A video was sent recently to a Christian publication, which showed the beheading of an Afghan Christian by members of a Muslim terrorist group for leaving his Islamic faith.

The video, which was sent to World Magazine, showed the beheading of Abdul Latif, believed to be in his 40s, by men who said that they are members of the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to BosNewsLife.

The two-minute video showed Latif struggling while his captors pinned him to the ground. His feet were bound and his hands were tied at the back. He pleaded repeatedly, “For God’s sake, I have children,” World Magazine reported.

The kidnappers wore suicide vests and covered their faces with scarves. Two of them held automatic weapons. They recited verses from the Quran, then one of them said, “As a warning to other infidels, you who are joined with pagans, your sentence is to be beheaded. Whoever changes his religion should be executed,” BosNewsLife said.

One of the men then slashed his neck from the side with a medium-sized knife as the others chanted repeatedly, “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” BosNewsLife said.

When Latif’s head was completely severed, it was placed on top of his chest, according to World Magazine.

Latif was kidnapped earlier in the year from his village located south of Herat, the third largest city in Afhanistan. The video of the execution reached students of Herat University.

It also reached Afghan exiles living in India, who sent it back to an aid worker in Herat Province. The worker was able to confirm from villagers that the beheading took place.

The video was also forwarded to World Magazine by sources that the publication did not reveal for reasons of safety. It was also sent to The Barnabas Fund.

Both World and The Barnabas Fund believe the video is authentic, noting that the chanting resembles that which was done in the beheading of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal by al-Qaeda in Pakistan in 2002; and the beheading of U.S. Defense contractor Nick Berg in Iraq in 2004.

The video did not appear to be doctored, World Magazine said. Copies were forwarded by both Christian bodies to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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NFL Pro Bowler Aaron Kampman traveled recently to El Salvador to visit a group of children who are being sponsored by an international Christian organization.

Kampman and his wife, Linde, visited El Salvador along with Compassion International to visit the underprivileged children, and to meet a child that they have been sponsoring, Christian Telegraph said.

The Kampmans are also planning to adopt a little girl in the forthcoming weeks.

Along with Kampman were Jacksonville Jaguar teammate Russell Allen and his wife Ali; and Seattle Seahawk’s Craig Terrill who came with his wife, Rachel.

Kampman told Christian Telegraph, “The reality is that two-thirds of the world live in situations that most of us in the United States can’t even comprehend. So we’ve got to see how the majority of the world lives.”

The three professional athletes also visited the children that they are sponsoring. The Kampmans are sponsors of 10-year-old Jonathan; the Allens sponsor seven-year-old Natalie; and the Terrills sponsor nine-year-old Katharine, Christian Telegraph said.

The children are given funds for their health needs, education, nutritional supplements, daily meals and spiritual support, according to Christian Telegraph. Compassion International has also facilitated family spiritual ministry, especially for the families of the children who are given sponsorships.

The NFL players also visited a 13-year-old child named Rudy, who is being sponsored by Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl Champ Jordy Nelson, according to Charisma Magazine.

Allen told Charisma Magazine, “Rudy didn’t care about the T-shirts and sports paraphernalia we brought him—which was surprising for someone who has probably never received his own brand-new shirt. The entire time we spent with him, he gripped the photo of Jordy and asked repeatedly, ‘you really know my sponsor?’”

Kampman told Christian Telegraph, “Compassion works with the local church. It allows local pastors who know the communities and know the families to really help equip them to best serve their community’s needs and family needs.”

Kampman told Christian Telegraph the trip to El Salvador also aspired to help NFL players have a sense of ‘other centeredness,’ and give them a means to “create real change in the two-thirds world.”

Kampman told Charisma Magazine, “A lot of times here in the States I am recognized as a NFL player, and many think that gives me great value. While I love the game, it is through the eyes of these Compassion children that I can see a greater value and importance for my life beyond the football field and the potential we each have to help a child.”

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Scotty McCreery, season 10 winner of American Idol, went through the entire season being open about his Christian faith and family values, without being preachy.

When he was announced as the winner in the finale, which garnered a record-breaking 122 million votes cast, McCreery remembered to thank God first, and then he hugged his parents, Us Magazine said.

The 17-year-old McCreery said, “Never in my wildest dreams [did I think I'd win]. I’ve got to thank the Lord first, he got me here. Thank y’all so much!” according to Us Magazine.

