Donations from brewery help to rebuild Trappist monastery in California

Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: Leviticus 10:9

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20:1

As reported by Lessley Anderson of the San Francisco Chronicle, December 22, 2012:

Vina, Tehama County - At this time of year, it's worth thinking of the Trappists. A strict order of Roman Catholics, they follow the rule of their patron St. Benedict, who believed the cloisters should be self-sufficient through their own industry - which, traditionally, includes making beer and wine.

That's what brought Scott Jennings, head brewer for research and development at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., to venture to Belgium. A trim, redheaded former ski bum who grins easily and thinks a lot of things are "rad," Jennings turns very serious when he talks about this research trip.

"We were at Orval, and we were walking through this monastery. These beautiful springs were coming out of the ground, the monks are there, and you could feel the history. I've never been so inspired in my entire life."

The Orval monastery is one of the six Trappist abbeys in Belgium famous for its beer. Like other Trappist monasteries, they sell beer to a public that can't get enough. Westvleteran XII, for instance, considered by some to be the best beer in the world, was until this December only available for purchase at the St. Sixtus Abbey itself.

Jennings' trip led to one of Sierra Nevada's most unusual projects: the Ovila Abbey beers, an effort to match the free spirit of California craft brewing with the solemnity of the Trappists.

Up the highway from Sierra Nevada's headquarters in Chico is the Abbey of New Clairvaux - a Cistercian, or Trappist, monastery located in the hamlet of Vina. In the 1990s, the abbot approached Sierra Nevada for donations to help rebuild a 16th century monastery on its grounds.

Quirky history

The project had an unusual history. The ruined monastery, called the Santa Maria de Ovila, was a Trappist abbey originally located in Spain and purchased by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in the 1930s. (The Chronicle is owned by the Hearst Corp.)

Hearst shipped it back in parts to the United States to use in a grand estate that he hoped would rival San Simeon, but the stones were never used. In 1994, the Abbey of New Clairvaux obtained the ruins and began raising money for its restoration.

Sierra Nevada founder and owner Ken Grossman suggested that the monks and the brewery do a beer project together and donate a portion of proceeds to the building project. New Clairvaux already produced well-regarded wines from its vineyards.

To prepare for the project, Jennings and Sierra Nevada's head brewer, Steve Dresler, went to five Belgian monasteries with New Clairvaux's then-abbott, Father Thomas X. Davis. The monk helped secure entry to the monasteries, access that ordinary beer tourists don't get.

"While we're geeking out on beer, taking pictures of the lauter tuns, Father Thomas would go off for meetings and prayer. For him it was a spiritual trip," Dresler says. "But I guess for us it was, too."

When they returned, Jennings and Dresler created four new beers in classic Belgian styles - a dubbel, saison, quad and golden ale. Because of the number of controls and equipment needed for brewing, Sierra Nevada ended up brewing the beer itself, with the monks giving their blessings rather than chipping in. Sierra Nevada called the beers Ovila in homage to the once-ruined monastery.

Sierra Nevada is traditionally known for hop-forward flavor, and these less hoppy, yeast-driven styles proved challenging.

The brewers spent a lot of time on the saison, for instance, a style characterized by aromatic, spicy yeast, trying to find just the right culture. They finally found it in an unlikely spot: a bottle of homebrew from a friend who had cultured his yeast from a small Belgian farmhouse beer whose yeast strain isn't available to commercial brewers.

The Ovila Saison is earthy, spicy and extremely dry. The other beers, too, are rich in body, with layers of aroma and flavor but with a very dry finish that keeps them from being cloying.

Battle in Michigan church between pastor and deposed deacons

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. I Corinthians 1:10 (KJV)

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?
Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?
I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?
But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. I Corinthians 6:1-8 (NIV)

As reported by Francis X. Donnelly of the Detroit News, January 2, 2013:

Saginaw — The Rev. Rodrick Smith's favorite character in the Old Testament is King David, the shepherd who became a fierce warrior and slayer of Goliath.

It was a prescient choice.

Smith, 50, pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church, is embroiled in a nasty fight with several political giants of Saginaw County — former Saginaw Mayor Joe Stephens and county Commissioners Moe Woods and Eddie Foxx.

The church removed them as deacons in 2011, saying they were shirking their duties. When they openly defied the move, they were kicked out of the church.

It has been open warfare ever since.

The pols filed a lawsuit in November to regain membership. They hold weekly strategy meetings and picket Sunday services.

One of their supporters, who also was kicked out of the congregation, was charged with trespassing. He was arrested in the sanctuary during a service.

"We opened a can of worms, and there's a bunch of worms in that can," said Barbara Anderson, 64, another supporter who was booted from the church.

In all, seven of the church's 550 members have been kicked out of the congregation — the three pols, two other demoted deacons and the two supporters.

Smith had warned the congregation the controversy would cause much consternation. "You all need to go and fasten your seat belts because this is going to be a rough ride," he said during a sermon in November. "There's going to be a whole lot of turbulence on this flight.

"I don't know of another church in this nation that is dealing with what we're dealing with."

The dispute has gone public and become personal.

Smith and other church leaders declined comment, but the pastor has discussed the matter during his sermons, which are available on the church website.

During those talks, he has referred to his foes as nuts and knuckleheads, clowns and reprobates, Satan and the Antichrist.

He also used a disparaging term for African-Americans. Smith and the ousted members are black.

"Them folk got the nerve to say it's scandalous that you got police officers in the church," Smith said during the sermon.

"What's scandalous is when Negroes don't know how to behave in the church. And the only way to get Negroes to act right in the church is by having police in the church."

The ousted members trumpet their allegations from the signs they take to church every week.

Congregation is split

The placards describe the pastor as a habitual liar, question a $10,000 raise he received two years ago and tweak him about his wife's arrest for shoplifting in 2007.

The dustup has caused a rift in the church, which, founded in 1868, is one of the oldest black churches in the Midwest.

Members who have shared the same pews for decades no longer talk to each other.

With membership already dwindling, given the advanced age of many members, the church can't afford to lose many more.

But, after 17 months of fussing and fighting, neither side has any intention of backing down.

"I'm in this for the long haul," said Curt Robinson, 65, the person arrested during the service. The charge was later dropped.

"We could go to another church, but we have so much invested here. There are some things you don't walk away from."

The trouble began in 2011, when seven of the church's 17 deacons received letters removing them from their positions.

The letters, signed by Smith and the chairmen of the deacon and trustee boards, said the seven had failed to make their "responsibilities as a deacon a priority."

Deacons are an extension of the pastor, helping with baptisms, serving communion to shut-ins, administering a fund for the poor.

Ever since arriving at Zion in 2001 from Plain Dealing, La., Smith has stressed that members be active in the church, according to the letters.

He chastised the deacons for failing to attend their monthly meetings and weekly prayer meetings and Bible studies.

If the deacons had put half as much energy into the church as they have in the protests, there wouldn't be a controversy in the first place, Smith said in a recent sermon.

"If you had all that energy, why didn't you use it while you were in here?" he asked.

Two deacons accepted their demotion; the other five fought it. They called and wrote Smith asking that the issue be brought before church members.

Smith refused, so they left fliers on members' cars reiterating their request.

Finally, during a church service last year, after the secretary finished reading the announcements, the demoted deacons stood in their pews.

Stephens, the former mayor, began to say a meeting would be held after the service, but Smith interrupted him and ended the service, which had just begun.

Standing in the pulpit, Smith said the deacons should be kicked out of the congregation and asked members who agreed with him to stand.

He later said nearly every churchgoer stood. The deacons said only half of them stood.

Stephens, 76, who has belonged to the church for half a century, said his group had no choice but to raise the issue during the service. "He wouldn't give us a chance to talk to the congregation," he said.

Stephens was chairman of the search committee that recommended hiring Smith and had traveled to Louisiana to interview him and acquaintances.

Asked how he felt about the decision now, Stephens just laughed.

Choosing sides

Every Monday, the ousted deacons and supporters meet at a Saginaw community center.

A meeting last month drew 21 people. With an American flag on the wall, they began and ended the hourlong session by joining hands and praying.

They listened to a CD of an earlier sermon by Smith in which he said the battle between him and the deacons was nothing less than good versus evil.

Church members need to decide whose side they're on, he said. If they choose wrong, they could face the wrath of God.

The deacons and their supporters tittered as they listened to the recording. Their laughs contrasted with the "amens" uttered by churchgoers during the sermon.

"I need to tell you something," Smith said on the recording. "We all have faults."

"You got that right," said Woods, the county commissioner.

Muslim and Jewish volunteers work together on social projects on Christmas Day--to give Christians the day off

I'm surprised Rick "Deeds, Not Creeds" Warren wasn't involved in this endeavour, as reported by Orlander Brand-Williams of the Detroit News, December 24, 2012:

Detroit — Close to 800 volunteers from the area's Jewish and Muslim communities will fan out across Metro Detroit on Tuesday for a day of volunteerism called Mitzvah Day.

