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Bachmann Ready For An Obamacare Repeal 'Miracle'

2013-05-21T16:39:07Z

With 36 failed Obamacare repeal efforts by House Republicans already in the books and a 37th likely on the way, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Tuesday turned to a higher power for help in the task.

Speaking with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson in an exchange first captured by Right Wing Watch, Bachmann expressed optimism that the House's latest repeal effort -- a bill introduced by the Minnesota Republican and passed last week by a vote 229-195 -- would have a different outcome than the previous 36.

"That's why you saw the House of Representatives pass my bill, the full repeal of Obamacare, last week, and that's why I have renewed confidence that we can see this bill pass in the Senate and I think the president will ultimately be forced to repudiate his own signature piece of legislation, because the American people will demand it," Bachmann said.

While a repeal effort has little chance of advancing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the White House has repeatedly said the president would veto any such legislation if it did pass muster, Bachmann went on to suggest that a "miracle" from God could bring Republicans success.

"And I think before his second term is over, we're going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we'll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare," she said. "I believe that's going to happen and we saw step one last week with the repeal of Obamacare in the House. We have two more steps. We serve a mighty God and I believe it can happen."

Listen to the exchange, via Right Wing Watch:

Bachmann has been a tireless crusader against President Barack Obama's health care reform law since its passage in 2010. In January, she introduced the first bill of the 113th Congress, a bill to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.

Despite the futility of the efforts, Bachmann apparently still sees her position as a champion of Obamacare repeal as a winning issue. Last week, she began running ads in her home district -- around 17 months ahead of her 2014 reelection -- touting the passage of her House bill.

Winter Wonderland OK'd Despite Objections To Christmas Tree, Menorah

2013-05-21T16:32:04Z

Despite objections that parts of the event violate the separation of church and state, officials decided Monday to bring back the Los Alamitos Winter Wonderland in December.

Rabbi Evan Moffic: What Dan Brown's 'Inferno' Teaches Us About Judaism

2013-05-21T16:08:47Z

Before it was even released last week, Dan Brown's novel "Inferno" had reached the top of Amazon's best-seller list. A thriller incorporating the work of the 14th century poet Dante Alighieri, 18th century philosopher Thomas Malthus and 21st century gene manipulation, Brown's newest is not a typical beach novel. It is intellectual exciting and insightful. Even though its religious focus revolves around the Catholic Church, it can help also help us understand some unique features of Judaism.

How so? It puts into perspective differences between Catholic and Jewish visions of hell, and the way our respective histories have shaped our contemporary circumstances.

The Jewish View of Hell

First, some background. In "Inferno," Brown recounts the historical fact that Dante's vision of Hell described in the "The Divine Comedy" shaped the way many people, including the artists and architects who built the beautiful Medieval and Renaissance churches, pictured hell. It's not a positive story.

Does this critique present challenges to Judaism as well? Generally not, because Judaism does not have a strong belief in hell. The only descripton in the Old Testament of an afterlife is as a place called Sheol, where the souls of the dead reside. No notion of paradise or torture is found.

In some later Jewish literature we do find poetic descriptions of Hell. Yet, these serve primary to encourage moral behavior on earth, and do not reflect a strict theological approach to the afterlife. A beautiful example of this earthly focus of the Jewish approach to the afterlife is found in an 18th-century Hasidic story. It begins with a man asking God about heaven and hell.

The Difference Between Heaven and Hell

"I will show you hell," God said, and took the man into a room. A large banquet table in the center was filled with extraordinary foods. The sight and smell of the foods were intoxicating. Around the table sat miserable, famished and desperate people.

Each person held spoon with a long handle. But the spoons were strapped to their bodies in a way that made it impossible for them to both bend their elbows and bring the spoons to their mouths. As a result, they were starving.

"Now," God said, "I will show you heaven." The man found himself in an identical room with an identical banquet table laden with a magnificent array of foods. Around this table people also held long wooden spoons strapped to their bodies. Yet, they were happy, smiling and well-nourished.

"Same table, same food, same spoons. Why are things different here?" asked the man.

"There is one important difference," God said in response. "Here, in heaven, the people feed one another."

These visions of heaven and hell are not meant to be taken literally. They are meant to encourage us to give to and share with others on earth. This understanding of heaven and hell differ substantially from the one Brown portrays. They illustrate the Jewish emphasis on this-worldiness, as opposed to the afterlife.

Judaism Never Had An Empire

Much of the intrigue in Brown's work comes from the history of the Catholic Church. This history has been shaped by the immense power the Church has had throughout its existence. Until the Industrial Revolution brought about large central governments, the Church was the sole superpower in the world.

Judaism, in contrast, never became the impetus or opportunitiy for building an empire. For most of our history, Jews lived dispersed around the world. It was only in 1948, after 2,000 years of exile, that a Jewish state and government came into existence. As a result, the traditional trappings of power never shaped Jewish history and tradition. And because until the 19th century conversion to Judaism could be punished by death in some countries, Jews did not grow into a large people. Its political power and influence was limited. The palaces and treasures that provide the context for Brown's intriguing plots have never existed.

What Is Our Takeaway?

