Ky. church ordains sex offender as minister

Don’t you just love it? A convicted sex offender is now the new minister of a Louisville, Kentucky church. But wait, this is very, very important… the church’s pastor believes in the “redemptive power of Jesus Christ.” Isn’t this just lovely! This sick individual had sex with an 11 year-old boy, but good-ole Jesus has pardoned him, and so must we.

And they tell us that we are the most advanced species on the planet; don’t you believe it!!! TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By DYLAN T. LOVAN, Associated Press Writer Dylan T. Lovan, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 30, 4:11 pm ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A tiny Louisville church’s newest minister is a gifted music leader and popular among its three dozen members.

Mark Hourigan is also a sex offender. Almost a decade ago, long before he joined the flock at the City of Refuge Worship Center, he was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in central Kentucky. Hourigan served a five-year sentence and the 41-year-old was placed on Kentucky’s sex offender registry for the rest of his life.

A former leader at the church along with an abuse victims advocacy group say Hourigan is a risk to hurt another child and he should not have been placed in a position of authority.

“He’s still a threat” to children, said Cal Pfeiffer, who was abused by a Catholic priest as a young student in Louisville in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Pfeiffer and experts on religion and sexual abuse believe it could be the first time a convicted sex offender has been knowingly ordained as a minister in a Christian church.

“It sets a precedent,” said Pfeiffer, a member of a group that has protested Hourigan’s ordination. “It elevates him to an ordained minister which almost automatically conveys a level of trust and responsibility.”

The church’s pastor, the Rev. Randy Meadows, ordained Hourigan during a service on Sept. 13. The self-described Pentecostal church, started by Meadows and a handful of other members six years ago, welcomes anyone “regardless of race, religion, culture (or) sexual orientation,” according to its Web site. It also has a Sunday school for children.

Meadows declined several requests from The Associated Press for an interview, but said in a brief phone conversation that the church has not experienced any backlash based on the decision to ordain a convicted pedophile.

“We’re just finished with the whole ordeal with everything, so we’re moving on,” Meadows said.

There was no phone listing for Hourigan and no one answered the door during a reporter’s two visits to the apartment listed on Hourigan’s sex offender registration.

Church members aren’t talking about it, either. Several calls to members listed on the church’s Web site were not returned; people outside the church declined to comment to reporters during two visits to the church as services were beginning or ending.

But a pastor and friend to Meadows who attended Hourigan’s ordination said the church’s board gave Meadows and Hourigan its full support.

“It was a really beautiful ceremony,” said the Rev. Aletha Fields, a high school teacher and gay rights activist. “The sanctuary was full because there were people from out of town.”

Fields, who sometimes serves as a guest pastor, said she asked Meadows about why he decided to make Hourigan a church leader.

“I asked him flat out about it because I wanted to get behind his thinking,” she said. Meadows believes firmly in the “redemptive power of Jesus Christ,” and told her Hourigan had served his prison term and completed probation.

“I believe they followed Biblical principle,” Fields said.

One of the church’s founders, Kevin Pickerrell, said he left last year over plans to ordain Hourigan. He said Meadows assured church members that Hourigan wouldn’t minister to children, but Pickerrell continued to balk at the idea of ordaining Hourigan.

Pickerrell said Meadows believed that Hourigan had been reformed.

“He tried to convince me that Mark had changed,” Pickerrell said of Meadows.

Hourigan said in an interview with CNN in September that wants to minister to others like him “who have been rejected.” Hourigan said he has learned not to put himself in situations where he might be tempted and to seek counsel when he’s having “emotional problems … so it doesn’t turn into something that it has in the past.”

Pickerrell said Hourigan “has an illness that you can’t cure.”

Recidivism rates are high for sex offenders, with more than half reoffending, said Keith F. Durkin, a criminologist at Ohio Northern University who has studied pedophiles. He said that rate increases when the crimes involve prepubescent children, like Hourigan’s victim.

