The Hazards of Belief

silverharp wrote: »

It makes you wonder how people can be separated from their hard earned so easily.

http://www.hollywoodtake.com/creflo-dollar-plane-project-shocking-high-net-worth-wont-pay-gulfstream-650-private-jet-he-75990

CREFLO DOLLAR PLANE PROJECT SHOCKING? HIGH NET WORTH WON'T PAY FOR GULFSTREAM 650 PRIVATE JET - HE WANTS FOLLOWERS TO FUND $65 MILLION! [...] “We are asking members, partners, and supporters of this ministry to assist in acquiring in acquiring a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and [wife] Taffi and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace,” the Project G650 website says in part.

Christian Post wrote:

After a bruising weekend handling ferocious backlash over his campaign to acquire a $65 million Gulfstream G650 airplane with planned donations of $300 or more from 200,000 people, controversial televangelist and founder of World Changers Church International, Creflo Dollar has completely abandoned the idea and will only consider acquiring one in the future if it's "properly priced." "There is no campaign right now," said Juda Engelmayer of 5W Public Relations, who represents Creflo Dollar Ministries, in an interview with The Christian Post on Monday. The website hosting the campaign page was deactivated last week and an option to donate to the G650 campaign through the Creflo Dollar Ministries website was removed Monday afternoon. Dollar, who has an international ministry, was banking on raising enough money to buy the luxury jet to replace one owned by his ministry that was significantly damaged in an accident last November.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, Dollar's "Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159A airplane, N103CD, had a nose landing gear collapse during a runway excursion at the London Biggin Hill Airport (EGKB), near London, United Kingdom," on Nov. 24, 2014, and "the airplane sustained substantial airframe damage." Since then, Dollar and his staff have been travelling "commercial," an option critics believe he should have simply continued to exercise instead of asking the public for money to purchase the luxury jet. It appears Dollar has somewhat taken that suggestion to heart. "He's gonna continue traveling commercial. And if and when he obtains another jet it's gonna be used for ministry purposes, just like the current one," said Engelmayer.

When asked if acquiring a jet is still something on the televangelist's radar, Engelmayer said: "If one comes along that is properly priced and is sufficient and workable perhaps, but right now there is nothing that they are looking at." Asked what the ministry considered a "properly priced" jet, he replied, "I don't know."

Engelmayer further explained that the now broken ministry plane has flown some 4 million miles in 16 years. Most of the trips made in the airplane were national flights. When it was used for international trips, he said, they transported hundreds of thousands of pounds of food and other supplies cumulatively. He was unable, however, to say how much cargo they transported on an annual basis. "They load the plane up with what it can handle," he said. Although not saying it in so many words, he acknowledged that the G650 campaign was a bad idea and they are now trying to move on.

"There is no campaign. It's a moot point. The ministry will now focus on spreading the Gospel," he said.

Irish Times wrote:

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” – Proverbs 19:17 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” – Matthew 25:35

St Mary’s Cathedral, home of the Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, has been scrambling to explain itself after local media revealed that it had installed water sprinklers above its doorways that were dousing homeless people seeking shelter in the alcoves there. Officials of the archdiocese hastily began to dismantle the sprinklers after KCBS Radio revealed that homeless people and their belongings were routinely being soaked by the automated system.

The anti-homeless technique has been deployed outside commercial properties in several cities, including San Francisco, but its use by an institution devoted to the tradition of the good Samaritan is more contentious. Within hours of the story appearing, St Mary’s was insisting that the furore was all a “misunderstanding”. The spokesman for the archdiocese, Larry Kamer, stood on the steps of the cathedral and admitted that the sprinklers had been in place for “several years”, adding that they were used to deter homeless people from sheltering in the alcoves of the church.

“It was obviously never the church’s intention to actually douse homeless people with water,” he said. Water from the ceiling KCBS’s reporter witnessed water pouring from the church ceiling above the outside alcoves from a height of about 9m/30ft. It was set on an automated basis to run for about 75 seconds every hour or so through the night, drenching anyone or anything beneath it. “We’re going to be wet there all night, so hypothermia, cold, all that other stuff, could set in,” a homeless man called Robert told the radio station.

In a statement, the archdiocese said it was one of the largest supporters of services for the homeless in the city. “We are sorry that our intentions have been misunderstood and recognise that the method used was ill-conceived.” The statement said that the idea had been “not to remove those persons but to encourage them to relocate to other areas of the cathedral, which are protected and safer”.

Irish Times wrote:

Religion continues to play some part in the lives of the vast majority of Irish children. Just 3 per cent of parents of children under 13 say religion plays no role in their children’s upbringing. However, an Ipsos MRBI “Family Values” poll on behalf of The Irish Times also found that, while 93 per cent of parents with young children have had their children christened, a much lower percentage regularly pray or attend Mass with their children.

It also found that most Irish people do not believe baptised children should receive priority for spaces in their local school. The survey asked 231 respondents with children of 12 or under if they had had them baptised, and about the role of religion in their children’s lives. The results indicate that Baptism remains a priority for Irish parents. However, when it comes to everyday religious engagement the figures were much lower: just over a third of parents said they took their children to Mass regularly while a similar percentage said they prayed with their children regularly. Mothers are more likely than fathers to take children to Mass and to pray with them.

Younger parents are less likely than older parents to pray with their children. Among parents under 35, just 14 per cent said they brought their children to Mass regularly. However, parents under 35 are the most likely to have had their children baptised. Ninety-five per cent of them have done so. Relationship status is also an indicator of religious practice in families. Single parents are most likely to have had their children baptised (97 per cent) followed by married parents (94 per cent). Parents who described their relationship status as “living as married” are the least likely to have their children baptised, at 86 per cent. Parents who are divorced, separated or widowed are least likely to attend Mass with their children.

Beyond prayer and Mass-going, the survey showed small numbers of Irish children are participating in church activities in other ways. Ten per cent of parents said their children were in church choirs; 12 per cent said their children served as altar boys or altar girls. The Family Values poll asked 1,000 respondents if all children should have equal access to their local primary school or if priority should be given to baptised children.

The vast majority of people – of all ages, whether they had children or not – said all children should have equal access to school places.