tacit approval of the Syrian government.
______________________________
Week of December 17 – 23
“Frankly, as a minister, I would refuse to marry a couple who told me that they had shared no sexual behaviors at all; sexuality is too important in a marriage, and the decision to be married is too sacred, to have NO information about each other’s sexuality prior to the wedding day.”
– Rev. Debra W. Haffner, director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. Haffner is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and self-proclaimed “sexologist.”
No comments yet
