Latina Converts to Islam Growing in Number

Among the reasons for the growing number of Latino converts to Islam in the US is this curious suggestion by Ahmad Akhar, the Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic studies at American University:

[By converting to Islam, some Latinos may also feel as if they're connecting to their Spanish roots, which are embedded for 800 years in Islamic history in Spain's southeast population centers of Granada, Cordova, Seville and Andalusia.] 

See the full article.

Also -- 

Your Spanish Ancestors Were North Africans

Puerto Rico's Canary Islands Connection 

New Muslim Cool: The Hip Hop Life of Hamza Pérez

The Nativity Story with Josh Groban

A Seneca Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanksgiving Prayer from the Seneca (Iroquois), translated by Chuck Larsen, Seneca


You said that we should always be thankful
For our earth and for each other
So it is that we are gathered here
We are your children, Lord of the Sky.
Now again the smoke rises
And again we offer prayers

You said that food should be placed beside us
And it should be ours in exchange for our labor.
You thought that ours should be a world
where green grass of many kinds should grow

You said that some should be medicines
And that one should be Ona'o the sacred food, our sister corn
You gave to her two clinging sisters
beautiful Oa'geta, our sister beans
and bountiful Nyo'sowane, our sister squash
The three sacred sisters; they who sustain us.
This is what you thought, Lord of the Sky.

Thus did you think to provide for us
And you ordered that when the warm season comes,
That we should see the return of life
And remember you, and be thankful,
and gather here by the sacred fire.

So now again the smoke arises
We the people offer our prayers
We speak to you through the rising smoke
We are thankful, Lord of the Sky.

Source: Native Village

Obama's Joshua Generation: Engaging Young People of Faith

David Reports of CBN News reports that the Obama Camapaign will soon launch The Joshua Generation, an outreach to young people of faith--especially young Evangelicals and Catholics.

Obama spoke about the "Joshua Generation" in his Selma Speech (March of 2007). Here's are excerpts:

- I'm here because somebody marched. I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants.

- I thank the Moses generation; but we've got to remember, now, that Joshua still had a job to do.

- As great as Moses was, despite all that he did, leading a people out of bondage, he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land. God told him your job is done.

- We're going to leave it to the Joshua generation to make sure it happens. There are still battles that need to be fought; some rivers that need to be crossed.

- The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed the way. They took us 90% of the way there. We still got that 10% in order to cross over to the other side.

- So the question, I guess, that I have today is what's called of us in this Joshua generation? What do we do in order to fulfill that legacy; to fulfill the obligations and the debt that we owe to those who allowed us to be here today?

Related:

Obama Campaign will Launch 'Joshua Generation Project'
Evangelicals for Obama?
Obama's Speech at Ebenezer Bapitist Church: The Great Need of the Hour
Obama's Selma Speech
Obama's Selma Blessing
Don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. I stand on the shoulders of giants.

Evangelicals for Obama?

The evangelical vote has been a cornerstone of the Republican Party's national successes since Ronald Reagan's 1980 victory over Jimmy Carter.

(The irony is that Carter was--and is--a devout, born-again, Evangelical Christian and Reagan was not.)

If the Democrats could ever peal away enough Evangelicals, it would cripple the GOP. Could it happen this year?

Mark DeMoss, a prominent public relations executive in the evangelical world who's client list includes Franklin Graham and Campus Crusade for Christ, thinks so. According to very clued-in DeMoss, Obama could win as much as 40% of the evangelical vote. Wow!

A Southern Baptist who supported Mormon Mitt Romney in the GOP Primary, DeMoss sees very little enthusiasm for McCain--and he himself is only a lukewarm supporter.

Interview with Mark DeMoss - Beliefnet
Evangelicals Are Still Wary Despite McCain’s Outreach - NYTimes
McCain's Evangelical Problem - Robert Novak
Will Christian Voters Turn to the Democratic Party in 2008? - Stephanie Condon

Young, evangelical ... for Obama?

It appears there's a quiet movement of young evangelicals turning away from the GOP. What is driving them out of the GOP?

Polls have shown that young Christians aren't any less concerned about the "family values" issues that have traditionally driven Christians to the Republican camp. It's just that they're also concerned about issues such as social justice and immigration, issues traditionally associated with Democrats.

What's interesting is that many aim to vote for Barack Obama for president over John McCain.

Young, evangelical ... for Obama?

Pastor Wright and The Clintons

Bill Clinton thought enough of Trinity Church's Rev. Wright to invite him to the White House twice. Now that Hillary is running against Senator Obama, Rev. Wright is worthy only of being trashed.

So Wright was Invited to the White House in the 90s? red_democrat - Democratic Underground

Pope: Enough With Slaughters in Iraq

Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul.

The pope also denounced the 5-year-long Iraq war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life.

"Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!" Pope Benedict, Palm Sunday Mass, St. Peter's Square

On Thursday, the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found near Mosul. He had been abducted on Feb. 29.

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¡Here Come 'Los Evangélicos'!

¡Here Come 'Los Evangélicos'! (by Luis Lugo, Pew Research Center - 6.7.07)

Next week hundreds of evangelical Latino pastors and church leaders will descend on Washington, D.C. for the annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. Over the years, the event has steadily grown from a simple banquet to a three-day affair, running Wednesday through Friday. It includes not only the prayer breakfast but also lobbying visits to Capitol Hill, a women's leadership dinner focusing on health issues and the release of a major study on housing issues facing the Hispanic community.

-- snip --

The prayer breakfast offers a vivid illustration of the growing presence and increasing political influence of Latino evangelicals, who now make up some 15% of the rapidly expanding Hispanic population in the U.S., according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center. That survey also shows that among eligible Latino voters, evangelicals are twice as likely as Latino Catholics to identify with the Republican Party (37% vs. 17%). Latino evangelicals also are far more likely than Latino Catholics to describe themselves as conservative (46% vs. 31%).

In short, if Republicans have a prayer in making deep inroads into the Hispanic community, evangelicals may well provide their most direct route.

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Latino Transformation of American Christianity

Latinos are transforming the nation's religious landscape, especially the Catholic Church, not only because of their growing numbers but also because they are practicing a distinctive form of Christianity.

Religious expressions associated with the pentecostal and charismatic movements are a key attribute of worship for Latinos in all the major religious traditions -- far more so than among non-Latinos. Moreover, the growth of the Latino population is leading to the emergence of Latino-oriented churches across the country.

About a third of all Catholics in the U.S. are now Latinos, and the study projects that the Latino share will continue climbing for decades. This demographic reality, combined with the distinctive characteristics of Latino Catholicism, ensures that Latinos will bring about important changes in the nation's largest religious institution.

Most significantly given their numbers, more than half of Latino Catholics identify themselves as charismatics, compared with only an eighth of non-Latino Catholics. While remaining committed to the church and its traditional teachings, many of these Latino Catholics have witnessed or experienced occurrences typical of spirit-filled or renewalist movements, including divine healing and direct revelations from God. Even many Latino Catholics who do not identify themselves as renewalists appear deeply influenced by spirit-filled forms of Christianity.

Similarly, the renewalist movement is a powerful presence among Latino Protestants. More than half of Latinos in this category identify with spirit-filled religion, compared with about a fifth of non-Latino Protestants.

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Click here for Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion, a report (in pdf format) by the Pew Hispanic Center.

A New Sanctuary Movement for Immigrants

Religious leaders from different faiths promised yesterday to help families they said are facing deportation because of unjust immigration laws.

The gathering at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Paul the Apostle on the West Side of Manhattan was one of several across the United States billed as the beginning of a new sanctuary movement for immigrants.

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