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Monday, February 27, 2012

A 1,500-year-old Bible in which Jesus is believed to have foretold the coming of the Prophet Mohammed to Earth has attracted attention from the Vatican this week.

Pope Benedict XVI has reportedly requested to see the book, which has been hidden in Turkey for the last 12 years, according to the Daily Mail.

The text, reportedly worth $22 million, is said to contain Jesus’ prediction of the Prophet’s coming but was suppressed by the Christian Church for years for its strong resemblance to the Islamic view of Jesus, Turkish culture and tourism minister Ertugrul Gunay told the newspaper.

“In line with Islamic belief, the Gospel treats Jesus as a human being and not a God. It rejects the ideas of the Holy Trinity and the Crucifixion and reveals that Jesus predicted the coming of the Prophet Mohammed,” the newspaper reported.

“In one version of the gospel, he is said to have told a priest: ‘How shall the Messiah be called? Mohammed is his blessed name.’

“And in another, Jesus denied being the Messiah, claiming that he or she would be Ishmaelite, the term used for an Arab,” the newspaper added.

According to the report, Muslims claim the text, which many say is the Gospel of Barnabas, is an addition to the original gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.

St. Barnabas is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Church, an early Christian later named an apostle.

Gunay said the Vatican has officially requested to see the book, which Turkey had discovered during a police anti-smuggling operation in 2000.

The gang was reportedly convicted of smuggling various items seized during the operation, including the Bible, and all the artifacts were kept in a safe at an Ankara courthouse.

It remained closely guarded by authorities before being handed over to the Ankara Ethnography Museum where it will soon be put on show.

A photocopy of a single page from the leather-bound, gold-lettered book, penned in Jesus’ native Aramaic language is reportedly worth about $2.4 million.

But skepticism over the authenticity of the ancient handwritten manuscript has arisen.

Protestant pastor İhsan Özbek has said this version of the book is said to come from the fifth or sixth century, while St. Barnabas had lived in the first century as one of the Apostles of Jesus.

“The copy in Ankara might have been written by one of the followers of St. Barnabas,” he told the Today Zaman newspaper.

“Since there is around 500 years in between St. Barnabas and the writing of the Bible copy, Muslims may be disappointed to see that this copy does not include things they would like to see … It might have no relation with the content of the Gospel of Barnabas,” Özbek added.

But suspicions could soon be laid to rest.

The real age of the Bible could soon be determined by a scientific scan, theology professor Ömer Faruk Harman told the Daily Mail, possibly clarifying whether it was written by St. Barnabas or a follower of his.

A 1,500-year-old Bible in which Jesus is believed to have foretold the coming of the Prophet Mohammed to Earth has attracted attention from the Vatican this week.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Cory, age 15, is biologically female, but says he identifies himself more as a male.

Editor's note: This post is part of the Overheard on CNN.com series, a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community.

A new study in the journal Pediatrics found that children who don't conform to typical gender roles (i.e. boys who act like girls or girls who act like boys) have a higher risk of suffering abuse than other children.

This wasn't a surprise to many CNN.com readers, including this guest, who said "I don't think it takes multiple Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s to figure this out. 'If you're not like the rest of us, we'll beat you up.' We learned that in elementary school."

Kids who veer from gender norms at higher risk for abuse

The article sparked some interesting discussions on gender, parenting and society's expectations for boys and girls.

JackiMaddie: "I would love and support my child no matter what, and I hope other people feel the same way. Just do the best you can as a parent to instill your values in your child, but if the child follows a different path, you should still be there for him/her. That being said, I am so relieved my daughter obviously doesn't have this problem."
But MindLikeWarp said you can't support everything your child does.
"Pretty soon we are going to say it is OK to be racist, because that is just who you are. I think parents have a responsibility to teach their children how to be able to function decently in society. I think parents should teach boys to be boys and girls to be girls. I know that isn't the PC thing to say, but you shouldn't just let kids do whatever they want. They need boundaries and rules. Society has them."

Readers also debated whether doctors were turning normal childhood behavior into a disorder.

Guest:
"Seriously? I was a tomboy when I was younger. I'm not boyish anymore. I was normal then and normal now. Why is everyone making such a big deal about this? Kids like to experiment. Some kids like to play outside and get dirty, some kids like to play with dolls, some kids like blue and some kids like pink. Stop trying to paint kids as transgender!! They are just trying to grow up and understand the world. The boys in my neighborhood used to come over and we would play dress up with my dresses. It was FUN. Calm down and let kids be kids!"
Michael J. Creamer Jr.:
"In fairness, it's the children who are painting themselves to be transgender. If you read the article carefully, you will see that they are talking about issues a little more substantial than a girl playing baseball and a boy playing with a Barbie doll."
mwhite5990:
"I really hope they don't start to think that girls that like sports now have a psychological disorder. When I was a kid I loved to play with Barbies, dress up, but I also loved to go outside and play sports and play video games. I think it is healthy for kids to show typical signs of both genders. Most of my friends went through a "tomboy" phase. And from what I know, all of us are straight women. If a girl wants to play sports or a boy wants to be a dancer, let him, don't just assume he/she is gay. Gender roles are created by society.
In short, let kids be kids and have fun."

