Bridge of Reason

  The Bolivian Episcopal Conference on Friday asked the overwhelmingly Catholic nation to cast aside the "growing" trend of seeking protection from bad luck by making offerings of coca, cigars or drinks to human crania. As much of the world celebrates Halloween and Mexico prepares for its Day of the Dead, Bolivian bishops had another festival on their minds, the Day of Skulls, which falls on November 8. Bolivian Catholics asked to forgo human skulls - Yahoo! News UK

This is a very disturbing documentary for, amongst others, the following reasons (from most to least obvious): Racism is alive and punching in the UK The abolition of corporal punishment has proved disastrous Islam is an incredibly destructive force The BBC1 documentary follows two British Muslims who go undercover for eight weeks, posing as an Asian couple in a Bristol housing estate. They are constantly abused, harassed, sworn at, racially slurred, sneered at, subject to missiles of glass and brick, threatened, mugged, reduced to tears and actually physically thumped. It makes one sick to be white and British, and stiffens one's resolve (if it needed any stiffening) against the BNP and Nick Griffin's slippery attempts to sanitise its inalienably racist platform. Firstly, then, the most obvious conclusion is that racism is not dead in the UK, despite Trevor Phillips' assurance that nobody has a problem nowadays living next door to someone of a different ethnicity. Mancunia

I wish to point out that the typo in the heading comes direct from the Daily Telegraph whose copy office is probably haunted by the ghost of Samuel Johnson, a man who was never that punctilious about what he put in his famous dictionary. When he was asked by a lady why he defined ‘pastern’ as the ‘knee’ of a horse, he replied, ‘Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.’ “The village is said to have at least 12 spectres, including a highwayman, a phantom monk, the hanging body of a schoolmaster and a poltergeist in the local pub.” It seems that things that go bump in the night are not the fun-packed entertainment they are popularly thought to be. If only more would grasp this truth. Britian's most haunted village 'cancels Halloween' - Telegraph

I do so want this to be true because then we can merge our literature into one mega-tract we can hand out to everyone. Salt Lake City, Utah - In an unprecedented merger, expected to have massive ramifications for spirituality in America, several major off-brand sects of Christianity have all joined together into one monolithic faith. The Spoof : Merger creates new Church of America funny satire story

A Weekly Bible Reading for Bridge Builders The Richmond Briefing has been a weekly feature of the Reachout web site for five years and is now available on the blog. To find out more and read earlier briefings go here Reading – Great Ones and Little Ones (Matthew 18) There is something so human about the question, you have to smile. Along comes this amazing Jesus who walks on water, heals the sick and raises the dead. He begins to talk about his kingdom and offers you a place in it. It is human nature to wonder, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The disciples are thinking the way the world thinks, of ambition, endeavour, accomplishment and status. The kingdom Jesus describes is characterised by entirely different principles. 18:2-4 Greatness in this kingdom is realised only by having the faith of a child. It is impossible without total dependence on God as a child depends on a parent. When Jesus called Israel they refused him and stood at a distance in judgeme

In June 2009 the Mormon Church announced the building of a new church library to house historical records of the church. “From the earliest moments of the Church’s founding, Latter-day Saints have kept a record of their history. The principle behind this practice stems from a scriptural mandate: “There shall be a record kept among you” ( D&C 21:1 ), intended for the “good of the church” and “the rising generations” ( D&C 69:8 ). Maintaining a perspective on the past, while fixing an eye toward the future, is nothing new in religious history. Accounts of God’s intervention in the affairs of mankind have been promulgated by prophets and sages since the beginning of time. These records have provided a framework of meaning that continues to shape human conceptions of morality, identity and progress. Continued Consistent with this long tradition of sacred record keeping, the Church has devoted substantial resources to construct a new library. This building, which, in th

 A great blog post from Latayne Scott: I imagine that many Christians have wriggled uncomfortably as they read Dan Brown’s new book, The Lost Symbol . Scattered through the book are disparaging references to Christianity (and not a few barefaced prostitutions of Bible verses taken out of context). But imagine the reaction of some Mormons who have been through the secret LDS temple ceremonies when they read, in the first pages of the book, of Masonic oaths whose penalties are "Throat cut from ear to ear. . .tongue torn out by its roots. . .bowels taken out and burned . . .scattered to the four winds of heaven.." Koinonia: Latayne C. Scott: The Lost and Found of Masonry and Mormonism

A Weekly Bible Reading for Bridge Builders The Richmond Briefing has been a weekly feature of the Reachout web site for five years and is now available on the blog. To find out more and read earlier briefings go here Reading – The Good Shepherd (John 10) The picture of sheep and shepherd is used to describe the relationship between God and his people. The psalmist wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Shepherd also describes Israel’s spiritual leaders in the Old Testament and their responsibility was serious. Jeremiah wrote: “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” (Jer.23:1) As Jesus spoke we have to remember what picture was brought to people’s minds and how his words described their leaders and challenged them. And it is a challenge, to them and to us. Jesus identified the characteristics of a good shepherd, who is, A courageous protector : The shepherd slept in the one opening to the fold like a door between the sheep and their

Bruce R McConkie (the ‘R’ stands for Redd), member of the First Council of the Seventy from 1946, was an apostle of the Mormon Church from 1972 until his death in April 1985. Born into a Mormon family he boasted polygamist forebears who rubbed shoulders with Joseph and Hyrum Smith. One biographer describes McConkie as, “breathing, talking, and living the principles of the [Mormon] gospel... in the McConkie home.” He married Emma, the daughter of Joseph Fielding Smith, grandson of Hyrum, apostle from 1910 and church president 1970-72. He studied at Utah Law School, obtaining his BA degree and his LLB, served in the military, retiring as lieutenant-colonel and worked for the CIA. His work has been described in glowing terms in a biographical note in the Ensign magazine, Jan.1973: “He has written numerous articles and handbooks and read hundreds of manuscripts submitted for his appraisal. His sermons at conferences have been consistently doctrinal in nature, pointing out the basic