“Your hands are full of blood.”

“…even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”
-Isaiah 1:15

While searching through picture’s from Ed Kashi’s book Curse of the Black Gold I came across this:

I couldn’t think of a more damning portrait of Christianity than this pic right here.

None shall be barren

Empowering families and generational leaders for global impact

To the left it says:

It’s a session of…

• Salvation
• Deliverance
• Healing miracles with God

This is the bullshit that makes me absolutely sick to my fucking stomach.  This is the type of shit I used to encounter at my ex-girlfriends church, Shiloh Christian Fellowship (in Oakland); talk of “outpouring encounters,” “generational movements,” “no longer being [spiritually] barren.”  There will no doubt be a special place in hell for people like “Bishop” Sam Amaga and Mrs. “Dr.” Sam Amaga and “Bishop” Jolomi.

One thing that is routinely brought up in the Nevi’im (book of prophets in the Hebrew Bible) and in the Christian New Testament is essentially God’s siding with the poor and oppressed.

I remember my Hebrew Bible professor once saying, “Wanna read some of the most ‘anti-Semitic’ stuff in the world? Read the Tanakh [Hebrew Bible]! That has some of the most anti-Israeli stuff ever created!”

And indeed it does, there is nothing more damning to religious and political leaders whom bring up the Bible and “Biblical values” than the actual fucking Bible itself.  As we can see in the quote I opened up God is essentially saying he will no longer answer Israel’s prayers because the leaders and priests of that country have the blood of the poor and oppressed on their hands.

As we can see with the picture here we have the contrasts and contradictions of reality here on earth and a fucking billboard proclaiming “None shall be barren!” while the people in front of the billboard more than likely have had barren stomachs and empty pockets quite a few times in their life while the two bishops have so much money overflowing from their pockets they can afford nice suits to showcase on their own private billboards.

To give an example of what happens in these “outpouring encounters” one of the pastors described what had happened when he was in Nigeria during a “revival.” He described the church being packed with poor and working class folks experiencing miracles at the hands of pastors and elders (church folk, a step bellow a pastor or priests) and during this whole event the people where actually stuffing trash cans filled to the brim with money from donations.  The pastor was describing money being piled up on the fucking stage and being shoveled into large bags and bins.

Why, you ask, would poor folks do this?  Well, it’s not that surprising as when people are desperate and on their last rope they will do anything to attain any kind of salvation.  As Marx stated:

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the people. [Emphasis mine]

Marx is not knocking religion per se nor is he knocking poor people for taking to religion like a drug.  The lives of people are so fucking miserable that they need something to take their mind off the pain; this comes in form of drugs, alcohol, religion, etc.

I myself am not knocking Christianity or the concept of God either (for one, I’m getting my masters in theology and studying to be a priest for the Episcopal Church) but what I am upset about is the fact that people whom claim to be followers of Jesus are actually the ones exploiting the poor they are so intent to “save.”

Religion has become a selling point, like the capitalist who exploits the worker the priest exploits the follower.  The worker creates commodities and gives the capitalist wealth while the capitalist (whom can’t create anything without the worker) hoards most of the profits (to further turn into capital); the parishioner goes to church for spiritual salvation and forks over money to the priest while the priest does nothing to actually organize and help uplift the poor and working class from their oppressive chains.  The priest in this form is nothing more than a drug dealer making his customer sink further into obliteration because she or he is trying to forget his or her problems in the material world.

These priests and modern day pharisees would rather spend money on fancy suits and billboards than rather actually take up the Bible literally and speak truth to power and help working class and poor communities organize for the distribution of power and wealth.

I ain’t sittin in your pews less you helpin’ me resist and refuse
Show me a list of your views
If you really love me
Help me tear this muthafucka up
Consider this my tithe for the offer cup

-Boots Riley, The Coup

[Hat Tip: Hossam]

White by the Numbers

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Tammerie, who is pursuing a dissertation on anti-racism and Christian theology, blogs:

By the numbers, white people still hold a preponderance of the positions that count, out of proportion to our presence in the population, from which I would argue we are able to maintain white-privileging control over the systems and institutions that shape our society, including business, legislative and judicial systems, property sales and management, education and health care. (Note that the percentages of non-white, non-male legislators was considered too small to be tabulated.)

