This weekend, as Christians around the world commemorate the betrayal, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Terri Schiavo‘s body will begin to shut down. Her body will essentially mummify and bloat around her as she is deprived of water.
The Supreme Court said they wouldn’t even listen to pleas to keep her alive.
Florida Judge George Greer said he won’t listen to Gov. Jeb Bush’s arguments for taking Schiavo into protective custody.
The Florida Senate turned down a law that would make it harder to kill Schiavo or for others whose death warrants are signed by mere hearsay.
President George Bush and Republican leaders of the U.S. Congress said they won’t do any more, and that all legal options have been exhausted.
Police are arresting kids for trying to take Schiavo glasses of water. If Schiavo could drink the water, it would prove that she’s not in a persistent vegetative state. If she couldn’t, there’s no harm.
“Growing up in the shadow of post-World War II America, and many remembrances of the Holocaust, I’ve often wondered what it must have been like in Nazi Germany for the nation to standby while evil was done in the name of kindness or eugenic ideology,” says Touchstone‘s Ken Tanner. “Now we all know how it can happen, what it feels like, and how helpless good people can be in the face of intentional evil.”
Around the office over the last few months, we’ve been talking about the supposed triumph of the evangelical movement. Evangelicalism is now the dominant face of American Christianity. Evangelical activist groups are credited as being the major power brokers in Washington. Newsweek‘s cover story speaks with an overwhelmingly orthodox voice supporting the doctrine of the Resurrection. If you believe New York Times columnists Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich, “We really are in a theocracy.”
And yet our country’s courts are supporting an adulterer to starve and dehydrate his wife to death while she lies helpless. And, apparently, she’s aware of what’s happening, if you believe the Mayo Clinic’s William P. Cheshire Jr. But maybe you shouldn’t, says The New York Times. After all, he’s religious. “He has to be bogus, a pro-life fanatic,” University of Minnesota Medical School neurologist Ronald Cranford told the Times.
And so, barring a miracle, Schiavo will be killed.
But that will not be the end of the story.
“Perhaps you’ve noticed other bloodless words being flipped at [Schiavo], words like ‘viability’ and phrases like ‘pull the plug,'” writes the Chicago Tribune‘s John Kass. “These words were once the issue of bloodless people, of clerks and sophists who can prove almost anything with their fine arguments. The rest of us have fed on them until they shape how we think, shaping our options, shaping our future. … Americans have finally been taught to think like bureaucrats.” The real word for what’s happening, he says, is murder.
And it won’t stop with Schiavo.
In its next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider Oregon’s so-called “Death with Dignity Act.”
In England, they’re aborting 24-week-old babies because of cleft lips.
In the Netherlands, they’re killing infants. Doctors there want to kill those who aren’t even physically ill.
On Palm Sunday, things looked good for the culture of life, as the disciples saw it.
On Good Friday, things looked awfully bleak. The culture of death had triumphed. With Terri Schiavo, Jesus cried, “I thirst.”
That, of course, is not the end of the Story. But it is the Story. And on Good Friday, there was nothing that anyone could do to turn back the culture of death. Not the disciples. Not Mary. Not Pilate. Not Herod.
The only One who could make a difference during the original Holy Week is the only One who can make a difference this Holy Week.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Forgive us, for we know not what we do. Come, Lord Jesus. Raise the dead to new life. Raise us all.
More articles
Schiavo & religion:
- Schiavo case highlights Catholic-evangelical alliance | Christians have found common cause in the “culture of life” agenda articulated by Pope John Paul II (The New York Times)
- Schiavo vote tied to law, religion | Lawmakers call politics irrelevant (The Washington Post)
- Religious challenge: Grappling with life’s limits, what it means to be human | Beyond a core, religious views about the Schiavo case vary widely (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Religions vary on removal of tube | Some strictly oppose it, but others take a nuanced approach to the Terri Schiavo case (The Orlando Sentinel)
- Diverse faiths find no easy answers | For religious ethicists, the Schiavo case is replete with moral issues and emotions over the nature of human life (Los Angeles Times)
- For many, a question of faith | The drawn-out legal and political battle over removing the feeding tube of a brain-damaged woman has divided people of faith as well (The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Ca.)