All this comparison and contrast can serve to remind us that Brown is writing a novel, not a historical or religious treatise. Each religion has a unique history and set of texts that shapes its beliefs and practices. If we want a good thriller novel, we can read Dan Brown. If we want to learn more about faith and history, we can visit the other side of the library.

Dale McGowan: Compassionate Humanism: Closing the Giving Gap

2013-05-21T16:02:15Z

Imagine you've designed an experiment to find out how to motivate people to give more to charity. One group attends a weekly inspirational talk. They hear about the needs of those less fortunate and are urged to rise to the highest aspirations of their worldview by meeting that need. Then a shiny plate is passed, full of the generous donations of their friends and neighbors. Each person makes a choice--add to that plate, or pass it on without contributing, fifty-two times a year.

A control group attends no such meetings. They give to causes they learn about and care about, but it's less systematic, less closely tied to a community expression of shared values.

Run the experiment for a year, then try to contain your surprise when the first group turns out to have given 2-3 times as much as the second. You probably wouldn't conclude that the first group is filled with more virtuous people. Instead, you'd realize that you'd created an effective giving culture--one that is systematic, personally aspirational, and tied to a community of shared values.

Of course this experiment has been going on for centuries. Churches have created a giving culture so effective that most religious adherents see charitable giving as a direct expression of their worldview. So it's not surprising that such solid instruments as the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census, the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, and studies by Independent Sector and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University all show that the average churchgoer gives away 2-3 times more discretionary income than the average non-churchgoer. Given the different giving contexts, I'd be surprised if that wasn't true.

Conservative commentators including Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute claim that the difference is evidence of a "gap in virtue" between the groups. Churchgoers are just better people. But it's telling that we're talking not about belief but the measurable activity of churchgoing--the act of putting yourself in that giving context. I was a churchgoing atheist for over 20 years, and when I stopped going to church, my charitable giving fell off a cliff. It's not that I suddenly became less generous, just that my generosity was being tapped much less often and less effectively.

Nonreligious commentators sometimes counter that church giving shouldn't "count" since most of it stays in the church. True, it does--but that's irrelevant to this question. Even if the plates were emptied into a hole out back every week, it's still the case that individuals are giving more than they would have if they'd stayed home on Sundays. And despite the temptation to simplify the motivations for church giving to fear of hell or hope of salvation, the social psychology of it is far more down-to-earth, and therefore more adaptable to the world outside the church doors.

So once we get past the finger-pointing and back-patting about the giving gap, we can finally get to a worthwhile question: Can we create an equally effective systematic giving culture among the nonreligious? Without the church absorbing the lion's share, I could make an even bigger impact on genuine human need than I did when I was feeding that shiny plate.

This is a challenge and an opportunity for philanthropy. Church attendance in the U.S. has been dropping steadily since the 1990s, and fewer than one in four Americans now attend on a regular basis.¹ Even those of us who consider this good news for the culture should see that there are some things churches have done really well. If creating a giving culture is one of them, and people are exiting that system in droves, it's worth asking whether and how we can create it without the religious context.

To answer that question, in early 2010, I worked with several other atheists and humanists who had seen the same challenge to create a systematic giving program for those who share our worldview. The result is Foundation Beyond Belief, a charitable organization with a humanist identity that features five carefully selected charities per quarter working in areas including poverty, education, and human rights. Members sign up for an automatic monthly donation in the amount of their choice and distribute their funds however they wish among the charities. We spend each quarter telling the stories of these organizations and connecting their work to the humanist imperatives of mutual care and responsibility. We keep none of the funds designated for our featured charities; our own operations are funded through separate donations and grants.

The results so far have been very encouraging. We have over a thousand contributing members and are approaching a million dollars in total giving since the launch. Many members report a deeper connection with humanism and with human needs, and many have reported that they are now giving 2-3 times more per year than before they joined.

So that giving gap is real, but it's not about virtue, and closing it is a win for philanthropy and for the people whose lives are made better by it. As more and more people leave the churches, there will be more questions like this one, more opportunities to hit pause on the culture war and learn what we can from the things religion has done well--even as we set the rest of it aside.

1 - Hadaway, C. Kirk and Penny Long Marler. 2005. "Ho Many Americans Attend Worship Each Week? An Alternative Approach to Measurement." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44:307-322.

Texas Passes 'Merry Christmas Bill'

2013-05-21T15:49:39Z

WASHINGTON -- Christmas may be seven months away, but Texas is ready for it.

State lawmakers there waged their own battle against the so-called War on Christmas on Friday, passing legislation, House Bill 308, that allows public school teachers to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah" and display Christmas trees, nativity scenes or menorahs. Winter displays must represent more than one religion or include secular symbols.

But while the legislation specifies that schools may not constitutionally favor one religion over another, the bill is named for only one religion -- Christmas.

"Teachers have enough on their plate to worry about [whether] the school district's going to be sued or if they can call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree," said state Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R), who sponsored the legislation.

He told KTBC in Austin that he came up with the idea when his six-year-old son told him about how he had "decorated the holiday tree with holiday ornaments."

"I was a little bit flabbergasted and a little bit upset that we've become so politically correct that we can't call a federal holiday by its name," said Bohac.

