TODAY IN GOD:
RELIGION NEWS BITES FOR YOUR SNACKING PLEASURE
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New Ark of Noah ready to sail

SCHAGEN, Netherlands — The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was thrown open Saturday — you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years — drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.

Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan’s fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

“The design is by my wife, Bianca,” Huibers said. “She didn’t really want me to do this at all, but she said if you’re going to anyway, it should look like this.”

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine — biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.
FOR THE FULL STORY (AP VIA CNN.COM) CLICK HERE

PARIS — Muslim women in France regain virginity in clinics
Sitting in a cafe near the Champs Elysees, the 26-year-old French-born woman of Algerian descent looks like any other Parisian. But two months ago, she did something none of her friends have done.

She had her hymen re-sewn, technically making her a virgin again.

“I’m glad I had it done,” said the woman, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. “I wanted to reconstruct part of my life, to reconstruct myself so that I could feel better about myself.”

This 30-minute outpatient procedure, called “hymenoplasty” and costing between 1,500 and 3,000 euros ($2,000-$4,000), is increasingly popular among young women of North African descent in France.

No exact figures exist to say how many such operations are done, but the woman’s surgeon says he gets three to five queries and performs one to three hymenoplasties each week. Demand has been rising for the past three or four years.
FOR THE FULL STORY (REUTERS VIA YAHOO NEWS) CLICK HERE

An expressway and a prayer
Two miles north of downtown, the Kennedy Expy. takes an unusual bend. A curve between the North and Division exits was put in place to save the historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Church from the wrecking ball.

Each day, more than 300,000 cars and trucks pass just a few feet from the church. On warm days, when the church doors are open, worshippers can hear the traffic roar by. And from the front parlor of the rectory, you can practically reach out and touch the highway.

The Rev. Anthony Bus likes it this way. Being next to one of the busiest stretches of expressway in Chicago is a constant reminder that the church is part of the world.

“We’re very conscious of the mass movement of humanity.”

So if a church can coexist with an expressway, why not a chapel?

The Archdiocese of Chicago recently gave its blessing for St. Stan’s to build a $15 million sanctuary and chapel, where someone will be praying 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The chapel will be designed to be as quiet as possible. “But obviously, there will be some noise seeping though that reminds people of who they are praying for,” said Oscar Delgado, director of the sanctuary project.
FOR THE FULL STORY (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES) CLICK HERE

Mormon prom a modest good time
Saturday night marked a new sort of spring ritual for about 300 Chicago-area teenagers: a prom night free of hip-grinding dance moves, plunging necklines and racy song lyrics.

Billed as the region’s first-ever Mormon prom, teens from Hebron to Sugar Grove gently swayed under a sparkling disco ball inside a gymnasium in Naperville. A banner overhead read “Reflecting Eternity 2007.”

“I think it’s really cool because when you go to school dances, it’s all kind of dirty dancing,” said Abby Holyoak, 17, of Rockford. “Everyone here has the same standards, so you don’t have to worry about it. It’s pretty much amazing.”

Lytal Morgan of Aurora and Kristina Palgen of Warrenville, both 18, came up with the idea at a sleepover in the winter. The teenagers are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“My friend and I were like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what if we have like a Mormon prom?” recalled Morgan, who said she was horrified after attending last year’s Waubonsie Valley High School prom.

“People were hardly wearing anything. It was gross,” she said. “I stayed for like five minutes and left.”

To avoid any confusion, the black admission tickets to the Mormon event spelled out the dress code: “Sunday dress or better” and referenced a well-known church pamphlet that outlines conduct for youth.

Teens are asked to avoid music that “drives away the Spirit” and to avoid “positions and moves that are suggestive of sexual behavior.” Couples should keep enough space between their bodies to fit the Book of Mormon.
FOR THE FULL STORY (CHICAGO TRIBUNE) CLICK HERE

Iran takes a snip at wacky male hairdos

TEHRAN, Iran – Tehran’s barbers are to stop offering Iranian men unconventional Western hairstyles amid a nationwide crackdown on dressing deemed to be unIslamic, the Etemad newspaper reported on Sunday.
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The paper quoted the head of the Tehran barbers’ association as saying police had issued a directive forbidding its members from giving men offbeat hairstyles that are all the rage in more affluent parts of the capital.

