Spiritual Experience

A spiritual experience can be generated in a number of ways. For instance, meditating, reading an uplifting book, watching a mystical movie, taking a spiritual retreat, helping a friend, practicing a spiritual art, like Qigong, etc. Running, because of the runner's high, can also be a spiritual experience. Playing or listening to music, especially classical or spiritual music can have an uplifting effect.

Whatever the action one takes to create this spiritual experience, the action needs to be sustained in order to be effective on a continual basis.

Therefore, one of the keys to sustaining these spiritual experiences is to develop the habit of consistently carrying out the action that leads to the experience in the first place. You'll want to pick a time and carry out the action regularly.

In addition to consistency, finding spiritual resources or tools that can kickstart your journey to enlightenment is another smart way to generate experiences of a spiritual nature. Within this Spiritual Experience website you'll find spiritual articles and links on an ever-growing number of topics. Please feel free to take a spiritual journey through this spiritual site and hopefully it may give you some ideas to generate your next great spiritual experience.

I've also put together some spiritual articles and resources and combined them into a Spiritual Tools ebook that you can download for free. The links lead to a variety of spiritual resources, some free others that require a small investment.

Free Spiritual Tools Ebook

Now you can quickly download this free spiritual tools ebook. It is filled with links and resources to a variety of the newest tools you can use to grow spiritually. Enliven your spiritual journey with some powerful resources that will keep you positive and motivated and accomplishing what you want in life.

Within this free spiritual ebook you'll also find links to free downloads of software and ebooks. If you have a website feel free to give this ebook away to your visitors.

Download your free copy of the Spiritual Tools Ebook by right clicking here. The ebook is in PDF format so can be enjoyed by both PC and Mac users.

For more spiritual tools you can use for spiritual growth click here. Be sure to bookmark that page as I'll be updating it often with the best spiritual tools you can benefit with.

Free Brandable Motivational E Book 50 Spiritual Movies - How Many Have You Seen?

50 Spiritual Movies is a free spiritual e book freely brandable with your money-making affiliate links. The spiritual book is in PDF format so can be enjoyed by both PC and Mac users.

This ebook reviews spiritual movies, motivational movies and inspirational movies. You may also find reviews on metaphysical movies and even a reincarnation movie review. The ebook also reviews the Spiritual Cinema Circle a unique spiritual movies club that finds the best in spiritual cinema to share with its members.

Started by Stephen Simon, the Spiritual Cinema Circle, is a dvd movie club that is unique in the respect that it highlights films of a spiritual nature. If you've ever seen a Stephen Simon movie (like Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve or What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams) then you know what to expect. Although the films aren't primarily G-rated fare like you'd get with the very popular Disney Movie Club, they will often tug at your heart like the Disney movies.

There are no movie downloads with this spiritual cinema club. It is better than an ordinary online movie rental club in the respect that you never have to return the movies - they're yours to keep. Each month you'll receive a steady supply of spiritual cinema in the form of foreign films, short films or shorts, independent films, documentaries and feature length spiritual movies.

After joining the club, many have started a spiritual circle where they gather once a month to share these spiritual dvds.

What the online movie rental clubs have is lots of variety. If you are interested in more than just spiritual films try the industry leader Netflix.

The last time I looked the Spiritual Cinema site even had some inspirational and motivational movie clips. Click below to visit:

Spiritual Cinema Site

Now you can combine a fun-time at the movies with an opportunity for spiritual growth and enlightenment. Take a spiritual journey over to the 50 Spiritual Movies site now to check it out or if you need to contact us:

Click Here to go to the Spiritual Movies site.

While there you may want to read some of the great inspirational articles. Out of the hundreds of spiritual articles you'll find at this spiritual site, below are links to some of my favorites.

• Retreat and Surrender...Your Stress
• What two secrets allow you to turn any movie you watch into a spiritual experience? Click here to have the secrets revealed.
• Creating a Prosperity Mindset by Randy Gage. Randy can be "a bit blunt." However it is that tell it like it is quality that has won him many adherents. And, the veracity of his message doesn't hurt either.
• Evaluating Your Associations - Part 1 by Jim Rohn
• Evaluating Your Associations - Part 2 by Jim Rohn

For more great spiritual articles Click here.

