Secular reporters following Mitt Romney's presidential campaign seem unaware of the significance of Mormon communion, while a Mormon reporter presents a half-truthful picture

Dishonesty and deception are among the characteristics of a cult. A cult typically isn't up front with outsiders about its beliefs and practices and tries to deceive people about them. When Mitt Romney, presumptive 2012 Republican party candidate for President of the United States, participated in a communion ceremony in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, there were observers from the media present. While Michael Barbaro and Ashley Parker reported the details in The New York Times on August 19, 2012, they failed to note their significance:

BOSTON — Mitt Romney read Scripture from his iPad as he juggled his 2-year-old grandson on his lap.

He made sure to accept a small piece of white bread and cup of water, representing the flesh and blood of Jesus, from a member of the clergy who looked like he was about to accidentally pass him by.

A reporter who is aware of the significance of Mormon communion chose to present a false picture. McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed is a Mormon who has been following Mr. Romney along the campaign trail, and attended the same service as the New York Times reporters. Here's how he reported it for BuzzFeed on August 19, 2012:

WOLFEBORO, N.H — A little after 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Mitt Romney got out of a black SUV with his wife, greeted a couple in the parking lot, and walked into a Mormon chapel to take their seats with a small congregation of wealthy vacationers and native New Hampshirites.

And I followed him in.

As a member of Romney's traveling press corps, I've followed the candidate across the country over the past eight months. I'm also a fellow Mormon, and I've written thousands of words along the way about how our shared religion seems to be shaping his candidacy. But until today, I had never actually sat in the same chapel as him, sung the same hymns with him, and said "Amen" to the same prayers as him.

It's an experience I wasn't sure I'd ever have. For all his private devotion, Romney has refused to engage even the most innocuous questions about his faith, arguing that discussion of Mormonism should have no place in 2012's recession-worn public square. I've often wondered why the candidate insists on keeping one of the most meaningful — and humanizing — aspects of his life hidden from public view; what it was about the fundamentally un-exotic Mormon experience that he was so afraid to share.

My chance to find out came Sunday with BuzzFeed's turn in the recently-formed "protective pool," a rotating group of reporters who follow Romney everywhere he goes and file short dispatches to the rest of the press describing the candidate's schedule. As luck would have it, my turn on pool duty happened to align with the pool's first trip to church with the candidate.

Shortly after entering the chapel, Mitt and Ann filed into an aisle with their son Tagg, his wife, and their six children, while a handful of reporters took seats in the back of the chapel. As my colleagues surveyed their unremarkable surroundings, they commented on how unremarkable it all looked: a generic high-ceilinged room full of nondescript parishioners.

What I saw, though, was a slice of Mormon Americana — a buffet of congregational quirks that any Latter-day Saint would recognize.

After a couple of hymns, including one titled "He Died, the Great Redeemer Died," a gaggle of teenage boys in white shirts and ties walked down the aisles passing out trays of bread and water that symbolize the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. When one of the boys accidentally moved on before the tray got to Romney, Tagg gestured for him to return. The candidate quietly partook in the ordinance, which represents repentance for past sins and a renewed commitment to avoid them in the future. It's a key tenet of Mormonism — this notion of constant spiritual course-correction — and a campaign aide would later tell me that, wherever Romney finds himself on Sundays, he tries to attend a Mormon Sacrament meeting.

When it came to his report for the press pool, Mr. Coppins, said this, as quoted by The New York Times blog The Caucus on August 19, 2012:

After a second hymn, “He died, the great redeemer died,” young men clad in white shirts and ties passed out the sacrament — small pieces of white bread and cups of water that symbolize the flesh and blood of Jesus, similar to Catholic communion. Taking the sacrament is a sign of repentance for sins committed in the past and a commitment to follow the commandments in the future.

The half-truth of this picture is the part about "a commitment to follow the commandments in the future." Indeed, that's what Mormonism is all about--a religion of salvation by human merit (bold inserted by blogger):

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23

But of course, there's no such thing as "grace, after all we can do;" it's either one or the other:

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11:6

Mr. McCoppins, however, presents a deceptive picture when he says that Mormon communion is similar to Catholic communion. In Roman Catholic communion, there is a belief in transubtantiation--accurately termed by the Church of England in Article XXXI of its Thirty-Nine Articles as "blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits"--wherein the priest performs a miracle and turns the bread and wine (not water) into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. Bible-believing churches use bread and wine or grape juice, with the fruit of the vine symbolizing the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross as the payment of the penalty imposed by God for our sins:

And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Mark 14:22-25

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

Associated Press reporter Kasie Hunt also seems to have been misled regarding Mormon communion. She reported on July 2, 2012:

Romney's campaign doesn't tell reporters when Romney is going to church. But the Wolfeboro branch is open to visitors and an Associated Press reporter attended the same sacrament service the Romney family attended. It featured bread with water instead of wine, a variation on communion that allows for the Mormon prohibition on drinking alcohol.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' use of water instead of wine or grape juice in communion has nothing to do with prohibition on alcohol (if they don't want to use alcohol, they can always use grape juice), and everything to do with the Mormons' hatred of the symbolism of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for our sins, as stated succinctly by Ed Decker and Dave Hunt:

Mormonism teaches and practices…that Latter-Day Saints must prove their worthiness and earn eternal life by obedience to thousands of laws and ordinances, and repetitive performances of secret Temple rituals. This is because Mormonism denies that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died for our sins and thereby purchased eternal life to be given as a free gift of God’s grace to all who receive Him by faith. Because they reject the full value of Christ’s blood poured out in death for sin on the cross, Mormons take bread and water at their communion services instead of bread and wine (or grape juice) as Christ commanded; and they display no cross inside or outside their chapels and Temples, but do display many Masonic and other occult symbols. Mormons have an almost fanatical aversion to the cross and shed blood of Jesus Christ. Ed Decker & Dave Hunt, The God Makers, 1984, p. 136

Two Armstrongs

In what may be an example in microcosm of the decline of western society, two white American males with the surname Armstrong have been in the news over the last few days. The one born in 1971 pretends to be a hero; the one born in 1930 actually was a hero.

50 years ago: Anglican Church of Canada adopts new Book of Common Prayer

On August 23, 1962, more than 300 clergy and laymen at the 21st General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, meeting in Kingston, Ontario, voted unanimously to adopt a new Book of Common Prayer. The new book had been unanimously approved at the 1959 General Synod, but the move could not take effect until there was unanimous approval at two consecutive general synods.

As reported by Canadian Press in newspapers on August 24, 1962:

The revision began in 1943. Publication of a draft work in 1955 produced a burst of controversy and prompted more than 1,200 letters to the committee from churches across Canada.

...The book in general use now is a 1918 revision of the 1662 version.

The present revision, bringing some language and ideas up to date and reorganizing the layout for easier use by worshippers, also restores some liturgy from versions dating from the middle of the 16th century.

Two old anthems for use at communion have been revived from earlier versions in the new book.

The revised funeral service includes for the first time a place for reference to the deceased by name.

The 1962 Book of Common Prayer is now mainly used by traditionalist Anglicans who have broken away from the Anglican Church of Canada because of the ACC's increasing liberalism. The Anglican Church of Canada published the Book of Alternative Services in 1985, and that's the main liturgical text in use by the ACC today.
A discerning reader will see that "alternative" in the BAS's title really means "alternative to biblical Christianity."

United Church of Canada elects its first openly sodomite moderator

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32


It comes as no surprise to this blogger. As reported by Don Butler of the Ottawa Citizen, August 16, 2012:

OTTAWA — In a historic vote, the United Church of Canada has elected its first openly gay moderator.

After six ballots and nearly eight hours of voting at the church’s 41st general council in Ottawa Thursday, Rev. Gary Paterson emerged from a record field of 15 candidates to win the top job at Canada’s largest Protestant church. He is thought to be the first openly gay person to head any mainstream Christian denomination.

The 350 voting commissioners at the general council greeted the announcement with cheers and a prolonged standing ovation, and quickly voted to make Paterson’s election unanimous.

“I am so humbled by the trust and the responsibility you have placed in my hands,” Paterson told them.

The moderator, who is paid between $119,000 and $135,000 a year, is the presiding officer at meetings of the church’s general council and executive, and is viewed as its principal spokesperson. Paterson will be formally installed in the role for a three-year term Saturday, succeeding the current moderator, Mardi Tindal.

At a news conference following his election, Paterson acknowledged the historic nature of his election. “Among main line denominations, as far as I know this is probably a first,” he said. But he added that he was heartened that his sexuality had been a non-issue with those who voted for the new moderator. “

“I would suspect that that’s the primary news story. What some denominations or some parts of the world see as a huge dilemma or problem has not, within our immediate community here, been seen that way at all.”

Having an openly gay person as moderator “is good news,” he said. “I see the possibility for so many young people who may still be struggling with their orientation being able to look up and see role models.”

For some denominations, his election “will be problematic. I’m particularly aware that some denominations in what you would call the developing world will have very serious questions. I think we need to be in dialogue, that my very presence will in some ways force the issue.”

