Boykin said without a Third Great Awakening, forces like those that took down mighty empires of the past will also bring down the United States.

"We're going to wind up exactly like these other great empires, which only lasted on an average about 200 years," he said. "We're going to completely self-destruct. And you see the beginnings of that now."

Bishop Jackson ticked off some of the sins he says are plaguing the land. "We've got sex-trafficking," he said. "We've got abortion. We've got the resurgence of racism. We've got hatred that is abounding. Three-thousand babies aborted every single day in this country. We have over 300 million people; we use over 70 percent of the world's drugs," he said.

You might want to think twice before you take a big lick of that delicious-looking ice cream cone or a large bite from that cookie — it may have been made with a molasses-looking substance secreted from a beaver’s behind. The food additive castoreum — which is used to flavor some cookies, cakes, ice creams and other vanilla-flavored foods — is made from the anal secretions of a beaver and is often labeled “natural flavoring” when it’s included in the products, which makes it hard to avoid. The additive has been used to flavor foods in this country for about 80 years.

If you’re like most of us, you’ve eaten a food colored red — and if that’s the case, you may have eaten pulverized beetles. The cochineal beetles are ground up and used to make a red food coloring commonly called carmine, carminic acid or cochineal extract. While most people digest this substance just fine, there have been rare, but serious, side effects — most notably some people go into anaphylactic shock after eating substances colored with carmine. This food coloring is listed on labels in the US so consumers can avoid it if they want.

Human hair is regularly — and not accidentally — added to some types of bread and other baked goods, via an additive made from hair (most of it human, some from animal feathers and cow horns) called L-cysteine. The reason food manufacturers use L-cysteine is because it prolongs the shelf life of bread and other baked goods; you can avoid it by buying freshly baked goods. Rodent hair, on the other hand, is an accidental additive — the sometimes-result of foods made in big factories that have rodents. The FDA allows a small amount of rodent hair in many foods.

Before you kick off your holiday weekend with a cold one, better take note of this: Many beers and wines contain fish bladders. The substance isinglass is made from the ground up, dried swim bladder of a fish and is used to filter out particles in beer and wine, making the drinks clearer. Not only does this make many beers and wines unsuitable for vegetarians, but it’s also hard to know which contain this substance because it’s often not listed on the bottle.

While food manufacturers don’t put these items in your food intentionally, maggots and insect eggs do end up in there often — and that’s completely legal. The FDA allows certain amounts of so-called “defects” — these include maggots and insect eggs — in everyday foods. For example, many fruits and vegetables can contain a small number of larvae; the red fish and ocean perch fish can contain a small number of so-called copepods (these parasites sometimes enter the fish and make pus pockets in them); and even spices are allowed to contain insect fragments.

Starting Saturday, the three-day pilgrimage will take the 77-year-old pontiff to Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. The packed agenda includes courtesy calls on government leaders; open-air Masses; meetings with Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious authorities; and visits to holy sites of the three religions. The two men joining Francis are friends with whom the pope frequently collaborated when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires: Rabbi Abraham Skorka, former rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, and Sheik Omar Abboud, a former secretary-general of the Islamic Center of Argentina.

“I don’t expect Francis to wave a magic wand and bring together Jews and Palestinians,” Skorka told the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire. “But his charisma and his great humility can give a powerful message of peace for the whole Middle East.” On his upcoming trip, Francis has insisted that he will not travel in a bulletproof vehicle or special Popemobile. Rather, he’ll get around in “a normal car or open-topped jeep” in order to be closer to the people who come out to greet him, according to the Vatican spokesman.

Eric Greenberg, the director of communications, outreach and interfaith for the Multi-Faith Alliance for Syrian Refugees, said Francis’ ability to captivate world media means every step of his visit will be watched closely. “There will be opportunities to deepen the important bilateral relationship between Catholics and Jews, and to boost the larger dialogue among Catholics, Jews and Muslims,” Greenberg said.

Five years later, he caused an outcry when he quoted a controversial hadith at a rally in east Jerusalem. “The hour (of resurrection) will not come until you fight the Jews,” he said. “The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him… That’s the Palestine we are talking about, with the beginning of the jihad and the continuation of the jihad, with the struggle and the procession of martyrs.”

After an Israeli NGO, Palestinian Media Watch, brought this speech to public attention, the Foreign Office issued an unusually direct response. “I condemn the inflammatory words used by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,” said Alistair Burt, Minister for the Middle East. “To refer to the Jewish people in such a way and to talk of killing Jews is anti-Semitism, pure and simple. The UK is against any comments that could stir up hatred and prejudice.” But more was to come. In May 2013, Mr Hussein was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence on Temple Mount.