“I cannot possibly see him being reformed,” Durkin said. “(Sexual desire) is the most powerful drive we have as a human and (for a child sexual abuser) it’s kids.”

Pickerrell said Hourigan was a “wonderful” music leader at the church and was well-liked when Pickerrell attended services. But he and Pfeiffer said they worry that Hourigan can present himself as a minister to strangers who don’t know his past.

Hourigan was arrested on one count each of first-degree sodomy and sexual abuse in Marion County, Ky., in 1998, according to court records. An indictment said the abuses occurred between 1993 and 1994. Hourigan pleaded guilty a year later to two counts of sexual abuse. The terms of Hourigan’s parole, which he completed in June 2008, included an order that he not serve in any leadership capacity at a church with youths.

Pfeiffer’s group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), sent a letter to the church but Pfeiffer said members have not responded.

Pastor Meadows, as a Pentecostal, may hold a strong belief in the healing power of the Holy Spirit, which could explain why he believes Hourigan can be reformed, experts said.

They “believe absolutely anybody can be healed of absolutely anything, no exceptions,” said Paul Alexander, a professor of Theology and Ethics at Azusa Pacific University in California.

Meadows told CNN that Hourigan’s faith has helped him reform, but he pledged to monitor the former sex offender closely.

“I don’t take anything lightly when it comes to someone’s past,” Meadows said.

Ala. deputy’s hand, severed in attack, reattached

Rednecks and religion; only bad things happen when this combination comes together… TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

Tue Sep 29, 3:45 pm ET

ASHLAND, Ala. – A deputy whose hand was chopped off by a suspect wielding a bush ax had it reattached in two operations, while the background of his attacker — a minister who was fatally shot in the confrontation — left those who knew him perplexed.

Sgt. Jason Freeman, whose hand was severed Friday, underwent surgery in Birmingham and had a pulse in all five digits of the reattached hand, Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Cotney said.

“He is doing well, but a long-term prognosis is undetermined,” a statement from the Clay County sheriff’s office said late Monday. The office did not immediately return a call Tuesday.

The Rev. Curtis Watts, who was shot and killed by a law officer after Freeman was attacked, was described in an obituary released by a funeral home as a longtime minister who started a church and sang gospel music with his family.

But authorities also knew him as potentially violent. His fatal confrontation with officers came just 10 days after his arrest on a charge involving domestic violence, according to sheriff’s officials in rural Clay County, located in east Alabama.

Authorities said they were attempting to arrest Watts on a new warrant signed by a relative when he began swinging the ax and cut off Freeman’s hand. The deputy has been with the department about three years and was leading a team of deputies sent to arrest Watts.

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting death, as it routinely does in such cases.

People who knew Watts can’t make sense of what happened.

Watts was a logger and sawmill operator and worked for a cabinet company for years, according to an obituary from Benefield Funeral Home, and he became an ordained Baptist minister in 1988.

Watts, 48, helped establish and build Shining Light Baptist Church. With his family, he performed as part of the Watts Family Singers.

“He was a good Christian man. Something happened to him, but I don’t know what,” said James Crawford, 76, of Ashland.

Clay County Sheriff Jean Alexander considered the operation to arrest Watts a risky one because of what happened during his initial arrest on Sept. 15, when officials said Watts was armed with a rifle and had to be subdued with a Taser.

Watts was released on bond and remained free until deputies attempted to arrest him again Friday.

Watts’ funeral was scheduled Wednesday at the church he helped found. His obituary did not include a list of survivors.

New signs at Mormon plaza say anyone can be barred

No comment necessary. TGO

Refer to brief story below. Source: Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY – New signs at a Mormon church-owned plaza in downtown Salt Lake City put visitors on notice: Anyone can be asked to leave for any reason.

The change follows a much-publicized incident this summer in which two men were cited with trespassing on the plaza after sharing a kiss. City prosecutors did not pursue the charges, saying signs at the plaza failed to adequately warn the couple they were entering private property.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter says the new signs include extra text at the suggestion of the Salt Lake City prosecutor’s office. They now say the church reserves the right to refuse access to anyone.

