93 pc of Britons to skip the church on Christmas, says Opinion Matters

London, Dec 25 : A new survey has revealed that almost 93 per cent of Britons would be skipping the church on Christmas Day.

They would either be spending Christmas eating turkey, drinking champagne or opening presents - but will not attend the church.

The study by Opinion Matters only 11 per cent had the intention of attending Midnight Mass last night on Christmas Eve, while 86 per cent said they sent Christmas cards.

Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe told Express.co.uk: "If you''re not going to church on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day then why are you celebrating Christmas?" continue reading

Fox News angers Hindus with ‘India's Ganges river a disease’ remark

Nevada (US), December 24: Hindus have filed a formal complaint with United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against the Fox News remarks regarding India's Ganges river (considered holy by Hindus), which Hindus found denigrating and ridiculing.

Glenn Beck, talking about India in December nine segment titled "This is the best America has to offer?" of his opinion show "The One Thing" on Fox News channel, said: "One big river they have there, that sounds like a disease. Come on it does. I mean if somebody said, I am sorry, you have a really bad case of Ganges." continue reading

See also:

Hindus upset over remarks of Murdoch run Fox News that holy river ...

Hindus Still Upset Over Glenn Beck's "Denigrating" Ganges River Comments

Priest: Thou shalt not steal (unless it's from big business)

London, England (CNN) -- A UK priest has defended his comments that it is acceptable to steal from large companies.

Tim Jones, parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda, told his congregation in York, northern England: "My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift." continue reading @ CNN.com

Info courtesy: Dr Roderic Vassie + his comment:

Father Tim Jones ("It's okay to shoplift" December 21st 2009) has a point. The Bible teaches, in the Torah, that landowners should leave a portion of their crops to the poor, the needy and the traveller to enjoy, which is clearly distinguished from stealing (Leviticus 9:9-11).

In this context, anyone familiar with the Gospel stories (Matthew 12:1-2) will recall how, when Jesus's disciples picked ears of corn in a field, they were accused not of theft but of breaking the Pharisees' interpretation of the Sabbath laws.

Likewise, under Sharia law in Islam, a clear line is drawn between stealing to enrich oneself and "stealing" to preserve life. The former is punishable by the state, the latter not. Instead the state has the duty to ensure that everyone has enough to survive with dignity.

Perhaps the real problem is the inability of secular law to regulate greed of supermarkets which screw the people at the bottom of their supply chains so they can afford to destroy mountains of food, and still turn a healthy profit for their shareholders.

• 'It’s okay to shoplift' says Father Tim Jones, parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda
  By Gavin Aitchison » 21st December 2009, York Press
  

WORSHIPPERS at one York church got a shock when their parish priest used the last Sunday before Christmas to advocate shoplifting.

Father Tim Jones, parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda, broke off from the traditional Nativity story yesterday, and said stealing from large national chains was sometimes the best option many vulnerable people had.

He told the congregation: “My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

“I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.”
continue reading

See also:

• Father Tim Jones was helping himself, but not helping the poor, Telegraph.co.uk - Liz Hunt
  
• Not wholly Moses: British priest causes uproar by saying ...
  
• Thou shalt shoplift, priest tells congregation
  U.K. clergyman advises poor people to target large national chain stores
  LONDON - For a priest in northern England, the commandment that dictates "thou shalt not steal" isn't exactly written in stone.

Bringing back lessons of haj -- Partners in Humanity, Muslim-Western

by Kalsoom Lakhani
01 December 2009
"Washington, DC - Although the haj is a strictly Muslim experience, many hajis find it affects the way they also see interfaith relations. In "Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam's Global Gathering", a 2008 study of Pakistani pilgrims by the Weatherhead Center of International Affairs at Harvard University, the authors found that performing the haj "increases pilgrims' desire for peace and tolerance toward others"–Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The study compared successful and unsuccessful applicants in a lottery used by Pakistan to allocate haj visas and the personal accounts of pilgrims..." continue reading @ - Common Ground News Service

* Kalsoom Lakhani is the director of Social Vision, the strategic philanthropy arm of ML Resources, LLC. She also runs the CHUP! - Changing Up Pakistan blog. This article first appeared in Washington Post/Newsweek's OnFaith and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

see on the same shelf:

Hajj Steps - [visual map] by Baggia Travel, Toronto

Basic Hajj Map, by Shayistha Abdulla

Hajj 2010 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Holy Water in News

Christian: Holy Scams! Have A Wary Christmas

Mass holy water. Biggest scam ever? - MabinogiPlayer - Mabinogi / Peter Popoff's Miracle Holy Water Scam

Genuine Holy Water from Lourdes

Muslim: Fake Holy Water – The Zam Zam Scam

Buddhist: Wat Sanamchan temple [The temple is also in trouble over its holy water claims]
See also a Pathfinders To Detect Spam and Forwarded Email Scams @ To-forward or not-to-forward

On the same shelf:

Forwarded, But no Luck: It's your Karma--they say in the spiritual lingo!!!

