Faith

From the current issue of The Week magazine:

Volos, Greece
An entire convent of Greek Orthodox nuns has fled to another convent to avoid paying close to $1 million in debt from their failed knitting business. The 55 nuns splurged on purchases of industrial knitting machines and by attending foreign fashion shows to get ideas for patterns. The wool clothes they made were popular in Greece, but the business went under when a bank called in the loan. The nuns are now holed up in a convent in Volos, as the Holy Synod negotiates with the bank on their behalf.

From an article of the same title by Neela Banerjee in the NY Times:

While churches have long provided meals, occasional shelter and indoor worship services for the urban homeless, a small but growing number of congregations now recognize that many homeless people will not attend traditional services indoors. So these congregations now go outdoors to bring church to the homeless and anyone else who happens along. "When you become homeless, you become very aware of how people treat you," said the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffery, who runs Street Church. "It's hard to walk into a church, and it's even harder when you are homeless because you're worried about how you will be received, or if you smell bad. Some people never go inside at all, because they worry that they can lose all their stuff," as in shopping carts that must be left outside, "or be sent to a mental hospital or to jail."

Ms. Wyman, trying to introduce outdoor worship elsewhere as well, says she is working with churches and other groups, about half of them affiliated with the Episcopal Church, in 40 cities in the United States and abroad. Already some such worship is under way in cities including Asheville, N.C.; Atlanta; Cincinnati; Portland, Me.; and San Francisco.

The worship service lasts 15 to 20 minutes. People line up for Communion (expect grape juice, not wine) and then lunch on two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each, along with chips, fruit and water. Office workers sometimes stop by. Street Church volunteers hand out bulletins as they would to congregants at a Sunday service, and stay afterward to eat and talk with whoever shows up.

I think this is a very good trend...churches venturing out to minister to the least of these rather than expecting them to come in.

This past weekend I watched Alexandra Pelosi's documentary "Friends of God" (wikipedia entry) on HBO. Though perhaps not openly ridiculing its subject, the film did seem to be a road-trip tour of the freakish elements of evangelical America with little or no reference to its mainstream. For what it is, it was enjoyable. Two segments stick out in my memory. First, the "Christian" professional wrestling. I had heard of this before, but its absurdity was crystal clear upon seeing it on film (which raises the question, shouldn't it have been just as obvious before? Yes, admittedly it should have). Secondly, at one point Ted Haggard (who has a prominent role in the film) is talking with a couple of his church members who brag that their wives, ahem, achieve full satisfaction every time they are intimate. Off camera, you hear the filmmaker say something like: "I've got to go to this church!" I give it four out of five.

Mike Cope points to a NY Times article of the same title that tells of the story of what some of his relatives are doing to help improve the lives of children around the world. This is something that's been on my mind a bunch lately. It's hard to imagine any better use of one's time and energy than giving mercy to a child.

The controversy over Obama's alleged education in an Indonesian madrassa raged this week. CNN debunked the claim regarding a radical Islamic education (link), and Obama issued a press release yesterday directly addressing the issue (link):

To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago. Furthermore, the Indonesian school Obama attended in Jakarta is a public school that is not and never has been a Madrassa. These malicious, irresponsible charges are precisely the kind of politics the American people have grown tired of, and that Senator Obama is trying to change by focusing on bringing people together to solve our common problems.

I almost chuckled when I read this bit from USA Religious News:

His name is Barak Hussein Obama. And he is running for President. He is courting evangelical Christians from the pulpit at Rick Warren's Saddleback church and by using public proclamations reported in the news media. Some Christians are saying he is a Democrat that evangelical Christians can support. Many have suggested that his Islamic and atheist upbringing combined with his social progressive membership in the United Church of Christ make him an outstanding presidential candidate. Others believe he may be a threat to the national security. Will the real Obama please stand up? "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."-- Matthew 7:15

and also this line:

The United Church of Christ is not to be confused with the cult " Church of Christ ."

It also has an interesting summary of what should disturb us about the UCC:

The United Church of Christ, however, supports homosexual marriage, abortion, environmental justice, globalism, the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian movement and believes that Israel is illegally occupying the covenant land.

I also came across an article titled "More on Obama the Liberal" from The Conservative Voice web site, which was founded by a fellow honored by the Jerry-Falwell-given nickname "young Jessie Helms", which concluded:

Note that Obama's biological father from Kenya was a terrorist-espousing Muslim. His mother is an avowed atheist. Obama spent two years as a youngster in a terrorist-oriented Muslim school. He spent two other years in a Catholic school. Obama is a mixed up theological liberal espousing what liberals like to hear, couching it all the more in theologically liberal verbiage so as to fool naïve evangelicals and devout Catholics in particular.

Unlike the Obama school debacle, an editorial titled "Obama's Real Faith" from, of all places, the Investor's Business Daily, is actually interesting in my opinion. After pointing out the baseless nature of the current controversy, it discusses what it does consider disturbing:

Trouble is, Obama embraced more than Christ when he answered the altar call 20 years ago at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Southside Chicago. The 8,000-member church describes itself as "unashamedly black" and holds classes in "African-centered Bible study." He also pledged to honor something called the "Black Value System," which is a code of nonbiblical ethics written by blacks for blacks. This is what should give American voters pause. According to its Web site, Trinity puts the "black community" first. Black members are encouraged to pursue education and skills exclusively to advance their community, and allocate their money exclusively to support "black institutions" and black leaders. In short, it preaches from the gospel of blackness and black power. There's little room for white Christians at Obama's church. It disavows the pursuit of "middleclassness" - code for whiteness - arguing that middleclassness is a conspiracy by white leaders to keep talented African-Americans "captives." Obama, meanwhile, has been getting in touch with his African roots. He recently visited relatives in Kenya for the first time, and dropped the nickname Barry for the more African-sounding Barack. "I believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change," he recently asserted. He said his faith has also led him to question "the idolatry of the free market." This reflects Trinity church doctrine that no African-American can really rise to the top echelons of a "racist, competitive" white society on merit. Obama, in turn, calls the dashiki-wearing minister of this militantly black church his "spiritual adviser" and mentor. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said of Obama and his other congregants: "We are an African people, and remain true to our native land, the mother continent." He wants health care for all and more housing for the poor, and calls those who voted for President Bush (and his tax cuts) "stupid." Do such beliefs translate into a political agenda tailored to African-Americans? Would Obama, despite his agreeably race-neutral and nonthreatening public persona, govern and petition on behalf of one group and not necessarily for the greater good of the country? White House challengers such as Clinton think Obama's childhood brushes with Islam will make Americans nervous. But it's his adult conversion to black nationalism and socialism that makes this otherwise attractive minority candidate unfortunately so unattractive.

That is interesting. I wonder how accurate the characterization is. I also came across a recent Chicago Tribune profile of Jeremiah Wright titled "Pastor inspires 'audacity to hope'". It has a decidedly different take on Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ. Even the IBD article describes a lot of positive activities but it does seem to have an overly-racial emphasis, one that wouldn't be acceptable if espoused by whites, for example.