Al Kresta's Blog, page 16
October 25, 2013
Bible Scholar Brent Landau Asks “Who Were the Magi”?

Biblical Archaeology Society Staff • 11/29/2011
Who were the magi, those gift-bearing wise men from the east who are so central to the traditional telling of the Christmas story? Bible scholar Brent Landau believes he has found at least one answer to this age-old question.
The Bible tells us very little about the magi.
Their story appears but once, in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1–12), where they are described as mysterious visitors “from the east” who come to Jerusalem looking for the child whose star they observed “at its rising.” After meeting with King Herod, who feigns an intention to worship the child but actually plans to destroy him, the magi follow the same star to Bethlehem. There, upon seeing the baby Jesus and his mother Mary, the magi kneel down and worship him, presenting him with their three famous gifts—gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then, without reporting to Herod, they depart for their homeland, never to be heard from again.
For early Christians, the seemingly pivotal yet unexplained background of the mysterious magi provided abundant room to shape new narratives around the question, “Who were the magi?” One of the most compelling, recently translated into English by Brent Landau, professor of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma, is the so-called Revelation of the Magi, an apocryphal account of the traditional Christmas story that purports to have been written by the magi themselves.
The account is preserved in an eighth-century C.E. Syriac manuscript held in the Vatican Library, although Brent Landau believes the earliest versions of the text may have been written as early as the mid-second century, less than a hundred years after Matthew’s gospel was composed. Written in the first person, the Revelation of the Magi narrates the mystical origins of the magi, their miraculous encounter with the luminous star and their equally miraculous journey to Bethlehem to worship the child. The magi then return home and preach the Christian faith to their brethren, ultimately being baptized by the apostle Thomas.
According to Brent Landau, this dramatic account not only answers the question “Who were the magi?” but also provides details about how many they were, where they came from and their mysterious encounter with the star that led them to Bethlehem. In the Revelation of the Magi, there are not just three magi, as often depicted in early Christian art (actually, Matthew does not tell us how many there were), nor are they Babylonian astrologers or Persian Zoroastrians, as other early traditions held. Rather from Brent Landau’s translation it is clear the magi (defined in this text as those who “pray in silence”) are a group—numbering as few as 12 and as many as several score—of monk-like mystics from a far-off, mythical land called Shir, possibly China. They are descendants of Seth, the righteous third son of Adam, and the guardians of an age-old prophecy that a star of indescribable brightness would someday appear “heralding the birth of God in human form.”
Read the rest here: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/bible-scholar-brent-landau-asks-%E2%9Cwho-were-the-magi%E2%9D/
More on Landau's work - or possibly a more accessible article - from USA Today.
Published on October 25, 2013 16:16
Today on Kresta in the Afternoon - October 25, 2013
Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 25
4:00 – Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross
Mary appears only a few times in the Bible, but those few passages come at crucial moments. Catholics believe that Mary is the ever-virgin Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. But she also was a human being--a woman who made a journey of faith through various trials and uncertainties and endured her share of suffering. Even with her unique graces and vocation, Mary remains a woman we can relate to and from whom we have much to learn. Edward Sriis here to look at the crucial passages in the Bible concerning Mary and offers insight about the Blessed Mother's faith and devotion that we can apply in our daily lives. We follow her step-by-step through the New Testament account of her life, reflecting on what the Scriptures tell us about how she responded to the dramatic events unfolding around her.
5:00 – God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom
Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the Wall Street Journal called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death. We hear h is his fascinating and riveting story.
4:00 – Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross
Mary appears only a few times in the Bible, but those few passages come at crucial moments. Catholics believe that Mary is the ever-virgin Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. But she also was a human being--a woman who made a journey of faith through various trials and uncertainties and endured her share of suffering. Even with her unique graces and vocation, Mary remains a woman we can relate to and from whom we have much to learn. Edward Sriis here to look at the crucial passages in the Bible concerning Mary and offers insight about the Blessed Mother's faith and devotion that we can apply in our daily lives. We follow her step-by-step through the New Testament account of her life, reflecting on what the Scriptures tell us about how she responded to the dramatic events unfolding around her.
5:00 – God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom
Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the Wall Street Journal called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death. We hear h is his fascinating and riveting story.