- Catching the moon | The spiritual and moral issues surrounding the Schiavo case (Marc Gellman, Newsweek)
Schiavo & Judaism:
- On Schiavo case, Jews can find guidance in Halacha | Jews, like others caught up in the debate, have a range of beliefs, and their understanding of how to apply Halacha varies accordingly (Washington Jewish Week)
- Jewish lawmakers dominate debate over Terri Schiavo | Jewish Democratic lawmakers took the lead this week in demanding that Congress stay out of the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who has been kept alive for 15 years by a feeding tube (Forward)
Terri Schiavo and family:
- Memories diverge on what Terri wanted | Five years ago, a judge heard from those who said she wouldn’t want to be on life support, and those who said she would want to fight (St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
- Parents’ side has vilified husband | The decreasing legal options for those who want Terri Schiavo kept alive are ‘clearly fueling the fires’ of anger, a psychology expert says (Los Angeles Times)
- Conservative groups’ support steady | A small network of Christian and other conservative activists has helped support the Schindler family’s long fight, through steady financial gifts as well as logistical expertise and high-level contacts in Tallahassee and Washington (The Washington Post)
- Husband, in-laws once were united in caring for Terri | Before the fighting, Michael Schiavo and his in-laws cared for Terri Schiavo together. The Schindlers urged him to date, and later agreed on the extent of her damage (The Miami Herald)
- Familial battle over Schiavo’s fate unprecedented | Terri Schiavo’s medical condition is not particularly rare — an estimated 30,000 to 45,000 patients in the United States are being kept alive in persistent vegetative states through feeding tubes. What is unprecedented in the 41-year-old Florida woman’s case is the long unresolved legal battle between members of her own family “” her husband and her parents”” as to whether she should live or die (The Washington Times)
Schiavo polls:
- Reports, polling biased on patient | Talk-show hosts and conservative media monitors have accused mainstream news organizations of emphasizing opinion polls and reports that imply the American public supports court decisions to withhold sustenance from Terri Schiavo (The Washington Times)
- Poll: Evangelicals oppose gov’t on Schiavo | More than two-thirds of people who describe themselves as evangelicals and conservatives disapprove of the intervention by Congress and President Bush in the case of the Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a national debate (Associated Press)
- The shame of ABC | A bogus poll to back up the sneering (Mickey Kaus, Slate)
Schiavo & politics:
- Gov. Bush is rebuffed in Schiavo case | Options narrow as parents of Fla. woman are dealt 3 more setbacks (The Washington Post)
- Republican leader invokes God in Schiavo battle | In helping lead the charge to keep brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive, House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay has invoked God, diverted attention from his own ethical woes and again become a lightning rod for critics of his party’s conservative agenda (Reuters)
- Tom DeLay: “It is more than just Terri Schiavo” | Transcript: The embattled House Majority Leader finds parallels between Terri Schiavo’s case and his own (Time)
- Schiavo case taking on political tone | Terri Schiavo’s personal tragedy is taking on a more political tone in Congress, where House Majority Leader Tom DeLay likens the struggle over her fate to attacks on himself, and a Democratic critic accuses Republicans of opportunism (Associated Press)
- Bush exhausts options in Schiavo case | President Bush suggested Wednesday that he and Congress could do no more in the Terri Schiavo case but he hoped federal courts would decide to prolong the Florida woman’s life. The White House said it had run out of legal options (Associated Press)
- That old-time religion | The Republicans use Terri Schiavo to keep their religious juggernaut rolling (Los Angeles City Beat)
Schiavo & medicine:
- How do feeding tubes work? | The ins and outs of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (Slate)
- A diagnosis with a dose of religion | William P. Cheshire Jr., the Florida doctor cited by Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday in his announcement that he would intervene again in the case of Terri Schiavo, is a neurologist and bioethicist whose life and work have been guided by his religious beliefs (The New York Times)
- Doctor says examination changed his mind | A neurologist contends Schiavo could be in a ‘minimally conscious state.’ But critics cite his conservative Christian background (Los Angeles Times)
- Around the dinner table, talk of end-of-life care | The Schiavo case provokes deeply personal questions about living wills and last wishes (The Christian Science Monitor)
Schiavo & the courts:
- Schiavo’s parents appeal to the Supreme Court on feeding tube | Gov. Jeb Bush also succeeded in getting a Florida court to hear new motions in the case of a brain-damaged woman (The New York Times)