It's the single largest day of volunteering for local Jews, organizers say.

And it's also the third year Muslims and Jews will work side by side in volunteer projects that will give Christian volunteers the day off so they can celebrate Christmas.

"It's becoming a real exciting thing," said Micki Grossman, one of three chairs for the Mitzvah (good deeds) Day Project, organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council.

"It's been wonderful. (Good deeds) is what we're supposed to do."

Participants will volunteer at 40 charities and community organizations from 6:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Besides the hundreds who will work on Christmas, there are 80 on a waiting list in hopes of being assigned to a project.

Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, chairman of the Michigan Muslim Community Council, said working with Jewish volunteers on Mitzvah Day is a great contribution to Metro Detroit and a "wonderful opportunity to share our wonderful commonalities."

Ahmed said he hopes Mitzvah Day reminds people some of the tensions between Jews and Muslims are "relatively new," having occurred only in the past 100 years or so.

He added that the two groups lived in harmony for more than a century.

Roman Catholic school in Traverse City, Michigan cuts Hanukkah song from Christmas concert

Syncretism seems to be hitting some obstacles in Traverse City, Michigan. In November 2012, a Congregational church there banned the Muslim call to prayer from a Veterans Day service. In December, there was this incident, as reported by Associated Press, December 19, 2012:

Traverse City — A Hanukkah song was dropped from a Roman Catholic school concert just a day before the show after an official said the season's focus should be on the birth of Jesus.

As a result, two music instructors who had been working with students declined to participate in the concert Tuesday night at Interlochen Arts Academy.

A traditional Jewish song, "Festival of Lights," was on the program for a concert by students from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Middle School in Traverse City.

The kids have been under the instruction of chorale director Jamie Geurkink and band director Cress Smith, under an agreement that puts public school teachers in Catholic schools.

Mike Buell, superintendent of Traverse City-area Catholic schools, scratched the Hanukkah song Monday and said students would have new leaders at the concert.

"I don't have a problem with Jewish music," Buell said.

"But this is a Christmas festival, and that's what we've traditionally done. It's a Christ-focused time of our Advent season."

An official with the Traverse City school district said the Catholic school has a right to pick songs.

"We respect (their) desire to honor the belief of their congregation and to meet the needs of their faith and community," Assistant Superintendent Jayne Mohr said.

Traverse City school board member Marji Rich, who is Jewish, had been pleased with the "Festival of Lights" selection. She said it's important to teach students "important lessons of open-mindedness and embracing other cultures."

It's the second recent dust-up in Traverse City over music and culture. In November, First Congregational Church banned a Muslim call to worship that was part of a Veterans Day concert.

The call to prayer was part of a performance of "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace." A video runs during the singing, showing graphic war scenes followed by people from different faiths drawing together.

The Rev. David Walls said leaders of his congregation feared offending people at the concert.

Members of pseudo-Christian cult in China arrested for spreading December 21, 2012 fear

Hysteria about the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012 could be found anywhere. Another backlog item, as reported by Associated Press, December 18, 2012:

Beijing — Chinese police have detained more than 100 people, among them members of a fringe Christian group, for spreading rumors about the world's impending end, state media reported Tuesday.

Police seized leaflets, video discs, books and other apocalyptic materials in the recent arrests of 101 people across eight provinces and regions, from the prosperous east coast to less developed western China, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The detentions come ahead of Friday, Dec. 21 — a date some say the Mayans prophesized would be the end of the world and which was the subject of the apocalyptic movie "2012."

Nearly half those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, which is also called Eastern Lightning, after a phrase from the Bible's Book of Matthew. Widely regarded as a heretical Christian sect, the group preaches that Jesus has reappeared as a woman in central China. It has been accused of targeting Christians, kidnapping and beating them to force conversions.

Chinese society has been in tumult as decades of rapid free-market economic growth discredit communist ideology, loosen social controls and pull hundreds of millions from the countryside to the cities. Into the spiritual void have rushed traditional Buddhist groups and Daoist practices, as well as evangelical Christian churches and other spiritual groups, some with unorthodox and apocalyptic visions.

Eastern Lightning first appeared around 20 years ago, and Xinhua said that its members had "recently latched on to the Mayan doomsday prophesy to predict that the sun will not shine and electricity will not work for three days beginning on Dec. 21."

The state-run Huashang website last week, citing local authorities, reported that the group is urging followers to "exterminate the great red dragon" — a reference to the Communist Party — "and found a country under the rule of Almighty God."

"No religious affiliation" continues to grow among Americans, while mainline Protestant churches continue to decline

Another backlog item, as reported by Terry Mattingly of United Features Syndicate, October 15, 2012:

After decades of sobering statistics about rising intermarriage rates, falling birthrates and their declining flocks, eventually Jewish clergy began talking about a future in which there would be "fewer Jews, but better Jews."

Faced with sobering evidence that the number of priests was falling, along with statistics for confession and weekly Mass, many Catholic leaders started talking about a future in which there would be "fewer Catholics, but better Catholics."

Now, according to a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Protestant leaders should start preparing for a future in which there will be "fewer Protestants, but better Protestants."

For the first time, America lacks a Protestant majority, with only 48 percent of the population claiming ties to Protestant denominations. Meanwhile, the surging tide of Americans rejecting ties to specific religious groups -- the so-called "Nones" -- appears to pose a new threat to the declining "seven sisters" of liberal Protestantism.

These churches, in descending order by size, are the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches USA, the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

This survey shows that "it's going to be much more difficult for mainline churches to turn things around simply by focusing on higher levels of commitment," said political scientist John C. Green of the University of Akron, after a briefing at the annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association of America. This research was a cooperative effort with the PBS program Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly.

Part of the problem is that fewer Americans remain committed to supporting religious institutions and a high percentage of those who do seem to favor faiths that embrace the very doctrines and traditions the unaffiliated often reject. It also appears that young people who are rejecting traditional faiths -- during the past five years in particular -- are quitting organized religion altogether, rather than joining progressive institutions.

"It's going to be hard for something like a 'fewer Methodists, but better Methodists' approach to work because these mainline churches are already so small and there are so many of them," said Green. "The mainliners will have to find their niche. But who are they? What do they believe? Do they know?"

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of Americans -- especially the young -- are now willing to say that they do not believe. The Pew Research Center numbers indicate that millions of Americans are no longer willing, as was common in the past, to remain lukewarm members of the religious bodies in which they were raised. Other key survey findings include:

-- One-fifth of the U.S. public -- a third of those under 30 -- are now religiously unaffiliated, for a total of 46 million Americans. The unaffiliated have risen from just over 15 percent of the adult population to nearly 20 percent in five years. More than 70 percent of the unaffiliated called themselves "nothing in particular," as opposed to being either atheists or agnostics.

-- Many "Nones" fit the "spiritual, but not religious" label used by many researchers, with more than two-thirds -- including some self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics -- saying they believe in God or a "higher power." More than half claim a deep connection with nature.

-- In 2007, 60 percent of those who said they "seldom or never" attend worship services continued to claim some tie to a religious tradition. But today, only 50 percent in this camp retain such a tie -- a 10 percent drop in only five years. At the same time, 88 percent of the "Nones" said they are not interested in considering future ties to religious institutions, either liberal or conservative.

-- The unaffiliated overwhelmingly reject ancient doctrines on sexuality with 73 percent backing same-sex marriage and 72 percent saying abortion should be legal in all, or most, cases. Thus, the "Nones" skew heavily Democratic as voters -- with 75 percent supporting Barack Obama in 2008. The unaffiliated are now a stronger presence in the Democratic Party than African-American Protestants, white mainline Protestants or white Catholics.

"It may very well be that in the future the unaffiliated vote will be as important to the Democrats as the traditionally religious are to the Republican Party," said Green, addressing the religion reporters. "If these trends continue, we are likely to see even sharper divisions between the political parties."

For more detailed information, go to The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and read "Nones" on the Rise: click on the links for the Executive Summary or the Full Report.

Exit polls highlight religious divisions in 2012 U.S. presidential election

Another backlog item, as published by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, November 7, 2012 (click link to article to see detailed breakdown of voting patterns):

In his re-election victory, Democrat Barack Obama narrowly defeated Republican Mitt Romney in the national popular vote (50% to 48%). Obama’s margin of victory was much smaller than in 2008 when he defeated John McCain by a 53% to 46% margin, and he lost ground among white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics. But the basic religious contours of the 2012 electorate resemble recent elections – traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney, while traditionally Democratic groups such as black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated backed Obama by large margins.