Other readers argued that sexuality and gender are separate issues.

boatrocker:
"You people are missing the point. This is not about being homosexual. It's about how parents are STILL trying to stereotype their kids by gender – 'girls are supposed to wear pink dresses with bows in their hair, and play with dolls. Boys are supposed to wear jeans and play with trucks.' The parents get upset if the kids don't adhere to these stereotypes. It has nothing to do with sexuality."

blueduck13 said people can't be forced to accept someone who doesn't conform to gender roles.
"Personally, I could care less, but while everyone has freedom of choice, they also have consequences. If you have a Mohawk, some people might stare."

But Aucausin says it's much different from a haircut:
"Unless you have gender dysphoria it can be hard to understand. Imagine tomorrow you wake up as the opposite sex, all your friends and family have forgotten that you were ever different and now believe that you were always the opposite sex. You go to dress for the day and your wardrobe has been replaced with clothes indicative of your new sex. You must wear these clothes with your new body. You go to breakfast then school or work and everyone you know sees you as male or female even though you feel like something different. This doesn't seem like much in text, but it is hell."

What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments area below and in the latest stories on CNN.com. Or sound off on video via CNN iReport.

Sugarland says Indiana stage collapse was an accident

iReporter Agnes Schade captured this photo after wind caused a stage to collapse at the Indiana State Fair in August 2011.

(CNN) -- Country duo Sugarland has denied negligence claims against it, responding to a lawsuit by saying that a fatal stage collapse last year at an Indiana State Fair was "a true accident, or act of God."

Several families of victims from the August incident have filed a lawsuit against Sugarland, contending it was negligent in the stage collapse that left seven people dead and more than 40 injured.

The incident occurred after a storm toppled scaffolding just as the country band was about to take the stage.

In its response, Sugarland contended that the incident was caused by a "gust of wind of unprecedented intensity," according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate WRTV.

Sugarland not fined for stage collapse

Police tapes detail stage collapse

Sugarland concert helps heal wounds

The band also said "they had nothing to do with the construction of the venue" and did not have the final say if the show should happen or not.

"Sadly when a tragedy occurs, people want to point fingers and try to sensationalize the disaster. The single most important thing to Sugarland, are their fans ... for anyone to think otherwise is completely devastating to them," said Gail Gellman, the band's manager.

An attorney representing the family of one of the victims blasted Sugarland comments.

"Sugarland's response is a carefully crafted legal document that inappropriately attempts to distance the band from the responsibilities incumbent upon the show performers as to the safety of their fans ... And this spin doctoring of Sugarland's role in the case is both offensive and outlandish," said Carl Brizzi.

He represents Heather Goodrich, who lost her husband in the collapse.

Earlier this month, Indiana State Fair Commission paid a $6,300 fine imposed after state workplace safety regulators concluded the fair failed to conduct an adequate safety evaluation at the fairgrounds.

Also the Indiana Department of Labor has announced penalties totaling $80,800 in the incident, saying various companies and the state fair itself failed to comply with safety precautions.

Court and state documents reveal differing accounts of what happened.

In an affidavit from a lawsuit against one company, the fair's executive director says she twice sent the show's promoter to talk to Sugarland in an effort to delay the show.

Twice the answer came back -- we want to go on, according to the deposition by Cynthia Hoye, the executive director of the state fair, according to the court filing.

But in a separate document contained in a state report on the incident, Sugarland tour manager Helen Rollins said no one asked the band to delay its set.

The lawsuit, filed last November, seeks unspecified damages, WRTV reported.

Greece back on track - but for how long?

Back on track, the finance minister cried, giddy from all-night negotiations. Back on track they shrilled, grateful that they had got a deal to shovel another €130 billion into Greece to prevent a default… for now.

Wait a moment. From the second my Blackberry buzzed with economists’ analysis this morning, there has been an uneasy truth they may be “back on track” - but for how long?

It may be raining on the eurozone’s parade. There are a lot of private economists who basically say this deal is not good enough because no matter how much money is being shovelled into Greece, it still leaves the country with a debt-to-GDP ratio that is too high.

While the lower official interest rate and the ECB paying over profits helps, there is no escaping the fact that Greece is still left with too much debt. This story is now firmly one about how much debt Greece still has on its books.

Paul Donovan of UBS chimed in with an early email at 06:14, in time for breakfast, calling 120.5% debt-to-GDP “an unsustainable level.”