- Parents take Schiavo case to high court | Without nutrition, their daughter won’t ‘be with us much longer,’ father says in emergency plea. Florida’s Gov. Bush asks for state to take custody (Los Angeles Times)
- Schiavo’s parents appeal to the Supreme Court on feeding tube (The New York Times)
- Narrower interpretations have hurt parents’ case | Even if the parents can persuade the Supreme Court to give them a full hearing on their claims, the Schindlers could face a major obstacle: a 1990 decision by the high court establishing that a person in a consistent vegetative state has a right to be removed from a feeding tube (Los Angeles Times)
- 15 years ago, Terri Schiavo’s ‘last hope’ | An article from Nov. 15, 1990 (St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
- Schiavo lesson on judiciary trump card | If nothing else, this series of decisions vindicated the one conception of American judicial power (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
Opinion (pro-Schindlers):
- In love with death | The bizarre passion of the pull-the-tube people (Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal)
- The right to life | Protecting one woman (William J. Bennett & Brian T. Kennedy, National Review Online)
- Basic human care | Food and water (Pia de Solenni, National Review Online)
- What if they called 9-1-1 | Terri Schiavo and protecting the innocent (Jack Dunphy, National Review Online)
- Runaway judiciary | Congress is allowed to “intervene and guide or control the exercise of the courts’ discretion”–except when it comes to Terri Schiavo (Hugh Hewitt, The Weekly Standard)
- Humanity lost in Schiavo media frenzy | Jesus died because people lost focus of the human being before them, because a civilized society spun out of control. People lost the sense of the divinity that was before them (Jim Chern, Fox News)
- Culture of death has taken root | Ours is a nation where a judge may not sentence Beltway sniper John Malvo to death, because he is too young to die, but can sentence Terry Schiavo to death, because she is too severely handicapped to live (Patrick J. Buchanan, The Miami Herald)
- The modern mercy death | The moral issue in the Schiavo case is a simple one: Given the medical doubts about Terri Schiavo’s diagnosis, we must ask: Should any patient be left to die without food and water when we are not absolutely, positively sure that’s what she would want? (Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times)
- Praying for certainty | A decision has to be made about Terri Schiavo, and my head and heart are with those who would ”err on the side of life.” But don’t count me among the dogmatists. This is one case that calls for less certainty and more prayer (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe)
Opinion (pro-Michael Schiavo):
- Singling out Schiavo | Heart-rending though her case may be, none of the issues are new (Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post)
- For Irene | Letting go of Terri Schiavo (Tom Gogola, New Haven Advocate, Conn.)
- Schiavo column draws a passionate, record response | Supporters of Congress’ action were in the minority (Howard Troxler. St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
- Letting my brother die | Like Terri Schiavo, Phil was never going to recover. Removing his feeding tube was a devastating decision. But at least my family got to make it privately (Lori Leibovich, Salon.com)
- ‘No moral sense’ | A Jesuit bioethicist believes the religious right is exploiting Terri Schiavo and that there is no moral or legal obligation to keep her alive (Newsweek)
Opinion (anti-Republican):
- Where are the Democrats? | If there is a national figure (other than Barney Frank) who stood up and took on the GOP in the Schiavo matter, his — or her — name does not come to mind (Richard Cohen, The Washington Post)
- Passion play | Republicans have turned Terri Schiavo’s tragedy into political theater (Terence Samuel, The American Prospect)
- Right-to-life politics in Bush’s America | Some of America’s very poor and victims who had been in a “persistent vegetative state” for years—without the media exposure as in Schiavo’s case (Rickey Singh, Daily Nation, Barbados)
- The living end | Letting Terri Schiavo live is as much about political expediency as it is about preserving a woman’s life (Michael Gawenda, The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Congress should stay out of private family matters | It is beyond comprehension, not to mention the Constitution, that the Congress of the United States and the president should have involved themselves at this point (Molly Ivins)
- Target of opportunism | Only these Republicans could see Terri Schiavo’s tragic condition as a gift from God (Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect)
- Forcing one definition of human life on us all | The problem with the new, rigid definition of “life” is that it idealizes life and ignores the reality of death (Jane Eisner, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Passing buck on Schiavo cheats public | Democrats in the Senate have opted to sit back and let the courts take the heat in the case of Terri Schiavo (Joyce Purnick, The New York Times)
- That’s life | Mr Bush may one day have to decide whose hopes for life are of higher value: a woman struck down in the prime of her life, or a group of embryonic cells. (Editorial, The Guardian, London)
