The Passion of the Christ
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/342753.aspx
In 2004, Mel Gibson released his religious blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ." Millions of people around the world saw his depiction of the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Following the movie's release, we went to the actual sites here in Jerusalem where Jesus suffered and died, like the Garden of Gethsemane.
As we look forward to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and, most importantly, Easter Sunday, it seems like an appropriate time to show the story again.
It's a look back at the movie but more importantly a reminder that Jesus Christ became the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.
His Resurrection is the central point in history, proof of His divinity and the bedrock of our faith.
As the Easter greeting says: He is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Happy Easter!
Christians Celebrate Easter in Jerusalem
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/343878.aspx
JERUSALEM - Christian pilgrims sang and prayed on Easter Sunday at the church built on the site where Jesus rose from the dead.
Polish men in feathered fur hats, Indian women in saris and Palestinian clergy in white and gold robes found shelter from Jerusalem's sweltering heat in the cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City.
The outgoing Roman Catholic leader in the Holy Land, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, criticized both Israelis and Palestinians responsible for the recent bloodshed, including Israeli military operations in Gaza, rocket fire from Palestinian militants and a deadly shooting attack on a Jewish religious seminary.
"Despite this, there are hundreds of thousands in both the Palestinian and Israeli societies who send an outcry: peace, peace," Sabbah, a Palestinian, said in a sermon. "We need leaders who are ready to offer their lives for the sake of peace, not leaders who issue orders to kill and assassinate and send others to kill or to get killed."
Sabbah, 75, and dozens of clergymen in gold-embroidered capes circled the candlelit rotunda.
Tamera Perry, 39, a high school teacher from Silver City, New Mexico, said she planned to videotape the Easter Mass and send it over the Internet to her church at home, where it would be shown at the Easter service.
"I get a real sense of the surroundings here, being where Jesus walked and walking the hills that he walked," she said.
Israeli security had deployed thousands of officers nationwide to secure events connected with Easter and the Jewish festival of Purim.
Jeri Minasy, 59, a retired flight attendant from Newnan, Georgia, said nothing would stop her from spending Easter in Jerusalem. She called the experience "special, mystic and spiritual."
Protestants, who venerate a spot outside the Old City known as the Garden Tomb as the site of Jesus' burial, gathered there early Sunday to sing songs accompanied by a rock band. Some raised their hands and swayed to the music.
"We can say that resurrection day was the happiest day in history," Peter Wells, the site's chaplain, told the crowd.
"So once again, the Lord is risen," Wells said. The assembled believers answered in unison: "The Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah!"
Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in Jerusalem on Sunday, marked Easter with a service at the U.S. consulate before setting out for a day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Cheney Attends Jerusalem Easter Service
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/343860.aspx
JERUSALEM -- Vice President Dick Cheney began Easter Sunday with a prayer and the singing of "Amazing Grace" Sunday at a tiny chapel in Jerusalem, then launched into a day of talks about conflict: the Mideast peace process and the rising influence of Iran in the region.
"We are obviously dedicated to doing all we can as an administration to try to move the peace process forward, and obviously actively involved in dealing with the threats that we see emerging in the region - not only threats to Israel, but threats to the United States as well," Cheney, a strong supporter of Israel, said in a meeting with President Shimon Peres.
It was clear that Cheney was referring to Iran, but Peres was more specific, saying the declarations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes against Israel cannot be ignored.
"We have this problem of the Iranians who want to build two satellites, the Hezbollah and the Hamas in Gaza. ... Nobody can control us and say that declarations by Ahmadinejad are less serious," Peres said. "We have to take it seriously."
He said time is of the essence in the peace process, but that he believes progress is achievable. "The mere fact that in spite of the differences the negotiations go on is a great hope for the future," Peres said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the "so-called peace process" was a "paralyzed and ailing" fiction.
