For some years now in the United States, Jewish communities in any given area hold an annual Mitzvah Day, literally a “good deed day”. In Los Angeles, for example, tens of thousands of Jews mark the day by giving time, rather than money, to support not only their own community but their neighbours’ communities too.
Back in September, Garrison Keillor appeared at the Washington National Cathedral. He gets a spotlight in this week’s Religion and News Weekly over at PBS, with a brief excerpt from his performance, but we also have the link to the complete lecture at the Cathedral site.
Last May, we reported on Karen Armstrong’s winning wish for a Charter for Compassion. TED now has the project under way, and reports that it is seeking translators to help get the word about this shared ideal. They have created a video, directed by the same fellow who created “Yes We Can,” the short film that put music to Obama’s stump speech.
A bit more from the United Nations Interfaith Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations that we mentioned yesterday: While there has been some controversy about the event, spearheaded by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, it’s mostly been about irony and the tension between freedom of religion and freedom of the press (remember that Danish cartoon?). Also, President Bush spoke on Thursday.
The Diocese of Fort Worth is expected to be the fourth diocese to announce its departure from the Episcopal Church today. With its stance against ordaining women priests, to say nothing of certain developments in other dioceses and in church leadership in recent years, Bishop Jack Iker’s diocese will vote on its secession today. The Dallas Morning News takes a long look at Iker’s actions, putting them up against those of his neighboring bishop, James Stanton of the Diocese of Dallas, who has stated that they will remain with the church.
Obama’s election has given Americans the message that hope is viable, that change is really possible. He galvanized huge numbers of his compatriots across the board, particularly young people who had become disillusioned with politics. He drew huge numbers of volunteers and raised record amounts of money, not just in donations from the wealthy but in relatively small amounts from many so-called ordinary people. Judging by the reception he received in Berlin earlier this year, he has given the world similar hope.
Latin American countries have long celebrated a plethora of Roman Catholic public holidays, from Corpus Christi to St Peter and St Paul. But this year Chile set a regional precedent, declaring October 31st a public holiday in honour of “the evangelical and Protestant churches”. It marks the date in 1517 when Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, starting the Protestant Reformation. Only Slovenia and some German states take it as a holiday.
Is the Obama presidency the final nail in the coffin for the Religious Right? Don’t count on it. For one thing, political movements like the Religious Right don’t need a “god” to succeed, but they do need a devil. Nothing builds allegiances among a coalition like a common enemy.
It’s important to remember that we have never had this level of public support for marriage equality before. In eight years in California alone, the majority in favor of banning marriage equality has gone from 61 to 52 percent. Meanwhile, California’s legislature has voted for it, 18,000 couples are legally married in California, and legally comparable (if still unequal) domestic partnerships are available. Very soon, thousands of gay couples will be able to marry in Connecticut. The one state with a history of marriage equality, Massachusetts, is showing how good and positive a reform it is. New York recognizes Massachusetts’ civil marriages.
Beyond Relevance tells a modern day parable about church marketing. What if Starbucks used church marketing?