The Oregon Faith Report - Faith News from Oregon

President Obama Prayer Breakfast Speech Transcript

President Obama’s Speech at National Prayer Breakfast

I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I’d also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world. Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning. I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family’s life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here.

It’s a tradition that I’m told actually began many years ago in the city of Seattle. It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything.

From Paris With Love — Faith-Family Film Review

From Paris With Love — Faith-Family Film Review
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting

From Paris With Love—A Paris-based American diplomat and low-level CIA agent (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) yearns to be a real spy but finds himself bewildered when assigned to partner a trigger-happy visiting operative (John Travolta) whose wild pursuit of drug dealers and terrorists sees the pair cutting a bloody swath through the French capital’s criminal underworld while the novice’s prolonged absence from home causes friction with his live-in Gallic girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak). As directed by Pierre Morel, the proceedings are occasionally amusing but far more often gleefully violent, with Adi Hasak’s F-word heavy script glamorizing the mayhem and winking at the Travolta character’s tawdry encounter with a streetwalker. Constant, sometimes bloody action violence, offscreen sexual activity with a prostitute, cohabitation, drug use, a couple of profanities, pervasive rough and much crude language. O — morally offensive. (R) 2010
Full Review

Dear John: Faith-Family Film Review

Dear John: Faith-Family Film Review
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting

Dear John—This frequently sentimental drama, set in South Carolina, charts the love-at-first-sight romance between a Special Forces sergeant (Channing Tatum) home on leave to visit his mildly autistic father (Richard Jenkins) and an affluent college student (Amanda Seyfried), their prolonged separation due to his reenlistment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and their efforts to maintain their bond by long-distance letter writing. Though the portrayal of the conflicted filial relationship is moving, director Lasse Hallstrom’s adaptation of Catholic writer Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling 2006 novel focuses mostly on the emotionally unrealistic evolution of the lovers’ attachment, and endorses its premature consummation along the way. Nongraphic premarital sexual activity with partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, at least four instances of the S-word. A-III — adults. (PG-13) 2010
Full Review

Super Bowl Ad War: Winners and losers

The Focus on the Family ad about college football star Tim Tebow has been approved by CBS to run during the Super Bowl. The ad is still not public, so below I feature a story about it.

Rejected Doritos ad

Major study on abstinence shows it works

Abstinence-Only Classes Reduced Sexual Activity, Study Found

Adolescents who took abstinence-only sex education classes were more likely to delay having sex, a new study shows.  In the study, some 662 black 6th- and 7th-grade students, ranging in age from 10 to 15 with an average age of 12, participated in classes held on Saturdays at four Philadelphia public schools that draw from primarily lower-income neighborhoods.

Students either took eight hours of abstinence-only classes; eight hours of safe sex-only classes that included information about sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of using condoms if sexually active; or an eight- or 12-hour comprehensive course that covered both abstinence and safer sex.

Another group of students were enrolled in eight hours of a general health class that did not discuss matters related to sexual behavior. That group served as a control for comparison.

Doctor tries to prove life after death

Citing research from cases around the world, Dr. Jeffrey long provides new evidence of existence after death

January 25, 2010—Near-death experiences have long been a fascinating phenomenon, prompting more questions than answers. According to a Gallup poll, between 8 to 12 million Americans—around five percent—say they have had a near-death experience. Despite these substantial numbers, most scientists are at a loss to explain these events. Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist, has spent the last twelve years studying over a thousand cases of near-death experience. In his groundbreaking new book, EVIDENCE OF THE AFTERLIFE: The Science of Near-Death Experiences (HarperOne, January 2010, $25.99), Dr. Long provides scientific evidence that powerfully supports what many have long suspected: near-death experiences provide proof that life continues after we die.

Ore. faith healers found guilty

A jury ruled in favor of convicting criminally negligent homicide charge against Jeffrey and Marci Beagley over the death of their teen son for whom the choose prayer over medical treatment for his life-threatening disease. The parents were members of Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City which has made headlines before for the death of their children members due the same circumstances. This is the first homicide conviction. Prosecutors asked for the couple to be taken into custody immediately, but the judge ruled against it. Video below.