Cheney began the day with his wife, Lynne, and daughter, Liz, attending a nondenominational service at Lazarist Monastery, which rents out space to the U.S consulate do diplomatic work with the Palestinian Authority.
Afterward, he had breakfast with Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and went to meetings with Peres and Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni. Later in the day, Cheney was going to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Cheney is on a 10-day trip to the Mideast, where oil, the future of Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran's rising influence in the region have highlighted his talks with foreign leaders. His visit here is part of the Bush administration's strategy to keep the pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to reach a framework agreement for peace before Bush leaves office in January 2009.
On Saturday night, Cheney offered a bold defense of Israel. Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Cheney said that the United States wants a new beginning for the Palestinian people but will never pressure Israel to take steps that would jeopardize its security.
"America's commitment to Israel's security is enduring and unshakable, as is our commitment to Israel's right to defend itself - always - against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats from forces dedicated to Israel's destruction," Cheney said. "The United States will never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security."
In Easter Sermon, New Obama Pastor Charges Rev. Wright Victim of ‘Lynching’
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/23/in-eastor-sermon-trinity-united-pastor-compares-rev-wright-to-jesus/
CHICAGO — The new pastor of Barack Obama’s church delivered a defiant defense of its retiring reverend Sunday, comparing media coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to a modern-day lynching that resembles Jesus’ death at the hands of the Romans.
In a sunrise Easter sermon, Rev. Otis Moss III never mentioned Wright by name, but implied that his mentor, who has delivered sermons in which he likened the U.S. to the Ku Klux Klan and declared it damned for its “state-sponsored terrorism,” is facing the same challenges Jesus did.”No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching,” Moss said.
“The lynching was national news. The RNN, the Roman News Network, was reporting it and NPR, National Publican Radio had it on the radio. The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Times all wanted exclusives, they searched out the young ministers, showed up unannounced at their houses, tried to talk with their families, called up their friends, wanted to get a quote on how do you feel about the lynching?” he continued.
The criticism surrounding Wright has not softened the services at Trinity United Church of Christ, where Obama has been a congregant for 20 years. Instead, Moss defiantly defended their method of worship, referencing rap lyrics to make his point.”If I was Ice Cube I’d say it a little differently — ‘You picked the wrong folk to mess with,’” Moss said to an enthusiastic congregation, standing up during much of the sermon, titled “How to Handle a Public Lynching.”
Wright’s sermons were criticized for casting the country as institutionally racist and Obama sharply condemned Wright’s remarks as racially divisive in a high-profile speech Tuesday, though the candidate would not renounce the pastor himself. Church officials said Wright, who is now on sabbatical and entering retirement after nearly 40 years of service with the church, was not attending any service Sunday.
Obama and his family were spending Easter on vacation and also were not attending services.
Though the church recently moved a once-prominent section on its Web site about the “Black Value System,” the congregation still describes itself as “unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian.” A plaque states this prominently behind the front desk.
The sermons Sunday, which kept references to Wright as a common thread, implied that the firestorm over Wright’s remarks has taken the church’s teachings out of context.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop in the AME Church, also delivered a sermon, in which she talked about visionaries like King and Gandhi and “Jeremiah” (it was unclear whether she meant Wright), and argued that their words weren’t about “anger,” but about “a passion that demands confrontation.”
“The purveyors of information are trying to be judge and jury over prophetic utterances,” she said.
The church program handed out Sunday also included an essay called “Not on My Watch” from the Rev. Samuel B. McKinney of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle. McKinney said he was “greatly disturbed” by the “media feeding frenzy that has tarnished everyone in the process.”
“Dr. Wright represents the best among us … An attack on this man of God is an attack on all those of the cloth who believe in the social Gospel of liberation. And I will not stand for it,” he wrote.
Moss issued several pleas to congregants to donate to what he called the “Resurrection Fund,” stressing that during this time of battle, money is needed to defend the church. He offered no additional specifics about the fund, telling churchgoers he didn’t want to get into it because Trinity is streaming the service live on the Web and the services are available for purchase on DVD.
