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POPSTools for Peacemaking in Judaism, Christianity and Islam The Abrahamic Reunion (AR) is a group of religious and spiritual leaders in Israel, including men and women representing Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Druze religion who seek to restore the trust amongst Arabs and Jews through their guidance and personal example. This groups works together to demonstrate the importance of religious tolerance and interfaith cooperation in communities across the Holy Land Over the past five years, the AR has hosted large public interfaith gatherings in their home communities, helping to heal Abraham's family.
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POPSTilting at windbags: Glenn Beck's fondness for Thomas Paine More: Truth be told, Paine was the very antithesis of people like Beck, an ideologue who will stop at nothing—including distorting the truth about a Founding Father—in order to deceive, which, as Paine also wrote in “The Age of Reason,” isn’t all that difficult to do, because “the sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately.”
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POPSJohn Birch | American Hero Murdered by Chinese Communists Captain John Birch's death were deliberately covered up by the U.S. government. The reason for the cover-up did not become evident until some years later. On September 5, 1950, California Senator William Knowland announced on the floor of the Senate that the murder of John Birch had been deliberately covered up by communist sympathizers to conceal the true nature of Mao Tse-tung's "agrarian reformers" who were trying to oust Chiang Kai-shek's government. As Knowland charged on the floor of the Senate, had the truth about John Birch's death not been suppressed by our government, it is quite likely that America's official policy towards the Chinese communists and towards Chiang Kai-shek would have been significantly different. Perhaps the American betrayal of China to the communists might never have occurred. On such seemingly small events do the fates of men and nations so often hinge.
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POPSJesus Hated War-Why Do Christians Love It So? More from the article below: "A major unasked question is “what should be the role of religion (specifically Christianity) in the starting and perpetuation of politically motivated wars?” If war-makers mix religion and politics by invoking God’s blessings on the cannons and the cannon fodder, shouldn’t the churches, which are supposed to be the consciences of the nation, apply core Christian ethical principles to the war question and refuse to cooperate with the slaughter of fellow children of God? Sadly, for the past 1,700 years, Christian churches have not done so. They have largely failed in their moral obligation to teach and live the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount."
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POPSHappy Birfday, Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" more: Interestingly, there is no mention of the following in Dickens' A Christmas Carol: -Christmas tree -wrapped gifts -Anything related to The Nativity (wise men, baby Jesus), although there are plenty of homeless parents all through Dickens' works. While such values as charity, family, and universal goodwill certainly fall well within the Christian tradition, the book is not explicitly Christian much beyond the wish that "God bless us, everyone." Actually, that feels quite Anglican. ;-) There is no mention of Santa Claus per se, but the Ghost of Christmas Present is a big Oðin-like viking spirit, in a green fur-trimmed robe, bare chested and hearty. You know GoCP is going to the holiday swingers party once he drops off Scrooge.[/quote[
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POPSHome Found In Narazeth It is a gift to me also to see the historical significance of what it means to follow Christianity. It poses the very important question: How did the religion of Jesus become pro-rich, pro-war and only pro-American? For Christians, it is a provocative question that should haunt us in what often seems to be a Christ-forgetting country.
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POPSA Christmas Day Sermon 1758: Christmas a "Superstitious" Custom
They preached-up "liberty" from this custom! This renowned Presbyterian pastor just prior to the American Revolution demonstrates the "superstition" of Christmas, while preaching about the incarnation or nativity of Christ, entirely different than is done today. He expands: Chrysostom, who lived in the fourth century, has these words, “It is not yet ten years, since this day, that is, Christmas, was plainly known to us ;” and he observes, the custom was brought to Constantinople from Rome. Now since this day was not religiously observed in the church in the first and purest ages, but was introduced as superstitions increased, and Christianity began to degenerate very fast into popery; ought not we to imitate the purity of these primitive times, and retain none of the superstitious observances of more corrupt ages? 18th century American society also did not commonly employ decorated trees (a pagan custom) if they did observe Christmas.
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POPSRumi's Sufism A guide on spiritual path is somewhat synonymous with Intercession, which in both Christianity and Islam, is a prayer to God on behalf of another person.
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POPSNo Wonder They're Ridiculed Conservative Christians don't like this film, it seems. Like much of everyday life, they see it as a threat on their beliefs. How tiring it must be to be a Fundamentalist in today's world. There's a devil behind every bush and hordes of heathens banging at the door.
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POPSHow the Nazis reinvented Christmas and cast the Führer as the Messiah The exhibition contains selected items from a vast private collection of Nazi Christmas memorabilia, including swastika and Nazi SS tree decorations, Aryan department store catalogues featuring presents for boys – toy Nazi tanks, fighter planes and machine guns – and music for carols that have been stripped of their Christian content. "The baby Jesus was Jewish. This was both a problem and a provocation for the Nazis," explained Judith Breuer, who organised the exhibition using the items she and her mother collected at flea markets over 30 years. "The most popular Christian festival of the year did not fit in with their racist ideology. They had to react and they did so by trying to make it less Christian."
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POPSAmerica's Epitaph Karl Marx dismissed God as a hoax, and Lenin and Stalin have added in clear-cut, unmistakable language their resolve that no nation, no people who believe in a god, can exist side by side with their communistic state. Karl Marx, for example, expelled people from his Communist Party for mentioning such things as love, justice, humanity or morality. He called this "soulful ravings" and "sloppy sentimentality." . . . Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time, and ladies and gentlemen, the chips are down--they are truly down.
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POPSRoberts goes home... It's always sad when someone's farther, son or loved one dies. However I think all the old ladies who gave their precious few dollars to a charlatan who said "give me $$ or god will take me" are far better off without him around... However, I'm sure the uber-weathly Richard Roberts is proud of the empire his dad built ... proud enough to lead the lifestyle of the rich & famous.
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POPSYou Should Know About This Guy: Scott Lively, Anti-Gay Crusader for The Family "Masculine Christianity" is a tenet of The Fellowship Foundation (ak.k. The Family). Lively on homosexuality: “In reality, homosexuality is nothing more than same-gender conduct among people who are innately and unchangeably heterosexual. Homosexuality is thus biologically (and to varying degrees morally) equivalent to pedophilia, sado-masochism, bestiality and many other forms of deviant behavior.”
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POPSGimme That New-Time Religion Also, from the article: Hispanics are more likely than whites to believe in yoga, spiritual energy in physical objects, astrology and the evil eye, and blacks are more likely than whites to believe in reincarnation and the evil eye. Older people (those over age 65) are less likely to agree with these kinds of beliefs compared with younger people The concept of worship is changing too as people go to services in multiple places across faiths. More than one in three (35%) adults surveyed said they attend religious services at multiple places and 24% said they attend services of different faiths. Protestants (30%) were more likely to attend services outside their domination than Catholics. More Protestants (30%) say they attend services outside their own denomination than Catholics (19%).
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POPSBilly Graham Center Archives: Records of the Fellowship Foundation (The Family) concerned largely with either contacts between members of the prayer breakfast fellowship in Washington and those leaders of the indigenous movement in a particular country This page includes historical background and list of of archived documents, tapes, and photographs.The International records are fascinating: an astonishing list of countries and the years during which The Fellowship Foundation has used Christianity as a political tool to interfere in the development of nations. What was the extent of Billy Graham's involvement? There is a 25-year restriction on access, so any any activities that occurred during the Regan's 2nd term through Bush, Jr. administration are not available.