Un-baptizing; can that be done?

Baptism of Christ
The Christmas season is over; today we read about the Baptism of Christ, and recall our own baptisms. some of us today renewed our baptismal promises. But not everyone. Deacon Greg Kandra notes that some are trying to “unbaptize” themselves. Some wish to “de-baptize” because they are responding to the Sexual Abuse Scandals within the church; they are so sincerely disgusted that they cannot reconcile the message of Christianity, as voiced by the church, with the deceit a...

Lawyer with 20 years experience suing paedophile priests in US comes to UK
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 January 2011 23.17 GMT Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor requested a report into the Catholic Church's child protection policies, which was published in 2001. Photograph: John Giles/PA A leading US litigator who has spent more than 20 years suing US-based paedophile priests and the church officials who moved them from parish to parish is joining a new legal practice dedicated to rooting out clerical Sexual Abuse in the UK. Jeff Anderson has filed more than 1,500 law...

Atheist to Christians: Throw away the Bible to make your religion "friendly"
A new non-profit group calling itself "Changing the Face of Christianity" has started up in Dallas with the mission to reverse "Christian intolerance, hypocrisy, homophobia, judgmentalism, and other negative Christian stereotypes, by helping Christians to be more like Jesus Christ." Interestingly enough, the group's founder R. Brad White is a former atheist. He was raised in a Methodist family, but he himself as a youth was not a believer as he relates that he "had zero conne...

The Anchoress Moves to Patheos
We’re excited to announce that our friend and contributing writer Elizabeth Scalia has taken a job as the Managing Editor of the Catholic Portal at Patheos. Sadly, it also means that her blog, The Anchoress, has moved to Patheos too. The new address is https://www.patheos.com/community/theanchoress/. We’ve appreciated having the opportunity to host The Anchoress and look forward to continue reading it at the new site. While its hard to see it go, Patheos is a great Web site and Eli...

Buy this book for the RCMP Diversity Eunuchs!
Reader PJ directed me to this Damian Thompson piece: "Converting Muslims to Christianity: handy tips for modern Evangelists". The book in question is Reaching Muslims by Nick Chatrath. "...they shouldn’t conceal their Christian beliefs or miss an opportunity to discuss “the prophet Jesus” in ways that may lead their Muslim friends to become their ex-Muslim friends. In fact, there’s a section of the book dedicated to practical advice on how Muslims can renounce Islam witho...

Spanish Catholic Calendar Features Near-Nude Youth To Raise Funds
SANT JOAN, Mallorca — Seeking to raise money for their Roman Catholic youth group on the Spanish tourist destination island of Mallorca, members came up with a risque idea: Pose nearly nude for a calendar recreating scenes from the Passion of Christ. The group has almost sold out of the 10-euro ($13) calendars for 2011 and is considering another print run because of high demand. But Mallorca's Bishop Jesus Murgui is blasting the effort as showing disrespect for the most important Catholi...

Magda Abu-Fadil: Beirut Cathedral Museum Reveals Layers of Christian History
The recently opened crypt museum at the St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Beirut is relatively small but packs a powerful punch by revealing layers of Christian heritage in a land rocked by sectarian differences. The cathedral, the seventh in a series of churches dating some 2,000 years, endured the ravages of man and nature, but was repeatedly rebuilt through sheer determination and solid faith. St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral embraced by Al Amin Mosque (Abu-Fadil) It is o...

Credo: Kerry Knott
Kerry Knott, 50, is well aware of Washington's propensity for moral failings, and for its occasional redemptions. Today, he's focused on the latter. As president of Springfield's C.S. Lewis Institute, Knott leads an organization devoted to teaching and mentoring Christians on how to better articulate their own beliefs and to live out their faiths in public and private life. Prior to his current position, Knott spent 26 years on Capitol Hill, first as the Chief of Staff for former House Rep. Dick...

StyleLikeU: Fashion Junkie Jake Oliver Was A Jock In High School (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
"I'm definitely cooler in my head than I think I am in real life," says Jake, but no - he is as cool as it gets. A jock in High School with a passion for Fashion magazines, Jake hot-glued bandannas into the bells of his jeans and tied his grandfather's scarecrow's bandanna, with the perfect fade and size, on his head with snakeskin boots for his yearbook photo. In addition, his paisley floral Tattoo, which is the size of his forearm, is an homage to his rodeo days in Arkansas. However, what is...

Tattoo artist charged in assault on girlfriend
A Tattoo artist used the tools of his trade to sexually assault his girlfriend after he slammed her head against a floor and choked her, Cook County prosecutors said this afternoon. Jef Whitehead, 42, was charged with criminal Sexual Assault and aggravated domestic battery and held on $350,000 bond for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. Prosecutors said the argument between the couple began about 12:30 a.m. Saturday at a friend's home in the 1100 block of West Taylor Street. The woman was tak...

Iran: No Tight Jeans for You
Iran has enforced a stricter Islamic Dress Code at a number of universities including a ban on female Students wearing long nails, bright clothes and Tattoos, a local news agency reported on Monday. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nati...

Stimulus: 40,000 laptops costing $249 each that are going to Detroit students that can neither read nor write cost taxpayers $1,
In posting on Laptops going to Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Students that can neither read nor write, I missed an obvious Scandal right on its face. From my first post on the laptops: Irony: Detroit Free Press touts 40,000 "free" Laptops to DPS kids days after reporting DPS Laptops being hocked at pawn shopsDetroit Public Schools Students will have access to 35,000 laptop computers in school starting next month in what the officials are calling an unmatched infusion of technology in the district...

