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POPSBack To The Dark Ages, You Dog! 
Hold on to your proverbial HATS, Enlightenment is over. According to one Catholic Bishop, it's over or never began. How can a priest ban a parishioner, who helps pay his salary, from a spiritual right within his religion? If I were Patrick, I would turn to an enlightened source of organized spirituality or just use the brain he was born with before it was tarnished with incongruous notions thought up by a pack of authoritarian male homo-sapiens. Religion is what is screwing up the world, in all its eerie, ghostly and spooky forms; it seems to rail against rational thought. This is how they rule. This is how they coerce wars and this is how they enslave the masses. As one escapee from the clutches of irrational thought perpetuated by an organized religion, I can tell you it is far better to be acquainted with logic and reason in this, OH SO MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED universe of ours. The freedom to inquiry ones existence, without fear of punishment, is the only way to fly!
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POPSMadonna Angers Church for Being Herself Aw. She's been disrespectful towards the Church. A careful reading of the Church's quotes indicate that they'd be fine with the concert if she restricted her songs to Christian hymns and her "stage scenarios" to kneeling in prayer. I'll wager that the tour promoters couldn't be happier, as the concert in Sophia is all but sold out, encouraged no doubt, by the condemnation of the Church.
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POPSArk Update Weel, . .they didn't actually mean they were gonna show it to anyone.
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POPSArk Found? Hmmmmm . .if real, it would be the greatest evidence of Biblical accuracy ever. Stay tuned.
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POPSCalling God Instead Of The Doc "Mental illness is an area that remains especially taboo in orthodox religious communities. "A lot of fundamentalist Christians, including pastors, believe that people have mental illness symptoms because they do not pray hard enough or do not believe in God enough," says John McManamy, mental health journalist and author of Living Well With Depression and Bipolar Disorder. The medical community has long grappled with religious traditions that jeopardize their patients' health. "Fundamentalists tell us their lives are in the hands of God and we, as physicians, are not God," says Dr. Lorry Frankel, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and author of Ethical Dilemmas in Pediatrics. "We respect people's religious beliefs and try to compromise, but we won't deny treatment that will save lives."
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POPSEaster Monday "In South Bend, Indiana, the day marks the official beginning to launch the year's political primary campaign season (particularly among Democrats)- often from within the West Side Democratic Club, the M.R. Falcons Club, and local pubs and fraternal halls, where buying drinks is favored over handshaking. Notable politicos who have celebrated Dyngus Day in South Bend include the late Robert F. Kennedy, former Governor Joe Kernan, Senator Evan Bayh, former Congressman John Brademas, former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Congressman and 9/11 Commission member Timothy J. Roemer, former President Bill Clinton, philanthropist Thomas A. White and Aloysius J. Kromkowski, a long time elected St. Joseph County public servant, for whom the "Al Kromkowski polka" is named."
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POPSWhy fear Sex Abuse Bill, if no Molesters to Hide? The National Organization for Women and a prominent organization of African-American clergy came out in favour of the bill, joining sexual abuse survivors at a rally in Albany on April 21. “Abuse against children is violence,” Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the 34,000-member National Black Church Initiative, at an Albany news conference. “I don’t represent a god who condones violence. It is a shame we have to fight against the church in this.” Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, distributed a letter on April 22 asking Agudath Israel to reconsider, and suggesting possible compromises to make the one-year window more amenable, such as a cap on abuse victims’ financial awards or limits on plaintiffs’ attorneys contingency fees. “Achieving justice for the victims need not come about as a result of the financial demise of our greatest institutions,” Hikind wrote. ”But neither can we forsake those who have already sacrificed far too much.”
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POPS Will Islam Return Obama's 'Respect'? This is an eloquent description of ecumenical civility. In reality, the experience of Arab Christians living now amid majority Islamic populations is often repression, arrest, imprisonment and death. Coptic Christians in Egypt have been singled out for discrimination and persecution. Muslim rioters often burn or vandalize their churches and shops. In Turkey, the Syriac Orthodox Church (its 3,000 members speak Aramaic, the language of Christ) is battling with Turkish authorities over the lands around the Mor Gabriel monastery, built in 397. Pakistan's recent peace deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley puts at risk the 500 Christians still trying to live there. Many fled after Islamic extremists bombed a girls' school late last year. Pakistan has never let them buy land to build a church. In 1995, the Saudis were allowed to build a mosque in Rome near the Vatican, but never reciprocated with a Christian church in their country.
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POPSCloser to Home: 2007 US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Government permits but does not require religious instruction in public schools. Most primary and secondary schools are denominational, and their boards of management are governed partially by trustees within the Catholic Church or, in some cases, the Church of Ireland. Under the terms of the Constitution, the Department of Education must and does provide equal funding to schools of different religious denominations, including Islamic and Jewish schools. Although religious instruction is an integral part of the curriculum, parents may exempt their children from such instruction. On July 20, 2006, unknown persons painted anti-Semitic graffiti on the exterior wall of an office building during the conflict involving Israel and Hezbollah. The police promptly removed the graffiti but never identified those responsible for it. The Israeli embassy in Dublin received anti-Semitic and anti-Israel phone calls that expressed outrage at Israel's actions during the conflict with Lebanon.
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POPSDeism,Christianity and the founding fathers Although orthodox Christians participated at every stage of the new republic, Deism influenced a majority of the Founders. The movement opposed barriers to moral improvement and to social justice. It stood for rational inquiry, for skepticism about dogma and mystery, and for religious toleration. Many of its adherents advocated universal education, freedom of the press, and separation of church and state. If the nation owes much to the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is also indebted to Deism, a movement of reason and equality that influenced the Founding Fathers to embrace liberal political ideals remarkable for their time. David L. Holmes David L. Holmes is Walter G. Mason Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary and the author of The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (2006).
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POPSRick Warren is an insulting choice Or take marriage. At his Saddleback Church, wifely submission is official doctrine: The church website tells women to defer to their husband's "leadership" even when he's wrong on important issues, such as finances. Never mind if she's an accountant and he flunked long division, or if she wants to beef up the kids' college fund and he wants to buy shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. The godly answer is supposed to be "yes, dear." Is elevating this male chauvinist how President-elect Obama thanks women, who gave him more than half his votes? Obama to women, "Thanks for your vote, here's a kick in the teeth as your reward."
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POPS"Clergyman says church has vanished" continues: A survey of the large, two-storey church a few months ago found that it was structurally sound, but now all that remains are the foundations and sections of walls, the statement said. Thieves routinely make off with church property in rural Russia, where unemployment, petty crime and alcoholism are widespread. Criminals target religious icons stored in churches because they can fetch a good price, and church buildings are dismantled to provide building materials. "This is not an isolated case," said Father Vitaly. "In many villages in central Russia sites of historical interest are being dismantled and people suffer by being deprived of their cultural heritage."
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