By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Only a few short months after snubbing the National Day of Prayer President Obama continued his war on American sensibilities at a meeting honoring the close of the religious observance of Ramadan.

Celebrating at a dinner in the White House on Friday August 13, Obama followed the meeting with a statement that Muslims had a right to build a mosque even in Lower Manhattan.  Polls taken across the nation indicate that very few Americans are in agreement with his assertions.

On the evening of July 27, 2010, Helen Friedman, took to a podium in a New York community board meeting and declared that building the Mosque at Ground Zero was the equivalent of America receiving a Trojan Horse from the Muslims. Such sentiment reflects the feelings of most 9/11 families of victims lost to the deliberate destruction of the Trade Towers done by Muslim radicals.

Following that event Canadian author Farzana Hassan appeared on the O’Reilly Factor, Friday, August 13, and said that the mosque was indeed a Trojan Horse because there would be no way of knowing just what kind of things would be allowed to take place inside the environs of the proposed Mosque.

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By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

After Billy Graham led a rally in Washington in 1952 and called for a day for the nation to pray, President Harry Truman signed the National Prayer Day proclamation in 1953. The Freedom from Religion Foundation filed against the proclamation in October of 2008. Have they won?

Federal judge Barbara Crabb says they have. The ruling will not be enforced until any and all challenges to it are dealt with; including any opposition the Justice Department decides to muster against the decision. The White House says that President Obama still plans to issue the proclamation for May 6 of 2010.

With mid-term elections looming only months from now any decision to drop the day would surely add to the growing dissatisfaction with the Obama administration. The move to restrain himself is seen as politically motivated by most, and  it is not consistent with his previous stand on Christianity.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison Wisconsin said the proclamation “violates” the first amendment rule that prohibits laws respecting the establishment of religion. When President Ronald Reagan made the day permanent in 1988 no one could have seen the anti-Christian attitude that would prevail only a few decades later.

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Matt. 28:20

By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Television is inundated with dark portents of the planet’s future. In a sweeping smorgasbord of choices we are warned of asteroids, nuclear war, worldwide epidemics and a Pandora’s Box of wild possibilities about the end of the world. Confused yet? Is judgment day an equal opportunity employer?

Beware the hype of TV’s offerings of major disaster gobbledygook and the list of secret organizations that are furtively seeking the subliminal subjugation of all the poor unsuspecting souls of the earth. Which is it, the Illuminati, the Masons, the Rothschilds or the neighborhood bowling league; who should we watch more carefully?

Starting with the secret organizations already mentioned do we think that the fate of six billion people will be decided by a few people clandestinely meeting under the banner of secret symbols, ancient knowledge and a nefarious hidden agenda?  This is where we might want to come down out of the clouds generated by the television world of exasperated exaggeration and take a gander at the voluminous warnings of the scripture.

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By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

As a boy I marveled at the documentaries that showed how people approached what they perceived as God around the world. Some worshipped rocks and trees (animism) while others picked some venerable ancient personage and elevated them to the place of deity (avatars).

When missionaries encountered the Sawi tribesmen of South America they found cannibalism and it was considered a way of gaining complete power over someone by eating their brain. When documentary commentators described the tribe’s religious beliefs in their narratives, I found it hard to give much credence to them in light of their other frightening cultural practices. Could those who think its fine to eat other people have stumbled across the true path to God?

Differences in culture can be as innocuous as simple color preferences, like the fleshy pink houses all across Lisbon’s hilly neighborhoods; versus the stark white dwellings so favored in the cities towns and hamlets of France. The Louisianans eat mudbugs (crawfish) and in North Carolina a breakfast of white gravy and biscuits makes the day for millions of country folk in the beautiful rolling hills of Appalachia.

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By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Bill O’Reilly was the first to bring up Pat Robertson’s statement on the Haitian pact with the devil to rid them of French rule. Bill said he didn’t agree with Pat, but Richard Dawkins says in an article posted online that at least Robertson is true to his own theology.

