Woman experiences stroke of bad luck while performing a good luck ritual

While performing a Wiccan good luck ritual, a 36-year-old woman stabbed herself in the foot with a three-foot-long sword.

Katherine Gunther, of Lebanon, performed the ceremony, which involves driving a sword into the ground during a full moon, in a cemetery in central Indiana.

‘It wasn’t the first time I performed the ritual, but it was the first time I put a sword through my foot,’ she said.

Gunther was immediately taken to Witham Memorial Hospital, and released after two days.

Wicca is a nature-based religion based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.

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Many turning to God and church for financial rescue

Amidst the financial turbulence that is sweeping the country, churches, across the nation, are offering fiscal counseling, and lending a hand to members struggling with credit card debt and impending mortgage foreclosures.

The churches’ efforts are timely. Consumer debt, which does not include mortgages, reached $2.56 trillion in April, up from $2.28 trillion at the end of 2005, according to the Federal Reserve.

Financial advice from the church, however, may send mix messages.

Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, said the problem for some church members is that “Christianity has always had a complicated relationship with money.”

On the one hand, Wolfe said, believers are told that the love of money is the root of all evil. Then there are those who preach a prosperity gospel, which promotes that God wants believers to have an abundant life with extraordinary financial blessings.

Despite such contradictions, many church leaders believe America’s current economic environment is a relative and important issue to address.

‘What we are trying to get over to people is that we have to teach about stewardship the same way we teach about forgiveness,’ said the Rev. Kerry A. Hill, president of the Collective Banking Group, a consortium of pastors in Prince George’s and the District who help area churches finance projects. ‘A lot of pastors agree that we have talked about tithing, and we need to talk about the other 90 percent.’

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Group says it ordained 3 women Catholic priests

An activist group hoping to pressure the Roman Catholic church into dropping its long-standing prohibition barring women from the priesthood says it ordained three women on Sunday.

The group known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests held the ceremony at the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant Church in Boston.

According to the group’s website, their mission is:

“to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of Church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.”

The Archdiocese of Boston issued a statement decrying the ceremony.

Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, has rebuffed calls to change traditional church teachings on the requirement that priests be male.

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Faith and the Stock Market

Newsweek has an article about faith-based mutual funds. According to the article, faith-based funds have grown to nearly $17 billion from $500 million over the past decade.

Here are some examples of faith-based mutual funds:

-MMA Praxis funds, founded by the Mennonites, have a pacifist and pro-environment bent: their funds screen out most oil companies and weapons makers

-The Timothy Plan, a conservative-Christian group of funds, screens out “sin stocks”—tobacco, alcohol and many entertainment companies

-Islamic funds, which also screen out “sin stocks”—and producers of pork products. The profitable difference is riba, or interest. The Quran strictly prohibits the borrowing or lending of money at interest. Because of this prohibition, Islamic mutual funds, like those in the Amana group, don’t invest in financial-services companies: they escaped the subprime mortgage debacle altogether.

Read the entire article here

A Veil Closes France’s Door to Citizenship

Last month, France’s highest administrative court upheld a decision to deny citizenship to Faiza Silmi, 32, on the ground that her “radical” practice of Islam was incompatible with French values like equality of the sexes.

“I would never have imagined that they would turn me down because of what I choose to wear,” Silmi said, her hazel eyes looking out of the narrow slit in her niqab, an Islamic facial veil that is among three flowing layers of turquoise, blue and black that cover her body from head to toe.

The case has sharpened the focus on the delicate balance between the tradition of Republican secularism and the freedom of religion guaranteed under the French Constitution, and how that balance may be shifting.

The ruling on Ms. Silmi has received almost unequivocal support across the political spectrum, including among many Muslims. Fadela Amara, the French minister for urban affairs, called Silmi’s niqab “a prison” and a “straitjacket.”

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What Does ‘Jihad’ Really Mean?

According to a story from NPR:

“After years of using the word “jihadist” to describe terrorists who carry out attacks against civilians and the U.S. military, the Bush administration has finally realized that doing so actually pays those groups a compliment in the eyes of some Muslims.
Jihad has very positive connotations in the Islamic world. It is akin to religious duty: when someone wants to better themselves, they embark on a jihad. Whether it’s to quit smoking, pray more, and in some cases, fight off anyone preventing them from practicing their religion.”

Author Tawfik Hamid, an outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism, says some Islamic legal books still continue to define “jihad” in its most violent contexts.

Meanwhile, some Muslims are trying to show that jihad can be peaceful. Ani Zonneveld, a singer/songwriter based in California, wrote a song called “Ummah Wake Up” that encourages people to embrace the positive connotation of jihad.

Read the full story here

First Presbyterian Vacation Bible School-Beach Party: Surfin’ Through the Scriptures

First Presbyterian Church, located at 16 Hitt Street in Columbia, invites all children to ride the wave of God’s love at their 2008 summer Vacation Bible School, Beach Party: Surfin’ Through the Scriptures.

Activities begin Sunday, July 20, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday is family night and a dinner will be served. The activities continue July 21-24 from 9 a.m. to noon.

This program is a celebration of God’s love and a chance for children to learn new Beach Be-attitudes. Each day’s activities will include Bible stories, songs, crafts, games, science, and snacks. It is available for children who are 3-years-old to children who are in 5th grade.

For more information, call 573-442-1164 or visit fpccolumbia.org

For His Glory Inc. Car Wash

Dirty car?  Clean it up with For His Glory members this Friday and Sunday at the break time on Ash Street behind Macy’s.  For His Glory is trying to raise money so they can travel to St. Louis on Septemer 4-6 to take part in a Dance Conference.  

The car wash will be utilized for the conference, lodging, travel, and food costs for the weekend.  So come bring your car “for the best clean car package ever presented by the Glory Dance Team Members of 2008″ the flyer boasts.  

 

The prices are: $8.00 outside job only

                        $10.00 inside& outside packages

                        $15.00 Large SUV & vans

Friday July 18th the car wash will run from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday will run from 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For His Glory Inc. Car Wash

Dirty car?  Clean it up with For His Glory members this Friday and Sunday at the break time on Ash Street behind Macy’s.  For His Glory is trying to raise money so they can travel to St. Louis on Septemer 4-6 to take part in a Dance Conference.  

The car wash will be utilized for the conference, lodging, travel, and food costs for the weekend.  So come bring your car “for the best clean car package ever presented by the Glory Dance Team Members of 2008″ the flyer boasts.  

 

The prices are: $8.00 outside job only

                        $10.00 inside& outside packages

                        $15.00 Large SUV & vans

Friday July 18th the car wash will run from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday will run from 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Life Line Screening at Praise Assembly of God

Praise Assembly of God, 4300 Clark Lane in Columbia, will be hosting a Life Line Screening on Thursday, July 24.

According to the Life Line website, their mission is “to make people aware of an undetected health problem through health screenings and tests and encourage them to seek follow up care with their physician.  We are dedicated to providing the highest quality preventive screenings at an affordable rate.”

Life Line uses skilled technologists to conduct screenings and blood tests for stroke, heart disease, osteoporosis, cholesterol levels and diabetes.

Screenings are individually priced. Discounted packages that include several tests are also available.

Call 1-877-792-8480 to schedule an appointment. For more information about Life Line, visit lifelinescreening.com