Of course, not all white people are employed in positions that afford economic power and privilege. Whites represented 44 percent of the 37 million U.S. citizens living below the poverty line in 2006. The (historically constructed) sad thing about that is that most of the white people living in poverty think they have more in common with wealthy white people than they do people of color also dealing with poverty. And that keeps folks from banding together and working together to insist on change in an unjust reality.

The Transgender Sista Among Us

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

A blogger at Black Women, Blow the Trumpet, blogs about MtF transgendered women within the Black community:

The church folks who read this blog and who know me personally have noticed that I have a few transgender friends. I never set out to find transgender friends, but life has a way of bringing us into situations that are intended to teach us. My transgender friends have always created a huge scene whenever they visit my church. People seem to become nervous and afraid when seeing transgenders. I think that our natural instinct is to fear whatever we do not understand. There is a blog that addresses transphobia. Click here to read the writings of a 30-something transwoman.

ROTFLMAO

Oh man. In case you wanna see the most backward thinking in the known universe please check out this hilarious website. Can’t stop laughing. Here’s a snippit from their “Hellbound” section:

WARNING: Before visiting any of the following links you are cautioned to say the following prayer.

IN JESUS NAME, I BIND UP EVERY DEMON COMING ACROSS THE COMPUTER LINES, AND I RETURN THEM AND ANY CURSES.IN JESUS NAME, I COVER MYSELF IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. I COVER THIS COMPUTER AND THE INTERNET ROAD I TRAVEL IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. I TAKE AUTHORITY AND DOMINION OVER ALL WEB SITES, WEB MASTERS, WEB DOMAINS, AND DEMONS OF THE INTERNET SUPER HIGHWAY SO THEY DO NOT CROSS MY PATH. I DISPATCH ANGELS AHEAD OF ME TO PROTECT ME.

IN JESUS NAME, I CUT ALL UNGODLY SILVER CORDS AND LAY LINES.

AS YOUR WAR CLUB AND WEAPONS OF WAR I BREAK DOWN, UNDAM, AND BLOW UP ALL WALLS OF PROTECTION AROUND ALL HOMOSEXUALS, WITCHES, WARLOCKS, WIZARDS, SATANISTS, ATHEISTS, LIBERALS, DEMOCRATS, SORCERERS, AND THE LIKE, AND I BREAK THE POWER OF ALL CURSES, HEXES, VEXES, SPELLS, CHARMS, FETISHES, PSYCHIC PRAYERS, PSYCHIC THOUGHTS, ALL WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY, SATIRE, PARODY, MAGIC, VOODOO, ALL MIND CONTROL, JINXES, POTIONS, BEWITCHMENTS, DEATH, DESTRUCTION, SICKNESS, PAIN, TORMENT, PSYCHIC POWER, PSYCHIC WARFARE, PRAYER CHAINS, INCENSE AND CANDLE BURNING, INCANTATIONS, CHANTING, UNGODLY BLESSINGS AND HOODOO, CRYSTALS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE BEING SENT MY WAY, OR MY FAMILY MEMBER’S WAY, OR ANY CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES WAY, AND I RETURN IT, AND THE DEMONS TO THE SENDER, TEN FOLD.

AMEN.

Pretty sure my website will be included in these links. PRAISE THE LAWD!

P.S.

Fuck this Jesus.

And get down with this Jesus

Images From:

Newsroom

Like, for real?

Ecclesial Anti-Racist Witness: A Critique and Affirmation Part I

Religious Scholarship Series.

A recent article [1] by Dwight N. Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, came out in the latest issue of the Anglican Theology Review. And since it involves anti-racism as a subject, a subject which I study very closely and hold dear to my heart, and the journal of the Anglican Church, which I am apart of, I figured I would discuss and critique Dr. Hopkins views in my blog.

Hopkins opens up his article with an important point on the church and race:

Though the contemporary civil rights movement was a heroic effort, led primarily by black churches, 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. How is this possible, given that Christians of all colors claim to be followers of Jesus who walked this earth? To understand this reahty of the persistence and pervasiveness of racism, especially in tlie majority of today’s churches, and to delve into how theology and ethics help motivate anti-racism work in and through the church…

When it comes to race the Anglican and Episcopal churches are apart of that group of churches that are segreagated on Sundays, with most of those celebrating mass in the Anglican church being affluent (most of the time) and white (almost all of the time); however, worldwide, the Anglican church has more Blacks than whites.