He concluded with another analogy, saying, “In order to crucify him you’ve got to lift him up … he had more visibility on the cross than he did during his entire ministry.”
Muslim baptized by pope says life in danger
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080323/wl_nm/pope_muslim_dc;_ylt=Ajw4rvNGLYbUhdvM4t8HRSGs0NUE
A Muslim author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism who was baptized a Catholic by Pope Benedict said on Sunday Islam is "physiologically violent" and he is now in great danger because of his conversion.
"I realize what I am going up against but I will confront my fate with my head high, with my back straight and the interior strength of one who is certain about his faith," said Magdi Allam.
In a surprise move on Saturday night, the pope baptized the 55-year-old, Egyptian-born Allam at an Easter eve service in St Peter's Basilica that was broadcast around the world.
The conversion of Allam to Christianity -- he took the name "Christian" for his baptism -- was kept secret until the Vatican disclosed it in a statement less than an hour before it began.
Writing in Sunday's edition of the leading Corriere della Sera, the newspaper of which he is a deputy director, Allam said: "... the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual."
Allam, who is a strong supporter of Israel and who an Israeli newspaper once called a "Muslim Zionist," has lived under police protection following threats against him, particularly after he criticized Iran's position on Israel.
He said before converting he had continually asked himself why someone who had struggled for what he called "moderate Islam" was then "condemned to death in the name of Islam and on the basis of a Koranic legitimization."
His conversion, which he called "the happiest day of my life," came just two days after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused the pope of being part of a "new crusade" against Islam.
The Vatican appeared to be at pains to head off criticism from the Islamic world about the conversion.
"Conversion is a private matter, a personal thing and we hope that the baptism will not be interpreted negatively by Islam," Cardinal Giovanni Re told an Italian newspaper.
Still, Allam's highly public baptism by the pope shocked Italy's Muslim community, with some leaders openly questioning why the Vatican chose to shine such a big spotlight it.
"What amazes me is the high profile the Vatican has given this conversion," Yaha Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, told Reuters. "Why could he have not done this in his local parish?"
ANOTHER DEATH SENTENCE
Allam, the author of numerous books, said he realized that his conversion would likely procure him "another death sentence for apostasy," or the abandoning of one's faith.
But he said he was willing to risk it because he had "finally seen the light, thanks to divine grace."
Allam defended the pope in 2006 when the pontiff made a speech in Regensburg, Germany, that many Muslims perceived as depicting Islam as a violent faith.
He said he made his decision to convert after years of deep soul searching and asserted that the Catholic Church has been "too prudent about conversions of Muslims."
At a Sunday morning Easter mass hours after he baptized Allam, the pope, without mentioning him, spoke in a prayer of the continuing "miracle" of conversion to Christianity some 2,000 years after Christ's resurrection.
The Vatican statement announcing Allam's conversion said: "For the Catholic Church, each person who asks to receive Baptism after a deep personal search, a fully free choice and adequate preparation, has a right to receive it."
It said all newcomers to the faith were "equally important before God's love and welcome in the community of the Church."
U.S. Web Host Pulls Dutch Lawmaker's Site Promoting Anti-Islam Film
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340771,00.html
A northern Virginia-based Internet host provider has suspended the Web site set up by a Dutch politician to promote his new film critical of Islam, after a spate of complaints and fears of a possible backlash, the French news service Agence France Presse reported.
Network Solutions pulled Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders' page Sunday while it reviewed whether its contents conformed to company policy forbidding offensive material, according to the report.
Over the past few weeks, angry mobs in Pakistan and Afghanistan have demonstrated against the film, which they say is as an insult to Islam.
Dutch lawmakers had urged Wilders to drop the project, fearing a repeat of the kind of protests seen worldwide following the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed — protests which led to tightened security at embassies across the Muslim world.