City prosecutor Sim Gill says the new signs provide clarity. He says with the new signs in place, visitors who refuse to leave could be prosecuted for trespassing.

-

Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune

AP Newsbreak: US, Cuba held unannounced talks

What the Castro’s want, as if stealing a country and then owning it for an entire fifty years isn’t enough, is lifting of the embargo.

Anyone with half a brain knows that communism is a failed ideology. If it wasn’t for the Russians, Canadians and Spanish (among others) pouring money into the island for the last 5 decades, the Castro regime would have toppled by the mid-sixties, if not sooner. One thing I will never understand; the most powerful country in the world having on-going talks with a small island nation 90 miles from our shores. Funny, in 1989 the United States invaded Panama, captured Noriega, put him on trial and then put him in jail, where he remains to this day. The world has actually forgotten who Manuel Noriega is/was. Yet here you have Fidel and Raul Castro, known assassins, drug traffickers, spreading communism throughout the Americas, friends with Hugo Chavez (the orangutan) and yet these two slime balls remain in power to this day and are now “negotiating” with the U.S. What a sham, we ought to be embarrassed!!! TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By MATTHEW LEE and PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writers Matthew Lee And Paul Haven, Associated Press Writers

NEW YORK – A senior American diplomat has held unannounced, high-level talks in Havana with the Cuban government, three State Department officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday, raising hopes for a thaw in long-icy relations.

The talks were the first of their kind in years between representatives of the U.S. and Cuban governments, the bitter Cold War rivals among whom trust appears to be gradually building.

Bisa Williams, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez, visited an area affected by hurricanes in the Western province of Pinar del Rio and toured a government agricultural facility during a six-day trip to Cuba this month, the officials told AP.

The meetings came on the heels of Sept. 17 talks on the possibility of restarting direct mail service between the countries, suspended since 1963. Those discussions had been public, but neither country had previously revealed that Williams remained in Havana for five extra days.

One U.S. official described the talks as “respectful” and said they were more significant for having taken place, than for any substantive breakthroughs between the two sides, which have been at odds since shortly after former Cuban leader Fidel Castro marched into Havana on New Year’s Day 1959.

“We were going over ground we haven’t gone over for a long time,” said the official. “Each side was taking advantage of the opportunity to size each other up.”

The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of Williams’ visit and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed Williams remained in Cuba and met with officials after the postal talks, but offered few details.

“Williams met with host government officials and a wide range of representatives from civil society to gain a full appreciation of the political and economic situation on the ground,” he told AP.

Kelly said Williams followed up on ongoing U.S.-Cuba migration talks, the next round of which he said are tentatively scheduled to take place in December. One of the officials said those talks were likely to be held in Havana.

The last time a senior U.S. official traveled to Cuba for talks of any kind was in 2002, but Williams’ extended, wide-ranging and unpublicized trip here this month was different.

U.S.-Cuban relations have improved considerably since President Barack Obama took office in January, saying he was ready to extend a hand of friendship to America’s traditional foes. In addition to the mail talks, Obama has loosened financial and travel restrictions on Americans with relatives on the island.

The Americans have also made other small but significant gestures — like turning off an electronic sign that had streamed anti-Castro messages from the windows of the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Cuba instead of an embassy. The Cubans then took down dozens of large black flags they had set up nearby to block the view.

Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother, Fidel, have both had warm words for the American leader, with Fidel Castro last week praising Obama as courageous for taking on climate change.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Monday in a speech at the United Nations that the communist government is ready to normalize relations with its larger neighbor and will work with Washington in the meantime on other issues such as fighting drug smuggling.

He said Cuba has sought full diplomatic relations with the U.S. for decades and repeated Raul Castro‘s offer to sit down with Obama for a “respectful, arm’s length dialogue with the United States, without overshadowing our independence, sovereignty and self-determination.”

