Week of January 20 – 26
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience in worship service. There was something so holy—so much symbolism and so many opportunities for meditation.”
– Episcopal lay member Bob Bland, commenting on an “Indian Rite Mass” at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles. The joint service of Episcopalians and Hindus included a statement by the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno apologizing for past proselytizing of Hindus by Christians. Participants were offered communion featuring wine, Indian bread, and a tray of flowers traditionally used in Hindu worship.
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Week of January 27 – February 2
“In a sense [the allowing of churches to leave the Episcopal Church with their property] related to the old ecclesiastical behavior toward child abuse [when priests essentially looked the other way]….Bad behavior must be confronted.”
– Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in a January 16 interview with Religion News Service (reported by the Church of England Newspaper)
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Week of February 3 – 9
“[This ground is] sacred and holy . . . where women’s voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers . . . sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled.”
– The Rev. Larry Phillips of Emmanuel-Friedens Church in Schenectady, NY, presiding at the blessing of a newly-opened Planned Parenthood clinic in the city
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Week of February 17 – 23
“The major difference between Latino evangelicals and white evangelicals is that many white evangelicals take their marching orders from Bishop Rush Limbaugh, Prophet Sean Hannity, and Apostle Lou Dobbs; and Latino evangelicals still listen to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
– The Rev. Sam Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, speaking at the Christian Student Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. Rodriguez is quoted on God’s Politics, a weblog by Sojourners magazine editor-in-chief Jim Wallis.
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Week of March 2 – 8
“The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent,”
– Martin Van der Kuil, Director of Vastenaktie, a Roman Catholic charity in the Netherlands that collects donations for impoverished nations during Lent. The group has “re-branded” the traditional Christian church season of prayer and fasting, referring to it as the “Christian Ramadan.”
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Week of March 9 – 15
“The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which disturbed the writer [of a previous editorial column] for being found in a Christmas sermon, most would agree, are the beatitudes of the 21st century.”
—The Rev. Pierce Klemmt, Rector of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Alexandria, Virginia, writing for the Alexandria Times Newspaper.
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Week of March 30 – April 5
“I wanted to write a book that tells the most important Bible stories in a way that relishes them rather than tries to make any particular religious point. After all, who knows what the point is? What is more important to me is that people are getting to know the stories.”
—The Rev Robert Harrison, Vicar of St. John’s (Anglican) Church in West London, and author of Must Know Stories, a retelling of ten well-known Bible stories. Updates to the original text include the portrayal of Eve as “sex crazed,” Goliath as an alcoholic, and the birth of Jesus in an overcrowded house instead of a stable. Rev. Harrision is quoted in the Daily Mail newspaper.
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Week of April 17 – May 3
“By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.”.”
—Taken from a “welcome statement” for churches participating in “Pluralism Sunday,” a celebration of “our interfaith world” sponsored by the Center for Progressive Christianity. Organizers state that progressive Christians “thank God for religious diversity! We don’t claim that our religion is superior to all others.” The event will occur on Pentecost Sunday (May 11).
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Week of May 18 – 24
“I’m not a member. . . . I’m Jewish, but I am just very touched by [the Rev. Jim St. John’s] willingness to open his congregation to people of all faiths”
—Ellen Goldberg, parish board member at St. Miriam Church, a Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch in Roxborough, PA. Goldberg serves on the church board with a Baptist, a Buddhist, a Methodist, a Lutheran, and three Catholics. Parish pastor St. John joined the liberal offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church after leaving the Episcopal Church because the local diocese would not ordain him as an openly gay man.
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Week of June 1 – 7
“And yet Josef Fritzl represents merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck. In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as he is.”
—The Rt. Rev. Gordon Mursell, Anglican Bishop of Stafford (England), comparing wasteful consumption to the crimes of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter as a sex slave in a windowless basement for 24 years and fathered seven children with her. The quote appears on the Lichfield Diocese website.
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Week of June 8 – 14
“I cried all night. I’m going to be crying for the next four years. What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation’s political history. . . . The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance.”
