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The Weekly News In
Review
Newsletter is a
compilation of the news articles that have appeared
on the Understand The Times website during the
previous week.
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NEWS ALERT - October 7 - Pray Rosary for Peace, Benedict XVI Urges
Article: Roman Cathlolic Church And The Last Days
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 7, 2007 (ZENIT) -
Benedict XVI
asked that the rosary be prayed for peace
in families and in the world.
"This is something
that Mary has also
offered in various
apparitions," the Pope
explained
today to the thousands of pilgrims
gathered in St. Peter's Square for the
midday Angelus.
"I am thinking especially of her
appearance at Fatima which took place 90
years ago," the Holy Father said from
the window of his study. "To the three
little shepherds, Lucia, Jacinta and
Francisco,
presenting herself as 'the Madonna of the
Rosary,'
she insistently
recommended praying the rosary
every day to bring an end to the
war."
"We also desire to welcome the
Virgin's maternal request, committing
ourselves to saying the rosary with faith for
peace in
our families, in countries, and in the whole
world," he added.
On this day that the Church celebrates Our
Lady of the Rosary, the World Day
of the Rosary also takes place. That
initiative began 11 years ago in
Mexico, uniting millions of people on five
continents to
pray the rosary in
public places.
The Pope explained, "[T]he rosary is a means given
by
the Virgin for
contemplating Jesus and,
meditating
on his life, for loving and
following him always more
faithfully."
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October 7 - Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church
Article: Apostasy.
First the percussive
sounds of sniper fire and the
thrill of the kill.
Then the gospel of
peace.Across the country, hundreds of
ministers and pastors desperate to reach young
congregants have drawn
concern and criticism through their use of an
unusual recruiting tool: the
immersive and violent video game
Halo.
Those buying it must be
17 years old, given it is rated M for mature
audiences. But that has not
prevented leaders at churches and youth
centers across Protestant
denominations, including evangelical churches
that have cautioned against
violent entertainment, from holding
heavily
attended Halo nights and stocking their
centers with multiple game
consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock
around big-screen televisions
and shoot it out.
Complicating the debate
over the appropriateness of the game as a
church recruiting tool are the plot's apocalyptic
and religious overtones. The
hero's chief antagonists belong to the
Covenant, a fervent religious
group that welcomes the destruction of
Earth as the path to their
ascension.
Advocates of using the
game as a church recruiting tool say the
religious
overtones are sufficiently cartoonish
and largely overlooked by
players.
David Drexler, youth
director at the 200-member nondenominational
Country Bible Church in Ashby,
Minn., said using
Halo to recruit was "the
most effective thing we've
done."
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October 11 - Evangelicals, Progressives Seek to End Culture Wars
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Misc.
WASHINGTON -
The line dividing
evangelicals
from
progressives blurred Wednesday as members from
both parties
joined
in a new mission to erase long-held stereotypes of
one
another and seek commonality on
polarizing issues such as
abortion, gay rights, and the role of religion
in public life.
"The thing we
think is curing the
problem isn't curing the problem. I think
we (evangelicals)
are maybe slow learners, but we're
ready," he said
drawing laughter from the
audience. Evangelical and
liberal leaders together held up their
joint new paper, "Come Let Us
Reason Together: A Fresh Look
at Shared Cultural Values Between
Progressives and
Evangelicals," as a model of how the
two sides could
cooperate and find a shared
vision
on divisive cultural issues.
"Come Let Us Reason
Together answers the plea from
the vast majority of Americans who
want an end to the rancor and
divisiveness. This is a path
forward together," they
concluded.
Other supporters of the initiative
include: Dr. David P.
Gushee, distinguished professor of
Christian Ethics at
Mercer University's McAfee School of
Theology; the
Rev. Brian
McLaren, author, speaker
and networker among innovative Christian
leaders,
thinkers, and activists; Dr. Paul de Vries,
president of
New York Divinity School; Jim Wallis,
president and CEO
of Sojourners/Call to Renewal; and
Tony Campolo,
president of The
Evangelical Association for the Promotion
of Education.
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October 10 - Benedict XVI Praying for Catholic-Orthodox Meeting
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Benedict XVI called
for
prayer
to bring about full communion between Catholics and
Orthodox, especially as theologians
from the two Churches
engage in ecumenical dialogue.
Before
bidding farewell to the thousands gathered in St.
Peter's
Square
for today's general audience, the Pope recalled how
"the
Joint
International Commission for Theological Dialogue
between
Catholics and Orthodox is currently
holding its 10th plenary
assembly in Ravenna, Italy, where it is
deliberating upon a
theological subject of particular
ecumenical interest: the
ecclesiological and canonical
consequences of the sacramental
nature
of the Church -- ecclesial communion, conciliarity and
authority."
"I
ask you to join me in my prayer," said the Holy
Father, "that
this
important gathering may
help us to progress toward full
communion
between Catholics and Orthodox, and that
we may soon be able to
share
the one chalice of the Lord."
