More African-Americans Are Turning To Eastern Orthodoxy

Many black Christians join move to Orthodox traditions

After a lifetime in traditional black churches, Robert Aaron Mitchell discovered the sights, smells, sounds and ancient traditions of the Orthodox church.

"I discovered Orthodoxy while I was on the Internet one day back in 2001, and I was so drawn to it that I had to go attend a liturgy," Mitchell says. "I had no frame of reference for these traditions, but suddenly, I felt like this void was filling in my life. I felt like I was finally coming home."

Mitchell, 48, a project manager for AT&T in Detroit, is among a small but growing number of black Americans, many of them professionals, who are joining Orthodox churches. That's the branch of Christianity that split with Rome about 1,000 years ago and is known for colorful icons and the ethnic traditions it preserves in religious customs.

The attraction, Mitchell says, lies in discovering that for thousands of years, Africans played a vital role in the Orthodox world.

The Rev. Moses Berry, an Orthodox priest and pastor of Theotokos "Unexpected Joy" Orthodox Mission, Ash Grove, Mo., began his career as a Protestant preacher, a family tradition reaching back into the 1800s. Then, in 1983, he visited an Orthodox church in Atlanta and was so moved that he retrained to become a priest in the Orthodox Church in America. He also helped to organize the coalition of clergy, scholars and lay leaders coming to Detroit.

"Reconnecting with the Orthodox tradition connects us with the earliest Christian traditions," Berry says. "It means that, when our ancestors were brought here as slaves, they didn't arrive here with just a collection of tribal religions. They didn't all discover Christianity here. In fact, many Africans already were part of the ancient Christian church."

That was especially true for Africans with roots in the eastern part of the continent, Laike-Mariam Misikir, 50, says. An automotive engineer from Ann Arbor, Mich., Misikir is from a family of Orthodox priests that extends back many centuries in Ethiopia. In Detroit, Misikir serves as a subdeacon, assisting priests during liturgies...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Talk about getting in touch with your roots -- wow! This is really good news, because ancient African Christianity is so rich in tradition and culture. It makes sense that African-Americans would be attracted to this. It makes a lot more sense than the 'black Muslim' movement we saw back in the 1960s. Africans were Orthodox Christian long before Islam came along. The first black Christians were baptized way back in the middle first century. (It's actually recorded in the Bible -- Acts 8:26-39.) While the first black Muslims didn't come along until six-hundred years later. In fact, many Africans were worshipping the one true God, with dignity and beauty, while northern Europeans were still worshipping the sun, moon and trees. That's just a matter of historical fact. Northern Europe wasn't evangelized by Christianity until the middle 5th century. So there is a lot of cultural recovery to be gained by African-Americans returning to their Christian roots in Africa. The dignity and beauty of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy is second to none. Only the traditional Latin mass of Catholicism comes close, and even then there is some debate. I sincerely hope this movement takes off. It would be a wonderful thing.

The Brotherhood of St Moses the Black is a pan-Orthodox nonprofit organization. Its mission is to minister to Americans the gift of Orthodoxy. In an effort to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God (I Peter 4:10), the organization presents an annual conference that targets those who have little exposure to Orthodoxy as well as the African roots of Orthodoxy. Its vision is to bring Americans closer to Jesus Christ.

Links to Orthodox Churches in the United States:

http://www.oca.org/
http://www.goarch.org/
http://www.copticchurch.net/

The Fall of American Christianity

(Christian Post) - While many Christians today are closely monitoring the growth and activity of Islam, especially after 9/11, another religious movement has been steadily growing “under the radar” and could become among the largest religions in the United States in less than five years.

“Wicca is the fastest-growing religion in America, set to be the third largest religion by 2012,” claims Marla Alupoaicei, who co-wrote the recently released book “Generation Hex” with fellow Christian author Dillon Burroughs.

“The numbers of adherents are doubling every 30 months,” she says.

Furthermore, every major city in the United States has networks of Wiccans, adds Burroughs.