McCreery, who is from Garner, N.C., sang I Love You This Big, which is already No. 1 on iTunes. As he walked among the audience, he headed straight for his parents, hugged them, and then hugged other Idol finalists, Us Magazine said.

During a press conference, McCreery was surprised to learn that already, his first single was the top song on iTunes. He said, “Is it really? That’s the first I’ve heard. That’s amazing! That is wild!” USA Today reported.

In a previous interview with Us Magazine, when asked to name some of his favorite things, he cited the verse Phil. 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Two other things he mentioned were Sundays at church with his family, after which they would go out for Mexican food, and his youth praise band, called Audience of One, Us Magazine said.

Oftentimes during the season McCreery expressed his love for his family, including his parents and grandparents. Just before the finale he told All Access “Just to be in this moment where we [including Lauren Alaina] never expected to be…we both had our moms here since day one, so it’s really emotional,” The Christian Post reported.

McCreery often was seen wearing a cross necklace in American Idol, and when Lady Gaga mentored him [and shocked him just a bit], he good-naturedly kissed his cross afterwards. He was also seen wearing a black bracelet from the Christian ministry I Am Second, a movement that stresses that Jesus Christ comes first in one’s life, and that oneself falls second, The Christian Post said.

Mike Jorgensen, executive director of I Am Second told The Christian Post, “It is inspiring to see him confidently display his faith to millions each week. We wish him the best.”

McCreery said, “My faith is a big part of my life. I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. He’s got me through this for sure. I need to stay by him through this competition. He’s the only way I’m getting through it,” The Christian Post reported.

High ratings

Season 10 experienced a shot in the arm with Nielsen figures indicating 29.3 million viewers during the finale, and in the last seven minutes, drawing 38.6 million, USA Today said.

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A symposium was held recently at the U.K.’s House of Lords, where the Bible was lauded as the bedrock of the nation.

The forum, A Celebration of Britain and the Bible, was hosted by the Christian Broadcasting Council. Speakers included bishop of London, Richard Chartres, Prof. John Wyatt of University College London, Olave Snelling of CBC, and Baroness Butler Sloss, Christian Today said.

The event was described as “[A] lively discourse in the House of Lords looking at the Bible and the Christian faith as the bedrock of our law, politics, governance and culture,” according to the CBC website.

Society grounded on biblical principles

Chartres said Britain needs to recognize that its society is founded on biblical principles, noting, “The economy and politics must have ground beneath them. In Britain that ground has been biblical since our earliest days – and you do not sacrifice that without sacrificing much of what has been built upon that ground,” according to Inspire Magazine.

Chartres added that without this Christian grounding, certain values such as tolerance and dignity would be hard to maintain. “Although it has become difficult to use the language of the Bible in this country, it will become more and more obvious that these values and these principles will be unsustainable without the Christian ground,” Christian Today reported.

Olave Snelling, chair of the CBC, noted the Bible’s importance in media. She said, “The Bible is the bedrock of our faith in Christ – it is foundational to what we are as a nation. The Bible is a phenomenal work of literature, but so much more. It is God-breathed,” Christian Today reported.

Bible and medicine

Wyatt, who spoke about biblical values in medicine, said the Bible affected him deeply as a pediatrician. “Because Jesus was a baby, all babies are special. I have come to realize, as Mother Teresa put it, that when we care for the least of these we are tending the wounds of Christ,” according to Christian Today.

Wyatt, who is a professor of Ethics and Perinatology, said the sanctity of life should always be upheld, including that of the fetus, noting, “If I was to intentionally kill one of these babies struggling for life, in English law I would be guilty of the same crime as though I had marched down here to try to kill one of the peers who rule the land,” Inspire Magazine reported.

Wyatt also stressed that the value for life has penetrated into English law. “As we debate the appropriate use of new and powerful technologies, a special responsibility falls on us,” according to Christian today.

Bible in media

Norman Stone, who produced the film, King James Bible: The Book that Changed the World, said that while the Bible is great literature, it has also served as a lighthouse to the progress of nations.

Stone said, “Yes, it is great literature, yes it has steered nations, and yes, it has those wonderful phrases: ‘the skin of your teeth’, and ‘the salt of the earth’. But I’ll tell you how the Bible really changed the world: individual by individual, heart by heart, it changes you, it changes me – it changes the world. It still speaks today,” Inspire Magazine reported.