So far so good, however one of the things I take umbrage (a slight annoyance to be exact) too is Hopkins simplistic definition of race and racism, especially within the American context. He opens up with a definition of race:

The African American philosopher Charles W. MiUs points out the constructed nature of race in the following definition. Mills lays out seven criteria he uses for defining race in contemporary US society.
And these elements usually overlap. He cites (1) bodily appearance (a function of biology and sociology); (2) ancestry (a function of biology and sociology); (3) self-awareness of ancestry (a function of biology and socialization); (4) public awareness of ancestry (a function of biology and socialization); (5) culture (based only on socialization); (6) experience (a function only of socialization); and (7) subjective identification (a combination of biology and socialization).’ These criteria indicated by Mills substantiate my definition of race in the United States context.

…

And so, in my definition, race results from combining both biological and sociological traits.

Also, his definition of racism is also quite lacking (and dangerous in the context of U.S. white privilege and supremacy):

Prejudice exists when one race (defined biologically and/or sociologically) feels that it is superior to another race simply because of perceived racial difference. Collectively, a group can share prejudice
when it has a preference for its own kind. Individually, a person of one race can attack a person of a different race because one individual feels superior.

Racism is the ability and the power of one race to implement negative prejudice against another race. It reveals itself when people in power use their power against blacks and other people of color, because those with power do not want African American lifestyles, cultural difference, and potential power-holders to have access to resources that God has given all people for communal ownership,
distribution, and use. Racism is prejudice plus power to implement.

However, his view of white supremacy is pretty much spot on:

White supremacy is the most concentrated form of racism in the United States. It is the systematic strategy that institutionalizes power in the hands of white Americans as a group. White supremacy can be conscious and unconscious; it can be verbally overt and silently supportive. Conservatives, radicals, and liberals are born into a system and structure of white supremacy.

First, I’ll (briefly) go over my differences with his views on race. He makes some interesting points in points three through seven; however the points in one and two are quite weak: especially when, in most academic and sociological circles, recognize race actually doesn’t exist. There is no biological markings for race; however, there are biological markings based on ones ancestry and origins and the like, but there are no markings for race on a biological level. So using biology as some sort of explanation for race is a faulty starting off point.

It has been recognize that race, essentially, was hammered out by the role of the court system within the United States, especially during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when “social Darwinism” was at its peak and “racial science” was in its heyday. Race was essentially a tool for giving out citizenship within the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: to be classified as white, within the court system, was to gain the privilege of citizenship. And skin and ancestory had little to do with it: in Alabama one was Black if one had one drop of “Black blood” in their body, even if they were the lightest white person in town; however, in Virginia one had to be 1/8 Black to be considered Black while in Florida one was Black if one was 1/16 Black, so therefore a “white” (by today’s standards) person in Virginia would become “Black” in Florida. During the mid-20th century the role of law and race changed. By this time race was already hammered out as anyone with light skin color and with ancestry from Europe as being classified as white (even Jews, though not fully at that point); with whiteness one got the privilege of home ownership and being able to move to the suburbs. So while earlier whiteness got one citizenship, now one got home ownership and government subsidies and wealth accumulation.

As for prejudice and racism Hopkins is also mistaken in linking “prejudice” with “racism” by stating”

Racism is the ability and the power of one race to implement negative prejudice against another race.

And since Hopkins defines prejudice as:

…when one race (defined biologically and/or sociologically) feels that it is superior to another race simply because of perceived racial difference.

Hopkins misleads many as to assuming that racism in simply prejudice enacted through institutions of the state, law, family, etc. One could simply say, “But we don’t have that type of racism anymore! So therefore there is no way the state can legally enact racism on ‘people of color.’ By the way. I don’ see color.