But Paterson said he wouldn’t want his sexuality to become the centrepiece of his time as moderator. “I sure hope it is not the central issue my being a moderator, because I think there are huge issues that we are called to address,” he said.

An “army brat” who was born in the Yukon in 1949, Paterson has served as minister of three Vancouver churches: First United, in the city’s Downtown Eastside; Ryerson United, a large suburban congregation; and St. Andrew’s-Wesley, a cathedral-like church in Vancouver’s downtown, where he currently presides.

The United Church was the first mainstream church in Canada to allow the ordination of gay ministers. In 1988, the church’s general council declared that everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of sexual orientation, was welcome in the church, and all members are “eligible to be considered for ordered ministry.”

The decision was bitterly opposed by the church’s more conservative members, many of whom subsequently left the church.

In 1992, the United Church ordained Tim Stevenson, currently a Vancouver city councillor, as its first openly gay minister. Today, the church boasts many gay and lesbian ministers, and the issue is no longer contentious for most United Church members.

Paterson is married to Stevenson, who has been his partner for 30 years. After the election results were announced, Stevenson joined Paterson on the Dias and the two embraced as attendees cheered and applauded.

Paterson, who has been an ordained minister for 35 years, also has three daughters from his first marriage, now all in their 30s.

Paterson was only one of three openly gay candidates for the moderator’s job. The other two were eliminated early, as was Rev. Tom Sherwood, an Ottawa minister who served as Carleton University’s ecumenical chaplain from 1999 to 2009.

He takes office at a difficult time for the United Church, which is dealing with a steep decline in membership, aging congregations and ministers, and an accelerating financial crisis.

During this week’s meeting, there was consensus that wrenching changes lie ahead, including the closure of more churches, program and staff cuts and new forms of ministry.

Paterson addressed the church’s difficulties at his news conference.

“I’ve heard from so many individuals that they’re worried or they’re feeling a lack of hope,” he said. “The role of the moderator is someone who can bring inspiration and hope. We will find our way through. We will be changed and we will be faithful.”

25 years ago: The Moronic Harmonic Convergence attempts to accelerate the inauguration of the New Age

On August 16-17 1987, the Harmonic Convergence, the world's first globally synchronized meditation event, took place at approximately 200 sites throughout the United States and about 50 more around the world, with an untold number of participants. The event was organized by José Argüelles, founder of the Whole Earth Festival and one of the originators of Earth Day. It was believed that spiritual energy was particularly strong at "power centres" such as Mount Shasta in California and Mount Fuji in Japan, and that if 144,000 people gathered at these power centres and meditated for peace, it would speed the arrival of the New Age.

The timing of the Harmonic Convergence was allegedly based on the Mayan calendar, and marked an alignment of the sun, moon, and six of the eight other planets. According to one New Age site:

While many saw it as an end in itself, the opening to the New Age, in actuality the event was the fulfillment of an ancient Mexican prophecy, announcing the conclusion of a major cycle of 1,144 years, and the beginning of a final transitional period of 25 years.

This 25-year cycle – the time of prophecy – spans the period between 16 August 1987 and 21 December 2012. This now widely publicized date marks the Closing of the Cycle, the last day of the Mayan Great Cycle of 5,125 years or thirteen baktuns of 144,000 days each – a total of 1,872,000 days. This cycle effectively encompasses the cycle of history; from its beginning at 3113 BC to its conclusion, in 2012 AD.

The basis of the original Harmonic Convergence event and the cause of its success and positive effect on the world were in the principle of synchronized global meditation.

Timed to occur at sunrise, wherever that might occur on the planet, not only were people synchronized in their particular time zones, but as the planet made one rotation on its axis, every point of sunrise was synchronized in a slow motion sweep around the Earth.

The point of the synchronization was two-fold: to establish a common unified field of mind and intention, and secondly to create a type of mental network or field around the planet over a period of two days – a proto-noosphere.

The 1987 Harmonic Convergence also coincided with the 10th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Elvis's movies were being shown on television that weekend, and his songs were widely played on radio, so I associated that anniversary with the Harmonic Convergence. When the King of Rock and Roll failed to come back from the dead and nothing dramatic happened, the Harmonic Convergence was widely ridiculed (see, for example, Moronic Convergence: The moral and spiritual emptiness of New Age by Richard Blow, The New Republic, Vol. 198 No. 4, January 25, 1988, pp. 24-27). However, when the INF Treaty--which abolished an entire category of nuclear weapons--came into effect in 1988, and the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union began to fall apart toward the end of 1989, some New Age proponents claimed that the Harmonic Convergence had helped to bring about a more peaceful world. This spiritual power seems to have largely dissipated since September 11, 2001, but the New Agers still have a few months to go to complete their activities in the Harmonic Convergence of 2012:

Against this backdrop and in the midst of a growing foreboding and anxiety concerning the 2012 date, the call is made for the conclusion to the 25-year time of prophecy, the Harmonic Convergence of 2012. While the first Harmonic Convergence was a two-day event, the Harmonic Convergence of 2012 spans the year, from 1 January to 21 December 2012.

The essence of the concluding Harmonic Convergence will consist of two concurrent cycles of synchronized meditations: a thirteen-day cycle and a seven-day cycle. There are also special synchronized meditations for certain key event points such as the Venus Transit, Crystal 8 (June 6, 2012) and Harmonic Convergence of 2012, Magnetic 22-23 (August 16-17, 2012), etc.

God, of course, is working according to his own schedule, which may not necessarily be in accord with the harmonic Convergence. A sidelight of the 1987 event involved a break-in, resulting in much damage from vandalism, at Gryphon Books, a New Age store on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton. None of the psychics at the store foresaw the attack on their business, although they were aware that it was a location of strange spiritual phenomena. The 2012 Harmonic Convergence has been forced to proceed without any participation from Gryphon Books, which has been out of business for many years.

20 years ago: The death of John Cage

On August 12, 1992, American composer John Cage died at the age of 79, just a few weeks short of 80. Mr. Cage was known for “compositions” such as 4’33” (four minutes, thirty-three seconds) (1952) that illustrated his belief in the existence of an impersonal universe and blind chance, rather than an infinite and personal God. American musicologist and critic Sigmund Spaeth, in his book The Art of Enjoying Music (1949), defined music as “the organization of sound toward beauty,” thereby implying that there is such a thing as beauty that we can appreciate. Mr. Cage’s “compositions” wouldn’t qualify as music according to Mr. Spaeth’s definition.

Francis Schaeffer, in his book The God Who is There (1968), devoted several pages to Mr. Cage as an example of modern mysticism:

If God exists and we are made in His image we can have real meaning, and we can have real knowledge through what He has communicated to us. If this is taken away we are left only with man and his finite self-expression. At his point all one has is the expression of the individual man. But Cage quite logically sees that this will not do, and so he carries man’s dilemma further, smashes self-expression and leaves chance speaking. This is the basis of his music…

…Back in the Chinese culture long ago the Chinese had worked out a system of tossing coins or yarrow sticks by means of which the spirits would speak. The complicated method which they developed made sure that the person doing the tossing could not allow his own personality to intervene. Self-expression was eliminated so that the spirits could speak.

Cage picks up this same system and uses it. He too seeks to get rid of any individual expression in his music. But there is a very great difference. As far as Cage is concerned there is nobody there to speak. There is only an impersonal universe speaking through blind chance.

Cage began to compose his music through the tossing of coins. It is said that for some of his pieces lasting only twenty minutes he has tossed the coin thousands of times. This is pure chance, but apparently not pure enough; he wanted still more chance. So he devised a mechanical conductor. It was a machine working on cams, the motion of which cannot be determined ahead of time, and the musicians just followed this. Or as an alternative to this, sometimes he employed two conductors who could not see each other, both conducting simultaneously; anything, in fact, to produce pure chance. But in Cage’s universe nothing comes through in the music except noise and confusion or total silence. All this is below the line of anthropology. Above the line there is nothing personal, only the philosophic other, or the impersonal everything.

There is a story that once, after the musicians had played Cage’s total chance music, as he was bowing to acknowledge the applause, there was a noise behind him. He thought it sounded like steam escaping from somewhere, but then to his dismay realised it was the musicians behind him who were hissing. Often his works have been booed. However, when the audience boos at him they are, if they are modern men, in reality booing the logical conclusion of their own position as it strikes their ears in music.

Cage himself, however, even though he continues to compose such chance music, is another example of a man who cannot live with his own conclusions. He says that the truth about the universe is a totally chance situation. You must live with it and listen to it; cry if you must, swear if you must, but listen and go on listening.

(pp. 71-73)
Mr. Schaeffer then quotes from a profile of Mr. Cage by Calvin Tomkins in the November 28, 1964 issue of The New Yorker where it states that Mr. Cage had become so interested in the mushrooms growing near his home that he had become one of the best mycologists in the United States. Mr. Cage admitted that when it came to identifying mushrooms, he couldn’t approach them according to his ideas of chance, because it would kill him. Mr. Schaeffer comments:

In other words, here is a man who is trying to teach the world what the universe intrinsically is and what the real philosophy of life is, and yet he cannot even apply it to picking mushrooms. If he were to go out into the woods and begin picking mushrooms by chance, within a couple of days there would be no Cage!

