Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Resurrection

C.S. Lewis: No mere Christian | National Post

Charlie Lewis of the National Post writes in response to a column by Margaret Wente in which he takes exception this her assessment of the state of the faith in Canada. He writes: "Many people have written that the re-evangelization of the West by missionaries from the Global South is becoming more commonplace. In Canada and the United States there are, for example, a number of African priests now ministering to mainly white Catholic parishes. Canterbury has already been supplanted in terms of credibility by the more orthodox Anglican bishops in Africa and Anglicanism will become more orthodox as a result of that shift. In fact, the radical growth of orthodox Anglicanism in Africa will make Anglicanism the number two Christian faith in the world, behind Roman Catholicism, by 2050 or so. The priest in my own Catholic parish in Toronto is originally from Columbia and he considers himself a missionary to Canadians. He also spent many years in Africa, living rough and...

In June 2010, the Crown brought in Katherine Young, a professor of religion, as an expert witness. Prof. Young said she could not see anything in the Church of the Universe that resembled ritual, sacred spaces or symbols, or helped its members deal with life’s paradoxes. The only “ scripture ” or other literature she could find was from Cannabis Culture magazine, a secular journal, and some information on a website. Crown attorney Nicholas Devlin called the religious defense “ inside joke among people who like to smoke marijuana .” Church of the Universe ministers Peter Styrsky (L) and Shahrooz Kharaghan Mr. Filipovic said Prof. Young’s definition was too specific and countered by quoting American philosopher William James: “Religion shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine.” Any article that includes a quote from William Jam...

Charles Lewis, religion editor of the Holy Post blog recently closed down the comment function of the blog because of a plethora of inappropriate comments. Perhaps he should post this article from the NC Register for all his readers and then pray that at least the majority of these rules might be respected. At the very least, this post is a reminder that just because people can post anonymous comments on line does not mean that they can violate the rules of civil discourse. Since I moderate comments on this blog, this is not too much of an issue. It permits me to keep 'trolls' off the blog... although they do try. (eh, Johnny?)  14 Do s and Don ts for Blog Commenting | Blogs | NCRegister.com

There's a neat email that made the rounds in recent years. I suspect it springs from the pool of urban legends that besot the virtual world, but it carries an appropriate message for idiots like Terry Jones. (I won't dignify him by calling him a 'Pastor'.) He recently burned a Koran in a public event covered by the media in Florida. From there the news spread  across the globe faster, than a rumor of some misdeed by a neighbor fires across a village's old time 'social network' system. It's set in a university lecture hall and involves a challenge that an atheist professor puts to God to 'knock him off his feet' if he actually exists. He then gives the Almighty 15 minutes to effect his punishment. As the clock ticks by & the lecture continues, he glances at his watch and reminds God that his time is running out to prove that he exists. As the final few moments approach, and the professor prepares to launch into his usual boastful g...

Charlie Lewis of the Holy Post has offered another opinion piece on the relationship between atheists and believers. You can read it here . Among the numerous comments that have been generated, Charlie responds to one poster in a manner that succinctly brings a light to the reason why we believers demand that our voices be heard in the public square. I share it in the hopes that it might generate a discussion here on his assessment. A thoughtful reader wrote that atheists would stop getting angry at religious people when we "stopping trying to cram things down his throat." I took the time to respond to him even though I'm pretty certain nothing would ever change his mind. Here's what I wrote: "Please take the time to read what I'm writing to you. And then tell me what you think. Your idea is that religious people are trying to jam views down your throat. Who are these people? I know they're not most mainstream Protestants and not Catholics...

Folks on the National Post's religion blog, 'The Holy Post' have been discussing the recent appointment of Cardinal Ouellet to head-up the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican. Some have been accusing the editor of the HP of promoting an agenda by changing the heading of the cross-post to an article written by Fr. Tom Rosica of Salt & Light Media. Fr. Tom's headline read  Au Revoir et Mille Mercis, Cardinal Ouellet! whereas the summary of the HP article was headed Ouellet’s appointment shows desire for reform.   I try to address this issue in the short post below.  If you're interested in joining the discussion, click on the link at the end of my post. You can read Fr. Rosica's article by clicking on the title of this post. The reform is not a question of 'reverting' or rolling back the reforms of Vatican II, nor is it an attempt to drag society back into some modern version of Christendom. It is a desire to change the the direction ...

A column from Charles Lewis of the National Post . Mr. Lewis has been a fairly impartial if perhaps even supportive of the RC Church. His voice should not be ignored. He has earned the benefit of the doubt as to his intentions. I have called for very much of the same thing on this blog: I have shared it as well with virtually every friend I have within the RC Church in my attempt to sell the idea. To date, I have been seen as being an 'alarmist'; a 'chicken little' running around claiming the sky was falling. " We've dealt with the issue effectively here in Canada " I was told. " We don't need to follow the American model - it's too extreme for us " was the consensus opinion of those who reviewed my suggestion. I was even cautioned that to propose such a structure publicly would result in my possible suspension by my Bishop, should he decide to take offense at my 'overstepping' my position as priest. Well I posted it on my blog a...