As I explained in the post “Racism and White Supremacy:”

With the term racism, there is no power structure being implied in its use. With the term white supremacy there is a power structure being implied in its use…The power structure in our society has been built up over time on white privilege and white supremacy and the people that have been exploited to make this country “great” were people of color. This structure is still in place and people of color are still in worse off situations than whites are (see “Living on the Other Side of the Color Line“) and whites continue to benefit from a society that views white as the “norm” (white heroes in history books, whites in TV shows, whites in congress, whites as CEOs, etc.) and continue to benefit from past racist policies and from current racist and contemporary racist thought (see “Black Dolls/White Dolls,” “Anti-Gang Injunctions,” “Boxer Recalls Award,” among other posts) as well as intentional or unintentional racist policies from the government that harm people of color but tend to not harm the white population. A person of color can be a “racist,” of course, but a person of color (due to the cited references above) cannot act on her or his racist views and in no way can harm whites at a mass level.

So in his definition and explanation of racism and race Hopkins makes the classical mistake that many whites make when discussing racism: they discuss it in the context of classical racism of Jim Crow and the KKK. Racism, however, is not just prejudice enacted, but a system of white privilege and supremacy that benefits those whom are considered “white” (hashed out by the court system long ago) and is meant to keep those who are considered “non-white” down; and the only way for “non-whites” to advance in a system of white privilege (and they can advance to a certain extent, as conservatives like to point out) is to essentially abandon their “roots” and to adopt a language of white supremacy and help enact white supremacy in this current day society (Rice, Thomas, etc.).

However, I do applaud Hopkins for brining up the subject of racism and white supremacy within the Anglican church and he does have a good outline in using scripture to tackle racism, although I do find it a little simplistic. However, I will outline my criticism and praise for his interpretations of scripture and anti-racism work in Part II of this review.

Notes:

1. Hopkins, Dwight N. “Theological Basis of Ecclesial Anti-Racist Witness.” Anglican Theological Review 90, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 7-21.

Image From:
Piter’s Home Page

Postulancy

I just found out a few days ago I’m now a Postulant for the priesthood of the Episcopal Church of the United States of the Anglican communion. Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary a postulant is:

1. Christian Church. A candidate for admission into a religious order.

For those who have read the “About the Author” section in the “About” page of this blog you will already know that I’ve been in the process of studying and preparing for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Over the past two years I’ve been in internships, gone to interviews with diocesan staff and the bishop, taken psych evaluation tests, and just recently was interviewed by two committees from the Commission on Ministry to see if I was ready and prepared to be a candidate for the priesthood. While I was in Ireland they meet with the bishop to vote and reccomend who they thought should become postulants for the priesthood. When I got back to the states I got a plesant message on my phone saying I indeed was accepted as a postulant. So now I’m in the early early stages of becoming a priest, I still have to go to grad school and get my masters and then I have to be approved to become a deacon and then I have to be approved to become a priest; so this is the first step in around a five year process. Should be fun.

James Cone on the Black Jesus and Liberation

First saw this video on a culturekitchen post by Liza.

Christ of Color

Ann has posted some great images for Easter of Jesus from what looks to be some Bibles that are centuries old.  Here’s one of them:

Jesus and the Sacred Heart

In house after house after house in Ireland I have noticed one consistent thing popping up over and over again.  This picture:

The Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Every single household will have this picture in it with (usually) a fake candle that flickers light to mimic flame flickering off the wick of a candle.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ireland, for me, is akin to the devotion of the Santo Nino in the Philippines (I actually saw a statue of Santo Nino in a home, all though it wasn’t for devotion, it was wedding gift).  While I was visiting information center in  New Grange I found an informational packet on coalminers in Ireland and there was a poigent picture of a dirty and blackened coal miner deep in a mine shaft with his hard heat in his right hand covering his heart as he prays near a shrine to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (sometime in the 1980s if I remember correctly).

I remember seeing pictures and prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in my grandmother and great-aunts house, as well as in the houses of some of my other Irish American relatives, however it never dawned on me until now the connection that it had with Ireland.

Easter Sunday

Originally written on Mach 23, 2008.

