Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings

Month: July, 2009

July 28, 2009

BREAKING NEWS: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Amnesty International’s Highest Honor, Named Ambassador of Conscience for 2009

This morning, Amnesty International announced that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi–Burma’s Prime Minister-elect and Nobel Peace laureate who has spent forteen of the last twenty years under house arrest, and is currently standing trial before the ruling military junta on sham charges of violating the terms of that house arrest–has received the organization’s highest honor: she has been named Ambassador of Conscience for 2009. The announcement was made by Bono of U2 at a concert in Dublin. You can watch the clip below:

July 28, 2009

Leaders Reject Appointment of Episcopal-Buddhist Bishop

I’ve posted a bit recently about Episcopal priest and Zen practitioner Kevin Thew Forrester’s possible ordination as a bishop, and the controversy surrounding his selection. The Associated Press reports this morning that leaders of the Episcopal Church have rejected his appointment.

    The Diocese of Northern Michigan’s election of the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester was declared “null and void” yesterday. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says he failed to receive the necessary consent from a majority of Episcopal bishops and diocesan committees.

    Thew Forrester also has been criticized for blending elements of Christianity and Buddhism. In a 2004 diocesan newsletter, Thew Forrester said he had “received Buddhist ‘lay ordination.”‘

    Bloggers also have criticized Thew Forrester for calling a reading from the Quran “the word of God.”

    [...]

    [He also] denies that Satan exists, doesn’t believe God sent Jesus Christ to die for the world’s sins, and teaches that many paths lead to salvation.

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July 28, 2009

Buddhist American Idol Contestant Killed

Both The Worst Horse and BuddhaJones report on the death of Alexis Cohen, the American Idol contestant who professed her Soka Gakkai Buddhist faith on the popular television show.

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July 28, 2009

The Tibet Fund

For more information, visit http://www.tibetfund.org.

July 28, 2009

Burma News (7.28.09)

Image via the BBC.
Here’s the latest news about Burma:

  • Reuters, the Washington Post, and the BBC report that closing arguments have been heard in the ongoing military trail of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s Prime Minister-elect and Nobel Peace laureate, who faces sham charges by the ruling military junta of violating the terms of her house arrest.
  • Though both the Associated Press and Al Jazeera English report on yet another postponement/extension of the trial, the New York Times and CNN report on its nearing end.
  • The Guardian reports that we can expect a verdict this Friday.
  • The Agence France-Presse reports that the junta continues to reject international criticism of their treatment of Suu Kyi.
  • The editors of the Wall Street Journal take U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to task for not being harder on the junta during her recent meeting with their representatives, saying, “Panding to dictators doesn’t pay.”
  • The junta, though, has been very defensive about and critical of her comments, though, as the AP reports.
  • Human Rights Watch blogs for The Huffington Post that “recent amnesties in Burma”–like the big the junta is promising in the run up to the 2010 elections–”have been little more than public relations stunts.”
  • James Gomez, though, writes for the Asia Times about why the elections “will work.”
  • Lastly, the AP reports that Burma may get more money to combat the AIDS epidemic in their country.

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