Now You Can Make Money and Help Others with Your Own Branded Copy of 50 Spiritual Movies - and it's Free!

Click here to get it now.

News
Current News On Beliefnet

Irish Cardinal Apologizes for Role in Abuse Scandal

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Facing calls for his resignation, the senior prelate of the Catholic Church in Ireland apologized Wednesday (March 17) for his role in dealing with a sexually abusive priest in 1975.

Cardinal Sean Brady said he was "ashamed" he had failed to tell Irish police about secrecy oaths signed by two alleged victims of Brendan Smyth, who was later convicted on more than 100 counts of sexual abuse of children.

Irish newspapers revealed over the weekend that Brady, who at the time served as secretary to the Bishop of Kilmore, was present in 1975 when two former altar boys signed oaths of secrecy about their accusations against Smyth.

In a statement on Sunday (March 14), Brady's office said the oaths were intended "to respect the confidentiality of the information gathering process."

Asked by reporters whether Brady should resign, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was notably unsupportive. "I ask for accountability,"

Martin said on Wednesday. "Resigning is a personal decision,"

Four Irish bishops have already offered to resign since last November's publication of the Murphy Commission Report, which uncovered a three-decade pattern of sex abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Dublin. So far, Pope Benedict has accepted only one resignation, of Donal B. Murray of Limerick.

Also on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI announced he would sign his expected pastoral letter about the Irish sex abuse crisis on Friday "and send it soon after."

Noting the occasion of St. Patrick's Day, Benedict told Irish pilgrims at his weekly public audience that the "church in Ireland has been severely shaken as a result of the child abuse crisis."

He called his letter to Irish Catholics a "sign of my deep concern,"

which he hoped would "help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal."

Last month, Benedict met with all 24 serving Irish bishops to discuss the letter, which will be the first major papal document in modern times devoted to clerical sex abuse.

This week also brought more news from the British Isles, as politicians and church leaders in London released details of Benedict's September 16-19 visit to Britain.

Among the highlights of the trip will be a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland; a joint ecumenical service with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; and the beatification of the 19th-century theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Yet controversy also promises to follow Benedict in Britain.

Secularist groups have protested the use of government funds to pay for his visit, and the pope's planned speech to political leaders to London is likely to echo his earlier criticisms of anti-discrimination measures that conflict with Catholic teaching on gender and sexuality.

By Francis X. Rocca
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Christian Doctors' Group Wants Blood Donation Rules to Stay

WASHINGTON (RNS) The CEO of the Christian Medical Association says the national ban on gay men making blood donations should be kept in place, despite calls from at least 18 senators for the Food and Drug Administration to drop the ban.

Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Tennessee-based doctors' group, said "the risk is not worth the benefit," noting that gay men have a much higher HIV infection rate than heterosexual males.

"It's not a matter of trying to discriminate against people. ....

The bottom line is medically we've got to make sure we keep the blood supply safe," he said in an interview on Wednesday (March 17).

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and 17 other senators wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on March 4.

"We request that you initiate a review of the lifetime deferral requirement for men who have sex with men wishing to donate blood and that you re-examine the deferral criteria for all blood donors to ensure all high-risk behaviors are appropriately addressed," they wrote.

The lawmakers said the lifetime ban "does not fall in line with the one-year deferral required for high-risk heterosexual behavior."

Stevens agreed with the senators that HIV testing has greatly improved since the ban went into effect in the 1980s. But he said he hopes the FDA will maintain its current policy because testing is "not 100 percent perfect."

By Adelle M. Banks
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Bush Most 'Surprised' by Prayers of Americans

LAKELAND, Fla. (RNS) The thing that most surprised former President George W. Bush was not international crises like the 9/11 terrorist attacks, nor the resilience of the Iraqi insurgency, but rather the impact of prayers from the American people, he said.