Religion & politics:
- The values lobbyists work the Hill | A Quaker urges Patriot Act limits; a conservative Christian works for restrictions on abortion (MSNBC)
- An odd pair comes together to protect our environment | Environmentalists could learn a thing or two from evangelicals about promoting values and vision (Jane Eisner, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Church & state:
- ACLU wants Tangipahoa School Board held in contempt | The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion for contempt against the Tangipahoa Parish School Board after the board defied a federal court order banning prayer at its meetings (Biz New Orleans)
- Displaying ‘God’s law’ | Court to measure barrier between church and state (The Kentucky Post)
- Voters recall Pledge objector | Voters in Estes Park, Colo., removed town trustee David Habecker from office Tuesday in a recall election that hinged on his refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at town meetings (The Washington Times)
- Church and state clash on salaries | Cardinal accuses gov’t of withholding funds and smear tactics (The Prague Post)
Human rights & religious freedom:
- Tibetan nun is a fake, U.S. says | Human rights workers and Tibetan activists fear that the charges may cause the United States to overlook the suffering of thousands of asylum seekers fleeing religious persecution in China and political oppression around the world (The Washington Post)
- U.S. team says North Korea suppresses religion | North Korea represses religion and has an official ideology that is a form of secular humanism, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said on Thursday (Reuters)
Life ethics:
- Calif. court tosses stem cell lawsuits | The high court refused to hear the two cases with little comment. But the court did say its unanimous ruling doesn’t prevent the lawsuits from being refiled in a trial court, which could still spell trouble for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (Associated Press)
- Death and politics | The narrative line that connects abortion opponents with end-of-life care is pretty clear. It gives the government, not the individual, the power to make our most critical, intimate decisions (Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe)
In UK, okay to choose a baby’s sex:
- Parents ‘could pick babies’ sex’ | Couples undergoing IVF could be allowed to select the sex of their baby under proposals put forward by MPs (BBC)
- Ethics row as choosing baby’s sex splits MPs | A controversial report, which favours allowing parents to choose the sex of their child and rethinking the cloning ban, is published today by a committee of MPs split down the middle over the needs of science and the ethics of embryo research (The Guardian, London)
Abortion:
- Group decries abortion records searches | Planned Parenthood officials charged Wednesday that efforts by two state attorneys general to seize patient medical records from the organization’s clinics are aimed at discouraging women from seeking abortions and other reproductive health care (Associated Press)
- MPs call for abortion law review | Abortion legislation should be overhauled by Parliament, a report by an influential committee of MPs says today (The Telegraph, London)
- Wife of sailor battles U.S. over abortion | Navy won’t pay for procedure for woman who carried severely brain-damaged fetus (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Sexuality:
- In essay, Loyola professor likens coed dorms to brothels | In a pair of blunt and accusatory essays, the most recent of which was published in last month’s issue of Christianity Today, Vigen Guroian, a professor of theology at Baltimore’s Loyola College, says that colleges have “forfeited the responsibilities of in loco parentis and have gone into the pimping and brothel business” (Susan Reimer, The Baltimore Sun)
- Original: Dorm Brothel | The new debauchery, and the colleges that let it happen (Vigen Guroian, Christianity Today, Jan. 21)
- A quarter of girls aged 14 claim to have had sex with several partners | Among those who said they had had sex, 65 per cent admitted to unprotected sex and 45 per cent said they had had a one-night stand (The Telegraph, London)
Marriage & family:
- Tying a tight knot | Covenant marriages can be dissolved only after couples counseling and a two-year separation (US News & World Report)
- Vibrant cities find one thing missing: children | As cities are remodeled to match the tastes of people living well, they are struggling to hold on to enough children (The New York Times)
Homosexuality:
- Religious leaders join forces against J’lem gay parade | A worldwide interfaith campaign against a major international gay pride parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem this summer gathered steam Wednesday with the Chief Rabbinate, the leaders of various Patriarchs in Jerusalem and a senior Muslim religious leader joining forces to thwart the event (The Jerusalem Post)
- Gay-rights debate packs hearing | |Bill would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, credit, education, housing and public accommodations (Portland Press Herald, Me.)