Vote Choice by Religion and Race

Religiously unaffiliated voters and Jewish voters were firmly in Obama’s corner in 2012 (70% and 69%, respectively). Compared with 2008, support for Obama ticked downward among both Jews and religiously unaffiliated voters in the exit polls, though these declines appear not to be statistically significant. Both of these groups have long been strongly supportive of Democratic candidates in presidential elections. Black Protestants also voted overwhelmingly for Obama (95%).

At the other end of the political spectrum, nearly eight-in-ten white evangelical Protestants voted for Romney (79%), compared with 20% who backed Obama. Romney received as much support from evangelical voters as George W. Bush did in 2004 (79%) and more support from evangelicals than McCain did in 2008 (73%). Mormon voters were also firmly in Romney’s corner; nearly eight-in-ten Mormons (78%) voted for Romney, while 21% voted for Obama. Romney received about the same amount of support from Mormons that Bush received in 2004. (Exit poll data on Mormons was unavailable for 2000 and 2008.)

Compared with religiously unaffiliated and Jewish voters on the left and white evangelicals and Mormons on the right, Catholics and white mainline Protestants were more evenly divided. Among white mainline Protestants in the exit poll, 54% voted for Romney, while 44% supported Obama. This is virtually identical to the 2008 election, when 55% of white mainline Protestants voted for McCain and 44% backed Obama.

White Catholics, by contrast, swung strongly in the Republican direction relative to 2008. Nearly six-in-ten white Catholics (59%) voted for Romney, up from 52% who voted for McCain in 2008. Three-quarters of Hispanic Catholics voted for Obama, and Catholics as a whole were evenly divided in 2012 (50% voted for Obama, while 48% backed Romney).

Vote Choice by Religious Attendance

As in other recent elections, those who attend religious services most often exhibited the strongest support for the Republican presidential candidate. Nearly six-in-ten voters who say they attend religious services at least once a week voted for Romney (59%), while 39% backed Obama. Romney received as much support from weekly churchgoers as other Republican candidates have in recent elections.

Those who say they never attend religious services were again among the strongest Democratic supporters in the presidential election. More than six-in-ten voters who say they never attend religious services voted for Obama (62%). Voters who say they attend religious services a few times a month or a few times a year also supported Obama over Romney by a 55% to 43% margin.

Religious Composition of the 2012 Electorate

The religious composition of the 2012 electorate resembled recent elections, though there are signs that both the white Protestant and white Catholic share of the electorate are gradually declining over the long term.

Slightly more than half of 2012 voters describe themselves as Protestants (53%), compared with 54% in each of the three previous elections. Roughly four-in-ten voters were white Protestants in 2012 (39%); by comparison, 42% of 2004 and 2008 voters were white Protestants, as were 45% of 2000 voters. The decline in white Protestants’ share of the electorate is most evident among non-evangelicals, whose share of the electorate has declined slightly from 20% in 2004 to 16% in 2012. White evangelical Protestants constituted 23% of the 2012 electorate, compared with 23% in 2008 and 21% in 2004.

One-quarter of 2012 voters were Catholics, including 18% who were white Catholics. By comparison, white Catholics constituted 21% of the electorate in 2000, 20% of voters in 2004 and 19% of the electorate in 2008.

Jews accounted for 2% of the 2012 electorate, and Muslims and members of other non-Christian faiths together accounted for 7% of the electorate. The religiously unaffiliated made up 12% of 2012 voters; the religiously unaffiliated share of the electorate is unchanged from 2008, even though the religiously unaffiliated share of the adult population has grown significantly over this period.

To this blogger, the most surprising revelation from teh exit polls is that Mitt Romney received only 78% of the Mormon vote; I would have expected it to exceed the 95% of the Black Protestant vote for B. Hussein Obama (which, of course, was on the basis of Mr. Obama's policies and record, and had nothing at all to do with his skin colour).

Beware of falling crucifixes

Another backlog item, as reported by Chris Carola of Associated Press, November 7, 2012:

ALBANY, N.Y. -- David Jimenez was so elated over his wife's recovery from cancer that he offered to clean the large crucifix outside the Hudson Valley church where he spent many hours praying for her to beat the disease. On Memorial Day 2010, he was scrubbing grime off the cross when the 600-pound marble statuary toppled over, crushing his right leg.

The then-43-year-old immigrant from Mexico was flown to Westchester Medical Center, where doctors had to amputate his injured leg. He's suing the Roman Catholic church where he was hurt, and early next year his $3 million lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial.

"He attributed her recovery to his devotion to the cross and Christ hearing his prayers," Jimenez's lawyer, Kevin Kitson of White Plains, told The Associated Press.

Kitson said he filed the lawsuit in March 2011 after the church denied it was liable for the accident that resulted in six-figure medical bills for Jimenez. The bills were paid by charitable foundations, Kitson said.

The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in state Supreme Court in Orange County in January, Kitson said.

The attorney described David and Delia Jimenez as devout Catholics who immigrated to the United States from Mexico nearly 20 years ago. They have three children, ages 3, 13 and 17, Kitson said.

During delivery jobs for a bakery and a pizzeria, David would pull into the parking lot at St. Patrick's Church in the city of Newburgh to pray before the outdoor crucifix for his wife, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008. When she was deemed cancer-free two years later, the grateful David received permission from church officials to remove trash from the area around the crucifix, and to clean the crucifix itself, Kitson said.

On May 30, 2010, Jimenez was standing on the crucifix's base, using rags and soapy water to clean Christ's face. While holding onto the cross beam for balance, the whole crucifix snapped off at its base, sending Jimenez crashing to the ground, Kitson said. Pieces of the crucifix broke off, but the bulk of it landed on Jimenez's right leg, crushing it.

Kitson said only a single screw was holding the heavy crucifix to its base.

"There was no anchoring system, just that one screw," he said.

The church raised more than $7,000 for Jimenez and his family, but Kitson said his client has been unable to work since the accident.

Frank Raia of Rikin Radler, the New York law firm representing the church, wouldn't discuss specifics of the case. The church is part of the Archdiocese of New York, which isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Raia said.

"Although the archdiocese and St. Patrick's Church recognize and understand this was a terrible accident and they have empathy for Mr. Jimenez and his family, it's our position that of the diocese and St. Patrick's Church are not liable for the accident."

Kitson's law firm said Wednesday that David Jimenez isn't doing interviews with the media.

Muslim call to worship banned from Veterans Day service at Michigan church

Another backlog item, as reported by Associated Press, November 19, 2012:

Traverse City — Leaders of a northern Michigan church are defending their decision to ban a Muslim call to worship that was part of the planned program for a Veterans Day concert by public high school and community college vocal groups.

The call to prayer was part of a performance of "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace." A video runs during the singing, showing graphic war scenes followed by people from different faiths drawing together.

At a point in the video where Muslim worshippers are shown, there was silence rather than the call to prayer.

The decision to ban led Northwestern Michigan College to withdraw its sponsorship on the eve of the Nov. 11 performance, part of First Congregational Church's annual Mel Larimer Concert Series.

The Rev. David Walls, senior pastor of Traverse City's First Congregational Church, said leaders of his congregation feared causing offense to those at the concert.

"We were concerned that there was potential that some of our active military personnel, military families with sons or daughters in Iraq, who have even lost their lives there, would find it much too hard to handle," Walls told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. "A prayer in Arabic, addressed to Allah, with references to Muhammad for an event that was intended to honor veterans."

"We are clearly a Christian church and we don't apologize for that," said Doug Bishop, vice president of the First Congregational Church council. "We have the right to control our content."

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Associated Press on Sunday that the church's action was ironic given the religious diversity that he experienced while serving in the U.S. Navy in 1994-98.

Walls "seems to be oblivious to the core values of the U.S. military," said Walid, who said he observed firsthand how the military provided worship opportunities for "Jews, Christians, Muslims, even Wiccans."

Alya Nadji, 16, is Muslim and a member of the Traverse City West High School Chorale. She said she ran from the room crying during a rehearsal when she learned the call to prayer was being cut from the program.

"I felt like I wasn't being treated equal," Nadji said. "I felt that I was unwelcome and that I didn't belong any place near there."

Kamran Memon, president of the Chicago-based Muslims for Safe America, said many Muslim Americans are veterans, with about 20,000 currently in the military.

"American soldiers have fought and died side-by-side with Afghan and Iraqi troops fighting against a common enemy," Memon said.

University of Toledo Chair of Catholic Studies promotes religious syncretism

Another backlog item, as reported by TK Barger of the Toledo Blade, November 10, 2012:

Peter Feldmeier, a professor who holds the Margaret and Thomas Murray and James J. Bacik Chair in Catholic Studies at the University of Toledo, gave the speech of his position on Thursday: the Murray/Bacik Lecture in Catholic Studies.

For “West Meets East: A Spiritual Transformation,” Mr. Feldmeier spoke about how using some aspects of different religious traditions can contribute to a better imagining of Christianity.

