religion

The Diocese of London official biography for Peter Broadbent, bishop of Willesden, explains that the man of the cloth is a season-ticket-holding football fan who appreciates good beer, so he sounds like an upstanding gentleman.

But according to a number of U.K. news outlets, Broadbent is treading in some very unholy waters these days after making remarks on Facebook about the impending nuptials of Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton, in which he referred to the events surrounding their April 2011 wedding as "nauseating tosh," compared the couple to "shallow celebrities," and predicted the marriage … Read more

It seems we can't all get along. It seems that everyone is splitting up these days.

Today, one reads of Eva Longoria filing divorce papers against the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker. Indeed, the Huffington Post now has a whole section devoted just to divorce.

Can we possibly blame the Church of Social Networking, Facebook, for these woes? Or at least some of them? Might Facebook be to blame for creating so many desperate housewives and husbands?

One man of God, the Rev. Cedric Miller, believes that all married couples should close their Facebook accounts in order to protect … Read more

In the '80s, you were really no one unless you read Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time."

Not that it was an easy read. The most efficient option for getting a handle on it, I found, was to ask someone what was in it. As I understood it then, Hawking believed that there might somewhere, out there, be a God. You know, one of those all-powerful beings that we can never hope to quite understand.

In a new book called "The Grand Design", however, co-written with Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking seems to explicitly reject the … Read more

Is it really wise to antagonize the Good Lord? He has, according to the Scriptures, shown an occasional penchant for large-scale destruction.

So why would anyone, let alone a vast electronics retailer, wish to demand that one of his shepherds change his ways? In the case of Best Buy, it seems that the company decided that this one particular shepherd has a mission that steps onto its own hallowed ground.

Father Luke Strand, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is a man who believes that humor and advertising are vital components in ministering to his flock.

So he decked out … Read more

There were some techies Monday who believed they experienced a sighting of God somewhere in San Francisco.

Those people might care to hark at deeply relevant news. God will be defeated by science. No, not by faltering Wi-Fi systems at a conference. And, no, these are not my words. This is the considered opinion of someone sometimes referred to as the cleverest man in the world, Stephen Hawking.

In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, due to air Monday evening, Hawking expounded upon the largest questions, those that transcend iPhones and androids: Can science and God live happily ever … Read more

My dad is never without his rosary beads. He wants to go to heaven, you see. He believes it's better than Birmingham, England. He refuses to listen when I tell him that everywhere is better than Birmingham, England.

When I was younger, he would use one of those long strings with groups of 10 Hail Marys separated by 1 Our Father and a crucifix at one end. He then graduated to a little metal ring that just had the 1 bead for an Our Father and 10 for Hail Marys and fitted around his finger.

This was worrisome, because … Read more

If there is, indeed, a second life, I'm still not sure I would want to come back as a bishop. It's not merely that I don't look good in a long skirt. It's the difficulty of the job.

Somehow, you have to try to influence people who have long ago sailed down the Material River, as if their first port of call will be Nirvana.

However, this seems not to have stopped the bishops of the Church of England from suggesting that, now that we are in the ashen 40 days and 40 nights of Lent, you should, for these few weeks, give up on Nirvana. And the Cowboy Junkies. And Jay-Z. And any other musical accompaniment with which you normally plug your ears.

The bishops have found a very material argument for this highly spiritual sacrifice. According to the Telegraph, they are suggesting that you go on a technology fast to save the rotting planet, as well as your equally putrid soul.

Indeed, the whole project is called the Carbon Fast and its motto is phrased in serious tones: "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8) What does the Lord require of you?"

Hark, too, the herald of doom that is the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt. Rev John Pritchard: "Giving up technology is a more serious way of looking at the issues that face us as a global community. It is a statement [of solidarity] with a world that does not have that ability to communicate the way we can and a reminder to us that perhaps we may have got beyond ourselves in terms of our own consumption of technology."… Read more

There are those who believe that enterprise has no place in religion. They are, however, very few in number.

Churches must use every commercial means available to attract devotees, be it advertising, be it incentivizing, or be it the latest in electronic surveillance.

So may I indulge you in the story of Father Gregorz Sowa, a priest in the southwestern Polish town of Gryfow Slaski.

This is not a big place (just over 7,000 inhabitants) and no one terribly famous has ever come out of there to impact the world. However, it is a place, like so many in … Read more

Ten days ago, it was one of the gods of rock. Now it's, well, God.

An iPhone app called "Me So Holy," that allowed you take a face shot and insert it into a portrait of Jesus or some other religious figure, has been rejected by Apple's tasterati.

Apple seems to have rejected the app with the same arguments it used to initially reject the Nine Inch Nails app update (which it subsequently approved).

Section 3.3.12 in the iPhone agreement states: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or … Read more