Hindus Praise Obama's Yoga at Easter Celebration

This year, the White House Easter Egg celebration includes an opportunity for "yoga professionals" to influence the 35,000 attendees.  It's all in keeping with President Obama's past sacrilegious, nominally Christian gestures:

President Obama's Homosexual Easter at the White House

President Obama's Homosexual Christmas Proclamation

President Obama Reads Easter Message Speech

President Obama's Apostate Easter Sermon at D.C. Episcopal Church

President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

-- From "Yoga Sessions To Be Part Of Easter Celebrations" posted at NDTV 3/26/16

Professional Yoga instructors will have sessions with thousands of Americans who are expected to throng the sprawling White House lawns in Washington on Monday for Easter Egg celebrations, the final Easter for Obama Administration.

A "Yoga Garden" is one of the 10 different zones that has been created for the event for which some 35,000 tickets have been issued for the people to come and enjoy the festivities.

On Friday the White House announced the full programme, activities, and talent line-up for the 2016 White House Easter Egg Roll, a tradition in its 138th year and the largest annual public event at the White House.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Hindus welcome Yoga Garden in White House Easter Egg Roll event" posted at MENAFN Press 3/27/16

Commending the White House gesture to include yoga in Easter Egg Roll events the largest annual public event at the White House Hindu statesman Rajan Zed in a statement in Nevada today said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all.

Rajan Zed who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism pointed out that yoga referred as "a living fossil was a mental and physical discipline for everybody to share and benefit from whose traces went back to around 2000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection through the control of the different elements of human nature physical and psychical Zed noted.

According to US National Institutes of Health yoga may help one to feel more relaxed be more flexible improve posture brthe deeply and get rid of stress. According to a recently released "2016 Yoga in America Study" about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga is the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche Rajan Zed adds.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

President Obama Invokes God: Gay Agenda Trumps Religious Liberty

Obama Plans to Ban Evangelism to 'Homosexual Kids'

President Obama Ignores Hate Crimes Against Christians

Is President Obama a Christian? No, Say Two-Thirds of Americans

Also read American Decline: President Obama's Gay Agenda vs. Christians

Colleges: Humanist Chaplains for the Nonbelievers

"As more people are coming out and more people are becoming atheists and humanists, universities are recognizing the need to service their diverse populations, including people who don't believe in God."
-- Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association

"Our mission is to build, educate and nurture a diverse community of atheists, humanists, agnostics and the non-religious."
-- Jonathan Figdor, Stanford University's humanist pastor and co-author of "Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart: Rewriting the Ten Commandments for the Twenty-First Century"

For background, read Stanford University Hires Atheist 'Chaplain' and then hires an Anti-Christian Lesbian Ordained Priest

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Church is About Friendships, NOT God: University Study

God is Not a Being, but an Experience, Pastor Says

New Atheist 'Churches' in America Give Competition to Mainlines

Also read California Boots College Christian Clubs Across the State

-- From "US colleges bringing in chaplains to serve the nonbelievers" by John Rogers, Associated Press 2/14/15

[Bart Campolo, 51,] the onetime United Methodist youth minister, who worked for decades with the poor in inner-city neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, figured he'd try to keep doing that by presiding over what he cheerfully calls "a church for people who don't believe in God."

USC already had more than 50 religious leaders ministering to students of various faiths, said Varun Soni, dean of the school's Office of Religious Life. So it seemed only right, he added, to bring one in for non-believers seeking spiritual guidance.

"Spirituality is really engaged with the ultimate questions that make us human. The questions of meaning and purpose, of significance and authenticity," Soni said. "Many of our students who identify as religious find the answers to those questions through God. But we realize that not everyone does, and we want to be a resource to our entire university community."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

For more about the secularization of America, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

CBS News latest foray into American religion is the 30-minute broadcast Religion & Spirituality in a Changing Society wherein a variety of liberal "christians," humanists, atheists, hedonists, homosexualists, feminists and pagans explain how America is rejecting Bible-based (real) Christianity.

John P. “Jack” Blessington, the program's part-time executive producer of CBS News (and part-time school headmaster), says that his broadcast career has offered him “the largest classroom that I’ll ever have.”

This CBS News indoctrination piece equates the reelection of President Bush in 2004 (said to be caused by Evangelical Christians) and the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal, to the 9/11 terrorist attack against America -- all three jolted Americans into an anti-religion phase.

That sounds familiar: Obama's Army Says Christians are Worst Terrorists

For background on such propaganda, read The Religious Left 'Taste' the Millennium in Obama and also read Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy as well as Biblical Prayer Stricken from Obama Inauguration

But don't worry, President Obama Denies Leading a War Against Christianity



-- From "For CBS producer, sharing beliefs is key" by Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service 4/1/13

[John P. “Jack”] Blessington, the long-time executive producer of the CBS Religion and Culture series, will receive a special Wilbur award April 6 from the Religion Communicators Council during the council’s 84th annual convention.

The special award recognizes his contributions to public discussions of faith topics for more than 30 years, demonstrating, as Douglas F. Cannon, a United Methodist communicator and RCC president points out, “that faith topics can be approached as news and are not boring.”