“Certain parts of the country, such as the Pacific Northwest, the mountain states (New Mexico and Colorado) and areas near Salem, Mass., are the strongest in the U.S.,” he says. “However, I live in Tennessee and have found pockets of Wiccans in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia to interview. I didn't have to travel far or even outside of the so-called Bible belt to find Wiccans....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This trend is extremely important to monitor because it signals the beginning of the end for Christianity in the United States. It is virtually identical to the trend that existed in Europe during the middle of the 20th century. The rise of occultism is the result of the vacuum created by Secular Humanism. When governments and media push Secular Humanism upon a population, the effectively create a spiritual vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum, and seeks to fill it as quickly as possible with anything it can. First to fill the void are unorganized natural religions, such as Wicca (pronounced as "wick-ka" or "witch-ah"), formerly known as "Witchcraft." Wicca is a naturalist religion, in which adherents worship nature and a spiritual "goddess." There is a strong sexual component to Wicca as well, which makes it very attractive to young men as well as women. Unlike spiritism, the New Age, and other forms of the occult; Wicca is highly successful, and has a history of an extremely fast growth rate. It mostly attracts young people who are disillusioned (or bored) with traditional Christian religion. This is the first generation of Wiccans.

Besides the obvious problems associated with Wicca's occultism, there is another serious problem that has become quite obvious in Europe, but completely ignored by the secular media. Wicca has a short half-life. By that I mean, it has the same problem as all unorganized religion. It doesn't last but two generations before it weakens enough to give way to the aggressive proselytism tactics of more organized religions. In Europe we see this happening with Islam. The children and grandchildren of European Wiccans are acutely aware of the problems associated with unorganized occultism, and seek a deeper meaning of existence in the spirituality of a more organized eastern religion - Islam. Try as they may to hold on to their children, European Wiccans have discovered that their unorganized spirituality is exactly everything Muslims claim it is; a form of Paganism that Allah (the God) abhors. As Europe enters it's third generation of occultism, massive conversions of Europe's native population to Islam are underway. The trend has become so prevailing, that some European countries (such as the U.K. for example) are instituting state enforced versions of Sharia (Islamic) Law to those who want to live by it. Europe has discovered, as a matter of historical fact, that Wicca cannot withstand the aggressive proselytism of Islam. In the end, little 'Harry Potter' always bows the knee to Allah.

Now we are witnessing the same trend emerging in the United States. Take a good look at these Wiccan communities, because that is the pool from which Islam will soon draw it's newest converts. It will happen within one or two generations at most. By the time the infants of today reach adulthood, we can expect to see a native Muslim population that is thriving in the United States.

NBC Admits To Supporting Gay Agenda

(LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) just held its annual convention here in Washington D.C., attracting hundreds of journalists - and ringing endorsements - from virtually every major publication and broadcaster in the news media.

In a full-page ad in the convention program, NBC Universal declared it is "proud to support NLGJA," under the bold headline: "YOUR VICTORIES ARE OUR VICTORIES....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It is yet more confirmation of what we always suspected. The mainstream media is fully behind the advancement of the gay-agenda which includes gay-marriage, gay-adoptions, and pro-gay indoctrination of public school children. At least it's nice to know who your enemies really are.

Sex-Abuse of Minors Higher in Protestant Churches

(Chicago Sun Times): The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.

The figures offer a glimpse into what has long been an extremely difficult phenomenon to pin down -- the frequency of sex abuse in Protestant congregations.

Religious groups and victims' supporters have been interested in the figure ever since the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis hit five years ago. The church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics since 1950 -- 228 a year...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: There you have it folks. Annual sex-abuse in the Catholic Church = average of 228 cases a year. Annual sex-abuse in Protestant churches = average of 260 cases a year. Protestants got Catholics beat by an average of 32 reported cases a year.

"Protestants Beat Catholics in Sexual Abuse of Minors"

But you won't read that headline in the New York Times -- not tomorrow, not the next day, not ever. Now the purpose of posting this story is not to gloat. The difference between Catholics and Protestants on this issue is only an average of 32 reported cases a year. When you consider that both groups average over 200 cases a year, that's nothing to be proud of. It's a tragedy! And the difference between the two groups is just a drop in the bucket.

However, Protestants can breath a sigh of relief, because they are not the target of my rant today. I have no intention of maligning my Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ over this matter. Not only for the sake of Christian charity, but also for the fact that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Anyone who would use this kind of data to slander an entire religion is a scoundrel to say the least. Which brings me to the target of my rant -- the mainstream media.

In 2002 evidence of widespread sexual-abuse surfaced in the Catholic Church. To make matters worse, evidence suggested that a cover-up was going on in some large US Catholic diocese. The problem was large. But just how large? As the news broke, the numbers started to pour in. What was found as that over the last 50 years, some 3% of US Catholic clergy were in some way involved in sexual-abuse and cover-up. However, those same statistics revealed that 97% of US Catholic clergy were NOT involved in it. So out of 100 Catholic clergy, 3 were abusers, and the other 97 were not. But did we hear this on the news? No we didn't. Instead we were treated to hours upon hours of generalizations, vague associations, and grandiose speculations. This happened in the print media, the radio media, and especially in the television media. Real numbers and statistics were never given. The problem was not once put into proportion. Instead it was hyped, to the point were it looked like virtually all Catholic clergy were involved in it. By the time it was all over, many Catholic priests in this country were afraid to wear their clerical collars in public, due to the excessive pointing and whispering. Some priests were threatened with bodily harm. So for a couple years anyway, the clerical collar virtually disappeared from America, as priests tried to discretely hide who they were while in public. This in spite of the fact that 97% of priests did absolutely nothing wrong. All of this I attribute to the mainstream media, which recklessly and intentionally, tried to bring down America's largest religious institution.