"The biggest surprise of the presidency was the calming effect of prayer by total strangers," Bush told about 700 college students and business leaders during a private appearance last Friday (March 12) at Southeastern University, an Assemblies of God-affiliated school in central Florida.

Bush said he was shocked and humbled by how many people prayed for him. "Imagine being a president of the United States and innumerable people would come up to you on a rope line and they're not going to say `I want a bridge' or `I want something special.' They come up to you and say, `I'm here to tell you, Mr. President, that I pray for you.' You gain strength as a leader by recognizing you need help."

Both the president and former first lady Laura Bush spoke at the university's Leadership Forum, the first time they have spoken on the same program since leaving the White House.

The former president talked at length about his battle with alcoholism, during a candid hour-long conversation with Southeastern chancellor Tommy Barnett. Bush said it was a private conversation with evangelist Billy Graham in his parents' living room -- after his fifth glass of wine -- that finally convinced him to give up the bottle.

"I wouldn't be sitting here as president of the United States if I hadn't quit drinking," he said.

Bush said he regretted some of his tough talk about terrorists after 9/11. "If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't say `dead or alive' or `bring `em on."' But he explained: "The enemy has got to know we were going to find them and hunt them down -- there I go again! -- we would locate them."

Bush talked openly about practicing his Christianity in office, including sharing his faith with the Russian and Chinese heads of state.

He said he told the Chinese president that Christianity is good for China. "Wouldn't you like to have a people whose first obligation is to love?" he recalled telling the Chinese leader.

By Greg Warner
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Catholic Bishops, Hospitals Split On Health Care

WASHINGTON (RNS) In a break with Catholic hospital administrators, the nation's top Catholic bishop says the health care reform bill "must be opposed" because it does not adequately ban federal funding of abortion.

"The American people and the Catholic bishops have been promised that, in any final bill, no federal funds would be used for abortion and that the legal status quo would be respected," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Monday (March 15).

President Obama, who is pressing Congress to pass a health care bill this week, has pledged to exclude federal funding of abortion from the legislation except in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother's health is in jeopardy, as has been federal law since the 1970s.

Obama and others say the health care bill passed by the Senate in December fulfills that promise. The Catholic bishops argue that it does not, and that only the version passed by the House in December contains the necessary ban.

Because of congressional rules and partisan politics, Democratic leaders are pushing the House to adopt the Senate version. The Catholic Health Association, which represents 2,000 health care sponsors, systems, hospitals, and long-term facilities, calls the Senate bill a "major first step" toward covering all Americans. CHA officials say the abortion language can be "corrected" after it passes.

George acknowledged the CHA's difference of opinion. "The bishops, however, judge that the flaws are so fundamental that they vitiate the good that the bill intends to promote," he said.

"Assurances that the moral objections to the legislation can be met only after the bill is passed seem a little like asking us, in Midwestern parlance, to buy a pig in a poke," he said.

By Daniel Burke
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Pope's Handling of Abuse Cases Comes Under Scrutiny

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA (RNS) When the Archdiocese of Munich admitted last Friday (March 12) to "serious errors" in the case of a priest suspected of molesting a child, it flatly exonerated the man who had served as archbishop at the time, Joseph Ratzinger.

Ratzinger, of course, is now Pope Benedict XVI, and the scores of molestation cases erupting across Europe are prompting questions about Ratzinger's response to the problem, both before and after he was elected pope.

Gerhard Gruber, the former vicar general in Munich, said he took "full responsibility" for the 1980 decision to reassign the Rev. Peter Hullermann to another parish, even though he had been accused of sex abuse.

Six years after his return to pastoral work, Hullermann was convicted of sexually abusing minors; Hullermann was suspended Monday (March 15) by the Archdiocese of Munich.

Advocates for abuse victims and other critics say they find it hard to believe that then-Cardinal Ratzinger did not personally approve Hullermann's reassignment. Benedict's defenders insist it would not be unusual for an archbishop in a large diocese to delegate such decisions to an underling.