Blessington likes to allow believers to share the stories of their own faith. “I am a church-attending Roman Catholic who argues for ecumenism,” he told United Methodist News Service in a recent interview.

Since 1989, Religion and Culture has worked with members of the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission to develop programming. “We try to find out what the people of various religions believe and what they do to help each other and help mankind,” Blessington said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

For related articles, click headlines below:

Atheism, Paganism Latest Liberal Media Darling

Liberals Tell MSNBC to Censor Evangelical Christians

Methodists Team Up with Atheists for Bible Study

Baby Jesus with Two Lesbians: That's a Methodist Nativity Scene

Methodist Clergy Buck Bible, Church - Science Also

Allah Worshiped in Virginia Methodist Church

A Rabbi, Pastor & Imam Join a Methodist Seminary, and ... (it's NO joke!)

Pagans and Liberal 'christians' Celebrate Earth on Good Friday

Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

ELCA Lutherans Pardon Homosexual 'Pastors'

Episcopal Church Blesses Deviant Sexual Behavior

Sexually Deviant Pastors OK in Presbyterian Church

Sex Trainers of the Unitarian Universalist and Religious Left Teach Orgasm to Teens

United Church of Christ Eliminates 'Heavenly Father'

Atheist Proposes Godless Religion, Complete with Sermons

Atheists Crave Church Fellowship, but Absent God

New Massachusetts 'Church' With No God

Church is About Friendships, NOT God: Study

God is Not a Being, but an Experience

Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

Are we seeing a precursor in D.C.?  The Obamanation of desolation?

The claimed mission of the Episcopal National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. is to be "the spiritual home for our nation."  So what does it say for America that the head of this institution is ordained by the ECUSA to preach liberal politics and perform homosexual "weddings," and that the "leader of the free world" presided over a parade of apostate preaching in the cathedral for the inauguration "prayer" service?

For background, read Episcopal Church Blesses Deviant Sexual Behavior and also read Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

God has judged this Obamanation (where the Gay Agenda Carried in 4 More States), and where Biblical Prayer is Stricken from the Inauguration

UPDATE 4/1/13: Obama's Apostate Easter Sermon at D.C. ECUSA

UPDATE 6/22/14: Sexually Confused Chaplain Preaches at National Cathedral, Media Ecstatic

UPDATE 11/14/14: ECUSA Hands National Cathedral over to Muslims as Call to Prayer

-- From "Obamas, Bidens Attend Washington National Cathedral Prayer Service" by Jennifer C. Kerr, Huffington Post 1/22/13

[Prayer] For Obama and Biden: "Make them bold for the work you have set before them," said Kathryn Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches.

[Rev. Adam Hamilton, senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan.] said Obama has been blessed with a unique vision. "You should have been a preacher," Hamilton told Obama.

A range of faiths was represented among speakers at the cathedral service, including the Rev. Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-chair of the National African American Clergy Network; Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly; Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, and Rev. Nancy Wilson, leader of the Metropolitan Community Churches – a denomination founded as a spiritual refuge for gay Christians.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Famous church's bells to ring for same-sex couples" by Brett Zongker, The Associated Press 1/10/13

[In July 2012,] the Episcopal Church approved a ceremony for same-sex unions at its General Convention in Indianapolis, followed by the legalization of gay marriage in Maryland, which joined the District of Columbia. The [ECUSA] national church made a special allowance for marriage ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal.

Longtime same-sex marriage advocate the Very Rev. Gary Hall took over as the cathedral's dean in October. Conversations began even before he arrived to clear the way for the ceremonies at the church that so often serves as a symbolic house of prayer for national celebrations and tragedies.

"I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do," Hall told the AP. "And my reading of the Bible leads me to want to do this because I think it's being faithful to the kind of community that Jesus would have us be."

"As a kind of tall-steeple, public church in the nation's capital, by saying we're going to bless same-sex marriages, conduct same-sex marriages, we are really trying to take the next step for marriage equality in the nation and in the culture," Hall said.

Some congregations have left the Episcopal Church over its inclusion of gays and lesbians over the years.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "At National Cathedral, dean preaches the gospel of activism" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post 1/23/13

It was partly Hall’s comfort in the media spotlight and with controversy that landed him the job in the fall of transforming the cathedral from a dimming star struggling to boost its profile and fundraising to a hot spot for community activism and debate.

But as someone drawn to religion in the ’60s by activist antiwar, antisegregation chaplains raring to make a scene, he believes he can use this. He can use it to hold the church up as the place that provides justice and hope in the dark times. That message fueled a generation of progressive religion and activism, and Hall is among those who hope it can again today.

[Hall] calls himself a “left-wing Democrat” . . .

“In the spirit of Dr. King, I want to say that opposing gun violence may have political implications, but it is not primarily a political issue. It is a religious issue,” Hall preached. “If we want to stand with Jesus and with Martin Luther King, we’ve also got to stand with those who, like them, die by means of violence. And that means we who follow Jesus and stand with King have to stand against guns.”

