- Newspaper: Wall Street Journal 1996-JAN-30, P. A8
Gallup Poll of American adults
- 96% believe in God
- 90% believe in Heaven
- 79% believe in miracles
- 73% believe there is a Hell
- 72% believe there are angels
- 65% believe the devil is a real entity
[Belief in the devil is much higher in the United States than in almost all
other industrialized nations].
- Newspaper: Boston Globe 1996-JAN-21
Rev. J.H. Stendahl to be formally installed
Rev. Stendahl is the third pastor in the history of the Lutheran Church
of the Newtons. He has promoted the acceptance of gays and lesbians by
Christians. He argued "Christians have contributed to the culture of
gay promiscuity by pushing gay people beyond the moral pale and by denying
affirmation to them". He referred to "toxic uses of Scripture ...
[which] has borne terrible fruit with the AIDS epidemic ....The church bears
some guilt here. I think we can say that it has blood on its hands".
- Magazine: Maclean's Magazine 1996-JAN-22
The God Machine
Psychologist Michael Persinger of Laurentian University in Sudbury ON
has been exciting the brains of test subjects with low-intensity
electromagnetic waves. The tests are performed in a soundproof chamber. The
subjects often report sensing a "presence" in the chamber of either God (if
the left hemisphere of the brain is excited) or the Devil (if the right
side is excited). "Reacting to his work, fundamentalist Christians have
mounted small protests" at the University.
- News Service: Associated Press 1996-JAN-17
"A Believer"
The Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Orlando FL recently received
male and female fertility statues from Africa. Eight of 20 female staff
employees at the museum became pregnant after having touched the statues.
The AP photo shows a woman rubbing the child held by the female statue in
the hopes that she too would become pregnant; she and her husband have been
trying to have children for 6 years.
- News Service: Reuters 1996-JAN-17
"Bishop sets up virtual diocese"
The Pope transferred Bishop Jacques Gaillot, 60, from the diocese of Evereux
in France to the diocese of Partenia, Algeria. Partenia consists of a lot
of sand and the ruins of an ancient city which have been covered by the
Sahara Desert for many centuries. His "crimes" were to save lives by
promoting the use of condoms to slow the spread of AIDS, advocating the
concept of married clergy and promoting tolerance to those of minority sexual
orientations.
Bishop Gaillot has now created a "virtual diocese" in cyberspace at:
http://www.partenia.fr/, thus creating
a virtual congregation that potentially numbers in the tens of millions.
It is a very attractive WWW site, written in French.
- Newspaper: The Kingston Whig Standard (Kingston ON) 1996-JAN-16
"More boys born makes next more likely gay"
An unidentified US study involved 302 gay and 302 heterosexual men who were
age-matched. While the sample was designed so that precisely 50% of the
men are gay, the rate was 45% for men with no older brothers, 53% with one
older brother and 64% with two older brothers. There is speculation that
this effect is cause by an interaction between the mother's immune system
and the fetus. An alternate reason may be the effect of growing up in family
with older brothers.
- Magazine: Church & State Magazine 1996-JAN?
"Did Pat Robertson Break the Ninth Commandment 1.4 Million Times?"
The magazine reported that the Christian Coalition claims that its
membership totaled 1.7 million in 1995 and is increasing. However, records
from the Post Office apparently showed that its support fell from 354
thousand paid members in 1994-SEP to 310 thousand in 1995-SEP.
- Newsletter: People For The American Way (PFAW) 1996-JAN-2
"Hate Climate report"
The PFAW has reported a "surge in anti-gay activity across the United
States" In 1995, they documented 180 incidents. They have attempted to
correlate "cases of harassment, discrimination, and violence against
gay men and lesbians" with "the hate speech by public figures
like Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition and other Religious Right
leaders who fuel it."
- Newspaper: The Globe and Mail (Toronto ON) 1996-JAN-12
"Hell's Existence a Reality..."
The doctrine commission of the Church of England has stated that the
Hell exists, but is not the place of fire, brimstone, eternal torture and
pain that it has been portrayed in the past. They affirm that everyone will
have to go through a Last Judgment after death. Hell is simply a
state of non-existence. This will be reserved for those who make a "final
and irrevocable choosing of that which is opposed to God so completely and
so absolutely that the only end is total non-being." There was no
estimate in the article of the percentage of people who will end in this way.