Scottish Episcopalians okay gay priests:
- Evangelicals warn of ‘battle for Church’s soul’ in gay row | The Scottish Episcopal Church was in turmoil last night after evangelicals struck out at their bishops’ decision to declare that practising homosexuals are eligible for ordination (The Scotsman)
- Scottish Episcopalians okay gay priests | Being a practicing homosexual is no bar to becoming a priest, the Scottish Episcopal Church says, a stance that puts it at odds with the Anglican Communion in other parts of the world (Associated Press)
- Scottish church reignites gay row | The bishops of the Scottish Episcopal church yesterday defended their admission that they ordain gay clergy as their stance threatened to exacerbate divisions in the worldwide Anglican communion (The Guardian, London)
- Scottish bishops declare support for gay priests | The declaration will be seen as a clear signal that they are siding with the liberal Americans and Canadians who were rebuked last month for bringing the worldwide Church to the brink of schism (The Telegraph, London)
- Scottish bishops risk split by supporting gay priests | By aligning themselves firmly with the rebel liberal provinces of Canada and the US, the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have placed in peril once more the hard-won but fragile peace over gays in the worldwide Anglican Communion (The Times, London)
Church life:
- Church plans trial for Methodist pastor | The United Methodist Church will try a Jeffersonville, Ind., pastor on sexual harassment and immorality charges in May in the denomination’s first church trial in memory in Indiana (Associated Press)
Catholicism:
- Citing deficit, archdiocese eyes substantial budget cuts | The Archdiocese of Boston, facing continuing budget deficits, is planning significant spending cuts over the next year, the archdiocesan chancellor said yesterday (The Boston Globe)
- Married priests to fill Catholics’ Easter void | In a challenge to the authority of Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley, former parishioners of closed Catholic churches in Natick and Quincy have asked married priests to celebrate Easter Sunday Masses for them (The Boston Globe)
- Bishops join anti-death penalty campaign | Catholic bishops in Birmingham and Mobile are leading outreach and education efforts in Alabama – the state with the largest per capita Death Row – in support of a campaign launched this week by U.S. Catholic bishops to end the death penalty (The Birmingham News, Ala.)
Pope John Paul II:
- Pope in serene abandonment to God’s will—Cardinal | “Through his absence, he is more than ever present at this Mass,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re (Reuters)
- Pope to get ‘own’ mountain peak | A region in central Italy has announced it will name a mountain peak after Pope John Paul II, who has enjoyed hiking in the area in the past (BBC)
Land sale causes Orthodox row:
- Jerusalem land sale scandal rocks Greek Orthodox church | Four years after his appointment to the most sensitive Christian office in the Middle East, the Greek cleric is embroiled in a shady land-dealing scandal that threatens to devastate the local church and poison its relations with the wider Palestinian population (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Greek Orthodox Patriarch again denies alleged Jerusalem land sale (AFP)
Crime:
- Two boys arrested in church fire | Kirkland police arrested two boys yesterday on suspicion of starting a fire at the Gospel Hall Foundation church March 13. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Sacred object stolen from Catholic church | Ciborium integral to Catholic Mass (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Ca.)
Abuse:
- Man allegedly used Bible to justify rape | 19-year-old reportedly told investigators that Joseph Thomas Kriz,, a 1996 U.S. Navy retiree, allegedly began sexually abusing her when she was 11 years old (The Decatur Daily, Ala.)
- Mass. jury acquits priest of raping boy | A 76-year-old priest was acquitted Wednesday of raping a boy in a church office in the late 1980s (Associated Press)
- Former Assembly of God pastor charged with not reporting suspected abuse | He suspected a former Conway police sergeant of molesting a teenage girl (Associated Press)
Holy Week:
- Playing with the Passion | The singers may change, but the song remains the same when Christians reenact Jesus’ crucifixion (San Antonio Current)
- Churches modernize Good Friday observances | Any other day of the year, they are simply a war memorial, a homeless shelter and a jail. But this Good Friday, they’ll become stops in a symbolic retracing of Christ’s final steps and reminders of everyday suffering (Associated Press)
- Traditions beyond Christ’s sacrifice | Good Friday, and the Easter holiday in general, is a time for the keeping of traditions, for optimism, for renewal and restoration (Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, NSW, Australia)
- A football-free day still makes sense | Good Friday and Christmas now stand alone as days that are set aside for people, whether practising Christians or not, to take stock of their lives and values, to share with family and friends (Editorial, The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
- Eyes turn to rising Son | Thousands of worshippers were expected to fill Sydney churches on Friday for the start of Easter, the holiest Christian event, as religious leaders delivered messages of spiritual hope in the face of global turmoil and crisis (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Prayers, penitents and the odd pig or two as the world prepares for Easter | From the Philippines to Iraq, from China to the Holy Land, Christians around the world have been participating in the processions, penitence and prayers of Holy Week (The Independent, London)