Published on October 25, 2013 06:10
October 24, 2013
Kresta in the Afternoon - October 24, 2013
Talking about the "things that matter most" on October 24
4:00 – Kresta Comments - Al talks about Oprah and atheists, Miss World, and some stark admissions from the Catholic Theological Society
4:20 – Down Syndrome Awareness Month: A Personal Witness
With October being Down Syndrome Awareness Month, a celebration of these precious lives comes in the form of a new novel, The Things Lily Knew, by Sherry Boas. Boas, a Catholic stay-at-home mother of four adopted children, including a daughter with Down syndrome, was inspired to begin the story of Lily from her own family’s experiences and from imagining her daughter’s future. Sherry is with us to share her story.
5:00 - Kresta Comments - Al talks about Oprah and atheists, Miss World, and some stark admissions from the Catholic Theological Society
5:20 - Transforming Yourself Into a Dynamic Catholic
When 70% of Catholics don’t go to church on Sunday, isn’t it time someone did
something? We think so and the people at Dynamic Catholic do too. The tide is going out on Catholicism in America. Catholics are leaving the Church at an alarming rate, and disengagement among those who remain is staggeringly high. Growing numbers of Catholics are disillusioned, questioning their faith, and filled with doubts about the modern relevance of Catholicism. Dwindling Mass attendance, scarcity of vocations, and Catholic school closures are just a few of the signs. The sad truth is that most Catholics have never really been shown the genius of Catholicism and how it could animate their lives. At The Dynamic Catholic Institute they believe that millions of ordinary Catholics want to be involved in a movement that provides a game-changing strategy for the Church today. They are passionate about finding a way for every Catholic to play a role in the great renewal that everyone knows the Catholic Church desperately needs. Vice-President Allen Huntjoins us.
4:00 – Kresta Comments - Al talks about Oprah and atheists, Miss World, and some stark admissions from the Catholic Theological Society
4:20 – Down Syndrome Awareness Month: A Personal Witness
With October being Down Syndrome Awareness Month, a celebration of these precious lives comes in the form of a new novel, The Things Lily Knew, by Sherry Boas. Boas, a Catholic stay-at-home mother of four adopted children, including a daughter with Down syndrome, was inspired to begin the story of Lily from her own family’s experiences and from imagining her daughter’s future. Sherry is with us to share her story.
5:00 - Kresta Comments - Al talks about Oprah and atheists, Miss World, and some stark admissions from the Catholic Theological Society
5:20 - Transforming Yourself Into a Dynamic Catholic
When 70% of Catholics don’t go to church on Sunday, isn’t it time someone did
something? We think so and the people at Dynamic Catholic do too. The tide is going out on Catholicism in America. Catholics are leaving the Church at an alarming rate, and disengagement among those who remain is staggeringly high. Growing numbers of Catholics are disillusioned, questioning their faith, and filled with doubts about the modern relevance of Catholicism. Dwindling Mass attendance, scarcity of vocations, and Catholic school closures are just a few of the signs. The sad truth is that most Catholics have never really been shown the genius of Catholicism and how it could animate their lives. At The Dynamic Catholic Institute they believe that millions of ordinary Catholics want to be involved in a movement that provides a game-changing strategy for the Church today. They are passionate about finding a way for every Catholic to play a role in the great renewal that everyone knows the Catholic Church desperately needs. Vice-President Allen Huntjoins us.
Published on October 24, 2013 09:34
October 23, 2013
"Why is it that no Muslim group has ever been created to condemn...terrorists who kill themselves to become 'martyrs for Islam'?"
Jihad Watch
Posted by Robert
on October 22, 2013 12:44 PM
This article makes a great many true and accurate observations. After detailing a number of recent jihad attacks, the author says, "The West is deluding itself when it says that 'this is not the real Islam.' Indeed, what is the real Islam? Since terrorists and Salafists say they are Muslims and acting in favour of Islam, only a violent Islam has taken central stage."
He asks: "why is it that these masses of moderates never protest? Why is it that no Muslim association or group has ever been created to condemn Salafist violence and terrorists who kill themselves to become 'martyrs for Islam'?
But he does so in a very apologetic and hesitant way, going on to affirm his commitment to a "dialogue" that has in every instance proved spurious and chimerical, and saying: "I just want to make sure that people in Italy will not come to accept what Domenico Quirico, La Stampa envoy to Syria, said. Held captive for months by Islamic guerrillas, he wrote, 'We refuse to realise that moderate Islam does not exist, that the Arab Spring is over and that its new phase involves an Islamist and jihadist plan to build the Great Islamic Caliphate, a political plan that is being implemented starting in Syria with weapons, armies, and money.'"