Cuba experts say it remains to be seen whether the diplomacy of small measures is a path to ultimately reaching agreement on core issues, though diplomats on both sides have privately voiced optimism.

Obama has left intact the 47-year trade embargo on the island, and U.S. officials have said for months that they would like to see the single-party state accept some political, economic and social changes.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Haven reported from Havana, Cuba.

John Adams: Liberty of Conscience

We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all subjects, and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment in all cases, and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact! There exists, I believe, throughout the whole Christian world, a law which makes it blasphemy to deny or doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel. In England itself it is punished by boring through the tongue with a red-hot poker. In America it is not better; even in our own Massachusetts, which I believe, upon the whole, is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the states, a law was made in the latter end of the last century, repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws, but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemers upon any book of the Old Testament or New. Now, what free inquiry, when a writer must surely encounter the risk of fine or imprisonment for adducing any argument for investigating into the divine authority of those books… I cannot enlarge upon this subject, though I have it much at heart, I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws…

Mark Twain: Witches

During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore, the Church, after doing its duty in but a lazy and indolent way for eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumbscrews, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there were no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry.

Bertrand Russell: “Beauty” and “Harmony”

I do not understand where the “beauty” and “harmony” of nature are supposed to be found. Throughout the animal kingdom, animals ruthlessly prey upon each other. Most of them are either cruelly killed by other animals or slowly die of hunger. For my part, I am unable to see any very great beauty or harmony in the tapeworm. Let it not be said that this creature is sent as a punishment for our sins, for it is more prevalent among animals than among humans. I suppose what is meant by this “beauty” and “harmony” are such things as the beauty of the starry heavens. But one should remember that the stars every now and again explode and reduce everything in their neighborhood to a vague mist.

Robert G. Ingersoll: “Ingersoll’s Vow”

When I became convinced that the Universe is natural – that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world – not even in infinite space. I was free – free to think, to express my thoughts – free to live to my own ideal – free to live for myself and those I loved – free to use all my faculties, all my senses – free to spread imagination’s wings – free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope – free to judge and determine for myself – free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past – free from popes and priests – free from all the “called” and “set apart” – free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies – free from the fear of eternal pain – free from the winged monsters of the night – free from devils, ghosts, and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought – no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings – no chains for my limbs – no lashes for my back – no fires for my flesh – no master’s frown or threat – no following another’s steps – no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain – for the freedom of labor and thought – to those who fell in the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains – to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs – to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn – to those by fire consumed – to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.

Lemuel K. Washburn: “Atheism”

What is called atheism is not a light, flippant assertion, but a calm, thoughtful conclusion. It is a conviction which human experience and human reflection have generated. Atheism is not the irresponsible opinion of moral debauchery; it is the outcome of an intelligent consideration of nature and life. The atheist has been honest with himself and with the world. He has made a careful survey of the universe, as far as he is able, and has canvassed the facts of life which have come within the range of his observation, and he has candidly declared the result of his study and freely related the reasons for his conclusions.

Atheism is the universe as science finds it and as interpreted by human understanding. It is an attempt to state the simple truth, to give a fair likeness of things, to photograph facts. Atheism is denial of nothing true, of nothing good, of nothing that can be proved. We see no good reason for abusing the atheist. His opinions don’t make him a bad citizen or a bad man. He is as moral as his Christian neighbor, and is as ready to help a fellow-being.

In countries where atheism is a crime, hypocrisy is more honored than integrity.

Israeli police, protesters clash at holy site

It’s been a while since I wrote about the wonders of religion. Isn’t faith a wonderful thing? TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

Sun Sep 27, 11:36 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli police used stun grenades Sunday to disperse Palestinian rioters at a volatile Jerusalem site holy to Jews and Muslims, police said.

The incident took place during a visit by a Jewish group to the compound in Jerusalem‘s Old City known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Deadly violence has erupted there several times in the past.

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said around 150 Palestinians threw stones at the Jews visiting the site, which is open to non-Muslims at certain hours.

