CR Blog: Inside churches, inside ministries, inside politics—if it’s happening, it’s here

Orin from Missouri comments on the Methodist church recent support of an open border policy saying:

I am not surprised at all that the Methodist hierarchy has chosen to oppose the SAVE act and declare for open borders. The leadership of the Methodist Church, particularly in the South, has been sympathetic for unAmerican causes for a long time. My parents walked out of the church back in the early 60's when they were supporting communist causes in Africa. They went to the bishop of their conference and had an unproductive talk. I know many of the families in Texas who disagree with the leadership but until they walk out there will be no change in church support for such activity.
Orin
Missouri

Wanda comments on a new round of lawsuits in the Episcopal church:

I appreciate your articles on the Episcopal Church as that seems to be the only way to get news about our church. In today's letter, 4/28/08 in regards to Bishop Schofield and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin suing for the property and money that belong to the people of that parish is out rageous. The National Dioceses is doing the same thing....We the people of the church have been trying to find out where they are getting the money for the law suits and what we can do about it. They are taking our money that we give to keep them in the high live style they like to live and suing us for our property....Many letters and e-mail have been sent to the Presiding "She" Bishop with no answers....thanks for listening and keeping us informed. Wanda Coury Sarasota, FL

Editor: Wanda, we will keep you up to date, unfortunately, no one ever wins in litigation.

Pat laments the Methodist border policy:
If immigrants choose to break our laws by entering the country illegally, or lie in riverbeds, or the other things your group espoused, then they know their plight. They have done this to themselves with their decision. Personally, I believe there is a legal way and we should CLOSE our borders and people should enter our country legally. Pat C.

Editor: Pat, I could not agree more, living in Arizona, I can tell you, this problem is out of control.

Earnest gets right to the point and explains how he feels about the Methodist church and their border policy:

This is the most stupid thing I've heard of, these people have not a clue what open borders would do to our country.

Earnest from Arkansas

Editor: I agree, yet the Methodist church has been shielding illegal aliens for years with no consequence.

Steve remarks about Rev. Bynum and her recent appearance on Divorce Court:
This could only be Weeks- Bynum style, a muti million dollar wedding, and now the airing of your divorce on a popular TV show divorce court. This may make sense to Bynum, but what Fool sense does this make in Christendom? I know, I can hear her now say, how this is going to help so many abused and messed up women and how she is doing it for them. That is a crock of mess. They both have a need to feed their ego's that they both decided to do this. I guess they will produce the tapes of them consummating there marriage for public view to help other young marriage.
Aren't they just the martyrs.

Editor: appearing on national television on a bizarre show like Divorce Court appeared to be an odd public relations stunt, if reaching out to abused women was the goal, I think there are certainly more appropriate and credible outlets.

steve
hannibal, mo

Chris reacts to my article on Net Neutrality and the Christian Coalition:

Good article. From what I have read, this is the Internet equivalent of the "Fairness Doctrine" which was first sponsored by Markey in 1993.

It seems like the Christian Coalition has made a deal with the devil in my opinion.

Chris, Covington, GA.

If you have comments on a recent article, please send them to crdaily@thechurchreport.com, please remember to include your name and town.

Do you know someone who does extraordinary things but gets little recognition for it? Do you know someone who spreads the Gospel and deserves a note of thanks? Do you know someone who best exemplifies what it really means to be a Christian?

We want to know about them. The Church Report and The CR Daily are excited to announce The CR Star of the Week. We want you to share with us people you know who deserve a special thank you. These people can be pastors, friends, family, or others you know from throughout your Christian walk. We are looking to recognize these people for extraordinary efforts, service, talents and skills.

Each week, beginning next week Friday, we will announce the CR Star of the Week in the CR Daily and on our website.

Send your nominations and letter explaining why your nominee should be chosen to crdaily@thechurchreport.com .

Responding to an article about James Dobson’s lack of support for John McCain, Rhonda from Newark wrote:

“I am a 56 year old born again Christian woman, have been since my youth. Here's a NEWSFLASH: there is no Dream Candidate, so get over it! Jesus is not running for office and if He did He'd lose and so what? Does that change what I think about anything? Absolutely not! I am an ambassador for Christ and my mission on this earth is to reach whomever I can for Him, period! Politically, I am mainly Conservative and I'm going to vote for McCain because I agree with him on more issues than not.â€

Editor: Thanks, Rhonda, I am still uneasy about the McCain presidency, let’s see who the VP nominee will be.