State Sen. Robert Nichols (R), who introduced the companion bill in the Senate, said he feared it was "becoming less culturally acceptable to openly celebrate these holidays in the ways past generations have."

Backers of the bill even set up a website and petition to drum up support:

The bill is now awaiting Gov. Rick Perry's (R) signature; his spokesman did not return a request for comment on whether he would sign it.

For years, Fox News has been warning viewers of a War on Christmas, with host Bill O'Reilly covering it more than the actual wars going on.

Linda Bridges, president of the Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers, told KTBC that she believed there were more important issues for the legislature to be working on.

"I think I can honestly say I've never had a question from a teacher about what they can and can't do around holidays," said Bridges. "I think we really have to say, does this help education when we are caught up in discussions that have become pure partisan discussions? That is not the way we should be looking at education."

Fr. Gary M. Meier: Why I Decided To Come Out As A Gay Priest

2013-05-21T15:17:00Z

I don't know where to begin exactly, so let me begin with a quote from the statement I posted on my website and on Facebook this past Wednesday, May 15:

On May 23, 2013, I will be celebrating my 15 year anniversary to the priesthood as a catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, MO. On the eve of this anniversary, I have released the 2nd edition of my book "Hidden Voices, Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest" which was originally published anonymously in 2011. The second edition is now available, and has one main difference -- it is no longer anonymous. The decision to release the book under my name was not an easy one to make but one I felt was necessary.

It has been difficult to remain part of a hierarchy that has been so hostile towards homosexuals in recent years. This is especially true considering nearly 30% of all successful teenage suicides are attributed to sexual identity issues. Our church once stood for and represented the radical nature of God's love for all people. That is not the true today -- especially towards the LGBT community and therefore I feel compelled to stand in solidarity with those Catholic's who have lost their jobs, have been denied the sacraments, have been excommunicated or who have been made to feel "less than" by their church leaders because of who they love.

After posting the statement on Facebook, I sat back and to monitor the response.

Wow. Within seconds, people began to respond. Within hours I had received nearly 100 likes, comments, emails, texts and phone calls combined -- and it hasn't stopped. The local media asked for interviews and comments, which I was happy to give. It has been a frenzy of activity since. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of communications I have received from people everywhere and it has been unbelievably supportive.

Crazy! Who knew? Is this really a story? Do people really care? Why is it, that in a society that continues to move toward tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals, anyone would be interested in my "coming out"? And then I remember: Oh yeah, I'm a priest. A Catholic priest -- and everyone knows, Catholics are anti-gay, right?

I have tried over the years to reconcile my silence as a gay priest with that of the Church's increasingly anti-gay stance, but I have been unsuccessful. At the heart of every authentic call to ministry is the desire to live a life of integrity. It was my desire to live a life of integrity that led me to the priesthood and it is that same desire that has led me to where I am today. In the end it became clear that I could no longer be anonymous -- that is, I could not live as a gay priest, which means living in silence while publicly pretending to support the hierarchy's teachings on homosexuality.

A teaching that has caused and continues to cause harm to many gay men and women, young and old, who are looking for acceptance and love but instead find silence and shame. I am especially concerned for our LGBT youth. It's hard enough to be a "straight" teenager dealing with the standard ups and downs of hormones and emotions, but to be a teenager with same-sex attractions in a community where your spiritual leaders, the people you look to for guidance and affirmation, are telling you that you have a disease like alcoholism and that you're a threat to life. Can anyone survive it intact? Yet that's precisely the message our Church is sharing. LGBT youth are hearing that they are disordered, diseased, defective, damaged goods, wrong when they should be right.

Several years ago, a friend once asked me, "What is it you really want?" After a moment I replied, "I want to be out." My response caught me by surprise because the moment I said it, I knew it was true. I want to be out. It came with such clarity. I want the world to know the truth about who I am.

In the weeks that followed that conversation, I began to realize that what I really want is the truth to be out. I want the truth about homosexuality to be out. I want others to know that homosexuality is a gift. That you can live and love as God created you to love. We are created by love for love. Homosexuality is not a cross, it's not a curse, it's not an intrinsic disorder; it is a gift, created by love for love. It is a life-giving gift from God that embodies the infinite ways God's love can be manifested in our world. That's what I want. I want the truth to be out. I want people to know, to love and to respect one another by accepting this truth.

That is why I wrote the book and that is why I am no longer anonymous -- because I want people to know the truth.

The official book launch will be held at the University of Missouri Saint Louis on May 21 at 4 p.m., and is being sponsored by PROMO (Promoting Equality for All Missourians), The Ethical Society of Saint Louis, Chi Sigma Iota, and the Dean's Committee for Social Justice for the College of Education at UMSL.

Man Commits Suicide Inside Notre Dame

2013-05-21T15:16:01Z

PARIS — Some 1,500 visitors were cleared out of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a man put a letter on the altar of the 850-year-old monument Tuesday, pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head.

It's the first suicide in decades at the landmark site, Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, the cathedral's rector, told The Associated Press.

"It's unfortunate, it's dramatic, it's shocking," Jacquin said. The motives for the suicide, and the contents of the man's letter, were unclear.