“Currently some salons use Western grooming methods to create styles that are in line with the European and American ones,” said the association’s head, Mohammad Eftekhari-Fard.

“The union has repeatedly announced the restrictions against unconventional grooming when issuing permits to each of the barber shops. Hence barbers, knowing these rules, should not pursue the wrong methods,” he warned.
FOR THE FULL STORY (AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE VIA YAHOO NEWS) CLICK HERE

‘Luis Who?’ could replace Graham as America’s leading evangelist
The bumper stickers on several cars parked near a massive gathering here ask a question frequently heard: “Luis Who?”

The name of the man who has attracted tens of thousands even on this rain-soaked day – Luis Palau – is not yet a household one, a fact his festival’s volunteers lightheartedly note. But millions of people in dozens of countries follow Palau – an important evangelical Christian presence, particularly with the Rev. Billy Graham now gone from the public stage.

Palau, 72, idolizes Graham and is among the few successfully organizing mass rallies in the way the elder minister once did, albeit with modern twists of everything from heavy metal musicians to motocross riders.

His beliefs are familiar Christian ideals. But he has refused to make the fiery issues of homosexuality and abortion major topics at his pulpit, and the divisive politics that typically accompany such issues – and have become associated with evangelicals in general – centerpieces of his campaign.

“In my work, we love everybody, we speak to everybody and we want to be above petty divisions. We want people to know what we’re for, not what we’re against,” he said. “Some among us have made such a noise about two particular issues that people don’t perceive that there’s much more to it. I seek to activate the conscience, but it’s not my duty to be the one who points the finger implying I’m holier than you.”

The minister’s reluctance to enter the political fray, his focus on God’s love and a hesitance to mention his wrath, has earned Palau some critics who dismiss his sermons as a feel-good, diluted brand of Christianity. He dismisses them.
FOR THE FULL STORY (AP VIA TIMESDAILY.COM) CLICK HERE

‘It was like a visa from God’
Saudi Embassy reverses course and allows American Muslim girls to make pilgrimage
Until this year, the answer from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., was always the same: No.

A group of American Muslim high school girls could not enter the kingdom to make a sacred pilgrimage called Umrah to the holy city of Mecca. No, they could not enter Saudi Arabia, even under the supervision of adult female chaperons.

They could only make the journey to Islam’s holiest sites accompanied by a male relative, called a mahram. This was tradition, observed since the days of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last month, without explanation, the Saudi Embassy reversed its decision. Two days later, a group of 15 students and five women from the all-girl Al-Aqsa School in Bridgeview boarded a plane to Jeddah, blazing a trail that they pray will be followed by other girls.

“It was like a visa from God,” said Maai Shaker, a student who went on the trip. For the girls, who are anticipating graduation in June, the trip has become the highlight of their senior year.

It’s unclear why the Saudis shifted their policy to allow the girls to travel without a male escort. A woman in the visa section of the Saudi Embassy would say only that the girls received a “special permit.” It’s also not clear whether this was the first time the Saudis waved the requirement. But the situation is unusual.

The girls’ trek comes amid a lively debate among Muslim women about their role in Islam and the balance between tradition and modernity, particularly among educated, Western Muslim women. In recent years, they have pushed the envelope, observers say, demanding rights such as equal access to prayer space in mosques that have forced a redefinition of what it means to be a Muslim woman.
FOR THE FULL STORY (CHICAGO TRIBUNE) CLICK HERE

Who knew? An old law shuts down Philadelphia psychics
Philadelphia’s fortune-tellers didn’t see it coming.

Suddenly they’re facing a very unhappy future.

Alerted to an obscure state law banning fortune-telling “for gain or lucre,” the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections is closing storefront psychics, astrologers, phrenologists and tarot-card readers who charge money for their services.

Inspectors had closed 16 shops since Tuesday, Deputy L&I Commissioner Dominic E. Verdi said yesterday.

“We were not aware it was a crime,” he said, “but the Police Department came to us a few days ago and showed us where the crime code prohibits psychic readings.

“We looked into it, and it’s clearly illegal. I was surprised.”

Fortune-telling for profit is a third-degree misdemeanor. The law has been on the books for more than 30 years.
FOR THE FULL STORY (PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER) CLICK HERE