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October 11 - Muslims Leaders Warn Pope 'Survival of World' at Stake
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Misc.
In an unprecedented open letter
signed by 138 leading
scholars from every sect of Islam,
the Muslims plead with
Christian leaders "to come together with us on
the common essentials of our
two religions" and spell out the
similarities between
passages of the Bible and the Koran.
"Together they make up more
than 55 per cent of the
population, making the relationship between these
two religious communities the
most important factor in contributing to
meaningful peace around the
world. If Muslims and Christians are not at
peace, the world cannot be at
peace."
The Muslims even quote
passages verbatim from the
Bible, extremely rare in a publication of
this kind and at this level and
an indication of their resolve to bring
the two faiths together and end
the present tensions between them.
Thus our common future is at
stake. The very survival of the
world itself is perhaps at stake."
It says:
"And to those who nevertheless relish
conflict and destruction for
their own sake or reckon that ultimately
they stand to gain through
them, we say that our
very eternal souls are all also
at stake if we fail to sincerely make
every effort to make peace and
come together in harmony."
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October 12 - Hashemi Rafsanjani: Hitler Wanted to Rid World of Jews Because 'They Were a Pain in the Neck'
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Hashemi
Rafsanjani, former
Iranian
president and current Chairman of the Assembly of
Experts, said Friday that Hitler's
treatment of Jewish people in Europe was
due in part to their
being
"a pain in the neck."
Rafsanjani's
comments came
during
a sermon for "International Jerusalem
Day" on Iranian TV.
Rafsanjani noted that
Jews caused problems for European
governments because they "had a
lot of property" and "controlled
an
empire of propaganda." He also said that the
Nazis were
successful in saving Europe
from
the evil
of Zionism.
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October 13 - Iran calls on Muslims to boycott "peace conference"
Article: Israel And The Last Days
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's top cleric
urged Muslim countries on Saturday
to
boycott
a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on
Palestinian statehood next month.
Opposition to
Israel is one of the cornerstones
of belief of Shi'ite
Iran, which backs Palestinian and
Lebanese Islamic
militant
groups opposed to peace with the Jewish
state.
"When
Palestinians consider
this
conference as deceitful and refuse to participate, how
can
Muslim
countries take part in that?" Supreme
Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a
sermon broadcast live on
state
media.
"Other (Muslim) countries also
should
consider it a deceitful conference."
"Under the name of
seizing
peace, Americans are trying to impose their will on
Palestinians. This conference's aim is to
rescue the Zionist
regime
(Israel)," Khamenei said.
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October 12 - Muslim Peace Call to Christians Welcomed
Article: One World Religion
LONDON - The spiritual leader of the third
largest
Christian denomination in the world was one of the
first
to welcome an unprecedented call for
peace
and
understanding between Islam and Christianity from
some of
the
world's most powerful Muslim clerics, scholars and
intellectuals.In response,
Archbishop Rowan Williams, who leads
the 77-million-member
Anglican Communion, said "[t]he call to
respect, peace and goodwill should now
be taken up by Christians
and
Muslims at all levels and in all
countries."
"Our common future is at
stake.
The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at
stake," it stated.
"Any approach that is
seeking to draw different religions into
dialogue for the
purpose of peace must be
encouraged," the alliance
stated.
"It's a daunting and urgent
task
which cannot be done unilaterally by any faith, and it
must
also
be done with a mutual respect and
tolerance."
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October 13 - Evangelical Leaders Aim for Major Social Change
Article: Scial Gospel
WASHINGTON - Evangelical leaders were
encouraged
by the
presence of the
United
Nations
head
at their summit this week and expressed hope for
major
changes to unfold following the event's
conclusion on Friday.
Evangelical
involvement on
anti-
hunger public policy has been growing by "leaps
and bounds"
over
the last few years, noted Beckmann.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon
kicked
off the summit Thursday with an informative speech
on the
U.N.'s
Millennium Development Goals.
The
MDGs
are eight social goals - such as eradicating extreme
poverty
and hunger, combating HIV/AIDS, and reducing child
mortality - that governments
worldwide
have
committed to fulfill by 2015.
"The encouraging thing
is the
key evangelical leaders in the U.S. are beginning to
tackle
in a deeper way the issues that are of concern for the
global
evangelical community," said
Tunnicliffe.
The WEA head gave the
closing speech at the
forum
and called for a "strong
movement"
among
U.S. evangelicals who will speak out on social
justice.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
In Jesus,
Roger Oakland
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A
Presbyterian theologian is visiting several
churches this fall
refuting the common Christian
interpretation of the Bible that Jesus and
Scripture opposes
homosexuality
Mexico's former President Vicente
Fox
is making no secret of his
desire to promote a
"North American
Union" to compete economically with Europe
and the Far
East. 