PZ Myers has missed the point completely in his posting, Christian barbarians, about the destruction of anti-Christian art in Avignon. Here from the Guardian, to bring us up to date:
[O]n Palm Sunday morning, four people in sunglasses aged between 18 and 25 entered the exhibition just after it opened at 11am. One took a hammer out of his sock and threatened the guards with it. A guard grabbed another man around the waist but within seconds the group managed to take a hammer to the plexiglass screen and slash the photograph with another sharp object, thought to be a screwdriver or ice-pick. They also smashed another work, which showed the hands of a meditating nun.
The gallery director, Eric Mézil, said it would reopen with the destroyed works on show "so people can see what barbarians can do". He said there had been a kind of "inquisition" against the art work.
In a statement, he said the movement against Piss Christ had started at the time of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party's controversial debate on religion and secularism in France. At a record low in the polls before next year's presidential election, Sarkozy has been accused of using anti-Muslim and extreme-right rhetoric to appeal to voters and counter the rise of the Front National.
Asked by the daily Libération why the Piss Christ protest had happened now, Mézil pointed to Sarkozy's speech in March lauding "the Christian heritage of France" at Puy-en-Velay, where the first Crusades were preached.
He said: "Clearly we saw in Saturday's demonstration that a Catholic fringe wanted to take the president at his word, with extremely violent appeals." . . .
Myers is right to compare this destruction of art to the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. And he is right to condemn it. But that is as far as he should have gone.
If you have read this blog for a long time you may remember PZ Myers, the college professor who publically and intentionally desecrated a stolen consecrated communion wafer, which he called an *expletive* cracker. You may remember that he nailed it to a page of the Quran, and threw it in the trash with coffee grounds. And he photographed this act and posted pictures on the internet, all to make a point.
Now, in his most recent posting about the condemnation of the destruction in Avignon, he writes:
I don't want to hear another word from Catholics about my destruction of a mass-produced cracker. Their extremists use violence and the destruction of private property to deface a work of art in a museum.
First of all, this was not a Catholic act but the act of a fringe group of Catholics. And there is no comparison between the intentional destruction of religious art and the destruction of Eucharistic wafers. Can’t he see that? And if he thinks there is something of a comparison then is he not condemning his own actions?
Not all Muslims will destroy religious Buddhist art. Not all Catholics (or Christians of any tradition) will destroy an offensive crucifix even if it is masquerading as art. Not every Atheist goes around destroying a consecrated host.
Has Myers forgotten that many Atheists condemned his behavior. Fringe is the word Mézil used. Yep, that fits. I’ve said Myers seems immature. Fringe, too.
New York Times’ Erik Eckholm:
Women seeking positions in mainline Protestant denominations like Episcopal and Presbyterian have seen the doors widen: By 2009, 28 percent of senior pastors in mainline churches were female, according to a survey by U.S. Congregations, a nonprofit research group in Louisville, Ky. But a preference or firm requirement for male pastors persists among conservative churches (mainly evangelical), with fewer than 2 percent of senior positions held by women.
Single pastors remain uncommon, especially among conservative churches, where the figure is one in 20, according to the same survey. Among mainline Protestant denominations, roughly one in six senior pastors are single.
NYT: Unmarried pastor alleges discrimination - U.S. news - The New York Times - msnbc.com
Independent Catholic News is reporting:
Israel’s Interior Ministry has revoked the permit for the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, The Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, to live in Jerusalem, the Anglican Communion News reports. The government has refused requests to reinstate it, in spite of protests by Anglican authorities in the West specifically the United States.
The bishop is a native of the Holy Land and has spent most of his life and ministry there, but cannot obtain either citizenship or legal residence in Israel, since he was born in Nablus, in the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, but has not been annexed to Israel. East Jerusalem, on the other hand, where the Anglican Cathedral and Diocesan offices are situated, was also occupied at the same time, but Israel annexed it and considers it part of its national territory (although no other country in the world recognizes this annexation). Therefore, Bishop Dawani is considered by Israel to be a foreigner who can only visit – let alone live in – East Jerusalem with a special permit, which the Israeli authorities can either grant or deny at their sole discretion.
. . . The issue of entry visas and residence for Catholic clergy and religious [as well] has been a priority item on the agenda of the negotiations between the Holy See and the State of Israel, from their beginning in 1992 – with no agreement yet.
