We at the Center believe Symantec is correct: there are two distinct sets of sites in the “religious malware site” category: intentional and unintentional, but that there is an additional subtlety.  By definition, a ”Christian” walk excludes intentional harm to others through malware. So, the first set of sites, are shells, religious in name only, set up by the unscrupulous to prey on the unsuspecting visitor. Hiding unscrupulous actions behind a “Christian” badge is nothing new, but every new technology brings new twists. For example, nowadays there are many “phishing” emails and tweets — communications designed to obtain money or information such as passwords or identities– currently using the technique of posing as a trusted or trustworthy identity, simply because the scams work better given this (false) association. This technique is known as social engineering, because it doesn’t just simply attack, it relies on instead on tricking the person in receipt of the communication to step into the snare.

The second set of “religious malware” sites are unintentional. The infection is unknown to the site owner, as Symantec estimates is true in 61% of website malware cases. Perhaps the owner is a busy pastor who has good intentions, yet lacks either the skill or time to keep the site current, contrasted against porn sites that may have membership fees for site use, making it much more likely that a malware attack on a porn site would be reported to its owner.  Religious sites are not only largely easier prey to malware attacks than the for-profit porn sites, which are run professionally, they are also attractive malware targets, because visitors wouldn’t expect to be infected there.

What to do?

Each set of sites requires its own response. For the first, intentional harm posing under the Christian banner, follow the advice in Matthew 10:16: ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”   In the case of electronic harm, remember that the web community is more like a gold-rush town than a living room full of trusted friends. Alert your own community to the dangers. Practice vigilance and care when “traveling” the wild, wild, web.

For the second set of sites, owners and visitors have different possible responses: if a site you knew to be helpful suddenly pops up with malware (and there is a possible way to do so) contact the owner, who may be unaware of what has happened. Realizing that malware does the direct opposite of helping, and given this new information about the special harm posed by malware on “religious” sites, the responsibility for religious site owners becomes clear: first, do no harm. There is an American proverb that fits this situation: “hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works“.

So, what is a well-meaning owner of a religious site to do to help ensure that their site is not a road to malware hell?  Now is the time to commit resources to security, so that the site can be vigilantly attended and reasonably expected to be malware-free. If a site is hit with a malware attack, the owner must have the resources available to both learn of and deal with the occurrence in a timely matter. Malware must not be allowed to linger for weeks, and should ideally be caught and cleared within 24 hours.  This vigilance should extend to posts and tweets from others onto pages and streams you own: social engineering often poses as interesting or urgent posts to links ending at phishing or malware. If a resource owner is unable to commit such resources, they might consider turning over their resource to someone else who does, or giving the content to someone else and shutting the site down. Better to be silent than to cause harm.

-Center for Non Harming Ministries

_______________________
¹ “Religion ‘riskier than porn’ for online viruses. Sydney Morning Herald, May 2, 2012.  Online at http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/religion-riskier-than-porn-for-online-viruses-20120502-1xxx4.html and accessed May 2, 2012.
²The Symantec study is available online at Symantec.com: http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/other_resources/b-istr_main_report_2011_21239364.en-us.pdf, accessed May 2, 2012.

One such chain letter, making its way around the www, claims origination from Mother Teresa herself, in 1952. But a Mother Teresa Center in California takes the time to debunk that myth, writing:

Chain letters or chain prayers are superstitious practices that can create fear and lessen our faith in God who loves us and who is not controlled by the number of letters sent or prayers said. The Catholic Church teaches that “According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2562). It also states that ‘In the battle of prayer we must confront erroneous conceptions of prayer, various currents of thought, and our own experience of failure. We must respond with humility, trust, and perseverance to these temptations which cast doubt on the usefulness or even the possibility of prayer’ (CCC, #2753).

