Mother Teresa Denies God and Other Religious News

ekrubtap

Does God really exist? The agony of Teresa
By Bruce Johnston and Brigid Delaney
November 30 2002

Mother Teresa, put on the fast-track to sainthood by the Pope after her death five years ago, was tormented by a crisis of belief for 50 years, her writings reveal.

Her letters and diaries present a completely different picture of the nun and Nobel peace laureate from her public image as a woman confident of her faith.

It is being said in Rome that biographies will have to be rewritten to take the revelation into account.

The previously unpublished material is to be brought out as a volume in Italy. It was collected by Roman Catholic authorities in Calcutta after her death, aged 87.

Mother Teresa, who worked among the poor of Calcutta, wrote in 1958: "My smile is a great cloak that hides a multitude of pains." Because she was "forever smiling", people thought "my faith, my hope and my love are overflowing and that my intimacy with God and union with his will fill my heart. If only they knew".

Mother Teresa said in another letter: "The damned of hell suffer eternal punishment because they experiment with the loss of God. In my own soul, I feel the terrible pain of this loss. I feel that God does not want me, that God is not God and that he does not really exist."

Rome's daily newspaper Il Messeggero said: "The real Mother Teresa was one who for one year had visions and who for the next 50 had doubts - until her death."

Her years of doubt coincided with the period when, after the visions, she decided to leave her teaching post at a privileged Calcutta school to help India's poor.

After her death, the Pope waived the Vatican rule that prohibits investigation of the cause for beatification until five years after the subject's death.

Australian church leaders say Mother Teresa's period of doubt only strengthens the case for her beatification.

Francesco Canalini, the Pope's representative in Australia, said: "Many saints throughout history had times of trouble. The message from God is that many holy people have had to face difficulties, but they have fought them despite the darkness."

Sydney Columban priest Cyril Hally describes Mother Teresa's doubts as the "dark night of the soul". "It is a purification process. Doubt is part of the growth of holiness," he said, adding that it is also a part of sainthood.

Il Segreto di Madre Teresa (Mother Teresa's Secret) will be published in December.

The Telegraph, London

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/...14539.html

ekrubtap

On 13 March 2002, the The Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) published excerpts of a translation of an article which had appeared in the Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Al-Riyadh on 10 March. The article, a column by Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King Faysal University in Al-Dammam, dealt with the "The Jewish Holiday of Purim":

Special Ingredient For Jewish Holidays is Human Blood From Non-Jewish Youth.

I chose to [speak] about the Jewish holiday of Purim, because it is connected to the month of March. This holiday has some dangerous customs that will, no doubt, horrify you, and I apologize if any reader is harmed because of this.

During this holiday, the Jew must prepare very special pastries, the filling of which is not only costly and rare - it cannot be found at all on the local and international markets.

Unfortunately, this filling cannot be left out, or substituted with any alternative serving the same purpose. For this holiday, the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare the holiday pastries. In other words, the practice cannot be carried out as required if human blood is not spilled!!

Before I go into the details, I would like to clarify that the Jews' spilling human blood to prepare pastry for their holidays is a well-established fact, historically and legally, all throughout history. This was one of the main reasons for the persecution and exile that were their lot in Europe and Asia at various times.

This holiday [Purim] begins with a fast, on March 13, like the Jewess Esther who vowed to fast. The holiday continues on March 14; during the holiday, the Jews wear carnival-style masks and costumes and overindulge in drinking alcohol, prostitution, and adultery. This holiday has become known among Muslim historians as the "Holiday of Masks."

How the Jews Drain the Blood From Their Young Victims

Who was Esther, and why the Jews sanctify her and act as she did, I will clarify in my article next Tuesday, Allah willing. Today, I would like to tell you how human blood is spilled so it can be used for their holiday pastries. The blood is spilled in a special way. How is it done?

For this holiday, the victim must be a mature adolescent who is, of course, a non-Jew - that is, a Christian or a Muslim. His blood is taken and dried into granules. The cleric blends these granules into the pastry dough; they can also be saved for the next holiday. In contrast, for the Passover slaughtering, about which I intend to write one of these days, the blood of Christian and Muslim children under the age of 10 must be used, and the cleric can mix the blood [into the dough] before or after dehydration.

The Actions of the Jewish Vampires Cause Them Pleasure

Let us now examine how the victims' blood is spilled. For this, a needle-studded barrel is used; this is a kind of barrel, about the size of the human body, with extremely sharp needles set in it on all sides. [These needles] pierce the victim's body, from the moment he is placed in the barrel.