Why does he not want people in Italy to accept that? What if it's true? Is he really doing a favor to the people of Italy (or anywhere else) or furthering any genuine "dialogue" by pretending that things are not as they are?
"Anti-Christian violence and the silence of 'moderate' Muslims," by Piero Gheddo for Asia News, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Read the rest at: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/why-is-it-that-these-masses-of-moderates-never-protest-why-is-it-that-no-muslim-association-or-group.html
Posted by Robert
on October 22, 2013 12:44 PM
This article makes a great many true and accurate observations. After detailing a number of recent jihad attacks, the author says, "The West is deluding itself when it says that 'this is not the real Islam.' Indeed, what is the real Islam? Since terrorists and Salafists say they are Muslims and acting in favour of Islam, only a violent Islam has taken central stage."
He asks: "why is it that these masses of moderates never protest? Why is it that no Muslim association or group has ever been created to condemn Salafist violence and terrorists who kill themselves to become 'martyrs for Islam'?
But he does so in a very apologetic and hesitant way, going on to affirm his commitment to a "dialogue" that has in every instance proved spurious and chimerical, and saying: "I just want to make sure that people in Italy will not come to accept what Domenico Quirico, La Stampa envoy to Syria, said. Held captive for months by Islamic guerrillas, he wrote, 'We refuse to realise that moderate Islam does not exist, that the Arab Spring is over and that its new phase involves an Islamist and jihadist plan to build the Great Islamic Caliphate, a political plan that is being implemented starting in Syria with weapons, armies, and money.'"
Why does he not want people in Italy to accept that? What if it's true? Is he really doing a favor to the people of Italy (or anywhere else) or furthering any genuine "dialogue" by pretending that things are not as they are?
"Anti-Christian violence and the silence of 'moderate' Muslims," by Piero Gheddo for Asia News, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Milan (AsiaNews) - An Italian man, who recently came back from the Philippines, told me that on the big island of Mindanao, hundreds of extremists came at night from the island's interior and from smaller islands to attack a suburb of the city of Zamboanga, looting and burning houses and huts. They retreated taking dozens of hostages, leaving behind dead and wounded victims. The Italian said that targeted killings and kidnappings are frequent, but perhaps this is the first time that such a large-scale attack on Christians was carried out. Fear of new attacks has spread and nothing will be as before. The government is bound to send in the army and more fighting, revenge attacks and destruction are to be expected. Those who can have fled to other parts of the country, as people's lives and the economy are on hold. From Gulf countries, money is being sent to ulemas, mosques and Qur'anic schools to train young people to fight and accept to become "martyrs for Islam" against the Christian state. Salafists want an autonomous region for the Muslim minority on the island of Mindanao, which would join Malaya and Malaysian Borneo to form a single Islamic state.
All this does not make its way into front-page news, and yet there is more. Three days ago, an attack was carried out against a Christian wedding in Giza, in southern Cairo, that left four people dead and 18 wounded according to the latest report.
Read the rest at: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/why-is-it-that-these-masses-of-moderates-never-protest-why-is-it-that-no-muslim-association-or-group.html
Published on October 23, 2013 21:50
Commentary: The Eugenics Legacy of the Nobelist Who Fathered IVF
An inventor of the technology that led to the first test-tube baby was an active member of Britain’s Eugenics SocietyByOsagie K. ObasogieScientific American

Image: Wikimedia CommonsRobert G. Edwards might not be a household name, but the innovation he pioneered along with Patrick Steptoe certainly is. In vitro fertilization (IVF), the process whereby human eggs are fertilized outside of the body and the resulting embryos implanted in a woman's womb, led to the 1978 birth of Louise Brown—the world's first "test tube baby." To date, an estimated five million children worldwide have been born using this innovation. Edwards received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this remarkable achievement.
Edwards’s passing earlier this year prompted an outpouring of praise. He has been widely described as a maverick researcher disinterested in personal recognition who simply wanted to give babies to those who couldn’t make them on their own. The New York Times quoted Edwards’s former collaborator, Barry Bavister, as saying “Dr. Edwards’s motivation—his passion, in fact—was not fame or fortune but rather helping infertile women.” Bavister continued, “He believed with all his heart that it was the right thing to do.”