We have said before that the ideas of modern man are destroying what man is himself. But not only that, their views cut right across what the existence of the form and structure of the external universe would indicate as well. As we see in the dilemma of Cage and his mushrooms, they cannot live on the basis of a consistent application of their views in regard to the universe, any more than they can in regard to man.

However, while Cage is forced into a hopeless dichotomy with his mushrooms, with his music he has continued to live consistently with is position, even though his music is nothing more than noise or silence. He has resisted the pressure to dress up impersonal Being in connotation words or sounds. Most modern men have not had this much courage.

(p. 74)

United Methodist pastor in Dallas observes Ramadan

Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: Jeremiah 10:2-3a

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:16-18

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:
“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:20-23 (NIV)

As reported by Muslim commentator Dina Malki of Examiner.com, July 29, 2012 (links in original):

United Methodist Rev. Wess Magruder has not only decided to observe the Ramadan fast this year with his Muslim friends, blog about his experience, but break his fast with Muslims as well. Last night, Magruder accepted the invitation of a local Muslim to eat “iftar,” the fast-breaking meal at the McKinney Islamic Association. Having succeeded in fasting from sunrise till sunset for eight consecutive days, the pastor appreciated God's grace in this communal meal. Most importantly, this celebration reminded him of the main reason why he had decided to fast: neighborly love.

Magruder writes on his blog how he has been feeling spiritually stale lately and how he was yearning to the old Christian fast that he believes Americans are not big fans of. Therefore, Magruder turned to the Muslim faith for inspiration since he knew that Muslims have successfully been fasting for 30 days each year during Ramadan for over fourteen hundred years. The Muslim fast is a total abstention from eating and drinking during the daylight hours. Furthermore, the fast goes beyond the stomach to include the eyes, the tongue, the ears, and all limbs which are expected to be trained to submit to the pleasure of God by refraining from ill manners and moral vice. A few Muslims succeed in attaining a heart-fast where they become spiritually submissive to the divine as well.

Thus, Magruder’s blog includes a lot of comparative religion as well as spiritual efforts for a quest for the Divine. "I feel a constant “buzz” [during the fast] in my head," he wrote. "This buzz serves a useful purpose, by the way. It keeps me conscious of God, of God’s presence, of God’s will that is bursting to become real in the world. And so when something else isn’t going on in front of me, the buzz reminds me to speak to God."

Another main reason that the pastor took on the Muslim fast is his Christian ethics of loving God and loving neighbors. “But there’s another reason that I have chosen to ‘act like a Muslim’ over the next thirty days. I truly want to stand in solidarity with my friend, [Imam Sheikh] Yaseen, and his congregation in Plano. I want them to know that I do not resent their presence in my community and country. In fact, I am very glad that they are here.” (The New MethoFesto)

Not realizing what his blogging experience might trigger, Rev. Magruder woke up on July 26, the seventh day of Ramadan, to a flooded email inbox with comments from his blog. His blog posts have been picked up by local Muslims and Christians as well as by nation-wide readers who sent words of encouragement, advice, and support. The Huffington Post Ramadan Liveblog even included his posts. “I am overwhelmed by the response,” Magruder wrote.

Most Muslim commentators gave the pastor “high fives,” advice on surviving the fast, and thank you notes for sharing the experience online. One particular reader, Osman, invited Magruder to the break-fasting meal at the McKinney mosque mentioned earlier.

It's obvious from Pastor Magruder's blog posts that he doesn't understand the grace of God as revealed through His Son Jesus Christ's death on the cross to pay the full penalty for our sins. Like the Israelites in Jeremiah's day who worshipped the true God in the Temple and then worshipped false gods in pagan temples, Pastor Magruder seems to think that it's okay to worship God in a mosque as well as a supposedly Christian church. What an abomination.

When it comes to hypocrisy, Pastor Magruder takes a back seat to no one. Here is what he says about fasting:

9. Fast like Jesus – simply and privately (Matthew 6:16-18). Jesus assumes that we fast. His instructions about fasting begin with the phrase, “And whenever you fast.” That means we should be fasting.

This is one spiritual discipline that United Methodists in America fail to exercise on a consistent basis. It’s probably because we are programmed to consume. We don’t comprehend how to go without, and therefore, don’t correlate “going without” with spiritual growth.

I believe that fasting is the one thing that we United Methodists in America need the most. We have to develop this practice, and learn the discipline of abstaining from things, from prosperity, from greed, from acquisition, from capitalism.

I will learn to fast.

If Pastor Magruder really believes in fasting privately, why is he then going public about his fasting during Ramadan here, here, here?
Despite Pastor Magruder's complaint of the lack of instruction on fasting in his United Methodist tradition, there's nothing to prevent him from fasting as a Christian. If he has to undertake a Muslim fast to grow closer to God, he is spiritually dry indeed. And as the passage cited above in Colossians states, there's nothing in this kind of spititual practice that has any "value in restraining sensual indulgence" (or, as the King James Version puts it, "honour to the satisfying of the flesh"), whether it be done by Muslims, liberal pseudo-Christian "pastors," or those practicing contemplative spirituality in Emerging or Evangelical churches.

British court allows a 10-year-old Jewish girl to be baptized as a Christian

It's interesting to note that a Jewish mother's opposition to her daughter's baptism in Britain is being fought in the courts. Imagine what the reaction would be if it were a parent from a Muslim background who had become a Christian and desired to have a child baptized. As reported by Jennifer Lipman of the London newspaper The Jewish Chronicle, August 3, 2012:

A ten-year-old child in Essex has been given permission by a judge to convert to Christianity against her Jewish mother's wishes.

Both parents of the girl, who cannot be named, are Jewish. But after the marriage soured, her father converted to Christianity and his children, the girl and a younger brother, could now do the same.

He already takes them to church every other weekend, which the mother has agreed to, but in November she applied for a court order to prevent the father from having the girl baptised, at least until she is 16. The court heard that the girl herself had asked to be baptised and that the father initially doubted that she was serious.

The judge at Romford County Court has now written to the girl giving her permission.

Judge John Platt told the child: "Your father thinks it is right for you to be baptised as a Christian now. Your mother wants you to wait until you are older, so they have asked me to decide for them. That is my job."

He said he had decided that "the best thing" for her would be to be allowed to start baptism classes as soon as they could be arranged "and that you are baptised as a Christian as soon as your minister feels you are ready".

But he added: "Being baptised does not mean that you give up your Jewish heritage. That will always be part of you and I hope that you will continue to learn more about that heritage."

The court heard a written submission from Chabad rabbi Odom Brandman, who said the case was "extremely disturbing".

"In Judaism we don't encourage conversion either way as it is unnatural for a person to change the religion they are born into and which thus is ingrained in their soul in a deep way. Although conversions are performed they must be worked at over a number of years when a real change can realistically take place. It is unfair to any child to put them under this pressure and to do something unnatural to their soul."

The child's grandparents said the father was forcing their granddaughter to give up her Jewish heritage.

The judge's decision does not mean the baptism will go ahead, but it stops the mother from preventing it via the courts.

Edmonton's Urban Sanctuary offers four days of instruction in spiritual formation--for only $325

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. II Peter 1:3 (NIV)

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. II Peter 2:1-3

For background information on spiritual formation, I recommend searching under the terms "spritual formation" and "spiritual disciplines" at Critical Issues Commentary (look for printed material and radio broadcasts); Kjos Ministries; Lighthouse Trails Research Project; and Herescope. Spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation are advocated by those who believe that there are techniques or practices that Christians can employ that will enable them to live above the level of "ordinary" Christian existence. As II Peter 1:3 states, however, we already have everything we need for a godly life, and Peter didn't include spiritual disciplines or spiritual formation among the "everything."

Urban Sanctuary, affiliated with Larry Crabb's New Way Ministries, is Edmonton, Alberta's leading centre for the teaching of spiritual formation. Its latest event is a four-day workshop titled Biblical and Historical Foundations of Spiritual Formation (registration link deleted by blogger):

"Spiritual Formation" has come into its own ... at least as a Google search term.

Just type "spiritual formation" into your search engine and you will find pages and pages of websites and online articles referring to it in some way or another, plus a couple of handfuls of related searches. You can even go to Christianity today and other well known magazines and find, again, pages and pages of articles referenceing "spiritual formation." And, as with most popular search terms, you can also find controversy. Some say spiritual formation is essential to life in Christ, others claim it is unbiblical and a return to works righteousness.

Many pastors, church leaders, and christians in general are unsure what to think about spiritual formation. On the one hand they identify with statements like this, which speak of a need for a new look at spiritual maturity:
Our world today cries out for a theology of spiritual growth that has been proven to work in the midst of the harsh realities of daily life. Sadly, many have simply given up on the possibility of growth in character formation.
Vast numbers of well-intended folk have exhausted themselves in church work and discovered that this did not substantively change their lives. They found that they were just as impatient and egocentric and fearful as when they began lifting the heavy load of church work. Maybe more so. (Richard Foster, The Spiritual Formation Agenda, February 4, 2009)

But, on the otherhand, they are not interested in a new direction or teaching that doesn't have a firm place both in the Bible and in Christian history, including Protestant Christian history.

