My new Twitter handle is now live - check me out at @jackiewgibson!
CNN has posted a history of bias against Sikhs - more reason for people to learn about religions before they attack anyone:...
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/A0ltLLIm
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/l3KrAJZf
Hackers group Anonymous takes down Vatican website: http://t.co/B6lbGAVp
WGN-TV calls doomsday prophecies "an illusion": http://t.co/mv8Gzyw7
RT @graceishuman: Really,? Asking people JUST LEAVING the service how they felt about it? Tacky, tacky, inappropriate
Whitney Houston's funeral service really took the world to church. Love Pastor Winans' honesty, very moving.
#teacher ? Here are appropriate responses to situations with your Jehovah's Witness student: http://t.co/A6UfqcgH
#Teachers: Want to know why your Jehovah's Witness student won't say the pledge and how to respond? http://t.co/EIdlgDwW
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Sects
Chad Hardy created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries.
On July 13, he was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the LDS church of Mormons), according to Religion News Service.
Hardy had sought to show people that there were many sides to Mormons by showing actual shirtless Mormon missionaries. He himself was once a missionary. But the church felt his actions needed the severest reprimand in order to bring about his repentance.
Though Hardy could appeal the decision, he doesn’t plan to.
Visit Hardy’s Web site to find the calendar that sold 10,000 copies in one year and for news about the upcoming 2009 calendar.
Then find out more about excommunication in the Mormon church.
Knowing what you now know about excommunication and Hardy, do you think the local church’s decision was a good one?
FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was moved from his cell in an Arizona prison to a hospital in Las Vegas yesterday. He has a medical problem that has caused him to become “seriously ill,” according to a report from BBC News.
Apparently, since he was placed in prison several months ago, the leader has attempted suicide and has been placed in the infirmary as a result of his own fasting.
For more on Warren Jeffs, the polygamist controversies surrounding him, and the FLDS Church, click here.
Fundamentalists have higher rates of mortality than Catholics and Mainline Protestants, according to a recent study by LSU Associate Professor Troy C. Blanchard and his colleagues.
The study, published in Social Forces and reported on ScienceDaily.com, showed that religious environment (the type of religious community a person lives within) can affect health and mortality (life/death) rates.
According to Blanchard, churches that focus on the present needs of communities on earth invest in the health of their followers – as with Catholics who organize programs for the sick and needy. On the other hand, religious groups that only focus on the afterlife do not put as much emphasis on helping each other. The focus is more individual – what do I need to do to have a good afterlife?
Blanchard, perhaps not meaning to do so, separated the two types of congregations neatly into evangelicals and fundamentalists (where evangelicals are those focused on both this life and the next; fundamentalists focus on the next life only). This begs for definitions.
When we say Evangelicals, what do we mean?
Typically, in Christianity, evangelicals place an emphasis on conversion (or on helping others or yourself to become a part of that religion and achieve an appropriate afterlife). In addition, they tend to believe in the following:
- The Bible has no errors.
- Morals come from the Bible.
- The Christian faith can help handle issues in the community.
When we say Fundamentalists, what do we mean?
Fundamentalists in every religion believe their religion is the true religion, the only correct religion, the only religion that can achieve the goal of life. In addition, fundamentalists
- Are certain of an Absolute Truth (God, Absolute Power, etc.);
- Believe there is an authority outside of themselves and place the utmost importance on that outside authority/power;
- Place importance on the traditional family;
- Believe there is punishment for sins;
- Reject modernism (or modern interpretations of beliefs and laws); and
- Believe in dualism (good/evil, heaven/hell, body/spirit, etc.).
Of course, there is always a middle ground. But for the sake of this study, these LSU professors believe they’ve found those who fit in this evangelical group will have lower risks of
health issues than those that would fit into the fundamentalist group.
What do you think? Do their findings hold up in the real world?
For more on fundamentalism, check out Fundamentalism, Sectarianism, and Revolution by S.N. Einstadt.
What is the House of Yahweh?
Despite a similar fallout, it is not the Eldorado FLDS ranch raided in Texas recently (see Polygamy and Warren Jeffs for more on that incident). But it is in Texas, and its leader may face up to 20 years in prison.
The House of Yahweh is a sect, and some are now calling it a cult. Its leaders claim this is propaganda and that the House of Yahweh is simply being persecuted by outsiders. They are not, as leader Yisrayl Hawkins says, planning to kill themselves, nor do they contain followers to keep them from leaving (again, according to Hawkins).
Beliefs and practices outsiders claim are true and insiders claim are not true:
1. The leaders have multiple wives (polygamy) and Hawkins himself preaches that members must practice polygamy.
2. They are illegally dodging child labor laws by forcing children to work 40 hours a week.
Things they do believe/practice:
1. They do believe in Jesus and follow their own translation of both the New and Old Testaments.
2. Women must wear a veil when menstruating.
3. Men and women are separated by a wooden wall when attending church.
4. Everyone wears rubber gloves to follow cleanliness guidelines set in the Old Testament.
5. Nuclear war will fulfill prophecies.
Here is the Dallas Morning News’ explanation of the nuclear baby:
“In 2006, Mr. Hawkins forecast that a “nuclear baby” would be unleashed on the world, bringing nuclear war to the Middle East on Sept. 12 of that year. After doomsday failed to materialize, the prophet said the 2006 date was the day of conception and that the metaphorical baby – depicted as a horror-movie-evil infant holding a baby bottle and missile – would be born in 2007. That too failed to come to pass.” Click here for their full article.
Whether he’s a criminal is yet to be determined; certainly, his practices and beliefs are out of the norm.
Before you make your judgment, check out this Web site which shows Hawkins’ many efforts toward peace, particularly internationally. Click here to see some of his UN visits and various awards, including the Palestinian Legislative Council award.
So…sect or cult? Religious leader or criminal? Visit the House of Yahweh’s Web site here and decide for yourself.