From the Honolulu Exopolitics Examiner

The Vatican has just completed a five day conference astrobiology where scientists convened to discuss the detection and implications of extraterrestrial life. A major driving force behind the conference was the Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Jesuit priest Father Jose Gabriel Funes. In May 2008, Funes gave an interview to the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano newspaper saying that the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials posed no problems to Catholic theology…

…the conference demonstrates a welcome openness by the Vatican on the possibility and implications of extraterrestrial life.  The Vatican’s openness to discussion of extraterrestrial life is no accident. It is part of an openness policy secretly adopted by the United Nations in February 2008. In fact, the Vatican is playing a leading role in preparing the world for extraterrestrial disclosure.

Read the Article in much more detail Here >>.

Maybe  the Vatican is still trying to make up for that whole “Galileo Thing” by being forward thinking when it comes to the implications of extraterrestrial life for Catholic theology. The good news is that the church is leaning toward considering Aliens to be “brothers of humanity”; with the added bonus that as “our brothers” they also qualify for the salvation of Jesus Christ (note how quickly the church is willing to accept extraterrestrials into the flock but the homosexual crowd is still left waiting at the door – just sayin’).

The acknowledgement of extraterrestrial  souls-in-waiting-to-be-saved  portends well for the Vatican as the present earth-bound market appears grossly to be over saturated and inefficient a this time.

Drunk Darth Vader’s Jedi assault

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries.

Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted “Darth Vader!”

I’m not sure how wearing a trash bag qualifies as ‘impersonating’ Darth Vader. I honestly could quote the entire article. Its all good.

Vatican Lists Seven Social Sins, Including Drug Abuse

The seven social sins are:
1. “Bioethical’ violations such as birth control
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

I imagine there will be lots of debate and blog chatter on this, hopefully by people more theologically qualified then myself. Somehow I doubt that, and not based on my qualifications.

I like the social justice aspects of 5-7, am not sure how #4 will go, and expect to see 1-3 widely mis-referenced to suit all sorts of peoples agendas. Cynical? Yes, but do you really disagree?

The Bloomberg article is not very good, but has the nice list. Here’s another article:
Thou shalt not pollute or clone

Which is why it is without any sense of irony that Christians in the U.S. have begun to pray for celebrities. I suppose the idea is the by praying for Hollywood’s conversion they’ll set the proper example for the rest of the fallen hordes and get the table set for the big-man’s big return. It seems to beg the question of just how far apart praying for celebrities and praying to celebrities really is. I also found this helpful website on how to balance one’s Hollywood lifestyle with a set of Christian values and ethics.

This story came to my attention while watching an un-named cable news network and one of the members of the Pray for Hollywood Commando Squad said something like “We’re praying for celebrities because they are rich and need God’s help.” God Bless America indeed.

Oh, and for shits and giggles, here’s a neato website that collects and posts images of funny church billboards.

Pasta monster gets academic attention

“Indeed, the tale of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its followers cuts to the heart of the one of the thorniest questions in religious studies: What defines a religion? Does it require a genuine theological belief? Or simply a set of rituals and a community joining together as a way of signaling their cultural alliances to others?

In short, is an anti-religion like Flying Spaghetti Monsterism actually a religion? “

Dan Brown and Tom Hanks, what have you wrought?

Thank God for the prime meridian, otherwise we wouldn’t know where to locate the universal light of “Western” values and the irrational darkness of the “East”.

Read it here.