Police ushered people out of the cathedral after the shooting, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said from the grand stone plaza in front of Notre Dame. "We call for compassion," he said.

It's highly unusual for the cathedral, visited by some 13 million people from around the world every year, to be evacuated.

Police, the Paris prosecutor and church employees gathered inside the cathedral, while puzzled tourists crowded outside on the island in the Seine River that has been home to the cathedral since the 12th century.

School groups lined up in hopes of entering the cathedral Tuesday evening, when it was expected to reopen for an evening service that church officials said would include a prayer for the man who committed suicide and other struggling souls.

Tuesday's death comes less than a week after another unusual suicide in central Paris, when a man shot himself in front of a dozen schoolchildren at a private Catholic school in the French capital.

Jacquin said a few people had committed suicide by jumping from Notre Dame's twin towers, but he had no knowledge of anyone ever committing suicide on the altar. The Eiffel Tower occasionally shuts down because of suicides or attempts to jump off its ledges.

Right-Wing Church Blames Tornado Devastation On Support For Gay Player

2013-05-21T15:13:16Z

A prominent member of the Westboro Baptist Church is drawing a link between the Oklahoma tornado's devastation and a local team's support for openly gay NBA star Jason Collins.

Fred Phelps Jr., the son of Westboro Baptist Church minister Fred Phelps, tweeted the following:

OK Thunder's Durant flips God by praising fag Collins.God smashes OK. You do the math.#GodH8sFags #FagsDoomNations #FearGod #GodH8sU
— Fred Phelps, Jr. (@WBCFredJr) May 21, 2013

Later, Phelps added:

God's wonderful wrath in Oklahoma reminds me:#GodCursesUForFagMarriage #GodIsYourTerrorist #GodWillRepay #GodAvengesHisPeople #GodH8sU
— Fred Phelps, Jr. (@WBCFredJr) May 21, 2013

It isn't the first time that an anti-gay pundit has attempted to blame a natural disaster to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. In 2012, chaplain John McTernan linked Hurricane Sandy (and a number of other recent weather-related trends and natural disasters) on LGBT people and President Barack Obama's backing of marriage equality.

"God is systematically destroying America," McTernan wrote at the time. "Just look at what has happened this year."

McTernan similarly linked Hurricane Isaac with the LGBT community, pointing to the fact that the life-threatening storm coincided with Southern Decadence, New Orleans' "Gay Mardi Gras."

"New Orleans is still hosting Southern Decadence with open homosexuality manifesting in the streets of the city," he wrote in a blog. "It could be that God is putting an end to this city and its wickedness."

Rodger Kamenetz: The Angel Of New Orleans Meets The Angel Of Tibet

2013-05-21T14:55:57Z

From a talk given at Temple Sinai in New Orleans on May 9, 2013. This is part two in a series. Read part one.

Your Holiness, when you did dialogue with Jewish teachers in Dharamsala, there were two exchanges. One was people to people, about a shared history of exile and destruction. And there was a second, very intimate exchange, that had a profound effect on all whoheard it. And this one was soul to soul, and angel to angel, the Jewish soul and the Tibetan soul, the Jewish angel and the Tibetan angel. For the spiritual dimension of reality is so often neglected, despised, even hated in today's world, but it is a major part of what makes Jewish survival worthwhile in the first place. And right now, it is in the midst of our wreckage I speak to you, both as a Jew and as a New Orleanian. Because survival is not just a matter of urban planning, or of financial aid, or willfulness. It is something deeper. It is of the soul -- the soul of individuals, the soul of the city and the soul of nation. To rebuild is important, but to recognize a new historical moment and to renew is a matter of soul I do believe, and without soul nothing we do can ever really be new.

Your Holiness, the second rabbi who spoke with you soul to soul was a man who became my teacher, as you also became my teacher, and his name is Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, though everyone calls him Reb Zalman -- as if to say, brother Zalman. And Reb Zalman began with a Hebrew prayer translated into Tibetan, and then he spoke to you as one who had escaped the fires of the Holocaust but barely, fleeing Austria and then Belgium, and landing in a DP camp in southern France under command of the Gestapo, before somehow making his way via the West Indies to New York. And Reb Zalman carried with him all the teachings of Jewish mysticism, of a world that was being destroyed as he fled, for we must never forget that largely Hitler succeeded in destroying Jewish Europe and its institutions and its holiest teachers, as if someone had come to the U.S. and destroyed Harvard, Yale and MIT, and then wiped out a whole generation of political leaders as well.

Reb Zalman during the '60s left Chabad and became the leader of a movement known as Jewish Renewal, which sought to combine the mysticism of Hasidism with feminism and an openness to meditation, and most of all to joy. And this movement has greatly influenced every branch of Judaism, with its music, its style of prayer, its egalitarianism and its interest in mysticism.

And this is something that we need to remember about New Orleans too: that culture is carried by human beings, specific men and women who know how to cook an etouffee, or play a drum with a certain beat, or sew beads on to a suit, and these precious kinds of knowledge are easily lost and are carried by human arks.