The goal of this seminar is to address the place of spiritual maturity and spiritual formation, as it is defined in our day, both in the Bible and in the lives of Christ followers throughout the centuries. It is a seminar for pastors, church leaders, and all those who want to find out more about spiritual formation and the place it has in our lives as Christians.

Dates and Times:

August 13 – 16, 2012 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.,

Location : Urban Sanctuary

Cost: $325, lunch is provided each day

Sound interesting but you can't make if for the whole time? You can also come half-time for $150 (Lunch not included)...
•Mornings - Biblical Foundations of Spiritual Formation
•Or Afternoons - Historical Foundations of Spiritual Formation

On the page of Urban Sanctuary's website titled Our Vision, you read:

Our goal is to send people back into the Body after being brought to a place of maturity and to stimulate the Body to a new way of thinking (spiritual theology), a new way of living ( the hope of sanctification) and a new way of relating (loving deeply)...

...We desperately want to keep that flame alive and so feel that our mission is to safeguard and teach an understanding and practice of spirituality that once marked evangelical churches over a hundred years ago...

...We feel a revolution must take place to recover the power of sanctification in the life of a Christian. We need a Biblical theology of spirituality, a practical knowledge of the spiritual journey and a humbleness to learn and help each other in the journey.

Urban Sanctuary talks about "biblical theology of spirituality," while encouraging practices that aren't found in the Bible (and I hardly need mention that evangelical churches "over a hundred years ago" didn't engage in the spiritual activities promoted by Urban Sanctuary, but were opposed to them). Please keep in mind that Urban Sanctuary charges a hefty fee--$325 for 4 daytime sessions--in order to help others in "practical knowledge of the spiritual journey."

Urban Sanctuary apparently sees no irony in charging people over $80 per day for spiritual growth, while affirming "sustainability" as one of its values:

We will work, both corporately and privately, so that we will not be a burden to the body of Christ. This will involve living a simple lifestyle and learning skills that can support us financially.

At $325 per person for a 4-day workshop (and they don't even give you lunch if you go only for half-day sessions), it seems that some people are being asked to fork over a lot of money in order to help Urban Sanctuary maintain its "simple lifestyle." In this respect, Urban Sanctuary resembles the ashram of Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi:

In fact Gandhi’s own ashram, with his own very expensive ‘simple’ tastes and innumerable ‘secretaries’ and handmaidens, had to be heavily subsidized by three merchant princes. As one of his circle observed: ‘It costs a great deal of money to keep Gandhiji living in poverty.’ Paul Johnson, A History of the Modern World from 1917 to the 1980s (1983), p. 471

Ancient sculpture of pagan idol found in Turkey

Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? Isaiah 10:9

(Photographs: Jennifer Jackson)

As reported by Randy Boswell of Postmedia News, August 2, 2012:

Canadian archeologists have unearthed an extraordinary human sculpture at a globally significant, 3,000-year-old dig site in Turkey that had already yielded a host of discoveries in recent years for a University of Toronto-led team of researchers.

The latest find — the exquisitely preserved head and torso of a figure that would have stood four metres tall in the historical Neo-Hittite city of Kunulua — exemplifies a monumental sculptural tradition referenced in the Bible, including passages that describe the “graven images” created in the “kingdoms of the idols” north of ancient Israel.

The colossal figure — bearded, wide-eyed and curly-haired — appears to have been ritually buried and covered with stone slabs after the Assyrian conquest of Kunulua in 738 B.C. The sculpture, the back of which had been inscribed with a hieroglyphic chronology of its people’s military triumphs, is thought to have stood at the gates of a citadel within Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite kingdom of Patina, which lasted about 260 years before its destruction by the Assyrian invaders.

The researchers, headed by University of Toronto archeologist Tim Harrison, believe that it may represent “the physical manifestation” of the Old Testament account of the fall of “Calno” and the destruction of its monuments.

The destruction of Calno-Kunulua was invoked by the prophet Isaiah as a warning to the Israelites that they should follow the will of God or face a similar eclipse of their civilization.

Along with the human figure, the Canadian-led dig at present-day Tayinat, located in southeastern Turkey near its border with Syria, also revealed an elaborately carved column base featuring a winged bull and sphinx.

The latest excavation was led by University of Toronto PhD student Darren Joblonkay. Last year, the same site produced a monumental sculpture of a lion that drew attention around the world. Earlier finds reported in 2009 first led Harrison and his team to link the location, about 35 kilometres east of Antakya (site of the ancient city of Antioch), to Isaiah’s oracle about the Assyrian attack on Calno.

The statue of the human figure was unveiled this past weekend at a ceremony attended by Turkey’s culture minister.

“It took a couple of weeks to fully excavate and then remove it from the site — it is about two tonnes in weight — to the nearby regional museum in Antakya,” Harrison told Postmedia News on Wednesday in an email from the region.

He also observed that the evidence of Kunulua’s destruction being unearthed by the university team offers an ancient parallel to the political upheaval unfolding today in nearby Syria and elsewhere in the region.

“In many ways,” he said, “the process of political fragmentation we are witnessing in the region today mirrors the socio-political transformation that coincided with this epochal transition three thousand years ago.”

Mr. Boswell reported the earlier discovery on April 17, 2009:

Canadian archeologists working in southern Turkey have unearthed the remains of a biblical-era temple, the religious centre of an ancient kingdom whose destruction nearly 3,000 years ago is recorded in the Old Testament.

The excavation at Tell Tayinat, near the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea about 300 kilometres north of the Syrian capital of Damascus, has exposed "ornately carved" columns, "monumental" staircases and other remnants of a "powerful kingdom" destroyed by Assyrian invaders in 738 BC.

The discoveries at the site of the ancient city of Kunulua are believed to be evidence of the destruction of Calno -- invoked in the Bible by the prophet Isaiah as a warning to Israelites to follow the will of God or face a similar fate, says University of Toronto archeologist Tim Harrison, director of the project.

The ruins, located near another temple found by University of Chicago archeologists in the 1930s, appear to prove the existence of a "sacred precinct" that existed at the time of the Assyrian onslaught, he added.

"What we've encountered may be traces of that destruction," Harrison saidThursday. "We think that place is our site."

Harrison said that "we haven't put the jigsaw puzzle together, but we've got the pieces," noting the "nice convergence" between the dig site and the references in Chapter 10 of the Book of Isaiah and other texts from the pre-Christian era.

Describing the Assyrians as a tool of God's anger, Isaiah reminds his people of the awesome power that can "destroy and cut off nations" and direct invasion forces to "take the spoil" of conquered cities.

"Is not Calno as Carchemish?" begins Isaiah's litany of smashed kingdoms, cautioning that a faithless Jerusalem could fall next. "Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?"

Harrison described Isaiah's warning about Calno and the other destroyed cities as having "an iconic representation in the ancient mind" -- something akin to the fall of Rome much later in human history.

Among the artifacts uncovered by researchers -- including University of Toronto students and various international scholars participating in the dig -- are fragments of decorative stone inscribed with hieroglyphics from an extinct Middle Eastern language.

Harrison suspects that the temple, located at a crossroads for various religious and linguistic tribes of the ancient world, may have once been a "melding" site where disparate peoples gathered.

Harrison said the temple was unearthed last summerAfter word of the find circulated among biblical-era scholars, pressure grew in recent months for the team to reveal some details.

Australian Neo-Nazi "ethicist" Peter Singer receives his country's highest civilian honour

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

Professor Peter Singer, an "ethicist" whose views on the sancity of human life I find virtually the same as those of the Nazis, was named a Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday 2012 Honours Lists (see page 8 of linked document):

For eminent service to philosophy and bioethics as a leader of public debate and communicator of ideas in the areas of global poverty, animal welfare and the human condition.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News has compiled some revealing quotes from major figures in the animal rights movement. Of interest for this post are these, merely a small sample to illustrate Professor Singer's low view of the sanctity of human life:

An animal experiment cannot be justifiable unless the experiment is so important that the use of a brain-damaged human would be justifiable. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement, Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals, 2nd. edition, 1990.

Surely there will be some nonhuman animals whose lives, by any standards, are more valuable than the lives of some humans. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement, Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals, 2nd edition, 1990.

There are some circumstances, for example, where the newborn baby is severely disabled and where the parents think that it’s better that child should not live, when killing the newborn baby is not at all wrong … not like killing the chimpanzee would be. Maybe it’s not wrong at all. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement.

Your dog can show you when he or she wants to go for a walk and equally for nonviolent sexual contact, your dog or whatever else it is can show you whether he or she wants to engage in a certain kind of contact — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement.

The one thing I would agree with concerning Professor Singer's "eminent service to philosophy and bioethics" is that while many who share his outlook pussyfoot around the implications, Professor Singer isn't afraid to take his views to their logical conclusions and state them.

