TODAY IN GOD:
RELIGION NEWS BITES FOR YOUR SNACKING PLEASURE
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‘Catholic Church isn’t hiding apocalypse secret’

The only surviving witness to a decades-long conspiracy theory has firmly denied the Catholic Church is hiding details about a predicted apocalypse.

The 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II
The third secret of Fatima, revealed in 2000, referred to the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II

Archbishop Loris Capovilla, 91, said there was no truth in the rumour that the Vatican was suppressing a vision of the end of the world.

The vision said to have been revealed 90 years ago by the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children on a hillside at Fatima in Portugal.

The three “Secrets of Fatima” were written down by one of the children, Lucia Dos Santos, who later became a nun.

Two of the secrets were revealed by the nun in 1941.

The first was a vision of hell, while the second apparently predicted the two world wars and the return of Russia from communism to Christianity.
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The third secret, which was sent to Pope John XXIII in a sealed envelope in 1959, was only revealed by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

The Vatican said it referred to an assassination attempt on the pope in 1981 by a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca.

However, many Catholics suspected that parts of the secret were not disclosed in order to avoid panic about the apocalypse.
FOR THE FULL STORY (TELEGRAPH UK) CLICK HERE

“Jihad for Love” seeks gay Muslim audiences
TORONTO – It took gay Indian filmmaker Parvez Sharma six years to make “Jihad for Love,” a documentary film about gay men and women trying to live Muslim lives in Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and South Africa.

Now he says his challenge will be to make sure the movie reaches Muslim communities, even in countries where being homosexual remains a crime that could be punishable by death.

“I aim to take this film into Muslim countries as a Muslim,” Sharma told Reuters in an interview, noting that the downloading possibilities of the Internet make it far easier to distribute movies than in the past.

“I am going to make sure that this film gets to every Muslim that needs to see it…and if this means I am going to have to smuggle the tapes through my underground contacts in Muslim countries and make sure that people everywhere are able to have screenings for this film, then that’s exactly what we are going to do.”

The film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this week, focuses on a few dozen men and women who seek to reconcile their sexuality with life as Muslims. The title defines jihad as personal struggle, rather than as holy war.
FOR THE FULL STORY (REUTERS VIA YAHOO NEWS) CLICK HERE

At Yom Kippur, a Simple Garment Shrouds Jews in `Holiness’
NEW YORK — When Rabbi Amy Small arrives at the Beth Hatikvah synagogue in Summit, N.J., on Sept. 21, she will not follow her usual routine because Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown.

In preparation for the special services she’ll lead that night, she’ll put on a white top and a white skirt. Then, she’ll reach for something she wears only on this most solemn day of the Jewish year, and on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

She’ll put her arms through the sleeves of her kittel, a simple white garment with no pockets, and enter into what she calls “a space of holiness.”

“It feels like this is a very powerful moment,” she said. “There’s something that washes over you that feels holy, in that holy means separate and distinct from the ordinary.”

Small is just one of those who have found the symbolic meaning of wearing a kittel on Yom Kippur. Its history as a wedding garment and a burial shroud, its color, its design, and its somewhat mysterious origins all contribute to its symbolic significance. Those who choose to wear a kittel — whether they are rabbis or laypeople — discover their own meanings, but say it contributes to the solemnity of the holiday.

“We begin by wearing this white kittel Yom Kippur night,” said Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, a professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. “It is as if you are preparing your body for death. The rest of Yom Kippur day, you are like you’re dead — you don’t eat, you don’t drink, you don’t engage in sex.”

All of those practices help people think about their own mortality, which is a significant aspect of Yom Kippur, said Small, who leads a Reconstructionist congregation.

“Part of what comes out of that reflection is a fear of death,” Small said. “The holidays are intended to move that into something much deeper spiritually, about the value of faith in transforming our life.”
FOR THE FULL STORY (RELIGION NEWS SERVICE VIA BELIEFNET.COM) CLICK HERE

In Indonesia, Ramadan TV mixes laughter, religion
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is a time to focus on the faith in Indonesia, but that hasn’t stopped television stations from combining religious fervor with a healthy dose of laughter.

Ramadan began on Thursday in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. During the month, healthy Muslims must abstain from eating or drinking from dawn to dusk.

For 30 days, Indonesian television stations allocate as many as seven hours daily for Ramadan-related shows, including soap operas with religious messages, but in recent years comedians have featured prominently in many of these programs.

Millions of Indonesians eating the sahur, or the daily pre-dawn meal before the start of fasting, just can’t miss rowdy jokes and pranks little to do with religion as they switch from one channel to another.

Such programs have proved popular and enjoyed high ratings in the past few years.

“Sahur time is a time when people don’t want to think hard. People digest jokes better than religious sermons,” said Hadiansyah Lubis, spokesman for Trans TV.

This Ramadan, Trans TV will show comedy sketches revolving around a maid-supplying labor agency starting at 2.30 a.m., and another comedy program at 9 p.m. he said.
SOURCE: REUTERS

Dr. Who fans will flock to his church

CARDIFF, WALES — A Cardiff priest loves Dr Who so much he is preaching to his congregation through the Time Lord.

St Paul’s Church, in Grangetown, Cardiff, was used as a location for an episode of the first series of Doctor Who starring the ninth Doctor played by Christopher Eccleston.

And parish priest, Father Ben Andrews, 32, says he loves the cult TV show so much he thought a themed evening would go down well with the youngsters.

He said: “I love the series and it has such a great following that we couldn’t resist doing something for young people on a Dr Who theme.

“We will be looking at the idea of Jesus as a Lord of time and showing who Jesus was and the different images of him throughout time.

“We will try and get some Dr Who props in to try and make it as lively as possible.”

The evening will use themes from the series to explore the Christian faith with hopes that young people can worship in a way that’s right for them.

Fr Dean Atkins, Diocese of Llandaff Youth Officer, thinks the night will prove a big hit with youngsters.
SOURCE: ICWALES.CO.UK