CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 27, 1998
The updated wording of the Lord's Prayer (Feb. 21) is wonderful. For this age, it is more user-friendly (and I challenge anyone to say that that was not the Lord's intention), as well as more on point theologically. I would make one additional change to eliminate the sexism: "Our father in heaven" should read, "Our loving parent in heaven"; it would be unscriptural to suggest that the creator is exclusively male. Bishop David Stancliffe says his own diocese would be satisfied with the old version but that the new one is easier to teach, especially to those new to the faith.
BUSINESS
October 16, 1988
Regarding the Oct. 4 story, "St. $ilicon--a Preacher for PC Fun-damentalism": I resent the "humor" of Jeffrey Armstrong, who attempts to use the fundamental and basic beliefs and prayers of all Christians to get a laugh (and, apparently, make a lot of money while so doing). I grew up with "The Lord's Prayer" as an expression of how I was to live each day in the belief that I had a hope for my ultimate life, that my will was to be subject to God's and that I should live each day so that my relationship with my fellow man would be pleasing in the sight of God. This prayer is even more meaningful to me now as an adult.
NEWS
March 21, 1986
Some family members of the 248 U.S. servicemen who died last December in a charter plane crash conducted a simple prayer ceremony, ending with the Lord's Prayer, to honor their loved ones at Washington's Arlington National Cemetery on a windy, overcast day at the spot where 23 victims are buried. The accident occurred Dec. 12 in Newfoundland when a civilian Arrow Air DC-8 jetliner crashed shortly after takeoff at Gander airport.
NATIONAL
April 19, 2005 | From Times Wire Reports
A woman was convicted of murdering her neighbor with a hatchet, striking the 83-year-old Pearl Harbor veteran nearly 70 times as he begged for his life. Prosecutors in Lock Haven said that Shonda D. Walter, 25, carried out the attack on James Sementelli because she wanted to join a gang, and one of the initiation requirements was to commit a crime. She also stole $500 and a car from the victim.
NEWS
October 18, 1988 | JOHN DART, Times Religion Writer
Jesus probably did not create the Lord's Prayer or teach it to his disciples, although certain phrases in Christendom's central prayer may have been used by him, according to an ongoing national seminar of biblical scholars. A majority of the two dozen scholars believed that the Lord's Prayer was composed by the early church a number of years after Jesus was crucified.
OPINION
March 15, 1987
The editorial (March 8), "Humanism as Religion," expresses puzzlement as to the nature of secular humanism. It states "Whatever secular humanism may be--and no one is exactly sure what it is--it is not a recognized religion in any sense of the word." There have been many comments about the nature of secular humanism and one pithy observation comes to mind that seems to sum up its essence--"Human living and human thinking without reference to God." When religion is ignored, says Dr. Luther A. Weigle, a former dean of the Yale Divinity School, it is natural for children to conclude that religion is negligible or unimportant or irrelevant to the main business of life.