Reading Neuhaus
Today, as readers may know, is the second anniversary of the death of the magazine’s founder and long-time editor, Father Richard John Neuhaus. Here are a few sources of his writing, lectures, and interviews, and the comments of others on him, including obituaries: The First Things resources, including obituaries, interviews, and lectures. An interview on his becoming a Catholic from 1991. Another interview, this one from 2005, in which he discusses the sex Abuse Scandal and his reasons ...

Glenn Beck Hates Violence, Part 2
Glenn Beck, back in May of 2005, fantasizing about killing Michael Moore: BECK: Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I...

Pink Jesus is a Jets Fan
of thing a religion or even idol worship should be about. I am Jets fans. One is talking to Pink Jesus. Praying. She claims it/he spoke to her So weird. ...

Divine Wisdom
The season of Christmass has drawn to a close, and now the season of Epiphany is upon us, a time in which we see the character of our Lord Jesus Christ shine forth in the world. He comes as the Sun of Righteousness, the Light which shines in the darkness and can never be overcome by the world. This shining forth of the glory of the Lord is the theme throughout Epiphany, and we are fortunate this year in that the Epiphany season will be on the long side so we will see the theme fully developed. T...

HOORAY! Congresswoman Giffords is alive, awake, responsive, and TALKING! Thank you Jesus!
FOX News just reported at 12 midnight CST that Congresswoman Giffords is alive, awake, responsive, and TALKING. THANK YOU Jesus. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING OVER THE CONGRESSWOMAN AND PROTECTING HER. THANK YOU to all out there who are praying for her. We still don’t know how bad her injuries are, but talking is a good sign. Please keep praying she does not have Brain Damage.  We need this mom to make a full and complete recovery. FOX also confirmed that this was indeed an Assassination att...

Westboro Baptist Church: Thank God For the Shooter
I have one question for Jesus. How come Satan doesn't rent a schoolbus and drive really, really, fast (85 MPH?) into your picketers as they are getting out of their minivan? Fuck them hard, up the ass, on the hood of a hot car. These Westboro people are retards. And not the good kind. God sent the shooter? Kind of makes me long for the days when he would just call down a Lightning Strike. What's the Matter with Kansas? Westboro Baptist Church. Riley's really picking up a lot of pe...

SOTT FOCUS: Not Ready To Make Nice
First let's have a little musical interlude to get us in the right mood for what I'm going to say in this essay Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - I Won't Back Down I sure stepped in it writing about so-called "Chemtrails." The flamers and ad hominem attackers came out of the woodwork and when that happens, you know you've hit a hot button or a sore toe. Can we say COINTELPRO controlled clappers in the audience trying to keep the attention on the distraction so nobody will figure out what is ...

Rev. Fletcher Harper: God is My Rock: How The Earth Reveals The Divine
I will love thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my stony rock, and my defense. -- Psalm 18:1 When I was eight or nine, I was playing outside on a hillside near the sea in Rhode Island, where my family spent time during the summer. It was overcast. The air was heavily damp, opaque with mist at a distance of 150 yards. The sound of a foghorn bleated from an offshore buoy like a blind person groping in darkness. I was running around with my brother and friends, barefoot. The stiff blades of cr...

Trent Reznor to score "Dragon Tattoo" remake film
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has been tapped to compose the music for David Fincher's English language adaptation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." The upcoming film is based on Stieg Larsson's best-selling book of the same name. The new gig comes on the heels of Reznor's and longtime songwriting partner Atticus Ross' Golden Globe nomination for scoring "The Social Network." The duo will reunite with Fincher for "Dragon Tattoo." During an interview with the N...

German Egg Scare: Are Lax Food-Safety Laws to Blame?
Omelets are off the menu in Germany, which has been rocked by a food contamination scare after high levels of the poisonous chemical dioxin were discovered in eggs. Now there are fears that the Scandal is spreading, as authorities also find the Toxin in Poultry and other countries start banning the import of German foodstuffs. The scare has panicked German authorities and shattered Consumer Confidence. In a country that prides itself on upholding strict food-safety regulations, people are aski...

The Heroic Namesake of John Boehner's Church
Speaker of the House John Boehner is a long-time member of St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in Liberty Township, Ohio. Many Catholics, of course, are familiar with St. Maximilian Kolbe -- but everyone should know of his story. Here is a very brief retelling of it. As a priest living in Poland during World War II, Kolbe helped hide thousands of Jews from the Nazis. In 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo, and ultimately transferred to Auschwitz. When three men disappeared from the camp, it was deci...

Very religious exhibit higher well-being
PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. adults who say they are very religious have higher overall well-being than their counterparts who are moderately religious, a survey indicates. For this analysis by Gallup, Americans' degree of religiousness is based on responses to two questions asking about the importance of religion and church attendance. The very religious are defined as those to whom religion is an important part of daily life and attend church, Synagogue or Mosque services at least ev...

Retired Navy man collects scores of tiny timepieces
NORFOLK Time figures large in Roland Campbell's life. He spent 30 years in the Navy in some interesting places. He's been retired about as long. He lives in a house with an address that he gives as if it were a clock - on such and such street at "half past noon." So, it's a small surprise that time is a tiny thing to him, too. Little enough to fit in the palm of his hand. "This was the first one," Campbell said, reaching into a corner curio in his living room and taking out a...