Harriet, in reference of a story on Friday regarding John Haggee and remarks he says were misconstrued, wrote:
“ I just wonder what this liberal rabbi would say if he asked the 'old order Jews' in Israel how they feel about giving up their God given land for a peace that is not going to happen?
This rabbi? has been caught up in the rush to conform to the worldview. He is wrong and Hagee is right.â€

Paula wrote in to comment on a story in the AP about Rev. Wright:
“So just because a white man only talks bad about people of color once in awhile, he is not a bigot? Rev Wright has many many DVD's out there with the same hate-speech on them. Poll: 85% of the black community does NOT agree with R. Wright of his black theology. No one ever said bad people can not do good works, but you can't get to heaven by good works! Since Jesus was black in R. Wright's teachings and God doesn't like the white oppressor, I suppose a goodly amount of Christians are doomed because of their skin color.

Editor: Thanks Paula, Wright clearly has it wrong.

Regarding Mel Gibson being sued by a person claiming to have written the script, Sue wrote in and said,

“Someway I wish I could still find a way to let Mel Gibson know---The movie was great. And the message is the Best message ever. "Forgiveness" If the people that accused Mel Gibson could only remember to "Let him that is without sin cast the first stone." then all of this negative hullabaloo could stop! .P.S. I don't think this guy wrote the story in the first place!!!

Responding to a Thursday article about Obama finding a church home, Shirley from Freeville, NY says,

“Trent Lott made one joking comment out of a long career in public service and lost his Senate leadership position. Sen. Allen said the word macaca, not even aware of its meaning, and lost his election bid. If McCain had a 20 year association with someone who said the kinds of things Wright does, only favoring whites and white power, this election would be over. If Obama were a white Republican his campaign would be at an end.

I for one do not want a President who talks unity out of one side of his mouth, and supports racial prejudice of any color out the other.

Remember, you can send letters to the editor by sending an email with your name and town to crdaily@thechurchreport.com.

Rev. Wright made a surprise appearance to give the benediction at a Chicago area Catholic church over the weekend. But was it a surprise?

Wright, who was invited by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, gave the benediction at a church event to honor the 80th birthday of poet, Maya Angelou. Pfleger, an avid supporter of Senator Barack Obama said of Wright, “ I wanted him to come tonight as a guest because he loves Dr. Angelou and I wanted him to see the love of people for him, so when I asked him about coming he said he’s be honored to come and it was a blessing for us to have him here.†According to Pfleger, “America unfortunately has been really cheated of knowing the real Dr. Wright.â€

Pfleger is not a stranger to the happenings in Chicago land churches. He has come under fire for his invitations of Louis Farrakhan to speak at his church, St. Sabina’s. The Rev. Pfleger told his congregation in May of 2007 that Farrakhan’s presence at St. Sabina’s is “only strange to people who don’t know Minister Louis Farrakhan. He’s spoken here many times and St. Sabina is a home for Louis Farrakhan.†He concluded his comments by calling Farrakhan a “gift from God to a sick, sick world.â€

Several weeks after Farrakhan’s visit, Pfleger co-hosted an anti-gun rally with the Jesse Jackson lead Rainbow/Push coalition to combat the recent rash of gun crime in Chicago. Looking to incite the crowd, Father Pflegler shouted, “we’re going to snuff out John Riggio (a local gunshop owner), we're going to snuff out legislators that are voting ... against our gun laws and we're coming for you because we are not going to sit idly." When asked for clarification of his comments, Pflegler’s spokesperson said, “I've never heard that compared before with the word murder," Clark said. "He [Pfleger] was never aware of that. If that was the case he would never have used that language." After a complete investigation of the matter, Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who has clashed with Father Pflegler over everything from doctrine to politics, remarked, ““Publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest.â€

Apparently delivering a threat, supporting an anti-semite, supporting a pro-abortion politician and making threats of murder are just a day in the life of Father Michael Pfleger. So was it really a surprise that Rev. Wright showed up to a cheering throng of Farrakhan supporters.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Angelou, you deserved so much better.

Here is one of Rev. Pfleger’s rants incorporating both Wright and Farrakhan.



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