Episcopal priest, who also happens to be a Muslim, is stripped of her ordination
The Episcopal Church has defrocked Ann Holmes Redding, the Seattle Episcopal priest who announced in 2007 that she is both Christian and Muslim.
Redding does not believe that God and Jesus are the same, but rather that God is more than Jesus. And she believes that Jesus is the Son of God insofar as all humans are the children of God, and that Jesus is divine, just as all humans are divine — because God dwells in all humans. “To be a Christian is to be a Trinitarian and worship Jesus,” said Rev. Kendall Harmon. “If we’re not clear on that, we have nothing to offer in our witness.” Read more here.
One less Dunkin Donuts in Chicago
An Arab-American owner of a Chicago-area Dunkin’ Donuts store has to give up his franchise after he lost his long-running legal battle with the restaurant chain over his religious objections to selling pork products. For nearly 20 years, Dunkin’ Donuts accommodated his religious beliefs, even providing him signs that said, “No meat products available,” Elkhatib asserted in court documents. But in 2002, the company reversed course and told him it would not renew his franchise agreement if he did not sell its full line of products. Read more here.
National Secular Society offers de-baptisms
The organization in Britain that backs an atheist ad campaign on London’s buses is now producing “certificates of de-baptism” for people wishing to renounce their Christian faith — and claims it is getting thousands of takers. The NSS Web site (www.secularism.org.uk) advertises the certificates this way: “Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had.” Read more here.
Genesis, R. Crumb style
Underground cartoonist Robert Crumb has announced the completion of a 201 page adaptation of the Bible book of Genesis, slated for a fall release. On his web site, Mr. Crumb announced that after four years he had completed the project, adapted from the King James Bible and a translation by Robert Alter. “It’s very visual,” he said. “It’s lurid. Full of all kinds of crazy, weird things that will really surprise people.” Go to Crumb’s website.
Same sex marriage in the Heartland of America
The Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state’s same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal. To issue any other decision, the Iowa justices said, “would be an abdication of our constitutional duty.” Read more here.
Beliefnet’s April Fool joke: Oprah now included in the Christian Trinity
In an Onion-style April 1st article, Beliefnet reports, “Oprah Winfrey has been declared the fourth person of the Trinity, according to an astonishing new theological agreement hammered out by the world’s major Christian denominations. Along with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the popular talk show host will be recognized as one person in the sacred and indivisible unity of the Godhead–or Quadhead, as the updated Trinity will now be called.” Read more here.
Reagan tried to convert Gorby?
Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan tried to convert the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to Christianity during a Moscow summit in May 1988, according to a new biography of the late U.S. head of state. Read more here.
Poll: 11% of Americans still belief Obama is Muslim
White evangelical Protestants and Republicans were the most likely to say Obama — who has an Arabic middle name — was Muslim in response to the poll question: “Do you happen to know what Barack Obama’s religion is?” Nearly one in five white evangelical Protestants and 17 per cent of the Republicans who took part in the telephone poll of 1,308 adults, which was conducted by Pew Research from March 9-12, said they thought Obama was Muslim. Read more here.