Mr. Feldmeier, who is a Christian, has taken part in Buddhist retreats and other encounters with Asian faiths and has studied world religions. In his talk, he read aphorisms of the Buddha as collected in the Theravadan Buddhist text, the Dhammapada, and suggested how Christian Scripture can be read with the same approach to focus on the here and now rather than the hereafter. He brought up Zen koans and compared the purpose of contemplating those perplexing questions to a way of thinking about Christian texts. And he looked at the different approaches of Daoism and Christianity.

“Could Buddhism help us understand Jesus’ parables and his teachings better?” he asked. “I think it really can.”

Mr. Feldmeier joked that for next year’s lecture he could repeat a legendary teaching about Nirvana. He could, like the Buddha, simply hold up a flower for an hour. Mr. Feldmeier turned to his colleagues in the university’s Center for Religious Understanding and said it would be profound, but saw that he’d have to do more preparation to please them than just bring a flower.

For the use of Zen to illumine a person’s Christianity, Mr. Feldmeier spoke about the koans that ask paradoxical questions, and said that the aim is not to find the right answer but, in a way, to understand the concept of the question.

“We might begin by realizing that idiosyncratic language is already embedded in our own tradition. The great theme in Jesus’ preaching was the kingdom of God,” Mr. Feldmeier said. “He regularly provoked our imagination about it, but never told us what it is.”

“The particular wisdom of the Zen tradition,” Mr. Feldmeier said, “is that it trains us to stray from trying to figure out the paradox and urges us rather to enter it for its transformational possibilities.”

For Daoism, Mr. Feldmeier spoke about some concepts from that tradition’s texts the Dao De Jin and the Zhuangzi. Rather than viewing the universe “as divinely governed by unchanging natural and moral laws” that come from God in the Western view, Mr. Feldmeier said, the Daoist writings present a world “where there is no permanent reality … There is just the ceaseless flow of life. Even physical things are more like events that are intrinsically related to other events.”

With this reorientation of thinking and being, Mr. Feldmeier said, dao, or way-making, is “a kind of eternal emergence.” He called attention to the yin and yang, to life as art, to a fluid way rather than Christian-imagined absolute natural law. “Think of how a nonimposing, nonconstricting posture could help one in pastoral ministry,” Mr. Feldmeier said. Rather than seeking solutions and conclusions, a person can “stop seeking a personal agenda and … be present as the suffering person needs one to be present.”

“These are just snapshots,” Mr. Feldmeier said in concluding his talk, “of possibilities of engaging other religions traditions in ways that expand our own proposed world.”

Social ministry unites various Ohio Lutheran churches

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? II Corinthians 6:14-15

The perceptive reader will note that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is supposedly conservative, is uniting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is liberal as they come--such is the fruit of the social gospel.

Another backlog item, as reported by the Toledo Blade, November 10, 2012:

Every couple of years, Lutheran organizations in northwest Ohio that practice social ministry come together to sign an agreement, a covenant that they will work together. It focuses their attention that this is church work as well as social service assistance for people with mental and physical disabilities, for the elderly, and for others. It states in print that they’re doing what Christians are taught to do, and they’re partners in their ministry. And it shows that the Missouri and Evangelical branches of the Lutheran Church cross boundaries on social issues.

Earlier this week, the heads of four Lutheran social service agencies — Paul Oehrtman, executive director of Filling Memorial Home in Napoleon; David Roberts, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran Homes Society in Toledo; the Rev. Donald Wukotich, executive director and CEO of Luther Home of Mercy in Williston, and Nancy Yunker, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Northwestern Ohio in Toledo — sat at a table at the Lutheran Homes Society, 2021 McCord Rd., and put their signatures on the three-page document.

They were joined by the Rev. Terry Cripe, president of the Ohio District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Rev. Marcus Lohrmann, bishop of the Northwestern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, both of whom also signed.

The organizations make this agreement every two years to assure that these are practices they live by and the papers are not just a covenant filed away.

Secular humanist leader Paul Kurtz dies at 86

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psalms 14:1 (also Psalms 53:1)

For those who missed it, Paul Kurtz, founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), died on October 20, 2012 at the age of 86. While doing some useful work in debunking pseudoscience, Dr. Kurtz, unfortunately, allowed his skepticism to extend to skepticism about the existence of God. He now knows better.

As reported by T.K. Barger of the Toledo Blade, October 27, 2012:

AMHERST, N.Y. — Paul Kurtz, a philosophy professor who was influential in American humanism and secularism, died Oct. 21 at his home in Amherst. He was 86.

In 1973, when he was editor of The Humanist magazine, published by the American Humanist Association, Mr. Kurtz cowrote the Humanist Manifesto II, which updated an organized statement of morals and philosophy oriented to people rather than the supernatural. The Humanist Manifesto was first published in 1933.

The author of more than 50 books and the founder of Prometheus Books, which publishes titles on skepticism, humanism, and atheism, Mr. Kurtz was also the founding editor of Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer magazines, and he started institutions including the Center for Inquiry, the Committee for Skepticism, the Council for Secular Humanism, and the Institute for Science and Human Values.

Mr. Kurtz was a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and, in his service, he visited both the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps soon after they were liberated.

In his free-thought-oriented writing, Mr. Kurtz worked to advance the concept that morals are practiced between people and not tied to supernatural concepts. He came up with the term eupraxsophy, roughly meaning “good wisdom and practice in conduct,” according to the Center for Inquiry to identify that values are human-oriented.

The Center for Inquiry, which he founded, published a lengthy and sympathetic obituary of Dr. Kurtz.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel oppose self-locking doors

Another backlog item, as reported by Kobi Nahshoni of Ynet News, November 13, 2012:

Prominent Hasidic and Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodox rabbis are demanding that public institutions avoid installing self-locking door handles, which make it impossible to open rooms' doors from the outside.

According to the rabbis, such a situation causes men and women to violate the "Yichud" prohibition – the seclusion of a man and a woman who are not married to each other in a private area.

Rabbis Shmuel Wosner and Nissim Karelitz, the most senior "poskei Halacha" (arbiters of Jewish Law) in the Ashkenazi Orthodox public, have determined that such doors are considered locked even if no human action has been taken to lock them, and that therefore men and women must be careful not to be left alone behind them.

'Don't use lock mechanism'
A warning published by the "Halacha Watch", a body sponsored by the two rabbis' tribunals, argued that late Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, "the generation's great posek," had also warned against this halachic obstacle which can be found in clinics, workplaces, etc.

"Recently-introduced door handles almost seem like regular handles from the outside, and the handles can be shifted from the outside as well, but they have an automatic electrical locking that prevents the door from being opened from the outside," the ad explained.

"There is a 'Yichud' prohibition, and whoever is familiar with these handles could recognize them by paying attention."

The "Halacha Watch" called on the public to avoid using this locking mechanism, both in entry doors and in internal rooms, so as not to create an obstacle. It invited "places with special needs" to contact its people "in order to reach a proper solution."

The proposed solutions include keeping the door slightly open.

5,600 sodomites join religious Jewish organization in Israel

Another backlog item, as reported by Ynet News, November 14, 2012:

Some 5,600 religious homosexuals have joined the Hod organization (an acronym for religious gays in Hebrew) since its establishment in 2008, according to figures presented by the organization in a special seminar held in collaboration with the Israel Psychological Association.

The figures compiled by Hod reveals that about half of religious homosexuals who underwent conversion treatments began leading a secular lifestyle, and about two-third of those who were married got divorced or are in the process of a divorce.

Hod founder Rabbi Ron Yosef presented data showing that the organization received 6,325 appeals since its establishment, 5,585 of them from haredi and religious homosexuals and 740 from parents, educators, counselors and professionals.

About 70% of the appeals came from the national-religious sector, and about 30% from the haredi and Hasidic sectors.

Faith crisis and self-hatred
The HOD organization initiated the seminar following a position paper on "conversion therapy" published earlier this year by the expert committee of the Israel Psychological Association.

According to the document, a patient should be presented with the existing knowledge, which warns against reparative therapy, but the possibility to change a person's sexual orientation should not be ruled out completely.

During the conference, Rabbi Yosef presented 291 testimonies of men who had undergone conversion treatments. Exact figures on the number of homosexuals who have undergone such treatments in Israel are unavailable, he told Ynet.

According to the rabbi, the only organization which supports such therapy is Rabbi Shlomo Aviner's Atzat Nefesh, which refuses to release exact figures.

"One of the reasons we established Hod about five years ago was because we began receiving evidence and complaints from people who had undergone conversion treatments," says Rabbi Yosef.

"About two years ago, we turned to the Israel Psychological Association and Health Ministry and asked them to address the issue. The Israel Psychological Association appointed an expert committee, which listened to the testimonies of professionals, therapists and patients and issued the position paper."

