As the Chilean miners make their way up from the underground, one miner says we have all miscounted the number of beings down in the shaft. “There are actually 34 of us,” he wrote, “because God has never left us down here.” So that’s where He’s been.
Seventh-day Adventists sent mini-Bibles with magnifying glasses, evangelicals sent MP3 players loaded with the Jesus film, and Pope Benedict XVI sent prayers for the trapped miners in predominantly Catholic Chile; now religious leaders are rushing to claim credit for the “miracle” of the rescue, says the UK’s Guardian.The pic at top left is from a prayer service in August.
Meanwhile, in Rome, B16 hosted Day Three of his two-week-long synod on Christians in the Middle East; several bishops said yesterday that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has spurred an exodus of Christians from the troubled region.
B16 apparently changed the papal coat of arms to include a tiara. The Archdiocese of Detroit is warning Catholics not to attend a national conference hosted by liberal Catholics. The new Vatican office in charge of evangelization doesn’t have an Internet connection.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints joined with the gay right group Human Rights Campaign to denouce bullying and bad attitudes towards gay people. The Department of Justice has appealed a federal district court decision’s that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Next up for the DOJ: deciding whether to appeal another district-court decision calling the military’s Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy unconstitutional.
The sale of three Catholic hospitals has become a political issue in Pennsylvania, where a conservative Catholic group is running ads blaming the sale on congressmen who voted for the health-care overhaul. An Iowa pastor is praying for the IRS to “attack” his church. Former Bush speechwriter and current WaPo columnist Michael Gerson says President Obama has “abused” the White House faith-based office. Kansas Dems are highlighting GOP gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback’s ties to Lou Engle, the controversial evangelical leader.
The Brothers Hitchens debated religion in Washington yesterday. The equally blunt brothers left no doubts about their theological acumen. Next up for Hitch-22: Tony Blair.
An Oklahoma inmate wants his Buddhist adviser present when he is executed. California’s stem cell agency has pulled a poem from its website that parodied the sacrament of Holy Communion. (“This is my body/which is given for you…Take this/in remembrance of me.”) Sudan’s Anglican archbishop was almost stabbed to death by a liturgical dancer.