Network Solutions said it took Wilder's site offline due to technical reasons including "excessive use of services which shall impair the fair use of other Network Solutions customers", the report stated.
The far-right lawmaker planned to make the 15-minute film available to viewers over the Internet after failing to find a distributor. Although Wilders' Web site is offline, he said Sunday that he still wants to put out the movie "on the Internet quickly," though he did not specify how, AFP reported.
Wilders told FOX News in January that he believed Western culture was better off than the "retarded" Islamic culture. He also likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book, 'Mein Kampf.'
Taiwan president-elect wants China ties
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/23/taiwan_president-elect_wants_china_ties/1054/
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- President-elect Ma Ying-jeou said Sunday Taiwan can achieve a peace agreement with China by backing off independence claims.
"The idea is to shelve the issue," he told The Washington Post in an interview.
Ma won 58 percent of the vote in Saturday's election. He was the candidate of the Kuomintang, the Nationalist party of Chiang Kai-shek, and is the son of one of Chiang's followers.
Taiwan and China have increasingly close economic ties, while China continues to claim the island as a breakaway region. Ma said he hopes to get agreements to strengthen the relationship.
At a news conference, Ma said he recognizes that how much he is able to accomplish depends on "the other side's good will."
Both the ruling Chinese Communist Party and the KMT have a one-China ideology, although they disagree about who should govern that one China.
As Tibet Erupted, China Wavered
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/world/asia/24tibet.html?hp
BEIJING — In the chaotic hours after Lhasa erupted March 14, Tibetans rampaged through the city’s old quarter, waving steel scabbards and burning or looting Chinese shops. Clothes, souvenirs and other tourist trinkets were dumped outside and set afire as thick gray smoke darkened the midday sky. Tibetan fury, uncorked, boiled over.
Foreigners and Lhasa residents who witnessed the violence were stunned by what they saw, and by what they did not see: the police. Riot police officers fled after an initial skirmish and then were often nowhere to be found. Some Chinese shopkeepers begged for protection.
“The whole day I didn’t see a single police officer or soldier,” said an American woman who spent hours navigating the riot scene. “The Tibetans were just running free.”
Lhasa is now occupied by thousands of paramilitary police officers and troops of the People’s Liberation Army. But witnesses say that for almost 24 hours, the paramilitary police seemed unexpectedly paralyzed or unprepared, despite days of rising tensions with Tibetan monks.
The absence of police officers emboldened the Tibetan crowds, which terrorized Chinese residents, toppled fire trucks and hurled stones into Chinese-owned shops. In turn, escalating violence touched off a sweeping crackdown and provided fodder for a propaganda-fueled nationalist backlash against Tibetans across the rest of China that is still under way.
“I really am surprised at the speed with which these things got out of control,” said Murray Scot Tanner, a China analyst with a specialty in policing. “This place, this time, should not have surprised them. This is one of the key cities in the country that they have tried to keep a lid on for two decades.”
What happened? Analysts wonder if the authorities, possibly fearing the public relations ramifications of a confrontation before the Beijing Olympics in August, told the police to avoid engaging protesters without high-level approval.
Timing also may have contributed to indecision; Tibet’s hard-line Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, and other top officials were attending the National People’s Congress in Beijing when the violence erupted.
The full explanation could take years to emerge from China’s secretive Communist Party hierarchy. But the Lhasa unrest, not entirely unlike the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989, may be remembered as much for poor police work — faulty crowd control and political indecision followed by a large-scale response — as for the underlying grievances of protesters.
Lhasa now has created far more than a public relations problem for Beijing. It has unleashed widespread Tibetan resentment over Chinese rule. Antigovernment demonstrations have spread to Tibetan areas of western China. Military convoys and trucks of paramilitary police officers are streaming westward to quell the protests.
International leaders are alarmed at the continuing violence and have called on China to exercise restraint. But domestic opinion is inflamed with nationalist anger as state television is repeatedly showing images of Tibetans rioting in those early, unfettered hours.