Jews regularly visit the compound and it was not immediately clear what sparked the violence.

Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades, and two policemen were lightly injured. Sunday’s incident ended without serious injuries.

Rabah Bkirat, an official with the Muslim religious body in charge of managing the site, said some of the protesters had come because of rumors of an “invasion” by Jewish settlers. When a group of some 15 Jews entered the grounds accompanied by police, the protesters began chanting slogans and only threw stones after police used force, he said.

Eleven Palestinians sustained minor injuries in the clashes, Bkirat said.

Religious and nationalist sentiment connected with the site have made it a flashpoint for violence in the past. A visit in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader, helped ignite violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years.

Jews venerate the Temple Mount as the location of two biblical Temples and consider it their holiest site. Jews pray at the foot of the compound at one of its supporting walls, known as the Western Wall.

Sunday’s violence did not affect prayers at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and starts at sundown.

The compound is home to the gold-capped Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque, and Muslims see it as their religion’s third-holiest site after the Saudi Arabian holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The site has been under Israeli control since 1967, but is administered by a Muslim religious body known as the Waqf.

No more free lunch at Cuban cafeterias

Fidel and now Raul Castro have been ruling and ruining Cuba for 50 years; when is enough, enough??? Is the United States of America not against communism? Don’t we have a war on communism? What the hell are the politicians in this country waiting for? Cuba has the longest running communist dictatorship in the history of the planet, and it is located  just outside the United States’ coastline. Have we become a land of pussies, or are we merely a bunch of hypocrites who preach one thing and do another? The time has come folks; let’s end communism in the Americas!!! TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 25, 3:45 pm ET

HAVANA – The Cuban government plans to close free cafeterias in state ministries and instead give employees a stipend to buy food.

Under the program, designed to save money for Cuba‘s cash-strapped government, workers who ate free or for little cost in their government jobs instead will receive about 70 U.S. cents a day — a significant amount in a country where the average monthly salary is $19.

The pilot program announced Friday will start Oct. 1 for the ministries of Work, Finance, Commerce and Economy. If successful, it will be extended nationwide, the Communist Party daily Granma said.

The move represents a change in philosophy for the communist-run government, which dominates the island’s economy and micromanages many aspects of Cubans’ lives – from rationing food to determining who can own a car.

Cuba’s always-fragile economy has been hit hard by the global financial crisis. About 3 million state employees eat at government cafeterias daily, according to the paper.

President Raul Castro, who took over from elder-brother Fidel in February 2008, has said he wants to streamline the country’s stifling bureaucracy and put a measure of decision-making in the hands of citizens.

The newspaper insisted that the idea is not to take away a benefit, but rather “to open the doors to rationality and to savings, and to free the country from a weight that it cannot continue to bear.”

A simple meal like a pork sandwich costs about 25 cents, while pasta bought at a street vendor runs about 50 cents – meaning some workers could save money, depending on what they eat.

Freemasons await Dan Brown novel `The Lost Symbol’

I’ve been fascinated by Fremasonry since finding out from my older brother that my deceased father was a Freemason for over thirty years; I was oblivious to this. I also had a very good friend that passed away this year who was a Master Mason. He invited me to join the Masons and I never did. Now I regret not doing so.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Dan Brown’s previous noverls; I’m buying this book today! TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Hillel Italie, Ap National Writer Tue Sep 15, 6:51 am ET

WASHINGTON – The lodge room of the Naval Masonic Hall is a colorful and somewhat inscrutable sight for the nonmember, with its blue walls, Egyptian symbols, checkered floor in the center and high ceiling painted with gold stars.

Countless secrets supposedly have been shared in this and thousands of similar rooms around the world. Facts of life have been debated, honors bestowed, rituals enacted. You would need to belong to a lodge to learn what really goes on.

Or you could simply ask.

“The emphasis on secrecy is something that disturbs people,” says Joseph Crociata, a burly, deep-voiced man who is a trial attorney by profession but otherwise a Junior Grand Warden at the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the District of Columbia.