Chain emails - send it now to every one you love.... "If you need God to open some doors for you...send this on."

Saga of a "Pastor Scam" Against a Christian Business Owner

Lady discovers her spiritual gift is sending forwarded emails

Theological Discussions: Mmmm, Tasty Forwarded Emails Dipped in a Crunchy Shell of Misconceptions and Half-truths.

The Top 10 Signs of an E-mail Hoax

How an Enterprise SPAM Filter Works

Social : Let Us Fight Spam

why inspirational quotes on Twitter suck

A Quote To Live By: “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die”

Death and dying is a subject that is a common concern of all religions and philosophies.

Reading a blog post by Lita C. Malicdem, 'To Live Meaningfully, Die for Others (Ampatuan Massacre),' reminded me in another context, death has positive side too. In this context I quote famous lines from The poems of Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." (p. 249)


[info courtesy: Angel, Aasman Se Aaya ek Farishta]

What is Your One Main Failure of the Year 2009 - Are You Ready for the Year 2010?

What will you say about yourself in 2009? ...

Lost battle? broken hearted? Cursed? Failed? ...

Are you ready for 2010? Take this as a moment of reflection and resolution for the year 2010
Note: At Blog Catalog you will find many responses: click here

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See also:

CTV News Announces the Top 10 Canadian News Stories of 2009

A year of nasty surprises, By Martin Knelman, Toronto Star, Wed Dec 23 2009

The Biggest Failure of the Year, By Morgan Housel, October 12, 2009 [don't miss this: Comments from our Foolish Readers]

Hepburn: GTA's top 10 winners and losers of the year, Toronto Star Dec 17 2009

Year Of Tumult: 2009 Marked By Failure, Scandal, Debt And A Sputtering Recovery

2009: A Failure

Year in Review 2009: TV's Biggest Disappointments
Despite all our gleeful griping, we honestly want all of our favorite shows to be good forever, and for new shows that look promising to deliver. But still, we can't ignore the fact that every season we still get disappointed by shows that should really know better. Here are all the storylines, characters, entire series, cancellations, finales, moments, and screw-ups that left us crying into our DVRs this year. — Television Without PityThursday, December, 17, 2009, 12:17 AM

for more Google, here and here

Bikini vs. Burka: The Debauchery of Women

This is a chapter from the book: Cruel Hoax: Feminism and the New World Order, by Henry Makow (2007)

September 24, 2009 (Updated from Sept. 18, 2002)
By Henry Makow Ph.D.

"On my wall, I have a picture of a Muslim woman shrouded in a burka.
Beside it is a picture of an American beauty contestant, wearing nothing but a bikini.

One woman is totally hidden from the public; the other is totally exposed. These two extremes say a great deal about the clash of so-called "civilizations."

The role of woman is at the heart of any culture. Apart from stealing Arab oil, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about stripping Muslims of their religion and culture, exchanging the burka for a bikini.

I am not an expert on the condition of Muslim women and I love feminine beauty too much to advocate the burka here. But I am defending some of the values that the burka represents for me...." continue reading

Christmas a time for bridge building, Abdul Malik Mujahid

[Audio]
 Treating Christmas with Respect:

"Christmas is an annual Christian religious holiday commemorating the birth of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. For many Muslims who do not even celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it becomes an issue of what stand they should take."

continue reading Christmas a time for bridge building
12/10/2009 - Interfaith Religious Social - Article Ref: IC0612-3182
Number of comments: 14
By: Abdul Malik Mujahid
IslamiCity* -

What America Must Learn from India's 9/11

By Forum Contributor

 - FOXNews.com

"When religious-inspired terrorists use the Web to spread hatred it falls to religious leaders to respond by building bridges. But our efforts will fail unless misguided politicians refuse to stop cloaking the enemies of humanity behind a shroud of dangerous and false political correctness...." Continue reading