Bible and the individual

Baroness Butler-Sloss, the First Lady Justice of Appeal and former president of the Family Division told the audience, “The Bible had a great effect on me as a judge and in my private life – and still does. I was very much aware that I would one day be judged as I was doing,” Inspire Magazine reported.

Sloss added, “In these days of moral pluralism, the celebration of the King James Bible in this year may encourage more people to read it and to benefit from it,” according to Christian Today.

Sources:

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news.aspx?action=view&id=5422

http://www.cbc.org.uk/1kit/Default.aspx?alias=www.cbc.org.uk/1kit/cbc

http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/british.society.undermined.without.biblical.foundation.bishop/28034.htm

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EEW Magazine talks about race and spirituality in its cover story on Kim Cash Tate, the first African American author to join the roster of the veteran Christian Publishing group, Thomas Nelson.

Tate is a former attorney turned wife, homeschooling mother, inspirational speaker, blogger and novelist. Her books include More Christian Than African American, and the novels Heavenly Places and her latest fiction piece, Faithful, according to her website.

Tate’s first book, More Christian Than African American, talks about her own personal journey as a woman of color and a Christian. She was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, which is the wealthiest African American majority community in the U.S., according to her website.

Tate then earned a law degree at George Washington University, and expected to work in Washington D.C. Instead, she found herself in majority-white Madison, Wisconsin, where she could not avoid the issue of race and delved into her own identity as a Christian woman, the EEW magazine article said.

Tate is interviewed by Dianna Hobbs, founder of EEW Magazine. Hobbs told Christian Newswire, “I was moved by Kim’s poignant and passionate message that strikes at the core of breaking down the racial divide that still exists in some segments of the Christian community.”

Hobbs also told Christian Newswire, “Kim’s transparency and honesty about her early struggles with race and spirituality really drew me in, and I think many of our readers will relate.”

EEW Magazine, is an online publication for African American Christians of faith. It is published exclusively online and is a resource for inspiration and motivation through interviews and resources, according to Christian Newswire.

The publication has 250,000 readers, 90 percent of them African American Christian women. Part of EEW Magazine’s vision is to help fill the dearth of publications dealing with faith and ethnicity and to bridge this gap. The portal’s interview with Tate is viewed as a platform that will interest readers of color, Christian Newswire said.

EEW recognizes that on Sundays, “Blacks and whites, with few exceptions, worship separately,” Christian Newswire said. This raised the dilemma that Tate, and many women of color, are confronted with. The contrast of the love of Jesus through which we all are one, compared to the reality of race in worship and practice.

Tate’s books have dwelled a lot on this. Allen Arnold, senior VP and fiction publisher of Thomas Nelson told EEW, “What first attracted us to this gifted author was the way her stories – and her life story – both address and yet transcend race.”

Arnold told EEW, “Her novels, more than most Christian or African American fiction – features a diverse cast of characters who authentically represent the larger body of Christ. It’s exciting to publish this fresh new voice in Christian Fiction that doesn’t define readership or characters within the novel on the basis of their skin color but rather on the basis of their choices and their faith.”

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Rev. Franklin Graham expressed sympathy for some 20 victims, six of them dead, from a gunman’s attack in an Arizona Safeway store–even as he cautioned against hastily concluding political motivation.

Graham referred to the crazed shooting by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner at US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others during a constituent meeting, The Christian Post said.

In a statement Graham said, “My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families in their time of loss and great suffering. [I pray] that they would sense His presence and comfort in their lives,” according to The Christian Post.

Graham cautioned against blaming politics saying, “If something horrific happens to a person, it does not mean those who hold differing views are responsible for the actions of a disturbed individual,” The Christian Post reported.

Those killed by Loughner include Federal District Judge John Roll, a nine-year-old child, and four others. Giffords, who was shot through the left lobe of her brain, is in a medically-induced coma and in critical condition, The Christian Post said.

The attack sparked national debate on the motivation for the shooting, with liberals blaming Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and conservatives, Politico said, even as conservatives blamed liberals and the media.

A Sarah Palin campaign map in September last year, which showed bulls-eye marks on Democratic districts as targets for the Republican campaign, was blamed, New York Magazine said.

Gifford told MSNBC last year, “We’re on Sarah Palin’s ‘targeted’ list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we’re in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve gotta realize that there are consequences to that action,” New York Magazine reported.

YouTube videos

Loughner posted many YouTube videos and a YouTube profile online, but he never spoke about the Tea Party or the health care bill. He was not on the Tea Party email list, nor was he a member of the Tucson Tea Party, Politico reported.