“Our government should take a bloody suppression on these separatists!” blared one posting among the legion of enraged postings on Chinese Internet chat rooms. “We cannot hesitate or be too merciful, even at the cost of giving up the Olympics.”
The police hesitation did not last long. The crackdown began within 24 hours, on March 15. Witnesses described hearing the thud of tear gas projectiles and the crackle of gunshots as paramilitary police officers gradually took control of the riot area. By March 16, the paramilitary police were searching Tibetan neighborhoods and dragging away suspects. One foreigner saw four Tibetan men beaten so savagely that the police sprinkled white powder on the ground to cover the blood.
Lhasa’s death toll remains in sharp dispute. The Chinese authorities say 22 people died, including a police officer killed by a mob and shopkeepers who burned to death in the violence. The authorities also claim security forces did not carry lethal weapons or fire a shot. But the Tibetan government-in-exile, in Dharamsala, India, said at least 99 Tibetans have died in Lhasa.
Foreign journalists are now forbidden to enter Tibet. But interviews with more than 20 witnesses show that Lhasa was boiling with Tibetan resentment even as authorities believed they had the situation under control. Protests broke out at three monasteries beginning March 10, the anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, which forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India. The police arrested more than 60 monks and confined the rest inside their monasteries. Tibetans say the police also beat monks during peaceful demonstrations.
James Miles, a Beijing-based reporter for The Economist magazine, had gotten a reporting trip to Lhasa approved by authorities before the demonstrations. When the protests started, Mr. Miles wondered if he would be notified that his trip had been canceled. But no call came. He arrived March 12, and on March 13 officials took him to dinner, signaling their confidence by making no attempt to hide the recent demonstrations.
“I was assured that the situation in Lhasa was stable,” Mr. Miles recalled.
But the next day, March 14, would prove otherwise. At Ramoche Temple, monks left the monastery about midday to protest and were immediately met by police officers. Unlike the other monasteries, Ramoche is in the heart of Lhasa’s old Tibetan quarter, so the confrontation attracted a large crowd.
Unconfirmed reports about the earlier protests had been swirling among Tibetans for days, according to several people, including that monks and Buddhist nuns had been killed. Many Tibetans were angry when they saw the police clash with the Ramoche monks. Quickly, the crowd attacked the police.
Witnesses say police reinforcements who arrived with shields and riot gear were overwhelmed. “Almost immediately they were rushed by a massive group of Tibetans,” said one witness. Police officers fled, and a mob of Tibetans poured out of the old quarter onto Beijing Road, a large commercial street. A riot had begun.
Angry Tibetans attacked a branch of the Bank of China and burned it to a blackened husk. Photos and video images show Tibetans smashing Chinese shops with stones and setting them on fire. Witnesses described Tibetans attacking Chinese on bicycles and throwing rocks at taxis driven by Chinese. Later, crowds also burned shops owned by Muslims.
“This wasn’t organized, but it was very clear that they wanted the Chinese out,” said the American woman who witnessed the riots and asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. She said Tibetan grievances exploded in anger. Crowds tied ceremonial silk scarves across the threshold of Tibetan shops to indicate they should not be damaged.
Mr. Miles, the journalist, found himself the only Western reporter on the scene. He spent the next several hours carefully walking around the old Tibetan quarter as rioters burned buildings and overturned cars. “I was looking around expecting an immediate, rapid response,” he said. “But nothing happened. I kept asking people, ‘Where are the police?’ ”
Protests are common in China and clashes can occur between demonstrators and police officers. Beginning the early 1980s China created a paramilitary force, known as the People’s Armed Police, to deal with domestic unrest and other crises. Mr. Tanner, the specialist in Chinese policing, said the People’s Armed Police had developed tactics over the years to defuse protests without resorting to violent crackdowns. But riots of this scale are rare, and if violence erupts, policy dictates a firm response, Mr. Tanner said.