Ushers handed out 10,000 call-your-lawmaker cards to worshippers over the Christmas period. Hall and the Washington diocese’s bishop, Mariann Budde, traveled to Johns Hopkins University this week for a summit on gun control. They are soliciting criticism from gun-owning Episcopalians, hoping to broaden their pool of allies.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Episcopal dean of the National Cathedral teaming up with Democrats on guns" by Alex Pappas, Political Reporter, Daily Caller 1/23/13

According to that [press] release, Hall and the Cathedral “have come to the end of the ‘preaching part,’ and are now turning their attention toward organizing in support of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, supporting universal background checks, and supporting stiffer criminal penalties for those engaged in gun trafficking.”

“I believe we at the Cathedral need to get behind the President and Vice President’s recommendations on gun control legislation, supporting a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, supporting universal background checks, and supporting stiffer criminal penalties for those engaged in gun trafficking,” Hall said Sunday.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "National Cathedral: Seat of Liberalism" by Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy 1/21/13

. . . Dean Gary R. Hall has frequently spoken of the church's role as being "at the center" of American public life. Hall wants to raise the cathedral's profile as not just a center of worship, but as an organized political advocacy center on a host of liberal issues.

Despite having freshly arrived from a failed seminary and a parish that by Evangelical or Roman Catholic standards would be viewed as somewhat small, Hall clearly has feelings of grandeur about his new office, seeing the National Cathedral as the center of American religious life.

. . . Hall represents a younger generation of liberal Episcopalians who resemble nothing so much as Unitarian Universalists decked out in stoles and surplices; they are quick to denounce those who advocate historic Christian teaching-especially moral teaching-as intolerant perpetrators of injustice who must be silenced.

In an October interview with the Detroit Free Press Hall announced that he is, "not about trying to convert someone to Christianity. I don't feel I'm supposed to convert Jews or Muslims or Hindus or Buddhists or Native Americans to Christianity so that they can be saved. That's not an issue for me."

"I have much more in common with progressive Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists than I do with certain people in my own tradition, with fundamentalist Christians," Hall declared. "The part of Christianity I stand with is the part in which we can live with ambiguity and with pluralism."

To read the opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

From "Apostasy -- the place where religion and revelation part company" by Michael Bresciani 1/13/13

While we have been warned that apostasy is part and parcel to the last days prophecies that precede the return of Christ, it is still difficult to watch the steadiest of the churches dissimulate, disintegrate and fade into a sort of colorless gray blob of social interaction with secularism, guided by and over run with pop-culture thinking.

The Apostle Paul provided warning, but little consolation, concerning the apostasy. Paul said, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2Th 2: 3)

Paul obviously did not mean to console us with this warning, but he did mean to prepare us. In fact along with the news events of the day the falling churches are perfect indicators of exactly how close we are to the second coming of Christ.

. . . Now, the most important question of all; if the church you are attending or the spiritual guides in your life are also supporting lust and perverting the ways of the Lord, don't you think it may be time to hit the road for some higher ground?

To read the opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

Also read President Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity as well as Religious Liberty & Anti-Christian Totalitarianism

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Atheists Find Agreeable Churches Good for Family

With so many of America's churches separated from Biblical Christianity, it's not surprising that elitist atheist/agnostic scientists join churches with their family to satisfy their need for community and to rear their children with a moral compass.

For background, click headlines below of previous articles:

Atheist Scientists Say They're Spiritual: Study

Atheists Crave Church Fellowship, but Absent God

Methodists Team Up with Atheists for Bible Study

Church is About Friendships, NOT God: Study

-- From "Some atheists attend religious services" posted at UPI 12/4/11

Some U.S. scientists who are atheists and have children are involved in religious institutions for social and personal reasons, researchers say.

Principal investigator Elaine Howard Ecklund of Rice University and colleagues at the University at Buffalo found 17 percent of atheists with children said they attended a religious service more than once in the past year.

In addition, some atheist scientists want their children to know about different religions so their children can make informed decisions about their own religious preferences.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Atheists Who Go to Church: Doing It for the Children" by Lee Dye, ABC News columnist 12/7/11

The study, by sociologists Elaine Howard Ecklund of Rice and Kristen Schultz Lee of the University at Buffalo, found that many atheists want their children exposed to religion so that they can make up their own minds on what to believe. In addition, church may provide a better understanding of morality and ethics, and occasionally attending services may ease the conflict between spouses who disagree over the value of religion to their children, the study contends.

The research, published in the December issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, was based on in-depth interviews with 275 scientists at 21 “elite” research universities in the United States. Sixty-one percent of the participants described themselves as either atheists or agnostics, and 17 percent of the non-believers had attended church more than once in the past year.

Still, it may seem a bit odd for some atheists to perceive church as a desired “community” at a time when many leading atheists are calling on their colleagues to come out of the closet and take a public stand against religion. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, physicist Victor Stenger and others see religion as a source of evil in the world.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Some Atheist Scientists With Children Embrace Religious Traditions" by Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ph.D., sociologist at Rice University 12/7/11

Research I conducted with sociologist Kristen Schultz Lee (University at Buffalo, SUNY) showed just how tightly linked religion and family are in the United States--so much so that even some of society's least religious people find it important to expose their children to different religious choices. Our research challenges the assumption that parents who engage in religious socialization always hold religious beliefs themselves.