These needles do the job, and the victim's blood drips from him very slowly. Thus, the victim suffers dreadful torment - torment that affords the Jewish vampires great delight as they carefully monitor every detail of the blood-shedding with pleasure and love that are difficult to comprehend.

After this barbaric display, the Jews take the spilled blood, in the bottle set in the bottom [of the needle-studded barrel], and the Jewish cleric makes his coreligionists completely happy on their holiday when he serves them the pastries in which human blood is mixed.

There is another way to spill the blood: The victim can be slaughtered as a sheep is slaughtered, and his blood collected in a container. Or, the victim's veins can be slit in several places, letting his blood drain from his body.

This blood is very carefully collected - as I have already noted - by the 'rabbi,' the Jewish cleric, the chef who specializes in preparing these kinds of pastries.

The human race refuses even to look at the Jewish pastries, let alone prepare them or consume them!

As WorldNetDaily correctly noted, this screed was yet another repetition of the centuries-old anti-Semitic blood libel fable:

The allegation of blood libel was common in the Middle Ages when Jews were accused of "ritual murder" in their celebration of the Passover. During the feast, which commemorates Israel's escape from Egypt, a family puts the blood of a lamb on the doorpost of its home, but Jews were accused of using the blood of Christian children. The Catholic Church has since condemned the unfounded allegation.
Al-Riyadh's editor, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, claimed the article had "slipped through the cracks" while he was away in Lebanon and "never should have been published":

The editor, Turki al Sudairy, said he was upset to discover that while he was in Lebanon, his paper ran a two-part series by a professor that vilified Jews and the holiday of Purim and embellished a tale dismissed long ago as the product of deeply anti-Semitic thinking.
"I went back to the article and found it unfit for publishing because it is not based on any historical or scientific fact but in fact is against every religious ritual in the world, including Buddhism and Hinduism," Sudairy wrote in a column that appeared Tuesday, adding that the article's "credibility is nil."

Although Sudairy said the article had slipped through the cracks and never should have been published, the fact that it appeared over a two-day period reflects the willingness of governments in this region to use the media as a safety valve for the deep animosity their people feel toward Israel and Jews.

Al Riyadh is a privately owned paper, but there is censorship in Saudi Arabia, and there was no effort to block publication of the article.

The Al-Riyadh article itself is probably less surprising than many American's unawareness that virulent anti-Semitic, anti-American material is common fodder in the Middle Eastern press, even in state-controlled (or state-approved) newspapers of countries which receive massive amounts of financial aid and support from the U.S., (such as Egypt), as Arnold Beichman noted in a Washington Times editorial:
"If you want to know why, despite the New York Times and its columnist Thomas Friedman, peace in the Middle East is impossible, let me refer you to articles published March 10 and 12 in the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh under the title "Jews Use Teenagers' Blood for 'Purim' Pastries."
The author of this blood libel is not your average Jew-hating Saudi. He is not only a columnist, he is an academic: Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma of King Faisal University in Al-Dammam. So while the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz-al-Saud, is whispering sweet nothings into Mr. Friedman's trembling ear, the Arab press is telling its readers under a headline: "Special Ingredient For Jewish Holidays is Human Blood From Non-Jewish Youth."

Al-Riyadh isn't the only Middle East Muslim publication that publishes this hate-filled filth. The Egyptian press has published and republished the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a forgery concocted a century ago by the Russian czar's secret police and still circulating in the Middle East. Yasser Arafat's wife has publicly accused the Israelis of poisoning the well water from which Palestinians drink. And, of course, the United States is a major target, too.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/blood.htm

ekrubtap

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 15, 2003

President Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Turkey
Statement by the President

I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attacks today in Istanbul, where Turkey's diverse religious communities of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian believers have flourished together for centuries. The focus of these attacks on Turkey's Jewish community, in Istanbul's synagogues where men, women, and children gathered to worship God, remind us that our enemy in the war against terror is without conscience or faith. Turkey has suffered terrible losses from terrorism for decades, and the United States stands resolutely with Turkey in the global war on terrorism. On behalf of the American people, I express our condolences to the families of the victims, to Turkey's Jewish community, and to all the people of the Turkish Republic.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases...115-2.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I'm no President here, hell, I'm not even a Prime Minister, but I would have guessed too much faith.

ekrubtap

December 23 2002

A Catholic bishop today criticised a British television documentary that suggests the Virgin Mary may have been raped by a Roman soldier.