Luis Palau: A Plan to Reach 100 Million People in 1 Week

The Plan to Reach 100 Million People in 1 Week
By Luis Palau Ministries,

Working with Enlace, TBN’s Hispanic network, and the Luis Palau Association’s Hispanic broadcasting friends, LPA will produce six nights of continent-wide, one-hour long interactive TV broadcasts during Easter week (March 28-April 2, 2010). The Q-and-A program will take calls from more than 23 nations, allowing individuals to connect with Luis or another live counselor. The programs will also go out on radio and via the Internet.

Culminating this week-long, continent-wide evangelistic media campaign will be a mini-festival on Easter Sunday (April 4, 2010). It will feature:

Multnomah University Ranked in Top 100 Oregon Best Nonprofits

Multnomah University Ranked as One Of Oregon’s 100 Best Nonprofits To Work For
from Multnomah University News

Oregon Business magazine ranked Multnomah University #22 of 33 large nonprofits in its list of 100 top nonprofit organizations. The article, “The 100 Best Nonprofits to Work for in Oregon 2009,” reported the results of an employee survey and an independent assessment of employers’ workplace practices. Oregon Business magazine based the study on their “100 Best Companies” series.

The list of best large nonprofits included the Oregon Research Institute, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. Multnomah ranked above well-known nonprofits such as the Girl Scouts, the Oregon Humane Society and OHSU Foundation.

Family and Faith Film Review: When in Rome

Family and Faith Film Review: When in Rome
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting

When in Rome—Perky romantic comedy about a work-obsessed New York museum curator (Kristen Bell) who travels to Rome for her sister’s (Alexis Dziena) wedding and falls for the best man (Josh Duhamel), but their path to bliss takes a detour when she defies local custom by removing several coins from the “Fountain of Love,” causing the quartet of eccentric strangers who deposited the change (Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder and Dax Shepard) to become hopelessly infatuated with her. While the youthful, slightly pixilated priest (Keir O’Donnell) who performs the nuptials comes in for some gentle ribbing, director Mark Steven Johnson’s pleasantly diverting, blithely illogical ensemble piece is mostly worry-free with only a fleeting scene of newlywed friskiness barring endorsement for teens. Brief nongraphic marital lovemaking with implied nudity, mildly irreverent portrayal of a clergyman and a few crass expressions.  A-III — adults. (PG-13) 2010 — Full Review

Faith and Film Review - Legion

Faith and Film Review - Legion
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting

Legion—Theologically skewed apocalyptic horror outing in which a despairing God unleashes hordes of demonic angels to destroy human civilization but, rebelling against the plan, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) battles to defend a remote roadside cafe (owned by Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton) long enough for its pregnant waitress (Adrianne Palicki) to give birth to humanity’s future savior. Director and co-writer Scott Stewart’s feature debut intersperses relentless violence with metaphysical mush to create a long, grim slog that leaves viewers feeling as besieged as the characters (also including Lucas Black and Tyrese Gibson) trapped in the lonesome eatery. Convoluted religious themes; constant, though mostly nongraphic, violence; an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; a couple of uses of profanity; much rough language (including at least 25 uses of the F-word); and some crude and crass terms. O — morally offensive. (R) 2010
Full Review

Oregonians mixed on Pat Robertson Haiti comments

Here is the results of the Oregon Faith Report online survey on Pat Robertson’s comments.

Survey: Churches Compete with Sports Bars, Internet

“Pastors must be more creative in facilitating people-to-people social networking — face-to-face and through the web”

LOVELAND, Colo., - Pastors take note: Americans believe they make more new friends in sports bars and restaurants rather than your churches, and watch out, you also have competition from online social media. A survey of nearly 800 respondents, of whom more than three-quarters identified themselves as Christians, reveals that only 16 percent believe their church is “their favorite place to meet new friends.”

“Our churches are losing ground to other venues for people-to-people connections,” says Jon Vaughan, corporate marketing director of Group Publishing, the Colorado-based firm specializing in church resources, which commissioned the poll. “Since the Internet has become an integral element of our daily lives, pastors and church leaders must be more creative in facilitating social networking — both face-to-face and through the web.”

Vaughan also believes there may be an underlying economic factor in the survey results.

Save Mother Teresa Postage Stamp Campaign begins

Atheist Group Assails Mother Teresa Postage Stamp

WASHINGTON – An anti-religion group is urging its members to write complaint letters to the U.S. Postal Service over the upcoming issuance of a stamp to honor the late Mother Teresa.