Whatever Ratzinger knew or did not know in that particular case, he went on to acquire deep knowledge of clerical sex abuse in general, long before the latest spate of revelations across Europe. That expertise evidently impressed him with the gravity of the scandal, and has shaped his approach to it as pope.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II gave Ratzinger, who had been plucked from Munich in 1982 to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the task of overseeing the discipline of clerical sex abusers.

Early on, Ratzinger seemed to suggest the problem might be overplayed. In 2002, he said he was "personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign" since abuse was no more an occupational hazard in the priesthood than in other professions.

Yet in practice, Ratzinger's defenders say, his office faced the problem head-on.

In a rare interview last week with the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire, Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna, the CDF official in charge of sex abuse investigations, said that a staff of 10 has examined and responded to accusations against some 3,000 alleged abusers over the last 10 years, with the heaviest caseload coming from the U.S. in the years 2003-2004.

One in five accused priests were defrocked, Scicluna said; 60 percent were disciplined with limitations on their activity as priests; and 20 percent were tried in church courts, resulting in an unspecified number of convictions.

According to Benedict's biographer, John L. Allen, writing in "The Rise of Benedict XVI," exposure to the gory details of molestation cases gave Ratzinger a "new appreciation for the gravity of the situation, and the need for a firm response from church authority."

That experience also seemed to color Ratzinger's Good Friday remarks in March 2005, a few weeks before he was elected pope, in which we deplored the "filth in the church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to (Christ)!"

Still, critics have charged that Ratzinger preserved a culture of silence that allowed bishops to cover up for abusive priests. In 2001, Ratzinger told bishops around the world that the CDF held jurisdiction over all sex abuse cases, a move that has proven especially controversial.

That letter was cited in a Texas lawsuit brought against Ratzinger by three alleged victims, who charged that the document's imposition of "pontifical secret" on abuse cases showed Ratzinger had conspired to conceal pedophilia in the church. (The Department of Justice ruled in

2005 that Benedict's status as a head of state gave him diplomatic immunity in that suit.)

Just last week, German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger cited the same letter in denouncing what she called the church's "wall of silence" over sex abuse. Church officials insist that the document was never intended to impede criminal proceedings by civil authorities.

Since his election in 2005, Benedict has spoken publicly about sex abuse more than half a dozen times.

En route to the U.S. in April 2008, the pope told reporters that he was "ashamed" of clerical sex abuse of children, and would "do everything possible" to prevent it in the future. During his stop in Washington, he met with and apologized to a group of American abuse victims, and told the U.S. bishops that the crisis had been "sometimes very badly handled."

According to Nicholas P. Cafardi, a member of the committee that developed abuse prevention policies for the U.S. bishops in 2002, Benedict has taken clerical sex abuse "much more seriously" than his predecessor.

One sign of change was the Vatican's treatment of the Rev. Marcel Maciel, the founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ movement that rose to favor under John Paul. In 1997, nine former Legionaries accused Maciel of sexually abusing them decades earlier, when they were studying to become priests under his authority.

Benedict, who investigated the charges as a cardinal, has never publicly addressed them; but a year into Benedict's papacy, the Vatican announced that Maciel had been ordered to lead a "life reserved to prayer and penitence, renouncing all public ministry."

In 2009, following revelations that Maciel had fathered at least one illegitimate child, the Vatican launched a full-scale investigation of the movement. Investigators concluded their work this month, but have yet to present a report.

In a sharp contrast to John Paul's relatively hands-off approach, Benedict summoned all 24 serving Irish bishops in February to discuss priestly abuse that was detailed in two Irish government-sponsored reports released last year. A similar 2002 meeting between John Paul and U.S. cardinals had taken place only at the Americans' request.

Benedict is expected to release a pastoral letter on sex abuse sometime before Easter; Cafardi said it will be the first major papal document on clerical sex abuse in modern times. The recent cases in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria have many expecting that the pope's letter will address the issue well beyond the scandal-scarred Irish church.

"I believe (the letter) will be yet another example of his clear and decisive voice," said a top Vatican official, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, in an interview published Monday (March 15) in the Milan daily Corriere Della Sera.