The Bishop of Portsmouth said the BBC program, The Virgin Mary, was crude and offensive by disregarding the concerns and beliefs of millions of Christians.

The controversy came as a survey revealed that a quarter of Church of England clergy do not believe in the virgin birth of Christ.

The Sunday Telegraph survey found that 27 per cent of 500 clerics questioned doubt privately the traditional story of Jesus's birth.

Tonight's program questions the Bible's interpretation of the Virgin Mary, suggesting she may even have been called Miriam, and that she may have been raped by a Roman solider.

Other theories suggest her husband Joseph could have made her pregnant or that she had an illicit affair.

But the Bishop of Portsmouth, Crispian Hollis, who is the chairman of the Catholic Church's strategic media committee and a former BBC producer, said he intended to write to BBC director-general Greg Dyke about his concerns.

He said: "I believe very strongly that programs of this nature should maintain sensitivity to those whose cherished beliefs are concerned.

"The Virgin Mary is clearly a person whose life and times are immensely important to the whole of Christian history.

"As mother of God, she is honoured and venerated by millions of Catholics and other Christians within these islands and all over the world.

"To include, within a historical examination of her life, confused and unfounded guesswork, which carries with it crude and offensive speculation, is not only unscholarly but runs the risk of undermining the very integrity of the project itself.

"The Catholic Church - and indeed the whole Christian tradition - is not afraid of critical examination but, at the same time, we guard the truths of our faith very jealously and we treasure the history and the lives of those who have played a critical part in its foundation.

"I believe that, in an age when we are all doing our best to build up a world of racial and religious tolerance, programs which, however unwittingly, attack the icons of major religious faiths, are unwelcome and troubling."

In the Sunday Telegraph survey, most of those who expressed scepticism said they would still be conducting traditional Christmas services which emphasised the miraculous nature of Christ's birth, a vital part of the Nativity.

One vicar, who declined to be named, told the newspaper: "There was nothing special about his birth or childhood - it was his adult life that was extraordinary."

And he added: "I have a very traditional bishop and this is one of those topics I do not go public on. I need to keep the job I have got."

Many said that the story of the virgin birth resulted from poor biblical translations and a literary tradition which made up stories about a person's early life to emphasise their importance.

The Gospel according to St Luke recounts how Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel and told she would give birth to the son of God.

- PA

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/...94183.html

BooRad · Sergeant Joined: Feb 13, 2004 Posts: 141 Location: USA

Hey, PAT...so Mother Teresa had doubts and wasn't sure at times that God treuly exists. Wow...that must mean then that there is certainly some glimmer of hope for you & COB & CUC then. And, who knows, you all might even make sainthood! The Lord works in mysterious ways, He do!

Oh...and your poop about the Virgin Mary not being so virgin afterall...not surprised you brits would first think of rape as the answer...it is in your nature, heh...maybe even in your book of truths, heh. Why...my long ago Scot & Irish great great great great great great great grandmaws passed down many a pillage & rape story about your english lord great great great great great great great grandpaws & friends, she did! Can almost hear her quick tongue when I read what she had to say about those 'little brit pricks'...heh!

Long live William Wallace, dude!
BooRad

SicPreFix · Sergeant Joined: Feb 21, 2004 Posts: 121 Location: Canada

Oh BooRad, you poor misguided soul. As much as you may want to misread, oppose, misdirect, and fabricate silly little fairy tales to support your untenable thesis, it just won't wash.

Oh BooRad, you silly little illiterate and uneducated toad. Brits, as the slang goes, are British folk; people who live in Britain. Pat, and my unhumble self, are Canadians. Canadians are not brits.

Oh BooRad, you poor little timid soul hiding in the darkness of your blasphemous and misguided faith. Do you not see the truth wearing its bright badge before your peasant eyes?

Oh BooRad you poor little American buffoon. Well, there's not much more to say than that.

Now, a little clarification, which I am almost certain will be misread, returned in foreign feathers, and used to conflict the logic that may or may not be present.

