TruthBook Religious News Blog

September 16,
Jackie Kass

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were awarded the title of "2009 National Parents of the Year" by the National Parent’s Day Council. The council insists that the Duggar’s were not selected just because they have a large family of their own children, but because they have exhibited such high standards of parenting. The website states, "Their highly organized household centers around spiritual principles and is obviously filled with huge amounts of love, grace, joy and mutual respect."

However, there is no getting around the fact that the Duggar family is indeed super-sized. Michelle and Jim Bob were high school sweethearts, have been married 24 years and produced 18 biological children (with one on the way!). There are 10 boys and 8 girls ranging in age from 7 months to 20 years. The oldest son and his wife are expecting their first child, making Michelle and Jim Bob grandparents for the first time. Their grandchild is due before their own 19th child. Jim Bob states on his website, "We believe that each child is a special gift from God and we are thankful to Him for each one."

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Labels: children, family, God, parents, spiritual values, the Duggars

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Spiritual Living

Stella Gray
Monday, May 12, 2008

In all the hustle and bustle of daily life it is vital that we find sources to nourish and feed our souls as well as our physical bodies. No one can do this for us; we have to find ourselves that which supplies us with food for our mind and spirit.

Have a vision of how you would like to enhance your life spiritually. Find a quiet place to sit with your journal and reflect on the following questions.

. What does my ideal spiritual life look like?
. What qualities do I want to bring into my life - forgiveness, gratitude, hope, compassion, etc.?
. Where do I turn for help -books, organisations, people?
. What do I value, how do I live these values everyday and how can I enhance them?
. Who and what am I grateful for?
. How can I move forward on my path of spiritual living?

Take time to think before you answer these questions so you can allow your vision to expand and grow. Consider what qualities you want to develop in yourself and what you would like to engage in on a regular basis. You could develop a meditation practice, attend regular church services, take calm walks in nature, work in your garden or listen to inspirational music. Read spiritual poetry and writing regularly. Think about developing a specific value or emotion like - joy, peace, love, patience, understanding, forgiveness or faith.

Keep a separate 'gratitude' journal where you write everyday all the things you are thankful for, you will be surprised at how many things you can be grateful for daily.
Now explore the things that might prevent you from achieving these goals.

How do I sabotage myself from living my true spiritual self?
What can I change in my environment that can help me?
Who or what can help me grow?

How can I be more creative to improve my spiritual life? Being part of a spiritual group can be a big advantage.
Having considered the roadblocks to truly nurturing and finding you mind and spirit, ask yourself the following questions:

. Who are my role models?
. Are they the right role models to guide me on this journey?
. What are my sources of music, reading and inspiration?
. Are they truly inspiring me to growth?
. Even though I'm apart of a spiritual group, how can my contribution help the group improve?

If you're not currently in a group, you may consider starting your own group with like-minded people, where you pray together, sing together, read poetry or inspirational materials together. Maybe you want to write your own poetry or spiritual writings where you express your gratitude, values, love and belief.

We often believe that we are unable to change the path of our lives however, by defining our spiritual values, our source of nourishment and how these are manifested in our lives, can only serve to enhance the quality of our journey through life. In this way we can shift our lives in a positive direction and serve to be an inspiration to others.

Labels: gratitude, spiritual journal, spiritual values, spirituality, Stella Gray

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Civil religion quietly unifies and guides American public life

Saturday, 12/29/07
By RAY WADDLE

Opinion

Americans say they're more likely to vote for a homosexual than an atheist when choosing a president, a USA Today/Gallup survey reported in February.

This all-American wariness of unbelief suggests we want leaders to make decisions within a familiar moral tradition (biblical, more or less), with a providential deity somehow assisting.

Civil religion is not Christianity, it's not a denomination, and these days it's not fashionable. Yet it has been a unifying feature of national life for 200-plus years. Will it survive America's 21st century search for identity?

The American civil religion was spelled out 40 years ago by sociologist Robert Bellah, who found it in places small and large — on the currency ("in God we trust") and in inaugural addresses ("here on earth God's work must truly be our own": John Kennedy).

It endorses human liberty and stirs public purpose. It has its own "sacred" texts, such as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and King's Dream speech, stressing sacrifice, rebirth, rededication.

It claims holy days: Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. And hallowed ground: Arlington Cemetery and all other military burial grounds.

Imprecision is the key

Civil religion does not replace traditional religions but functions alongside. Yet it has few defenders these days.

It is too neutral and imprecise for religious partisans, not neutral enough for atheists.

But its imprecision is what makes it work. It declares a cosmic baseline for morality, but it's not overly doctrinaire or aggressive.

It's the religion that people mean when they appeal to the common good or a common moral inheritance, as Mitt Romney did recently in his religion speech.

Civil religion has hazards. It can turn into worship of the nation. But Bellah once argued that true civil religion places us under divine judgment when we stray from our principles. It should inspire self-criticism.

Can American civic life keep its civil religion in the surging face of pluralism? Is there room for non-believers, or must it be scrapped? National civil religions emerged after the demise of the divine right of kings as a way to ennoble national solidarity.

The big question persists. Can there be a public morality that rallies public purpose without reference to a creator?

Notable regimes have tried — Hitler, Mao, Stalin, all discredited. History offers no shining modern examples yet of civil religion without God. Americans, so far, are voting with history.

Labels: Americans, civil religion, Gallup Poll, morality, Ray Waddle, religion, spiritual values

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Study: Americans See Link Between Economic, Spiritual Health

By Melissa Stee
Religion News Service

A majority of U.S. adults say that the overall health of the nation's economy is dependent on how spiritual Americans are, a survey by the Gallup Organization shows.
Seventy-seven percent of the respondents said the nation's economic health depends a "great deal" or "some" degree on its spiritual health.

The survey, called "The Spiritual State of the Union," was conducted for the Spiritual Enterprise Institute, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based center that focuses on building understanding of how spiritual values affect economic life.

"This in-depth study, which examined the role of spiritual commitment on many facets of life, as well as society as a whole, makes it abundantly clear that one can't understand America, unless one has an awareness and understanding of her spiritual underpinnings," wrote Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, the institute's founder, and pollster George Gallup of the Gallup Organization, in a joint analysis of the study that was released Jan. 30.

Of those surveyed, more than half say their religious beliefs greatly affect their feelings about the future, and more than one-third say they affect their relationships at work and how involved they are in volunteer activities.

Fourteen percent of those surveyed said they consider a decline in society -- ethically, morally, or religiously -- to be among the top problems facing America today.

Other findings show that 79 percent of people believe that there are clear guidelines about what is good or evil that apply to everyone.

Seventy-two percent say that their faith is what gives their life meaning, but a smaller percentage, 65 percent, consider themselves spiritually committed.

The Gallup Organization compiled the results from a survey of 1,004 adults during February and early March of 2006 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Commissioned by the institute, the study was partially funded by The Templeton Foundation.

Labels: Americans, economics, faith, Melissa Stee, Spiritual Enterprise Institute, spiritual values, the future