1. Strange story out of Argentina. Several Argentine teenagers are freaked out by a “creepy gnome” that stalks the streets at night. See the video here.
2. According to the London Times, Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate reformer Martin Luther. He contends that Martin Luther did not intend to split Christianity, he only sought to purge the Church of corrupt practices.
Pope Benedict will issue his findings on Luther (1483-1546) in September after discussing him at his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians — known as the Ratzinger Schülerkreis — at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence. According to Vatican insiders the Pope will argue that Luther, who was excommunicated and condemned for heresy, was not a heretic.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the move would help to promote ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. It is also designed to counteract the impact of July’s papal statement describing the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as defective and “not proper Churches”.
HT: Faith Maps
3. Governor Schwarzenegger defends homeschoolers after the asinine decision by a California state appeals court to severely restrict homeschooling.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denounced a state appeals court ruling that severely restricts homeschooling and promised Friday to change the law if necessary to guarantee that parents are able to educate their children at home.
“Every California child deserves a quality education, and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children,” Schwarzenegger said in response to the ruling, which said children educated at home must be taught by a credentialed teacher.
“Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education,” Schwarzenegger said. “This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.”
State Education Secretary David Long, a Schwarzenegger appointee, said that meant the governor supported allowing parents without teaching credentials to educate their children.
“The governor sees this as a fundamental right of parental choice,” he said.
Good for him! I’m surprised, but pleased.
HT: One Mom
4. Too sexy for my burka
Serious message in this video regardless of the title.
5. Des Moines Girl critiques the National Geographic channel’s special Aftermath: Population Zero which explains what happens to our stuff after we are gone. I agree with her that the program is completely pointless.
6. Great quote that asks which points out the difference between how some emergent leaders and traditional evangelicals view Jesus and social justice.
“Is Jesus a social, economic, and political revolutionary? Is the mission of the church primarily to confront society’s structures so they can be transformed? Or is its primary goal to confront individuals within these structures and pursue change in individuals that impact the structures they serve?” – Darrell Bock commenting on Jesus’ sermon in Luke 4 (Baker’s Exegetical Commentary on Luke 1:1-9:50, p.400)
HT: Stephen Murray
7. The BBC reports that Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be teaching at Yale University on Faith. He will lead a seminar on faith and globalization. After leaving office he left the Anglican Church to become a Roman Catholic.
HT: JD Lusan
8. The perfect gift for men.
A group of Seiks demonstrates in Brampton in defiance of the helment laws in Ontario Canada, after one of them is fined $150 for riding without his helment. They feel the law does not apply to them because of their religious requirements. We have an RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] Officer who was granted permission to wear a turbin in place of his uniform’s hat for religious reasons.
HT: Ben Witherington
13. The CDC reports that one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. Not that I’m a statistics expert, but I have some trouble with those numbers. I’d like to know how they got their sample group, etc. That seems incredibly high.
14. Justin Taylor blogs on J.I. Packer, a prominent evangelical scholar is to be suspended by the Anglican Church of Canada. Somewhat irrelevant since he and his church left the diocese they were in and have realigned themselves with a more orthodox branch in Argentina due to their diocese’ decision to bless same-sex unions. In turn the ACC decided to suspend him. This is just another example of the Anglican communion coming apart over same-sex unions and homosexual clergy.
15. John Piper blogs on God’s sovereignty and Paul’s conversion.
16. James MacDonald discusses the offense of the cross. Great study with Easter week almost here.
17. Wittenberg Door made me laugh out loud with this little bit of church humor.
The Reformed don’t recognize the Roman Catholics.
The Roman Catholics don’t recognize the Lutherans.
The Lutherans don’t recognize the Baptists.
And the Baptists don’t recognize each other in the beer aisle of Wal-Mart.
18. Jill Stanek shares the top 10 reasons why Barack Obama voted against the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
HT: Barry Carey at withallyourmind.net
One of Obama’s close advisers on legal matters, Cass Sunstein, is a proponent of judicial minimalism—the theory that judges should hew closely to the facts in the cases before them rather than issuing forth with bold and sweeping opinions. So I wondered if Obama might favor moderate judges over strongly liberal ones—a translation to the bench of his calls for unity and bipartisanship, in other words. But Minow and Tribe rejected that. And Sunstein himself has written that given the roaring conservative voices currently on the court and its shift to the right, minimalism isn’t necessarily the best posture for the next justice. “I clerked for Justice Marshall, and while I don’t agree with him on everything by any means, there is an argument that the court would benefit from someone with a vision of equality and liberty,” Sunstein said. “That is clearly absent.”
Wow! Loved your list! Thanks for the mention. I have a theory on the creepy nome story – I think it’s the guy from Travelocity!!!
You are welcome DMG. I enjoy your blog. I think you are right, but at least somewhere in Argentina somebody is getting a better hotel deal.
Another great list, and thank you for pointing the way to Crummy Church Signs! I’m having a whale of a time laughing my a** off my chair now.
That gnome story was awesome – I watched the video and I must say – he is a lil creepy bugger. I wonder what it is?
[...] (hat-tip Cafeinnated Thoughts) [...]
My wife thought it was a toy. I think it’s a midget with a sick sense of humor, but who knows?