Today is the Feast of the Ascension, when Christians commemorate the day Jesus shook this dusty earth from his sandals and rose heavenward.
According to the Book of Acts, an angel told the disciples that Christ’s second coming would occur in much the same manner, but didn’t say when.
Yesterday, the Freedom from Religion Foundation asked California’s AG to investigate filing a civil fraud action against Harold Camping for predicting that Christ’s descension date would be May 21, leading some of his followers to liquidate their assets. One believer left $300,000 to Camping’s group, which angers her family, according to CNN.
Speaking of high hopes, Mitt Romney is expected to announce his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination today. Romney is scheduled to speak this weekend to Ralph Reed’s gathering of the social conservative tribes in Washington. Conspicuously absent from the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference will be Newt Gingrich, who is laboring to court evangelicals wary of his marital past.
Belgian clergy sex abuse victims are launching legal proceedings against the Holy See in what is believed to be the first such action in Europe, Reuters reports.
The Conservative movement ordained its first openly gay rabbi during ceremonies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, according to JTA.
China may soon add fuel to its long-running feud with the Vatican by consecrating a bishop not approved by the Holy See. The Dalai Lama’s retirement from politics undercuts Beijing’s plans to control Tibet, according to an Indian newspaper.
Prosecutors in Rome released $33 million in Vatican funds that had been frozen during a money laundering investigation. The leader of the Syrian Jewish community in the U.S. was sentenced to two years of probation for funneling money to Israel.
As many as 350 delegates are expected to attend Ireland’s first World Atheist Convention in Dublin this weekend, according to the Irish Times. Reuters catches up with Kabul’s last remaining Jew.
An Australian bishop has denounced a billboard proclaiming Jesus to be a prophet of Islam. Archbishop Desmond Tutu says God is not a Christian.
Evangelicals want Major League Baseball players to spit out their tobacco. Thai leaders want to end “tattoo tourism,” in which foreigners and strippers ink images of the Buddha or Hindu gods on their bodies, sometimes in inappropriate places.
Yr hmbl aggregator,
Daniel Burke