BooRad, all the above is simply an unfair and cruel direct response to your rudeness, and your paramount ignorance of what you're talking about. Yes indeed I (and others who I won't speak for because that would be unfair, misleading, and not abiding by the rules of fair use) do argue vehemently againsy your personal beliefs, not because I do not believe you have the right to believe whatever you will believe, but simply because of the untenable, unreproducible, and utterly inprovability of the sillyness you promote. Nonetheless, with the exception of this thread I do not believe I have taken any direct and personal attacks upon you - on your beliefs and/or you foolish faith yes, but not on you, or Mrs. Hoppes, or TMOV, et al. But you and your ilk here have not even the courtesy to bother learning, not only your history when speaking to and of us, but you refuse to even get your preposterous facts, arguments, and prevaricated fantasticals straight, consistent, or logical.

Listen pally, if you will persist in being so snide, pompous, illiterate, and uninformed in your personal attacks, then I see little reason to continue showing you any respect.

If you persist in burying your head in the sand, neither I nor anyone can do nought about that, but if you're going to make preposterous defences via direct attacks at least, at least, at least try to use some logic, some fact, and some verifiable history rather than your silly fantasy and your personal attacks.

Yes, you've got my goat you insufferable little pompous toad, and for that I am most upset, but I feel you brought it on yourself with your disguised rudeness.

Of course the great lesson here is the clarity with which you show the lie to the claim of Christian tolerance.

ekrubtap · Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:32 pm Post subject:

The Irish warrior who Said to Willie Wallace just before the big battle, "I spoke with the Lord last night and he says I'll come out of this all right, but you're pretty much fooked," might have been an ancestor of mine, or perhaps Wallace himself and I might share some antecedents.
Oh I am the biggest mixup, that ever made ya mad, me father, he was green and me mother, she was plaid.

BooRad · Sergeant Joined: Feb 13, 2004 Posts: 141 Location: USA

Misguided soul...illiterate & uneducated toad...American baffoon...palley...pompous toad! Wow,,,I really must have got your goat, SPF, or hit some little sore spot! Those are some strong harse words yer spoutin, they are. Please try to count to 10 slowly and take deep breaths along the way. I wouldn't want you to pop a gussett now over this.

So sorry, my friend...the thrust of my previous post was directed mainly toward Pat whom I'll bet is delighted at the froth that has been stirred within you. Pat's thread & post seems bent on insinuating some rather mean & nasty things about good ole Mother Mary you know. And, well, future Saint Pat just got the Catholic in me revved up.

Maya cupa, maya cupa, maya maxima cupa!
BooRad

for my penance, I'll say an act of contrition & 2 Our Fathers...after I stop ROTFLMAO...

ekrubtap · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:03 am Post subject:

Actually Boo, Mary is just one in a line of many women who have been "blessed" by nocturnal visitations by gods throughout mythical history. You should read the classical myths. With the strength of your faith it probably won't turn you into an atheist, but I guarentee you, you will read of many things that you probably think are exclusive to Christianity. You will read of virgin births, gods, that rise on the third day, saviors, 25 Dec.birthdate of the Persian Savior, Mithra. (Jesus' birthdate was originally set at Jan 6). It's been said that Jesus was modeled on Mithras and Dionysus. Dionysus was fathered by Zeus of a virgin mortal mother, died at the hands of the Titans, rose from the dead, ascended to Mt .Olympus (their heaven) and sits at the right hand of Zeus. Christianity was old news when it was new. Also, you seem particularly fond of Saul/Paul. Well there is something rotten in the state of Denmark regarding Saul/Paul. Something not quite kosher. Seems there was a fair bit of antagonism between he and the regular apostles. Something about S/P taking over and changing the drift of Christianity. It bears a little more looking into, I'll get back to you on it.
In the meantime, you really should start on the Greek Classics. It's not a sin, is it. Surely they aren't on the Vatican's Proscribed list (banned books-this is probably a story in itself-started banning books in 498 CE)
The Bible, the Qur'an, and the Torah have all been subjected to censorship and have been banned in various cities and countries.

ekrubtap · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 11:26 pm Post subject:

Danish Clergyman Challenges Church, God Idea

In an interview with at Danish paper, Minister Thorkild Grosboell from Taarbaek parish has publicly declared, that he does not believe in the creation myth, the resurrection nor the eternal life. This has created a lot of commotion within the state church of Denmark, not that this is news, as he has previously stated the same views in a book he has written, which apparently no one in the state church has read.

The parochial church council of Taarbaek parish is supporting their cleric, who is very popular among the parishioners. They believe he does a good job and has values suiting the parish, so they don't think his lack of faith disqualifies him.

