A jury in Arkansas convicted evangelist Tony Alamo of 10 federal counts of taking minors across state lines for sex (one girl was nine years old). Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The CNN link and the first video has details about Alamo, the case and the conviction.
To get a feel for what he is like see the second video.
Alamo used the bible to justify his actions. He said polygamy is in the bible and is condoned by God. And that the bible says the legal age to marry is at puberty. I don't think he'll be saying he's sorry at his sentencing.
The Catholic Church has been bleeding parishioners for years. One of the few bright spots has been Latinos in the Unites States. And now, according to the Economist, even the Latinos are jumping ship. They are defecting to evangelical and charismatic churches.
The Economist list their reasons for the defections. Here is mine. I've never met a Catholic parish priest who could deliver a decent talk. They are all boring! I think the church hierarchy realized they had a problem years ago. With the shortage of clergy (even though they are boring you still need them), plus the attraction of more lively churches they saw what was coming.
And then along came the Neocatechumenal Way, also know simply as The Way. The Way is a lay-driven organization made up of small, parish-based communities of between 20-50 people. It was started in Madrid, Spain, in 1964 by Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. (Arguello is a painter. The painting on this page is his). The pope liked what he saw and supported the Way. Today, there are around 40,000 communities throughout the world, with an estimated 1 million members.The Way is essentially a Vatican-sanctioned evangelical movement within the Catholic Church. They are deeply committed to the New Evangelization, which was first mentioned by Pope John Paul II.
The New Evangelization is a movement within the Catholic Church that has lay members as well as clergy. Their mission is to seek converts and bring non-church going Catholics back into the fold. This is new for Catholicism. Lay Catholics have not been evangelical in the past. I think the Catholic Church may keep their traditional structure (hierarchical with unmarried male priest at the top) and build up the Neocatechumenal Way (along with other organizations) to counter advances being made by other churches.
There are some who claim The Way is a cult within the Catholic Church and others who claim it is heresy.
My definition of a cult is an organization that is very difficult to leave. And as I understand it, you can walk away from The Way anytime. So I would not classify it as a cult. But that said, I haven't had personal experience with The Way.
As far as the heresy charge goes, if several popes have approved of the Way, I don't see how the heresy charge can stick. The Way does have something called a post-baptism for members who are already Catholic. If I understand it correctly, it's another baptism for adults who have undergone religious instruction. (see reply at bottom)
The Catholics killed thousands of Anabaptists who believed in re-baptizing adults. Re-baptizing adult Catholics would be a major departure from traditional teaching. If anyone knows more about this practice than I do, please post a comment. Whether the Neocatechumenal Way helps stanch the departure of Catholics from the church is anybody's guess. It hasn't worked to date, but it seems to be the direction the church is taking. Go back to Todayinreligion.com
Washington Post (July 15, 2009) Update!, Update!, Update! Michael Gerson comments on the appointment Dr Francis Collins to head the NIH. (He thinks it's a good idea.)
Dr. Francis Collins has been nominated to head the National Institute of Health. Collins is an accomplished scientist, a proven administrator, articulate and an Evangelical Christian. It's that last one that is going to attract a lot of attention.
His journey from atheism to evangelical Christianity took a pivotal turn in the Cascade Mountains. While hiking, he came across a waterfall that happened to have three frozen streams. The three streams reminded Collins of the trinity, and he surrendered to Jesus (link). It's a little surprising that the man who headed the human genome project would take a leap of faith at the sight of frozen water. But that's what happened. (Bill Maher interviewed Collins for his movie, Religulous.)
In the video, below, Collins explains how his journey to Christianity began. He started to wonder about life and death when he left chemistry and went into medicine.
When I went to medical school the ideas about death and dying which had been rather hypothetical became very real. You can't be in that environment sitting at the bedside of people facing the end of their lives without having it affect you.
A couple of years later, he had his born-again experience in the Cascades. I don't know what's in his head, but it sounds like seeing people die shook him up a bit and maybe got him thinking about the end of his own consciousness. If that's something you're concerned about, you'll eventually end up at religion. There is no other place to go.
One other thing that might draw some questions during his confirmation hearing is that he doesn't believe that homosexuality is hardwired (link).
An area of particularly strong public interest is the genetic basis of homosexuality. Evidence from twin studies does in fact support the conclusion that heritable factors play a role in male homosexuality. However, the likelihood that the identical twin of a homosexual male will also be gay is about 20% (compared with 2-4 percent of males in the general population), indicating that sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations.
It looks like Collins will be the next head of the NIH even if some of his views are not in line with his fellow scientists. I think President Obama managed to throw the religious right a bone and will end up with a competent administrator worth watching.
