Source: Washington Times Author:By Jessica Chasmar Pope Francis said Monday that everyone has the right to be baptized — even aliens from outer space. The pope said during his daily mass that the Catholic Church should not close its doors to people who wish to be baptized, even if they are “green men, with a long nose and big ears, like children draw,” French news agency AFP reported. “If tomorrow, for example, an expedition of Martians arrives and some of them come to us … and if one of them says: ‘Me, I want to be baptized!’, what would happen?” he joked. The Argentine pontiff is known for his colorful sense of humor and his down-to-earth style in representing the Church. Francis has been firm in his stance, arguing that children of divorced or cohabiting parents should not be denied a baptism, AFP said.
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Source: NY Times Author: STEPHEN CASTLE and KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA A dispute over how to combat the threat of homegrown Islamic extremism in British schools has provoked a political crisis, prompting the personal intervention of Prime Minister David Cameron, a public apology from one senior minister and the resignation of an adviser to another. The rift followed allegations that Islamic fundamentalists had plotted to infiltrate and take over schools in Birmingham, home to a significant Muslim population. The claims are as yet unproved, but they have divided ministers on whether they should concentrate on tracking suspects thought most likely to commit acts of terrorism or wage a broader cultural battle at the community level against the spread of fundamentalist theology. Source: BBC News By: Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin Berlin thinks it is making religious history as Muslims, Jews and Christians join hands to build a place where they can all worship. The House of One, as it is being called, will be a synagogue, a church and a mosque under one roof. An architecture competition has been held and the winner chosen. The striking design is for a brick building with a tall, square central tower. Off the courtyard below will be the houses of worship for the three faiths - the synagogue, the church and the mosque. It is to occupy a prominent site - Petriplatz - in the heart of Berlin. Source: Pamela Geller Our troops must adhere to the sharia during the Islamic month of Ramadan in Bahrain and other Muslim countries. Subjected to dawah (proselytizing) by an Islamic cultural adviser at the Naval Support Activity, soldiers are forced to sit through lessons on Islam. No eating, drinking, alcohol, smoking during the month of Ramadan. This is what the Obama administration and the US military are obsessed with as armies of jihad tear through the Middle East. Military newspaper Stars and Stripes report: “It actually made me want to do a lot more research into the religion,” said Petty Officer 1st Class James Ramirez. Source: New York Times Author: MICHAEL PAULSON BRUNSWICK, Me. — For 40 years, evangelicals at Bowdoin College have gathered periodically to study the Bible together, to pray and to worship. They are a tiny minority on the liberal arts college campus, but they have been a part of the school’s community, gathering in the chapel, the dining center, the dorms. After this summer, the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship will no longer be recognized by the college. Already, the college has disabled the electronic key cards of the group’s longtime volunteer advisers. Source: The Daily Beast Author: Nico Hines Plans to set up almost 400 “atheist churches” on five continents are underway after the extraordinary success of one small congregation that began holding godless services just over a year ago. Word about the religion-free church spread like wildfire after the first Sunday Assembly was held in a deconsecrated church in Highbury, North London, in January 2013. By September, 100 congregations will be holding services from Singapore and South Africa to Sao Paulo and San Diego. A further 274 teams currently are working on plans to launch their own assemblies. Source: Now The End Begins Vatican City, Rome – Pope Francis said that people cannot be Christians without the Church, explaining that Christian identity is rooted in it and that believers cannot stand alone. “Our Christian identity is belonging to a people: the Church. Without this, we are not Christians. We entered the Church through baptism: there we are Christians,” Francis said during Mass on Thursday, Vatican Radio reported. “A Christian without a church is something purely idealistic, it is not real,” the Roman Catholic Church leader argued. He said that one cannot “understand a Christian alone” any more than “Jesus Christ alone” can be understood. Source: NBC News Author: CLAUDIO LAVANGA TICAN CITY — The Israeli and Palestinian presidents joined in an unprecedented prayer meeting with Pope Francis Sunday, a gesture the pontiff hopes will "re-create a desire, a possibility" of kick-starting the stalled Middle East peace process. Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted a surprise public invitation from Francis to come to “his home” to pray together during his recent visit to the region. “It is my hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new journey where we seek the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide,” Francis said Sunday. He thanked the presidents for accepting his invitation, and said that people of varied cultures and religions had been praying for a meeting of this nature. The Vatican is keen to play down suggestions that Sunday’s event is political, but it is nonetheless a symbolic gesture that has the power to stir public opinion and put pressure on the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to find a way out of the stalemate. |
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