His reading choices were not rightist, but more liberal and leftist including Siddartha, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (which Politico said were “hippie cult books”) and the leftist The Communist Manifesto.

Troubled, nihilist

The Christian Post said he was “a high school dropout, military reject and loner” who posted YouTube videos suggesting that people create their own languages to avoid mind control.

Former professor Kent Slinker from Pima Community College (where he was expelled) said Loughner’s “brains were scrambled. His thoughts were unrelated to anything in our world,” The Christian Science Monitor reported.

In 2008 Loughner was cited for graffiti, UPI reported. He told a policeman that his tag is “Christian” referring to a ‘c’ and an ‘x.’ The Christian Science Monitor said Loughner suspected the government was controlling Americans through grammar.

New York Magazine said Loughner seemed to nurture a three-year grudge against Giffords when he asked her in a previous event, “What is government if words have no meaning?” To which Giffords answered in Spanish.

Mr. Pitcavage of the ADL, who is a hate crime expert, told The Christian Science Monitor, “It’s a pattern we see sometimes with hate crimes and sometimes with crimes against the government…that personal factors may be the primary mover to violence, and it’s the ideological component to their belief system that often will help them choose the target when they do decide to strike out.”

No time for political opportunism

Influential blogger Erick Erickson called efforts by the left and media to tie the Arizona shooting to conservatives “craven” and “irresponsible” adding, “[It] may very well incite violence to the right,” Politico reported.

Rev. Franklin said, “This is not a time for political opportunism. What frightens me is that our country has accepted murder, violence and rape as entertainment that we see portrayed every day on TV, movies and video games,” The Christian Post reported.

Franklin added, “I agree with Sheriff Clarence Dupnik when he alluded to the fact that this country needs some serious soul searching. If we as a nation are not careful, we could see the destruction of the foundation upon which this nation was built,” according to The Christian Post.

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A Pakistani government official decried recently the announcement by a cleric of a financial reward for anyone who kills a Christian woman and mother of five if the government does not sentence her to death by hanging.

Shahbaz Bhatti, federal minister for Minorities Affairs, condemned the announcement by Peshawar cleric Yousef Qureshi that his Mohabat Khan mosque would give 500,000 rupees ($5,800) to anyone who kills Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who is being tried for blasphemy because she refused to convert to Islam, the Daily Times said.

Bhatti called the announcement “unjust and irresponsible,” adding that it would only trigger extremists in society to “take the law into their own hands,” according to the Daily Times.

Bhatti also said that no one has the right to issue such a decree and said that Pakistan is a civilized state. He said the case is awaiting the schedule of hearing from the high court adding, “The matter is subjudice and law should be allowed to take its course,” the Daily Times said.

So far, no one has been executed because of the blasphemy law. However, 32 people, two of them judges, were killed by vigilantes, Time Magazine said.

The Voice of America said Bhatti had already recommended that Bibi be either pardoned or released if her pending court hearing is not addressed soon. Bibi is the first woman to be condemned to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Time Magazine said the blasphemy law has often been used to either settle old scores, or to persecute minorities. So far, no conclusive evidence has been produced against Bibi, who has long been pressured by fellow farm workers to convert to Islam.

Chances of a pardon by President Asif Ali Zardari were also skewed when the Lahore High Court said it would not allow it. The move, legal experts say, is unconstitutional, according to Time Magazine.

Bibi’s husband and family have already fled their home in Lahore due to the unrest and tension that has been caused by the case, according to the Voice of America.

International, National outrage

Bibi’s case has caused a furor both nationally and globally, catching the attention of human rights groups, religious fundamentalists, faith leaders (including Pope Benedict XVI) and politicians, perhaps giving the blasphemy law the largest scale of examination it has ever undergone, according to Time Magazine.

Salmaan Taseer, governor of Punjab visited Bibi in prison and called for her release. Because of this, fundamentalist groups called him an apostate which, in their view, is also punishable by death, Time Magazine said.

Legislator Sherry Rehman has also received violent threats because she has long called for the amendment of the blasphemy law and the removal of the death sentence, Time Magazine said.

According to Time, Rehman’s efforts to reform the law are not auspicious. Politicians are afraid to support it, including Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who last year suggested the law be reviewed, but now seems to be distancing himself. When asked about Rehman’s bill, Gilani said, “It is not our party policy.”

