John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, has an illuminating post over at the Daily Beast about the quandary facing the Roman Catholic church over sainthood for Pope John Paul II. There is much to admire about this man and an equal amount to detest, most notably how he dealt with the church sex scandals. Will the process slow down after his beatification on Sunday? Who knows.

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Samaritan’s Purse president Franklin Graham addressed questions about President Obama’s birthplace and religious beliefs on ABC’s This Week that aired on Sunday. White House spokesman Jay Carney chided Graham for his comments after Graham told host Christiane Amanpour that there were still unanswered questions.

“I would just say I think it’s unfortunate that a religious leader would choose Easter Sunday to make preposterous charges,” Carney said at the end of yesterday’s press briefing.

Graham, who told Christianity Today that his ABC interview was taped a week before Easter, stood by his comments. “I respond[ed] to a question. I’m not going out making speeches about where the President was born. I could care less,” he said. “I’ll continue to answer reporters’ questions.”

I used the word “irrational”. But maybe it makes “perfect sense” given Graham’s other post-9/11 comments. Still, I am left wondering where the sane Christians are. And, no, Hitch, I don’t believe “sane Christian” is an oxymoron.

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Christians have been protesting since a ban was imposed earlier this year on a traditional burial area next to a revered Hindu temple in Katmandu. The Supreme Court has temporarily lifted the ban, but the dispute continues.

From nytimes.com

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Among other sentiments, President Obama expresses the following:

My Administration continues to defend the cause of religious freedom in the United States and around the world. At home, we vigorously protect the civil rights of Americans, regardless of their religious beliefs. Across the globe, we also seek to uphold this human right and to foster tolerance and peace with those whose beliefs differ from our own. We bear witness to those who are persecuted or attacked because of their faith. We condemn the attacks made in recent months against Christians in Iraq and Egypt, along with attacks against people of all backgrounds and beliefs. The United States stands with those who advocate for free religious expression and works to protect the rights of all people to follow their conscience, free from persecution and discrimination.

But what really caught my attention was the quote from Jefferson at the beginning of the statement:

On Religious Freedom Day, we commemorate Virginia’s 1786 Statute for Religious Freedom, in which Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.”

And by argument to maintain. I wonder what is entailed by the criterion, if we can call it that, of “argument”? Perhaps Jefferson is simply borrowing from the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religious expression. Having a little Greek here would help support this view. “And by logos to maintain” which gives us both “speech” as well as “reason” or “argument”.

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A public bus rolls by with an atheist message on its side: “Millions of people are good without God.” Seconds later, a van follows bearing a riposte: “I still love you. — God,” with another line that says, “2.1 billion Christians are good with God.

More here at NY Times.

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Misotheism doesn’t accord with binary thinking about religious belief. We are accustomed to view people as either believers, who worship a divinity, or nonbelievers (atheists) or doubters (agnostics), for whom the deity is irrelevant. Misotheists are a category-defying species: They believe in God (hence they are not atheists), but they hate him (hence they are not theists).

From Chronicle of Higher Education.

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[Photo: CNS]

Below from CNN.Com

Vice President Joe Biden joined five Supreme Court justices to attend Sunday’s annual Red Mass, the Roman Catholic service for the courts that has drawn criticism in recent years.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas attended the service, held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, on the eve of the court’s new term.

The Catholic News Service gives a good overview of the service and its background here.

Speaking at the 56th annual Red Mass in the nation’s capital, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said today’s followers of Christ must allow God’s word to abide in their hearts and, guided by the Holy Spirit, they must show God’s justice in the world.

“Graced in this manner, we respond in our personal lives of faith and witness and in our professional lives too, not only for the good of our souls but also for the sake of our professions,” said the cardinal, who delivered the homily at the Oct. 4 Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Would I have attended this year’s Red Mass? A similar event? Not an easy answer for me. And that’s surprising.

Do I think that mixing one’s faith and professional life is a good thing? Depends. Would I have attended the Red Mass? No. Would I have attended a similar service, say, one sponsored by the Society of Christian Philosophers? Maybe. The Society meets at the three regional meetings of the American Philosophical Association, of which I am a member. I’ve attended one non-APA related meeting. I know some of the folks who were instrumental in getting the Society going.

I’m nowhere near Anne Rice’s position on organized religion, but I do have to draw the line, at least right now, with the Vatican Roman Catholic hierarchy and the American hierarchy. Does that mean I won’t step foot in a Catholic church? No. I’m still lovin’ my peeps in the pews. It means I don’t think I could attend such a hierarchically, high-profile Roman Catholic event filled with cardinals and bishops who, Lord only knows knew what, when, where, why and how the “bodies”, so to speak, are buried and who disposed of them. Or at least should have known.

Of course, I’m the one who advocates for an American break from the Vatican anyway in order to have a truly parochial American Catholic Church. But that’s another and quite a long story.

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*Subject:* Fw: Inner Peace

_Inner Peace: This is so true_

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

….Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!

And you thought I was going to get all spiritual…

Photo by kudumono via Flickr.

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