Our team has received that very letter, and we were torn. On the one hand, we loved the sentiment it expressed from the sender, about God’s love. On the other, we surely didn’t want to promote superstition or foster the growth of an urband legend. This thought came to mind: what if there were a way to teach others how to remove the problematic aspects of such viral emails?  It’s not hard:

• Step one: remove any threats about what might happen if anyone hits ‘delete.’
• Step two: delete any superstitious aspects, such as abundance theology  ( “this is what is promised if you hit ‘send.’”). These reduce God to the level of a personal genii to be summoned as in rubbing on a magic bottle, rather than a transcendent yet immanent presence who loves to be in relationship with us.
• Step three: delete any requirements (even requests) to forward the email to any specific number of people.

Voila, what remains is simply the essence of the message.

Example Result:

=====================

You were chosen to receive this novena.  So, perhaps, on receiving it, you will choose to take a moment to pray the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Today, the God of Love and Light remembers you, always ready to take away the felt hardships and pain, and give you JOY. For regardless of circumstance, God is there for you.

Interesting history:  This Novena in its original form had a superstitious aspect, and claimed (falsely) to have been originated by Mother Teresa herself, in 1952. One Mother Teresa Center debunks that chain, reminding visitors that the God who loves us ”is not controlled by the number of letters sent or prayers said.”  God sees our hearts. They suggest we be wary of superstition and its tendency to cast doubt on the usefulness of prayer, and instead respond with humility, trust, and perseverance.   With historical ”chain letter” aspects removed, what now remains is the Lord’s Prayer itself, and the sentiment of the sender for  you.

Consider this prayer as a “spiritual bouquet” for you, a prayer of blessing, sent with love.  Imagine that the sender of this email knocked at heaven’s door this morning, and as always God asked  ‘My child! What can I do for you?’ The sender’s prayer for you?

‘Father, please protect and bless the person reading this message… For them, I pray:

• That it shall be well with you this coming year;

• That no matter how much your enemies try this year, they will not succeed;

• That you have been destined to make it, and you shall surely achieve your goals this year (those that are congruent with God’s will);

• That for all of 2012, all your agonies will be diverted, tears will fade away, and joy and hope will fill you in abundance.

You may have someone you think would like to receive such a sentiment. If so, you can pray for that person, and then send the email along.  Or you may want to send  some other  “spiritual bouquet” – fragrant and lovely, to someone you care about.  Or there may be others for whom you would like to pray, but without sending anything to tell them. It’s up to you. If nobody comes to mind, you may want to take a quiet moment to feel gratitude for being alive to see another day, or to wish the world well, before deleting this email. Be assured, the God of Love and Light won’t judge you, and you needn’t feel superstitious or concerned, because only good is wished for you with this email.

Today, may your heart be warmed with the knowledge that you are in the thoughts and prayers of this email’s sender, and that you are a beloved child of God, now and always!

=====================

As noted in the revised letter, when the email stands alone, without any of its former “chain letter” aspects, what remains is simply The Lord’s Prayer, and a heartfelt sentiment from the sender for the recipient.  But the work isn’t entirely done yet. There is a final, fourth step:

• Step four: consider each potential recipient. Are they likely to take offense for any reason? If you feel there’s a possibility, find a different sentiment to send them.   And if and when you do send a message, show concern for the recipient’s email privacy. Send to just a few people who know each other, or individually.  Hiding email addresses in a ‘bcc’ is useful in newsletters, but in a personal sentiment it telegraphs “I sent this to a large number of people.”

The next time you receive a chain letter that has a core of beauty that you wish to preserve, follow our handy stepwise guide to breaking the eChains that bind, before hitting send. You, and your friends, will be glad you did.

Even though there’s an entire page on the urban legend website snopes.com dedicated to this story and its origins, I’d never heard of it, until I told someone the story of what had actually happened to me. On a cold winter day in 2011, I was surprised to find a dollar bill while reading a hotel Bible. In fact, I was so surprised, I took a picture (the photo shows the actual Bible in its page as I found it). And then I left the bill right where I’d found it, for the next reader to stumble upon.