The orchestration of Pope Francis' visit to the Middle East makes little secret of his sympathy for the Palestinians. He has pointedly decided to visit the Palestinian Territories before the Jewish state, reversing the precedent set by his forebears. More significantly, official Vatican documentation refers to “the president of the state of Palestine”, which chimes with the Palestinians’ controversial efforts to win recognition from the international community, over the heads of Israeli leaders. But holding an official meeting with a hate preacher is quite clearly a step too far.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the pope will meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in the central event of his Holy Land trip, marks the spot where Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. A 12th-century building sitting on 4th-century remains, it is one of the world’s oldest churches and the only place where six Christian denominations practice their faith at the same site. To a visitor, its dark, medieval caverns can seem to be a chaotic jumble of clergymen, chapels and candles.

But invisible border lines run through the building, carving out property rights from the roof all the way down to the underground plumbing, and every lamp, column and manhole in between. Scuffles erupt about twice a year when monks overstep their bounds. “It’s kind of scandalous,” said the Rev. Juan Solana, a Vatican envoy in Jerusalem, who said he considered the Holy Sepulchre Christianity’s most important site. “The wounds of the church are very much evident there.”

The Austrian singer, who is a drag artist, triumphed at this year's Eurovision with her song Rise Like a Phoenix. However, Patriarch Amfilohije of Montenegro said he believed the floods, which have forced almost 150,000 people from their homes, were divine punishment for her success. According to e.novine.com, he said: "God sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side."

Patriarch Irinej, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Serbs, also reportedly said that "God is thus washing Serbia of its sins". The comments are reminiscent of those made by Ukip councillor David Silvester earlier this year, after he claimed that the Somerset floods were the result of the government's decision to legalise gay marriage. He was expelled from the party in the wake of his remarks.

Whereas the word "religion" generally refers to organised forms of worship and a wider faith community, "spiritual" often describes people's private individual beliefs. A few minutes on Google revealed that SBNR is more than just an acronym. One in three Americans defined themselves as spiritual but not religious. Millions of people now think of themselves as on their own personal spiritual path, but not affiliated to any specific religion.

Whereas my biggest problem with SBNR is the opposite. It's that it often retains the mumbo-jumbo, aspects of religion. People have rejected the shelf with the ready-made religious beliefs, and gone straight around the corner to the pick'n'mix shop to buy a more or less random set of beliefs which are, if anything, even more incredible. Many people who are spiritual but not religious reject the organisation but hang on to the supernatural bit. But I don't want to be required to have faith in a supreme being or miracles or reincarnation, or any entity for which there is no scientific evidence.

Sociological research shows that involvement in organised religion is good for our health and well being. So this week, why not find a time to sit in silence with your fellows, or sing with them, or read a holy book with them, or commune with them. Take a moment to reflect on your place in the universe and your obligations towards others. Belief in God is strictly optional.

Miss Naouai pointed out that Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson had friends among Hitler’s high command and met the Fuhrer himself. She added that Prince Philip’s sister Sophie married into the Third Reich and mentioned how Prince Harry dressed in a Nazi uniform for a fancy dress party. The New York-born but Moscow-based journalist added: “If anyone knows real Nazis, it’s the Royal Family.”

In a further twist, the ­Russian Imperial House of Romanov – descendants of Moscow’s royal family – criticised Prince Charles. Alexander Zakatov, head of the Romanov administration, said: “It is very regrettable that His Royal Highness has worded this in such a way. He must watch his temper. Prince Charles is the future king.”

We are told the mainspring of their resentment is the fact that millions of Russians died in order to defeat Hitler. True. But Stalin happily signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler when Britain stood alone, didn’t he? Cheers for that, Uncle Joe. We lost a lot of our own people too but that doesn’t stop us calling officious car park attendants or town-hall officials “little Hitlers”. And if they were to bleat in response: “How dare you call me that, my grandad died defeating fascism,” we’d think they were not only pompous twits but also slightly round the twist.

No, the reason for all this bluster and faux outrage is the usual one in such cases: what has just been said happens to be the awkward truth. Hitler dreamt of seizing his neighbours’ territory and so does Putin. The similarity of Germany’s land-grab of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, mostly full of pro-Germans whose first language was that of their big neighbour, and Putin’s annexing of the overwhelmingly pro-Russian Crimea, is so hideously obvious that it hardly needs pointing out.

Putin, like Hitler, is obsessed with race. Hitler wanted to integrate what he called the “Volksgenossen” – which literally translates as “racial comrades” – of German-speaking Europe into his Third Reich. Putin wants to absorb the “sootechestvennikie” (which translates into the more innocent sounding “compatriots”) into an expanded Russia. It’s the same thing. And of course there are more personal similarities between the two leaders. While unpredictable and dangerous both cut irredeemably comic figures. Vainglorious men never realise how funny they are.