The atheist scientists interviewed cited personal and social reasons for introducing and integrating religious traditions and institutions into their children's lives.

Their reasons include:

• Scientific identity - Study participants wish to expose their children to all sources of knowledge (including religion) and allow them to make their own, informed choices about a religious identity.

• Spousal influence - Study participants are involved in a religious institution because of influence from their spouse or partner.

• Desire for community - Study participants want a sense of community (moral or otherwise), even if they do not personally hold religious beliefs.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Study: 1 in 5 Atheist Scientists Attend Church With Family" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 12/5/11

Roy Speckhardt, executive director for the American Humanist Association . . . [said] that atheists will attend places of worship that are “very welcoming,” listing Unitarian Universalist churches and secular Jewish temples as examples.

Dr. Billy McCormack of the Christian Coalition saw the study as showing that atheist academics see church as a positive moral environment.

“Atheists understand that people who attend church are more likely to be persons of high moral character and would prefer their children experience this more positive environment,” said McCormack in an interview with CP.

“Academics are dogmatic as a rule. Their usual arrogance, subtle or pronounced, makes them less likely than the general public atheists to allow their children to be exposed to truth with which they strongly disagree,” said McCormack.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family" by Elaine Howard Ecklund & Kristen Schultz Lee, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 50, Issue 4, pages 728–743, December 2011

Abstract:

Through in-depth interviews with scientists at elite academic institutions—those particularly likely to have no firm belief in God—we provide insight into the motives scientists who are not religious have for joining a religious group and the struggle faced by these individuals in reconciling personal beliefs with what they consider the best interests of their families. Narratives stress the use of resources from identities as scientists to provide their children with religious choices consistent with science and in negotiating spousal influence and a desire for community. Findings expand the religious socialization and identities literatures by widening the range of understanding of the strategies parents utilize to interface with religious communities as well as lead to more nuanced public understanding of how atheist and agnostic scientists relate to religious communities.

To read the entire study referenced above, CLICK HERE.

A Rabbi, Pastor & Imam at a Methodist Seminary ...

It sounds like the opening line of a joke, but it's not. Facing declining enrollment, Claremont Colleges Graduate School of Theology in California is now claiming to train and prepare new leaders with a vision of blending divergent world religions.

For background, read Methodist Seminary Trains Pluralistic Clergy



-- From "Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly Listings" Washington Post 10/21/11

Multi_Faith Theological Education — At the Claremont Colleges in California, the Graduate School of Theology has created Claremont Lincoln University, the first multi-faith theological school of its kind. As Saul Gonzalez reports, the new and controversial graduate university is teaching and will grant degrees to students who want to become Christian ministers, Jewish rabbis or Muslim imams, and it plans to include Hindus, Sikhs and others, as well.

From "Multifaith Theological Education" by Saul Gonzalez, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, PBS 10/21/11

SAUL GONZALEZ, correspondent: . . . California’s Claremont Lincoln University, which describes itself as America’s first interreligious school of theology, one that will train pastors, rabbis, and eventually Muslim imams all on one campus. The school’s philosophy was captured in the opening remarks of Muslim-American religious scholar Najeeba Syeed-Miller, a professor at Claremont Lincoln.

PROFESSOR NAJEEBA SYEED-MILLER: The diversity of humankind is not a curse from God. It is a sign of God’s creation, and the beauty of humanity is in our very differences.

GONZALEZ: What do you hope to accomplish here at Claremont Lincoln? What’s the grand vision?

PHILIP CLAYTON (Provost, Claremont Lincoln University): You have to get beyond the point of people defining their religions by the traditional walls. . . . When you train rabbis in one school, pastors in another, imams in another, you put them out into communities they create an “us versus them” mentality. What if we do something that’s never been done before? Let’s train them in the same classroom. Let’s let them work out their differences in their day-to-day education. When they go out into their communities you won’t find them doing the “us versus them,” but, we hope, the “we.” What that would [do] for the face of religion in America would be staggering.

GONZALEZ: Claremont Lincoln is actually the creation of a much older institution, United Methodist-affiliated Claremont School of Theology, founded in 1885. It partnered with southern California’s Academy of Jewish Religion and the Islamic Center of Southern California to form this new school. Students attending this school can get master’s degrees in divinity, rabbinic studies, and Muslim counseling.

GONZALEZ: Beyond America’s changing religious landscape, there’s another reason why Claremont went multifaith: survival. Like other schools of theology and seminaries during these tough economic times, this campus faced a declining enrollment and a tightening budget. Allowing students from other faiths to train here is one way to keep the lights on and the doors open.

CLAYTON: This is an extremely hard time for American theological schools. We could go on with a dwindling number of Methodists students, but we decided we wanted to be ahead of the curve. . . . we had a 45-year history of being edgy. We were always sort of pushing the envelope, and so we decided we would push the envelope on this one.

