The Pope Is Trying To Deal With Perverted Priests By Screening Future Candidates With A "Sex Drive" Test!

Perversion in the priesthood has become a serious & undeniable issue for the Catholic Church.So, they have devised a strategy to try & weed out potential priests who seem incapable of committing to celibacy. You must suppress all of your sexual urges as a priest.This test is supposed to determine whether you are psychologically ready to be celibate or not. Here's more from BBC:

"The Roman Catholic Church has issued guidance for future priests to have psychological tests to weed out those unable to control their sexual urges.

A senior churchman said a series of sex scandals had contributed to the rewriting of the guidelines.

The authors said screening would help avoid "tragic situations" caused by what they termed psychological defects.

The guidance says the voluntary tests should also aim to vet for those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".

Among other traits that might make a candidate unsuitable for the priesthood, the advice lists "uncertain sexual identity," "excessive rigidity of character" and "strong affective dependencies".

The document also makes reference to heterosexual urges.

Seminarians should be barred if testing makes it "evident the candidate has difficulty living in celibacy: That is, if celibacy for him is lived as a burden so heavy that it compromises his affective and relational equilibrium", it says."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the whole article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7700710.stm
This video is about a priest who molested children & he is HIV positive.

Africans Really Hope The Obama Presidency Will Really Affect Change For Africa As Well

America is waiting with bated breath to see just how Obama will govern.And the people of Africa wonder if the Obama adminstration will be any different than the previous administrations.Here's an excerpt from Africa Today:

"Unless there is a fundamental change in America's policies towards Africa, the continent will not gain much from the in-coming US government.

Many people of African descent are anticipating that when Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States of America, the fortunes of Africa will change. However, nothing will change unless US foreign policy towards Africa changes drastically.

The G8 Summit held in June, pledged $6 billion dollars a year in so-called aid to Africa. The low figure caused an official of Oxfam to say "We're extremely disappointed by this wasted opportunity. They're offering peanuts to Africa and recycled peanuts at that."

In 1999, debt service payments from Africa, the poorest region in the world, to rich Western countries totaled $35.7 billion. African debt stands at a crippling $300 billion. According to The Guardian (U.K.) "African leaders invited to the G8 gathering expressed deep disappointment that the plan did nothing to open western markets, cancel debts of the poorest countries or provide the financial aid needed to meet the U.N.'s targets for tackling global poverty by 2015."

Behind the shameful peanut throwing lurks a deadly western policy towards Africa. The U.S. government which dominates the G8 has through the Pentagon, the CIA, the World Bank and the IMF, systematically demolished African economies, health and education sectors, and fueled eleven wars on the continent with arms transfers and military training. This genocidal imperial strategy has killed more than ten million Africans and has allowed the U.S. and the West to obtain Africa's abundant natural riches very cheaply."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here:http://www.africatoday.com/cgi-bin/public.cgi?sub=news&action=one&cat=187&id=1565

Barack Obama is only one man.Therefore,there is only so much damage that he can repair in 4 years.There is a catastrophic mess that will be handed over to him on January 20,2009.Everyone's expectations may be set a little too high for a regular human being to meet.

This video contains the trailer of a documentary called "Nubian Spirit".The movie is about ancient African civilizations.Everytime I see the abundant riches that Africans once enjoyed,it makes the current dire state of the continent seem unfathomable.What would have happened to Africa had it never been colonized? Why weren't the Africans dying of starvation before the Europeans conquered their land? How did a land of supposed savages & heathens manage to erect some of the most mysterious & beautiful temples that mankind has ever seen? Present day Africans just want to return to their past glory.It's time for the wealthy nations that plundered Africa's riches to return the wealth.Africa has helped the West become what it is today.Amazingly enough,Africa remains in serious debt despite their rich past.

Do You Believe The Bible's Teachings About The Nativity?

I read an interesting article that talked about a survey that showed that most Britons do not believe in the nativity. Well, I am not sure exactly how Jesus came to be either.As a Christian,you are told that everything is about faith. But, I was raised to question all religion & historical teachings.My pops drilled the fact that you can't believe everything you read into my head. And when you go to bible study, the instructor doesn't take kindly to a person like me.An inquistive mind can really get in the way of faith. But,what really caught my attention was this part of the article from the Telegraph.co.uk:

"Simon Gathercole, a new testament scholar at Cambridge University, said people were sceptical because they were not aware the origins of Christianity were anchored in real history.

He added: "Jesus was born while Augustus was emperor of Rome just before Herod died. We're talking about events that are anchored in real history not in ancient Greek myths."

A separate study by Mothers' Union, a Christian charity, showed that more parents encourage their children to believe in Father Christmas than in the nativity.

A spokeswoman for the charity said the survey "raised concerns that the church needs to do more to support families in the spiritual nurture of their children".

She added: "The church needs to get across the fact that in times of both adversity and prosperity, it has a universal message which enables people to connect with something outside themselves."

The study of 1,000 parents found that one in five do not encourage their children to associate Christmas with the nativity. Five per cent do not encourage their children to believe in Father Christmas."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3868265/Most-Britons-do-not-believe-in-the-nativity-survey-shows.html

For me, Christmas is about presents,good cheer,delectable eats,& the birth of Jesus. Santa Claus is not the point of Christmas. He is more like a byproduct of it.If you don't believe in the nativity,how could you teach your kids to believe in Santa? Seems pretty inconsistent to me.

Check out this description of the real meaning of Christmas from the cartoon "Charlie Brown."