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Posts Tagged ‘Religion’

Mexican church calls adultery “a sin and a crime”

12:43 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico|Religion · 2 Comments

6 Dec 2006

The Mexican Catholic church is criticizing the Northern state of Chihuahua‘s decision to eliminate adultery from its list of punishable crimes in its “Reforma Penal“:

For Bishop Renato Ascencio León, this change “is yet another manifestation that we are straying off the path” and said that “the only thing that this will cause is, if authority does not intervene, that victims take justice into their own hands.”

Personally, I had no idea that adultery was a punishable crime in Mexico. And people will take justice into their own hands whether “authorities” do or not.

Chihuahua’s penal reform, introduced in November, added child pornography and sex tourism to its list of punishable crimes, but eliminated adultery. Sounds like a decent trade-off to me.

Chihuahua’s Attorney General states that adultery was eliminated because it’s “seldom reported” while the church calls it a “serious sin” that should be “punished by the laws of men”.

Via / El Plural

Holy calling card gets you blessed by Mexican priest

6:49 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Marketing|mexico|Religion · 9 Comments

23 May 2006

File this under: tacky marketing ploys. I’m usually not shocked by the sketchy marketing tactics that some companies use to promote their products to the Latino market. After all, I am in the business, so I’ve seen my share of lame campaigns, promotions, slogans, etc. But when I read about the Mexican Catholic Church getting kickbacks from a calling card company for use of the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe…I wanted to be amused but I just felt…ick.

The Catholic Church in Mexico is set to receive a cash bonanza from a U.S. company planning to sell prepaid phone cards with a printed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most revered religious symbol.

“We are not selling blessings, we are promoting benefactors,” said Mexican Monsignor Diego Monroy Ponce, whose recorded voice will bless customers when they use the $3 and $5 cards to place long-distance or cell-phone calls.

Talk about cheapening one’s supposedly deeply held beliefs. I’m no Catholic, but this makes me sick.

The fuss about Dubai: JLo

5:11 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Culture|society|World · 1 Comment

22 Mar 2006

Now that the Dubai port controversy is finally over, there’s a one more reason to talk about the UAE: JLo is going to give a “rare” concert there:

Jennifer Lopez, a well-known American actress, Latin Pop singer, fashion designer, and dancer, will exclusively perform live in concert at the Dubai Autodrome on April 27.

This will be her first ever concert in the Middle East region.

While Dubai is considered by many one of the more progressive parts of the Middle East, one has to wonder what people in the region make of JLo and her visit. Curious about that, I found one web site, Waleg.com, which has a comment string open about the JLo concert. The first comment reads:

all american singers are turning arabs like them, i hate them, athum kofaar. Dubai should kick jen out. she trying to seduce arab guys with her look. inah ilah wa inah ragoon.

Another commenter says:

Don’t you think that we have worst than JLO in the arab world now, Arab guys have enough to be distracted and seduced in their own countries.

While a few people chatting online cannot accurately reflect the mentality of an entire nation, I do wonder if John Q Public in Dubai — the non-expat community — believes that JLo and artists like her are contaminating the moral fabric of their culture with her wicked Western ways.

Dubai recently banned a concert by metal band Saxon (scary name!), citing their song, Crusader, as anti-Muslim.

Via / Trade Arabia and Waleg.com

Like to get wasted? You could be a nun

3:04 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Internet|Marketing|Religion|Spain · 3 Comments

15 Mar 2006

You can’t make this stuff up. A group of nuns from Barcelona, Spain has launched a curious (understatement) campaign to convince women that it doesn’t matter if you like to party, get wasted, make skrills…you can be a nun too! From the site (translated), “Mi vocación”:

“Me a nun? Ha-ha!

You like men, nightclubs and money?

Do you fall in love easily?

Of all the options life has to offer, every young woman should consider, as well, these two options: should I be a gigolá (female gigolo) or a nun?”

Oh my (excuse the expression) God, what?!