According to Rabbi Yosef, the 291 men who testified that they had undergone conversion therapy were asked to elaborate on the damage they had suffered as a result. A faith crisis was mentioned by most respondents. They also reported experiencing long periods of depression requiring medication, self-hatred and low self-esteem, as well as sexual dysfunction.

Another interesting figure is that out of the 291 men who underwent therapy, 165 began leading a secular lifestyle. In addition, 94 were married but only 36 remained married. The rest got divorced or are in the process of a divorce.

Eighty-two percent of those whose testimonies reached Hod are affiliated with Religious Zionism, 10% belong to the haredi sector, 7% are national haredi and 1% are from the Hasidic sector.

'Professional is not a missionary'
Dr. Gabi Weil, who headed the expert committee, presented the position paper to the conference participants. According to Weil, a professional must not allow his personal values to affect the patient's future in terms of treatment.

"A professional is not a missionary," Weil said. "It's problematic when a therapist with modern views tries to convince his patient that his beliefs are obsolete and wrong, but it's as problematic when a therapist tells his patient that if he hasn’t 'changed' it's because he doesn't want it enough or something of the kind."

According to Weil, the patient must not be given false promises and that the dangers and possible results of such a treatment must be put on the table.

'Halachic vagueness'
Prof. Tuvia Peri of the Department of Psychology Department at Bar-Ilan University said that his stance toward religious homosexuals had changed. In the past he believed that most of them could get married, but "today I realize from my long years of experience that this way of thinking causes a lot of damage."

He added, however, that each way had its price and that an absolute solution for the problem of homosexuality in the religious society had yet to be found.

Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, who concluded the conference, said that the homosexual orientation issue was subject to halachic vagueness. According to Cherlow, a lot of progress has been made on the issue in recent years from a public and social aspect, but there is no room for conclusive statements on the issue.

Israeli rabbi praises Islamization of Europe

The reader will note that this rabbi who denounces "Christian" hypocrisy supports Islamization of Europ--as long as it doesn't harm Israel. Another backlog item, as reported by Kobi Nahshoni of Ynet News, November 11, 2012:

As concerns grow over the increasing number of Muslims in Europe, it appears not everyone is bothered by the issue, including an Israeli rabbi who even welcomes the phenomenon.

Rabbi Baruch Efrati, a yeshiva head and community rabbi in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, believes that the Islamization of Europe is actually a good thing.

"With the help of God, the gentiles there will adopt a healthier life with a lot of modesty and integrity, and not like the hypocritical Christianity which appears pure but is fundamentally corrupt," he explained.

Rabbi Efrati was asked to discuss the issue by an oriental studies student, who inquired on Judaism's stand toward the process Europe has been going through in recent years.

Following the election of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman as the mayor of the Bosnian city of Visoko for the first time in continent's history, the student asked the rabbi on the Kipa website: "How do we fight the Islamization of Europe and return it to the hands of Christians and moderates?"

Efrati wrote in response that the Islamization of Europe was better than a Christian Europe for ethical and theological reasons – as a punishment against Christians for persecuting the Jews and the fact that Christianity, as opposed to Islam, is considered "idolatry" from a halachic point of view.

"Jews should rejoice at the fact that Christian Europe is losing its identity as a punishment for what it did to us for the hundreds of years were in exile there," the rabbi explained as the ethical reason for favoring Muslims, quoting shocking descriptions from the Rishonim literature (written by leading rabbis who lived during the 11th to 15th centuries) about pogroms and mass murders committed by Christians against Jews.

"We will never forgive Europe's Christians for slaughtering millions of our children, women and elderly… Not just in the recent Holocaust, but throughout the generations, in a consistent manner which characterizes all factions of hypocritical Christianity…

"A now, Europe is losing its identity in favor of another people and another religion, and there will be no remnants and survivors from the impurity of Christianity, which shed a lot of blood it won't be able to atone for."

'Islam a relatively honest religion'
The theological reason, according to Rabbi Efrati, is that Christianity – which he sees as idolatry – has a tendency to "destroy normal life and abstain from it on the one hand, while losing modesty on the other hand," as it "ranges between radical monasticism to radical Western licentiousness."

Islam, the rabbi added, is "a religion which misjudges its prophets but is relatively honest. It educates a bit more for a stable life of marriage and creation, where there is certain modesty and respect for God."

Efrati ruled, therefore, that "even if we are in a major war with the region's Arabs over the Land of Israel, Islam is still much better as a gentile culture than Christianity."

He added, however, that Jews must pray that the Islamization of most of Europe will not harm the people of Israel.

Israeli Zionist organization claims that many of Israel's rabbis haven't passed a written exam

Another backlog item, as reported by Aviel Magnezi of Ynet News, November 9, 2012:

Religious-Zionist movement Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Chief Rabbinate on Wednesday, demanding that it set clear, equal and uniform criteria for the ordination of rabbis who have not taken written exams, particularly city rabbis.

The movement and its executive director, Shmuel Shattah, also requested that the public receive the names of all rabbis who have been given certification to serve as city rabbis without taking a written exam, from 1983 to this day.

The movement's representative, Attorney Aviad Hacohen, demanded that in the meantime the court issue an interim order prohibiting the Rabbinate to exempt applicants from taking written exams until the High Court delivers its ruling in regards to the petition.

'Fear of favorable treatment in exams'
The petition was filed in response to ordinations granted to rabbis who were not required to take written exams, according to the movement, "while practicing discrimination and arbitrariness, and seriously impairing the basic principle of equal opportunities and freedom of occupation for those planning to serve in the Rabbinate."

The movement argued that the Chief Rabbinate Council was ordaining its associates through this "loophole."

"Through this gate, which is wide open, enter not only righteous people and outstanding scholars – but sometimes also rabbis whose competence to serve is questionable… including rabbis who have failed exams," the petition stated.

According to information received by the petitioners, "Sometimes, the applicant receives the 'authorization' to serve as a rabbi within weeks or months - thanks to his personal connections rather than his skills."

The petitioners noted that "the shortcut" was designed in the first place for unusual cases, but soon became "the highway."

They noted that as far as they knew, since the State's establishment, dozens or even hundreds of rabbis have received a certification to serve in the Rabbinate – or as city rabbis – without being required to take these exams.

"In the absence of full transparency, the content of the exam, as well as its length and difficulty, are vague, creating serious concerns of favorable treatment," the petition stated.

The Rabbinate refuses to provide data on the number of applicants who pass the test, but according to information obtained by the petitioners, the number stands at about 100%, raising suspicions of unequal treatment in the oral exam. The refusal to publish criteria prevents proper criticism, the petition claimed.

Dr. Aviad Hacohen said after submitting the petition that "the defective practice of 'shortcuts' must end immediately, and every person applying to serve in the Rabbinate must be required to pass equal and similar exams."

According to Hacohen, "Every public leader – all the more so a rabbi in Israel – must make sure that there is no stain on his hands and that his skills, rather than his connections, will serve as the examination for his appointment.

"Taking a discriminatory policy toward certifications granted to rabbis impairs the basic value of equality, which is a key value both in democracy and in Jewish Law, and humiliates the rabbinical institution."

Finland's Jews advised not to wear skullcaps in public for fear of attacks

Another backlog item, as reported by Itamar Eichner of Ynet News, November 7, 2012:

Finland's Jewish community members have been advised not to wear a skullcap in public for fear of anti-Semitic attacks.

The recommendation was revealed by the security officer of the Jewish community in Helsinki in an interview to Yle, Finland's national public service broadcasting company in the Swedish language.

The security officer added that the community faced six to 10 anti-Semitic incidents a month.

Yaron Nadbornik, president of Helsinki's Jewish community, said in response that the advice was not issued by the community leaders but rather given by the security officer to several individuals in private conversations.

"The situation for Jews in Finland is vastly better than in other Nordic countries and has historically been very good. I personally walk to synagogue with a kippa regularly and have not felt or heard any kind of harassment," Nadbornik added.

Only 1,500 Jews live in Finland today, many of them descendants of the Jewish soldiers who served in the Russian army in Finland in the mid-19th century, when Finland was an autonomous grand duchy of the czarist empire.

The soldiers eventually gained the right to settle in the Nordic country and created basis for the Jewish community, establishing a synagogue in Helsinki in 1906. When Finland became independent in 1917, Jews were given full civil rights.

During World War II, Jews served along with Finns in the national army, fighting aggressions from both the Soviet Union and, later, Nazi Germany. Despite repeated pleas from one-time ally Germany, the Finnish government refused to take action against Jews or deprive their civil rights during the war.

Besides the Helsinki house of worship complete with Jewish school, there is also a synagogue in the western city of Turku, where some 200 Jews live.

U.S. anti-Semitism hits its lowest level in two decades, according to ADL

Another backlog item, as reported by Associated Press and David Shear of Ynet News, November 4, 2012:

Acts of anti-Semitism reported throughout the United States in 2011 were at their lowest in two decades, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.

