President Barack Obama On Being A Christian

This week Barack Obama gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in which he talked about how his Christian faith had sustained him during the past few tumultuous years as president.

There was nothing at all unusual about this. Presidents and presidential candidates in the past few decades have been keen to show Americans their religious credentials. The site of every candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination tripping over themselves to declare Jesus Christ their “personal Lord and savior” was unnerving for the reason that it seemed so forced.

That kind of language rarely comes out of the mouths of Catholics or mainstream Protestants but that does not mean they do not believe. It was the pandering to evangelicals which was upsetting — perhaps even more so because they assumed that evangelicals want to be pandered to.

But Mr. Obama’s speech was about something different than went beyond his declaration of faith. It was also a way to remind Americans that he is really is a Christian — and not a Muslim.

“My Christian faith, then, has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years, all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God.’’

For some reason — perhaps it is the name “Obama,” the colour tone of his skin, or his connection to Africa — about 20% to 25% of Americans still believe their president is a Muslim.

It is hard to believe that so many Americans could be so dense or so unaware. But the polls continue to find the same level of ignorance…

Read on in the Holy Post.

UFO Over Jerusalem?

No…

The Telegraph has whole the story.

UPDATE:  So just as I thought, it is but a hoax.

The True Current State of Egyptian Antiquities

A passionate Dr Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist and the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities has just posted the following:

Today is a new day, but there are still marches in the streets of Cairo. I am personally very sad for my country. I cannot believe the devastation that has happened in the streets, and that so much has stopped in the last 11 days. We have lost so much, and I do not understand how this could be. It is like a dream for me. I have come into this new position at a very critical time, but the most important thing about this is that for the first time in history Egypt has a Ministry of Antiquities. The reason that this has never happened before was because archaeology was considered a minor thing…

… I have not written one word on any archaeological topics because looking at what has happened to my country, I feel sad. Egypt is my life. I cannot leave the country and live in any other part of the world. I want to die in the sands of Egypt. The most important aspect of my life is to protect my antiquities, and I was astonished to hear all of the rumors about Egypt’s antiquities. I am very concerned that several members of the archaeological community have not called me directly to confirm what the rumors they have heard.

What is strange is that from the very beginning of the trouble, when the Internet was off, I was still able to send a daily report to my website, www.drhawass.com. These reports were sent by fax to Italy to enable them to be posted on my website for everyone read, therefore I cannot understand why the rumors still spread. This makes me very upset because we, the Egyptian people, defended the monuments! The most important thing everyone needs to know is that the people in the streets defended the museums, monuments, and sites. When I came into work today, I had to pass through a checkpoint. When the men in the Popular Committees running the checkpoint saw me, they asked, “Sir, how is the museum?” These men may not know how to read or write, but they are worried about their cultural heritage.

From the first day of protests, I have had an operation room running 24 hours in my Zamalek office. This operation room is connected by telephone with every museum and site in Egypt: Jewish synagogues, Coptic monasteries, Muslim mosques, and ancient Pharaonic, Greek, and Roman sites. We have been producing detailed reports daily. I hope that people all over the world will read my statements and not listen to rumors.

Many people have been saying that Saqqara was looted and it is not true. If anything had happened there, the operation room in Zamalek would have called me immediately and reported what happened. I hope that you will all read each of the statements I have released on my website that say all our sites are safe. The army, curators, antiquities inspectors, and security guards guarded the important sites. As I have said everyday, the only two incidents that have occurred are the break-in at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and the break-in at the storage magazine in Qantara East, in the Sinai. 

As I have already stated, nothing was stolen from the museum; 70 objects were damaged but can be restored. Unfortunately, we cannot restore them now, as we had hoped, because the museum is closed and surrounded by the commanders of the army. The curators are stationed in the control room, and the cameras in the control room can see outside and inside of the museum. We are thankful for all of the offers of help that we have received, but the conservation lab of the EMC can do this easily and beautifully. Egyptians have completed restoration work before this black week began, and we will continue our work when this time passes.  

Yesterday, I received a report from Mohamed Abdel Maksoud, the general director of Lower Egypt, that 288 objects stolen from the storage magazine in Qantara East in the Sinai have been returned. He also confirmed that these objects and statues constitute everything that was taken. Of course, the final word can only come when things are calm, and the storage magazine can be subjected to a full inventory. I am confident, however, based on the report, that the 288 objects do make up the total of all of the stolen ones. 

The people who are in Europe and America are concerned about Egypt, but what is import to remember is that rumors can be very damaging. These people do not understand our feelings as Egyptians…

I hope that my reports will help you all to feel calm. Each of my daily reports have been posted on my website, drhawass.com, and the SCA website, http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/MR_PR.htm. You all know me, if anything happens I will report it right away. Again, and again, and again I tell you that the monuments of Egypt are safe…

There are plenty of blogger too who would do well to stop spreading the many rumours and rather point people to the official line.

Bishop Defers Plans to Cut Number of Masses Thanks to Ordinariate

What a positive, thinking Bishop:

Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood is putting on hold plans to cut the number of Masses in his diocese because of an influx of Anglican priests entering the ordinariate.

The bishop said he expected around seven new priests and up to 300 parishioners to join the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in his diocese.