Now we have the same problem in Protestant churches, but what does the media say -- virtually nothing. I doubt CNN will be doing a week long special on the "Sexual Crisis in Protestant Churches," as we were treated to similar titles during 2002. I doubt you'll see televised trials of sexually abusive Protestant ministers, as we were treated to when former Catholic priests took the stand.

What I'm pointing out here is an inconsistency. I'm pointing out an omission, which by itself, reveals far more than any kind of persistent smear campaign. The fact that the mainstream media went wild on Catholic sex-abuse, but virtually ignores a greater incidence of Protestant sex-abuse, proves one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt. The mainstream media is not really all that interested in tawdry sex-scandals involving minors. No, that's just the bait to get you watching and listening to them. What they're really interested in is an agenda, and that agenda involves deconstructing organized religion in America entirely. To do this you must first deconstruct, slander and destroy the largest Church in the United States. That would be the Roman Catholic Church. Once the "big boy" Church (Catholicism) is knocked down, the rest of the "little boy" churches (Protestantism) will scatter to the wind. If it was really about the sex and the ratings, the mainstream news media would be all over this Protestant sex-abuse story. But they're not that interested in it. They pound the Catholic Church over and over again, but then they virtually ignore Protestant churches with the same problem. Why? Because if you just take down one Protestant denomination, it won't effect much. Other denominations will step in where the first once stood. But if you can manage to take down the Catholic Church, the largest organized religion in America, it will send shock waves throughout all of American Christianity. That's what they want.

The mainstream media isn't going to waste much of their time on sex-abuse stories that don't further their insidious agenda. Though sexual abuse of minors is far more prominent in public schools than any church, we won't see much reporting on this sweeping crisis. Instead the media will focus in an a few anomalies here and there. They'll report about the pretty teacher who sleeps with teenage boys, with the focus of their story centering not on her perversion, but on "how complicated these things are." Meanwhile sex-abuse of minors runs rampant in our public schools, mostly by teachers not so pretty as those featured on television, as much of it is covered up by school administrators, abusive teachers are transferred, and families of victims are bought off in legal settlements. (Your tax dollars hard at work there.)

The moral to this story is this. Sexual abuse of minors is not a "church problem." It's not a "religion problem," and it's certainly not a "Catholic problem." Sexual abuse of minors is a SOCIETY PROBLEM -- it's our society that's the problem! When you have a society problem, it effects all the institutions of that society, including schools and churches. Our society is a decadent society fixated on sex. Our kids are bombarded with sexual images in advertising, television, magazines, and the Internet. Our clothing and fashion trends reflects the attitudes of an over-sexed people -- less is more and tighter is better. Everywhere we turn we see sex -- more and more of it. In the United States, pornography is a protected industry. Couples are paid high dollar to engage in sexual activities while on camera, and somehow that's NOT considered prostitution? Couples living together, without marriage, is the status quo. While homosexuality is considered "normal." Children are "educated" in how to use a condom in public schools. Abortion of unwanted pregnancy (a consequence of reckless sexuality) is a sacrosanct "right" guaranteed by our nation's Supreme Court. Gay men kiss in public, and this is socially allowed. Straight couples make out in the parks -- and that is considered okay. And somehow in the midst of all this sexual PERVERSION, we are surprised when a small segment of our society goes off the deep end and turns into sexual predators? Somehow, after we've allowed perversion after perversion to take place, we are shocked when the perverts we helped create turn on our children? Oh, but rather than blame our own lax attitudes, and the permissive behavior of our society, we instead look for the scapegoat, somebody else to blame. So when the sexual perversion of our society finally hits the Church, we blame the Church, rather than our society. At least that's what the media would like us to do. They play on our refusal to take responsibility for ourselves. They report the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, as if the Catholic Church invented sexual abuse! They blame the priests and the bishops, even though only 3% were responsible, and cast a shadow of suspicion over the whole Catholic religion. The public buys into it, because it's easier to blame a Church than to blame ourselves. But I submit to you that the media's real agenda is to discredit organized religion in general, and that means the Catholic Church simply must be taken down. Why? Why would they want to do this? I think the reason becomes self-explanatory when you look at statistics of those running the mainstream media. They are nearly 80% Liberal. Most of them are Secular Humanists? And a majority of them don't believe in organized religion. Enough said.

