'Crusader' Takes On eBay Over Sales of Relics

AP on AOL News ^ | November 23, 2006

[rightwingintelligentsia]

(Nov. 23) -- Hardly an hour goes by without Thomas Serafin or one of his cyber-sleuths checking what eBay has to offer.

They're not hunting for bargains and never place a bid. Their interest is bone shards, bits of wizened flesh and a contemporary twist on the sacred and the profane: How the ancient trade in the most coveted religious relics has moved into the global flea market of online bidding.

"You can find bone fragments supposedly from St. Augustine being hawked on the Internet along with trinkets and antiques. There is something very wrong here," said Serafin, a professional photographer and Catholic activist based in Los Angeles, who has led an expanding campaign since the late 1990s to block the online sale of objects purported to contain the remains of Christian saints.

Last month, Serafin's group, the International Crusade for Holy Relics, opened a new front that's truly worthy of a David and Goliath metaphor: a call to boycott eBay.

It seeks to pressure the world's largest online auction site to close alleged loopholes used to bypass its ban on allowing bids for human remains.

[SkyPilot]

I never understood the whole "relics" thing anyway.

Jesus Christ is alive! You can talk to him through prayer anytime also.

Why seek after bones of dead people?

Sheesh.

[adiaireton8]

Because the bones are holy, sanctified by the righteousness of the saint to whom they belonged.

-A8

[drhogan]

do you know if people are buying them for quasi-religious (or magical) reasons or just to try to turn a profit later on?

[adiaireton8]

I don't know; maybe both.

-A8

[SkyPilot]

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

1 Timothy 2:5

[Jotmo]

Because the bones are holy, sanctified by the righteousness of the saint to whom they belonged.

And your scriptural reference for this is...?

[Silly]

I guess with some people, holy chicken bones are more important than being rational. I wouldn't waste a lot of time with these numbskulls -- they don't want to know the truth.

[adiaireton8]

And your scriptural reference for this is...?

Your question assumes the truth of 'sola scriptura', which people in the Catholic and Orthodox communions have never held. But even so, here's a scriptural reference for you: 2 Kings 13:21.

-A8

[adiaireton8]

True, but that in no way means that relics are not holy.

-A8

[Jotmo]

Your question assumes the truth of 'sola scriptura', which people in the Catholic and Orthodox communions have never held.

Good point.

But even so, the Scripture referenced tells me only that touching Elisha's bones can bring a dead man back to life, not "The bones (of those whom the Catholic Church call saints.) are holy, sanctified by the righteousness of the saint to whom they belonged."

That's a pretty big leap.

[DanielLongo]

I've heard of businesses being started on a wing and a prayer, but...

[adiaireton8]

It is only a leap if that is all the data you have to go by. But if you study early Church history, you see many testimonies concerning the healing power of the relics of the saints. St. Augustine, for example, talks about people being healed as the relics of saints are carried through the streets on feast days.

-A8

[Jotmo]

Which brings us back to 'sola scriptura'.

[bannie]

They can sell my ashes all they want. It won't be me any longer.

I love tombstones and graveyards. One of my favorite:

"Here lies the body of Solomon Pease.
The Pease aren't here...only the pod.
The Pease shelled out, and went home to God."

[Hieronymus]

God glorifies His holy ones even through their mortal remains: "and as a man was being buried, lo, a maarauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the moan touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet." (II Kings 13:21)
Relics aren't just another thing if you believe in the resurrection of the body--they are destined to be revitalized and spend eternity in glory.

[olde north church]

Relics aren't just another thing if you believe in the resurrection of the body--they are destined to be revitalized and spend eternity in glory.

Why would anyone believe in the resurrection of the body? The soul is resurrected, not the body.

[Conservative til I die]

Is selling these things on the Internet any worse than using them to stimulate contributions from the "faithful"? This just sounds like a new twist on an old scam, to me.

Not really sure where relics are being used to scam contributions from the faithful. But yeah, the selling of relics has always been against Catholic teaching. Can't say for sure about other religions.

[bonfire]

Ditto that. Praying to bones. yeeuck.

[Conservative til I die]

Maybe you can get my ashes with a Dustbuster, but all my kids will care about is how much money I left them.

Wow, what a pair of uplifting and fulfilling statements.

[Conservative til I die]

I never understood the whole "relics" thing anyway. Jesus Christ is alive! You can talk to him through prayer anytime also.

Why seek after bones of dead people?

Sheesh.

You should spend your time worrying about your own faith rather than that of others.