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The News In Review newsletter is a service provided
by Understand The Times that
is a compilation of the news articles previously posted
on our site .
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April 13 - Most U.S. Christians Don't Believe Satan, Holy Spirit Exist
Article: Misc.
Nearly six
out of ten Christians either
strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the
statement that Satan
"is not a living being but is a symbol
of evil,"
the survey found. Forty percent strongly
agreed with the statement
while 19 percent of American Christians
somewhat
agreed.In
contrast, about 35 percent of
American Christians believe Satan is real.
Twenty-six percent strongly
disagreed with the statement that Satan is
merely symbolic and about
one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat disagreed. The
remaining eight percent of
American Christians responded
they were unsure what to
believe about the existence of Satan.
Likewise,
most
Christians in the United States do not
believe that the Holy Spirit is a
living force. Fifty-eight percent
strongly or somewhat agreed
with the statement that the Holy Spirit is
"a
symbol of God's power or
presence but is not a living entity."
Only one-third of
Christians disagreed with the statement that
the Holy Spirit is not just
symbolic (9 percent disagreed somewhat, 25
percent disagreed strongly).
Nine percent expressed they were unsure.
Interestingly, about half (49
percent) of those who agreed that the Holy
Spirit
is only a symbol but not a
living entity, agreed that the Bible is
totally accurate in all of the
principles it teaches. The Bible
states that the Holy Spirit is
God's power or presence, not just
symbolic.
Other survey findings include
a significant number of self-
described Christians
believing that Jesus sinned
when he lived on earth, contrary to
the core teaching of
Christianity that teaches the divinity and
perfection of Jesus. More than one-fifth (22
percent) strongly agreed that
Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on
earth, with an additional 17
percent agreeing somewhat.
Read More ....
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April 18 - Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus: we need the pope's voice of truth
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Other Religions Uniting With Roman Catholics
Dhaka (AsiaNews) -
"We want to see the pope in our
midst, we will
be blessed to see
him in Bangladesh, his presence will bring peace
and happiness to
the nation, I wish and pray his long life."
This is the wish
that the venerable Dhirbangsha Bikkhu,
a Buddhist monk
of the
international
monastery in Dhaka, has sent to Benedict XVI on the
occasion of his
82nd birthday.
In Europe, the direct attacks
on the pope
continue, not least among them the official protest
presented to the
Holy See by the Belgian parliament, because of
"the
unacceptable
stance taken by the pope on the occasion of his trip to
Africa." But
the messages coming from Bangladesh, which has
an
overwhelming
Muslim majority population (more than 88% of the 144
million
inhabitants), instead express
respect
and closeness to
the pope.
The venerable
Dhirbangsha
Bikkhu tells AsiaNews
that
"Benedict XVI
is the father of peace, he works for peace and a
religion of
peace." Together with the
wishes
from the Buddhist
monk, there are others
from Muslims
like Ubaidur
Rahman Khan
Nadwi, assistant editor of the newspaper
Daily Inqilab:
"We appreciate his firm work for
interreligious
peace and harmony. We especially appreciate his
deep
concern over
states declaring war, propagating evil policies and
oppressing the
Muslims. We need his voice of truth and peace. We
pray for his long
life."
Among the Hindus as
well,
there is no lack of
those who have taken Benedict XVI's birthday as
an opportunity to
express their closeness to him. B K Sreekanto of
the Brahma
Kumari Institute in Daka recalls that
"the pope is holy, and wherever
he will go in
the world he will
bring success. He works for the well-being of the
people. We pray
for his long life and ministry."
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April 22 - Pope's visit to focus on peace, ecumenical dialogue
Article: Ecumeical Movement - Other Religions Uniting With Roman Catholics
Pope Benedict XVI
will visit Israel, the West Bank
and Jordan next month not only as a
pilgrim to the Holy Land but
also to promote
interfaith relations and to
discuss the possibilities for "promoting
peace" with local political
leaders, a media coordinator for his
visit said on Tuesday.
The pope would
deliver "a very clear
message" to the leaders and their people
about
the importance of trying different methods
to achieve peace,
Wadie Abunassar told journalists during a
briefing at the Latin
Patriarchate.
The pope
is scheduled to meet with King
Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan in
Amman on May 8, President
Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on May 11,
Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on May 13,
and Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu in Nazareth on May 14. In
addition, the pope will meet with spiritual
leaders from various religions,
including Chief Rabbis of
Israel Shlomo Amar and
Yona Metzger, and
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, to promote interfaith
dialogue.
The pope will
also meet in Jerusalem with a
number of representatives from
organizations that promote interfaith dialogue,
where he is expected to deliver
a message "not only of encouragement,
but a real push to hold more
activities to strengthen their presence in
society,"
Abunassar said.
He is also
scheduled to speak with
religious leaders in Nazareth, a meeting that is
likely to be followed up by
councils for interreligious dialogue in
Rome. In
addition, the pope will visit the Armenian and Greek
Orthodox patriarchates. At the
latter, he will
meet with heads of various
churches to promote ecumenical dialogue.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
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