“But it’s not a problem getting Masons to talk about Masonry. Sometimes, it’s a problem getting them to stop.”

Countless books and Web sites are dedicated to Freemasons, yet the Masonic Order has been defined by mystery, alluring enough to claim Mozart and George Washington as members, dark enough to be feared by the Vatican, Islamic officials, Nazis and Communists. In the United States, candidates in the 19th-century ran for office on anti-Mason platforms and John Quincy Adams declared that “Masonry ought forever to be abolished.”

And now arrives Dan Brown.

Six years after Brown intrigued millions of readers, and infuriated scholars and religious officials, with “The Da Vinci Code,” he has set his new novel, “The Lost Symbol,” in Washington and probed the fraternal order that well suits his passion for secrets, signs and puzzles.

In “The Lost Symbol,” symbolist Robert Langdon is on a mission to find a Masonic pyramid containing a code that unlocks an ancient secret to “unfathomable power.” It’s a story of hidden history in the nation’s capitol, with Masons the greatest puzzle of all.

Brown’s research for “The Da Vinci Code” was highly criticized by some Catholics for suggesting that Jesus and Mary Magdalene conceived a child and for portraying Opus Dei — the conservative religious order — as a murderous, power-hungry sect.

The Mason response could well be milder. Brown goes out of his way in “The Lost Symbol” to present the lodge as essentially benign and misunderstood. Masons are praised for their religious tolerance and their elaborate rituals are seen as no more unusual than those of formal religions. The plot centers in part on an “unfair” anti-Masonic video that “conspiracy theorists would feed on … like sharks,” Langdon says.

“I have enormous respect for the Masons,” Brown told The Associated Press during a recent interview. “In the most fundamental terms, with different cultures killing each other over whose version of God is correct, here is a worldwide organization that essentially says, `We don’t care what you call God, or what you think about God, only that you believe in a god and let’s all stand together as brothers and look in the same direction.’

“I think there will be an enormous number of people who will be interested in the Masons after this book (comes out),” Brown said.

Crociata and other Washington Masons expressed amusement, concern, resignation and excitement about Brown’s novel. Crociata anticipates a “page-turner,” like “The Da Vinci Code,” and assumes, for the sake of a “good read,” that Brown will make the Masons seem more interesting than they actually are.

Fellow Mason Kirk McNulty can’t wait to read the novel: “Dan Brown is a writer of fiction; he’s not writing an article for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Whatever he says is OK. But it would be better if he says something nice about Freemasonry.”

Mason Michael Seay says some members are “not pleased about all the hoopla,” but sees the attention as a chance to “get our story across.” Lodge member Darryl Carter says he expects some “artistic license” and senses from conversations with other Masons that they expect to benefit from the attention.

“We welcome Dan Brown doing his work because Masonry has not had the kind of popularity that it once did and that a work by somebody of Dan Brown’s caliber could really attract people to Masonry,” Carter says.

The Freemasons date back to the Middle Ages, to associations of workmen who built cathedrals in Britain, though some also believe in a connection to ancient times with the mines where King Solomon took material for his Temple. Freemasonry has endured, and transformed. The British began to accept members who were not stonemasons and by the 1700s, lodges were being called “speculative,” philosophical societies rather than worker guilds.

The Masons, Crociata and others emphasize, are not a political or religious organization. No theology beyond the belief in a divine being is required and no causes are advocated beyond millions of dollars in annual contributions to children’s hospitals, cancer wards and other charities.

“This is the world’s oldest fraternity and it has an old and distinguished history,” Crociata says. “There’s much beauty to be found in its ritual. On the other hand, it’s a fraternity, not a religion. It’s a place to get together with guys that you know, that you trust, that you are willing to trust. A place where you can speak from the heart, if you want.”

No official gathering is taking place at the hall on this recent afternoon, so it’s all right for a reporter to have a look around. The Naval Masonic room has features common to other lodges, such as the Mason emblem, a set square and compass and letter “G” (for both God and Geometry), and some decorative images, such as the Egyptian-styled eyes and snakes painted throughout.

