Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Friday, April 08, 2011
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE: Thousands of Bibles are being sent to Scottish law courts and judges as part of a campaign urging them to reflect on the Christian virtues of justice and mercy.
But Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society, blasted the scheme saying it “could put the Sharia laws of the Middle East to shame”.
The initiative has been launched by the Scottish Bible Society (SBS) and it is backed by one of Scotland’s most respected legal figures, Lord Mackay of Clashfern.
Foundational
Lord Mackay, a former Lord Chancellor and Lord Advocate of Scotland, wants to highlight the Bible as the “foundational source book for Scotland’s legal system.”
The SBS, of whom Lord Mackay is the honorary president, is also sending an introductory pamphlet to every court in the land.
The pamphlet, entitled The Bible in Scots Law: A Guide for Legal Practitioners, features an introduction by Lord Mackay. >>> | Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: American students will learn more about the virtues of free enterprise, Biblical values and the Confederacy's cause, and less about slavery and civil rights in a controversial new curriculum being pushed through by the Texas school board.
Members of the state's board of education put the finishing touches on Friday to a new history and social studies curriculum for the state's 4.8 million state school students.
The proposed programme, which will affect other parts of the US due to Texas's large share of the school textbook market, has prompted months of fierce argument and protests outside the board's headquarters in Austin.
Conservatives, who constitute a two-thirds majority on the 15-strong board, which is composed of non-education specialists, say the new curriculum will be more positive about America, particularly the South, and its history. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: One of Poland's most famous and controversial pop stars faces two years in gaol after suggesting that the Bible was written by drunks and people with a fondness for "herbal cigarettes".
Dorota Rabczewska, famed for an unabashed attitude when it comes to flaunting her flesh, and a string of hits, has been charged by Warsaw prosecutors with insulting religious feeling for comments she made in a television interview a year ago. >>> Matthew Day in Warsaw | Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
BBC: A US military contractor has said it will stop engraving Biblical references on rifles used by the US army.
The markings, in the form of coded references, have been appearing on products made by the US firm Trijicon, based in Michigan, for decades.
But on Thursday, US military chief Gen David Petraeus, said the practice of scripture references was "disturbing" and "a serious concern".
The firm also sells the gunsights to Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
The inscriptions - which include "2COR4:6" and "JN8:12", relating to verses in the books of II Corinthians and John - appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number.
The company pledged to remove the inscription reference on all products destined for the US military yet to be shipped and ensure all future procurements from the department of defence are produced without scripture references. Religious sensitivities >>> | Friday, January 22, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Almost 100,000 pupils are being taught in schools which have dropped Christian assemblies in favour of Islamic or multi-faith worship.
More than 230 schools have applied to councils for exemption from the legal requirement to hold a daily act of collective worship of a "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character".
In some of these schools, Islamic assemblies are held instead, with readings from the Koran. Other schools run secular or multi-faith assemblies where Christianity is avoided or relegated to just one example of a faith among many.
Religious organisations said Christianity in schools was being marginalised and accused schools of failing children.
"The worst thing of all that schools can do, whether they have a determination or not, is a multi-faith mish mash," said Colin Hart, the director of the Christian Institute.
"The British Social Attitudes survey found that 69 per cent of parents backed daily prayers in schools. Yet Christianity in schools is being marginalised. Parents do not want assemblies to be either secular or a confusing amalgam of faiths. Look at the massive number of parents of other faiths who apply to Church schools. They don't like the secularism that is pervading community schools."
The scale of the opt-out can be revealed for the first time after 105 councils in England responded to a Freedom of Information request from The Sunday Telegraph. More than 230 schools have ditched Christian assemblies >>> Julie Henry, Education Correspondent | Saturday, January 09, 2010
Friday, October 16, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A convicted murderer faces execution in Texas after jurors consulted the Bible while deliberating on his sentence.
Amnesty International has appealed to the state to commute the sentence on Khristian Oliver, 32, who is due to die on November 5.
He was sentenced to death in 1999 for murdering a man whose home Oliver was burgling. The victim was shot in the face and beaten with his own rifle.
It later emerged that while deciding whether he should be given the death penalty, jurors consulted the Bible. Four jury members admitted that several copies had been in the jury room and that highlighted passages were passed around.
At one point, a juror reportedly read aloud from a copy, including the passage: "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death."
Defence lawyers argued in appeals that jurors had been improperly influenced by the Bibles but the trial judge rejected the claim, a decision upheld by a Texas appeals court.
The US constitution calls for the separation of state and religion. In 2005, the state supreme court in Colorado overturned a death penalty on a convicted murderer because jurors had consulted the Bible while deliberating over his sentence. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
THE INDEPENDENT: Academic stumbles upon previously unseen section of Codex Sinaiticus dating back to 4th century
A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.
Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.
The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are divided between four institutions, including St Catherine's Monastery and the British Library, which has held the largest section of the ancient Bible since the Soviet Union sold its collection to Britain in 1933.
Academics from Britain, America, Egypt and Russia collaborated to put the entire Codex online this year but new fragments of the book are occasionally rediscovered. >>> Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Related:
World's Oldest Bible Published in Full Online >>> Chris Irvine | Monday, July 06, 2009
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A list of the top 10 worst Biblical verse has been drawn up, which includes approval for sexism, genocide and slavery.
Readers of the humorous Christian website shipoffools.com were asked to submit their 'favourite' worst verses to compile the list, in a light-hearted project called Chapter & Worse.
Topping it was St Paul's advice in 1 Timothy 2:12, in which the saint says: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, she must be silent."
The extract is often used to justify opposition to women priests.
Next was this worrying verse endorsing genocide, from 1 Samuel 15:3: "This is what the Lord Almighty says ... 'Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.' "
Third was Moses's call to kill witches, in Exodus 22:18: "Do not allow a sorceress to live."
Another gruesome verse to make the list was Psalm 137, which celebrates this terrible revenge: "Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us / He who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."
A more controversial inclusion was that of St Paul's thoughts on homosexuality, from Romans 1:27, currently an extremely divisive matter with the Anglican church: "In the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error."
Others on the list included God's test of Abraham in Genesis 22, in which Abraham is made to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice; this endorsement of female subservience in Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit to you husbands as to the Lord"; and similar advice for slaves in 1 Peter 2:18: "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel." >>> | Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Librarians are being told to move the Bible to the top shelf to avoid giving offence to followers of Islam.
Muslims have complained of finding the Koran on lower shelves, saying it should be put above commonplace things.
So officials have responded with guidance, backed by ministers, that all holy books should be treated equally and go on the top shelf together.
This means that Christian works, which also have immense historical and literary value, will be kept out of the reach and sight of many readers.
The guidance was published by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, a quango answering to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.
It said Muslims in Leicester had moved copies of the Koran to the top shelves of libraries, in keeping with the belief that the Koran is the all-important word of God.
The report said the city’s librarians consulted the Federation of Muslim Organisations and were advised that all religious texts should be kept on the top shelf.
‘This meant that no offence is caused, as the scriptures of all the major faiths are given respect in this way, but none is higher than any other,’ the guidance added.
Critics said such a move implied religious works should be treated as objects of veneration rather than as books to be read. Robert Whelan of the Civitas think-tank said:
‘Libraries and museums are not places of worship. They should not be run in accordance with particular religious beliefs.
‘This is violating the principles of librarianship and it is part of an insidious trend.’
He said the principle that books should be available to everyone was established in Europe in the Middle Ages.
‘One of the central planks of the Protestant Reformation was that everybody should have access to the Bible,’ he added.
Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute said: ‘It is disappointing if the policy of libraries is dictated by the practices of one group.
‘It is particularly disappointing if this is done to put the scriptures beyond reach.
‘I hope there will be a rethink. I understand that Muslims revere their own text, but in public libraries there should not be a policy of putting religious texts out of reach.’ Libraries Put Bible on Top Shelf in a Sop to Muslims >>> By Steve Doughty | Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: He's sorted out the legalities, but could Barack Obama have made the first political mistake of his presidency?
After constitutional law experts questioned the validity of his swearing-in because of a fluffed line in the oath of office, Mr Obama moved quickly to quash speculation that his presidency was in any way illegitimate.
John Roberts, the Chief Justice charged who helped bungle the oath on Tuesday, was summoned to the White House and, in front of a small pool of reporters, Mr Obama carefully and accurately repeated the 35-word oath prescribed by Article 2 of the Constitution.
The problem was, no-one thought to bring a Bible and Mr Obama decided to go ahead without one. >>> Philippe Naughton | January 22, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: US President George W Bush has said that the Bible is "probably not" literally true and that a belief that God created the world is compatible with the theory of evolution.
"I think you can have both," Mr Bush, who leaves office January 20, told ABC television, adding "You're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president."
But "evolution is an interesting subject. I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life," said the president, an outspoken Christian who often invokes God in his speeches.
"I think that God created the Earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution," he told ABC television.
Asked whether the Bible was literally true, Mr Bush replied: "Probably not. No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it."
"The important lesson is 'God sent a son,'" he said. [Source: The Telegraph] | December 9, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
This is more proof, if indeed even more proof were needed, that Muslims will not, and, given their mindset, cannot, fit in to the free and democratic West. It’s time that we all faced up to this fact. Another thing springs to mind: M&S has Jewish roots. So what is a Muslim doing working in M&S in the first place?