Shakira, The Priest and The Nun

7:39 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities|Music|Religion · 10 Comments

10 Mar 2006

So Shakira goes up to a priest and says…No, it’s not one of those lame priest and rabbi jokes, but a bit of chisme about Shakira’s asking a priest’s blessing before doing a sultry video:

The Colombian singer hunted a priest’s blessing before sharing a sweltering embrace with Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz for her most recent video ‘La Tortura,’ because she is in a serious and committed relationship with her fiance, Antonio De Le Rua, Argentina’s former president’s son.

And she’s about to get her ass whipped by one of the nuns at the Catholic school she attended because of her new sexy video, Don’t Bother:

Shakira’s sexy music video for her song ‘Don’t Bother,’ has infuriated a nun at the Catholic high school Shakira attended when she was young, according to a published report.

Shakira had a very strict religious upbringing and firmly states that she will never compromise her faith in efforts to sell music.

Shakira says, “One of the nuns is looking for me after seeing the Don’t Bother video.”

Via / Post-Chronicle and Latin Music News

Latino Jews Represent

30 Jan 2006

During the 1500′s many Jews fled Spain into Mexico City, adding to the Mestisaje culture. This and the intersection of Jewish Latinidad in parts of Los Angeles was the focus of a conference held last week at UC Irvine. The conference titled Latinos and Jews: A Conference on Historical and Contemporary Connections discussed the history of Jewish Latino identity as it pertains to those with Mexican background and how anti-Semitism among Catholic Latinos manifests itself. Recently more and more Latinos have been doing some soul and DNA searching in order to identify Jewish roots. But there is still a gap to be bridged. For example:

When Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, asked those in the audience to raise their hands if they identified as Jewish, most of the room responded. When he asked for the Latinos to raise their hands, only a few did.

The event was sponsored by the American Jewish Committee and the UC Irvine Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society.

Via / LA Times

The Rabbi habla español

8:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Religion · 4 Comments

25 Oct 2005

A synagogue in Florida is looking to attract Latino congregants and is using the preferred tool of marketers these days — español:

Beginning next month, Sabbath services at Temple Beth Torah/Tamarac Jewish Center will be conducted in Spanish and Hebrew.

Spanish religious services will continue the second Friday of every month in an effort to entice the Argentines, Cubans, Peruvians and Colombians to attend.

It is just part of the movement in Broward and Palm Beach counties to attract Latin American Jews and to change with the new demographics.

I am admittedly ignorant about Jewish culture, but I never knew that synagogues were in the business of recruiting new congregants to the religion the way Christian churches are. Or are they reaching out the an already existing base of Spanish-speaking Jews? And is that base so large so as to constitute a decision to conduct services in Spanish?

Temple Beth Torah Rabbi Michael Gold says he sees this addition as a chance to grow his 600-household synagogue that started in 1972 in a small storefront. Gold isn’t sure how many Spanish speakers attend now, but he thinks there are about 20 to 30 families. He’s pretty certain that number is going to grow. Services in English and Hebrew will remain at 6 p.m. Fridays.

The need to change toward becoming multilingual “is a reality,” Gold said. “If we do this once a month, they would bring family, and they’ll bring friends and they’ll become part of the mainstream.”

I think it’s great for Spanish to be available at all houses of worship for whomever would like to receive service in their native language — I’m just surprised that the demand is so presumably high. I’m also surprised that an ancient religion such as Judaism is more open to reaching people in their native language than so-called modern Fortune 500 companies. Latino marketing in the synagogue — who knew?

Via / The Orlando Sentinel and Hispanic Tips

Latinas Convert to Islam

9:33 pm By Maegan La Mala · Religion · Comments Off

6 Oct 2005

Studies estimate that there are about 40,000 Latino Muslims in the US, and an estimated 60% are women. Many, if not the majority of these Latino Muslims are converts. There are 6 million Muslims in South America, according to HispanicMuslims.com

Converting to Islam can be difficult, sometimes even more so for family members. Muslim practices are very different to Catholicism, and if the women wear a hijab or headscarf and participate in prayer 5 times daily, the change is even more obvious.

So why have some Latina women decided to become Muslim? According to the MSNBC article, reasons vary. Some women don’t find what they are looking for in Catholicism, some have been impacted by positive community involvement, while others feel that it represents a “return to traditional values”.

HispanicMuslims.com
Latino American Dawah Organization

Via / MSNBC

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