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Rhode Island lawmakers voted Tuesday to allow same-sex and unmarried couples the right to plan the funerals of their late partners, overriding a veto by the governor.
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Melbourne, Dec 26 : Lady Gaga has been branded slut by religious activists known for picketing the funerals of deceased soldiers and vocally opposing rights for gays and lesbians.
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For more than a decade, Westboro Baptist Church has raised a ruckus with the message that God hates gays, posting itself outside government buildings, college campuses and even the funerals of American soldiers. But in recent months, the Topeka, Kan.-based church has been moving toward other targets, predominantly in the American Jewish community.
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A Gloucestershire vicar Geoff Stickland has banned pop songs at funerals after blaming the death of Diana Princess of Wales for increasing numbers of mourners requesting music such as “My Way” and “Grandad”.
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Church of England vicar launched attack on rise of secular funerals.
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Comments 1 NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A group known for its demonstrations at military funerals and anti-gay stance protested Rosh Hashanah outside a University of Oklahoma Jewish student organization. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church shouted slogans, held signs that said “God Hates Jews” and sang a rendition of “Hey Jude” as “Hey Jew” outside the Hillel Foundation on Friday. Counter-demonstrators, not affiliated with Hillel, gathered across the street with signs and chants of their own. The protest ended without confrontation. Westboro leader Shirley Phelps-Roper says the church stopped at the school as part of a “love campaign” to critize Jews for “killing Christ.” A trio of motorcyclists…
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More than one in four U.S. adults (27%) say that when they die, they don’t expect to have a religious service. John Reed Sr., president of the National Funeral Directors Association, says 50% of Americans today say they don’t belong to a church and don’t see value in a religious funeral. But “they still want ceremony and celebration at the end of life.”
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Father John Rizzo says staking out funerals to catch criminals is going too far A Christchurch priest says it was tactless of police to attend a funeral in order to catch a wanted son of the deceased. But police have defended their actions, saying they
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(AP) – A Kanas-based church known for celebrating at the funerals of American soldiers killed at war plans to protest the staging of the musical “Rent” at an Orange County, Calif., high school Friday. The Westboro Baptist Church intends to picket at Corona del Mar High as classes let out for the day and as the audience arrives for the play. Counter-protesters also plan to attend. The staging of “Rent,” a story of struggling artists in New York City including characters who are gay and diagnosed with AIDS, has created months of controversy at the affluent school. It was nearly canceled,…
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Plans by a small church to bring its sharply anti-gay message to Duke University in a Monday morning protest have drawn the ire of both students and administrators.
About 10 members of the Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for its noisy picketing at the funerals of American military casualties, plan to demonstrate from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. Monday off campus near the Medical Center, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church lawyer and spokesperson who will be at the event.
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If you’re Catholic and old enough to remember Stan Musial, Brylcreem or The Ed Sullivan Show, you’re no doubt familiar with holy cards.
The cards — for those who barely remember the Reagan presidency — typically feature a classic, color portrait of Jesus or a saint on the front and a short prayer on the back. They’re often personalized with a name and date on the back to commemorate special occasions such as baptisms, First Communions, and funerals.
Francis X. Rocca of Religion News Service reports that as the cards have become rarer in most countries and cultures, they have drawn the attention of collectors, with prices for some ranging as high as $4,700.
I’ll trade you two St. Stephens and a Veronica for that Stan the Man.
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The savages who operate the Westboro Baptist Church — a hate group masquerading as a Christian church — have announced on their website that they intent to picket the funerals of people killed in last Wednesday’s plane crash at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
The cult is best known for its despicable practice of picketing the funerals of people its delusional followers object to.
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AP reports COLUMBUS, Ohio—Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service has taken the business of grief high-tech: It’s one of a growing number of funeral service providers to embrace the Web.
Schoedinger in central Ohio is offering live Web streaming and archived online video for use by military personnel overseas and others who can’t be present for a loved one’s funeral.
It’s a way for mourners to take part in the experience without the time and expense of a long-distance trip, especially one arranged on short notice.
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Although tension has eased in Jos, Plateau State, following a weekend of deadly violence, there is increasing resentment in the Christian community at “biased and inaccurate reporting of events” by the international media. –
Journal Chretien reports According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW),
several international news agencies have reported that the violence was
triggered by the results of a local government election.
However, CSW says that sources in Jos point out that
voting passed off peacefully and the violence broke out in the early
hours of Friday, November 28 before electoral results had even been
announced.
“In reality,” CSW says, “the men died while obeying orders from a
mosque in the Dilimi area, which was using its loudspeakers to instruct
all Muslims to defy the authorities, participate in the ’jihad,’ loot
properties for money and then burn them.”