So Reb Zalman spoke to you as that sort of human ark, carrier of centuries of wisdom, a fellow exile, and as a man who lived the loss of home and culture that you have personally have experienced over the past 63 years now since the Chinese army moved into Tibet and took control. And since then even unto today the Tibetan people in their own land have been subjugated and their religious leaders, their monks, have been persecuted, their temples destroyed and then in some case rebuilt as tourist destinations, a land where merely wishing you long life, Your Holiness, and carrying your picture cane be punished by imprisonment and torture. And when we had the Seder together in Washington, we played the tape of Tibetan nuns in prison chanting a song of freedom, and even today they are not free, and in your homeland your people are burning themselves alive in anguish and protest and still they are not heard.

And Reb Zalman said, "I want to say when a soul comes down to earth they show him first what he has to do here, that's our tradition. And I believe those who volunteer for difficult jobs deserve special consideration. When I think of the job you have to do, which is not only to guide your people through the crisis, and God wiling, the restoration of your home, but also the risks you must take and the choices you must make of what is essential and what is to be left behind, I want you to know that I feel with you from heart to heart."

His task was to explain the inner meaning of Jewish practice, especially the more esoteric teachings we know as Kabbalah, which means, actually, "tradition." For it is a largely esoteric tradition that was once kept entirely secret or passed on by word of mouth only to a select few. For you had asked to know another secret, what is the benefit of Jewish practices such as our holidays and prayers -- a very Buddhist question I might add -- and you asked it this way, "What are the Jewish practices for overcoming afflictive states of mind?"

And I want to say -- it would be another talk to explain -- that many many Jews today would not even know what that question means, let alone what the answer is. For in the urgency to survive especially in the period post war, many Jews concerned themselves primarily with institutions and buildings and not with the inner work, what Reb Zalman called "the esoteric, the deep attunement, the deep way." And I have to say, the very words I am using such as soul, and deep way, might sound very foreign to some of my Jewish brothers and sisters, very remote.

But on his way to explaining the "deep way" of Jewish mysticism, Reb Zalman spoke with you about angels or devas and here the dialogue really became exciting because I saw, Your Holiness, we all saw how fascinated you were with angels; you wouldn't let go of the topic. Reb Zalman wanted to explain the four worlds of Jewish mysticism, the four worlds of prayer, but you kept him in the second world, the world of formation, the world of imagination -- and dreams are there, and feelings are there, and angels are there, messengers who mediate in the imagination between the loftiest heights of pure thought and the ground and senses where we live as bodies. And you wanted to know if angels had different colors and yes, Reb Zalman answered, there are orange angels and blue, and there's the black angel we call the opponent or Satan -- and he too, they are all serving God. That is our tradition, Reb Zalman kept saying, though the other rabbis seemed either astonished or embarrassed, even horrified, you could see that in their faces, so estranged from this inner core of Jewish life had the mainstream Jewish world become.

So you moved worlds there, Your Holiness, and you wanted to know if angels have anything to do with earthquake, there was a small earthquake that morning in Dharamsala and Reb Zalman said yes, in our tradition, angels cause earthquakes and changes in the weather and there are little angels over every blade of grass that say grow grow grow. Yes, he said, it's in our tradition, and by then some of the rabbis were giving each other looks, like this clearly wasn't in THEIR tradition, but Your Holiness you were not deterred, not at all, and then Reb Zalman said something about the angel of cities and the angel of nations, which is really not a foreign notion at all -- Maimonides writes about it -- and you were really curious about this idea, and Reb Zalman said, "Oh yes there's an angel of each nation, there's an angel of the Jews and an angel of Tibet, and if we do the dialogue right, the angel of the Jews is speaking through me and the angel of Tibet is listening in you, and vice versa you see -- so the dialogue isn't just at one level."

Suddenly it wasn't. That was the moment that encapsulated the whole thing. These two men were no longer just men, but something was speaking and listening in them that was greater than any individual.

And I saw a certain light there which I still see and I've been trying to explain ever since. There was something very beautiful in that moment. What I could say is, it was both a metaphor and yet literally true -- well, we poets call that a metonymy -- because wasn't Reb Zalman in effect speaking for the Jewish people, and weren't you, Your Holiness, listening for the Tibetan people and speaking for them as well, speaking their essence, so the dialogue wasn't just at the human level. For the angel of a nation, Maimonides teaches, is the essence of that nation, and now you and Reb Zalman were speaking for just a moment essence to essence, in a dialogue that had never before ever happened at that level between these two unique peoples, the Tibetans and the Jews both of whom had tasted in the 20th century exile and destruction.

That moment it really did seem as if these angels were talking to one another, the only way I think angels can, through two human beings who are open to astonishment, and who have the curiosity and the love to share soul to soul.

And that is the kind of dialogue I wish for Your Holiness as you come here to New Orleans, For if there's an angel of Tibet and an angel of Lhasa, surely there's an angel of the Jews and an angel of New Orleans. So I hope you will meet us not just as a people struggling with social problems or even ecological catastrophe, though we clearly are, but also you will somehow meet the angel of New Orleans in some of us, and that we will somehow also feel the angel of Tibet speaking through you. Then the dialogue will not be just on one level -- and I hope there will be a dialogue -- it will be also on a deeper level.