THE TELEGRAPH: Marks and Spencer has launched an investigation after a customer claimed a Muslim shop assistant refused to handle a Bible she was buying.
Sally Friday said she felt “humiliated” after going to the till to pay for a First Bible Stories for her young grandson.
She said the woman behind the till refused to touch the book once she realised what it was, and made a reference to a fellow worker about being “unclean”.
Mrs Friday, 69, said: “The young lady was absolutely fine with the other stuff I was buying but when it came to the Bible she refused to touch it and asked me to put it in the shopping bag myself.
"She turned to another worker and said something about being unclean and at first I thought she was referring to a skirt I was buying and that there was a mark on it. Then she asked me to put the Bible in my shopping bag myself.
"It took me a while to realise what was happening and I felt humiliated that someone could censor what I was buying.
"If she was refusing to touch it on religious grounds then that is not on. We are a tolerant, Christian country and I could not see a Christian shop assistant refusing to touch something from another religion.
"If you are paid to do a job like that then you should get on and do it." Muslim M&S worker 'refused to touch Bible' >>> By Nick Britten
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Bible
Thursday, January 10, 2008
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Metropolitan Kyrill, foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church, discusses Christian values in the post-communist era, his relationship with the pope in Rome, Vladimir Putin the churchgoer -- and wrangles with SPIEGEL about homosexuality.
SPIEGEL: Your Eminence, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church seemed to have prevailed over the godless communists. But has it been able to fill the spiritual vacuum that followed?
Kyrill: I wouldn't call it a vacuum. In communism, the church had no direct way of influencing society, but it did influence Russian culture and people's awareness. I remember a tour guide in a monastery in Vologda in the early 1970s. She talked about architecture and painting as if she were giving a sermon. There was no talk of Christianity, but her speech depended on a Christian system of values. This woman was not alone. Writers and artists spoke the same way. Or, someone would see a destroyed church and discover another world beyond the gloomy prefabricated high-rises where people lived. Christian values were always kept alive among the people. They ultimately brought about the fall of communism.
SPIEGEL: Crime and corruption were rampant after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Murder, robbery and fraud became mass phenomena. Wasn't this a defeat for the church?
Kyrill: Reviving morality is a long process. We also see high crime rates in other countries. Besides, Russia faced massive social changes. Our economy was in ruins, foreign influence was growing and so was the consumption mentality, the focus on performance, all of these postmodern ideas which treat everything as relative and no longer require us to distinguish between truth and lies.
SPIEGEL: It sounds as if the present is no better than the past, in your opinion.
Kyrill: The church should have taken time to regenerate. We were weakened by atheism, and then we were faced with a double burden. We were like a boxer who walks around for months with his arm in a cast and is then abruptly shoved into the ring, accompanied by shouts of encouragement. But there we encountered a well-trained opponent, in the form of a wide variety of missionaries from America and South Korea who tried to convert the Russian people to other faiths. Religion was also marginalized by a secular way of thinking.
SPIEGEL: Is capitalism ultimately worse than communism?
Kyrill: The free market economy has certainly proved to be more effective than the planned economy. Unlike corporate executives, however, the church also believes in justice. As far as that's concerned, we have no fewer problems today, perhaps even more, than in the Soviet era. The gap between rich and poor in Russia is scandalous. That's an issue we are addressing.
SPIEGEL: You must find it obscene, the way the Russian oligarchs, with their palaces and yachts, show off their wealth.
Kyrill: It isn't the church's place to point to someone and say: He owns yachts and airplanes, so let's take away his riches and redistribute them. That happened in the 1917 revolution. At the time, they were saying that paradise was the next step after expropriation. But what we got instead was hell. May God protect Russia from repeating the same mistake. However, the government must ensure that the gap doesn't become too wide. Russia's future depends on it. ’The Bible Calls it a Sin’ >>>
Part 2:
’Men Can Control Their Drives’
This superb interview will be cross-posted at The Shrewd Economist because of several references to economic affairs in post-communist Russia.
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Photo courtesy of the BBC
After a search of more than 30 years, Ehud Netzer of the Hebrew University says he has located the tomb at Herodium, a site south of Jerusalem.
Herod was noted in the New Testament for his Massacre of the Innocents.
Told of Jesus' birth, Herod ordered all children under two in Bethlehem to be killed, the Gospel of Matthew said.
According to the New Testament, Jesus' father Joseph was warned of the threat in a dream and fled with his wife and child to Egypt. King Herod’s ancient tomb ‘found’ (more)
WATCH BBC VIDEO: King Herod’s tomb ‘found’
Mark Alexander
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