In a recent episode of "How to Lose Influence & Alienate your Congregation", Pastor Hank mentioned that he doesn't respect all religions, and then proceeded to list the Ku Klux Klan and White Slavery as religions. (I think he confused the movie Taken with The Mission.)  Nevertheless, I think his initial question is interesting:

What religions do you respect?

Do you respect Methodists, Catholics, Mormons? Do you respect Jehovah Witnesses, Muslims, Buddhists?

Now you know, I pretty much have no use for any organized religion. But I understand from the comment section that a lot of you crazy zealots, think differently. And I'm genuinely curious to hear which religions you respect? Or more specifically, which religions do you think will get into heaven? Do Jews get to go to Heaven?

If I remember my teachings at City Bible Church correctly, most Methodists will go to heaven and some Catholics, but that was about it. Mormons and JW's are a cult. And Muslims and Buddhists are straight up the enemy.

Anyway, genuinely interested in what you all think on this issue? And what is the deciding factor that seperates religions you respect from religions you don't?

So, some muslims want to build a community center a couple blocks away from Ground Zero, and naturally this country is all up in arms. We've got ten percent unemployment, a 13 trillion dollar deficit, two foreign wars, and the biggest thing the Republicans and Democrats can find to debate is some building that will have zero effect on 99.9% of the population.  Yep, sounds about right.

There is pretty clearly a First Amendment Freedom of Religion claim here. But I get that conservatives aren't claiming that Muslims don't have the right to build their Community Center. It's that it's offensive to the victims of 9/11.  Fair enough.

This, of course, excites me to no end. As someone who doesn't care much for religion, I love where this leads. The next time your local mega-church wants to build a new church, all you have to do is find something offensive that some Christians have done in the past, and then use that to oppose the new church. Or as Jon Stewart asks, "You can build a Catholic Church next to a playground, but should you?"

Anyway, what do you all think?

A couple of months ago I heard the following on the Christian radio station 1330 AM (Portland, OR):   

~Christians should not be involved with practicing Yoga. There really should not be a “Christian” version of Yoga practiced in the churches. Not only could Christians be affected by the pagan spirits behind this ancient art, God would not be pleased for Christians to put their bodies into postures that are used in India and other pagan countries as postures to worship their gods and goddesses.~ 

When I heard this, I felt sorry for the speakers. Little doubt, they thought that they were warning God’s people from a spiritual danger that might hurt their walk with God. Instead, what I heard was a very ignorant form of religious legalism. 

The ancient Babylonians used to raise their hands to their chief god, Marduk, and his consort Sarpanitu just like the ancient Israelites used to lift their hands to praise their God, Yahweh. Because the Israelites used the same bodily expression, as did these idol-worshippers, does it mean that they were worshipping Marduk instead of Yahweh? 

In ancient pagan fertility rites that involved sacred prostitution, it would be very reasonable to surmise that the priests and priestesses who copulated in the pagan temples with the belief that thereby they would be guaranteeing good harvests that year for their people, were using the same bodily positions that Spirit-filled couples use to consummate their godly marriage vows. Do such similar bodily postures relating to sexuality mean that Christian couples are performing acts of sacred prostitution when they make love?    

The fact that Christians who practice Yoga for exercise might be putting their bodies into the same bodily postures as pagan worshippers, in my view, does not mean that Christians are worshipping the same gods or that there is an evil spirit involved in certain bodily positions. God looks upon the position of the heart - not the position of the body. 

If well-intentioned ministers want to warn believers of the spiritual dangers of the Orient, they need to dig much deeper. One might be amazed at how a few good Yoga exercises would go a long ways in helping the over-weight preachers we see on cable TV every day to lose a few pounds and thus be a better testimony of the Christian faith – a faith that holds that the physical body is a temple of the Holy Spirit - no matter what form it takes.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been traveling for work this past week, and airports aren't really condusive to blogging. Airports really only motivate me to drink and eat Mcdonalds. I usually gain about 10 pounds when I fly.  To be completely honest, on my way to the airport, I had every intention of reading a book and eating a salad.  And then Airport security stole my toothpaste, and I seriously lost it. And subsequently, muttered angrily to myself all the way to the bar.

But I digress…. last night I watched Real Time with Bill Maher and during his New Rules Segment he made the following statement where he compared the Catholic Church to the recently raided Polygamist Cult in Texas. 

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Bill, you can't be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy Texas cult! For one thing, altar boys can't even get pregnant."

But, really, what tripped up the "little cult on the prairie" was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands all over the world. Cults get raided. Religions get parades. How does the Catholic Church get away with all of their buggery? VOLUME, VOLUME, VOLUME!

If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you "Pope."

It's like if you can't pay your mortgage, you're a deadbeat, but if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're Bear Stearns, and we bail you out. And that's who the Catholic Church is, the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia. Too big to fail.

Gotta say, I really agree with him. This is why I distinguish between Faith and Religion. Faith can motivate, inspire and sustain a person through tough times. Religion is most often used as a tool to abuse the vulnerable.

(For another excellent take: Read David's post on the Catholic Church's Sex Abuse Scandal)