Consider the last time you were completely surprised, opening a Bible. It could have been the last time you read it, as some perfect phrase spoke directly to you, and your situation. Maybe that happens to you so frequently you aren’t surprised by it anymore, or maybe it hasn’t happened yet.

The incident at the hotel got me thinking: what if I have the power to assist God with that surprise? In my case, I’m sure someone chose to leave that bill in that very location, like a calling card. They were telling the next reader, whom they didn’t know, “this is your money verse, consider it and take it to heart. You see, it is already paying off in cash!”

It worked; I’ve considered that verse quite a lot, since that unexpected discovery. The bill was in the middle of Proverb 4, which is about the pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom will protect you from stumbling and falling, and which will be like a crown on your head: ¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. ¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”  Proverb 5 warns against adultery, and the Proverb 3 has always been a favorite, including this advice: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”

The finding of the bill led me to reflect on wisdom. It also led me to the discovery of the legend of the Gideon Bible, when I told a friend what had happened. Had I known the Legend of the Gideon Bible, I would have considered exchanging that $1 bill for a larger one, to surprise and delight the next reader, as I had been surprised and delighted, myself.

Next time I am in a hotel, I may just plan on participating in the legend, as a mysterious do-gooder, leaving a bill in a Bible. It’s a random act, and harmless. When I do, I’ll consider the page, and the message,  because it’s a “calling card,” to point the reader to what they need.
__________
______
¹ The Gideons are an organization that, among other things, places Bibles in hotel rooms. If you were in a hotel and saw a Bible, it was probably placed by them. Some hotels no longer offer Bibles except on request, for fear they may not be appreciated or to appear “hip.” Other hotels know many guests look for them. More about the Gideons is available at www.gideons.org.

• When serving meals to groups, are cups and utensils recyclable?
• If water is served, why not offer water with lemon, and recyclable paper cups, reducing plastic?
• If the group gives out or sells branded items, why not add cloth shopping bags into the mix?
• Perhaps the congregation could become involved in a local conservation effort, joining forces to protect a certain species, or to keep a certain habitat pristine.
• There are certainly many other ways an organization might become more environmentally conscious. Contact us with your good idea and we may just add it here.

One Reason: The Albatross

Many birds enjoy the vast ocean, and among the most rare and beautiful  are the albatross. Birdwatchers love them, because their story is so romantic: they mate for life; both adults care for the young, and their first solo flight can last for years over the sea. They accomplish this by turning off part of their brain for sleep, still flying while never fully sleeping.

Walking on the beach, the ocean’s majesty sometimes takes your breath away. Enormous waves come crashing down, and it seems endless. Abounding.  It has always held abuntant food resources. Birds have skimmed the surface looking for jellyfish. There was a time when anything they saw on the ocean’s surface was  edible, but now that there’s so much plastic floating on the ocean’s surface, they can fill their stomachs and think they’ve eaten well, and still end up starving.

Because these majestic birds empty their stomachs before they take off, we know a bit about what they’ve eaten from the ocean, and it’s very sad. Many albatross are indeed showing evidence of having eaten many plastic bits and pieces.  Our shores are showing evidence of plastic washing up daily. A beach pictured below shows just one day’s worth of the detritus that has washed up on shore.   Many resorts clean up this plastic in the early morning, so tourists won’t see it,  butonce we have seen the truth, how can we not act? Plastic is there. It’s doing great harm. With knowledge comes responsibility. The good news is that as leaders in non harming ministry, we are in a position to really make a change, and be of influence to others.

The short clip below was shot at Na’Aina Kai  Botanical Gardens on Kauai in December of 2011, as part of a special bird watching tour. The gardens gave out stainless steel water bottles as a gift to encourage conservation, resource stewardship, and the thoughtful protection of wildlife. Our grateful thanks to our guide, Marty Fernandes, for her support and encouragement in creating and posting this webpage.