"These cases cast a shadow over the whole church and we bishops have to deal with them with maximum seriousness," Fisichella said. "The zero tolerance demanded by the pope is not an optional, it is a moral imperative."

Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Salvation Army Reports Record Donations Despite Sour Economy

(RNS) Nickels, dimes and quarters added up quickly last Christmas despite the economic slump as Americans donated a record $139 million to the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign.

"America is an incredibly generous nation and philanthropy is alive and well, despite the current economic conditions impacting so many,"

said Commissioner Israel L. Gaither, national commander of the Salvation Army.

"We are grateful for every donor, volunteer and corporate partner for supporting the Salvation Army's mission by giving more than ever during a time when some have so little to give."

Bell ringers set up the signature red kettles in front of an estimated 25,000 locations across America on Thanksgiving Day. The Salvation Army reported a 7 percent increase in giving over the $130 million record of 2008.

The Red Kettle campaign, the nation's longest running annual fundraising campaign, helps Salvation Army provide more than 28 million Americans with food, shelter, rent, substance abuse treatment and Christmas assistance each year.

Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations partnered with the Salvation Army to raise 29 percent of the total amount of the campaign. The Wal-Mart Foundation also made a direct donation of $1.25 million.

Kroger stores in nearly 2,000 locations accounted for $11.3 million or eight percent of the total. In addition to hosting kettles, Target stores teamed up with toymaker Hasbro, Inc. and donated 5 percent of some sales of selected Hasbro toys to the Salvation Army. Target donated more than $1.25 million total.

-- Kimberlee Hauss
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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Churches Face Uphill Fight on Immigration Reform

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious leaders hope to bring tens of thousands of activists to Capitol Hill next week to push Congress to act on immigration reform, but at least one study shows they may have to convince the pews before they can try to sway the politicians.

The Sunday (March 21) "March for America" began with Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, mainline and evangelical Protestant groups; nonreligious groups now plan to join the march as well, with as many as 50,000 demonstrators expected to rally at the foot of the U.S. Capitol.

Despite these estimates, a Zogby poll released last December by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that most members of religious communities want a decrease in immigration. Among those believing current immigration levels are too high: 69 percent of Catholics, 72 percent of mainline Protestants, 78 percent of born-again Protestants and 50 percent of Jews.

Pro-reform religious leaders and advocacy groups, however, discount the study.

Some advocates say the survey's methodology was flawed, and the Rev.

Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, called the survey an "anomaly" based on the substantial turnout organizers are expecting.

"I do believe born-again Christians in America support an immigration strategy that respects the law while simultaneously reflecting Judeo-Christian values," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, who will lead the opening prayer at the ceremony, said the evangelical community has thousands of supporters caravanning from as far as California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.

Other sponsors of March of America include the American Jewish Committee, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the Islamic Information Center, the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Immigration Issues Office, Sojourners, Ecumenical Advocacy Days and the United Methodist Church, among nearly 100 others.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, the leading advocate for immigration reform within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, plans to celebrate Mass at a Capitol Hill church the morning of the rally.

While many participating faith groups have slightly different positions on legislation reform, most of the lobbyists agree on two

things: an earned path to citizenship, and an end to cross-border family separations, said Kristin Williams of Faith in Public Life, which is supporting the march.

Yet even on that point, there may be a pulpit-pew divide. The Zogby poll concluded that "when asked to choose between enforcement that would cause illegal immigrants to go home over time or a conditional pathway to citizenship, most members of religious communities choose enforcement."

The survey found that more than three-quarters of born-again Protestants and nearly two-thirds of Catholics and mainline Protestants support enforcement. Jews were split almost evenly over supporting enforcement versus conditional legalization.

"It all depends on how those questions are asked," said Julia Thorne, manager for the Immigration Issues Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA). "If you ask, `Do you support a way for people to regularize their status, do it in a legal way, pay a fine?' people say yes."

Thorne travels across the country to explain immigration policy to

PC(USA) churches, and finds most congregants are uninformed about current laws. After her explanation, Thorne said, "churches are very supportive of changing our laws so that they will reflect reality."

By KIMBERLEE HAUSS
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

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