- Newspaper: The Record (Kitchener ON) 1996-JAN-11
"Grandmother Jailed in Exorcism Killing"
Ana Maria Canhoto received a 2 year jail sentence and 3 years of probation
for killing her 2 year old granddaughter on 1995-JAN-13. She believed that
the child was possessed by the devil "because the child was crying and
writhing in apparent distress". She held the child down and poured water
down her throat in order to get rid of the demon. Judge Margaret Wollcott
noted that Canhoto's actions demonstrated "a fanaticism that showed no
mercy for the child" and that she still believes that she can "save
the souls of aborted fetuses and others." The child's mother and two
others have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the exorcism
death. Canhoto is a Roman Catholic.
- Wire Service: Scripps-McClatchy Western Service 1996-JAN-7
"Baptists Churches Expelled for Affirming Gay Lifestyle"
written by Bill Lindelof of the Sacramento Bee
Delegates to a special session of the American Baptist Churches voted
to recommend expulsion of four member churches in the Sacramento CA area.
The latter had joined the "Association for Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists" which affirms homosexual practice.
But first, the delegates reversed centuries of Baptist tradition by voting
in favor of enabling legislation what would allow the Association to
discipline individual churches for theological and disunity reasons.
The recommendation has to be approved by their Western Regional Board
on March 9, and by the National Board in June.
- Newspaper: New York Times; Roy Aarons' column, week of
1996-JAN-2
"United Methodist Minister who came out as lesbian is silenced"
The Rev. Jeanne Audrey Powers (63) is the Associate General Secretary of the
Methodist church's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns. She also is a lesbian and "came out" last summer after 37 years
of service to her denomination. She described this as a political act of
resistance "to false teachings that have contributed to heresy and
homophobia within the church." The Commission, which acts under a gag
order prohibiting it from advocating the acceptance of homosexuality, stated
that she was speaking for herself and not as a church official. Rev. Powers
has decided to be quite on the issue in the future.
Columnist Roy Aarons went on to mention:
- At year end, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America expelled two of
their churches in San Francisco for retaining three openly gay ordained
ministers.
- A heresy trial against Episcopal Bishop Walter C Righter is scheduled
to begin within a month. He ordained an openly gay man as a deacon. Righter
said "They're trying to move back to the past, where it's safe and the
ground doesn't move under your feet."
- Newspaper: Chicago Tribune 1996-JAN-??
"Religion in Brazil"
The percentage of Roman Catholics in Brazil has dropped from 93% to about
70% over the last 35 years. Major gains have been made by Afro-Brazilian
religions such as Candomble and Umbanda. 15 million have
converted to Protestantism.
- Newspaper: Toronto Globe and Mail 1995-DEC-29
"'96 Tips: Forget the Net"
The McLuhan Centre of the University of Toronto published the "top 10"
list of predictions for 1996. #1 was that the "bubble will go out
of the Internet as a business story". #2 is that millennium madness will
being to produce end-of-the-millennium stories in the media, such as: people
predicting an imminent end to the world, and groups giving out "best of
millennium" awards.
- Newspaper: Toronto Globe and Mail 1996-JAN-6
"Newfoundland Blueprint will Sever Church-School Tie"
Newfoundland joined Canada in 1995. "Under the..Terms of Union..several
religious denominations were guaranteed the right to operate schools in the
province and hire teachers. The province was required to provide
non-discriminatory financing for school construction and to operate the
schools. Under proposed legislation, schools will be consolidated
and at least partly secularized. Several denominations, including Roman
Catholics and Pentecostal Assemblies are bitterly opposed to the changes.
- Newspaper: Toronto Globe and Mail 1996-JAN-6
"Memorial Services Shifting From Sadness"
"...Canadians increasingly choose memorial services to commemorate the
departed....There has been a shift away from funeral services being a
time of sadness....towards being more of a celebration of life....There is
an increased focus at a memorial service on the life of the person who
died, because...fewer people believe in a hereafter."
- Newspaper: Dallas/Fort Worth Heritage 1996-JAN
"Religious News Unfair to Evangelicals"
Heritage, "The Christian News and Events Publication for the
Metroplex," attacked a Nov. 4 Dallas Morning News' article about gay
churches in Dallas. Their complaint is that the Dallas News article included
"fringe interpretations of the Bible that lack scholarly weight and are
spiritually dangerous". They wrote that "evangelicals especially
deplored what they saw as a lack of balanced reporting". They felt that
it was unfair for the Dallas News to describe gay churches in a positive
light without also including an anti-gay response in the same story.