But Edwards’s views on the technology he created and the uses to which it should be put may be more complicated than this portrayal. One detail omitted from the obituaries published around the world was that Edwards was a member in good standing of the Eugenics Society in Britain for much of his career. Recently uncovered documents show that Edwards served on the organization’s Council—its leadership body—as a trustee on three separate occasions: from 1968 to 1970, 1971 to 1973 and once again from 1995 to 1997 after the group euphemistically renamed itself "The Galton Institute" for the founder of the eugenics movement, Francis Galton. As we consider Edwards’s legacy in light of his recent passing, it is important to think critically about the relationship between Edwards’s development of IVF and his participation in an organization that was dedicated to promoting one of the most dangerous ideas in human history: that science should be used to control human reproduction in order to breed preferred types of people.

Eugenicists of that era also believed that people with what they considered the least desirable traits tend to have the most children, precipitating what they saw as an inevitable decline in a society’s intellectual and physical vigor. Taking their cue from livestock breeders, eugenicists argued that socially disadvantageous characteristics could be bred out of human populations through policies that limited the reproduction of "the unfit"—the "feebleminded," the poor and the weak.
Read the rest here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eugenic-legacy-nobel-ivf
Published on October 23, 2013 21:35
The opposite faith policies of two presidents, both unprecedented
Reagan went out of his way to promote religious freedom while Obama works to suppress it
By Shafer Parker
The Christians
Oct 22, 2013
Reagan and Gorbachev: At one point the former set out to convert the latter
Americans will forever argue over the part religion played in the founding of their nation, but it cannot be denied that they have turned to God in times of trial. “In God we trust,” for example, became the official motto of the United States in 1956 at the height of the Cold War. All the same, they defend religious freedom, including the freedom not to believe.
Thus when president Ronald Reagan actively promoted religious freedom in the former Soviet Union during his several summits with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he was well within the parameters established by his predecessors in office.
Reverend Ron reaches out
Less known, and only recently revealed, is that Reagan went further and sought in a private meeting to convert Gorbachev away from atheism, if not quite to Christianity. That was unprecedented. The story of Reagan’s evangelistic efforts appeared in James Mann’s 2009 book The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War. Mann based the story of Reagan’s evangelism on declassified notes taken by two Reagan aides – now available for viewing at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
Obama and Pope Benedict: Fifty documented
administration attacks on Judeo-Christianity.
In an excerpt reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, Mann reported that at the fourth summit with the Russians, Reagan, in a private meeting with Gorbachev, turned a discussion about human rights into a talk about religion. He began by stating that what he was about to say had to be kept secret, and that if any portion of their discussion got out, he “would deny he had said anything about it.”
After some preliminary discussion of religious freedom, Reagan went into full evangelist mode, telling Gorbachev a story about the battlefield conversion of a Russian soldier in the Second World War, and then mentioning that his son, Ron, was also an atheist. It was his idea, the president said, to serve his son a gourmet dinner and then “ask him if he believed there was a cook.” Gorbachev was non-reactive.
President Obama Slaps Down Faith
Contrast that with President Barack Obama. Instead of defending religious freedom internationally, he has attacked the principle in his own country, with the result that over 60 lawsuits have been filed against the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), by hospitals, charities, religious colleges, and other for-profit institutions, because it forces Christian employers and caregivers to violate their consciences over contraception and abortion.
- See more at: http://thechristians.com/?q=node/761&...
By Shafer Parker
The Christians
Oct 22, 2013

Americans will forever argue over the part religion played in the founding of their nation, but it cannot be denied that they have turned to God in times of trial. “In God we trust,” for example, became the official motto of the United States in 1956 at the height of the Cold War. All the same, they defend religious freedom, including the freedom not to believe.
Thus when president Ronald Reagan actively promoted religious freedom in the former Soviet Union during his several summits with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he was well within the parameters established by his predecessors in office.
Reverend Ron reaches out
Less known, and only recently revealed, is that Reagan went further and sought in a private meeting to convert Gorbachev away from atheism, if not quite to Christianity. That was unprecedented. The story of Reagan’s evangelistic efforts appeared in James Mann’s 2009 book The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War. Mann based the story of Reagan’s evangelism on declassified notes taken by two Reagan aides – now available for viewing at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

administration attacks on Judeo-Christianity.
In an excerpt reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, Mann reported that at the fourth summit with the Russians, Reagan, in a private meeting with Gorbachev, turned a discussion about human rights into a talk about religion. He began by stating that what he was about to say had to be kept secret, and that if any portion of their discussion got out, he “would deny he had said anything about it.”