Easter Sunday was spent traveling from Cora Droma Rúisc to my grandfather’s village of Meleeckmoore which is right outside the town of Clár Clainne Mhuiris.  When we got to Clár Clainne Mhuiris we went to St. Coleman’s Catholic Church for Easter mass, the same church that my grandfather was baptized in in1916, and apparently its changed very little since.  St. Coleman’s sits across from an old Protestant church (now converted into a public library) and is made of stone, much like the old churches in England and across Ireland.  The church was packed with people from the town and from the villages surrounding the town; so much so that for the first 20 minutes I had to listen to the service outside of the church with a bunch of other folk, but my cousin found us some seats all the way in the front.

It was quite meaningful to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Christ in the church where my grandfather was baptized in the name of the resurrected Christ all those years ago.  The church was beautiful with nice stone columns lining both sides and a large alter with (what I would call) mini-minarets at the back of the alter with small statues of different saints and surrounding by light candles and yellow lilies (which were all over the church), the saints, candles, and lilies were meant to accentuate the main piece of the alter which was a small gold cross of the crucified Christ, nothing fancy, no big cross with a life like Jesus in agony, just a very tiny little cross; nothing imposing.

During the service the priest spoke on the usual stuff and he tended to ramble a little bit, but the interesting thing for me was during certain parts of the service, such as the Our Father and the closing prayer, he spoke in Gaelic (the Celtic Irish language).

As one can garner the Catholic Church has played a huge role in Ireland and the church, and many Catholics, have pushed to have Ireland recognize the role the church has played in its country by enshrining the Catholic religion in the constitution by stating how the church served as a moral cornerstone in trying times.  This has obviously meet resistance from certain secular and Catholic politicians and citizens.

While the Catholic church has played an important role in the identity of the country, especially in the face of Protestant British persecution, it’s also important to note that the church has also played a corrupting influence in society.  The church has lead in the repression of women, sexuality, the condemnation of homosexuals, and as well as playing a big role in the Irish fascist movement during the 1920s and 1930s (they Irish Catholic fascists were called the Blue Shirts).  The church has set up orphanages and (essentially) sweat shops and has taken children away from their homes, beat them, raped them, and has covered up its abuses with sheer cold-heartedness.  The Catholic church also played a certain role in silencing revolutionaries throughout the centuries, especially from 1916 to 1920; during the height of the revolutionary period.  The priests would preach about the civility of the British, on not taking up arms, on obeying one’s landlord, etc.

Much of Irelands attributes and troubles stem from its relationship with the church.

Image From:
Flower Society 

Archbishop Romero: 28 Years Latter

I was born on March 1st 1984, four years after the assassination of Archbishop Romero on March 24 1980. Separated by culture, language, country, and time, yet united in a belief in the liberation of man, in a Teologia de la liberacion.

I just finished watching the movie Romero and I thought I should share it with everyone who reads this blog as it reflects (quite closely, yet not wholly) what my theology is and as it is a movie about one of my heroes (all though he had many flaws). I was suprised when I found it on You Tube and I bring you the first (of eleven) part here.

I also want to share with you two quotes, one from Father Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest in El Salvador who was heavily active in organizing his community in Aguilares, El Salvador against the government, for which he was killed for, also on the month of my birth, on March 12, 1977:

I am fully aware that very soon the Bible and the Gospels will not be allowed to cross the border. All that will reach us will be the covers, since all the pages are subversive—against sin, it is said. So that if Jesus crosses the border at Chalatenango, they will not allow him to enter. They would accuse him, the man-God … of being an agitator, of being a Jewish foreigner, who confuses the people with exotic and foreign ideas, anti-democratic ideas, and i.e., against the minorities. Ideas against God, because this is a clan of Cain’s. Brothers, they would undoubtedly crucify him again. And they have said so.
Given at a sermon, known as the “Apopa Sermon.”

And one from Romero:

I would like to make an appeal in a special way to the men of the army, to the police, to those in the barracks. Brothers, you are part of our own people. You kill your own campesino brothers and sisters. And before an order to kill that a man may give, the law of God must prevail that says: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God. No one has to fulfill an immoral law. It is time to recover your consciences and to obey your consciences rather than the orders of sin. The church, defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, the dignity of the person, cannot remain silent before such abomination. We want the government to take seriously that reforms are worth nothing when they come about stained with so much blood. In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people whose laments rise to heaven each day more tumultuously, I beg you, I ask you, I order you in the name of God: Stop the repression!
Sermon, the day before he was assassinated.

