 Bess writes: Heavy metal is not a genre usually associated with Catholic monks. But there is an exception to every rule: “Fratello Metallo” or the Metal Friar (pictured left) is the stage name of Brother Cesare Bonizzi, an elderly Capuchin with a beard that could rival zztop's. According to the Globe and Mail the Milan-based monk is the lead singer in a popular Italian heavy metal band. Describing himself as a “preacher-singer”, Fratello Metallo says his mission is to convince his listeners to “live life to the full,” and so sings of alcohol, sex and God. Countering claims from Christians that heavy metal is a genre linked to Satan, he says only a few bands are "extreme" and 90 per cent of those he's met have "welcomed him." In his ten-year career he's sung alongside Iron Maiden. His heavy metal conversion came 15 years ago, during a Metallica concert. He liked the "energy," explaining "I find (heavy metal) the most energetic, the most alive music." You can see him in action (it's an acquired taste) on this BBC clip.
 Bess writes: As we’ve reported here before, myths surrounding the religious beliefs of Barack Obama are rife. Following on from the political hoo-ha over the New Yorker cover depicting Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist , snopes.com has compiled an extensive list of the most popular Obama myths. Now it seems he matches a description of the anti-Christ in the book of Revelation and Native Americans are alleged to have christened him “Walking Eagle”.
Oh, and the Ku Klux Klan have endorsed his campaign, which, of course, is funded by Venezuela’s Socialist dictator, Hugo Chavez, naturally…
 Bess writes: The belief that God is a Trinity, existing simultaneously as Father, Son and Holy Spirit may be “offensive” to Muslims, Dr Rowan Williams has said. In a letter published on his website addressed to Islamic scholars, the Archbishop of Canterbury describes faith in the Trinity as an area that is “difficult” for Muslims. He adds in the letter, a response to Muslim calls for dialogue with Christians, that he is grateful the scholars recognise that differences between the two faiths are “real” and “serious.”
 The UK - is it heaven or the reverse for a Muslim? Shahid Malik, who is Britain's first Muslim minister (for international development) says the UK is "the best place in the world" to live as a Muslim. In an interview with The Jakarta Post, Malik says: "I have visited so many countries and comparing ourselves to those countries, the rights and freedoms we enjoy in the UK are second to none, including Muslim countries."
It might be easy to say that Malik, as a minister, has a cushy number, but in fact he was seriously injured by the Lancashire police as he tried to calm riots in his native Burnley in 2003.
 (photo: Saxon Bashford)
Bess writes: This is John Pridmore, a former East End gangster, once heavily involved in a drugs, protection rackets and gangs. A bit of a bruiser you might say, shaven headed, 6ft5in tall and with a few gold teeth (I've seen him speak) Pridmore certainly looks the part. Not a type you'd hope to bump into in a dark alley perhaps. But Pridmore is now a Christian, who, after nearly killing a man in a pub brawl, found God. As a “youth evangelist” he regularly tours prisons and schools in the UK to talk about how he gave up the drugs, money, promiscuity and violence for the Christian faith. He will be talking about it all this Friday at World Youth Day and on Saturday in front of Pope Benedict XVI. "I used to think that God was a fairy tale, made up to keep people from doing bad things,” he says. "So I can understand people who are skeptical when people like me talk about how God is just waiting for us to respond to him and invite him into our lives. But God is not a fairy tale. He is real. And I want to bring others to an experience of God. I want to show that Christ can transform lives, no matter how broken or messed up, like mine was,” says Pridmore, who, with Greg Watts has written his life story, entitled (i guess it had to be!) From Gangland to Promised Land. He adds “People sometimes think that becoming a Christian means that you lose your freedom. You don’t. I have never felt freer than I am now. The freedom, mercy, and forgiveness that I’ve experienced is available to everyone.”