Appealing To Pop Culture Just Drives Young Catholics Away From Church

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A few weeks ago, a high profile Evangelical returned to the Church of his youth -- The Catholic Church. His name is Francis Beckwith, and he served as president of the 'Evangelical Theological Society,' an association of 4,300 Evangelical Protestant theologians. In an interview with Tim Drake of the 'National Catholic Register,' Beckwith provides some insight as to what Catholic parishes should NOT do, in order to reach out to young people...

(NCR): Looking back, and knowing what I know now, I believe that the Church’s weakness was presenting the renewal movements as something new and not part of the Church’s theological traditions.

For someone like me, who was interested in both the spiritual and intellectual grounding of the Christian faith, I didn’t need the “folk Mass” with cute nuns and hip priests playing “Kumbaya” with guitars, tambourines and harmonicas. And it was all badly done.

After all, we listened to the Byrds, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and we knew the Church just couldn’t compete with them.

But that’s what the Church offered to the young people of my day: lousy pop music and a gutted Mass. If they were trying to make Catholicism unattractive to young and inquisitive Catholics, they were succeeding.

What I needed, and what many of us desired, were intelligent and winsome ambassadors for Christ who knew the intellectual basis for the Catholic faith, respected and understood the solemnity and theological truths behind the liturgy, and could explain the renewal movements in light of these....

read full story here

Democrats Sponsor Bill To Persecute Christians Here In America!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's time to wake up folks. The Congressional Democrats have finally crossed the line and shown their true colors. In order to pander to their homosexual constituency, they are willing to sell the Constitution down the river, and pass a bill that authorizes GOVERNMENT CONTROL of churches and religious institutions. Yes, that's right. Congressional Democrats want to tell priests, rabbis, ministers and pastors what they're allowed to teach behind the pulpit, making it a crime for them to teach that homosexuality is a sin, or even to read various portions of the Bible that condemn homosexuality. This is the face of the new Democratic Party. It has become a party willing to sell out the religious freedoms of the American people -- all for a few votes from their gay constituents....

A fast-tracked congressional plan to add special protections for homosexuals to federal law would turn "thoughts, feelings, and beliefs" into criminal offenses and put Christians in the bull's-eye, according to opponents.

"H.R. 1592 is a discriminatory measure that criminalizes thoughts, feelings, and beliefs [and] has the potential of interfering with religious liberty and freedom of speech," according to a white paper submitted by Glen Lavy, of the Alliance Defense Fund.

"As James Jacobs and Kimberly Potter observed in Hate Crimes, Criminal Law, and Identity Politics, 'It would appear that the only additional purpose [for enhancing punishment of bias crimes] is to provide extra punishment based on the offender's politically incorrect opinions and viewpoints,'" said Lavy.

The proposal has been endorsed by majority Democrats on the committee, and already has 137 sponsors in the full House, making it possible it could be voted on in a matter of days or weeks...

...Secondly, it unfairly restricts the expression of fair opinion by Christians, he told WND. "If anything, gays are getting undue deference awarded to them by the courts. That's why we have the same-sex marriage fight and that kind of thing."

Rev. Louis Sheldon, director of the Traditional Values Coalition, which represents 43,000 churches across the nation, told WND that the Democrats sponsoring and supporting the issue "have sold out to the homosexual agenda."

He said churches need to awaken to the dangers of having pastors, lay leaders, or even those sitting in the pews sent to jail for their biblical views. "When they [realize they] could go to jail for preaching the Word of God, they'll be concerned," he told WND....

read full story here

Mexico Falls -- God's Judgement to Follow

Pro-Abortion activists dressed as Roman Catholic clergy celebrate outside of the City Legislature in Mexico City, Tuesday April 24, 2007.

Mexico City Lawmakers Pass Abortion Bill

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America.

The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city's leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

"Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left," said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a social democrat who voted for the bill. "Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom."