He told BBC Radio Essex that out of all the Catholic dioceses Brentwood would have the largest number of parishes entering the ordinariate – three in Essex and three in east London.

Bishop McMahon said today: “Rationalisation of Masses for a number of parishes has been put on hold for the time being, as we wait to see what effect the priests coming into the ordinariate will have in the diocese in the months to come.”

Anglican priests and laity are to be received into the Catholic Church in Holy Week. Priests will then be ordained into the ordinariate at Pentecost, on Sunday, June 12.

Other Catholic Bishop would do well to consider following this spiritually sensitive approach… for the sake of the faithful and the good of the Church.

Catholic Church Querying US Anglicans for Possible Ordinariate

CNA reports:

Washington D.C., Feb 4, 2011 / 01:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl said in an interview that the Catholic Church has sent out questionnaires to learn more about U.S. Anglicans who have expressed an interest in becoming Catholic. A sufficiently large response would mean the creation of an Anglican ordinariate in the U.S.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has named Cardinal Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, as its delegate to assist Anglican groups who want to become Catholic through the ordinariate, a special church structure similar to a diocese.

“We’re hearing from those Anglican communities and those Anglicans who wish to explore more fully what the ordinariate will mean and who wish to be a part of it,” the cardinal told CNA in a Jan. 31 interview.

The first step is to respond to all U.S. Anglicans who have indicated an interest in the ordinariate and to learn more about them.

“Questionnaires have gone out asking them to identify more clearly who they are and what the nature is of their current community,” Cardinal Wuerl explained. “The goal is to determine whether there is a response substantial enough to warrant the establishment of an ordinariate here in the U.S.”

“We’ve already seen how the Holy See, at the request of Pope Benedict, has established an ordinariate in England, Our Lady of Walsingham. And that would probably be a model for what we would do here in the U.S.”

“We’re a little ways off yet,” he said.

Anglicans entering the Catholic Church will need faith formation, and the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, prepared by the U.S. bishops, will be “at the heart” of that process, Cardinal Wuerl reported.

“That much we can say. We already have the tools.

“Our next step now is to have the Holy See determine whether there are sufficient numbers and sufficient response to establish an ordinariate.”…

There is more here.

Who Are Those Coptic People Anyway?

I don’t know about you, but the following paragraph from an Atlantic Monthly blog post by White House correspondent Marc Ambinder left me amazed, confused and then ticked off:

A number of White House officials were given an Encyclopedia Britannica-like briefing about the basics: how many U.S. citizens were inside the country and contingency plans to get them out; reminders that Egypt wasn’t a Muslim country; Hosni Mubarak was a Coptic Christian of a certain sect; the Muslim Brotherhood was at once an opposition political party and a co-opted part of the social system. …

Mubarak is a WHAT?!?!?!

Needless to say, Atlantic has printed a correction on that howler.

Oh, and needless to say, the embattled leader of Egypt is not a Coptic Christian of any kind. Thus, the essay now ends with this statement:

Correction: An early version of this story wrongly implied that the President’s foreign policy team thought Hosni Mubarak was a Coptic Christian.

That’s kind of comforting. However, it doesn’t tell us WHO made the mistake. In other words, who thought that Mubarak is a Copt? Was that twisted information from the State Department? Or was it Ambinder and/or someone at the copy desk of one of America’s most prestigious magazines (online or analog)?

Oh well. Whatever. Nevermind (but thanks to human-rights scholar Paul Marshall for posting the original language from the article).

Right now, most of the mainstream coverage of the crisis in Egypt still has a Coptic-shaped hole in it, a hole that a few million news-media consumers might care about here in the United States of America (and there are plenty of Christians and human-rights activists in other parts of the world as well).

Let me stress: Yes, I know that Copts are only — only — somewhere between 8 and 12 percent of the Egyptian population and that there are significant other minorities there who also deserve coverage. I know that Islamists attack other Muslims as much as they attack “infidels” and “crusaders.” However, the Copts have long been the canary in the coalmine of human rights in Egypt. When things go crazy and the majority is tempted to lash out at the pesky minorities, the Copts are among the first people hit…

Do read on at Get Religion.org.

'Christian' Parents Shunned Medicine and Son Died, Given Probation

This is nothing but the distortion of true Christianity and it reveals the deadly nature of sects:

A Christian couple who prayed for a miracle healing instead of seeking medical help for their son who later died have escaped a prison sentence.

Christian Today continues:

A Philadelphia judge instead sentenced Herbert and Catherine Schaible to 10 years probation and ordered that they ensure their remaining seven children receive regular medical care.

The sentence follows their conviction last December of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment after their two-year-old son Kent died from bacterial pneumonia.

The Schaibles are members of the controversial First Century Gospel Church, which teaches that using medicine is a sin.

When Kent Schaible came down with flu-like symptoms, his parents turned to prayer to heal him instead of calling in the doctors. He died two weeks later on January 24, 2009.

Herbert Schaible had told detectives at the time: “We tried to fight the devil, but in the end, the devil won.”

He and his wife have been given 30 days to set up medical examinations for their surviving children, ranging in age from one to 15.

In the US, involuntary manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to ten years, while child endangerment carries up to seven years in jail.

Brainwashed idiots.