Bess writes: You’ve heard of hellfire, now an Baptist Church in Oklahoma is using ‘gunfire’ to encourage the spread of Christianity. Windsor Hills Baptist Church is giving away an AR-!5 semiautomatic assault rifle during a youth conference as “a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event,” reports a local news website. The thrust of the conference, you’ll be glad to hear, isn’t about guns, but “teens finding faith.”
Right.
Bess writes: Remember that infamous remark by John Lennon that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus? And that Christianity would “vanish and shrink”.
This morning, the BBC Sunday programme broadcast a 1969 interview with Lennon in which he said he’d been misunderstood, and that he was actually one of Christ’s “biggest fans”.
"It's just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ," he said. "Now I wasn't saying that was a good idea, 'cos I'm one of Christ's biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ's message, then that's what we're here to do."
He blamed misunderstandings on “uptight” hypocrites: "If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won't be full, but there'll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don't think it matters as long as they're aware of Him and His message."
So was Lennon a signed up Church-goer? "Community praying is probably very powerful…" he says. "I'm just against the hypocrisy and the hat-wearing and the socialising and the tea parties." Unfortunately, for copyright reasons the BBC cannot make the interview available as a download, but a report on the broadcast is available here.
 Bess writes: Frustrated by the rising cost of petrol? In the US, despairing drivers are taking a spiritual approach to the oil crisis. This is a picture from Pray at the Pump, a prayer movement
founded by Rocky Twyman, a choir director from Washington D.C. Firmly convinced that God can lower gas prices, Twyman encourages impoverished drivers to hold prayer vigils at their local petrol stations. Mind you, it's not all prayer. Twyman spent the past seven days petitioning for lower oil prices outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington DC, reports rightpundits. Twyman explains: " We were in the prayerful phase, but now we’re going into a more activist phase, because we feel that whole faith without works is dead."
Hmm. Will we be driven to this?
 Bess writes: Someone had to make it. This is “Rowena” the first female bishop teddy bear. Handmade from mohair, cotton, suede and felt, she measures 10 cm tall and comes complete with a silver cross and purple mitre. Rowena, described as a paperweight or "sermon-sitter" is the work of Lynne Madeley of Madeley Bears . "We've risked international schism to make her but it was a risk worth taking," says Madeley who is selling the bear in partnership with the satirical website Ship of Fools. Rowena is, obviously, the consort of the Rowan bear (pictured below), created to mark the enthronement of Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury. "RB is doing a quiet, affirming work worldwide, in many a priest’s study," says Steve Goddard, Ship of Fools co-editor. "But we felt the time was right for Rowena to share in the ministry."
 Libby writes: The case of the registrar Lillian Ladele (pictured left) demanding to be exempted from doing civil partnerships has ended - to the dismay of campaigners like Peter Tatchell in victory for the civil servant in question. While Peter Tatchell is not given to understating outrage on such matters, there is an uneasy message here: can registrars now refuse to deal with births outside wedlock, perhaps? Or remarriages of divorcees? On the other hand, if homosexuality is the only matter of conscience grave enough to allow it, what does it say about the law's attitude to that?
 Libby writes: Here is something to make feuding churchmen worry. Specialist designers who like to make redundant places of worship into places that worship style - houses, retail outlets etc. Or - they hastily add "just cooler churches".
 Bess writes: These are the t-shirts (left) that the NotoPope coalition, a group protesting against World Youth Day '08, a papal youth rally starting on Sunday in Sydney, plan to wear. They paraded the clothes, splashed with slogans such as “Popo go Homo” in front of the New South Wales Parliament yesterday, reports ABC, in protest at new law threatening to fine protesters up to $5,500 australian dollars if they "annoy" the half million young pilgrims travelling to Sydney for the event. An interesting twist to the tale can be found on eni.ch: the WYD organisers say the Catholic Church has not requested any legal measures to prevent the protests. A spokesman says: "The Catholic Church supports people's right to protest. We're fine with that, as long as they do it in a peaceful manner." Lots of fun and games next week then!