Although Peter Singer is of Jewish background, that doesn't seem to have had much influence on his philosophy, as reported by Dan Goldberg of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 24, 2012:

Although his family has a Passover seder -- “with a beet root instead of a lamb shank” -- and he celebrates Purim with his grandchildren, and Rosh Hashanah, Singer says Jewish traditions “did not play much of a role in my life.”

He concedes, though, that his family history did play a part in the development of his theories.

“As three of my grandparents died in the Holocaust, and the fourth was fortunate to survive in Theresienstadt, that was very much present in my life,” he said. “I am sure that it had some impact on my thought -- on my abhorrence of cruelty, of the naked use of power over the defenseless and, of course, of racism.”

His parents, he says, gave him the choice of whether to have a bar mitzvah celebration. He declined.

“I never believed in a god,” he said. “There may have been times when I wondered if there might be a god, but it always seemed to me wildly implausible that a god worth worshiping could allow the Holocaust to occur.”

40 years ago: Egypt and Libya agree on political union

On August 2, 1972, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi concluded three days of talks in the Libyan cities of Tobruk and Bengazi with an accord that would see the governments of the two countries unite by September 1, 1973. The proposed union, which would create the largest state in Africa, was seen as a move to provide money from oil-rich Libya for the Egyptian army to buy offensive weapons that the Soviets had refused to supply. The plan was subject to public referenda in each country, but the “final version” of the accord could be vetoed by the leaders of the two countries.

Egypt and Libya already comprised two-thirds of the Federation of Arab Republics, which, with Syria, had come into existence on January 1, 1972. The union between Egypt and Libya ultimately failed because of disagreements over the timing and objectives of war and diplomatic alternatives to war agains Israel.

British man pretending to be blind fails to see a ditch--and falls to his death

And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Matthew 15:14b

Sometimes it only takes one person to fall into a ditch, and he may be only pretending to be blind. As Paul Harvey would say, "Here's a strange..." As reported in the London Daily Telegraph, July 27, 2012:

Geoffrey Haywood, 65, walked with a white stick, used a talking watch and had carers to look after him.

But the inquest was told he could see perfectly well and if someone dropped money on a pavement he would be the first to pick it up.

Mr Haywood was been pretending to be blind when he went for a walk and fell into the ditch near his home.

A coroner described it as the most "extraordinary" case he has dealt with in more than 30 years.

Mr Haywood's brother Howard said: "Geoffrey had psychological blindness which started after the death of our mother.

"I would put a Christmas dinner in front of him and he would say: "Where's mine?".

"But if someone dropped money in front of him he would pick it up straight away.

"I believe he used it as a way of convincing people to take pity on him and help him.

"It became worse the more pressure that was on him, when he was lonely or if things weren't going his way."

The inquest in Newport, South Wales, heard doctors could find nothing wrong with Mr Haywood's sight even though he lived the life of a blind man.

A massive search was launched in March after Mr Haywood went missing from his home in Newport.

The hearing was told his body was found in a ditch just 150 yards from his front door.

Coroner David Bowen said: "Either he didn't see or didn't want to see the ditch, slipped and drowned.

"It's an extraordinary situation I've not come across before.

"I've been doing this more than 30 years and have never had a case as unique as this - someone convincing themselves they couldn't see."

Verdict: Accident.

Liverpool Care Pathway allows U.K. hospitals to starve and dehydrate patients in order to speed up death

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12 (also Proverbs 16:25)

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:22,28

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

A system of socialized medicine, is, of course, based on compassion, and would never let something so vulgar as a desire to save money enter into life-and-death decisions--or so the propagandists in countries such as Trudeaupia (formerly Canada) and the United Kingdom would have us believe. As reported by Stephen Adams of the London Daily Telegraph (which is one media outlet that's paying attention), July 8, 2012 (link to physicians' letter in original):

Tens of thousands of patients with terminal illnesses are placed on a “death pathway” to help end their lives every year. However, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, six doctors warn that hospitals may be using the controversial scheme to reduce strain on hospital resources.

Supporters of the Liverpool Care Pathway, which allows medical staff to withhold fluid and drugs in a patient’s final days, claim it is the kindest way of letting them slip away. But the experts say in their letter that natural deaths are often freer of pain and distress.

Informed consent is not always being sought by doctors, who fail to ask patients about their wishes while they are still in control of their faculties, warn the six. This has led to an increase in patients carrying cards informing doctors that they do not wish to be put on the pathway in the last few days of their lives.

The six doctors are experts in elderly care and wrote the letter in conjunction with the Medical Ethics Alliance, a Christian medical organisation. They say that many members of the public have contacted them with examples of inappropriate use of the pathway, which is implemented in up to 29 per cent of hospital deaths.

They warn that there is no “scientific way of diagnosing imminent death.” They write: “It is essentially a prediction, and it is possible that other considerations may come into reaching such a decision, not excluding the availability of resources.”

The Liverpool Care Pathway, so called because it was developed at the Royal Liverpool Hospital in the 1990s, aims to ensure that patients who are close to death can die without being subjected to unnecessary interference by staff. In addition to the withdrawal of fluid and medication, patients can be placed on sedation until they die.

Dr Gillian Craig, a retired geriatrician and former vice-chairman of the Medical Ethics Alliance, is one of the six signatories to The Daily Telegraph letter.

“If you are cynical about it, as I am, you can see it as a cost-cutting measure, if you don’t want your beds to be filled with old people,” she said. She advised that those who did not want to be put on the pathway should carry cards made by Dr Rosalind Bearcroft, a consultant psychiatrist from Kent, and another signatory.

Last year The Daily Telegraph reported that the numbers being put on the pathway had doubled in just two years, with tens of thousands of patients now involved. But up to half of families are not being informed of clinicians’ decision to put a relative on the pathway, the report by the Royal College of Physicians found. Advocates point out that the Liverpool Care Pathway has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and is backed by the Department of Health.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "People coming to the end of their lives should have a right to high quality, compassionate and dignified care.

"The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is not about saving money. It is an established and respected tool that is recommended by NICE and has overwhelming support from clinicians at home and abroad.

"The decision to use the pathway should involve patients and family members, and a patient's condition should be closely monitored. If, as sometimes happens, a patient improves, they are taken off the LCP and given whatever treatments best suit their new needs. To ensure the LCP is used properly, it is important that staff receive the appropriate training and support."

Fortunately, people are starting to catch on, and are signing "advance refusal" cards if they don't want to be put on the Liverpool Care Pathway. As reported by John Bingham of the Daily Telegraph, July 24, 2012 (link to physicians' letter in original):

Terminally ill patients are being issued with special cards warning doctors not to place them on a controversial “death pathway” amid fears the practice is becoming routine.

The “advance refusal” notices operate like an organ donor card, enabling people approaching the end of their life to make their wishes clear to while they still have capacity.

It comes amid a growing backlash against overuse of the “Liverpool Care Pathway” which allows medical staff to withhold fluid and drugs from a patient while they are heavily sedated, actively speeding their end.

Supporters of the technique say that it is the kindest way of letting people slip away rather than die in pain.

But leading doctors have voiced fears that hospitals are hastening the deaths of elderly patients to cut costs and free up bed space amid claims it has become a “standard” alternative to euthanasia.

The number of patients put on the pathway has risen sharply in recent years, and opponents estimate that it is now said to be associated with almost a third of hospital deaths – or 130,000 people.

Earlier this month a group of doctors wrote to The Daily Telegraph in conjunction with the Medical Ethics Alliance, a Christian medical organisation, arguing that the technique could be being abused to save costs.

They said that many members of the public had contacted them with examples of inappropriate use of the pathway, with some doctors failing to seek informed consent.

Now the anti-euthanasia charity Alert is distributing cards to patients themselves ensuring that they can opt not to be put on the pathway if they do not wish to.

Simple printed cards read: “Please do not give me the Liverpool Care Pathway treatment without my informed consent or that of a relative.”

The initiative is designed to work in a similar way to so-called “living wills” or advance directives which give patients a right to refuse treatment under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Elspeth Chowharay-Best, the honorary secretary of Alert, said the cards were being produced to answer “an urgent need”.

Among those who have requested a card is Leslie Burke, a former Lancaster postman who has suffered from cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system with follows a path similar to multiple sclerosis, since 1982.

“All I want is to live my life from end to end and not have it ended prematurely under any circumstances,” he said.

In 2005 Mr Burke was defeated at the Court of Appeal after he had earlier successfully demanded that doctors continued to treat him with artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) once he lost the ability to communicate.

Lord Phillips, the head of the panel of judges, assured him at the time that “any doctor who deliberately brings that patient’s life to an end by discontinuing the supply of ANH will not merely be in breach of duty but guilty of murder”.

But Mr Burke, 52, said that he was no terrified that starving and dehydrating patients to death in the NHS was now “becoming the norm”.

One British baby snaps out of a coma after a cuddle from his mother--while another British baby in a coma is ordered by a judge to be left to die

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12 (also Proverbs 16:25)

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:22,28

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

It's so comforting to know that life-and-death decisions are in the hands of "experts." First, the good news story, as reported in the London Daily Telegraph, July 26, 2012:

Adam Cheshire was just a day old when he stopped breathing and started suffering violent seizures due to a brain infection.