In a press release, the Freedom From Religion Foundation asserts that Mother Teresa, a nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize and international acclaim for her decades of relief work among the impoverished of Calcutta, India, should not be honored because she is a religious figure. While Mother Teresa was Catholic, Hindu leaders have applauded the stamp decision. Rajan Zed, head of the Universal Society for Hinduism, called it an honor to all of India. Mother Teresa was born in Albania and spent most of her life in India but was given honorary U.S. citizenship in 1996, a year before she died.

USA Today writer on religion and sports

Dr. Paul Louis Metzger of Multnomah University interviews Tom Krattenmaker of USA Today on religion and sports
By Paul Louis MetzgerPaul Louis Metzger
New Wine Skins Blog

You can learn a lot about the relation of American religion and sports from journalist Tom Krattenmaker. You can also learn a lot about Tom Krattenmaker from his personal story with American religion and sports.

So, who is Tom Krattenmaker? Tom serves as a member of USA TODAY’s editorial Board of Contributors and writes regularly for the paper’s “On Religion” commentary page. In addition to authoring the controversial book on American Evangelicalism and sports, Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010), his article, “The Evangelicals You Don’t Know” (USA Today, Opinion, June 2, 2008), received critical acclaim as one of the top three pieces of religion commentary in the American Academy of Religion’s 2009 Journalism Awards program.

The skateboarding missionary

From NW Baptist Convention
Witness Newsletter

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A passion for skateboards has coursed through Jason Brown’s veins for 25 years. While some might see the allure of the ride as a passing interest for teenagers, Brown’s commitment to skateboarding has never dimmed since he first picked up the sport in his native South Carolina.  Brown now owns and operates a shop for skateboards and supplies in his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ore., where he provides a positive environment for the skateboarders who come seeking equipment and conversation for their own passion. “We attract at-risk teenage boys here,” Brown said. “It is really sad because they come from broken homes that overwhelm our area, which is in a very poor part of town that suffers from a lot of drug use.”

While Brown was raised in a much different environment, he connects with his customers because of early choices he made in life. “I grew up going to church and said I wanted to accept Jesus when I was in the eighth grade, but the next day I was back out smoking pot,” Brown said.

Dad writes to his sons from under the Haitian rubble

Great interviews and guests from the Georgene Rice Show,
By Oregon Faith Report Notes,

Georgene Rice shares the account of a survivor of the Haiti quake, Dan Woolley, as interviewed on the Today Show. Woolley was in Haiti working with the group Compassion International when the earthquake struck. Trapped for 65 hours under tons of wreckage from the Hotel Montana, not at all certain he was going to survive he wrote notes to his two young boys and wife.

Opening the notebook, pages punctuated with smears of blood, fighting his emotion he read an entry to his six and three-year-old sons, “I was in a big accident. Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for His children even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But, He will always take care of you.”

With the incredible use of technology Dan was able to help himself survive.

Faith and Family Film Review: Tooth Fairy

Faith and Family Film Review: Tooth Fairy
From Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting

Tooth Fairy—Feeble fable in which a disillusioned minor-league hockey player (Dwayne Johnson) who discourages children from dreaming big and denies the existence of the titular sprite is sentenced by the matriarch of Fairyland (Julie Andrews) to spend two weeks as a winged tooth fairy, a secret mission that complicates his relationship with his girlfriend (Ashley Judd) and threatens his macho standing among his teammates (including skateboarding star Ryan Sheckler). Director Michael Lembeck’s mostly family-friendly comedy, which also features Stephen Merchant as Johnson’s officious but good-hearted pixie mentor, never really takes flight, while scenes of unnecessary roughness on the ice and an out-of-place exchange about the onset of puberty preclude endorsement for all. Moderate hockey violence, some mild sexual references and brief scatological humor.  A-II — adults and adolescents. (PG) 2010.  Full Review of Tooth Fairy

Obama shares his faith

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service,

WASHINGTON DC (RNS) President Obama addressed how his faith guides him and the importance of hard work as he marked the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Washington church on Sunday (Jan. 17). “Folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm,” he said at Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, a historic congregation that was visited by King. “I have a confession to make here. … There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught, and change is so painfully slow in coming, and I have to confront my own doubts. But let me tell you during those times, it’s faith that keeps me calm. It’s faith that gives me peace.”