 Bess writes: This is part of the Ingrid Betancourt story which has barely rated a mention in the headlines. Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician kidnapped by FARC terrorists and hidden for six years deep in the Colombian jungle was unexpectedly freed on July 3 as we reported. Early accounts mentioned that she thanked God and the Virgin Mary for her release. Now, in an interview published in France, she describes her unexpected liberation as a miracle. On Sunday during a visit to the Sacre-Coeur basilica in Paris, Betancourt told Pèlerin magazine that her rescue was an answer to prayer and that "blessing" her captors relieved her suffering like "magic" as Yahoo news reports. She said: “If I had not had Christ by my side I don’t think I would have overcome my suffering. Being a hostage means you are placed in a situation of constant humiliation. Your fate is arbitrary and you see all that is darkest in the human soul. Faced with this, you have a choice: either to become bitter, vindicative or you take the other path, demonstrated by Jesus who asks us to “bless your enemies”. Each time I read the Bible I felt those words were directed at me."
This is a picture from the Saudi Government’s latest attempt to combat Al-Qaeda. It is a “care centre” run by the ministry of the interior for former Al-Qaeda members, or, as they prefer to describe the prisoners, “beneficiaries.” In return for a relaxed regime of ping-pong, video games, swimming and art therapy, they must attend daily “religious re-education classes” where their religious views are challenged by Islamic scholars. According to a BBC report, the scheme is masterminded by a special Government approved unit: “You cannot defeat an ideology by force. You have to fight ideas with ideas,” says its director. And apparently, it works. No one from the centre has re-offended since it was opened according to the report, which quotes a former inmate, a one-time truck bomber who is now a declared “enemy of al-Qaeda” explaining “I believe God save me to deliver this message…”
 Libby writes: The blogosphere is humming with indignation and speculation over the Anglican meltdown, and a few Catholic sites are tart indeed; this one asking why the 'barque of Peter' should pick up shipwrecked Anglicans. Harsh, but at the time of the last mass defection over women priests, only a few impolite souls asked why it was that the threat of women at the altar should suddenly invalidate all the previous doubts the converts must have had about transubstantiation, the Real Presence in the Eucharist, and Papal infallibility...
Bess writes: Well, here's a surprise. An in-depth analysis of the specific nouns, adjective and general tone employed by the press to describe British Muslims has concluded that the tone is generally "negative". According to the BBC a team at Cardiff University have examined nearly 1,000 newspaper articles published over the past eight years. They discovered (and I wonder who paid for this groundbreaking research?) that nouns like “extremism, suicide, bombers, militancy and radicalism” predominate, while terms like "fanatic" and "fundamentalist" accounted for more than 35 per cent of the adjectives used. “Islam was portrayed or constructed in the language as dangerous or backward or a threat” said Dr Paul Mason, a member of the team. Unfair? Yes, definitely but hardly new ground.
 Bess writes: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord” (Ephesians: 22). One of the Bible's more controversial passages is now the subject of a new novel on domestic abuse and Christian marriage. "Behind the Hedge" is an account of an Iowa housewife, Yvette, living on a dairy farm with her husband Luke, who is never satisfied with her level of "submission." Yvette uses her faith as a guide to dealing with her difficult husband and disrespectful sons. The author, the curiously named Waneta Dawn, is a divorced former Mennonite raised - wait for it - on a dairy farm in Iowa. She says: “My aim in writing the book was to not only enlighten Christians, but also non-Christians about this seldom-mentioned side of domestic violence. It's amazing to discover how many men of all faiths believe that a woman is required, through various religious teachings, to submit to their demands". From her website it is clear Dawn is still a Christian. A piece on it titled "Biblical Marriage" says wives and husband should submit to each other, but strongly refutes the notion that man have a "God-given right to have things their way" based on the use of selected Bible passages. Quite right.