Dawkins starts his article by side stepping the usual requirements and protocol for standard article submission. His name appears before and after the title. He follows that with bold article sub headings and bold parenthetical statements made for effect, (emphasis).  All that remains after that is the Dawkins’ style of solipsistic banality for which he is so noted. Most authors would have their articles rejected out of hand regardless of content if they broke this many rules.

Let me begin with my own take on Haiti by saying in no uncertain terms that regardless of what caused this disaster we must all do everything we can to help relieve the misery of these islanders for humanity’s sake. The stories out of Haiti are compelling, and this kind of tragedy is calling for people with heart to respond regardless of their theology or the lack of it. I’m sure the last thing on the minds of those rescued, relieved or restored is the theology of those who gave them aid.

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By ROBERT LANDBECK

On the horizon is an approaching religious and cultural furor so contentious that any clash of civilizations may have to wait. On one side, a manuscript titled: The Final Freedoms, against all the gravitas religious tradition can bring to bear.

The first wholly new interpretation for 2000 years of the moral teachings of Christ is on the web. Redefining all primary elements including Faith, the Word, Baptism, the Trinity and the Resurrection, this new interpretation questions the validity and origins of all Christian tradition; focusing specifically on marriage, love and human sexuality, it overturns all natural law ethics and theory. At stake is the credibility of several thousand years of religious history and moral teaching, and it will certainly impact other fields of intellectual inquiry.

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By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

News shows across America showed clips of American Idol star Adam Lambert’s overt sexual behavior at the recent American Music Awards. Almost all the clips were preceded with advisories and warnings. When discussed it was a single comment made on the Fox News outlet that beat all.

When questioned by news commentator Bill O’Reilly on the Factor Nov 24, 2009 about the propriety of the act, Lis Wiehl said that she thought it was all OK as long as it was done between the hours of 10:pm and 6:am. She explained that this was the time for anything that was indecent or profane on public television. She made the distinction that it should not be allowed during that time if it was deemed “obscene.”

If you are convinced that no underage children are awake and watching TV after 10:pm and that the rest of America has the savvy to weigh the semantic differences between “indecent” and “obscene” then all that’s left is to ask is, does it have any morally redemptive quality for the rest of us?

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Pilate and Jesus

By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Due to the emphasis on the R sound (phoneme) in reading, writing and arithmetic, early American pioneers and settlers coined the phrase “reading, riting and ritmetic.” It was repeated often in regards to getting a good education. Although spelled incorrectly, the point was always transparent.

In the issuance of prophetic utterance there is also a three R’s. Spelled correctly they are redemption, renewal and rebuke. It serves well to consider another phrase often used in America usually as a means of expressing some disdain. The phrase ‘organized religion’ is often used to describe something that should be shunned or critically re-examined in a post modern world.

It seems almost comical to hear someone express their disdain for organized religion when the alternative is considered. Perhaps we have reason to mistrust organized religion, but who is going to put much stock in disorganized religion?

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Image by DALE

By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

At no other time in our history have the principles and faith of our founding fathers been under attack as they are today. The Bibles President Obama said Americans cling to have a lot to say about this attack, and it is not something this administration can easily deal with.

It seems that the President’s declaration that we are not a Christian nation and his belittlement of our faith in the Bible have gone a long way to assure some Americans that we need only follow him into the shining new American dream where all is gay, green, socialist and lean, and health care is almost free if you can find any.

In a recent interview the President said listening to his critics wasn’t what he involved himself with but only deciding what was best for the American people. The last time anyone looked at the idea of self determination which is fundamental to American freedoms it was the citizens of this country who must decide what is best for them, not the President. When did that change?

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By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Most of the journalists I know are not bloggers, but bloggers wouldn’t have half as much to say if it weren’t for those writers. After one blogger responded to an article I wrote entitled “Religion and Politics Don’t Mix –A Modern Fairy Tale” I made this reply. Be it article or blog, I knew it must be shared.

The author of the response chose to point our the following quote:

And Benjamin Franklin said: “If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution.  The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another.  The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans.  They found it wrong in Bishops, but fell into the practice themselves both here (England) and in New England.”

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