He slipped into a coma and was placed on a life support machine while doctors battled to save him.

Parents Charlotte and Chris Cheshire from Telford, Shropshire, were told to say their goodbyes and to take a final photograph of their son.

Yet, Adam astounded medics when he started showing signs of life after a cuddle from his mother.

The 16-month-old boy's recovery has been described as a 'miracle' and now Adam has taken his first steps.

Mrs Cheshire, 34, said: "They were convinced he was going to die.

"His entire body started to shut down. He was blue and shaking with convulsions.

"For a number of days, I was only allowed to gently stroke Adam's leg or arm before they encouraged me to hold and cuddle him.

"They told me skin-to-skin contact is very important. Your baby needs to know you are there.

"Adam is our miracle. He just refused to give up."

Adam was born at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shropshire, weighing a healthy 7lb 3oz.

But the next day, Mrs Cheshire, noticed he was making a strange grunting noise and wouldn't feed.

Midwives immediately realised something was wrong and took Adam away for tests...

...His organs began to shut down and he was having constant seizures.

Doctors put Adam on a ventilator to breathe for him and kept him an induced coma.

The couple's health visitor was also put on stand-by to deal with bereaved parents...

...Three days later, Adam was diagnosed with Group B Strep Meningitis.

Pregnant women can transmit the disease to their newborns at birth.

Babies who survive can be left with speech, hearing, and vision problems as well as being permanently disabled.

Mrs Cheshire said: "A doctor came to see me to explain that while Adam was still alive and that they would do their best to treat him, that his life was very much in danger...

...Over the next week, his parents could only watch while their son fought for life.

They were warned that even if Adam lived, he could be brain damaged, epileptic, suffer cerebral palsy and a range of other disabilities.

But he refused to give up.

His breathing slowly improved and a few days later, doctors were able to take him off the ventilator.

On Mothering Sunday, Mrs Cheshire was finally able to hold her son for the first time since he had been ill and Adam opened his eyes for the first time.

Over the next few days, she spent up to twelve hours a day sitting in a rocking chair while Adam slept in her arms.

After being fed tiny amounts of milk through a tube for the first few weeks of his life, Adam began to breastfeed.

Skin-to-skin contact, also known as the 'kangaroo care' technique after the way kangaroos hold their young in a pouch next to their bodies, means the mother acts as a human incubator to keep babies warm, stimulated and fed.

Mrs Cheshire said: "It was incredibly traumatic to be separated from Adam. It felt fabulous to hold him in my arms.

"The moment he opened his eyes was incredible. I knew that if he was waking up, he would survive.

"In tiny, baby steps, Adam began to grow stronger.

"His seizures reduced and then stopped. His first MRI came back with some small spots of brightness which appeared to indicate brain damage, but it was too early to tell."

However, after three weeks in hospital, Adam, who has a hearing impairment, was well enough to go home to be with his parents and step-brother, George, ten.

A more recent MRI scan showed most of the brightness that indicated brain injury had disappeared.

Mrs Cheshire said: "It's been a continuing journey. We are so proud of him.

"Adam recently took his first steps unaided. It's another tick of the check list. Everything he does is incredibly amazing.

"We cannot fault the care we received at the hospital and the support we have been given. We would like to thank them all from the bottom of our hearts."

The couple are now backing the Group B Strep Support's petition asking for routine group B Streptococcus testing for pregnant women on the NHS.

Mrs Cheshire said: "Group B Strep is very common in the UK as one in four women in the UK are carriers. It can be quickly and easily detected with a swab test between 35-37 weeks of pregnancy..."

...For more information, contact Group B Step Support on 01444 416 176 or sign the petition at www.gbss.org.uk/epetition

Now the bad news story, as reported by Martin Beckford in the Daily Telegraph, July 31, 2012:

A judge has ruled that a severely brain-damaged baby boy can be allowed to die even though his devoutly religious parents wanted him to be kept on a life-support system.

Mr Justice Hedley said the one-year-old was comatose after a “catastrophic accident” and it was “unrealistic” to think his condition would ever improve.

He acknowledged that the baby’s mother and father believed “where there’s life there’s hope” and that their faith compelled them to resist switching off their son’s ventilator.

But while praising the parents’ dignity and moving evidence, the judge went on to say that the preservation of life by medics “cannot be everything”.

“No understanding of life is complete unless it has in it a place for death which comes to each and every human with unfailing inevitability. There is unsurprisingly deep in the human psyche a yearning that, when the end comes, it does so as a 'good death'.

“It is often easier to say what that is not rather than what it is but in this case the contrast is between a death in the arms and presence of parents and a death wired up to machinery and so isolated from all human contact in the course of futile treatment.”

Mr Justice Hedley concluded, having “pondered long and anxiously over this matter all too aware of the gravity of any such decision”, that it was in the baby’s best interests that he could be removed from supported breathing and instead given palliative care.

“My last words must be of profound sympathy to [the parents], whose loss and sorrow can I think only be grasped by those who also have passed through the valley of the shadow of death with their own children.”

In most cases where patients are not expected to recover from brain injuries or disabilities, relatives agree with doctors that life support can be switched off.

But when loved ones disagree, judges can be called upon to decide whether or not their wishes should override those of NHS trusts.

In one High Court case three years ago, the father of a severely disabled baby wanted everything possible done to keep his son alive while his estranged partner supported medics’ view that he had no quality of life. After six days of evidence, the father changed his mind and the baby was allowed to die peacefully.

But in another case, from 2006, a judge ruled that a terminally ill 18-month-old still derived some pleasure from being cared for by his family, and was given the right to be kept alive.

The latest “tragic and difficult” case, decided in the High Court this week, involved the first and only child of a married couple who was born healthy in 2011 but in May suffered a “catastrophic accident” leaving him with irreversible and profound brain damage.

“No suggestion has ever been made that either parent was culpable (whatever the mother in particular may feel) and it is quite clear to me that this was nothing more nor less than a wholly unforeseeable disaster,” the judge said.

The baby, referred to only as X in the judgment, was given “exemplary care” at a children’s hospital, where he is being ventilated as he cannot breathe independently, but staff came to the view that his treatment had become “futile”.

His parents said their son should be given “every chance to improve” and they believed they had seen some signs of hope, while the “tenets of their faith” prevent them giving their consent to life support being withdrawn.

But Mr Justice Hedley quoted a consultant who said the baby “lacks awareness of his surroundings”, “remains comatose”, “shows no interaction or recognition to his parents or carers’ voice” and “doesn’t even shed tears or attempt to smile”.

“In my opinion Baby X no longer has the human instinct and desire to survive,” the doctor said.

The judge said that although the parents had the “instinctive yearning” to keep their son alive, the medical evidence was correct and there was no sign of improvement in his condition.

Following his ruling, the baby's doctors can decide when to withdraw ventilation.

A secular columnist accurately assesses Canada's declining liberal churches

Even secular journalists can see what has caused the decline of the mainline churches. Unfortunately, evangelicalism is heading in the same direction, for the same reasons. Margaret Wente of the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail assesses the decline of the United Church of Canada in her column of July 28, 2012:

Two weeks from now, the United Church of Canada will assemble in Ottawa for its 41st General Council, where it will debate church policy and elect a new moderator. The top item on its agenda is a resolution calling for a boycott of products from Israeli settlements. Fortunately, nobody cares what the United Church thinks about Israeli settlements, or anything else for that matter, because the United Church doesn’t matter any more.

For many years, the United Church was a pillar of Canadian society. Its leaders were respected public figures. It was – and remains – the biggest Protestant denomination in a country that, outside Quebec, has been largely shaped by centuries of Protestant tradition.

But today, the church is literally dying. The average age of its members is 65. They believe in many things, but they do not necessarily believe in God. Some congregations proudly describe themselves as “post-theistic,” which is a good thing because, as one church elder said, it shows the church is not “stuck in the past.” Besides, who needs God when you’ve got Israel to kick around?

The United Church is not alone. All the secular liberal churches are collapsing. In the United States, the Episcopalians – facing many issues similar to those of the United Church – have lost a quarter of their membership in the past decade. They’re at their lowest point since the 1930s. Not coincidentally, they spent their recent general meeting affirming the right of the transgendered to become priests. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it doesn’t top most people’s lists of pressing spiritual or even social issues.

Back in the 1960s, the liberal churches bet their future on becoming more open, more inclusive, more egalitarian and more progressive. They figured that was the way to reach out to a new generation of worshippers. It was a colossal flop.

“I’ve spent all my ministry in declining congregations,” says David Ewart, a recently retired United Church minister who lives in British Columbia. He is deeply discouraged about the future of his faith. “In my experience, when you put your primary focus on the world, there is a lessening of the importance of worship and turning to God.”