Nationally, Mexico allows abortion only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman's life is at risk. Doctors sometimes refuse to perform the procedure even under those circumstances....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A sad day in North American history has come. Mexico City has returned to human sacrifice on par with the ancient Aztec civilization. The only difference is the deity worshipped. Like the United States government, the Mexico City government now offers human sacrifices to the gods of convenience, lust and wealth. We have all seen the result of America's cruel national idolatry. God has punished the United States with wars and terrorism. It would seem that so long as America's unborn remain unsafe, none of us can be assured of our safety -- yours truly included. Canada believes it has escaped this type of judgement, and perhaps it has so far, but like Europe the Canadian population is dwindling, and the government has no choice but to import immigrants (many from the Islamic world) to fill the nation's growing social welfare gap. So like Europe, the Canada we once knew is disappearing. Now that Mexico City has fallen to the gods of modern paganism, the only question that remains is how God will deal with Mexico City's crime against humanity. God's judgment is now certain, how He will exact it remains a mystery -- for now.

Church To Sue Ron Howard and Dan Brown?

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Can you say "libel?" Can you say "slander?" Some Church officials are calling for a massive lawsuit against Dan Brown for his fictional book "The Di Vinci Code." The fictional novel implies that some of its background information is factual, and therein lies the basis of a potential lawsuit. Much of this background material accuses the Catholic Church, and Opus Dei, of a massive cover-up involving murder, genocide, and conspiracy to commit crimes against persons and people. In addition, this same background material implies that Christianity itself is a lie, and that Jesus Christ was anything but the the Son of God. The same are calling for a similar suit against Ron Howard for failing to provide a disclaimer on his film by the same name, which is based on Brown's novel. Surly, if the subject of the novel was Microsoft, instead of the Catholic Church, there would be legal hell to pay. Maybe it's an idea who's time has come. Perhaps it's time Christians start flexing a little legal muscle. This following story will elaborate...

Cardinal urges legal action against Da Vinci Code

In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code", a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception."

Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough.

"Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," Arinze said in the documentary made by Rome film maker Mario Biasetti for Rome Reports, a Catholic film agency specializing in religious affairs.

"Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others," Arinze said.

"This is one of the fundamental human rights: that we should be respected, our religious beliefs respected, and our founder Jesus Christ respected," he said, without elaborating on what legal means he had in mind.

A transcript of the documentary, due to be screened in Rome later this month just before the release of the film version of the best-selling book at the Cannes Film Festival, was made available to Reuters.

The book, written by Dan Brown, has sold more than 40 million copies.

The novel is an international murder mystery centered on attempts to uncover a secret about the life of Christ that a clandestine society has tried to protect for centuries.

The central tenet of the book is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children.

BLASPHEMY

"Those who blaspheme Christ and get away with it are exploiting the Christian readiness to forgive and to love even those who insult us. There are some other religions which if you insult their founder they will not be just talking. They will make it painfully clear to you," Arinze said.

This appeared to be a reference to protests by Muslims around the world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

Last month, another broadside against "The Da Vinci Code" was launched by Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year.

Amato urged a boycott of the film and Arinze, like his fellow cardinal, also blasted the credibility of the book.

"'The Da Vinci Code' presents (Christianity) wrongly ... any film produced on the basis of that book is already in error from the word go, no matter how interesting it might appear," Arinze said.

Catholic group Opus Dei has told Sony Pictures that putting a disclaimer on the movie stressing it is a work of fiction would be a welcome show of respect toward the Church...

read full story here

Europe To Fall To Islam By 2050

As I've said in this blog before, western civilization has only one hope of survival -- traditional Christian values! That's because traditional Christian values includes belief in larger traditional families, the rejection of abortion, and shunning of artificial birth control. Because western civilization has largely rejected traditional Christianity, these values have fallen by the wayside, and as a result materialism has prevailed. It's an undisputed fact that materialism results in smaller families, more abortions and widespread use of artificial birth control. Demographically this reduces the number of Christians, Jews and Secularists in western society -- making plenty of room for Muslims to move in and take over.

To all proud European and American Liberals out there, I've got some advice: You better make sure the few kids you have brush up on Arabic, because it won't be long before they'll be needing it. It might be a good idea to invest in the burka market too, as it won't be long before it skyrockets in the western fashion industry...

European Mullah Claims Islam Will Win

Norway's most controversial refugee, Mullah Krekar, told an Oslo newspaper on Monday that there's a war going on between "the West" and Islam. He said he's sure that Islam will win, and he also had praise for suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

"We're the ones who will change you," Krekar told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in his first interview since an uproar broke out over cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims.

"Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes," Krekar said. "Every western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries are producing 3.5 children.

"By 2050, 30 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim."

He claimed that "our way of thinking... will prove more powerful than yours." He loosely defined "western thinking" as formed by the values held by leaders of western or non-islamic nations. Its "materialism, egoism and wildness" has altered Christianity, he claimed....

read full story here