The audit, released last week, shows a decline of 13% over the previous year with a total of 1,080 incidents reported, compared to 1,239 in 2010.

“It is encouraging that over the past five or six years we have seen a consistent decline in the number of anti-Semitic incidents across the country and that the numbers are now at a historic low,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director.

“To the extent that these incidents serve as a barometer, the decline shows that we have made progress as a society in confronting anti-Semitism and pushing it to the far fringes, making expressions of anti-Jewish hatred unacceptable.

"These declining numbers, while promising, must nevertheless be viewed in the context of other factors, including online expressions of anti-Semitism that are impossible to quantify and often go unchecked.”

Not surprisingly, the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported was higher in states with larger Jewish populations.

The top four states with reported incidents were California with 235; New York, with 195 incidents New Jersey, with 144 incidents in 2011, and Florida, with 111 incidents in 2011.

Bullying at schools
According to the audit, anti-Semitic incidents increased in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but decreased in other New England areas and nationwide.

Hate incidents aimed at Jewish people in Massachusetts increased from 64 in 2010 to 72 in 2011. In Connecticut, incidents increased from 38 to 43.

ADL's New England Regional Director Derrek Shulman said the Internet ‘‘has breathed new life’’ into destructive stereotypes about Jews.

Nationally, many reported incidents involved bullying at schools.

But ADL found hate incidents dropped in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, also posting a 9.5% national decline.

The organization uses crime statistics, and information from victims, law-enforcement officials and community leaders for the audit.

It identifies acts of harassment and intimidation, including threats, slurs and hate propaganda distribution.

This Zionist Israeli rabbi had no apparent influence on 2012 U.S. presidential election

Exit polls showed that 70% of American voters who identified themselves as Jewish voted for the re-election of White House occupant B. Hussein Obama in 2012, so they obviously weren't following the advice of this Israeli rabbi, as reported by Kobi Nahshoni of Ynet News, October 28, 2012:

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, one of the most prominent rabbis in Israel's Religious Zionism movement, believes that "every American citizen who believes in God and his prophets should vote for Mitt Romney."

In an unusual statement on US affairs, the rabbi argued that "the true friends of Israel" must be supported both in the presidential election and in the Congressional and Senate elections. According to Melamed, US President Barack Obama has proved that he does not fit that title.

In an article published in religious newspaper Besheva, Melamed wrote that American citizens had a great responsibility on their shoulders ahead of the elections, urging them to support a candidate who believes that "the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, just like God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Melamed, who serves as the rabbi of the Har Bracha settlement, explained that he was taking a stand in regards to the US elections because his weekly column in the newspaper was translated into English, published on the Internet and distributed to thousands of subscribers.

"One of the readers asked me to comment on the upcoming elections in order to encourage Israel's supporters to participate in the elections," he wrote, adding that Jewish Americans who immigrated to Israel must vote according to Israeli interests as "it is the moral thing to do."

'Obama a hostile president'
Rabbi Melamed went on to say that when Obama was elected president, he felt "elated" – like many others – and had tears in his eyes, but soon realized that he was one of the most hostile presidents to Israel.

Among the president's "sins", Melamed mentioned Obama's pressure on Israel to freeze construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – a move which the rabbi believes "put a curse" on the American people and their country.

Another "sin", according to Melamed, is Obama's response to the Arab Spring. According to the rabbi, encouraging popular uprisings in Arab countries – whether explicitly or by doing nothing to stop them – just because they were done in the name of democracy and freedom, put the entire world in danger.

The Israeli rabbi believes that strengthening these values in the Arab world, which is not ready for them culturally, led to the rise of the most radical and dangerous forces.

"The result is violence, chaos and bloodshed, as well as anger among the wide Muslim public, which feels Western countries are trying to impose a culture of lawlessness and permissiveness," he wrote.

Rabbi Melamed concluded by saying that "each and every citizen of the United States has a great responsibility on his shoulders. And as the Bible has taught us, the attitude towards the people of Israel is a way to measure the ethical stand of the world's nations and leaders.

"Therefore, there is room to take a stand in regards to the president and the Congress and Senate representatives according to their attitude toward Israel. Support those who back the Jewish people's return to their land and those who are against the Arabs seeking to rob us of our land."

Society of St. Pius X's leader expels Holocaust-denying Bishop--and then gets in trouble with his own comments on Jews

Another backlog item, as reported by Reuters, October 25, 2012:

A rebel Catholic traditionalist group has expelled British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, who deeply embarrassed the Vatican by denying the Holocaust shortly before he was readmitted to the Church three years ago.

The Swiss-based Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), whose four bishops were excommunicated from 1988 to 2009, said on Wednesday it took the step because Williamson had disobeyed his superiors.

Williamson, 72, an opponent of recent SSPX efforts to win full reintegration into the Church, caused an international uproar with his ultra-hardline views broadcast only days before the Vatican lifted the bans on him and three other bishops.

His presence in the SSPX leadership appeared to be a hurdle to any accord with the Vatican. But negotiations have broken down in any case so his departure may have little effect on the group's relations with Rome.

The statement said Williamson was excluded for "having distanced himself from the management and the government of the SSPX for several years and refusing to show due respect and obedience to his lawful superiors."

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) welcomed the step but said it was "too little, too late" to restore credibility to the SSPX, which it said had done little to combat anti-Semites in its ranks who consider Jews "the embodiment of the anti-Christ."

"This is a decision the SSPX leadership should have taken years ago," WJC President Ronald Lauder said. "The reasons now given for Williamson's dismissal do not mention the damage this man has caused by spreading invective against Jews and others."

The Vatican declined to comment on the SSPX statement, which said Williamson was excluded by the group on October 4.

The SSPX opposes modernizing reforms decided by the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. In his bid to end its schism, Pope Benedict has promoted the old Latin Mass the SSPX champions and lifted the excommunication bans on its bishops.

But talks aimed at creating a special status for the group within the Church have broken down because it has refused to accept the Council as legitimate, especially its recognition of other Christian denominations and Judaism as valid faiths.

Fined for publicly denying Holocaust
Williamson's denial of Holocaust gas chambers in a television interview in January 2009, just before the excommunication bans were lifted, sparked a wave of criticism from Catholics and Jews.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Vatican to distance itself from him. The Vatican ordered Williamson to recant his denial but he apologized only for any misunderstanding he had caused.

Soon after his interview, Argentina – where Williamson was head of an SSPX seminary at the time – asked him to leave the country and he returned to his native Britain.

A German court later fined Williamson for publicly denying the Holocaust took place, which is a crime in Germany.

The Williamson affair was also embarrassing because it showed how isolated the Vatican was in the Internet age.

In an unprecedented letter to Catholic bishops, Benedict admitted he did not know Williamson's far-right wing views despite the fact the bishop had published them on the Internet.

The Vatican would use the Internet more in future, he said.

Since that uproar, Williamson has sent emails regularly to his followers criticizing the society's efforts to reach an accord with the Vatican, despite an order by SSPX leader Bishop Bernard Fellay to remain silent.

It seems that Bishop Fellay should have followed his own orders--as reported by Tom Heneghan of Reuters, January 7, 2013:

Vatican City--The Vatican on Monday dismissed anti-Semitic comments by the head of a rebel Catholic traditionalist group, saying the Roman church did not see Jews as enemies.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the rebel Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), said last month that Jews were among those "who over centuries have been enemies of the Church".

Jewish support for the modernising reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council showed they were opposed to the Church, he said. The SSPX rejects the Council as a heretical event that betrayed age-old Catholic teaching and undermined the Church.

"It is impossible to speak of the Jews as enemies of the Church," Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said, stressing the Church position on this was "clear and well-known".

"The Church is deeply committed to dialogue with Jews," he added.

Fellay was among four SSPX bishops who were excommunicated from 1988 to 2009, when Pope Benedict reinstated them.

Talks between the SSPX and the Vatican to reintegrate them fully into Church structures ended in failure last year because the SSPX refused to accept Council reforms - including Rome's reconciliation with the Jews - as valid Catholic teaching.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, a Jewish human rights group, denounced Fellay's comments last week as a sign of "the deep-rooted anti-Semitism that lies at the heart of the SSPX's theology".

The Second Vatican Council "shifted the relationship between Catholics and Jews into a positive direction", it said.

One of the four excommunicated SSPX bishops was Richard Williamson, who deeply embarrassed the Vatican by denying the Holocaust on Swedish television only days before he and the others were reinstated by the Vatican.

He has since been expelled from the group and is fighting charges of Holocaust denial in a German court, which took up the case because the television interview was filmed in Germany.

Ultra-orthodox Israeli rabbi claims he has permission to use an iPhone--as other haredim smash smartphones

Another backlog item, as reported by Kobi Nahshoni of Ynet News, October 17, 2012:

While senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis are stepping up their war on smartphones and imposing personal sanctions on haredi Jews using the "forbidden device," one religious leader appears to have special privileges.

Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak says that prominent Lithuanian leader, Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, has given him and his followers permission to use iPhones "for repentance purposes".

Rabbi Yitzhak was asked to comment on the issue on the website of his "Shofar" organization, after pictures of him using a smartphone were posted on social networks and other websites.

The rabbi, famous for his involvement in activities which are centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant, referred to those who criticized him as "fools", likening them to people committing offenses against God.

The rabbi wrote in his response, "Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, may he live long and happily, is against iPhones and similar devices. Fools are asking, without knowing, how is it that Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak has an iPhone. It should be known that the most outstanding man of his time, the genius Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, has personally permitted the rabbi and his team to use iPhones for repentance purposes."

Smashing phones
As part of rabbis' war of smartphones, Porat Yosef Yeshiva head Rabbi Moshe Tzadka recently ordered a worshipper to smash his phone during a celebration of holiday of Simchat Torah.

Before the phone was broken, Rabbi Tzadka said it was a mitzvah of "Kiddush Hasem" and that performing it was like acting on the verse dealing with idolatry: "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones." (Deuteronomy 7:5)

After the phone owner broke the device in two with his hands, the rabbi called on the audience to repeat after him, "So may all your enemies perish, Lord!" (Judges 5: 31)

An "iPhone breaking event" was held several weeks ago at the Maayan Shalom Synagogue in Bnei Brak. The event was orchestrated by Rabbi Lior Glazer, who told his followers that "a religious person who owns this impure device is an abominable creature."

And this earlier report from Ynet News, October 10, 2012:

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis are stepping up their war on smartphones, using the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah as an excellent opportunity to prove just how serious they are.

On Monday evening, during the traditional singing and dancing with Torah scrolls at the Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem, yeshiva head Rabbi Moshe Tzadka ordered one of the worshippers to break his phone.

The Anash News website reported that immediately afterwards, the rabbi ordered anyone in need of salvation to receive a blessing from the man – as a sign that his spiritual level was higher after destroying the device.

Before the phone was broken, Rabbi Tzadka said it was a mitzvah of "Kiddush Hasem" (martyrdom) and that performing it was like acting on the verse dealing with idolatry: "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones." (Deuteronomy 7:5)

After the phone owner broke the device in two with his hands, the rabbi called on the audience to repeat after him, "So may all your enemies perish, Lord!" (Judges 5: 31)

iPhone worth NIS 10,000
Haredi news agency Kav Hahasifot ("Exposure Line") reported that in the yeshiva of Rabbi Shmuel Halevy Wosner, one of the prominent Hasidic rabbis, a donation was from one of the worshippers was refused after it was revealed that he owned a smartphone.

During Simchat Torah, some synagogues "sell" readings of the Torah to the highest bidder. One of the most prestigious readings is that of "all the youth", in which the person reading the Torah does it with all the children who have yet to reach their bar mitzvah.

According to the report, one of the worshippers at the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, headed by Rabbi Wosner, "bought" the reading of "all the youth" for a very respectable sum of NIS 10,000 (about $2,500).

Another worshipper, who heard about the purchase, rushed over to the yeshiva head's son and informed him that the buyer owns an iPhone. The son did not hesitate and immediately canceled the "purchase" and ruled that the Torah reading must be resold.

According to one of the synagogue goers, the buyer's pleas and explanations that he only uses the device for his work were completely ignored.

Dutch church official apologizes for commemorating the deaths of World War II German soldiers along with Holocaust victims

Some people just aren't ready for "reconciliation." File under "It probably seemed like a good idea at the time"--another backlog item, as reported by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 29, 2012:

THE HAGUE (JTA) -- A Netherlands church official apologized to a Jewish group for a memorial ceremony that commemorated Holocaust victims with soldiers who died fighting for Nazi Germany.

Rob Mutsaerts, a bishop from Den Bosch in the southern Netherlands, in a letter last week expressed his regret to the small Jewish organization JFN.

Mutsaerts apologized for a sermon delivered Oct. 20 in a church in nearby Geffen in which Pastor David van Dijk read out the names of German soldiers who died in Geffen during World War II along with the names of local Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.

“You are shocked, and those are feelings we cannot change,” Mutsaerts wrote . “We would like to extend our apologies for the pain and sorrow that the naming of all the names has unintentionally caused to Jews.”

Van Dijk’s sermon was delivered after city officials canceled the planned unveiling of a monument in Geffen displaying the names of the German Wehrmacht soldiers along with the Holocaust victims. All the names were removed from the monument following protests by Jewish organizations and individuals.

A Dutch rabbi, Wim van Dijk, demanded that the names of his relatives be removed from the monument.

The pastor read the names jointly in church as a sign of “reconciliation” shortly after the unveiling of the monument without the names.

Displaying the Israeli flag at a Copenhagen event celebrating "diversity" attracts the disapproval of the event's organizers

Another backlog item, as reported by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 29, 2012:

The organizers of a Copenhagen event celebrating diversity asked Danish Jews refrain from displaying the Israeli flag “for security reasons.”

The request came during preparations for the city-sponsored Mangfoldigheds festival held early last month, according to the Copenhagen-born Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof, former chairman of the European Union of Jewish Students.

The Danish Zionist Federation displayed the Israeli flags despite the requests. Several verbal confrontations occurred in front of the federation’s stand but they did not escalate into physical violence, Karpantschof wrote in a report for the website of CRIF, the umbrella organization of French Jews. Karpantschof said that “in reality, it [the request] was an attempt to block the group’s participation.”

Other groups also displayed country flags at the event, the Copenhagen Post reported, and had not been asked to refrain from displaying them.

One of the event organizers, Pernille Kjeldgaard, told the Post, “It is not that there is a flag policy. Specific associations were asked not to display their flags as a safety precaution.” His group, TaskForce Inklusion, had been tasked by the municipality to organize parts of the event.

Max Meyer, head of the Danish Zionist Federation, was quoted as saying, “It is a shame that one group is discriminated against, especially at a diversity celebration."

In the festival, participants were supposed to offer visitors food and culture connected with their ethnicity. The festival featured a Kurdish stall and three Palestinian organizations, Meyer wrote. Jews, Muslims and Christians shared one stall at the event.

It was the first time that the Danish Zionist Federation participated in the festival.

21st century technology confirms ancient date of Priestly Benediction scrolls

Another old, but still relevant item, as reported by John Noble Wilford in The New York Times, September 28, 2004:

The words are among the most familiar and ecumenical in the liturgies of Judaism and Christianity. At the close of a worship service, the rabbi, priest or pastor delivers, with only slight variations, the comforting and fortifying benediction:

"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace."

An archaeological discovery in 1979 revealed that the Priestly Benediction, as the verse from Numbers 6:24-26 is called, appeared to be the earliest biblical passage ever found in ancient artifacts. Two tiny strips of silver, each wound tightly like a miniature scroll and bearing the inscribed words, were uncovered in a tomb outside Jerusalem and initially dated from the late seventh or early sixth century B.C. - some 400 years before the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.

But doubts persisted. The silver was cracked and corroded, and many words and not a few whole lines in the faintly scratched inscriptions were unreadable. Some critics contended that the artifacts were from the third or second century B.C., and thus of less importance in establishing the antiquity of religious concepts and language that became part of the Hebrew Bible.

So researchers at the University of Southern California have now re-examined the inscriptions using new photographic and computer imaging techniques. The words still do not exactly leap off the silver. But the researchers said they could finally be "read fully and analyzed with far greater precision," and that they were indeed the earliest.

In a scholarly report published this month, the research team concluded that the improved reading of the inscriptions confirmed their greater antiquity. The script, the team wrote, is indeed from the period just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar and the subsequent exile of Israelites in Babylonia.

The researchers further reaffirmed that the scrolls "preserve the earliest known citations of texts also found in the Hebrew Bible and that they provide us with the earliest examples of confessional statements concerning Yahweh."

Some of the previously unreadable lines seemed to remove any doubt about the purpose of the silver scrolls: they were amulets. Unrolled, one amulet is nearly four inches long and an inch wide and the other an inch and a half long and about half an inch wide. The inscribed words, the researchers said, were "intended to provide a blessing that will be used to protect the wearer from some manner of evil forces."

It's a long article, so click on the links for pages 1, 2, and 3. The original papers mentioned in the article were The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation from Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 334 (May 2004), pp. 41-71; and The Challenges of Ketef Hinnom: Using Advanced Technologies to Reclaim the Earliest Biblical Texts and Their Context, Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 66 No. 4 (December 2003), pp. 162-171. Click on the links to see the full text.

