There is a group of Benedictine nuns in Missouri who bake and sell millions of Communion wafers, small and large. But some would-be communicants complained that they are allergic to the gluten in the wheat in the nun’s wafers — the hosts, as they are known. So they could not receive Communion. For the sisters that was a challenge, as Betty Rollin reports. … Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
It is not my intent to give a long drawn out explanation on each of these myths. It is my intention to give briefly explain why.
Clean air advocates called the rules “a dirty power industry protection plan,” and said they may actually hamper states’ ability to clean up air pollution.
Source: EPA issues controversial air particulate rules – Environment – MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON, March 30 – A federal judge in California on Friday overturned the Bush administration’s revised rules for management of the country’s 155 national forests, saying that the federal Forest Service violated the basic laws ensuring that forest ecosystems have environmental safeguards. … Federal Judge Strikes Down Forest Management Rules – New York Times
China hopes that global concern over the mountainous region of Tibet will fade upon the passing of its iconic religious leader, the exiled Dalai Lama, reports Spiegel Online. … The Raw Story | China hopes world interest in Tibet fades once Dalai Lama dies
His Holiness is one of my heros, and I respect him greatly. However, I can’t help thinking that, in light of the incredible problems that will be faced by the whole world in the next fifty to one hundred years, those of the Tibetans rank pretty far down on the list.
The deepening alliance between China and India, and its effect on the world, climate change, realpolitik and international commerce — issues that affect 6 billion people – these are things that could in my opinion be more helpfully addressed by the Dalai Lama. His influence could smooth the way to many more important things than a wishful return of exiled Tibetans to a country that no longer exists, in the sense of custom, population and politics.
The most pre-eminent New Atheists include best-selling authors Richard Dawkins, who has called the God of the Old Testament “a psychotic delinquent,” and Sam Harris, who foresees global catastrophe unless faith is renounced. They say religious belief is so harmful it must be defeated and replaced by science and reason. Epstein calls them “atheist fundamentalists.” He sees them as rigid in their dogma, and as intolerant as some of the faith leaders with whom atheists share the most obvious differences. … Atheists Accuse Other Atheists Of Trying To Eradicate Religion – News
It’s like a second birth,” she smiled “I feel like I’ve discovered a new body, new limbs.” After two years of intense secrecy, Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 45, was yesterday revealed to the public as the earthly embodiment of the latest great mystery of the Catholic church. The nun, who knew she wanted to serve Christ from the age of 12 in her northern French village and now works as a nurse for the Little Sisters of Catholic Maternities, is being cited as the living proof that the late Pope John Paul II has healing powers from beyond the grave.
Source: Miracle nun: ‘I wrote John Paul II’s name and I was cured’ | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
Je ne comment pas.
…In the first case under a Military Commissions Law passed last year, Mr. Hicks amplified on his Monday guilty plea during proceedings leading toward his sentencing, which is expected within days. During the hearing Thursday, the military judge disclosed an extraordinary series of concessions Mr. Hicks made to his American captors in the plea deal that will end the case against him for providing material support to a terrorist organization.The plea deal included a statement by Mr. Hicks that he “has never been illegally treated” while a captive, despite claims of beatings he had made in the past. It also included a promise not to pursue lawsuits over his treatment while in detention and “not to communicate in any way with the media” for a year. … http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/washington/30cnd-Hicks.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba Mar 30, 2007 (AP)— A U.S. military tribunal sentenced an Australian to nine months in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism the first conviction at a U.S. war-crimes trial since World War II.
Well, he already served five years, so that seems fair.
I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and I am glad it has arrived: Impeach President George Bush. This cry for justice has been on the tip of my tongue but I felt that with little personal political credibility I would degrade the effectiveness of the statement.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from a historically red state with strong presidential hopes, suggested that it was an option to impeach Bush, citing his lack of accountability to anyone, including public sentiment – and I am willing to jump on the bandwagon. While the suggestion has been quietly whispered in Washington for a while, this is the first time a prominent senator has so candidly suggested the possibility.
As we enter the fifth year of the Iraq war the dishonesty of the president becomes more and more apparent. … TOWARDS DISRESPECTFUL AUTHORITY: Bush should be impeached – FORUM
Fresh Air from WHYY, March 14, 2007 · Religion scholars Elaine Pagels and Karen King’s new book, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, interprets and translates the recently discovered gnostic gospel of Judas.
Pagels’ previous books include, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas and The Gnostic Gospels.
King’s previous book is The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle.
Link to NPR : ‘The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity
Baby boomers and their books–it’s a love story where nobody ever said he was sorry. Except, perhaps, for ‘Love Story’ itself.
Source: Baby Boomers and Books: A Love Affair With Literature – Baby Boomers At 60 – MSNBC.com
In sixteenth-century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted in a sling on a stage and slowly lowered into a fire. According to historian Norman Davies, “[T]he spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized.” Today, such sadism would be unthinkable in most of the world. This change in sensibilities is just one example of perhaps the most important and most underappreciated trend in the human saga: Violence has been in decline over long stretches of history, and today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species’ time on earth.
In the decade of Darfur and Iraq, and shortly after the century of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, the claim that violence has been diminishing may seem somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene. Yet recent studies that seek to quantify the historical ebb and flow of violence point to exactly that conclusion. … http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge206.html
Does anybody know what happened to Miso?