The United Church’s high-water mark was 1965, when membership reached nearly 1.1 million. Since then it has shrunk nearly 60 per cent. Congregations have shrunk too – but not the church’s infrastructure or the money needed to maintain it. Today, the church has too many buildings and too few people to pay for their upkeep. Yet its leadership seems remarkably unperturbed. “It’s considered wrong to be concerned about the numbers – too crass, materialistic and business-oriented,” says Mr. Ewart. The church’s leaders are like the last of the Marxist-Leninists: still convinced they’re right despite the fact that the rest of the world has moved on.

Clearly, changes in society have had an enormous impact on church attendance. Volunteerism and other civic institutions are also in decline. Busy two-career families have less discretionary time for everything, including church. Sundays are for chores and shopping now. As for Sunday school, parents would rather take the kids to sports.

But something else began changing in the 1960s, too. The liberal churches decided that traditional notions of worship were out of date, even embarrassing. They preferred to emphasize intellect, rationality and understanding. “When I went to seminary, we never talked about prayer,” says Mr. Ewart. “I had an intellectual relationship with Jesus. But love Jesus? Not so much.”

As the United Church found common cause with auto workers, it became widely known as the NDP at prayer. Social justice was its gospel. Spiritual fulfilment would be achieved through boycotts and recycling. Instead of Youth for Christ, it has a group called Youth for Eco-Justice. Mardi Tindal, the current moderator, recently undertook a spiritual outreach tour across Canada to urge “the healing of soul, community and creation” by reducing our carbon footprint. Which raises the obvious question: If you really, really care about the environment, why not just join Greenpeace?

According to opinion polls, people’s overall belief in God hasn’t declined. What’s declined is people’s participation in religion. With so little spiritual nourishment to offer, it’s no wonder the liberal churches have collapsed...

...Should anybody miss the church? Yes, says Mr. Ewart. The church gave families a way to participate together in a community larger than themselves, for a purpose greater than themselves. Most of us don’t have a way to do that any more. Our kids won’t even have it in their memory bank.

In the past few years, Mr. Ewart has spent time hanging out with evangelicals – people who actually talk about loving Jesus. He admires their personal, emotional connection to God. Lately, he has even started praying. Perhaps he could pray for the church in which he spent his life to stop its self-immolation. But it’s probably too late.

Woman of modest means gives her life's savings for a Buddhist scripture reading in New York

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

I find it interesting and amusing that the clergy of Eastern religions, who supposedly eschew materialism, seem to charge a lot for their services (presumably, they're free to do so beacuse money doesn't mean anything to them). As reported by Sarah Maslin Nir of The New York Times, July 16, 2012:

Dayangji Sherpa lives with her 25-year-old daughter, Nima, in a one-bedroom apartment in Woodside, Queens, where they sleep in the same bed to save money. But on Sunday, they stood on a dais before an altar of glittering gold Buddhas while some of the highest-ranked Buddhist monks from around the region bowed their heads to the women and showered them with benedictions. It was the culmination of a rare ceremony where every single text of their Buddhist canon is read from morning until night by monks, who are fed, housed and paid by a sponsor until all 108 books are read.

It took more than a month. And it cost more than $50,000 — the elder Ms. Sherpa’s life savings.

Completing the Kangyur, the Tibetan-language version of the sacred Buddhist texts, is done as a form of prayer for peace for all sentient beings, several monks explained. For nearly 40 days, ending last week, about a dozen monks called from around the region read eight hours a day, aloud and simultaneously, seated cross-legged in a converted brick church in Elmhurst.

There had never been such a reading in New York, according to Urgen Sherpa, 41, a former general secretary of Sherpa Kyidug, which represents Sherpas in the United States, including an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 in New York. (Mr. Sherpa is not related to Ms. Sherpa: many Sherpas, who are an ethnic group from high in the Himalayas in eastern Nepal, use the surname.) Kangyur readings are rarely commissioned even in Nepal, Mr. Sherpa said, because of the high cost.

Ms. Sherpa, 54, a home health aide, estimates she paid about $111 per monk per day. It included twice-daily meals of Nepalese and Tibetan comfort food at Himalayan Yak restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue and an attendant to provide an endless supply of traditional salted butter tea. Other members of the community also made donations.

“People can do this, but nobody does it,” Ms. Sherpa said. “I’m not rich. I wanted a do a good thing.”

In a fur hat, her long braid laced with pink thread, Ms. Sherpa doled out envelopes of money to each monk on Sunday, her daughter following behind her. As trumpets sounded and cymbals clashed, she limped across the dais on her artificial leg: When she was 8, her leg was amputated after it was crushed by an avalanche while she tended yaks near Kunde, her village. At 22, her family disowned her when she eloped with a man from a lower caste. When she was five months pregnant with Nima, the couple split up; Ms. Sherpa raised her daughter alone, eventually immigrating to the United States about a decade ago.

Even in a religion that rejects materialism, her modest means made the ceremony noteworthy, said Sherry Ortner, an anthropology professor at the University of California Los Angeles and an author on Sherpa culture.

Ms. Sherpa’s father and grandfather, who owned a successful teahouse near the Mount Everest base camp, each sponsored such a reading in the past. Ms. Ortner said that in Tibet and Nepal, such events are typically paid for by the wealthy. That a person of lesser means is sponsoring the Kangyur in the United States suggests that in the diaspora those old hierarchies are shifting. “The status system is changed,” she said.

Spending her savings was an act of faith, said Mr. Sherpa of the community association. Buddhism rejects materialism as one of the Three Poisons that lead to suffering. “She is giving away some materials,” he said. “That means a destroying of one of the poisons: greed, attachment.”

Pema Sherpa, a nanny, makes $700 a week and has supported one of the monks for the past two years and will continue to do so indefinitely, providing him a room in her house and $600 a month. She explained Dayangji Sherpa’s generosity: “What do you need in life? You have food, shelter, what else do you want? This is karma.”

Mormons take offense at Bloomberg Businessweek cover story

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, has strongly criticized the cover and accompanying article of the July 18, 2012 issue of BloombergBusinessweek magazine. As reported by Joseph Walker in the Salt Lake City newspaper Deseret News on July 12, 2012:

The new Bloomberg Businessweek magazine cover on LDS Church finances drew broad-based criticism Thursday.

"The Businessweek cover is in such poor taste it is difficult to even find the words to comment on it," said Michael Purdy, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Sadly, the cover is a reflection of the bias and speculative nature of the article itself. It is narrow and incomplete, omitting, for instance, a good deal of information given on how church resources are used.

"The article misses the mark and the cover is obviously meant to be offensive to many, including millions of Latter-day Saints."

The magazine hits newsstands Friday, but the cover illustration was released Thursday. It caricatures a classic LDS painting of what to Mormons is a sacred visitation by John the Baptist to early LDS leaders Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The cover created instant and broad reaction across news, political, business and religious websites. The cover headline reads "Inside the Mormon Empire." The accompanying illustration portrays John the Baptist telling Smith and Cowdery to "build a shopping mall, own stock in Burger King, and open a Polynesian theme park in Hawaii that shall be largely exempt from the frustrations of tax," to which Joseph responds: "Hallelujah."

"As someone who has been watching the coverage of politics and faith and more specifically of 'the Mormon question' for the last year, I see this as a great step backward," said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a school dedicated to excellence and integrity in journalism. "I thought we were past ridiculing sacred images of other faiths, even radical Muslims, let alone our fellow Americans. I doubt the story is as out of whack as the cover, but on its own, the cover crosses way over the line between commentary and bigotry."

Faith leaders also criticized the cover.

"This cover ridicules respected spiritual leaders and the Mormon faith by distorting a picture of sacred value and respect and turning it into a caricature, said Richard Mouw, president of the Fuller Seminary, a graduate-level seminary for Evangelicals. To be clear, a journalistic examination and analysis regarding the financial practices of any group is always fair game. But if such mocking and distortion were focused on Evangelicals or Catholics, we would call foul. For the Mormon community--and all of us--this is out of bounds...

..."It would be nice if news outlets were more sensitive to religion," said Diane Winston, the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "It would also be nice if we had world peace."

Winston recently co-authored a survey report that found most Americans consider media coverage of religion too sensationalized.

“I would be more concerned about the (in)accuracy of the article,” Winston said, than about the cover illustration, adding that the article itself did a poor job of explaining Mormon theology. Many religions have worldviews that incorporate both economic and spiritual values, a fact the Businessweek article missed, she said...

...W. Paul Reeve, associate professor of history at the University of Utah whose research specialty is Mormon history, joked that the article "leaves the reader wondering if there is anything spiritual in Mormonism at all" because of its single-minded slant on LDS finances...

...In addition to what he considered a lack of spiritual insight in the Bloomberg Businessweek article, Reeve felt there was a lack of depth in the numbers, noting that while the story talks a lot about the international humanitarian expenditures of the church, it doesn't seem to take into account the significant amounts that are expended through local LDS welfare efforts.

"The story didn't seem to account for charitable contributions made each month on a local level," Reeve said. "Even in poor wards (congregations), you still get a pretty significant monthly contribution that is being disbursed on a local level."

