April 2009 Archives

With the swine flu news, it turns out an upcoming forum about how congregations should plan for a flu outbreak of pandemic proportions might be more timely than anticipated:

Local religious leaders are meeting with health officials and emergency responders May 7 to discuss how they and their flocks could help the community at large and adapt their congregational life in such a circumstance.

The Catholic Church today sent out a reminder that those who distribute Communion should be making sure to wash their hands and even use anti-bacterial solution before and after the sacrament. The advisory also says they should instruct people feeling ill not to receive from the cup.

Also today, a national Muslim group called on imams to use daily and Friday congregational prayers as a platform for providing information about preventing the spread of swine flu.

According to a new study, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives.

Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. The survey, by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is the first large-scale look at the reasons Americans switch religious affiliations.

A group seeking to build a Hindu temple in Chester Springs, Chester County, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the suburban Philadelphia township's zoning and land development ordinances are infringing on the group's constitutional rights, the AP reports.

Religion scholar Martin Marty's latest column looks at how the observance of holidays can, and often does, breed conflict.

Whoever has been near controversies and conflicts over religious holidays -- whether in legislatures, courts or school boards -- knows to duck when Easter eggs fly, the crèche is on the court house lawn, or Jewish or Muslim children have a hard time getting excused from school for their holiday.

Read more at the jump.

While your waiting for your ham to bake, here's a roundup of Easter fun for your Sunday.

Test your Easter knowledge with a BeliefNet.com quiz.

Read about the symbolism of eggs in various traditions, make an Easter basket or check out the winners of our Peep contest.

Wondering what to do with leftover hard-boiled eggs? Read on.

My hubby over at RNS has a look at Pilate's wife, her dream about Jesus and her part in the Easter story.

For all of Pontius Pilate's faults, one was distinctly damning: he didn't listen to his wife.

Engraving (at right) by Alphonse François courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In remembrance of the Last Supper, Christians mark today as Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday in some Protestant churches.

"Maundy" refers to the ceremony of washing the feet of the poor commemorating Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet on the night of the Last Supper.

The Word of the Day maudlin comes from the biblical character Mary Magdalene, who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears. She was also a witness to Jesus' crucifixion and the empty tomb. h/t Wordsmith.org

The women's blog Her.meneutics over at CT has a Q&A with blogger Anne Jackson from Nashville, Tenn., who I've heard a lot of buzz about (FYI, she gave up blogging for Lent, so check back April 13). Her book is "Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic."

Burnout among ministry workers is a silent disease, she says.

I've found three kinds of people. The first is open to discussing burnout and is actively creating environments that are healthy. The second group is hesitant, but curious. They may not want to admit they are burned out, but something inside compels them to listen. The third group consists of the people who are in denial about burnout. They don't think it's possible for them or for their staff. It seems like everyone loves their jobs and everyone is passionately committed and running 110 percent.

Religion scholar Martin Marty's latest Sightings column looks at the new book "God Is Back," which "is really about 'choice,' which historians of American religion have long seen as the center of the plot in this pluralistic and religiously sectored society."

Read on for his full take.

Among the annual Easter traditions for many Christians is welcoming new members to the church. About 510 people from the 15-county Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg are expected to join the church this weekend, which is down slightly from last year when 525 entered the fold.

Some are newly baptized (called catechumens), while others are converting after having been baptized in another Christian tradition (candidates). These figures do not include infant baptisms in the Catholic Church, which are recorded separately.

By the way, six of those to be initiated Sunday are from the State Correctional Institution at Coal Township in Northumberland County.

A fitting Word of the Day is neophyte. (Read more at the jump.)

Retired Lutheran Bishop Carol S. Hendrix of Carroll Township is among three dissenters who refused to sign onto documents recommended by a churchwide task force on human sexuality. The three issued a statement March 28 explaining why.

Under the task force's proposal, individual congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America would choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as pastors. The dissenting pastors said that this step, among other changes to current church policy, would sever the ELCA from the "ecumenical church and the Christian consensus down through the ages."

They contend that the task force's report and recommendation, which "advocate same-gender unions and the ordination of non-celibate homosexual persons, have little biblical, historical and traditional support."

At the jump, read more from the ELCA News Service.

The Rev. Chad Rimmer, former pastor of Union Lutheran Church in York, was invited to deliver a paper on the future of ecumenism to a committee of the World Council of Churches in January in Belem, Brazil.

Rimmer left York in June 2006 and now serves the International Church of Copenhagen, Denmark -- a mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Read Rimmer's paper.

A synagogue once used by Jewish inmates at a historic Philadelphia prison has been refurbished (pictured above) and will open to the public this weekend.

The Pennsylvania Council of Churches has endorsed legislation (yet to be introduced in the General Assembly) to ban the use of trap-released or tethered animals for targets, which includes banning pigeon shoots in PA.

The Rev. Sandra L. Strauss, the council's director of public advocacy, said the support is based on honoring the integrity of all creation; however, the measure is not a priority issue for the council. Other policy issues surrounding health care, education, housing and hunger are higher on the list. For example, Strauss's group is urging Methodists to call U.S. Sens. Casey and Specter by Thursday and ask that they restore $4 billion in funding to part of the federal budget that supports global poverty reduction.

Read more about the council's advocacy efforts and follow them on Twitter.

Heads up: PBS is airing the documentary Jerusalem: Center of the World 9 p.m. tonight on WITF-TV, looking at the founding of the city and the birth and convergence of the three major monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). (The next viewer-friendly time is 1 p.m. Sunday.)

Directed by Andrew Goldberg and Oregon Public Television and hosted by Ray Suarez of "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," PBS says it's "the first documentary to delve into the historical facts and religious beliefs that have led so many thousands to live and die for this city."

It also leaves the city to follow the paths taken by Abraham, David, Jesus and Mohammed, among others.