I know that the precious times when I've had the privilege to speak with you, I have felt the intensity of your presence and the power of your listening.

I believe that is what you will bring to us here in New Orleans, the power of the quiet mind, shaped by the daily meditation and visualizations which are the precious spiritual values you and the Tibetan people carry -- and we hope thanks to you and them, that this will survive and will continue benefit human beings.

I hope, if we listen not just with our ears but our hearts, we will learn from you your own secrets of spiritual survival in exile, and perhaps also you will learn a little from us as well, how we live our New Orleans soul and even get a glimpse in the joy of our daily lives, in music, in dancing, in food and in our culture, of the angel of New Orleans.

Rodger Kamenetz is the author of 'The Jew in the Lotus.'

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño: LGBT Families Must Be Included in Immigration Reform

2013-05-21T14:02:42Z

When the media writes about religious leaders who oppose the inclusion of LGBT families in immigration reform, they generalize, and in fact, misinform their readers. While a segment of the Christian community stands in opposition to provisions that aim to correct the discrimination that LGBT families face in our immigration system, these voices do not represent all religious leaders. In fact, the media's tendency to inflate this one narrow message does a disservice to the over 40 denominations and national faith organizations -- including my own church, The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism -- that stand in full support of the inclusion of LGBT families in comprehensive immigration reform.

With others I have fought for many years of my life and ministry for comprehensive immigration reform. I care deeply about the impact that our immigration policies have on individuals and families in this country -- from agricultural guest workers to the DREAMers to the families who are torn apart by deportation to the asylees who seek freedom from the persecution they suffer in their home countries. My commitment to comprehensive immigration reform and more importantly, to the families that are directly impacted by our immigration policies, comes from my faith. As a Christian I believe we are called to love our neighbor, a love to be extended to all our neighbors without exception.

In California, where I currently serve as a bishop, it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 binational same-sex families. One is Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado and their 16-year-old twin boys, Jashley and Joriene. Although Shirley and Jay have been together as a couple for 25 years and married for nearly a decade, Jay has no way to sponsor Shirley for a green card because their marriage is not recognized by the federal government. In fact, at one point, ICE agents arrested Shirley and threatened to deport her -- an action which would have separated her from her U.S. citizen wife and children. I have met Shirley and Jay and their boys. They are a loving, responsible family who represent the many LGBT families who are worthy of having their family unity protected by law just like everyone else.

I applaud Senator Leahy for introducing his amendments -- Leahy 6 and Leahy 7 -- to end the discrimination that LGBT families face in our present immigration system. Our nation's commitment to fairness and equality for all people demands that we treat LGBT families with the same dignity we hope immigrant families all across the country will be treated. Senator Leahy's amendments are fundamentally about keeping loving families together. Thank you Senator Leahy.

I do hear that there are senators who are threatening to walk away from S 744 over the simple, humane inclusion of LGBT families like Shirley and Jay's. These senators should be ashamed of themselves. Before they decide to walk away from immigration reform because of the just demand of LGBT families to be included as well, senators should remember that 64 percent of Latino voters support including LGBT families in immigration reform as do 71 percent of Catholic Latino voters, and 53 percent of born-again Christian Latino voters.

The opportunity to reunite their families should be extended to all immigrant families, including LGBT families. It is the just and right thing to do. It is the humane thing to do. It is what we must do.

WATCH: Why This Pastor DOESN'T Want Everyone At Church On Sunday

2013-05-21T13:46:00Z

"I'm spiritual, but not religious." This is how many people describe their belief system -- embracing transcendental philosophies, but not following any kind of dogma. So, when Oprah sat down with Reverend Ed Bacon of the All Saints Episcopal Church, she asked the pastor an all-important question to get a religious leader's take on whether or not spirituality and religion must converge.

"Can you be spiritual and not be religious?" Oprah asks Rev. Bacon in the video.

"Yes," he answers without hesitation. "I say that because there [are] wonderful people who have spiritual experiences ... and they are just not going to bother with this religious stuff."

Ultimately, Rev. Bacon says, the heart of issue boils down to respect. "Let's respect everybody exactly where they are and let's let grace lead them where grace needs to lead them," he says simply -- even if that place doesn't happen to be the church.

"You don't want everybody to be in church on Sunday?" Oprah asks, surprised.

"No, I don't," Rev. Bacon responds. "I want everybody to know God. I want everybody to know the love that I know... What I want, Oprah, is to turn the human race into the human family. And you don't have to be at church to be a part of that."

In the video, Rev. Bacon also explains why people do go to church and how their combined energy can create an inspired impact.

Rev. Bacon appears on a new episode of "Super Soul Sunday" -- along with Elizabeth Lesser and Mark Nepo -- for a special series exploring today's global topics, from gay marriage to gun violence. Tune in Sunday, May 26, at 11 a.m. ET on OWN.