But Rehman sees the mere submission of her bill as an important step, telling Time, “The first stone has been cast. It’s not a taboo subject anymore to be taken up by legislators.”

While Bibi’s family is hoping either that the higher courts reverse the death sentence, or that she is pardoned, it is probable that Bibi, if spared, will no longer be able to live in the community, “simply for defending her right to choose her own faith,” Time Magazine said.

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Immigrants from China are hearing the gospel for the first time in the U.S., and they are embracing it.

World Magazine said Chinese immigrants find love, acceptance and community in Christian churches which become a refuge in a new country. Li Rong Liu, of Fujian, South China says the spirituality seems more real, too.

Liu told World Magazine, “When I was in China, I had heard of Christianity, but I didn’t think I needed it. Now in the U.S., when I’m alone and facing new hardships, here is where I find God.”

When travel restrictions eased in China in 1978, Chinese immigrants to the U.S. rose from 200,000 in 1980 to 1.4 million in 2006. Chinese churches in the U.S. increased from 366 in 1980 to more than 800 today, World Magazine said.

Liu, like many Chinese immigrants, worked as a busboy from early morning until midnight, seven days a week in a New York Chinatown restaurant. After six years he was promoted to sushi chef and works 10 hour days, World Magazine reported.

Two years ago a friend invited Liu to Church of Grace, where he met and bonded with many others from Fujian immigrants. He told World Magazine that he also saw a joy and love that he hadn’t known before.

At a Church of Grace service, Pastor Matthew Ding bases his sermon on Nehemiah 11:6-24, a genealogy of the Israelites who travelled to Jerusalem. The Chinese also treasure lineage and the passing down of teaching, World Magazine said.

Ding told the church, “You came to the U.S. to give your kids a better life, but if you don’t teach them about Christianity, what good will it be? Nothing else will last for eternity,” World Magazine reported.

Chinese culture and grace

The Confucian ethic of hard work and discipline as necessary for success may be admirable, but it does not rest easy with the concept of salvation through faith rather than works. Ding spends a lot of time talking of ‘un dian,” or grace, to drive the point home, World Magazine said,

To get more restaurant workers to church, Ding also holds late services for those working overtime, and has a telephone ministry for some 1,000 Chinese immigrant workers nationwide employed in restaurants, World Magazine reported.

California churches

In San Jose, former restaurant owner Esther Lou founded The Herald Restaurant Gospel Ministry for Chinese immigrants working as waiters, dishwashers and busboys. Today she has over a dozen branches in cities across the U.S., according to World Magazine.

Taiwan, China and communism

But more ironic is Taiwan pastor Matthew Liu of California’s San Gabriel Valley who has a church catering to Chinese immigrants. He is often told, “We have no family here and when we come to your [house church] we feel like we are home,” World Magazine reported.

Perhaps the most compelling story is that of Joshua Yu, 84, who lived in China before and after it turned communist. Yu was reared as a Christian, but when he was 23, Communism came to China, according to World Magazine.

Yu discerned the disingenuousness of the government-controlled Three-Self Church which permitted no one under 18 to enter (Jesus said, “let the children come to me”). Teachings about revelation and lessons about being in the world but not of it, were also censored, World Magazine said.

Then in 1958 Yu and 2,000 others were sent to a “reeducation camp.” They were overworked and underfed (dinner would be one small onion). When Yu was freed in 1979 only 800 had survived, World Magazine reported.

A church in America offered Yu a job (because of his facility with English). In the U.S. he founded the Chinese Christian Testimony Ministry, a publishing firm which translates Chinese testimonies into English, World Magazine says.

According to World Magazine, many books that Yu publishes find their way back into China, where they are reproduced.

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A Christian graffiti artist in Canada is using spray paint to spread the gospel.

Richard Phillips, 26, is a Christian graffiti artist from London, Canada who only works on walls where he is given permission. He gets flak from hardcore graffiti artists who dislike the legitimate approach, according to The London Free Press.

Some traditional lovers of art also have issues, as they say paintings should be limited to the use of canvas and brush. Phillips, who is employed at Teen Challenge Farm, says that graffiti art is beautiful, The London Free Press said.

He would not be the first to feel this way, nor would he be the first to believe that art made with spray paint on a wall should be legitimate art. In the city of Kent, U.K., a group of young artists found ways to manipulate paint coming out of a spray can by experimenting with different aerosol caps and adjusting the pressure they exerted on the nozzle to get the color tone they wanted, Enrich Magazine said.