Bess writes: The plot thickens. Did the Bishop tell Boris or didn't he? In case you haven't been following this one, on Friday Ray Lewis (pictured right), London's deputy mayor for young people resigned from his post, after it emerged that he had once been an Anglican priest, but had been subsequently barred from ministry following allegations of financial and sexual misconduct. Ordained in the Church of England in 1990, Lewis resigned in 1999, the year he was barred from ministry. Initially, as we reported last week, Lewis described the allegations as "rubbish," denying all knowledge of the ban, though later reports claimed he had attempted to revoke it in 2000. The next question (after whether the claims were true) was whether Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, had known of the allegations before appointing Lewis his guru on youth. This is where the story gets a little murky. Initially, the Church of England claimed Johnson had been warned, once orally, by the Bishop of Barking at a football match on Whit Sunday, and once in a letter. The written warning, the Tories alleged, had been buried towards the end of a lengthy letter about a Day of Global Prayer and they asked why the Church had failed to inform the CRB of the allegations against Lewis. Now it has emerged in press reports this morning, that the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev David Hawkins cannot recall the famous football match chat. In the meantime, Johnson has cancelled the inquiry he originally announced into the allegations as a "waste" of taxpayer's money. What next? Just what is going on?
 Bess writes: A bizarre case of identity fraud has surfaced in the Vatican: the Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, reports that a fake priest was caught in St Peter’s Basilica attempting to enter the confessional box. The 30-year-old man was subsequently sentenced in a special Vatican court. And, according to this morning's papers, the sentencing judge discovered he was a serial offender. Gianluigi Marrone, one a handful of judges employed at the court, explained: "He had priest's robes on but to the expert eye of our security staff he raised suspicions, He was acting strangely and so he was stopped and checked. He had an identity card which said he was a priest but a quick check established it was bogus. Investigations revealed that he had done the same in churches on Italian territory and so he was charged with usurping an ecclesiastical title."
Bess writes: A message on a stone tablet, dated from the decades before Jesus' birth predicts that a messiah would rise from the dead within three days, we report today. A line in the tablet, which is similar in style to the Dead Sea Scrolls mentions a “prince of princes” killed by the government and according to reports today, says “in three days you shall live.” How this fact is interpreted depends on your viewpoint. Israel Knohl, a professor of Biblical Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the message refers to the death of Simon, a Jewish prince who led a revolt against King Herod. According to Daniel Boyarin, from the University of California some Christians will find this view “shocking”, and “a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology” although others “will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism.” Ben Witherington, of the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, comments: “This stone certainly does not demonstrate that the Gospel Passion Stories are created on the basis of this stone text.”
Libby Purves is a Times columnist, novelist and Radio 4 broadcaster. Her interest in the glories, inspirations and eccentricities of world religions and cultural traditions was fuelled by an upbringing in Bangkok, Israel, Africa, France and a series of convent schools. Bess Twiston Davies works for the Times Register section and is a regular contributor to the Faith page and Times Online. She studied Hispanic studies and English at Sheffield University and has a journalism diploma from The Robert Schuman Institute, Angers, France. Contact Libby or Bess at: faithcentral@timesonline.co.ukYou might also enjoy Articles of Faith, Ruth Gledhill's wonderful blog about religious affairs.
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Bess writes: Heavy metal is not a genre usually associated with Catholic monks. But there is an exception to every rule: “Fratello Metallo” or the Metal Friar (pictured left) is the stage name of Brother Cesare Bonizzi, an elderly Capuchin with a beard that could rival zztop's. According to the Globe and Mail the Milan-based monk is the lead singer in a popular Italian heavy metal band. Describing himself as a “preacher-singer”, Fratello Metallo says his mission is to convince his listeners to “live life to the full,” and so sings of alcohol, sex and God. Countering claims from Christians that heavy metal is a genre linked to Satan, he says only a few bands are "extreme" and 90 per cent of those he's met have "welcomed him." In his ten-year career he's sung alongside Iron Maiden. His heavy metal conversion came 15 years ago, during a Metallica concert. He liked the "energy," explaining "I find (heavy metal) the most energetic, the most alive music." You can see him in action (it's an acquired taste) on this BBC clip.
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