“There is no suggestion that they are supposed to sit back and let a riot burn itself out,” he said.
Tibetans also say the security forces were unusually passive. One monk reached by telephone said other monks noticed that several officers, including some undercover, were more interested in shooting video of the violence than stopping it. “They were just watching,” the monk said. “They tried to make some videos and use their cameras to take some photos.”
Ultimately, the man responsible for public order in Lhasa is Mr. Zhang, Tibet’s party chief. Mr. Zhang is a protégé of President Hu Jintao, who saw his own political career take flight after he crushed the last major rebellion in Tibet in 1989.
According to one biographer, Mr. Hu actually made himself unavailable during the 1989 riots when the paramilitary police needed guidance on whether to crack down. The police did so and Mr. Hu got credit for keeping order, but he also assured himself deniability if the crackdown had failed, the biographer wrote.
Mr. Zhang also has an excuse; he was at the National People’s Congress in Beijing. When the violence started, Mr. Zhang had just completed a two-hour online discussion about China’s Supreme Court, according to a government Web site. It is unclear when Mr. Zhang was told of the violence, or if he made the final decision on how to respond.
But that decision became clear on March 15, the day after the riots. During the riots, the police had been armed with shields and batons, several witnesses said. But overnight, the People’s Armed Police had created a perimeter encircling the riot areas. Armed vehicles also were in position. By the afternoon, witnesses saw small teams of paramilitary officers armed with high-powered weapons moving into the old quarter.
The Chinese authorities have also confirmed that army troops had arrived in Lhasa by March 15, but say their role was limited to traffic control and securing military property. But many people also wonder if some of those troops were involved in the crackdown. Several armored vehicles had their license plates removed or covered in white paper.
Mr. Miles noticed that many of the People’s Armed Police officers actually appeared to be wearing irregular uniforms. One military analyst who studied photographs of the scene concluded that some armored vehicles belonged to an elite military unit. Witnesses reported hearing the sounds of gunshots throughout that Saturday afternoon.
The crackdown was only one part of the new strategy. The Chinese news media initially had not been allowed to cover the Lhasa violence. But by March 15,, that had changed. There, broadcast on state television, was video of Tibetans raging through Lhasa.
Couples That Pray Together
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/321721.aspx
For decades, the old saying, "The family that prays together stays together" was viewed as one of the foundations of a happy marriage.
For Tom and Liz, their faith made the difference in their marriage.
"It was very dark. There was no love there. Alcohol had come in," Liz said.
Tom added, "I think it was bringing the Lord into our lives."
A Disturbing Statistic
But a 2004 Barna survey rocked the Christian community when it found no difference in the divorce rate among Christians and non-Christians.
However, today researchers say that's not the whole story. They found that for couples who attend church regularly, the divorce rate drops by 35 percent.
"Folks who are going to church are more likely to be praying regularly - in some kind of fellowship with people who take their marriage vows seriously. They're more likely to get the support they need - the emotional support, the social support to navigate the shoals of married life," said Dr. Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia.
That doesn't surprise Bill Techanchuk, pastor of Wave Church. His counseling ministry helps couples from all backgrounds. And Techanchuk finds most of those seeking help are only marginally involved in church.
Recipe for Marital Success
"We've seen the best or the most success - in terms of people who have successful happy marriages - are those who are consistently involved in the full life of the church," Techanchuk said.
He believes that commitment - plus reading the Bible and praying together - is the best way to build strong marriages.
"You know, one of the old sayings that I remember growing up is that 'The couple who prays together stays together' and I really believe that," Techanchuk said.
While there's no hard information measuring the effect of prayer on marriage, Wilcox has found a connection.
"When couples pray together, when they have a sense that God is present in their marriages, it's strongly associated with having happier marriages, more fulfilling marriages among American couples," he said.
Surveys also show that couples are happier when they attend religious services regularly, showing that the best way to spend Valentine's may be to head out to church - or get down on your knees.
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