—U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D—IL), on the historic significance of Barack Obama’s winning the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. Congressman Jackson is quoted in the Capitol Hill newspaper, Politico.
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Week of June 22 – 28
“It’s clear that racism is a philosophical construct, one invented by Christian nations to absolve themselves of the atrocities of empire . . . and that self-deception continues to undergird American life.”
—The Rev. Jin S. Kim, pastor of the Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, MN, addressing attendees of the 2008 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His remarks were part of a sermon given during the morning worship service on June 24.
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Week of July 27 – August 2
“Europe is suffering because [Christians] do not know how to talk with Muslims. Africa is also having problems on how to talk to Muslims. Ecology is the way to speak to the Muslims because we share the environment.”
—The Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, addressing a gathering of the Lutheran World Federation.
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Week of August 3 – 9
“The common mission [of the Anglican Communion] is more important than what separates us. The common mission is the MDGs [the United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals].”
—The Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson, Anglican Bishop of Toronto, speaking at a July 31 press conference during Lambeth, the once-a-decade assembly of Anglican bishops in London. Bishop Johnson was quoted on the Stand Firm website.
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Week of August 24 – 30
“Christians, Muslims and Jews are, in some ways, the most dangerous people on the planet, and probably Christians being the most dangerous because their fingers are closer to the most nuclear weapons.”
—Brian McLaren, author of A Generous Orthodoxy and The Secret Message of Jesus, speaking to an audience at Baker Book House. McLaren was quoted in USA Today.
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Week of September 14 – 20
“She is a long-time member of the Assemblies Of God. That’s all you need to know.”
—Columnist Andrew Sullivan, disparaging the religious background of Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. (Palin has not been a member of an Assemblies of God since 2002).
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Week of October 12 – 18
“How can you say Hindus are involved? How can you be sure Christians are not killing each other?”
—Prakash Sharma, the Bajrang Dal chief commenting on recent bloodshed of Christians in India. Bajrang Dal is a Hindu fundamentalist group accused of instigating much of the recent violence. Prakash Sharma was quoted in The Times.
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Week of October 19 – 25
“My point is that anyone can sue anyone else, even God.”
—Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers, commenting on his lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction to prevent God from committing acts of violence such as earthquakes and tornadoes. Chambers’ lawsuit was thrown out by the Douglas County District Court. Chambers was quoted in the Omaha World-Herald.
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Week of October 26 – November 1
“You are holding one of the most powerful tools Christians have ever had to impact our society during elections – the Christian Coalition voter guide.”
—From the introduction to the 2008 Christian Coalition Voter Guide.
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Week of November 9 – 15
“I would dare say that an inner-city church that has a food pantry or a soup kitchen and yet never has one convert is still doing the gospel in its fullness.”
—Rev. Robert Kenji Flowers, Fort Worth, Texas, in a letter posted on the GBCS web site.
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Week of November 30 – December 6
“There are small antigay Christian denominations all over the US and we have existed in the midst of these denominations for ages. At this point, this is just another of those small antigay Christian denominations. They are distinguished from other small antigay churches in the US by their global pretensions, but the relationships they have cultivated with a handful of like-minded leaders in Africa do not really change the dynamic here in the US.”
—Jim Naughton, Canon for Communications and Advancement for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, commenting on the proposed Anglican Church in North America.
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Week of December 7 – 13
“Christmas is about more than religion, it’s also about love and families, not to mention shopping. Two men or two women can form a family too these days, even one with a child.”
—Frank van Dalen, Chairman of a Dutch homosexual group planning a “Pink Christmas” festival in Amsterdam featuring a manger stall with two Josephs and two Marys.
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Week of December 14 – 20
“Wherever you’re coming from there should be something to celebrate at Christmas.”
—The Rev Jane Hedges, a canon at Westminster Abbey, which recently unveiled life-size snowmen dressed in turbans, with bindi dots on their foreheads, intended to demonstrate that Christmas should not be exclusively for Christians. Anglican clergy hope the snowmen will help to improve relations and dialogue between other faiths.
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