The local authorities, taking note of the quality of the boys’ work, decided to hire them instead of jail them. The boys were commissioned to use their art to put a positive spin on the walls of government buildings—and they were paid for it, Enrich Magazine said.

Graffiti art is a subculture art, but it is gaining mainstream recognition, albeit slowly. Phillips is using this to convey the Christian faith in Canada. Spray paint is his medium of choice, The London Free Press said.

For example, in a King St. alley, Phillips shows The London Free Press some of his pieces, and says he already has about 200 throughout the city. One painting plays on Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It shows a silhouette in the foreground of a spray-paint artist.

Ironic, considering that graffiti art is illegal. Phillips says these artists are not “mindless vandals,” and regrets that they are jailed. He told The London Free Press, “People’s lives have been ruined over something that can be painted over.”

For example tagger Benjamin Pavlov, 18, will be facing his second jail sentence for illegal graffiti. The subculture is heightened with the internet where one’s graffiti is photographed and/or videoed and uploaded, earning bragging rights, The London Free Press said.

Phillips, who has worked in social services, recommends instead that the city put up a wall in a public place that will be exclusively for graffiti art. He tells The London Free Press, “It would be great if the city had a free wall to express themselves.”

In Kent, U.K., graffiti artist Graham Upton does graffiti art workshops for the youth and the elderly, and this form of art is used to market skateboards, trainers, bikes and other items associated with the hiphop crowd, Enrich Magazine said.

Phillips told The London Free Press that in his city, a change of attitude would be needed. “The city and many people of the city don’t want to put a wall in the middle of nowhere where people can paint on because they think it is encouraging graffiti artists.”

Phillips’ pieces are not signed, but they are precise, colorful and spread a Christian message. He tells The London Free Press, “I do it to spread the message of Jesus. He changed my life and that’s why I do it.”

Ironically, he got into this when his church was vandalized with unwelcome graffiti. With the pastor’s permission, Phillips and a friend painted over it with their own work. He has since traveled to New York City, California and Mexico to study painting, The London Free Press said.

He ministers to other artists and finds walls where they can “create something beautiful,” even as he offers to do his own work for free for any business owner. He tells The London Free Press, “I’ve dedicated my life to trying to help people.”

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FOX news personality Glenn Beck said recently that Obama does not follow genuine Christianity, but instead, has views akin to Latin American liberation theology, a Catholic movement that is aligned with Marxism.

In his program Beck played a clip where Pope Benedict strongly condemned liberation theology. He also played a tape reel with clips of Jeremiah Wright, Jim Wallis and Michael Pfleger, and a tape of Obama saying, “My individual salvation rests on our collective salvation,” the Christian Science Monitor said.

Beck cited this as “evidence” that Obama is not a real Christian and in this way he implied that neither is Obama a loyal American, the CSM said. However, rd Magazine questioned Beck’s qualifications as a religion expert.

Noting that even many orthodox Mormons (Beck’s religion) see Christ’s atonement as collective rather than individual suffering and loss, rd Magazine stated that a number of Christian denominations share the idea of collectivism as part of Christianity as well.

Of note, Beck has conceived and is promoting a rally for this Saturday themed, “Restoring Honor,” in Washington D.C. His rant against Obama could be one way of trying to generate a huge turnout for this media event and to build personal media mileage, rd Magazine said.

The rally is described by Beck as a tribute to U.S. servicemen and citizens who uphold the country’s principles of “integrity, truth and honor,” according to Beck’s website.

Harold Attridge, dean of the Yale Divinity School said of Beck’s statements, “This is nothing but political rhetoric. There are many Americans with many views of Christian faith that align with what the president believes,” CSM said.

Attridge noted that Beck has a “narrow view” of true Christianity and cited Biblical sources for the collective aspect in Christianity. Matthew 25 for instance shows Jesus saying that “what one does to the smallest member of a community, one has done to Christ,” CSM said.

Attridge also noted that in the Gospel of John it says, “We do belong to one another, by the grace of God we have to care for one another,” and suggested that Beck, rather than opening up a religious dialogue had a political agenda designed to attack Obama, CSM said.

Richard Flory of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California said, “Clearly it has to do with the upcoming elections,” CSM said. Beck could also be viewed as deliberately perverting Christianity to cast further doubt among the public about Obama, rd Magazine said.

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