It was recently pointed out in an op-ed piece in The New York Times¹  that the media, perhaps in an effort to protect the reader, avoids certain words in rape cases. In doing so, it does a disservice not only to the victim of sexual assault but to all readers.   Talking about victims having sex with perpetrators underplays the violence associated with the crimes.  It also suggests consent, which is impossible in the case of children and in any case demeans and inaccurately portrays the situation.  

Rape is an act of violence.  It is very different from an act of love. Consensual sex is impossible in the case of children or adults who are too intoxicated to freely and willingly consent clearheadedly.  Consensual sex is impossible when the victim is in fear of mortal danger. 

The word rape should definitely offend our ears. We shouldn’t get used to it. But it should offend our ears to hear about a person having “sex” with a child. Because sex didn’t happen, rape did. And when we blur the lines between sex and violence, everyone pays a price. 

We live in a culture of violence, and the way actual acts of sexual violence are reported in the media is only part of the problem. Another large problem is the media itself, that reinforces our culture of violence. Ads and television scenes often show women as objects, to be taken at pleasure.

 Just as an exercise, you might challenge a team to take a notepad and jot down how many times women are portrayed as soulless sex objects over the course of a week, and how many rape scenes you see. Consider the portrayal of the victims, and whether the writers were at all sensitive to the fact of rape as an act of violence (or conversely, did they make rape actually seem  attractive, at all?).  Did the television show or movie portray any of the after-effects of rape, including the higher likelihood of depression, post-traumatic stress, alcohol and drug use, or suicidal thoughts, in the victim? 

Nine of ten rape victims are women. 15% of sexual assault victims are under the age of 12. ²  And one in four college women are raped or suffer attempted rape, and 84% know their assailants. The age group 16-24 has a rate of risk four times higher than other age groups.

Consider possible sermons on self respect, the value of all persons under God, and even the dangers of alcohol, which is often involved.  Also, consider sermons dealing with the aftermath, since you are likely preaching to some survivors, perpetrators, and parents.   

We can do better, and awareness is a powerful first step. 

  _____
¹Brisbane, Arthur. “Confusing Sex and Rape”, The New York Times  Public Editor Opinion pages. November 19, 2011.

²Statistics from Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, online at rainn.org /get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims/ and  accessed November 22, 2011.

Oxymoron, as in diametrically opposed? Seriously? How could it be that someone considered non-harming and ministry so different as to be the opposite of each other? My lunch companion was telling me, in a word, that, in her experience, ministry was generally harmful. Yet ministers, for the most part, are committed to healing the world, and to spreading a message of God’s peace, hope and love.  If anything, in the best of all worlds, our Center’s name should be a redundancy.   I managed to answer her, lamely, with a simple “I hope not.”

Authors and advocates use oxymorons and non sequiturs as literary devices, to point out the patently absurd. Examples of oxymorons include “working holiday,”  “extinct life,” and “living dead.”  I don’t include “military intelligence,” because I know some of the people working on cybersecurity, and they’re brilliant. Some advocates for child mental health would point to the juvenile justice system as a non sequitur, because of the foreseeable consequences of woefully inadequate treatment¹, education and rehabilitation.  They prefer to refer to the incarceration of our youth in the “criminal legal system.”   Even so, dedicated individuals exist within this system, working for the betterment of our youth every day.  

What a long way non harming ministers have to go, if ministry could be held in such low esteem. 

So, what is a non harming minister to do, when confronted with such an attitude? It would help to know what underlies it. Perhaps a previous minister has been a disappointment, or let someone down, or even caused harm. Perhaps doctrine has been taught unskillfully, and hurtfully. Or, some other misunderstanding may exist.

Be open, and listen. Keep actively engaging with the world in a peaceful and non-violent, non harming way, spreading God’s peace, hope and love. And let us know what you learn. 

