Were the hecklers members of congress or visitors in the gallery or other people?

Namaste !

somewhere.

Heh. ;)

Thanks, Lowell. I passed this on to my North Carolina friends.  Noticed as well that this week Pope Benedict has declared all other Christian groups (besides RC) as abberations and illegitimate in their claims to having an ear to the Divine. That would of course include all the indegeneous churches & Christian cultural adaptations of Virginia - Southern Baptist, Free Church, Evangelical, Church of God, Presbyterian, Methodist and all the John Wesley churches, Lutheran, Moravian, all of the Black Churches; in a word, everything that created the South to its own unique culture. Technically, only Episcopalians escape: Welcome to the Age on Intolerance.

Just goes to show you the insanity and hypocrisy of religious fundamentalism.

It's interesting that there hasn't been much commentary from all the Protestants he just wrote out of the Christian faith.  I wonder if all the right wingers who were so happy when Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope are still so happy.

...later this weekend, since I'm sort of laid up with a hurting jaw and I have time on my hands.  I want to think of what to say and how phrase it but I will more than likely have some thoughts on this.  It's a continuation of an attempt (a successful one I fear) by traditionalists to roll back the reforms of Vatican II. 

In 2000, Pope John Paul II signed Domine Ieus, which basically called the Protestant churches defective and lacking in salvation.  Like this latest statement, that was met with anger by Protestants.

That same year, and only a week before, Pope Pius IX was beatifed at the same time Pope John XXIII was.  It was a not subtle move by traditionalists to marginalize the beatification ceremony for the beloved pontiff who was responsbile for Vatican II.

Pope Pius IX, also known as Padre Nono (Father No, No) actually started out as the choice of liberals in the College of the Cardinals in 1846.  But he became embroiled in Italy's fight to unite its city states into a nation in 1848. Originally sympathetic to those who sought to unite the city states, he ended up on the losing side as increasingly radical groups in Italy began to demand a constitutional republic and the abolition of the Papal states.  Indeed, he emerged from the conflicts as an implaccable foe of modernity, democracy, and nationalism.  He was responsible for the declaration of papal infallibility.

He is also remembered for having kidnapped a young Jewish boy who had been informally baptized, without parental consent, by an illiterate maid.  The child, Edgardo Mortara, was very ill and the maid was afraid he would die.  So, she baptized him to save his soul from hell. 

Although the parents did not consent and the child was too young to give informed consent, the Vatican Swiss guard, upon hearing about this, seized the child and Pope Pius declared him to be Catholic and personally raised him.  In fairness, he was very kind and loving to the child, who grew up to become a priest.  But the incident raised an international scandal with many prominent people pleading with the Pope to return the boy to his parents.

When Pius IX was beatified, Elena Mortara, a descendant of Edgardo's family, and the Jewish community of Rome, protested the honors.

According to Vatican watchers in 2000, both the beatification of Pius IX and Domine Iesus were believed to have the fingerprints of the present pope, then known as Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition (yes that Inquisition!

That's because the Pope doesn't have the power to write Protestants out of the Christian faith.  He's just a man.  It was nice when the previous Pope encouraged cooperation and ecumenicalism, though.  Oh, well.

I watched this live and was appalled. After the invocation, Harry Reid had to spend his time talking about his personal relationship with the Hindu community in Nevada and the impressive background of the Guest Chaplin. 

Because of the disruption by Radical Right Wing Theocrats (IMO they certainly are not Christians if you equate any of the teachings of Jesus Christ with being a "Christian") it was left to the Minority Leader to talk about the passing of lifetime Democrat Lady Bird Johnson the wife of the 37th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson at the age of 94. 

I thank both Speaker Reid (D-NV) for his remarks and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his. 

if you equate the Ten Commandments with being a Christian. That's the problem, the fundies can back up their views with what's written in the Bible too (with the notable exception of abortion which isn't mentioned). I support the prinicipal of "separation of church and state" and don't think prayer of any form should be allowed in the Senate.

But I agree, they certainly are not following the spirit of Jesus.

I found this on the link from the diary. My italics:

http://www.christian...

WASHINGTON, July 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- Ante Pavkovic, Kathy Pavkovic, and Kristen Sugar were all arrested in the chambers of the United States Senate as that chamber was violated by a false Hindu god. The Senate was opened with a Hindu prayer placing the false god of Hinduism on a level playing field with the One True God, Jesus Christ. This would never have been allowed by our Founding Fathers.

"Not one Senator had the backbone to stand as our Founding Fathers stood. They stood on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There were three in the audience with the courage to stand and proclaim, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' They were immediately removed from the chambers, arrested, and are in jail now. God bless those who stand for Jesus as we know that He stands for them." Rev. Flip Benham, Director, Operation Save America/Operation Rescue

It seems that these protesters don't know that the U.S. Senate is not Christian church.

that there isn't A "Hindu God", but many.

Ignorance breeds incompetence, and in this case incontinence.

Operation Rescue is the anti-abortion group founded by Randall Terry.  Remember him from the Terry Schiavo case?  Guess they're branching out into religious discrimination.