TODAY IN GOD:
RELIGION NEWS BITES FOR YOUR SNACKING PLEASURE

Religious police ban red roses

SAUDI Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers said.

“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.

It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day, which it sees as encouraging relations between men and women outside of wedlock, the newspaper said.

Saudi Arabia imposes an austere form of Sunni Islam that prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and a cloak.
SOURCE: news.com.au

Missionaries Spread the News, but Don’t Read It
For most Mormons, the last few weeks have been a time of shocks. Gordon B. Hinckley, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the faith is formally known, died Jan. 27 at the age of 97.

Then Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, last week suspended his campaign for the presidency; he was the first Mormon with a plausible chance of winning a major party’s nomination since his father, George Romney, ran in 1968.

Mr. Romney’s setback surely must have demoralized Mormonism’s foot soldiers. They are the young men in black suits, white shirts and ties who pass out church literature on street corners in cities around the world, including New York City.

But that does not seem to be the case, if Siale Langi, 20, and James Kelley, 19, two Mormon missionaries in Manhattan, are any indication.

True, Mormonism has always had a reputation for unshakable optimism whatever the setbacks of the day. But missionaries are also unusually blinkered, forbidden from reading newspapers, watching television or listening to the radio.

As of 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, nearly 50 hours after news broke of Mr. Romney’s withdrawal, Mr. Langi and Mr. Kelley had still not heard of it, nor were they told.

Asked if anything had surprised him in current events, Mr. Langi replied that some New Yorkers had mentioned a public-television series on the Mormons that was broadcast last year. Anything else? Yes, he continued, a 2006 film on a controversial chapter in 19th-century Mormon history called “September Dawn.”

Mr. Kelley offered, “Some people have asked me, ‘Are you hoping Mitt Romney wins?’ I just say, ‘Whatever happens is whatever happens.’ ”

Like other missionaries, who number about 170 in Manhattan, the Bronx, Westchester County and Connecticut, Mr. Kelley and Mr. Langi are carefully schooled to be politically neutral, said Richard Searle, mission president for the area. (There are about 73,000 Mormons in New York State.)
FOR THE FULL STORY (NY TIMES) CLICK HERE

Obama’s longtime pastor retires
In a stirring sermon that weaved the hopefulness of past African generations with dreams for the future, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. preached his final sermon Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ, leaving a 36-year legacy as pastor and activist in the black community.

Despite the howl of a bitter wind, hundreds packed into Trinity, 400 West 95th Street, to hear Wright, 66, a fiery speaker, preach at the church one last time. Wright had served as spiritual mentor to Sen.Barack Obama. In the late 1980s, Obama joined Trinity and would later base his historic speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on a Wright sermon called “Audacity to Hope.”

Obama was one of the thousands who joined Trinity under Wright’s leadership. When Wright became Trinity’s pastor in 1972, the church had 85 members. Today, Trinity has a congregation of 8,500, with more than 80 ministries, making it one of the largest and most influential black churches in the nation.

At Sunday’s 11 a.m. service, Wright preached on the New Testament account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in the sermon “Looks Can Be Deceiving.” He spoke about the tradition of African storytelling to illustrate how past generations preserved and passed on stories to teach their children how to hold onto hope amid the pain and suffering of slavery.

Though Wright did not mention Obama by name, he spoke about how a biracial child could use that same hope to overcome racism, go to an Ivy League law school and become a politician. Obama received his law degree from Harvard University and was the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review.

“How many children of biracial parents can make it in a world controlled by racist ideology?” Wright said.

“Children born to parents who are of two different races do not have a snowball’s chance in hell of making it in America, especially if the momma was white and the daddy was black. A child born to that union is an unfortunate statistic in a racially polarized society,” he said.
FOR THE FULL STORY (MARGARET RAMIREZ IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE) CLICK HERE

Gay Mormons hope to meet new leader
SALT LAKE CITY — A group of gay Mormons is seeking an unprecedented meeting with the new church president and his counselors, hoping to begin a conversation and find ways to address the concerns of its members.

The group, Affirmation, with more than 2,000 gay, lesbian and transgender members, is not recognized by the church, which at one time labeled homosexuality as a problem that required help.

“Although there are many areas of hurt and disagreement that have separated us, there are many more areas on which we can find agreement, and in doing so, become a blessing in the lives of many of the Saints, both straight and gay,” the group wrote in its invitation to Thomas S. Monson last week.

Monson assumed leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last week after the death of President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Such a meeting with Monson and his counselors — a triumvirate known as the First Presidency — would be unprecedented, said David W. Melson, the group’s assistant executive director.

“This was something we’ve talked about for a while,” Melson said. “With the death of President Hinckley and the installation of new church leadership, it seemed like the appropriate time.”

Church teachings consider homosexuality a sin and hold up traditional marriage as an institution ordained by God.
FOR THE FULL STORY (AP VIA LA TIMES) CLICK HERE

Protesters poke at Scientology turf
Anonymous, the new foe of Scientology, stepped out from the shadows of the Internet on Sunday with protests in Clearwater and around the world.

Some 200 marchers, mostly young people wearing sunglasses, hats and sometimes masks, met in downtown Clearwater to shout down Scientology at the church’s spiritual headquarters.

The protesters met at 11 a.m. and split into three groups, winding their way around Scientology buildings.

Their signs were direct: “Scientology kills.” “Religion is free, Scientology is not.” “Don’t tase me L. Ron.”

Disguised with fake beards, face paint, scarves and bandanas, protesters said they hid their identity for fear they would be tracked down and harassed by Scientology.

Organizers – who also held rallies in London, Paris, New York and other cities around the world – chose Sunday’s date because it would have been Lisa McPherson’s 49th birthday. A 36-year-old Scientologist, McPherson died in 1995 while in the care of church staffers in Clearwater.

