Subsidiarity: ‘Policing was never meant to solve all those problems’

Last updated on: July 14, 2016 at 5:36 pm By Fred Clark

The usurpation by Big Gubmint that Reagan imagined everywhere is always possible, and sometimes happens. But far, far, far more common is the situation Chief Brown describes: government forced to take on ever-greater responsibility due to the irresponsibility of other actors in our network of mutuality. Government is far too burdened with the responsibilities abdicated by all those other actors to have much time or resources left over for the nefarious usurpation of even more responsibility. Read more

First responders and guns (cont’d.)

Last updated on: July 13, 2016 at 7:59 pm By Fred Clark

When people with guns are summoned in an emergency, they sometimes respond as people with guns -- whether or not guns are capable of addressing the emergency in question. This makes things worse. This is particularly -- and often tragically -- the case when police are called on to be the "first responders" in an emergency involving someone suffering from mental illness, emotional distress, or psychosis. Read more

First responders usually shouldn’t mean ‘people with guns’

Last updated on: July 13, 2016 at 6:56 pm By Fred Clark

When there's a bear trapped in a Subaru, it's probably prudent for the deputy to bring along a shotgun. But most of the time in their role as "first responders" to emergencies unrelated to law enforcement, the guns that police officers carry are neither necessary nor helpful. The presence of those guns -- the introduction of those guns -- increases the danger present, rather than reducing or helping to resolve it safely. Read more

These are dangerous days

Last updated on: July 12, 2016 at 5:59 pm By Fred Clark

Donald Trump's history as a predatory scam artist is just one of many reasons he's viewed by many as a "threat to American democracy." The possibility of a Trump presidency is thus prompting unprecedented warnings from those who haven't previously addressed specific candidates -- from Historians Against Trump to the Notorious RBG. Also: Blowing up the world as a response to boredom; a Philistine cemetery; and Michael Collins looks up at the moon. Read more

The Psalms and the word of God

Last updated on: July 11, 2016 at 12:20 pm By Fred Clark

Psalm 104 is a beautiful, moving, heartfelt hymn of praise -- just so long as it isn't the product of "plenary verbal inspiration." If we read that Psalm assuming that every particular word of it was chosen and determined by God -- by the very same God who is the apparent subject of all that praise and adoration -- then it just becomes something weird and kind of creepy. Read more

Left Behind Classic Fridays, No. 89: ‘Mostly dead’

Last updated on: July 8, 2016 at 9:33 am By Fred Clark

The title-instead-of-a-raise ploy works best with a certain kind of emotionally needy, thin-skinned employee. These are the kind of people who, once given a title like "senior writer," will insist that others use it and will correct anyone who fails to do so. ("So you're a writer for ..." "Senior writer. Senior writer!") L&J's obsession with Buck's ceremonial title reminds me of such people. L&J remind me of such people. Read more

American Horror Show open thread

Last updated on: July 8, 2016 at 9:15 am By Fred Clark

Events like this inevitably cause some folks to cling more tightly to the sword, reciting again that passage from Romans 13 and insisting that this is why the authority of the sword was instituted by God and not wielded in vain. For me, events like this send me back to the verse that prefaces that passage, reminding me that it is not only wise, but necessary: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Read more

The 71-percent heresy

Last updated on: July 7, 2016 at 8:07 pm By Fred Clark

For social scientists like Jones, "white evangelical" is a demographic category classifying religious and ethnic identity. But his findings demonstrate, again and again, that white Christianity is also something else. It is not simply the space on some Venn diagram where adherents of Christianity and people of a particular ethnic group overlap. "White Christian" and "white evangelical" are themselves unique religious categories -- distinct theologies. Read more

A servant for good

Last updated on: July 7, 2016 at 5:46 pm By Fred Clark

Romans 13:1-7 is a classic text in Christian political thought, the place where Paul suggests that government is established by God as "a servant for good" and "does not bear the sword in vain." The disagreement among Christian readers of this text isn't focused on the "instituted by God" bits, but rather on what Paul says about the temporal source of power and legitimacy for these "authorities." Some Christians argue that this source of power and legitimacy is "the sword." Others of us disagree: We say it is "the good." Read more

The gun undermines the badge

Last updated on: July 6, 2016 at 5:24 pm By Fred Clark

A badge, by itself, can mean something. A badge accompanying a gun becomes just flair and decoration. American police demonstrate this themselves constantly. When their authority is questioned, they don't reach for their badge, but for what they regard as the source of that authority. And that isn't their badge. This is a concession on their part that the badge is not meaningful to them. And if it is not meaningful to them, there is little reason that it should be meaningful to anyone else. Read more

I danced before the ark with all my might, wearing only a linen ephod. Who am I?