Barclays Capital attempted to be fair, calling the debt dynamics “challenging.” Finally, they could resist no longer. “Public debt will remain excessively high,” they intoned. That sounds very like Donovan’s “unsustainable.”

Stephen Pope of Spotlight Consultancy was even more blunt. “One has to be honest here,” he wrote. “There is not a solution in this deal.”

Challenging. Optimistic. Questionable. All good words to describe a situation which HSBC has summed up in a sentence: “The Greek crisis is far from over.”

I don’t always believe private economists working for banks have the final answers. They either missed or weren’t looking for the financial landmines that blew up in 2008. So far, though, they have been right most of the time. They said the first bailout would fail and it did. They warned that Greece would need far more money, and it has. And finally they are declaring that this latest deal won’t solve the problem - and it doesn’t .

Despite the ringing endorsement from the eurozone to “provide adequate support to Greece during the life of the program and beyond” my gut feeling is that if this one doesn’t work, they will pull the plug.

Judging by the economists comments today, they won’t have long to wait.

02:48 PM ET Close Share this on: Facebook Twitter Digg del.icio.us reddit MySpace StumbleUpon Share Comments (18 comments) Permalink Briefing Bites: Franklin Graham, Gas Prices and Syrian Militarization

At the beginning of Tuesday's briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that President Obama will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy conference on Sunday March 4th in Washington D.C. The next day, Obama is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

For much of the rest of the briefing, Carney was asked to respond to comments made on television and on the campaign trail.

Early Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", Rev. Franklin Graham questioned the president's commitment to Christianity, saying he "can't say categorically" that the president is not a Muslim.

"Under Islamic law, Sharia law, Islam sees him as a son of Islam," Graham said. "Because his father was a Muslim. Grandfather was a Muslim. That's just the way it works. That's the way they see it. He says he didn't grow up that way and he believes in Jesus Christ. So the Muslim world, Islam sees him as a son of Islam."

Graham also said "Islam has had a pass under Obama," and the president "seems more concerned about them than the Christians that are being murdered in the Muslim countries."

Carney was asked specifically about Graham's comments but passed on the opportunity to take the issue up directly:

I did meet with the president this morning for about 45 minutes and amazingly he didn’t bring this up because he was actually talking about policy issues that he believes are the most important things he can do and he can focus on as president. And that they are the most important things for the vast majority of the American people who are concerned about paying the rent or the mortgage, sending their kids to school, making ends meet. You heard him speak earlier today at the payroll tax cut extension event where he firmly believes that getting an extra forty dollars in every pay check is of vastly greater significance to most Americans than someone’s opinion expressed on cable television about his personal faith which again he has spoken about explicitly as recently as a few weeks ago at the national prayer service.

Earlier Carney was asked about other criticisms of the president's faith made last week by GOP candidate Rick Santorum, and he was a bit more expansive in his response:

I would simply point you and others to statements the president made at the National Prayer Breakfast not long ago where he spoke very explicitly about his own Christian faith, and then I would say that this president is focused on doing thinks that he believes the American people elected him to do, which is work with Congress or independently to take every measure and every action he can to grow the economy and create jobs. To protect the middle class, to help this country recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. You guys can decide and your editors and your bookers what's a story and what's not. This president's focused on his job as president, getting this country moving in the right direction, ensuring the recovery which is underway continues forward, that we continue the positive economic growth that we've had, that we continue the 23 straight months of private sector job growth that we've had – over 3.7 million jobs created – private sector jobs created in the last 23 months. Those are issues that the president is focused on. Those are the issues that the president believes the American people are focused on, and want their representatives in Washington and those who represent them in the White House to focus on.

Reporters also asked Carney about another hot topic of political debate – gas prices. He reiterated that domestic oil production has increased every year of Obama's presidency, and he pointed to "millions of new acres" opened for oil and gas exploration over the last three years as evidence that the administration was seriously addressing the issue.

There are no magic solutions to rising oil prices and the pain that Americans feel at the pump. This is – the fact is that the president is very aware of the impact that the global price of oil has on families and this is not something that this administration discovered or rediscovers every spring as some politicians do. As you're aware, Jake, oil production in the United States has increased every year that this president has been in office.

On Syria and recent calls from GOP senators for the U.S. to arm the opposition movement there, Carney said that the U.S. continues to push for a "political solution."

We don't want to take actions that would contribute to the further militarization of Syria because that could take the country down a dangerous path. But we don't rule out additional measures that – working with our international partners – that the international community might take if the international community should wait too long and not take the kind of action that needs to be taken to ensure that Assad steps aside, to ensure that a peaceful democratic transition can take place in Syria. So I'm not ruling out potential future actions, but there is an opportunity that still exists we believe for a peaceful transition to occur in Syria and we don't want to contribute to the further militarization there.