Romero was killed by the death squads of a group called Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) which is in power today and holds the presidency and holds 32 out of 84 seats in the legislature.

Image From:
Unfogged

Theological Interpretations

This great joke was told in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin in the article “White Hats and Black Hats” by Alex Kronemer:

The joke takes place in Rome, in the Middle Ages, at a time when the Catholic community and the Jewish community aren’t getting along. The pope calls in the head rabbi and says, “I think it’s best if the Jews would just leave Rome.” The rabbi considers what the pope is saying and comes up with an idea. “Let me make a deal with you,” he says. “Let’s have a theological debate. If I should win, we get to stay. If I should lose, we’ll leave without a fight.”

The pope agrees, but immediately there is a problem. Which theological language, Hebrew or Latin, should the debate be in? They argue for a while, and finally come upon a solution. They agree to have the debate nonverbally, using just hand gestures.

Of course, once the news gets out about the debate, it becomes a very big deal. So many people want to see the debate that a wooden stage is built in St. Peter’s Square.

On the morning of the debate, the pope climbs to the stage from one side and the rabbi from the other. The pope begins. First the pope puts up three fingers. Without a moment’s hesitation, the rabbi puts up one. The pope nods thoughtfully. He ponders a moment, and then raises his hand and makes a sweeping gesture over his head. Again, without a moment’s hesitation, the rabbi points firmly to the ground. Once more, the pope nods thoughtfully. He clearly is impressed. After a few moments of consideration, he turns to a table behind him on which he has placed the communion wafer and wine. He picks them up and holds them in front of the rabbi.

For the first time, the rabbi seems stumped. He ponders for a moment, then shrugs, reaches into his cloak, and pulls out an apple, at which point the pope raises his hands in defeat. “The debate’s over,” he declares. “The rabbi wins. The Jews can stay in Rome!”

Down from the stage he goes. Immediately, he’s mobbed by all the bishops and cardinals who are there. “What was this debate all about?” they ask. “

Oh, it was a fascinating debate,” he says. “First I put up three fingers to signify the Trinity. And the rabbi raised one to remind me that we all share one God in common. So I made a gesture over my head to say that God sits in his majesty in the heavens above. And the rabbi pointed to the ground to remind me that God is on earth watching and judging. So I took out the wine and the bread to signify Redemption. And he took out the apple to remind me of the sin of Adam, which we all share in common.”

Meanwhile, the same conversation was happening with the rabbi and his followers. “What a weird debate,” the rabbi said to his followers. They all nodded in agreement. “First, the pope puts up three fingers, saying that the Jews have to leave Rome in three days. So I put up one to say that not one of us is going to go. That made him mad, so he sweeps his hand over his head saying that the Jews had to leave Rome. I point to the ground, saying we’re staying right where we are. Then he signals that he wants to have a break by taking out his lunch!” The rabbi shrugged. “So, naturally, I take out mine.”

Wages, Food, and Property

Cross-posted from The Ghost of Tom Joad.

From the Book of Sirach (of the Catholic Old Testament):

The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood. To take away a neighbor’s living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood.

This is what I keep in mind while I do my steward work at UPS.

Authentic Mystical Experience

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

The Stumbling Mystic blogs about the documentary Jesus Camp, a movie on a camp that indoctrinates children into a hard-ling arch conservative Christian message:

Authentic spiritual experiences erase the “us versus them” mentality. They blur the boundaries between self and other. Emotional and vitalistic experiences like the ones portrayed in Jesus Camp by their very nature reinforce the shadow rather than transmuting it and therefore deepen the fault lines within humanity. Some of the children in the movie report feeling “disgusting” inside when they meet a non-Christian. What a terrible tragedy that such nonsense is being peddled in the name of Jesus of Nazareth!

Blog first viewed at BlogBharti.

The Bishop!

So I get to be the Bishop’s assistant on Sunday during the service at my church.  I essentially carry his staff and sit next to him and do other traditional practices as such.  It’s good to get some face time with him though due to the fact I will be going in front of the Commission on Ministry and am going to be interviewed by the Bishop early next year.  So it’s good that he’ll know me when I see him.

However.  Whenever I hear the term “Bishop” or the phrase, “The Bishop” I always think of Monty Python’s Flying Circus