Month: April 2010

‘South Park’ and the Informal Fatwa

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Wall Street Journal by: Ayann Hirsi Ali

The veiled threats against the Comedy Central show’s creators should be taken very seriously.

‘South Park” is hilarious, right? Not any more.

Last week, Zachary Adam Chesser—a 20-year-old Muslim convert who now goes by the name Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee—posted a warning on the Web site RevolutionMuslim.com following the 200th episode of the show on Comedy Central. The episode, which trotted out many celebrities the show has previously satirized, also “featured” the Prophet Muhammad: He was heard once from within a U-Haul truck and a second time from inside a bear costume.

For this apparent blasphemy, Mr. Amrikee warned that co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone “will probably end up” like Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh, readers will remember, was the Dutch filmmaker who was brutally murdered in 2004 on the streets of Amsterdam. He was killed for producing “Submission,” a film that criticized the subordinate role of women in Islam, with me.

There has been some debate about whether Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker should view the Web posting as a direct threat. Here’s Mr. Amrikee’s perspective: “It’s not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome,” he told Foxnews.com. “They’re going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It’s just the reality.” He’s also published the home and office addresses of Messrs. Stone and Parker, as well as images of Van Gogh’s body.

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal website.

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How Are We to Respond to Clergy Sexual Misconduct?

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An earlier post on clergy sexual misconduct (read it here) generated a number of very good comments. These comments also reveal fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of social scientific research. Many of those who did offer an opinion conflated the empirical, social scientific research on homosexuality and clergy sexual misconduct with the moral analysis of these issues. Methodologically people have confused correlation and causation. While there is a correlation between homosexuality and sexual misconduct among Catholic clergy–that is the two variables occur together–we cannot say on empirical grounds that the former caused the latter. (You can read more about the difference between correlation and causation here.)

Understanding methodology is important if we are to understand the what the research does, and does not, tell us about the problem of clergy sexual misconduct. So assuming a right understanding of the research, how should the Orthodox Church respond to the growing awareness of the harm caused by clergy sexual misconduct? I’m not interested here in canonical discipline or the policing of misconduct. Policing is important but is largely reactive and rarely sufficient to undo the harm that has been done. So my concern here is to help readers understand clergy sexual misconduct and offer some strategies to lower its likelihood. In what follows, I’ll first sketch out a brief overview of the research into the problem and then offer some practical, if hard and no doubt unpopular, suggestions. Continue reading →

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Orthodox Churches Episcopal Assembly in L.A.

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Source: Iglesia Catholica Apostilica Orthodoxa De Antioquia

Use Google translator above.

Asamblea Episcopal de Iglesias Ortodoxas en L.A.

Los días del 16 al 18 de abril marcarán la historia de la Iglesia Ortodoxa en Sudamérica, por la realización de la “Primera Asamblea Episcopal de las Iglesias Ortodoxas en Sudamérica” en la sede del Arzobispado Antioqueno de San Pablo (Brasil); anfitrión de la misma estuvo S.E.R. Monseñor Damaskinos. Participaron de dicha reunión los obispos de todas las Iglesias Ortodoxas (Patriarcado de Constantinopla, Patriarcado de Antioquía, Patriarcado de Moscú, Patriarcado de Rumania), contando con la presencia de 10 jerarcas, faltando únicamente el obispo del Patriarcado de Serbia, por su participación en la reunión del Santo Sínodo Serbio.
Continue reading →

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Month: April 2010

‘South Park’ and the Informal Fatwa

How Are We to Respond to Clergy Sexual Misconduct?

Orthodox Churches Episcopal Assembly in L.A.

Asamblea Episcopal de Iglesias Ortodoxas en L.A.

Pray at St. Nicholas in Washington, DC

Utah teens get sense of monastic lifestyle