Michael D'Antonio: Real Christian Heroes Step Forward

2013-05-21T13:41:12Z

Twelve new apostles of truth -- they call themselves The Catholic Whistleblowers -- are raising their voices against a system of cover-up and denial, calling on Pope Francis to follow a six-point plan for ending the era of scandal caused by priests who have sexually abused children. Nuns and priests alike, the 12 Americans are asking for commonsense efforts including:

An international advisory board of abuse survivors to facilitate talks between church leaders and victims.
Revocation of pledges of secrecy to avoid scandal for bishops.
Full public access to documents relevant to abuse cases.
Removal of officials who facilitated abuse, obstructed justice or destroyed documents.

These and other policy suggestions form the base of the group's suggested program for resolving a scandal made worse by bishops who have been "proposing themselves to be seen as the victims" of the claims made by men and women who were sexually abused in childhood by clergy. They add, "For this reason, without a doubt, the Church's sexual abuse crisis and scandal live on today as strong as ever."

The whistleblowers include Rev. Thomas Doyle, a former official of the Vatican embassy in Washington who was the first priest to criticize the hierarchy's response to sexual abuse back in the 1980s. He is joined by five other active priests and two nuns who serve the church in Delaware and New Jersey. Among the group is the Rev. John Bambrick of Trenton, N.J., who was himself abused by a priest at age 15. After making a complaint, Bambrick was assured that the priest who abused him had been barred from working as a priest. He later discovered the man was still in ministry.

In their letter, the members of the group liken themselves to a New Testament beggar who sought healing from Jesus. "The beggar refused to be cast into silence for he knew his healing could only come from the dispenser of the divine mercy," they write. "Like this poor disfigured beggar we call out to you from the side of the road, we who have been cast off, the apostles telling us to be silent. Please, Pope Francis, do not pass us by."

Noteworthy because they are acting together, and in public, the new whistleblowers represent a larger number of Catholic priests, nuns and even bishops who have challenged the official church response to abuse survivors, often at much personal risk. Doyle, for example, lost his prominent position when he warned of a looming crisis. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit became an advocate for abuse victims and in 2006 testified for changes in the law to allow them to file suit against the church. Gumbleton was forced to retire soon after he spoke out. Members of the new organization say they know of other clergy who were removed from their positions or accused of mental instability after they spoke about priests who had abused children.

The letter, which was sent to several Vatican officials, is timed to take advantage of the opening created by the historic resignation of Benedict XVI, a remote figure who was tied to old policies of denial and deflection and the arrival of his more approachable successor. The group urges Francis, the ultimate leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, to "change the Church's response."

Plainly sensible and sincere, the appeal by these loyal Catholics is nevertheless a courageous step. Most of them live and work inside the church structure and in organizing and speaking together they risk their positions and open themselves to criticism. However they also join the ranks of heroic men and women who form a long tradition of service and sacrifice in the cause of justice. For this they should be regarded as heroes.

Unbelievable 18th Century Medical Illustrations

2013-05-21T13:40:48Z

It's hard to believe there was a time when the word "monstrous" was a medical term, but in the 18th century, superstition and medicine were inextricably combined.

A 1775 text titled, Les Ecarts de la Nature ou Recueil des Principales Monstruosités (The Deviations of Nature or a Collection of the Main Monstrosities) features a dizzying array of medical oddities. Some are real, but most are imagined. In the foreward to Les Ecarts de la Nature, artists Nicolas-François and Geneviève Regnault ask readers to contact them with their own unusual bits of information in order to "enrich this book."

The outdated medical bible, which we discovered on io9, opens with an intriguing yet unsettling quotation by French poet Boileau: "No monster exists that cannot be made pleasing through art." The beautiful illustrations reveal a clear aesthetic appreciation for natural deviations, raising ethical questions about the book's simultaneous attraction and repulsion to difference.

Take a look at the not-so-medically-accurate images below and let us know your thoughts in the comments. For a different approach to unusual medical imaging, check out the work of Frank H. Netter.

41 Years Ago Michelangelo's Pieta Was Attacked

2013-05-21T13:34:00Z

* Michelangelo finished Pieta statue in 1500

* Attack in May 1972 left more than 100 fragments

* Restoration took 10 months, now behind bullet-proof glass

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, May 21 (Reuters) - Forty-one years ago, a crazed Hungarian named Laszlo Toth jumped an altar railing in St. Peter's Basilica and dealt 12 hammer blows to Michelangelo's Pieta, severely damaging the Renaissance masterpiece.

To mark the attack on May 21, 1972, the Vatican Museums held a day-long seminar on Tuesday on the statue, the incident, and what subsequently became one of the most delicate and controversial art restorations in history.

In his attack on the statue, which depicts the Madonna holding the body of the dead Jesus minutes after he was taken down from the cross, the unemployed geologist knocked off her left arm and hand.

Toth, who alternately said he was Jesus Christ or Michelangelo, also broke her nose in three parts and left about 100 other fragments, including chips from the back of her head, lying on the floor of the chapel where it was on display.

At the time, art historians were divided on how to proceed with the restoration of the masterpiece.

The statue is so lifelike that a viewer can almost feel the curls of the dead Christ's hair and the softness of the Madonna's lips.

The veins in Christ's muscular arms seem to be still holding blood. The folds in the Madonna's veil seem made of muslin rather than marble.