Despite the local support, and after a meeting between herself and the minister on Tuesday the 3rd of June, the bishop of Elsinore, Lise-Lotte Rebel, relieved Thorkild Grosboell of his duties for a 10 day period so far. After that period, where the bishop urges him to reconsider his standpoint, a new meeting will be held, where Thorkild Grosboell will give the bishop a written statement.

The chairman of the parochial church council of Taarbaek parish, Lars Heilesen, believes Grosboell has been unfairly treated and that the outcome of the meeting was determined in advance. He believes the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Tove Fergo, decided the outcome when, one week prior to the meeting with the bishop, she stated that non-belief couldn't be reconciled with being a pastor in the Danish state church. For this alleged breach of legal procedure (ruling in a case before it is on her desk) the parochial church council of Taarbaek parish on Saturday sent a formal complaint over the Minister to the Premier Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who they urge to reinstate their minister.

The Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs is already very unpopular among the bishops, who dislike her hands-on approach. In Denmark it is tradition that the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs follows a more laissez-faire approach to the matters of the church probably because the current arrangement is unconstitutional and has been so for the last 150 years.

Actually a lot of other Danish clerics are believed to have a hard time believing in an almighty god but Thorkild Grosboell is so far the only one who has publicly stated it. Anthropologist Cecilie Rubow, who has researched the relationship between Christianity and the clergy, believes a lot of them consider God to be more of a symbolic concept. This is supported by the minister Lene Matthies, who claims a lot of godless things are said every Sunday in churches throughout the country.

The whole case may cause severe damage to the state church, which is already under pressure (by e.g. a group of Catholics, who will sue for discrimination). The parochial church council of Taarbaek parish is contemplating seceding from the state church and forming a free church if that is what is required to keep their minister.

Submitted by Dansk Ateistisk Selskab

ekrubtap

Corpse of monk in lotus position who died in 1723 found in Vietnam

Mar 16, 2004
HANOI (AFP) - The corpse of a Buddhist monk sitting in a lotus position has been uncovered in a pagoda in northern Vietnam over 280 years after he died, a museum official said.

The body of the monk, Nhu Tri, who died in 1723 in a tower at the Tieu Pagoda in Bac Ninh province, was covered in a layer of special preservative paint.

His internal organs remained intact but one eye socket was damaged and his arms were broken off at the elbow, according to Nguyen Duy Nhat, deputy director of the Bac Ninh Museum.

The corpse was first discovered around 30 years ago during the Vietnam War but local authorities were not in a position to preserve it.

"In early 2002 a delegation of high ranking monks from the Truc Lam and Yen Tu Monasteries visited the pagoda and read the inscription on the tower. They asked for it be opened up and preserved," Nhat said.

On March 5 this year, the Ministry of Culture and Information's heritage department granted a licence to the Buddhist Church to restore the corpse, and a week later it was moved to Bac Ninh's Due Khanh Pagoda for the work to begin.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u...0316205006

[/b]

ekrubtap · Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:19 pm Post subject: A mystical union

From The Economist http://www.economist.com/science/displa...id=2478148

A Mystical Union

A small band of pioneers is exploring the neurology of religious experience

THE renowned French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot once scribbled some notes while under the influence of the psychedelic drug mescaline. Colleagues were puzzled because among the scribbles was the incongruous statement, written in English, I love you Jennifer. Still more puzzling was the question: who was Jennifer? That was not the name of his wife nor of anyone else they thought he knew. Despite the mystery, Dr Charcot's colleagues never thought to question the scientific value of the experiment.

The same cannot be said of Mario Beauregard, a brain-imager from the University of Montreal, who has also experimented with mescaline. But that is because Dr Beauregard is interested in one particular, and far more contentious, aspect of the mescaline experiencethe capacity of the drug to inspire feelings of spirituality or closeness to God. It was experiments of the type carried out by Charcot that opened up the possibility of investigating spirituality in a scientific manner, by showing that it could be manipulated. Dr Beauregard is following up on these by trying to discover where in the brain religious experience is actually experienced.

Rest of the story http://www.economist.com/science/displa...id=2478148

SicPreFix · Sergeant Joined: Feb 21, 2004 Posts: 121 Location: Canada

Jamming · Colonel Premium Member Joined: Jun 22, 2002 Posts: 1874

What if it proves the reverse of your hypothesis? Then will you deny it had any meaning?

SicPreFix · Sergeant Joined: Feb 21, 2004 Posts: 121 Location: Canada


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