_________
¹See American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform, Recommendations for Juvenile Justice Reform, October 2001. Available online at http://www.uiowa.edu/~nrcfcp/dmcrc/pdf/everything6.pdf  and accessed November 19, 2011.

The civil rights movement’s most well known and admired leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, was a Baptist minister. His most moving speeches were like sermons. He spoke of a dream, of going to the mountain. High hopes of a promised land. So far, we haven’t seen anyone like that emerging, in the Occupy movement.

We thought we’d go see for the heart of the movement, Occupy Wall Street, (and then a quick train ride to Occupy Boston since we weren’t that far away). We were looking for any theological undercurrents… and we found one in New York: a shrine.

This shrine, pictured above, spoke to the  underlying hope that perhaps prayer can be of some help. Perhaps we need something greater than ourselves to help guide us in more fruitful directions. The shrine was a hodgepodge, including votive candles, Buddhas and a Quan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion.

The participants in the Occupy movement I met included many passionate Americans from all age groups and demographics. There were also a few homeless who found the environment safer and warmer than their lot elsewhere. Some see them as hangers-on, but since this downturn created more homelessness, and since America  doesn’t have much political will to help the homeless, perhaps it’s fitting they’re there. 

I met folks with many agendas, ranging from joblessness, rising inequality, and a perception of unfairness and bias and even corruption of systems that they seemed to hold dear. There was also a frustration with leaders for failing to work together to solve the country’s problems, even though polls indicate that the majority of Americans want them to do so.  Even with their frustrations and complaints,  they’re still invested in change. They haven’t given up; they feel that this Occupy movement will result in… something. Yet so far I was unable to discern a strong, positive agenda describing what that “something” would be.  My traveling companion Cristina Parvu wrote an insightful blog on that very subject recently, noting that they also are missing the musicians that brought home the message so well in the 1960s.

Americans have always been a hopeful, optimistic people.  The hope for lasting, positive change was an undercurrent of the 1960s, and at least during the days I visited Boston and New York I felt the same sort of hope. The weekend of my Boston visit coincided with an historic Nor’easter, the biggest October storm in living memory, and yet those occupiers remained determined.  It remains to be seen whether the participants in  ”Occupy” will have an impact, or what that impact will be. We are heartened that prayer is a part of the process.

Many ministers have likely been approached with questions about 2012 as a popular date for the ‘end times’ described in Revelation. If they haven’t been approached, they can rest assured that it’s a topic on people’s minds. It’s captured people’s imaginations so much that even NASA came out to reassure folks that the world is not expected to end in 2012 just because a calendar does.

When we originally posted about the year 2012 it was in December of 2009. The planned release of a Hollywood blockbuster movie, “2012,” was causing a big sensation. Everyone was talking about the end of the Maya calendar in December of 2012, and what that could possibly mean, even though their own check book calendars ran out in a few years, because of limited printing space.

Many of us who have been around long enough to remember the transition from 1999 to 2000 remember there was doom saying then, as well. Computers were going to blow up, many people said. When nothing happened during the transition, the day slipped into obscurity. Yet systems administrators, computer programmers and other computer professionals had worked very hard to ensure that the transition, known as Y2K, would be a non-event.

In the last few years, a number of loud predictions of the end of the world have come and gone. Just last year, when one group predicted rapture would occur on May 21, 2011, a group called American Atheists cheerfully capitalized on the prediction, buying out billboards inviting people to a “rapture party.” The one billboard I spotted on stated “The Rapture: You KNOW it’s Nonsense. 2000 Years of ‘Any Day Now.’” The atheists made it clear: doomsayers have been predicting end times since Revelation was written. Of course, a biblical tradition of doom saying and calls to repentance had existed for ages before that (the prophets). And to lump all Jesus followers together wasn’t fair play.

So, how does the Non Harming Minister react? Simply: with love and understanding, working to replace fear with faith. Counsel prudence, telling people not to sell or give away everything they own in expectation of the end of the world.  Walk them through their actual fears, understanding that times are, indeed, hard right now.  Perhaps the counsel in 1 Peter 1:7 could be useful in helping people get through the troubles they face.