Discovery of ancient cemetery reveals aspects of burial rituals of Syria's upper class

Yet another old, but still interesting, item, as reported by John Noble Wilford of The New York Times, October 24, 2006:

Six years ago, archaeologists uncovered a solitary, undisturbed tomb in the ruins of an ancient city in northern Syria. Now, in subsequent excavations, they have exposed seven more tombs at the site, making this the only known elite, possibly royal, cemetery in Syria in the Early Bronze Age, from about 2500 B.C. to 2200 B.C.

The discoverers said the tombs contain skeletons of adults and some infants and children, several of them embellished with jewelry of gold, silver and lapis lazuli. Of special interest, they said, was the evidence of ritual animal sacrifices, including the bones of puppies and decapitated donkeys.

“Animal sacrifices were certainly a big part of this culture,” said Glenn M. Schwartz of Johns Hopkins University, leader of the excavations. “Nowhere else in the region have we seen this elaborate example of animal sacrifices as part of burial rituals.”

Dr. Schwartz said in interviews last week that the signs of sacrifices, the wealth of the grave goods and the cemetery’s setting — at the highest place in the center of the community — signified the importance of the tombs in the society of one of the most ancient cities in Syria.

“I dare to call it a royal cemetery, but it definitely seems to be devoted to the burial and veneration of the most important people of that community,” he said.

The modern name of the ruins is Umm el-Marra, about 35 miles east of Aleppo and 200 miles northeast of Damascus. Scholars think this is the site of ancient Tuba, the capital of a small kingdom that thrived on the east-west trade route connecting Mesopotamia with Aleppo and ultimately the Mediterranean Sea. The world’s first urban centers rose centuries earlier in the lower valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as Mesopotamia in antiquity, now part of Iraq.

Tuba, west of the Euphrates, was probably allied with the more dominant city-state Ebla, where archaeologists in recent decades have uncovered remains of imposing architecture and a library filled with clay tablets bearing cuneiform texts on northern Syria’s economy and diplomacy in the middle of the third millennium B.C.

“The tombs are an extraordinary find,” said Richard L. Zettler, a University of Pennsylvania archaeologist who excavates other Bronze Age sites in Syria and is familiar with but not involved in the Umm el-Marra research.

Dr. Zettler said the explorations there should “give us insights into the local elites and the cultures of moderate-size towns of that period, places intermediate between the Eblas and the small settlements.”

The team led by Dr. Schwartz has been digging at Umm el-Marra since 1994. In addition to the tombs, the work has yielded the remains of houses, pottery kilns, metallurgy installation and fortification walls spread over at least 60 acres. But no ruins of a palace or a temple have yet come to light...

...An examination of pottery styles found in the tombs showed that they were built sequentially over three centuries, Dr. Schwartz said. The tombs, lined with mud bricks, were apparently dug into the ground but may have been partly above ground. These may have had vaulted roofs, the archaeologists said, but there is no evidence of stone superstructures.

The first tomb, discovered in 2000, is 12 feet long and 8 feet wide; the largest of the tombs is 30 feet by 15 feet.

The two oldest tombs, from about 2500 B.C., are just east of the original discovery site. They and a few others had been vandalized, probably in antiquity by succeeding leaders, acting to discourage further ritual honoring of the individuals buried there.

One of these earliest tombs, and the largest, held the bones of a man and an assortment of gold and silver toggle pins, and beads of lapis lazuli and gemstones. An unlooted tomb, from about 2400 B.C., was more lavish and had two burial levels.

Remains of two women and a man were found in the lower level, associated with gold and silver ornaments, ivory combs, furniture inlays of ostrich eggshells and many ceramic vessels. The upper level held the bones of a man, a woman and a child; next to the woman were silver diadems and seven silver vessels.

In five subterranean brick structures in the cemetery, archaeologists found skeletons of animals and, in some cases, of human infants, which raised some speculation that they may have been sacrificed along with the animals. Most of the animals were equids, members of the horse family like donkeys, onagers or a hybrid of the two. The bones of 27 individuals were found, with their decapitated skulls usually placed on nearby ledges. Two sets of three puppy skeletons were in the ruins.

Dr. Zettler said that animal sacrifice was unusual in these societies but not unknown. Equid breeding and exporting was vital to the economy of ancient Tuba. Donkeys, in particular, were highly prized.

“I suspect that the sacrifice of these equids in our tombs has something to do with their association with the highest rank of society,” Dr. Schwartz said. “It would be like a wealthy person today being buried with his or her Rolls-Royce.”

There's money to be made from catering to the Christian market in the U.S.A.

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:12-13

And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. John 2:13-16

Another backlog item, dated but still relevant, as reported by Barrie McKenna in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail, September 25, 2006:

It's Sunday and you have a little fender-bender in the church parking lot. No problem if you have FaithGuard - an insurance policy targeted at the nearly 150 million Americans who regularly go to church. There's no deductible as long as you're driving to your place of worship.

FaithGuard is the inspiration of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, one of the countless new ways Corporate America is targeting the swelling population of Evangelical Christians.

"There are risks in this, from an insurance point of view," acknowledged GuideOne president and chief executive officer Jim Wallace. "But if you can appeal to someone's way of life, you can make a real bond that will help the business stick."

It seems to be working. Guide-One has sold 60,000 FaithGuard policies since it launched the free add-on to its regular auto insurance coverage last year, many of them sold directly to parishioners at church.

Forget the image of the dusty old Christian book store. The business of selling to Christians has reached a whole new plane. And nothing, and everything, is sacred. Corporate America is finding religion - in music, movies, radio stations, banks, biblical theme parks, anti-abortion mutual funds, health clubs, and even faith-based towns.

"If you can target zip codes, you can target Christians," remarked Alan Wolfe, a political science professor at Boston College and director of the Boisi Center on Religion and American Public Life.

Christian subdivisions are sprouting up across the country, and at least one entire Catholic town is rising out of a farm field near the Florida Everglades. Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza Inc. and a devout Catholic, has pumped a chunk of his fortune into Ave Maria Town in Immokalee, Fla. The community will have 11,000 homes, its own schools (including a 5,000-student university) and, if Mr. Monaghan gets his way, porn-free television and drugstores that refuse to sell contraceptives.

For investors, there are now dozens of faith-based mutual funds to choose from, including ones that shun companies linked to abortion and pornography or that offer employee benefits to unwed partners.

Last week, Hollywood got into the act. Following in the footsteps of major publishers and recording labels, News Corp. unveiled FoxFaith, a division devoted to producing as many as a dozen Christian films a year.

"We're in the business of entertainment, not proselytizing," explained Jeff Yordy, FoxFaith's vice-president of marketing. "We simply recognized that there was a hugely underserved audience and seized the opportunity."

News Corp. and the others are chasing a surprisingly large market.

According to a sweeping new study by Baylor University - American Piety in the 21st Century - one-third of Americans, or 100 million people, now identify themselves as Evangelical Protestants. Half of all Americans go to church at least once a month, and 85 to 90 per cent say they believe in God.

The market for Christian products - including books, movies and music - is worth $7.5-billion (U.S.) a year and is growing much faster than overall retail sales, according to Packaged Facts. The market for services may be even larger. And the most fervent consumers are Evangelicals, 54 per cent of whom spend at least $50 a month on Christian products.

But it isn't just the scale of the market that has Madison Ave. saying Hail Mary. Prof. Wolfe said Evangelicals themselves are embracing the notion that they are a powerful subculture...

..."After 9/11, people are beginning to realize that life isn't just fun and games," agreed Dan Hayden, executive director of the Holy Land Experience, a 15-acre, $16-million theme park in Orlando, Fla. "They're looking for meaning that knowledge of God brings."

At Holy Land, the quest for knowledge comes in the form of daily live re-enactments of the crucifixion, plus scale models of Jerusalem, Herod's Temple and Christ's tomb. The park was opened in 2001 to capitalize on the tens of millions of tourists who flock to nearby Disney World every year. Mr. Hayden said it's now becoming a destination in its own right for faith-based tour groups, drawing more than 200,000 visitors a year.

"We thought that if we put flesh and blood on biblical stories, it would be a way to capture the interest of people," he explained.

Prof. Wolfe of Boston College warned that selling exclusively to Christians runs counter to the principles of mass marketing.

"You can live in a Christian community, send your kids to Christian schools, watch Christian movies and vacation at Christian resorts - even get your hair cut in a Christian barber shop," Mr. Wolfe said.

"You never leave that world. If I worry about it, it's because it's exclusionary, and a good society should bring people together."

Mr. Wallace of GuideOne Insurance insisted that's not the case with FaithGuard. Three-quarters of its customers may be regular churchgoers, but the policy is open to all.

And the faithful have been good business - just 115 claims so far.

175 years ago: Joseph Smith and his followers flee Ohio after bank collapse

On January 12, 1838, Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints leader Joseph Smith and his followers fled Kirtland, Ohio to avoid arrest persecution by angry investors after a bank founded by Mr. Smith had failed during the Panic of 1837. The Mormons' next stop was in Missouri.