Religion & spirituality:
- Expect the spice of life in pulpit messages | At a time of reflection, many issues dominating the headlines mirror the concerns of religious thinkers (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
- The radical new challenge of Easter | These are times of decision (Editorial, The Sydney Morning Herald)
- A time to return to the true path | Perhaps we need to listen to both the religious and pagan meanings of Easter (Hugh Mackay, The Sydney Morning Herald)
- The challenge of Easter goes beyond the church | The question is how our shared values might be kept from consignment to the museum if the faith that shaped them continues to decline in influence (Editorial, The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
Missions & ministry:
- Olney church’s mission stretches over the ocean | Sales of palm crosses assist African families (The Washington Post)
- Advocates hail council’s plan to end homelessness | Utopian goal faces practical hurdles (The Washington Post)
History:
- Teacher has theory on the Shroud of Turin | Nathan Wilson is an English teacher with no scientific training, but he thinks he knows how Jesus’ burial cloth was made and he thinks it’s not a physical sign of the resurrection (Associated Press)
- Original: Father Brown fakes the Shroud | Start with a piece of glass and some white oil paint (N. D. Wilson, Books & Culture)
- No juice at the first Communion | As the Christian History magazine reminds us in its current issue, it wasn’t until the 19th century that an alcohol-free swill could be produced from the “blood of the vine,” to use a Biblical term (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
- Turkish town exchanges St. Nick for Santa | Local hero’s statue moved from square (The Washington Post)
Education:
- Liberty performs on a larger stage | Flames praise God, faith during successful NCAA tourney run (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
- Group of parents files a lawsuit | Home-schooled wrestlers upset (The Washington Post)
- What the devil will they teach next? | The Peter Beattie Government has proposed that religious education be widened to include spiritual and philosophical programs, rather than just religious instruction (Ruth Limkin, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Australia)
- Nuns expelled from college | The most controversial part of the changeover is that the new ministers are supposed to be more evangelical than their predecessors (Long Island Press)
Science:
- Protestant philosopher at Notre Dame carves out intellectual room for God and miracles | In a scientific era, is it still possible to believe in God and such events as the Easter miracle of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave? Can a rational person see God as both all-powerful and benevolent despite horrendous suffering in disasters like the Asian tsunami? From the perspective of philosopher Alvin Plantinga the answers are emphatic: yes and yes (Associated Press)
- Dances with fruit flies | Scientist Sean Carroll goes beyond genetics to look at how evolution actually works (US News & World Report)
People:
- The martyr of El Salvador | The last quarter-century has not been kind to the broader liberation theology movement that Romero found inspiring. But his star burns bright. To liberals, Christians, and supporters of human rights and peace around the world, he is a figure of iconic, even mythological, proportions (Richard Higgins, The Boston Globe)
- Death defiant | Sister of ‘Dead Man Walking’ fame remains devoted to abolishing capital punishment (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Bible:
- And the word was made flash | Digitised scripture lessons (The Economist)
- University of Cincinnati acquires richly illustrated, $10K Bible | It is The Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, a complete King James version illustrated with 232 black-and-white engravings by American artist Barry Moser, printed on custom paper, bound by hand in vellum with its title stamped in 24-karat gold on the cover (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Books:
- Female readers flock to Christian chick lit | New book genre sends message to read the Bible more, pray more and obsess less (Today, NBC)
- Nailing down a film’s legacy | Peter Manseau reviews After ‘The Passion’ Is Gone: American Religious Consequences (Forward, Jewish newspaper)
- Everyone loves a conspiracy | Mark Smith sees hackles rise as Catholics come face-to-face with fans of The Da Vinci Code to debate its ‘blasphemous’ content (The Guardian, London)
- Pastor with a purpose trumps diets and Da Vinci | America’s top evangelist, Rick Warren, has the ear of the President (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Holy assertions! | David Klinghoffer says Jews saved the world (National Review Online)
More articles of interest:
- Putting faith back into big business | In the wake of corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom, some CEOs are banking on religion to help regain trust from consumers (NBC News)
- Turning bar’s toilets into a confessional | Ladies’ toilets have long been a favoured place for women to confess secrets and exchange gossip. But one pub is encouraging the practice by installing an original church confessional box as a double toilet cubicle (PA, U.K.)
- Chippewas shutting out rest of world to mourn | Perhaps the most important ritual after a death is the singing of Ojibwa hymns (Chicago Tribune)
- Watching Jesus films | Movies with religion (National Review Online)
- Photo: Peta gets offensive again (not that that’s new) | It’s the crucifixion, only Jesus has a pig’s head (Reuters)
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