Brown’s book moves quickly among such Washington landmarks as the Library of Congress and the Washington Monument and draws upon the Masons’ very public presence in Washington, dating back more than 200 years

George Washington used a Masonic gavel and trowel in 1793 as he lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. The same trowel would be included 55 years later when President James K. Polk, a Mason, presided over the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, and again in 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt, also a Mason, laid a cornerstone for a Masonic temple.

According to “Freemasons for Dummies” author Christopher Hodapp (his book is so well regarded at the Naval lodge in Washington that it’s kept in a glass cabinet outside the meeting room), membership peaked in the United States just after World War II, when there were close to 5 million Masons.

The number dropped in the 1960s, when the Masons seemed hopelessly antiquated to a rebellious generation, and dropped again in the late 1980s as older members died. Hodapp, himself a Mason based in Indianapolis, says there are now around 1.5 million in the U.S. and 3 million worldwide.

“But it’s picking up again, in part because of people like Brown and (novelist) Brad Meltzer (‘Book of Lies,’ ‘Book of Fate’). Younger men are seeing popular references to it. We’re also seeing people from single-parent households who don’t have that kind of brotherhood feeling you get in the lodge,” Hodapp says.

Meetings at the Naval Masonic room are presided over by a Master who sits in a high-backed chair on the East side of the room, in honor of where the sun rises. On the South and West are chairs for the top aides, the senior warden and the junior warden. Only the North, “a place of Masonic darkness” (a belief related to the lighting of Solomon’s Temple) is not represented.

Every lodge has an altar on which is placed a holy book, or books. A Bible is usually there, but because only a belief in a higher being is required, a Quran or other religious text might be found, depending on the religious faith of the members present. The black and white squares of the checkered floor below the altar represent “good” and “evil,” terms the Masons resist defining too closely.

“As far as what is good and bad for any individual … the idea is to inspire thought on some of the important questions of life on the minds of our members so that they can go home and think about them and draw their own conclusions,” Crociata says.

Would-be members pass through three degrees of acceptance: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason. In “The Lost Symbol,” Brown describes an initiation ceremony that Hodapp says is essentially accurate. A man is blindfolded, has a dagger pressed against his chest and is instructed to vow that, “uninfluenced by mercenary or any other unworthy motive,” he will offer himself as “a candidate for the mysteries and privileges of this brotherhood.”

Brown is not a Mason, but said that working on the novel helped him imagine a time when religious prejudice would disappear and added that he found the Masonic philosophy a “beautiful blueprint for human spirituality.”

He was tempted to join, but, “If you join the Masons you take a vow of secrecy. I could not have written this book if I were a Mason,” he says.

And now?

“They’ve let me know the door is always open.”

Bin Laden prods US to end ‘hopeless’ Afghan war

The photograph below is that of someone obsessed with religion. Here you have an individual who is a multi, multi-millionaire, who could live in palaces with as many beautiful women as he chooses, with yachts; private jets; etc. Instead, he’s been living like a rat, in a cave, eating dirt and sleeping on rocks for almost a decade now; and for what? For Allah? Are you kidding me??? What a dumb f*ck! This is what religion does to people; it stultifies their brain.

I know what you are all thinking: “That’s because he’s a Muslim,  Muslims are all crazy.” No, that is incorrect. Muslims, as well as Jews and Christians all have fanatics within their ranks, and all religious fanatics are dangerous, if for no other reason (and there are hundreds of reasons) because they perpetuate the ignorance and superstitions of bygone eras, during mankind’s infancy. As long as religions exist they will continue to poison the world with their divisiveness and hatred, the results of which will always be bloodshed and death. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO – Osama bin Laden said in a new audiotape that President Barack Obama‘s strategy in Afghanistan is “hopeless” and called on Americans to resolve the conflict with al-Qaida by ending the war there and breaking the U.S. alliance with Israel.