To read the entire interview transcript above, CLICK HERE.

From "Donation spurs multifaith university in Claremont" posted at The Christian Century 5/25/11

Looking to support "tolerance and respect among religions," a United Methodist couple has upped its total donation to $50 million to launch a multi­faith university that will educate professional leaders for churches, synagogues and mosques while providing those future clergy with insights into interreligious issues.

The Methodist-affiliated Claremont School of Theology announced May 16 that philanthropists David and Joan Lincoln, who earlier donated $10 million, would be honored in the institution's name—Claremont Lincoln University—as classes begin this fall. Only the seminary will receive money from United Methodist agencies.

A week before the university announcement was made, the New York Times reported that Pitzer College, one of the seven Claremont colleges within walking distance of the seminary, will offer a major in secularism this fall. The new department of secular studies is headed by sociologist Phil Zuckerman, who has written extensively on secularism.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pastors and Rabbis and Imams" by Libby A. Nelson, Inside Higher Ed 10/25/11

Like everything about the newly established university, the vision is ecumenical and ambitious.

As the United States becomes more religiously diverse, with more interfaith marriages and families, the demand for ministers and religious counselors who are comfortable in that atmosphere is "off the charts, no question," says Philip Clayton, Claremont Lincoln's provost.

"Drawing on the wealth of interreligious partnerships is one of the most crucial things that we need to learn for the coming decades," Clayton says. "Frankly, without that resource, I don't think human civilization is going to make it."

"The majority of Methodists embrace the interreligious project as long as the Methodist members participate as Christians in interreligious dialogue,” Clayton says.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "The Amazing Technicolor Multifaith Theology School" by Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 6/11/10

This move by the Claremont School of Theology illustrates what happens when churches and denominations allow their institutions to embrace theological liberalism. . . . The leftward march of liberal Protestantism is hardly news, but on occasion a development arises that serves as something of a parable of that trajectory.

Liberal Protestantism long ago grew embarrassed by the exclusive claims of biblical Christianity and the historic Christian faith. Adopting pluralist and inclusivist reconstructions of the faith, liberal theologians and theological schools have been pressing the margins for over a century now. Given that trajectory, a multifaith theological seminary was an inevitability — the only question was when and where it would happen.

Mark Tooley, President of The Institute on Religion and Democracy, said that the school’s action meant that it “seems to be moving away from its responsibility to the United Methodist Church.” He added: “It almost seems that they’re trying to fulfill the stereotype that many in the church have of liberal Methodism on the West Coast.”

In a subsequent interview, Tooley, a United Methodist, pointed out that the United Methodist Church has lost nearly half of its membership on the West Coast.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

God is Not a Being, but an Experience

To predict the apostate trek of America's liberal "christian churches," one only needs to observe Europe. The BBC reports that 1 in 6 clergy in the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) are either agnostic or atheist.

The Rev Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he's not the sort of man to sugar the pill. (video below)

UPDATE 8/26/11: Analysis/opinion by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

-- From "Dutch rethink Christianity for a doubtful world" by Robert Pigott, BBC religious affairs correspondent 8/5/11

. . . the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord's Prayer. But the message from Mr Hendrikse's sermon seems bleak - "Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get".

"God is not a being at all... it's a word for experience, or human experience."

His book Believing in a Non-Existent God led to calls from more traditionalist Christians for him to be removed. However, a special church meeting decided his views were too widely shared among church thinkers for him to be singled out.

Professor Hijme Stoffels of the VU University Amsterdam says . . . "In our society it's called 'somethingism'," he says. "There must be 'something' between heaven and earth, but to call it 'God', and even 'a personal God', for the majority of Dutch is a bridge too far.

"Christian churches are in a market situation. They can offer their ideas to a majority of the population which is interested in spirituality or some kind of religion."

They want the Netherlands to be a laboratory for Christianity, experimenting with radical new ways of understanding the faith.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Also read New America: Secularized Like Europe, Spiritualized Like Oprah

Liberal 'christians' Praise Allah June 26th

Christian clergy at churches across the country will host readings from the Qur’an and other sacred religious texts as they welcome their Muslim and Jewish colleagues on Sunday, June 26, 2011 for Faith Shared: Uniting in Prayer and Understanding.

UPDATE 6/2/11: Priest says it's a “good thing for the church” to publicly recognize the existence of Islam.

-- From "Clergy plan Qur’an readings to combat anti-Muslim bigotry" by Jeff Kunerth, Orlando Sentinel 5/17/11

Faith Shared is a project of Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First, which seeks to send a message both here at home and to the Arab and Muslim world about our respect for Islam. The National Cathedral in Washington, DC, along with 50 churches in 26 states have committed to participating in this effort.

[Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy said,] “Appreciation for pluralism and respect for religious freedom and other human rights are at the core of our democracy.”

A full list of participating houses of worship can be found at faithshared.org.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Christians, Muslims, Jews to share sacred texts" by Bob Allen, Associated Baptist Press 5/17/11

Contrary to highly publicized anti-Islam statements from some U.S. Christian leaders . . . churches involved in the Faith Shared project “want to read each other’s scriptures instead of burn them.”

