News and commentary on Adventism:
Adventist Church in Australia Responds to Revised Religious Discrimination Bill – Adventist Review
Adventist involvement in religious discrimination stems from their fear that they will be forced to worship God on certain days other than Saturday, and that they might be forced to work on Saturdays. See here and here.
Sabbath Accommodation Case Takes One Step Closer to the U.S. Supreme Court – Adventist Review
“The case involves an Adventist man who was fired for refusing to work on the Sabbath. … McFarland said he hopes the Supreme Court will announce its decision in early January regarding whether or not it will take up Patterson’s case.”
Revise the Bible? Sacrilege! Or is It? – Spectrum Magazine
Liberal Adventist commentary on why revising the Bible may be a good thing. Now we can remove from the Bible anything we don’t like.
Accusation: Adventists believe the Bible favors vegetarianism. Shouldn’t their dietary studies tell us that? – Grand Forks Herald
Commentary: Are Adventists Too Biased to Conduct Nutritional Research? – AToday
Defence: Loma Linda University Health Responds to Charges of Adventist Bias in Nutritional Research – AToday
Adventism’s religious bias may affect their research on nutrition. I link to an accusation regarding a Mayo Clinic study by John Shin, followed by a commentary and a defence.
“The real issue for me is that Seventh-Day Adventists began their religion as a health religion, so they are compromised in making broad decisions about society’s health” — Belinda Fettke, in the Accusation article above
News and commentary on Catholicism:
Pope Francis lifts pontifical secret from legal proceedings of abuse trials of clerics – Angelus News
The “pontifical secret” is apparently the equivalent of “Classified” in more common vocabulary. Good move on the part of Pope Francis. Under the secret, witnesses and victims had to keep quiet. It should be used mainly for suppressing knowledge of what UFOs really are.
Aggressive woman grabs Pope Francis, gets a well-deserved #popeslap on the wrist – this blog
On New Year’s Eve, Pope Francis was greeting people who were behind a barricade. As he was turning away, a woman grabbed his hand and pulled, nearly pulling him over. He tried to pull his hand away, clearly in pain, and she refused to let it go. He was trapped in her grasp and could not get free. So he followed that up with a slap on her wrist. She finally loosened her grip (with the help of the security guy) and he was able …
Is Pope Francis intending to resign soon? – this blog
“On Nov. 25, it was announced that the Pope’s personal secretary, Father Fabián Pedacchio Leániz, an Argentinian, would return to the Congregation for Bishops where he began working in 2007. It is standard practice for a pope to make provision for his personal secretaries, to protect them from any ill-treatment in the future.”
Does Conscience Cease to Matter in a “Purple” State? – David Wanat, If I Might Interject
On misconceptions about voting and Catholic morality, especially in a place where there are two main contenders.