Finally and most importantly, remind them that Jesus Himself assures followers: “”No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32).  Jesus also tells us “fear not,” over and over again, and reminds us, in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The handshake was a a medieval means of allowing two enemies to speak together without fear:  the right hand, usually dominant, was engaged by the strong grip of the enemy.  With the right hand occupied -and obviously disarmed - each warrior could negotiate with the other, without fear of being harmed.  So, a handshake occurred originally within the context of war.

But handshakes themselves can hurt. The image, above, shows the damage that came to the hand of a fragile, elderly Christian Brother, after repeatedly shaking hands at the end of a mass.  No harm was intended.  Many people — men and women alike — are taught that your handshake signifies your character.  Perhaps it does. This author, a violinist, once dared to shake hands with baseball giant Hank Aaron, whose hands are very powerful. I  was struck by how sensitively he shook my hand, without causing any harm. He wasn’t afraid of being perceived as gentle, which I believe shows more interior strength than those who indiscriminantly use a macho death grip on all comers. Many musicians simply shy away from handshakes completely, but at that moment I realized that the sensitive handshake can show both insight and a non-harming character, as it did when Hank Aaron took such care not to hurt my hand.

The extra-firm handshake is just convention. And we can change convention. In flu season, there is another reason to reinvision the greeting: handshakes are a great way to spread infectious disease, the majority of which is spread by contact. People touch their face thousands of times a day, and they don’t run for hand sanitizer between handshakes.  Every Sunday, during the passing of the peace, handshakes pass germs such as cold and flu viruses as well. That’s why the NBA banned the handshake for players, and implemented the fist bump in 2009.

There are many creative alternatives to the handshake:

• the fist bump
• the Hawaiian hang-loose sign
• hand over heart, as when we say the Pledge of Allegiance
• the peace sign, for a retro feel
• blowing air kisses, Italian style
• the Vulcan greeting (a practice that actually was adapted from ancient worshipful practice)
• bowing your head with hands in a symbol of prayer: the holy in me bows to the holy in you (as long as both parties bow equally.)

The possibilities are endless. Let your imagination run wild, and we wish you fun, creative, non-harming cold-and-flu season’s greetings!

Praise God with lyre and harp, praise God with drums and dancing… (Psalm 150)

Praise/worship/biblical/Davidic dancing is not only a means of worship, it can enhance the worship experience of others, as they contemplate space, time, rhythm, interconnection, and the fleetingness of the moment.

Does the concept seem new? It isn’t. Thousands of years ago, in ancient Judaism and then early Christianity, it was part of worshipful prayer[1]. There are many biblical references to dancing in praise of the Lord[2].. Then, during the time of Reformation, it was suppressed along with other bodily expression, as unseemly.  We have experienced a resurgence in the past century, with liturgical dance serving many purposes, including witnessing to faith, inspiring congregants, challenging our thinking, or acting as a form of prayer.

Styles of dance are as wide-ranging as the dancers themselves, including: spontaneous, choreographed, modern, ballet, lyrical, African, clog, Davidic, and hip hop. Dancers can be few or many. Their attire can be simple or ornate. They can have props – streamers, banners, tambourines, flutes, and such – or have none.  Inspiration frees the dancer of limitations, so this genre is continually growing and changing.

Below is our example. Dancer Rena Jones-Guidry of the Providence Baptist Church provides an original interpretation of a song that speaks to the promise of a second chance:

Filmed at Providence Baptist Church and edited at Elfenworks Productions, LLC. Dancer: Rena Jones-Guidry. Filmed by: Jennifer Thomas, for Elfenworks Productions, LLC. Mastering: John Watkins, for Elfenworks Productions, LLC.  Copyright 2011 Elfenworks Productions LLC. All rights reserved.  For music credits, please see the band website, www.commodorecallahan.com.