[National Cathedral Dean Sam Lloyd said,] “As Americans and people of faith, we must use our great traditions to come together for mutual enrichment and understanding.”

By coming together to read from and hear each other’s sacred texts, organizers believe Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy will model respect and cooperation in ways that create concrete opportunities to build and strengthen working ties between their faiths.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Allah Worshiped in Virginia Methodist Church

Liberal Media Use Heretic to Counter Christ

Rob Bell of the "emergent church" movement is finally being fully exposed as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and the liberal media just can't get enough of him.

For background, read Heretical Preacher Embraced by Liberal Media

-- From "'Love Wins': Pastor's book kindles firestorm over hell" by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 3/14/11

Bell's new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, has provoked weeks of fierce infighting among pastors, theologians and anyone else who scans the Christian blogosphere where critics rage that he's a hipster heretic.

But Richard Mouw, president of the world's largest Protestant [liberal] seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary based in Pasadena, Calif., calls Love Wins "a great book, well within the bounds of orthodox Christianity and passionate about Jesus.

In Love Wins, which arrives in stores Tuesday, Bell claims:

• Heaven and hell are choices we make and live with right now. "God gives us what we want," including the freedom to live apart from God (hell) or turn God's way (heaven).

• Death doesn't cut off the ability to repent. In his Bible, Bell sees no "infinite, eternal torment for things (people) did in their few finite years of life."

• Jesus makes salvation possible even for people who never know his name. "We have to allow for mystery," for people who "drink from the rock" of faith "without knowing who or what it was."

• Churches that don't allow for this are "misguided and toxic."

Small wonder that traditionalists call him a false teacher of a Jesus-optional Gospel, leading innocents to damnation and a traitor to the evangelical label.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.


From "Hard-hitting Rob Bell interview goes viral" by Michael Foust, Baptist Press News 3/16/11

"What you've done is you're amending the Gospel -- the Christian message -- so that it's palatable to contemporary people who find, for example, the idea of hell and heaven very difficult to stomach ... That's why you've done, isn't it?" [MSNBC reporter Martin] Bashir asks Bell at one point.

At another point, Bashir asks Bell if it is "irrelevant" for someone to follow Christ in this life if -- as Bell argues -- non-Christians will be saved anyway.

Bell's evasive answers to questions have frustrated Christian leaders. Even in the interview, he denies he is a universalist, and then proceeds to make universalistic arguments.

To read a partial transcript of the YouTube video above, CLICK HERE.

From "What Happened to Heaven and Is Gandhi There?" by John Wilson, Wall Street Journal 3/18/11

Something strange has happened in evangelical churches over the past generation. Not in every congregation, but in the main, sermons devoted to the grim prospect of hell have become rare, and even talk of heaven is muted.

. . . So is Mr. Bell one more Christian liberal describing God as a mountain you can climb any way you want? Not exactly.

. . . anyone who carefully reads "Love Wins" will see that Mr. Bell is not a universalist. As C.S. Lewis did, he suggests that God grants free will to all, including those who do not want his divine company and therefore choose damnation.

Still, the account of heaven and hell that he rejects does sound a lot like what most Christians have taught and been taught for 2,000 years . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Rob Bell and the (re)emergence of liberal theology" by R. Albert Mohler Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 3/16/11

For the last 20 years or so, a movement identified as emerging or emergent Christianity has done its determined best to avoid speaking with specificity. Leading figures in the movement have offered trenchant criticisms of mainstream evangelicalism. Most pointedly, they have accused evangelical Christianity, variously, as being excessively concerned with doctrine, culturally tone-deaf, overly propositional, unnecessarily offensive, aesthetically malnourished, and basically uncool.

And yet, even as many of these [emerging/emergent] leaders insisted that they remained within the evangelical circle, it was clear that many were moving into a post-evangelical posture. There were early hints that the direction of the movement was toward theological liberalism and radical revisionism, but the predominant mode of their argument was suggestion, rather than assertion.

Rather than make a clear theological or doctrinal assertion, emerging figures generally raise questions and offer suggestive comments. Influenced by postmodern narrative theories, most within the movement lean into story rather than formal argument. Nevertheless, the general direction seemed clear enough. The leading emerging church figures appeared to be pushing Protestant liberalism -- just about a century late.

. . . Rob Bell uses his incredible power of literary skill and communication to unravel the Bible's message and to cast doubt on its teachings.

Bell clearly prefers inclusivism, the belief that Christ is saving humanity through means other than the Gospel, including other religions. But he mixes up his story along the way, appearing to argue for outright universalism on some pages, but backing off of a full affirmation. He rejects the belief that conscious faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, but he never clearly lands on a specific account of what he does believe.

. . . Yes, we have read this book before. With Love Wins, Rob Bell moves solidly within the world of Protestant liberalism. His message is a liberalism arriving late on the scene. Tragically, his message will confuse many believers as well as countless unbelievers.

