Does a foul economy mean more foul language? Yes, according to Los Angeles psychotherapist Nancy Irwin. From MSNBC:
"There are a lot of elements that are out of our control right now and as a result, there's a lot more frustration, a lot more fear and anxiety," Irwin says. "When people feel that, many cuss. Swearing is something that gives us an instantaneous release."
Do you find yourself cursing more?
In religion scholar Martin Marty's latest Sightings column, he notes that, with few exceptions, denominations are closing their bookstores around the country, including even some on seminary campuses. A time for lamentations? Read on.
The Visiting Nurse Association of Hanover & Spring Grove Hospice will release a cloud of live butterflies 2 p.m. June 7 at Hope Baptist Church in Heidelberg Township in memory of lost loved ones.
A service just before the release will remember the dead. If you can't make it, you can still purchase a Painted Lady butterfly, and someone will release your butterfly for you while whispering the name of your loved one.
The church is at 6450 Hope Way. Butterflies can be purchased for $25 each. Requests must be received by May 11. Call 637-1227 or e-mail Cindy Boyer at cboyer@vnahanover.org.
Remember the Church of Universal Love and Music, which sued Fayette County in western PA because it had denied it zoning permission to continue using its property for religious concerts?
The county zoning board claimed that church founder William Pritts was operating a music business, not a church. The case was settled just before trial and now the terms are public.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the county will pay $75,000 in damages to put to rest claims that it violated the property operator's First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.
Under the settlement, the church will host no more than six weekend events and six Saturday-only events a year with a maximum crowd size of 1,500 at each event. Pritts also agreed to various requirements for security, parking, camping and bathroom facilities, and a ban on any public nudity.
h/t Religion Clause
The latest from religion scholar Martin Marty. An excerpt:
Culture wars, like other wars, can get heated up after cooling, but they are not likely to take the forms they did, nor keep media over-awed again.
Read the full Sightings column at the jump.
Burmese and Iraqi refugees will soon be arriving in southcentral PA.
Lutheran Refugee Services is having an informational talk about refugee needs and opportunities 7 p.m. March 30 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Middletown and 7 p.m. April 14 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster.
The central Pennsylvania office is concerned about finding jobs locally for the refugees they sponsor. In the past, refugees were able to find jobs by the time they left the program after six months, but it's not been so easy in this shakier economic climate. Employers seem to have an over-abundance of applicants, and it is easy to eliminate those with emerging English skills.
For details, call 397-4757.
About 20 interfaith peace walkers and Japanese Buddhists plan to pass through York Thursday through Saturday on their way from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., promoting nuclear disarmament and a peace-time economy.
Members of Trinity United Church of Christ and Faith United Church of Christ in York will host the walkers, who will sit for a public dialogue 7 p.m. Friday at Faith UCC (509 Pacific Ave.). The discussion will be preceded by a 5 p.m. potluck supper.
The walkers will depart Saturday for Abbottstown, and some church members will accompany them for an hour of their journey.
The latest Sightings column focuses on the rumors of a Vatican crackdown on miraculous claims.
Read on at the jump.
I've posted before about some of the challenges facing seminaries in this recession. USAToday had a piece by Jeff MacDonald about some of the things schools are doing to adapt.
He quotes the president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and a couple who moved from York to Charlotte for study at a Gordon-Conwell Theological School satellite campus.
The story notes that Salt Lake Theological Seminary; Vennard College in University Park, Iowa; Pillsbury Bible College in Owatonna, Minn.; and Far North Bible College in Anchorage, Alaska, have closed or will soon close.
Courtesy of Wordsmith.org:
quodlibet
(KWOD-li-bet) noun
1. A subtle argument, especially on a theological or philosophical issue
2. A musical medley: a whimsical combination of popular tunes
Etymology: From Latin quodlibetum, from Latin quod (what) + libet (it pleases), meaning "whatever pleases." Earlier, the term referred to a mock exercise in discussion. Sense 2 arose from its use in German to refer to a gallimaufry of light-hearted musical compositions.
A study from the Vatican suggests men and women confess to different sins.
The most commonly confessed sin for women is pride, while for men, lust and gluttony rule.
Social historian Christine B. Whelan over at Busted Halo questioned whether women actually more "proud" than men: "Might it just be that women are more likely to think that their feelings of pride are sinful, whereas men think their feelings of pride are well-deserved and normal?"
Also, are men confessing to lust because they are conditioned to do so? Read more.
I have been meaning to post this Gallup survey about the opinions of Muslim Americans.
Among the findings is the conclusion that Muslims in the United States are far more likely than people in Muslim countries to see themselves as thriving.
The Gallup study is a big deal because it's the first to examine a randomly selected sample of U.S. Muslims -- previous studies attempted to locate self-identified Muslims by searching for them based on surnames, mosque attendance or geography.
Read on for more findings:
The Pennsylvania General Assembly bought 220 Bibles and other holy books for legislators as they took the oath of office earlier this year, according to the Philly Inquirer.
The House chief clerk and Senate secretary say it's a tradition for lawmakers to receive a personalized holy book, courtesy of the public, at the start of their terms. The cost was about $13,700.
In today's Sightings column, Jon Pahl talks about what he considers a "troubling" growth of DOMA Laws, or "Defense of Marriage Acts."
"These laws are forms of religious violence," he writes.
Pahl is a professor of Christian history in North America at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Read his whole column at the jump.
Brain scans of people thinking about God showed activation in the same part of the brain where people empathize with others, according to a team at the National Institutes of Health.
One such brain region is also associated with imagination, balancing complex tasks and self-consciousness.
A survey out today illustrates some interesting shifts in the U.S. religious landscape.
Check out the summary or interactive charts from USAToday.
Here's a snapshot of the changes charted in Pennsylvania from 1990 compared with 2008:
-- Self-identified Catholics declined slightly from 33 percent in 1990 to 31 percent last year.
-- Other Christians declined 10 percentage points from 56 percent to 46 percent.
-- Those who self-identified as atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists or generally having "no religion" increased from 6 percent to 15 percent.
Read more from the survey authors below.
Religion scholar Martin Marty's latest column looks at a new survey of mainline Protestant clergy. He's grateful the study's authors don't analyze reasons for the denominations' relative decline in size, status and noise --- that's old stuff.
"The new stuff here is their set of findings about clergy voices and actions today," Marty says.
Read the full column at the jump.
Check out this interesting discussion over at On Faith:
In tough times, do those of us who have handled our finances responsibly have a moral obligation to bail out those of us who haven't? Are we our brother's keeper, economically?
The ex-Mormon who was booted from the church for publishing a calendar of beefcake missionaries has plans to sue his alma mater for denying him his diploma from Brigham Young University.
Chad Hardy also told Religion News Service he plans to publish another edition of the calendar and another with photographs of Mormon moms called "Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood."
Ann Rodgers at the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette has an interesting piece about a conference on evolution this week at the Vatican. She says it's "a sign that, for many devout Christians, there is no conflict between the ideas of Charles Darwin and faith in God."
Devout Christians often are portrayed as if they view evolutionary biology as an attack on the Bible's account of creation, and scientists are portrayed as atheists. While there are high-profile examples of both, a truce was reached long ago in most major Christian traditions, including some streams of evangelicalism.