After some preliminary discussion of religious freedom, Reagan went into full evangelist mode, telling Gorbachev a story about the battlefield conversion of a Russian soldier in the Second World War, and then mentioning that his son, Ron, was also an atheist. It was his idea, the president said, to serve his son a gourmet dinner and then “ask him if he believed there was a cook.” Gorbachev was non-reactive.
President Obama Slaps Down Faith
Contrast that with President Barack Obama. Instead of defending religious freedom internationally, he has attacked the principle in his own country, with the result that over 60 lawsuits have been filed against the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), by hospitals, charities, religious colleges, and other for-profit institutions, because it forces Christian employers and caregivers to violate their consciences over contraception and abortion.
- See more at: http://thechristians.com/?q=node/761&...
Published on October 23, 2013 21:13
Slavery is back – with 30 million victims worldwide
The work of past Christians must be renewed as the world returns to its old ways
By Steve Weatherbe
The Christians
Oct 22, 2013
A nine-year-old slave girl in India, whose whole family belongs to a brick maker and works seven days a week. The media spotlight was turned briefly on slavery last week by the year-old Walking Free Foundation. Its first report, The Global Slavery Index 2013, turns old ground already ploughed by the U.S. State Department and the International Labor Organization (ILO) while drawing headlines with the highest yet estimate of slaves worldwide – 30 million, equivalent to the population of Canada.
The brainchild of Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest, the report points to developing countries such as India, Nigeria and tiny Mauritania, where as many as 160,000 live in hereditary bondage, but it does not ignore slavery in the U.S. and other developed countries. It does miss the work being done by many Christian organizations, such as the evangelical Protestant International Justice Mission and the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking.
India has the most
Though people now associate modern slavery with the sex trade and forced marriages, the ILO estimates only about a third of its victims suffer that fate. It estimates that 44 percent of slaves have actually been bought and sold. Over half are hereditary or bonded into servitude for debts, most often in India, which has half the world’s slaves according to the Walk Free Foundation’s report – as many as 14.7 million.
China comes next in absolute numbers, with as many as 3.1 million. In per capita terms, Haiti has more than anyone except Mauritania, and Pakistan comes third in both lists, with up to 2.2 million. Out of 160 countries covered by the report, the United States comes 134th on a per capita scale, with 63,000 slaves or forced laborers, while Canada comes 144 with an estimated 6,200.
Trafficked for organ transplants
While China has long been reported to be harvesting body parts for transplants from its political prisoners, Britain has just reported its first known case: a young girl from Somalia. In Canada and the U.S. women and girls are more commonly smuggled in to work as domestic servants, prostitutes or second or third wives, while male slaves are usually forced laborers – a return to practices of the 18th and 19th centuries, when slavery was still legal in both countries.
- See more at: http://thechristians.com/?q=node/762&...
By Steve Weatherbe
The Christians
Oct 22, 2013

The brainchild of Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest, the report points to developing countries such as India, Nigeria and tiny Mauritania, where as many as 160,000 live in hereditary bondage, but it does not ignore slavery in the U.S. and other developed countries. It does miss the work being done by many Christian organizations, such as the evangelical Protestant International Justice Mission and the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking.
India has the most
Though people now associate modern slavery with the sex trade and forced marriages, the ILO estimates only about a third of its victims suffer that fate. It estimates that 44 percent of slaves have actually been bought and sold. Over half are hereditary or bonded into servitude for debts, most often in India, which has half the world’s slaves according to the Walk Free Foundation’s report – as many as 14.7 million.
China comes next in absolute numbers, with as many as 3.1 million. In per capita terms, Haiti has more than anyone except Mauritania, and Pakistan comes third in both lists, with up to 2.2 million. Out of 160 countries covered by the report, the United States comes 134th on a per capita scale, with 63,000 slaves or forced laborers, while Canada comes 144 with an estimated 6,200.
Trafficked for organ transplants
While China has long been reported to be harvesting body parts for transplants from its political prisoners, Britain has just reported its first known case: a young girl from Somalia. In Canada and the U.S. women and girls are more commonly smuggled in to work as domestic servants, prostitutes or second or third wives, while male slaves are usually forced laborers – a return to practices of the 18th and 19th centuries, when slavery was still legal in both countries.
- See more at: http://thechristians.com/?q=node/762&...
