Memphis, already famous for having a church on every corner (and seemingly more going up all the time), is expanding their reputation. A Memphis church has set up drive through prayer service.

Just like a drive-thru restaurant, motorists drove in the parking lot, rolled down their window and let church ministers and members know what that wanted to pray about.

"We had one lady that drove thru and her request was so important and troublesome to her we couldn’t really tell what the problem was so we just prayed with her while she cried, you know," said Lee.

She doesn’t have time to park and go inside to pray, but it’s so "important and troublesome" that she cried. I just can’t imagine.

In all, 17 cars took advantage of the prayer hour today, ’cause "not everybody has somebody than can pray with". Personally, I always thought praying was a private affair, but if you think you can find God on the run the same way you find burgers and fries, then power to you. I suppose God truly is everywhere, even in a drive through.

Professor Reno persuasively argues that removing all religion from the political arena actually reduces liberty:

In other words, in the old system, the state presumed the existence of a substantive, natural reality that required legal adumbration: the union of a man and a woman, and the children resulting from their sexual relations. Now the Canadian government sees that it must intervene and redefine marriage and parenthood in order to give fixed legal standing to otherwise fluid and uncertain social relations. When the gay friend donates his sperm to the surrogate mother hired by a lesbian couple, the resulting “family” is a purely legal construct, one that requires the power of state to enforce contracts and attach children to adoptive parents.

The result is the opposite of the libertarian dream of freedom. As Farrow observes, with gay marriage we are giving over the family to the state to define according to the needs of the moment. The upshot, he worries, will be a dangerous increase in the power of the state to define our lives in other realms once thought sacrosanct. “Remove religiously motivated restrictions on marriage,” he writes, “and it is much easier to remove religiously motivated restrictions on human behavior in general, and on the state’s power to order human society as it sees fit.” The libertarian dream turns into the totalitarian nightmare. Who can or cannot be a spouse? That’s for the state to decide. To whom do children belong? It’s up to the state to assign parents as its social workers and judges think best.

Food for thought. I encourage you to read it all.

A new study indicates that participating in online prayer groups often results in better mental health for the patient. According to Bret Shaw, author of the study, this is the first study that focused on the psychological effects of such behavior:

From a psychological standpoint, there are a variety of reasons why cancer patients may benefit from prayer – whether on the Internet or elsewhere. In reviewing the messages, some of the most common ways study participants used religion to cope with their illness included putting trust in God about the course of their illness and consequently feeling less stressed, believing in an afterlife and therefore being less afraid of death, finding blessings in their lives and appraising their cancer experience in a more constructive religious light.

On Christmas Eve day, the LA Times publishes 10 myths about atheism. In the piece we are told that the scripture being written under the direction of a deity is “ridiculous”, scientific thinking is not “congenial” to religious faith, and “religions utterly trivialize the real beauty and immensity of the universe”.

Best of all, I find, is that the reason that godless despots like Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot became the greatest murderers of all time is not that they rejected religion, but rather that their movements too closely resembled religion.

Honest. You can’t make this insanity up. Oh wait, I guess columnists for the LA Times can.

Brussels Journal notes that while Islam is sweeping across Europe, Christianity is claiming converts in China — proving “that if God exists He must have a sense of humor.”

Buddhism and Taoism still claim most worshippers in China but the state-sanctioned churches count up to 35 million followers. The underground churches are estimated to have 80 million members or more, about 12 million of them Catholics, the rest Protestants.

The author quotes Han Dong-fang:

I think human beings need something at a spiritual level. We don’t want to believe we are coming from nowhere; going nowhere. In China we have traditionally followed Buddhism. We had quite a deep religion. But communism destroyed everything. When communism became this corrupted thing which failed everybody, people still needed a belief. I think that’s the reason for Christianity in China.

I have a Chinese colleague who says very much the same thing. Communism became the religion of the people, but over time the culture became “get it while you can” because, after all, without a belief in a higher power, there is no reason not to.

While I didn’t believe that religion is necessary for moral behavior, my colleague believes differently. Which leads me to question my thoughts on the matter. After all, my view is purely philosophical. His is based on experience.

Welcome to the sixth of June in ought-six, or the dreaded 06/06/06 that represents the “number of the beast” as documented in Revelations 13:16-18:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

Of course, the Bible isn’t always clear — it is just assumed that “the beast” refers to the Antichrist (the word “Antichrist appears only three times in the New Testement and never in Revelations). Nor is the Bible always consistent. The earliest known scrap of papyrus that deals with this subject puts the number at 616, and 656 has also been found.

But not to worry. The Rapture Index, as tracked by the folk at RaptureReady.com, was a mere 157 yesterday (it hasn’t yet been updated for today), and while anything above 145 is judged “fasten your seat belts” time it isn’t anywhere close to the record high of 182 set on 24 Sept 01.

So unless you are hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic (fear of the number 666) sit back and enjoy the day. Here’s a list of 666-related things to do:

• I recomend this list of 666 humor, courtesy of a Jesuit priest.
• If you live near Hell, try to make the festivities. (Hell, Michigan, that is.)
• Set for release today is a remake of the 1976 classic movie The Omen
• Also set for release today is Ann Coulter’s new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism
• If you insist on being religious and get into that sort of thing, you could join the Dutch 24-hour prayer marathon.

Technorati Tags: 666,
616,
656,
Religion,
Revelations,
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic,
Number of the Beast,
Hell.

It looks as if the Memphis Library System is getting national attention as a controversy shapes up regarding a nativity scene with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus removed. That’s right, the Bartlett library (Bartlett is a suburb of Memphis) nativity scene with nothing more than animals and shepards.

But what makes this case unusual is that the display was set up in an area dedicated to allow the public to post announcements. Which makes it a 1st Admendment issue (the “freedom of speech” part).

Fishkite is covering this in depth, so if you want the real story as this issue develops be sure to stop by.

President Bush is in China and is not afraid to make waves. He has called for economic freedom, praised Taiwan for being a model democracy in Asia and has spoken about the need for religious freedom.

An inititive is being persued n San Angelo to build a faith-based prison:

Proponents say the prison, run by employees with a “Christian world view,” would help criminals learn to be law-abiding citizens. They say it would help reduce the number of Texas inmates, thought to be as high as 40 percent, who eventually return to jail.

Internment at that facility would be voluntary as would participation, once the prisoner was transferred there.

It seems to be becoming more acceptable.