Tag: religion

Catholic University Speaker Says White Students Should ‘Crucify Their Whiteness’

The Atkins Center for Ethics at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hosted an event titled “Rejecting White Christianity” on March 3. A guest speaker at the event, Miguel De La Torre, called for White Christians to “crucify” their “whiteness.”

“Eurochristian nationalism has been used to justify white supremacy. Many within communities of color, with colonized minds, seek to assimilate to a Euroamerican version of Christianity which is detrimental to their being,” reads an event description. “This presentation will explore what it means to see through the eyes of the dominant culture, how one rejects the Christianity of the dominant culture, and how one begins to create a different cultural foundation upon which to base one’s faith.”

The discussion was also billed as an “indigenous Latinx” lens through which one can conduct “ethical analysis” of Christianity. During his speech, De La Torre, a professor of “Latinx studies” at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, said white Christians should “crucify” their “whiteness”, according to The College Fix.

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Anthropologist Suggests Shroud of Turin Was Actually a Medieval Tablecloth

An anthropologist has put forward a rather intriguing new theory regarding the Shroud of Turin which suggests that the famed relic was actually a medieval tablecloth. The thought-provoking hypothesis is reportedly the brainchild of researcher David Akins, who believes that he has determined when and how the iconic image, thought by some to be a depiction of Jesus Christ, wound up on the linen in the first place as well as the true purpose of the peculiar piece of cloth. According to the anthropologist, the shroud’s complex origin story can be traced back to a town in England and an inadvertent turn of events which ultimately produced the piece which has been fiercely debated for centuries.

Akins theory begins with the observation that studies of the shroud found that the cloth contains trace elements of alabaster, a type of rock used by sculptors during the medieval period, which is also when separate analysis has suggested that the relic originated. Connecting these two details, the anthropologist argues that the linen was likely circulating in the British town of Burton on Trent during that time frame, since the community was the central location for the creation of alabaster artwork by virtue of massive deposits of the mineral that could be found there. Akins goes on to posit that in the early 1300s, the persecuted Knights Templar settled in the town after fleeing France with their hoard of treasure and the Holy Grail.

In recognition of their experience, Akins says, the mysterious group “would have created a statue” depicting the Fisher King, who was a legendary figure said to be tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. Noting the piece was probably proudly displayed in the town’s abbey, the anthropologist theorizes that it was later put into storage while the building was renovated, which “is where the story of the Turin Shroud begins,” as it was likely wrapped in a linen cloth for decades while construction was taking place. Upon completion of the project, he surmises, workers at the abbey unwrapped the statue and discovered that “the alabaster had reacted with chemicals in the mustiness of the cellar and left an image of the Fisher King” on the material.

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China Enacts Law Banning Most Online Christian Content

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has activated measures to drastically restrict the availability of Christian content on the internet, Open Doors reported this week.

Last December, China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) announced its upcoming “Measures for the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services,” a series of regulations designed to eliminate any online religious message that fails to conform to the principles of the CCP.

Without express government permission, no organization or individual “shall preach on the Internet, carry out religious education and training, publish sermon content, forward or link to related content, organize and conduct religious activities on the Internet, or live broadcast or post recorded videos of religious rituals,” the CCP declared at the time.

The new measures went into force on March 1 and the effects are already being felt by Christians throughout China, reported Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution around the globe.

Online Christian ministry has been restricted to CCP-approved groups with special permits, which are only issued to state-controlled religious institutions, such as the Three Self Patriotic Movement.

The CCP has approved the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China, for example, but not the underground Catholic Church faithful to Rome.

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Finnish Government Puts Christianity On Trial, Calls The Bible ‘Hate Speech’

Two Christian leaders in Finland stood trial in Helsinki on Jan. 24 for publicly stating the Bible’s teachings on sex and marriage. Longtime Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola defended in court their decision to write and publish, respectively, a pamphlet explaining Christian teachings about sex and marriage.

In the trial’s opening arguments, which will resume on Feb. 14, Finnish prosecutors described quotations from the Bible as “hate speech.” Finland’s top prosecutor’s office essentially put the Bible on trial, an unprecedented move for a secular court, said Paul Coleman, a human rights lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom International who is assisting in the Finns’ legal defense and was present during Monday’s trial.

“The prosecutor began the day by trying to explain that this case was not about beliefs and the Bible. She then, and I’m not kidding, she then proceeded to quote Old Testament Bible verses,” Coleman said in a phone interview with The Federalist after the trial concluded for the day. “Trial attorneys, Finnish trial attorneys who have been in and out of court every day for years, said they didn’t think the Bible had ever been read out like that in a prosecution.”

Never before has a Finnish court had to decide whether quoting the Bible is a crime. Human rights observers consider this case an important marker for whether Western governments’ persecution of citizens for their speech and beliefs increases.

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