Nor does the article reference the enormous financial outlays the LDS Church makes in building and maintaining nearly 20,000 meetinghouses and 138 temples currently in operation around the world; training and supporting a missionary force of more than 50,000 full-time missionaries; providing buildings, materials and teachers for more than 700,000 seminary and institute students around the world; creating and providing classroom instruction materials for church leaders and teachers; support of Boy Scouting and similar activities for young women; as well other administrative and ecclesiastical costs.

"There's a lot that seems to be left unsaid here," Reeve said.

Reeve felt it was clear that the reporter had a "point of view" she was trying to communicate through the story, but he said reporting on the finances of private organizations is difficult and said "when you're not transparent with your financial holdings it leaves the door open for people to nibble around with whatever information they're able to find."

Those who wish to read the BloombergBusinessweek article for themselves should go to How the Mormons Make Money.

Mormon and New Ager Stephen Covey dies at 79

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

For those who missed it, Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), died on July 16, 2012 at the age of 79. Mr. Covey was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, i.e., a Mormon, and a popular figure in the New Age Movement. Mr. Covey founded the Covey Leadership Center, which merged with Franklin Quest in 1997 to become FranklinCovey, a company whose materials have been used in the training of Nazarene pastors at Ambrose University College, as you can see from reading my post on the subject.

California jury awards $28 million to woman who claims to have been sexually abused as a child within Jehovah's Witnesses church

In case you missed this--as reported by Chris De Benedetti of the Oakland Tribune, June 15, 2012:

OAKLAND -- A jury has ordered the Jehovah's Witnesses to pay more than $20 million to a woman who accused the religion's national leaders of setting a policy of secrecy that led a Fremont congregation's elders to protect a convicted sex offender who she claims molested her in the 1990s.

An Alameda County Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded $21 million in punitive damages -- and another $7 million in compensatory damages the previous day -- to plaintiff Candace Conti, a San Joaquin County resident.

"It was the nation's largest verdict for a victim of sex abuse involving a religious institution," said Rick Simons, the plaintiff's Hayward-based attorney.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York -- the organization overseeing the Jehovah's Witnesses -- must pay Conti nearly $24 million, covering all of the punitive damages and 40 percent of the compensatory damages.

Jonathan Kendrick, the congregation member whom Conti accused of molesting her, has been ordered to pay 60 percent of compensatory damages.

Jim McCabe, an attorney for the congregation, said he was very disappointed with the verdict and plans appeal it.

"The Jehovah's Witnesses hate child abuse and believe it's a plague on humanity," McCabe said. "Jonathan Kendrick was not a leader or a pastor, he was just a rank-and-file member. This is a tragic case where a member of a religious group has brought liability on the group for actions he alone may have taken."

Conti, now 26, was repeatedly molested by Kendrick from 1995-96, when she was 9 and 10 years old and a member of the North Fremont Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Simons said.

The lawsuit claims Watchtower formed a policy in 1989 that instructed the religion's elders to keep child sex abuse accusations secret. The North Fremont congregation elders followed that policy when Kendrick was convicted in 1994 of misdemeanor child molestation in Alameda County, Simons said.

"That abuse case had been reported to the elders," he said. "But they kept it secret and didn't do anything to stop him from molesting more kids."

Kendrick, a registered sex offender, was convicted in 2004 of molesting another girl in Contra Costa County, Simons said.

"That policy is still in place and it was a secret until, through the power of the court, it was put into evidence," he said. "That policy was what this case was all about."

Criminal charges have not been filed against Kendrick in the Conti case, but Simons said authorities are investigating. Sources confirmed the investigation but declined to comment further.

McCabe said there is a lot of dispute regarding the plaintiff's accusations.

"But if she was, in fact, abused then we feel horrible, and hope she can make a full recovery and lead a normal life," he said.

Kendrick, now 58, lives in Contra Costa County, according to the state sex offender registry.

And according to The Associated Press, June 17, 2012:

...Mr. Kendrick was never criminally charged in the case involving Ms. Conti, but he was also convicted in 2004 of lewd or lascivious acts with a child, records show.

Mr. Kendrick, 58, now lives in Oakley, Calif., according to the state’s sex offender registry. He was ordered to pay 60 percent of the judgment, but Mr. Simons said there would be no attempt to collect any money from Mr. Kendrick, in part because he would not be able to pay. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York — the organization overseeing the Jehovah’s Witnesses — would be responsible for 40 percent, Mr. Simons said.

Jim McCabe, a lawyer for the congregation, said he planned to appeal the jury’s decision.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses hate child abuse and believe it’s a plague on humanity,” Mr. McCabe said. “Jonathan Kendrick was not a leader or a pastor. He was just a rank-and-file member. This is a tragic case where a member of a religious group has brought liability on the group for actions he alone may have taken.”

Wendy Gillis reported in The Toronto Star on July 2, 2012 that this case may spark similar suits in Canada:

...“They’re sure getting a bloody nose over this one,” said retired University of Lethbridge professor James Penton, himself a former Jehovah’s Witness and the author of three books on the denomination. “This will cause many people to have nothing to do with them, and many people within the movement to question what’s going on.”

Penton, 80, doesn’t think child abuse is any more common in Jehovah’s Witness congregations than in any other religion or group.

He also said many elders obey laws on informing authorities of suspected child abuse. (The Watchtower’s policy on child protection explicitly states elders should take this step.) But he said there’s substance to allegations that the Watchtower simultaneously encourages secrecy when dealing with child abuse matters.

“They keep sending out various messages to the local elders, telling them to keep this sub rosa … the terrible, nasty aspect to this whole thing is the coverup,” Penton said.

According to Simons, documents presented as evidence in the Conti lawsuit proved that elders had been encouraged by the Watchtower not to raise Kendrick’s abusive past. The lawsuit alleged that this silence allowed Kendrick to abuse Conti.

The Watchtower did not return a request for comment from the Star. But Jim McCabe, a lawyer for the organization, said in a statement following the Conti verdict that Jehovah’s Witnesses “respectfully disagree with the jury’s decision.”

“We are very sorry for whatever harm this young lady may have suffered. However, the organization is not responsible,” said McCabe, noting the lawsuit was based on “the alleged misdeeds of a member who held no position of leadership or authority.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses “abhor child abuse and strive to protect children from such acts,” he said. They also reject allegations that the church has a secrecy policy concerning child sex abuse.

Critics of the church believe there could be Canadian followers whose claims of sexual abuse were swept under the rug in the past who may now file their own suits, having seen Conti defeat the Watchtower and its lawyers in court.

Barbara Anderson, a former Jehovah’s Witness who worked at the Watchtower, runs a website called WatchtowerDocuments.com from her Tennessee home. She told the Star that since the Conti ruling, her 10,000-member discussion board, which includes many Canadians, has lit up with people telling their own stories of abuse and wanting to know how to pursue action.

William Bowen runs a similar website, and said he’s heard from people from around the world who say they were molested while attending a Jehovah’s Witness church.

Bowen was a practising Jehovah’s Witness and an elder within the church, but said he left after he was encouraged to keep a report of child sexual abuse within the congregation quiet.

“They told me to leave it in Jehovah’s hands, which meant to not do anything and allow (the accused congregation member) to (allegedly) continue to molest,” he said.

Conti’s lawyer Simons said he’s had calls from people around the world saying they went through a similar experience in their Jehovah’s Witness congregations.

All this publicity is precisely what Conti had hoped her suit would achieve. “Nothing was going to get accomplished if it was kept silent,” she said, defending her decision to go public with her story. “In my mind it’s a good start to obtaining a goal to protect children in the future.”

Here in Canada, Vicki Boer had hoped to shine a light on abuse within Jehovah’s Witness communities when she filed a civil suit against the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada and the elders of her congregation more than a decade ago over how her complaint of sexual abuse had been handled.

Boer told the court how in the 1980s, between the age of 12 and 16, she was abused by her father. They belonged to a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Shelburne, Ont. and when she told church elders, she was forced go over her allegations in detail in front of her father.

“It was the process that was damaging … them putting me in a room, making me sit in front of my father when I was explaining the abuse, when I went to them first because I was suffering,” she said from Fredericton, where she now lives.

The Jehovah Witnesses have a strict rule that the accused produce an independent witness of the alleged wrongdoing. As well, Watchtower policy states that when a Jehovah’s Witness is accused of abusing a child, elders must meet with both the accused and the accuser — individually and then together.

“If during that meeting the accused still denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time,” says the Watchtower’s online child-protection statement. “Why not? As a Bible-based organization, we must adhere to what the Scriptures say, namely, ‘No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin …’ ”

According to former members, elders have told children and their families that if there are no witnesses to the alleged abuse then they should not speak about it as that would be slanderous. To do so can be grounds for “shunning” — whereby the outcast follower is cut off from friends, family, his or her former way of life.

Boer eventually won the high-profile case, heard in Toronto, but was then ordered to pay the legal costs for all parties.

The church eventually relented on making her cover its costs, but the judge’s decision was not the victory she had been after.

News of Conti’s favourable verdict left her “extremely happy,” Boer said. “I applaud her that she did it, too, because it takes an extreme amount of belief in yourself and what you’re doing. These (acts of abuse) just have to stop.”