To read all of the above in-depth analysis of Rob Bell's "theology," CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 5/3/13: Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson debate homosexuality & the Bible (video):

Heretical Preacher Embraced by Liberal Media

Demonstrating its ignorance of Biblical Christianity (as usual), the liberal media is quick to refer to Rob Bell as a voice of evangelicals, but in promotions of his yet-to-be-released book, Bell refutes Jesus Christ in regards to the doctrine of Hell (for starters).

". . . but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions . . ."
-- 2 Tim. 4:3 (ESV)

UPDATE 3/15/11 Interview with Rob Bell (video):


-- From "Pastor Stirs Wrath With His Views on Old Questions" by Erik Eckholm, New York Times 3/4/11

A new book by one of the country’s most influential evangelical pastors, challenging traditional Christian views of heaven, hell and eternal damnation, has created an uproar among evangelical leaders, with the most ancient of questions being argued in a biblical hailstorm of Twitter messages and blog posts.

In a book to be published this month, the pastor, Rob Bell, known for his provocative views and appeal among the young, describes as “misguided and toxic” the dogma that “a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.”

Such statements are hardly radical among more liberal theologians, who for centuries have wrestled with the seeming contradiction between an all-loving God and the consignment of the billions of non-Christians to eternal suffering. But to traditionalists they border on heresy, and they have come just at a time when conservative evangelicals fear that a younger generation is straying from unbendable biblical truths.

Mr. Bell, 40, whose Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., has 10,000 members, is a Christian celebrity and something of a hipster in the pulpit, with engaging videos that sell by the hundreds of thousands and appearances to rapt, youthful crowds in rock-music arenas.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Christian author's book sparks charges of heresy" by Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor 3/1/11

Universalism, in its broadest terms, preaches that everyone goes to heaven and that there is no hell. Critics say it represents a break from traditional Christianity, which they say holds that heaven and hell are very real places. In most Christian circles, universalism is a dirty word.

Last year, Brian McLaren – a popular Christian author and a former pastor - was accused of breaking with Christian orthodoxy and delving headlong into universalism in his book A New Kind of Christianity.

But it's rare that theological arguments become top ten trending topics on Twitter, as Rob Bell did . . .

In the promotional video [for the new book,] Bell refers to the nonviolent Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, and asks, "Gandhi's in hell? He is?"

"And someone knows this for sure?" Bell continues. "Will billions and billions of people burn forever in hell? And if that's the case how do you become one of the few? "

The video follows a trend in Bell's career as a pastor . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Universalism as a Lure? The Emerging Case of Rob Bell" by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 3/1/11

. . . Rob Bell and others within the Emerging Church movement represent what can only be described as a new form of cultural Christianity. Bell plays with theology the way a cat plays with a mouse. His sermons, videos, books, and public relations are often more suggestive and subversive than clear.

. . . [Bell's raises] the question of the exclusivity of the Gospel of Christ. With that question come the related questions of heaven, hell, judgment, and the fate of the unregenerate. The Bible answers these questions clearly enough, but few issues are as hard to reconcile with the modern or postmodern mind than this. Of course, it was hard to reconcile with the ancient mind as well. The singularity of the person and work of Christ and the necessity of personal faith in him for salvation run counter to the pluralistic bent of the human mind, but this is nothing less than the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation.

The Emerging Church movement is known for its slick and sophisticated presentation. It wears irony and condescension as normal attire. Regardless of how Rob Bell’s book turns out, its promotion is the sad equivalent of a theological striptease.

. . . Universalism is a heresy, not a lure to use in order to sell books.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

Methodist Seminary Trains Pluralistic Clergy

Saying that not all Muslims – or Christians or Jews for that matter – believe their faith is the only way to God, the United Methodist Church's Claremont School of Theology has launched a program to train leaders for the often-conflicting faiths together.

-- From "Seminary introduces program of religious collaboration" by Michael Carl © 2010 WorldNetDaily 6/25/10

The unorthodox program was announced on the website for the school, and detailed in a statement released by school media-relations officer Claudia Pearce.

"Christians, Muslims and Jews will now have the opportunity to take classes together to learn about each other's religious traditions, to study topics that deal specifically with interfaith issues and to build bridges through coursework that assists them, our society’s future religious leaders, to act collaboratively in response to the various issues that face our society and world," the statement said.

. . . Christian cultural commentator and Cross Talk America radio host Ingrid Schlueter says the Claremont program is a clear compromise of the truth of the Gospel.

"Their new spiritual-blender approach to Christian theological education is to 'teach students to recognize the legitimacy and integrity' of other religious traditions. This, by definition, cannot be Christianity," Schlueter said.

"The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, declared himself to be the exclusive way to heaven in John 14:6. The founder of Christianity further described the spiritual way to eternal life as 'narrow' in Matthew 7:14," Schlueter explained.

"Clearly Claremont is still teaching theology. It is not, however, Christian theology. It is the new, popular brand of universalism that rejects outright the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ in Holy Scripture and ventures into rank spiritual rebellion in the name of tolerance and cooperation. God's unchanging Word tells us that it is at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow and confess His Lordship. Not Buddha, not Krishna, not Allah or some other god cobbled together in human imagination," Schlueter said.

