In a night I go through a lot of headlines, these days they are mostly around religion. It’s a fascination, really, more than an obsessions. My favorite thing to do (yes I’m confessing) is to sit at home on a Saturday (like tonight ) and catch-up on the week’s unturned stone features, the quirky, the often unnoticed links that pop-up in my google alerts, yahoo alerts and NY Times News Tracker. Today’s NY Times religion tracker was full of juicey things:

U.S. / POLITICS
Edwards, Clinton and Obama Describe Journeys of Faith

By PATRICK HEALY and MICHAEL LUO (NYT)
The three leading Democratic presidential hopefuls opened up at a televised forum about their faiths, the role of prayer in their lives and the ways religion informs their views on policy.

OBITUARIES
William Silver, 59, Early Gay Applicant for Ministry, Is Dead

By STUART LAVIETES (NYT)
Mr. Silver’s 1975 application for ordination in the United Presbyterian Church set off a continuing debate in the church over admitting homosexuals into the ministry.

INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE
Rev. John Macquarrie, 87, Scottish Theologian, Dies

By DOUGLAS MARTIN (NYT)
His melding of existentialist philosophy with orthodox Christian thought offered intellectually penetrating rationales for belief in God.

NEW YORK REGION / THE CITY
A Dwindling Congregation, Aiming to Reclaim Their Parish

By EMILY BRADY (NYT)
Joy McAleer has had a front-row seat to the troubles of her church.

And then there’s always the Anti-Christ story I’ve been tracking for the last couple of months. I suppose I got very interested in it when I found out José Luis De Jesús Miranda, also known as the Man Christ Jesus, was headed to Guatemala (my other half) and like so many Latin American countries he intended to visit, he certainly was not wanted and many countries sought to ban him. Much like Luz de Mundo there is a certain cultish component that does leave me wondering why Latinos are seeking such a Messianic approach to their religious expression in the new world? I am reminded, of course, of my grandmother running faster that most people half her age to touch the hem of Pope John Paul’s cloak when he finally made it to Guatemala. It was a stampede and my arm hurt for days from being dragged along by my grandmother. Ultimately, the larger question is how the more traditional Catholic/Christian traditions are being shaped by more emotive expressions of spirituality and ritual as seen in Latino’s worship. My grandmother likes her bleeding Christ, the more suffering and agony is embodied in his face while hanging on the cross, the better. In many ways, she reminds me, the reason she stopped going to Catholic Church in the US was because it was too sterile, muy frio, to cold for her own taste. How can God live in places like that, there’s no emotion there? I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t  go for that “666″ tatoo. To be safe, I’ll ask.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 2:32 am and is filed under Day-In-The-Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.