AFP reports Thousands of Nigerians who fled a wave of deadly sectarian violence
remained in a makeshift camp on Wednesday as more funerals were held
and shell-shocked residents began sifting through wreckage.
The
refugees were said to be too scared to go back to their homes in the
central city of Jos and fearful of what they might find when they did
return.
Eze Udemegue, area coordinator of the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), said: “We still have more than 3,000 still in
the camp. They live on materials provided by NEMA, the state government
and NGOs (non-governmental organisations).”
The state government
has said about 200 people died in the clashes, in which machetes, guns
and even bows and arrows were used, although other sources have put the
toll at twice that figure.
The Economist reports Exactly who started the violence is unclear. On the other hand,
everyone in Nigeria is familiar with the fierce animosities that exist
between the various religious groups in Jos. The town is situated in
the so-called “middle belt”, between Nigeria’s largely Muslim northern
half and its predominantly Christian south—and thus has a pretty mixed
population. And like other such cities, Jos has a history of ethnic and
religious tension that has often boiled over. Similar incidents in 2001
and 2004 left thousands dead.
Forgiveness and reconciliation in Jos will be hard. The balkanisation
of this city of 500,000-plus people that began in 2001 with a first
round of religious violence will become starker after this latest
bloodshed. Muslim businessmen will find it harder to rebuild shops in
mainly Christian districts and Christian home owners will struggle to
persuade their families to resettle in mainly Muslim areas. Since
democracy was restored in 1999, most of northern Nigeria’s Muslim
states have introduced sharia law. That prompted many
thousands of Christians to migrate to other states. Increasingly, it
seems, Christians and Muslims find it difficult to live alongside each
other in a country of 140m-odd people.
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Members of a Kansas church that protests at the funerals of slain service members fled the right-of-way near Omaha Central High School on Friday because police said they could not protect them from hundreds of student counterprotesters. –
The Omaha World Herald [NB, USA] reports Students threw hamburgers and bottles of lemonade and milk at several
members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., students said
after the protest. A video of the protest — recorded by 16-year-old
student Mason Hartwell — showed one counterprotester on the ground,
seated with his hands behind his back and flanked by two law
enforcement officers.
Students chanted “Diversity,”
“Obama” and “Gay is OK.” At one point, they broke into a chant of the
Pledge of Allegiance, yelling, “Liberty and justice for all,” according
to the footage. After students dispersed, a flier remained on the
ground reading “Zona libre de odio” — Spanish for “Hate-free zone.”
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“Beverly Hills 90210″ fans discover in Tuesday’s episode of the “90210″ sequel that Kelly Taylor’s troubled mother, Jackie, hasn’t changed much. The same can’t be said for Ann Gillespie, who plays Jackie: She’s gone from actress to Episcopal priest. –
AP reports Between sermons, weddings and funerals at Christ Church in
Alexandria, Va., the Rev. Gillespie squeezed in an appearance on
“90210,” CW’s follow-up to the hit Fox series that aired from
1990-2000.
In reprising her role as mom to Jennie Garth’s Kelly, Gillespie was sorry to find out that Jackie still is battling alcoholism.
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In a development with wide-ranging implications for the abortion debate, parents will now be able to officially name children who died in the womb at an age of less than 22 weeks. –
The London Telegraph reports It has led to pro-abortion groups claiming years of legislation in their favour was slowly being reversed. Until
now French officials have insisted that only foetuses that have
developed beyond 22 weeks, or weigh more than 1.1 pounds, have the
right to be considered as people.
Now they will be able to have
funerals, rather than being thrown out of operating theatres with
rubbish including waste tissues as has been common practice for
foetuses under 22 weeks.
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Members of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church are threatening to picket the funeral of Tim McLean, the young man decapitated on a Greyhound bus last week. –
The National Post [CA] reports The Kansas-based church – a small fundamentalist sect led by Fred
Phelps – is reviled in the United States for protesting the funerals of
hundreds of soldiers killed in the Iraq war. The sect gained notoriety
in the 1990s by picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young gay
man beaten to death in Wyoming.
“This is just about as despicable a bunch of people as you can find,”
he said. “They have picketed the funerals of little girls killed in bus
crashes, of boy scouts killed in a tornado. These people actually
celebrated the attacks of 9/11, saying this was God punishing America
for its ‘fag-enabling ways.’ … It’s interesting because Fred Phelps
has managed to unite everyone in this country from the far-right to the
far-left. He is despised by one and all.”