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According this article, a Chuch of England parish is planning to use U2 songs in place of hymns at its service of Holy Communion. Additionally, there will be lights and video and–my favorite–space for the congregation "to dance and wave their hands." The purpose of this "U2-charist" is to draw attention to the Millennium Development Goals. Funny, I thought the Eucharist was supposed to draw attention to Christ. Of course, the first "U2-charist" was held somewhere in America. Oy!

Pope Benedict XVI deliverd a speech at the University of Regensburg that has generated quite a bit of controversy in the Muslim world. (The text of the speech is here.)

The thesis of the speech, as far as I can tell, is a quote from the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palelogus, who was dialoguing with a Persian scholar about the differences between Christianity and Islam: "Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God."

In and of itself, the quote is uncontroversial, both within Catholic and Muslim theology. What has been controversial is the Pope's citation of another remark by Manuel II: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Various authorities in the Muslim world have demanded that the Pope apologize for his remarks. 

Consider these paragraphs from a story in The Guardian:

I only wish one of these Muslim authorities would show in which sense the Pope is wrong: (1) Is he wrong to assert that not to act reasonably is contrary to the nature of God? (2) Is he wrong to assert that using violence to spread one's religion is unreasonable? (3) Is he wrong that Mohammed actually commanded the use of the sword against infidels, or that the House of Islam spread in the early centuries through a vigorous practice of jihad?

From what I've read about Islam's history, I have concluded that Mohammed did in fact countenance violence and that Islam spread through jihad. So, in my opinion, the Pope's simply telling the truth. Rather than protesting the Pope's remarks (and acting violently against Palestinian Christians), why don't these Islamic authorities simply cite chapter and verse by way of an enlightened and peaceful refutation?

Not to do so simply proves the Pope's point and confirms the worst stereotypes about Islam.

UPDATE: Speaking of confirming Islam's worst stereotypes, it seems that Islamist gunmen in Mogadishu, Somalia have murdered a Catholic nun and her guard. Click here for details.

UPDATE 2: Peter Robinson provides some interesting background on Manuel II Palelogus here. He seemed to have a very extensive experience with Muslims, so one can hardly dismiss his remarks as misinformed. Wrong, perhaps, but not from a lack of textual knowledge and personal experience.

Via Compass Direct. For my first post on this subject, go here.

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IRAN : CONVERT PASTOR RELEASED ON BAIL

Formal court case apparently pending against Ali Kaboli.

June 13 (Compass Direct) â.. A convert Christian jailed six weeks ago in northern Iran was released last night and reunited with his family.

The family of Ali Kaboli, 51, continued to decline comment on the reason for the long-time Protestant believerâ..s arrest or any conditions of his June 12 release by police authorities in his home city of Gorgan.

But sources told Compass that a hefty bail was posted to the court for Kaboliâ..s release, indicating that a formal case could be pending against him. Reportedly he is prohibited from receiving guests at his home and is not permitted to travel to Tehran.Â

Kaboli was arrested without explanation on May 2 from his carpenterâ..s workshop in Gorgan, capital of Golestan province. With the exception of one telephone call to his family, he had been refused any outside contact. A former Muslim who converted to Christianity as a teenager, Kaboli hosted house church meetings in his home and traveled in the Caspian Sea region as an itinerant evangelist. In recent years, he has been threatened, arrested and interrogated a number of times for his Christian activities.

Under Iranâ..s strict apostasy laws, Kaboli could face the death penalty for converting to Christianity 35 years ago.  In recent years, authorities in Iranâ..s northern provinces along the Caspian Sea coast have been particularly harsh toward the growing number of house churches cropping up in the region, arresting lay pastors and individual members known to be involved.

Government officials have warned that anyone caught conducting these â..illegal religious meetingsâ. would be duly prosecuted.  Nearly two years ago, local Protestant denominations had been ordered to cut their ties with any house church groups meeting throughout the country.

