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Army adds Buddhist chaplain to meet troops? diverse religious needs (The Leaf Chronicle)
When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won't take a rifle with him. He won't take a Bible, either.
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School Trip Included Baptism
From Kentucky, we have a story about a school trip that included not only a visit to a church, but baptism without parental consent. Michelle Ammons is angry that her sixteen-year-old son went on a trip led by his football coach at Breckinridge County High School. The coach took a group of players to his church, where nearly half of them were baptized. Ammons says her son, Robert Coffey, was "baptized without her knowledge and consent, and she is upset that a public school bus was used to take players to a church service — and that the school district's superintendent was there and did not object."
Coffey, a sophomore, said Coach Scott Mooney told players that the trip would "include only a motivational speaker and a free steak dinner." However, other parents say Mooney told them a revival was planned as well.
Breckenridge County Schools superintendent Janet Meeks, attends Mooney's church and witnessed the baptisms. She said, "the trip was proper because attendance was not required, and another coach paid for the gas." She added that parents were not required to sign permission slips, and that they knew the event would include a church service.
Now, maybe it's just me, but where I live, any time a student gets on a school bus for a non-school event, a permission slip has to be on file. Also, I would hope no one would ever try to baptize my child without permission - whether it's my nine year old or my teenager. Finally, it would seem that this presents a bit of a conflict with that whole separation of church and state, if a public school is transpotring kids to a church to attend services and be baptized. I'm not entirely sure that it matters who paid for the gas, if it was a trip organized by the school football coach.
Michelle Ammons says that she feels like her son should wait until he is eighteen to make a decision about which spiritual path he will follow -- she is a Baptist married to a Catholic. Ammons said she has consulted a lawyer but has not made any decisions about what action to take.
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Sacred Sites Not Always Protected
A couple of weeks ago, we discussed a Native American mound in Alabama that was once scheduled to be used as fill dirt underneath a new Sam's Club. Now the Anniston Star has an in-depth follow-up to the story, in which it's revealed that the law really doesn't offer much protection at all to Alabama's Native American sites.
In fact, officials the Alabama Historical Commission say that while it's a crime to destroy a grave less than a hundred years old, it's not really a big deal if you "destroy a far older American Indian burial site on your property." Note the words in bold - those are important.
According to the story, the law "says any person who desecrates graves and mutilates corpses is guilty of a Class C felony... [but] any person who maliciously desecrates an American Indian place of burial or funerary objects on property not owned by the person shall be guilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction the person shall be punished as provided by law."
In other words, if it's on land you own, you can pretty much do what you like with it, which is why the city of Oxford was legally allowed to dig up the mound for fill dirt if they wanted to. Although the mound was scheduled for demolition, now a private landowner says he is providing the fill dirt, and the Oxford mound is still in place.
A revision to the law has been suggested by Sen. Wendell Mitchell, which "would omit the language about the American Indian sites, and would also expand the law to cover mounds like the one in Oxford."
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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First Buddhist Army chaplain is from Tennessee (The Tennessean)
When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won't take a rifle with him. He won't take a Bible, either. Instead, Dyer, a Tennessean National Guardsman from Memphis and the first Buddhist chaplain in the history of the U.S. Army, hopes to bring serenity and calm, honed by months of intensive meditation.
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Compare and contrast: Religion class examines questions of faith (Bennington Banner)
BENNINGTON -- Not many college courses offer a meditation period before each class. This is one unusual aspect of the course Introduction to Comparative Religion offered at Southern Vermont College during the fall semester. The class will also include a visit to the First Baptist and Episcopal churches in Bennington to examine the topics of ritual and sacred space and a visit to Temple Beth El
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Yes by force for the Thiseio
Two days ago the PASOK party organized a open speech for its president of Mr Antreas Papantreou (04/09/2009) at the Thiseio the neighborhood in Athens' city center just 1,5 kilometers from the Acropolis and literary next to the Athens Agora. The name d...
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Leece: ?In God? is about unity (Daily Pilot)
Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto ?In God We Trust? in the city?s Council Chambers Tuesday night.
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Female Power In Antiquity ? Athens Exhibition
Female Power In Antiquity'Worshipping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens is part of the celebrations marking the 120th anniversary of the inauguration of the museum?s Patission building, and the 180 years since the museum?s founding.'A c...
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Merchants Divided Over Local Pagan Fest
In Adamstown, Pennsylvania, there's a neat little area called Stoudtburg Village, which is a collection of European-style homes with businesses on the first floor. The whole thing is available to rent if you'd like to put on an event, and you're a non-profit group. Renting Stoudtburg Village is exactly what the Reading Pagans and Witches group did, in order to host an event called Celebrating Earth Spirituality Festival, which is their version of the national Pagan Pride Day.
Some of the shop owners are troubled by this, and a few have even decided to close for business on the day of the festival. One says, "Earth Spirituality Festival is not the image we want to portray for Stoudtburg Village." Another doesn't bother to hide her disapproval, stating, "I am a Christian, and anything that is not worshipping God is something I object to." A few folks say that the festival was misrepresented to them, and they thought it was about aromatherapy and protecting the environment.
On the flip side, other merchants think it's really no big deal. Most recognize that any kind of event that brings in new customers can't be a bad thing. Reading Pagans & Witches president Jen Anderson-Wenger said, "I'm saddened that the stores would choose to close rather than stay open and get potential new customers... but it's their prerogative (to close). I offered to meet with the shop owners who want to talk to us."
Stoudtburg Village is available for rent for $50, which covers trash pickup and restroom facilities. All rentals are first approved by an events committee, who then refer it to an advertising committee. Once both have approved the event, organizers are asked to sign a rental contract. DeLyn Alumbaugh, president of Stoudtburg's advertising committee, said, "We're open to any organization — churches or whatever — that would like to rent the village."
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