Virginia: Christians reject interfaith retreat center: "anti-Christian," "against word of God"

[Alex]

Proposed interfaith retreat center in Virginia tests founder, community
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gIQARMPm2H_story.html

INDEPENDENCE, Va. — In a clearing on a hill along a curve of the New River where apple trees bloom, Laura George wants to build a place for people of all faiths to gather in spiritual harmony.

Just one problem: Most people around here don't seem to want any part of it.

...Last year, prayer groups sprang up to stop her after the county planning commission unanimously approved her proposal for an interfaith retreat with a "Peace Pentagon" spiritual education center, public library and 10 cabins for guests. ...After pastors and others spoke at the hearing, many warning that it was anti-Christian, a cult and a threat to the community, the board killed the project.

This summer, George's attorney will argue in that courtroom that this is a case of religious discrimination..."this is part of the religious wars we're seeing, no doubt about that," he said. ...

..."I'm glad it didn't come," Rhonda James of Mouth of Wilson said. She added that everyone she knows opposed the Oracle Institute because, they believe, it seems to question the word of God in the Bible. "I'm a Christian, fundamentalist Christian, and so are most people in the area." ...

...Eddie Roland, pastor of Brush Creek Baptist Church, stood up at the meeting with his Bible in hand and said the proposed center "stands against the word of God." ...



The Oracle Institute http://theoracleinstitute.org





Alex's comment:  

While those fundamentalist Christians' opposition to the retreat center has undoubtedly violated the principle of religious freedom, that "interfaith retreat center" seems not purely interfaith but more an activity center of a New Age institution.  The claimed "interfaith" is under a kind of peculiar New Age worldview.  This report by the Washington Post has failed to raise up this point.

維真尼亞州：基督徒反對設立跨宗教退修中心：「反基督」、「違背神話語」。這班基督徒相當荒謬、唯我獨尊、排他、宗教歧視、侵犯宗教自由。但該所謂「跨宗教退修中心」也不見得純粹跨宗教，而更像是一個新紀元運動組織的活動中心。我的意思是，他們口中的「跨宗教」，是一種新紀元古怪世界觀之下的「跨宗教」。而這篇《華盛頓郵報》的報導未有提出這點，誤導讀者以為那個真的只是一個純粹「讓所有宗教的信徒和諧地聚集的地方」。