Since then, church leaders have been under relentless intimidation to compromise with government investigators by providing the names of their members, particularly any who are converts from Islam. Since last yearâ..s election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian authorities have ratcheted up their pressures against the handful of remaining Protestant congregations still allowed to meet in official church buildings.

Another Iranian convert Christian has remained jailed since September 2004, allegedly convicted of â..concealingâ. his Christian identity from the Iranian military while serving as an army colonel. Incarcerated in Tehranâ..s Evin Prison, Hamid Pourmand had converted to Christianity more than 25 years ago.

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What is original sin? Check out the answer provided in Romans 5.12-14.

Download TDW MP3.

From Compass Direct, via my dad.Â

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Christian held under interrogation in northern Iran for past three weeks.

May 22 (Compass Direct) - An Iranian Christian who converted from Islam 33 years ago is under arrest and interrogation in northern Iran, where secret police have held him incommunicado for the past three weeks.

Ali Kaboli, 51, was taken into custody on May 2 from his workshop in Gorgan, capital of Iran’s northern province of Golestan. With the exception of one brief telephone call, he has been refused contact with any visitors.

To date no charges have been filed against Kaboli, who has been threatened in the past with legal prosecution for holding “illegal” religious meetings in his home. He could also be charged for converting to Christianity, which under Iran’s apostasy laws calls for the death penalty.

Since Kaboli’s arrest three weeks ago, a number of the Christians attending Kaboli’s house-church have been called in by the police and questioned, one by one.

Kaboli is married with five grown children; his family has declined to comment on the situation.

A carpenter by trade, Kaboli has for decades hosted house church meetings in his home, which was once burned down by unidentified arsonists. Much of his spare time has been spent as an itinerant evangelist, leading small meetings for worship, Bible study and discipleship in various towns and cities along the Caspian Sea coast.

He has been threatened, arrested and interrogated numerous times for his Christian activities. Twelve years ago, he received verbal threats that he was an apostate who should be killed.

More than once local police have ordered him for months to stay within the city limits of Gorgan and sign in daily at police headquarters.

“Everyone knew that his house was under control [police surveillance] for many years,” an Iranian Christian now living abroad said. “They even pushed him to leave the country about three years ago, but he told them he preferred to stay inside the country, even if it meant living in an Iranian jail.”

“He loves Jesus very much,” said an Iranian pastor who has known Kaboli since his conversion to Christ as a teenager in Tehran. Another Christian added: “And he is very bold.”

Relentless Intimidation

According to outside observers close to the mushrooming Protestant house church movement inside Iran, local authorities and police interrogators in the Golestan and Mazandaran provinces of northern Iran have been “notoriously difficult” for their tough stance against converts to Christianity.

Six months ago, another Muslim convert to Christianity was stabbed to death in nearby Gonbad-e-Kavus, 60 miles from Gorgan. The body of Ghorban Dordi Tourani, 53, was thrown in front of his home a few hours after he was arrested from his home on November 22, 2005.

Since last year’s election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian authorities have ratcheted up their pressures against the handful of remaining Protestant congregations still allowed to meet in official church buildings.

Nearly two years ago, local Protestant denominations had been ordered to cut their ties with any house church groups meeting throughout the country. Government officials warned that such fellowships were holding “illegal religious meetings” and would be duly prosecuted.

Since then, church leaders have been under relentless intimidation to compromise with government investigators by providing the names of their members, particularly any who are converts from Islam.

“So they must either give the police these names, or resign from pastoral ministry - or give up and leave the country,” one Iranian Christian told Compass. “Well actually,” he continued, “there is a fourth alternative: they can go to prison.”

It was lay pastor Hamid Pourmand’s refusal to compromise his Christian faith that landed him in jail in September 2004. Another long-term convert from Islam, the former army colonel is serving a three-year jail term at Tehran’s Evin Prison for allegedly “concealing” his conversion to Christianity from the Iranian military.