Published on October 23, 2013 20:55
Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 23, 2013
Talking about the "things that matter most" on October 23 4:00 - Direct to My Desk 5:00 - Common Core and CatholicsWe have received an overwhelming amount of e-mails, letters, phone calls, columns, press releases, articles and more regarding the Common Core Curriculum. Today we delve into it with Dan Guernsey, headmaster at the Donohue Academy and serves on the board of the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools, (NAPCIS), which provides consulting and accreditation services for more than 150 independent Catholic schools across the nation
Published on October 23, 2013 12:20
October 22, 2013
Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 22, 2013
Talking about the "things that matter most" on October 22
4:00 – The New Evangelization: What It Is and How It Affects the Life of Every Catholic – Continued Conversation From Last Week
"No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples."-- Blessed John Paul II. With the encouragement of Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, discover a renewed urgency and growing enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel with those in your life, both non-believers and those who are no longer practicing their faith. In The Urgency of the New Evangelization: Answering the Call, Ralph Martin explains: It's not just a churchy buzzword, It's not just for priests and missionaries to carry out, YOU and every individual Catholic play a role, it is literally a matter of life or death for everyone in your life, And… it's not as hard as you think. Ralph joins us to continue a conversation we started last week.
5:00 - Graphic Images: An Apologia – Their History and Role in the Pro-Life Movement
The Nazi Holocaust ended nearly seventy years ago. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of the systematic extermination of European Jews, there are those who deny that these atrocities actually occurred. Much, if not all, of such denial is motivated by a politically or philosophically based anti-Semitism. One of the most persuasive rebuttals to Holocaust denial is the photographic record of its victims. This record, both still photos and film, was used to great effect by the prosecutors during the Nuremberg trials. They are often graphic and hard to look at, but they are real. They show something that is real. Why not the same for the reality of abortion? Dr. Monica Miller offers an apologia for graphic images of abortion.
4:00 – The New Evangelization: What It Is and How It Affects the Life of Every Catholic – Continued Conversation From Last Week
"No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples."-- Blessed John Paul II. With the encouragement of Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, discover a renewed urgency and growing enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel with those in your life, both non-believers and those who are no longer practicing their faith. In The Urgency of the New Evangelization: Answering the Call, Ralph Martin explains: It's not just a churchy buzzword, It's not just for priests and missionaries to carry out, YOU and every individual Catholic play a role, it is literally a matter of life or death for everyone in your life, And… it's not as hard as you think. Ralph joins us to continue a conversation we started last week.
5:00 - Graphic Images: An Apologia – Their History and Role in the Pro-Life Movement
The Nazi Holocaust ended nearly seventy years ago. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of the systematic extermination of European Jews, there are those who deny that these atrocities actually occurred. Much, if not all, of such denial is motivated by a politically or philosophically based anti-Semitism. One of the most persuasive rebuttals to Holocaust denial is the photographic record of its victims. This record, both still photos and film, was used to great effect by the prosecutors during the Nuremberg trials. They are often graphic and hard to look at, but they are real. They show something that is real. Why not the same for the reality of abortion? Dr. Monica Miller offers an apologia for graphic images of abortion.
Published on October 22, 2013 11:29
October 21, 2013
Faith schools may lose the right to teach religion from their own perspective and be forced to tell pupils more about other faiths

denomination if proposals to add RE to the national
curriculum go aheadReport says RE should be added to national curriculumFears that subject has been marginalised and is being badly taughtFaith schools would be legally required to teach standard syllabusCurrently RE is a compulsory subject but with no agreed contentBy PUBLISHED:07:11 EST, 19 October 2013| UPDATED:07:11 EST, 19 October 2013
Faith schools could lose the right to teach their own belief and instead have to give more weight to other religions.
A report by the Religious Education Council for England and Wales says RE has become marginalised and should be added to the national curriculum.
But that would make it a legal requirement for all school to teach the same syllabus, regardless of their faiths.
The report, a three year review of religious teaching in schools, could form the basis of a new curriculum when it is released next week.
Chairman John Keast has admitted that it would be difficult for faith schools to teach their own denomination, but said one solution could involve optional modules for students.
Speaking to The Times, he said: 'These are quite important and difficult issues to overcome. I don't personally think they are insuperable.
'I think you could get sufficient agreement on a national body of religious education knowledge and skills and understanding that everyone should know for the modern world.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2467231/Faith-schools-lose-right-teach-religion-perspective-forced-tell-pupils-faiths.html#ixzz2iQLnrWPt
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Published on October 21, 2013 22:03
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