By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Long ago a dear and wise friend warned me that in life you do not draw to yourself the kind of people you like and admire; rather you draw only those who are exactly what you are. In my lifetime I have never been able to prove that my old friends’ advice was wrong.

In politics we see a President who was weaned and tutored in the socialism of Alinsky, Ayers and Wright who now surrounds himself with Czars, cabinet members and appointees who are exactly like his mentors.

In religion Americans are about one hundred times more likely to listen to a preacher or prophet whose message is more akin to Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry be Happy” than the “repent and be saved” of a Billy Graham or Jerry Falwell. No surprise, since the Apostle Paul did warn that in the last days men and women of the faith would apostate and “heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” (2Tim 4:3b)

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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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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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