Thomas Jefferson and Easter

Through a series of cut-and-paste, although mostly cut, Thomas Jefferson created a copy of the Bible that made sense to him. You can read more about Jefferson's editing in the Smithsonian article, How Thomas Jefferson Created His Own Bible.
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth collects the Gospels into a cohesive narrative, attempting to put the events into chronological order and leaving out those things that are “contrary to reason.”
As a result, the book ends with a part of John 19:31ff and then a pasted piece of Matthew 27:60:

There laid they Jesus, and ... rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

Jesus died. They put Him in the tomb and walked away. No resurrection.

More on Easter

 

Music

We can be grateful that radio stations and retail music systems haven't given us three months of Easter music in the run-up to the holiday. It would be pretty much Peter Cottontail or Handel's Messiah.

Needing a set of tunes to fill the house while preparing our portion of a fine Easter dinner at Mike and Lynn's, I put together this playlist.

Name	Artist
Helter Skelter	U2
Silver And Gold	U2
Pride (In The Name Of Love)	U2
When Love Comes To Town	U2
The Wanderer	U2
Walk On	U2
Sunday Bloody Sunday	U2
Bad	U2
One	U2
O Mary Don't You Weep	Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band
Jacob's Ladder	Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band

Who says that this Easter?

The relationship between the Protestant churches and the early church is, as Facebook would suggest, complicated.

Not only is Easter a movable feast, not fixed to a date on the secular calendar, but there are different ways that the Eastern and Western churches determine the date. All trace their formulas to  the decision of the Council of Nicea in 325. The meeting notes from that council haven't survived, so the calculations are left to the reader. The major points of contention and imprecision are described pretty well in Wikipedia.

So how is it that most Protestant denominations appear to accept the Roman church's designation that a) Easter should happen on a Sunday and b) independently from Passover, upon which the Easter stories are based? (A few Christian groups, such as the Seventh-Day Adventists and Worldwide Church of God, have different views about Easter observances.)  The quarrels among Christians seems less about the conclusion - when and how Easter should be observed - than about who makes the decision. Lutherans can observe Easter today not because the Bishop of Rome says so, but because they arrived at the same conclusion without being told.

Of course, we're reached the point that it's not likely that any major denomination is going to devote time and energy revisiting the fixation of the dates for Easter, or Christmas, for that matter. There's plenty to do with the way things are.

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All He wants for Christmas is a roofing contractor

The Church of the Nativity marks the place in Bethlehem where Christians believe that the manger stood, the manger where Jesus was born.The church is one of the oldest in Christendom, with various structures in place since the 4th century. The BBC reports that it is now in danger of being closed because the three Christian denominations that share responsibility for church maintenance can't agree about paying for the roof repairs.
Bill Seamans, a former ABC correspondent in the Middle East and now columnist for the Keene Sentinel, reports that, during the time when Israel occupied the region, the Israeli army reservists made some urgent, but temporary, repairs to the roof in the quiet of the night.
The three parties did reach an agreement in September for a plan to repair the roof, but haven't been able to agree on paying for it. 
The government of the Palestinian Authority, where the church is located, may have to raise the money itself. If the church closes, tourists won't come. As it is, what with the general uneasiness about travel into the PA (access to which is controlled by Israel, which occasionally closes the borders for security concerns), tourists don't generally stay long in Bethlehem. They don't shop or stay in hotels or talk much to the locals. An opportunity for commerce, cultural exchange and understanding, and, oh, yes, spiritual renewal is being lost because of Christian disunity.
The Palestinians told the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic monks who share the administration of the church that the three groups must reach a decision about taking care of the roof. After three weeks, the three groups came back and reported that they couldn't agree.
The maintenance issues have long been fractious. Recently the church was closed to visitors because one monk wouldn't clean a staircase that was owned by another denomination.
As it stands now, the Palestinian Authority, like the Israeli soldiers before them,  may have to pay for repairs to a Christian holy site while the Christians quarrel about whose turn it is to take out the rubbish.

The paper of record vs. The New York Times

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The war for our hearts and minds goes up a notch

The Liberty Counsel has created a Adopt a Liberal Home program.
Until such time as I gain wider notoriety, you can just call me The "Unknown Liberal"
The good folks at WorldNet Daily, who brought this service to light in their story, Tired of gritting your teeth over liberals?, also note that

Liberty Counsel also said it will be creating a deck of cards similar to baseball trading cards, with one side featuring the picture of a liberal and on the other side some of their liberal positions "that negatively impact life, liberty and family."
"In this way people can pray for a specific person and then trade cards with their friends," the organization said. "There will be 51 cards, which is one card short of a full deck!"