Israel revokes visa of Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem on Independent Catholic News
CNN is starting to use the word “faithy” quite a bit:
From rejected religiously-themed TV ads to players kneeling in prayer, Super Bowl XLV had no shortage of faithy moments.
And, just this morning CNN headlined a story, “7 faithy companies (besides Chick-fil-A)” on their home page.
Being something of a faithy, myself, I have easily spotted “faithy politics” and “faithy twittering” recently. Seems they need to do something about their faithy lingo. See The Super Bowl's faithy moments – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs
A few days ago I wrote about a blog entry by PZ Myers in his blog in which he wrote:
Once again, I have proven my ability to drive people into a frothing rage against me. Only this time it isn’t a mob of religious fanatics and anti-choicers who have called me pond scum who will go to hell, an insect souled vile man, a black-souled amoral monster, pure evil, morally depraved, with a depraved mind, descend[ing] down the various stages into madness, and so forth…but I have this time managed to antagonize a bunch of atheists. Feel my pain.
I noted that it was a pretty interesting perspective on the factions in modern Atheism, as Myers saw it. Nonetheless, I thought, and still think, it’s all about Myers being the center of attention.
But I missed a key word that was detonator among his fellow Atheist bloggers: hate.
Vjack, over at Atheist Revolution, has named him Idiot of the Week. He writes:
Not satisfied with antagonizing religious believers, PZ has decided to go after those of us who understand the meaning of atheism. We are "superficial," and he hates us. Rather than say that he disagrees with us or that he thinks we are wrong, PZ decided to jump directly to hate.
He says he hates people who disagree with him. Does he? His linguistic venom, often directed towards Roman Catholics and Creationists, suggests that maybe he really does. I’m not sure. I’m thinking it is all about ego.
Independent Catholic News is reporting:
The Rt Rev Peter Fox, honorary assistant bishop in the Anglican diocese of Norwich, will join half a dozen fellow ministers for Clergy of the Catwalk, a special presentation of clerical clothing at the East of England Christian Resources Exhibition, (Thursday 24 February, 12.30pm, Exec Peterborough).
Among a variety of items, Peter will wear a green cope with a Tree of Life design on the back, with matching mitre made by his seamstress wife, Angie, who is a Catholic.
"Design ideas usually come to me during worship," she explained. "I wouldn’t like to admit how much designing goes on during my husband's sermons."
May we all hope that this does not spread to America, the rest of Europe or anywhere else. If you must, read the rest of the story at Clergy on the catwalk: Bishop to model wife's designs on Independent Catholic News
From Klavan’s blog:
British Comedian Ricky Gervais ended his reputedly raucous evening of hosting The Golden Globes ceremony Sunday night with the mildly witty remark, “Thank God for making me an atheist.” I can’t help but reflect that God might well respond, “No, really, Ricky, thank you.” The atheism of someone like Gervais – a man who radiates unhappiness and self-hatred – has to be the best thing to happen to religion since the atheism of Bill Maher – a man who radiates unhappiness and self-hatred. Every time someone like this declares himself an atheist, twenty people must fall to their knees, crying, “Jesus Christ, don’t let me become like THAT guy!”
Read the entire posting: God to Gervais: No, Really – Thank You!
From Religious News Service:
Six feet above the vaulted entranceway to Washington National Cathedral, the rough contours of Rosa Parks’ face are taking shape.
Using a motorized hammer and chiseling tools that date back centuries, stone carver Sean Callahan is patiently working on a new bust of the civil rights heroine.
“I have to be aware of the significance of it,” he said. “It puts pressure on me to get it right. I have to pay respect to her in that sense.”
Across the Human Rights “porch” in the cathedral’s narthex, Parks will soon be joined by another famous woman, Mother Teresa.
Callahan, a 45-year-old Catholic, was not alive when Parks made history by staying seated on a segregated bus and helping spark the civil rights movement; but he remembers hearing about the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun when he was growing up.
. . . Callahan’s work began a week before the country marked the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., with whom Parks worked closely. The sculptures of Parks and Mother Teresa, based on clay models by North Carolina sculptor Chas Fagan, are due to be completed by Easter. RNS Feature: "Rosa Parks enshrined in stone at National Cathedral"
Others include Eleanor Roosevelt, slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Bishop John Walker, the first black Episcopal bishop of Washington.