Anonymous members brought a cake and sang Happy Birthday in her memory. They tried to lay plastic flowers outside the Fort Harrison Hotel where she died but police asked them not to, saying they would be trespassing.

Despite Anonymous’s online promises to “expel” Scientology from the Internet and “systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form,” the march was peaceful, with police reporting no arrests or injuries.

Still, church spokeswoman Pat Harney compared Anonymous to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

“It’s similar to burning a cross on somebody’s lawn,” she said. “It’s a bunch of yahoos. They get on the Internet and they don’t use real communication.”

Anonymous’s opposition to Scientology has coalesced in the last month after a video of Scientologist Tom Cruise was leaked to YouTube and then promptly removed because of threats from Scientology attorneys.

Members of Anonymous claimed this was an affront to the freedom of the Internet. A video message from Anonymous taunting the leaders of Scientology had received 2.2-million views on YouTube as of Sunday.
FOR THE FULL STORY (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES) CLICK HERE

RELATED: Masked protest over Scientology

LONDON — Masked demonstrators gathered outside London’s Church of Scientology in protest against the organisation.

The group, called Anonymous, said they wanted to highlight the organisation’s “inherent flaws” and “fight for freedom of knowledge and information”.

The City of London Police said about 200 people took part in the peaceful protest in Queen Victoria Street.

After about two hours the protestors moved to the Scientology Recruitment Centre in Tottenham Court Road.

Similar gatherings took place outside Scientology Centres across the UK and in countries including Australia, Canada and the US.

In a video statement broadcast online, the organisers said: “The idea of Anonymous is to systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form.”
FOR THE FULL STORY (BBC NEWS) CLICK HERE

Ritual of Dealing With Demons Undergoes a Revival
POCZERNIN, Poland — This wind-swept village is bracing for an invasion of demons, thanks to a priest who believes he can defeat Satan.

The Rev. Andrzej Trojanowski, a soft-spoken Pole, plans to build a “spiritual oasis” that will serve as Europe’s only center dedicated to performing exorcisms. With the blessing of the local Catholic archbishop and theological support from the Vatican, the center will aid a growing number of Poles possessed by evil forces or the devil himself, he said.

“This is my task, this is my purpose — I want to help these people,” said Trojanowski, who has worked as an exorcist for four years. “There is a group of people who cannot get relief through any other practices and who need peace.”

Exorcism — the church rite of expelling evil spirits from tortured souls — is making a comeback in Catholic regions of Europe. Last July, more than 300 practitioners gathered in the Polish city of Czestochowa for the fourth International Congress of Exorcists.

About 70 priests serve as trained exorcists in Poland, about double the number of five years ago. An estimated 300 exorcists are active in Italy. Foremost among them: the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, 82, who performs exorcisms daily in Rome and is dean of Europe’s corps of demon-battling priests.

“People don’t pray anymore, they don’t go to church, they don’t go to confession. The devil has an easy time of it,” Amorth said in an interview. “There’s a lot more devil worship, people interested in satanic things and seances, and less in Jesus.”

Amorth and other priests said the resurgence in exorcisms has been encouraged by the Vatican, which in 1999 formally revised and upheld the rite for the first time in almost 400 years.

Although a Vatican official denied reports in December of a campaign to train more exorcists, supporters said informal efforts began under Pope John Paul II — himself an occasional demon chaser — and have accelerated under Pope Benedict XVI. A Catholic university in Rome began offering courses in exorcism in 2005 and has drawn students from around the globe.
FOR THE FULL STORY (WASHINGTON POST) CLICK HERE

Chocolate and Lent: St. Louis chocolatier takes hit

Chocolate. Some people think it’s divine, yet for many Christians, it will be off-limits starting today.

It’s tough to say, but chocolate could be the most oft-selected edible to give up for Lent. And Lent comes especially early this year, putting it into direct conflict with the most choco-centric celebration of the year: Valentine’s Day.

For chocolate lovers who surrender their bonbons for God, this presents a vexing problem, or at least a cruel scenario. How can they say no to the tempting contents of all those heart-shaped boxes?

For at least one chocolate company, the situation goes beyond mere dilemma and actually puts a dent in sales.

“We’ve gone through quite a number of Valentine’s when Lent comes before,” said Ken Kellerhals, president of St. Louis-based Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolates. “It definitely has an effect.”
FOR THE FULL STORY (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH) CLICK HERE

Singers Try to Hit the Right Pitch To Win a Spot in the Ballpark Choir
By 10:30 a.m. yesterday, Theresa Ellsworth was in the hot seat.

That’s what people in the basement lobby of St. Matthew’s Cathedral were calling the chair right outside the audition room. All morning, Catholic after Catholic filed in — one every five minutes — for the chance to sing a few hymn verses, demonstrate vocal range, be thanked and then be sent home to await word. They were all hoping to have snagged one of the 250 spots in the choir that will sing at Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass on April 17 at the new Nationals stadium.

With more than 550 people from local parish choirs signed up to audition, the vibe was far more intense than simply performing a Sunday morning song at church. It was more like “Vatican Idol.”

“It’s good as you get older to do things that make you a little uncomfortable,” said Ellsworth, a music historian and alto from Cleveland Park. “I said: ‘You’re 62. Get out and do something that scares you a little.’ “

Inside, Ellsworth took her place before a black music stand with a few sheets of music; a pianist was poised at the keys. To her left, two judges sat behind a table, and to her right, an image of Jesus Christ on the cross hung on the wall.

Yesterday’s scene was to play out 10 times across the region to accommodate the hundreds of Catholics who want to sing at the papal Mass, the first time a pope will be in the nation’s capital since 1979.
FOR THE FULL STORY (WASHINGTON POST) CLICK HERE