Interfaith Religious News Service

Published on Friday, September 19, 2008 by TruthDig.com

by William Pfaff

Karl Marx, were he still about, would surely be interested in the report that unregulated free-market capitalism has died in a flash, by its own hand; whereas it took 70 years and a Cold War to bring down the Marxist economy established in the Soviet Union following the Bolshevik Revolution. [Read more →]

The Post Modern Church and The Used Car Salesman Mentality

by Father Ed Crabtree
An Op-Editorial; August 10, 2008

In retail sales we often hear about the abhorrent business practices of merchants that focus only on making the sale to the customer, providing little or no service after the sale, no technical support, even selling inferior quality merchandise. These merchants absolutely do not care about repeat business or getting the customer through the door again as they place more emphasis on marketing that continues to attract new customers rather than to retain current customers and garner repeat business.

[Read more →]

by Deb Della Piana    
http://www.opednews.com

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Our citizens may be deceived for a while, and have been deceived; but as long as the presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light.” For the past eight years, George W. Bush has been breaking both national and international laws with reckless abandon and lying repeatedly to Congress and the American people. He has started two ill-advised wars and authorized the torture of detainees from those wars. He has admitted to illegally spying on his own citizens. He has vetoed several pieces of legislation designed to improve the lives of low- and middle-class Americans, calling them fiscally irresponsible. Yet, he’s spending at least $12 billion per month on the illegal, no-win war in Iraq and is borrowing money from other nations to do so. In spite of all this, there is not much light being shone on this administration from the mainstream media. [Read more →]

April 16, 2008 at 00:14:08
http://www.opednews.com

 by Cosmic 

“The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor.” … St. Basil the Great

As the nation prepares for a papal visit this week from its spiritual leader, we are reminded of the needless duress the Bush presidency has inflicted upon the global community. Although the reigning Pope’s legacy is yet to be determined, it’s consistent with his predecessor’s belief that nuclear catastrophe awaits us unless Americans intervene and reverse the policies of the present administration to emphasize peaceful diplomacy and more humane economic solutions. [Read more →]

By The Editorial Board | Saturday, April 12, 2008, 05:20 PM
Copyright 2008 The Austin American-Statesman.
Freedom to worship as one chooses without government interference is a fundamental tenet of the U.S. Constitution. It is right there in the First Amendment. All constitutional rights, however, have boundaries. [Read more →]

Enough already.
by Dale Wiley
News-Leader Springfield MO

It seems that I am unable to pick up a newspaper that does not have at least one discourse about the Christian heritage of our nation.

I agree that our Constitution is the greatest document a government has ever produced. And you can’t read the history of the American Revolution and not see God’s fingerprints everywhere. We are a nation formed on a miracle.

And to that I say, so what? Would it help us to say that we’re a Christian nation if we’ve all forgotten Christ? [Read more →]

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

http://www.alternet.org/story/76686/

Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out — a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy — to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever tactic. Curly, Larry and Mo, who all say they are born-again Christians, engage in hate speech and assure us it comes from personal experience. They tell their audiences that the only way to deal with one-fifth of the world’s population is by converting or eradicating all Muslims. Their cant is broadcast regularly on Fox News, including the Bill O’Reilly and Neil Cavuto shows, as well as on numerous Christian radio and television programs. Shoebat, who has written a book called Why We Want to Kill You, promises in his lectures to explain the numerous similarities between radical Muslims and the Nazis, how “Muslim terrorists” invaded America 30 years ago and how “perseverance, recruitment and hate” have fueled attacks by Muslims.  [Read more →]

Perhaps Christians in America should take a look at what is happening in other countries which might compared to a mirror image of what is happening here.

In an article on religion.info (see http://religion.info/english/articles/article_357.shtml ) the author makes the following observations regarding Christians in Korea;

“…….some South Koreans are increasingly skeptical about the size and power of a Christian community that seems to have outgrown its original missionary spirit …..” [Read more →]

There is a story about a Christian minister living abroad during World War II. His congregation sends him money so that he can return home for Christmas. When he doesn’t come back, they ask him why. He says that he used the money to help a group of Jews escape Hitler’s death camps and flee to safety.

“But they’re not even Christian,” writes one member of his congregation.

“Yes, I know,” the minister responds. “But I am.” [Read more →]

washingtonpost.com

BOSTON—He was married once, for 13 years. They bought and sold a few houses together. One day she told him she was seeing someone else, and he packed his things and tucked them into a corner of the garage. Now, Jim Oldread’s things are few: A backpack, his clothes, the change in his pockets from the day’s panhandling with a cup on a sidewalk. [Read more →]