Schlueter said Claremont is not representative of the doctrine taught by Methodism's founder John Wesley.

"If John Wesley were alive today to see what his heirs were teaching, one could only imagine his anger and grief. Claremont is setting the stage for persecution of biblical Christians who refuse this apostasy. They are casting themselves as Christians, but theirs is a faith that is alien to everything Christians have lived and died for in the last 2,000 years," Schlueter said.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Liberal 'Christians' Predictably Support Democrat Health Care Reform

. . . the religious left is rallying behind the health care package being debated in Congress and decrying the tactics used by the plan’s rightwing opponents.

UPDATE: ELCA Lutherans' own health insurance plan for clergy and church employees covers abortion -- even for sex-selection.

UPDATE 8/19/09: Obama orchestrates his faithful following

-- From "‘Religious Left’ tackles health care reform" by Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent 8/18/09

A new coalition is promising “40 Days of Health Reform” — and it’ll hit Minneapolis in the next few weeks.

The campaign was launched to show the spiritual need for health reform, not to support any one specific set of policies. And it’s seen some immediate success as President Obama will join coalition members on a conference call later this week.

“This isn’t a political issue, it is a deeply theological issue, a biblical issue, and a moral issue,” said Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners magazine in a conference call last week. “So we are not going to at any time during the debate weigh in on the particulars of policy questions…[We’ll] leave the plumbing to the politicians.”

Wallis didn’t mince words in a recent editorial in his publication. “The ’storm troopers’ of political demagoguery, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, have mobilized their followers to disrupt town meetings and defeat comprehensive reform by yelling louder than anybody else,” he wrote. “The campaign tactics include lies, intimidation, character assassination, verbal abuse, and even mob behavior against members of Congress trying to conduct town hall meetings on the issues.”

[The 40 Days coalition includes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, as well as] some of America’s largest [liberal 'Christian'] denominations: The Episcopal Church, the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., United Methodist Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association, African Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Council of Churches in Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Church of Christ.

Some [liberal] Catholic groups are also on board: NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Catholics United, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

For Catholics and many other people of faith, the issue of abortion is an important one, but the coalition is refusing to let it be a stumbling block.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

The Post-modern Motto: Let Religious Pluralism Reign

-- From "Twilight of the Idols" by R.C. Sproul in Tabletalk Magazine, June 2008

. . . In the culture of pluralism, the chief virtue is toleration, which is the notion that all religious views are to be tolerated, all political views are to be tolerated. The only thing that cannot be tolerated is a claim to exclusivity. There is a built-in, inherent antipathy towards all claims of exclusivity. To say that there is one God is repulsive to the pluralists. To say that one God has not revealed Himself by a plurality of avatars in history is also repugnant. A single God with an only begotten Son is a deity who adds insult to injury by claiming an exclusive Son. There cannot be only one Mediator between man and God. There must be many according to pluralists today. It is equally a truism among pluralists that if there is one way to God, there must be many ways to God, and certainly it cannot be accepted that there is only one way. The exclusive claims of Christianity in terms of God, in terms of Christ, in terms of salvation, cannot live in peaceful coexistence with pluralists.

The motto of the United States is e pluribus unum. However, since the rise of the ideology of pluralism, the real Unum of that motto has been ripped from its foundation. What drives pluralism is the philosophical antecedent of relativism. All truth is relative; therefore, no one idea or source can be seen as having any kind of supremacy. Built into our law system is the idea of the equal toleration under the law of all religions. It is a short step in people’s thinking from equal toleration under the law to equal validity. The principle that all religions should be treated equally under the law and have equal rights does not carry with it the necessary inference that therefore all religions are valid. Even a cursory, comparative examination of the world’s religions reveals points of radical contradiction among them, and unless one is prepared to affirm the equal truth of contradictories, one must not be able to embrace this fallacious assumption.

Sadly, with a philosophy of relativism and a philosophy of pluralism, the science of logic doesn’t matter. Logic is escorted to the door and is firmly booted out of the house onto the street. There is no room for logic in any system of pluralism and relativism. Indeed, it’s a misnomer to call either a system, because it is the idea of a consistent, coherent view of truth that is unacceptable to the pluralist. The fact that people reject exclusive claims to truth does not invalidate those claims. It is the Christian’s duty to hold firm to the uniqueness of God and of His Christ and not compromise with the advocates of pluralism.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Florida Chaplain Says Hospital Fired Him for Saying 'Jesus' in Prayers

A Florida hospital chaplain says he was fired from his position for including the word 'Jesus' at the end of his prayers, according to report on MyFoxOrlando.com

From "Florida Chaplain Says Hospital Fired Him for Saying 'Jesus' in Prayers" posted 8/30/07 at FOXNews.com

Reverend Danny Harvey, who worked for the Leesburg Regional Center for more than seven years, claims to be the victim of religious discrimination after he says the hospital staff forced him to resign from his post.

Hospital officials deny any discrimination against Harvey and said that his departure was brought about because his services were not consistent with center's various faiths.
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