When art historian Giorgio Vasari saw the statue in 1550 he wrote in his book about the lives of artists.

"It is a miracle that a rock, which before was without form, can take on such perfection that even nature sometimes struggles to create in the flesh".

After the attack, some art historians and restorers wanted the statue to remain as it was damaged as a sign of the violent times. Others said it should be restored but with clear marks delineating the damaged parts as a historical testament.

INTEGRAL RESTORATION

The Vatican instead decided on what is known as an "integral restoration," one that would not leave any traces of the intervention visible to the naked eye.

"With any other statue, leaving the wounds (of the attack) visible, however painful, could have been tolerated," said Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums.

"But not with the Pieta, not this miracle of art," he said.

Michelangelo was commissioned on August 27, 1498 and carved it out of a single block of Carrera marble he chose himself from a Tuscan quarry. The contract, with Michelangelo's signature, is preserved in the Vatican.

Nazzareno Gabrielli, the last surviving member of the team that restored the statue in 1972-1973, said there were "a lot of difficult moments in the debate as the plan of action was decided, some anxiety, and perplexities during experimentations in the laboratory".

Using previous photographs, it took more than five months to identify all the pieces and fragments, some the size of a fingernail, before starting to put them back together in a makeshift laboratory built around the statue in the chapel so it would not have to be moved.

"It's a good thing the hammer blows were vertical. If they had been horizontal he could have knocked the head right off," one of the restorers says in a documentary screened at Tuesday's seminar.

Using a specially made invisible glue and powder made from the same type of marble, the restorers painstakingly pieced together the chunks and fragments, including one that arrived anonymously from the United States.

A tourist who was in the basilica picked up a piece in the confusion as police were arresting Toth. The tourist later apparently felt guilty and mailed it back.

One of the most precious discoveries was the Madonna's eyelid.

The gaps left after all the fragments were in place were filled with replacement pieces made from a copy of statue that had been made from a mould before the attack.

Some 10 months after the attack, the Pieta went on display again in the chapel that bears its name, this time behind a panel of bulletproof glass, where it is viewed by millions of people a year.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella)

Jeanne Bishop: Tragedy and Love in Oklahoma City

2013-05-21T12:35:27Z

I grew up in Oklahoma City.

My family moved there when I was 10. When the moving truck was still unloading furniture, and the front door of our new house at 6609 N. Hillcrest was wide open, my 5-year-old sister Nancy escaped.

We learned later that she had gone up the street ringing doorbells with her tiny fingers, saying, "I'm Nancy Bishop," introducing herself to her new neighbors.

At some point, we noticed she was missing. Panic ensued. We combed the neighborhood, going house to house, apologetically, 'til we arrived at the end of Hillcrest Avenue, at the Kennedys' house. It was a grand house with a green lawn stretched out in front. We were welcomed in by a dignified, white-haired couple. There Nancy was, in their kitchen, sitting at a counter, swinging her legs, eating an apple, happy and at home. Nancy, the lost child, had been saved by kindness. The Kennedys took her in.

I remembered that kindness tonight when I turned on the news and saw the devastation in Oklahoma, not far from where Nancy was rescued. Two elementary schools had been hit by the level EF4 storm (the maximum is EF5). Children were dead. Parents who flocked to the school were reportedly kept away from the perimeter so that rescuers could hear any voices that might be crying for help.

My first thought as I surveyed the rubble was, Why?

Children in Oklahoma starved during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Nineteen children under the age of 6 perished in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Federal Building in the deadliest act of terrorism on American soil before 9/11. Now this. Haven't the people of Oklahoma City suffered enough? I groped for answers.

During Lent, I had the privilege of meeting Rev. Roger Paynter. Baptist minster, he shepherds the lively congregation of First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas. He grew up in Oklahoma City, played football at Putnam City High School. When the bombing occurred, he was called on to act as chaplain to the families of the missing and the dead.

His job was to be part of a team of law enforcement, social workers, therapists and the like to notify those who were waiting on word of the fate of their loved ones. Roger's team was limited to one such notification a day, because of the trauma it inflicted, not just on those notified, but on those with the heavy burden of giving notice: your husband, your mother, your child is no more.

Roger told me that often, all there was to identify a lost loved one was a body part: an ear, a foot, a severed limb. Thereafter, he couldn't hear the words of Paul in Scripture referring to the "body of Christ," and each of us as parts of that body, without conjuring that image.

On the day of the tornado, I called my friend Bud Welch, whose only daughter Julie Marie died in the Oklahoma City bombing. A translator for the Social Security Administration on the first floor of the Murrah Building, Julie was 23 years old when her life was lost.

I Facebooked my high school friends, who had been in and out of tornado shelters all day, who had lined up to donate blood and money to rescue efforts.

But most of all, I thought about the Kennedys, the kindly, elderly couple who took in a lost child. Nancy lived another 20 years after that day, until a murderer's bullet took her life. She was 25 years old and pregnant with what would have been her first child when she and her husband were shot to death by an intruder in their home. We got to have her all that time, because of hospitality and love, the kind that Oklahoma CIty excels in: the kind that opens the door when a five-year-old rings the bell, invites her in and offers her an apple.