In the message marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the al-Qaida leader avoided his usual rhetoric of jihad and instead took a more analytical tone, claiming its differences with the U.S. stemmed from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But analysts said Monday that the message’s tone and its unusually short length – only 11 minutes, far shorter than others released by al-Qaida to mark the anniversary – was an indication that al-Qaida was struggling to maintain interest eight years after its most shattering terror attacks.

“You might interpret this as a sign of weakness, the suggestion being that they don’t really want to fight the U.S.,” Jeremy Binnie, an analyst with Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center, said of bin Laden’s tone.

Arabs and Muslims’ more positive feelings toward the new U.S. president are believed to have helped deflate al-Qaida’s anti-American rhetoric, which found a receptive audience during the administration of former President George W. Bush, who was widely resented in the region. Also, the Iraq war – once a main front for al-Qaida’s militants – has become less prominent as violence eased over the past two years and the presence of U.S. troops was reduced.

The main front now is Afghanistan, where the Obama administration is contemplating sending more troops to battle al-Qaida’s ally, the Taliban. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces said Friday he sees no signs of a major al-Qaida presence in the country.

In the audiotape, posted late Thursday on Islamic militant Web sites, bin Laden sought to depict Obama as merely continuing the policies of Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“If you end the (Afghan) war, so be it, but otherwise we will continue the war of attrition against you,” he said, addressing the American people. “You are waging a hopeless and losing war, a war in which the end is not visible on the horizon.”

But bin Laden used most of the message to detail the reason for al-Qaida’s campaign against the United States.

“The cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine,” he said, adding that this support “pushed us to undertake “the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

He argued that Washington – even under Obama – was under the thrall of “neoconservatives and the Israeli lobby.” He said Obama and White House officials “act like Cheney and Bush and promote the previous policies of fear to market the interests of big companies” and pull Americans into wars that he said have bankrupted the United States.

If America reconsiders its alliance with Israel, he said, al-Qaida will respond on “sound and just bases.”

The Saudi construction magnate’s son-turned “holy warrior” has frequently sought to wrap al-Qaida in the Palestinian cause, seeking to draw support in the Arab world, where the issue is one of the public’s top concerns.

However the Palestinians themselves – even the militant Hamas organization – have distanced themselves from al-Qaida and cracked down on those espousing a similar extremist ideology inside the Gaza Strip.

The short message was in sharp contrast to others issued around the Sept. 11 anniversary. In 2007, al-Qaida marked the anniversary with multiple videos by several of its leaders, including bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. Just last year, it issued a massive 90-minute opus summing up seven years of struggle around the world.

Evan Kohlman, a terrorism expert at globalterroralert.com, said al-Qaida appears to have been unable to come up with a way to confront the popularity of the new U.S. president. Obama has pursued a policy of seeking better ties with Arabs and Muslims, giving a landmark speech in Cairo in June, moving to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and taking a somewhat harder stance on Israel in the peace process.

“I would have thought for Sept. 11 he could have said something more ground breaking and significant,” said Kohlman.

LDS Church releases Spanish-language Bible edition

I wish I had the money to order all 800,000 copies of these Spanish-language Bibles. I’d purchase them all and use them for a giant bonfire and weenie-roast at the campground closest to the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Salt lake City , Utah.

That’s about all Bibles are good for; to keep a fire burning. Too bad they burned innocent men and women instead of Bibles during the Dark Ages. Burning the “good book” would have done so much more for humanity. TGO

Refer to brief story below. Source: Associated Press

Mon Sep 14, 5:39 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is publishing its own edition of a Spanish-language Bible.

It’s the first time the Mormon church has published an edition of the Bible in a language other than English.

The new edition became available starting Monday.

Utah is home to more than 120 Spanish-language LDS wards and branches. Spanish speakers make up a major part of the church’s 13 million worldwide membership.

The church says a print run of 800,000 copies has already been completed. It says the edition is similar in purpose to the church’s 1979 English version of the King James Bible.

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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com