(This is the second piece of my response to Tony Jones’ “Challenge to Progressive Theo-bloggers.” The first piece is here.) Whenever possible, I try to avoid gendered pronouns for God. Admittedly, this can sometimes make for clumsy syntax, but that clumsiness is a feature, not a bug. Because the main point of this exercise is to force myself to be conscious of that word, “God,” and not to use it casually and thereby to risk forgetting or confusing or failing... Read more
Back in May, I asked “Is Billy Graham being exploited for political gain?” Following that post — and then again following my post earlier this week, “Billy Graham did not go to Chick-fil-A (and he didn’t tell you to go there either)” — a few people wrote comments or emails “defending” Billy Graham. “Defending” is in scare quotes there, because they offer a very odd “defense.” They insist that I am in no position to think I may know anything... Read more
There are 6.4 million people in the state of Tennessee. From these it only needs to find two senators and seven representatives to send to Congress. That’s all, just nine people to choose out of 6.4 million. Let’s narrow that down a bit. Tennessee has around 3.4 million registered voters. And let’s narrow that down even further, since we’re just concerned with Democrats here. In the 2008 national election, 1,087,437 registered voters in Tennessee cast their votes for Democrats. So... Read more
Gershom Gorenberg: “Republicans and the ‘Quality of Sodom'” A couple of strangers show up in town. In the previous chapter they had arrived at the tent of Abraham, who hurried to put out the best meal he could provide. His wealth, he understood, was merely a trusteeship, something he’d been granted in order to share. In Sodom, the mob comes to get the strangers and the bleeding-heart liberal who tried to put a roof over their head. The threatened gang-rape... Read more
“The Sikh Coalition, in collaboration with local Sikh leaders and partner Sikh organizations, will hold interfaith vigils across the country on the evening of Wednesday, August 8, in an effort to coordinate a multi-faith nationwide remembrance for the victims and their families of the Oak Creek, Wisconsin Gurdwara massacre.” “Sikhs are just wonderful people, and a person’s heart is shredded at the idea of this horrible atrocity committed against them.” “Wiccans, Pagans, Jews, Atheists, Muslims are all victims of persecution... Read more
This is a disingenuous diatribe against Satanic baby-killers that exist only as an urban legend. And so is this. Here, again, is self-proclaimed “authority on Satanists,” Judy Byington: Secret ceremonies in which malevolent men and women cloaked in hooded robes, hiding behind painted faces and chanting demonic incantations while inflicting sadistic wounds on innocent children lying on makeshift altars, or tied to inverted crosses, sounds like the stuff of which B-grade horror movies are made. … Some think amoral religious... Read more
Perhaps you’ve seen the video. A peculiar fellow in a pink shirt stands on the lawn in front of General Mills headquarters. He holds a box of Honey Nut Cheerios and a propane torch. The man says: One out of every eight boxes of cereal in this country is Cheerios. This is really the treat now for the homosexuals. And this is our protest of General Mills — right there — advocating same-sex marriages. So we are gonna torch some... Read more
Tony Jones has a challenge and an invitation for “all progressive theo-bloggers.” Write something substantive about God. Not about Jesus, not about the Bible, but about God. I expect to fail this challenge. And I intend to fail it in several parts. For the first part, here, I’m bringing in a ringer: Wislawa Szymborska (as beautifully translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh). This does not at all do what Tony asks, but it exemplifies at least two of the... Read more
No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time; yet what are many of the most important acts of legislation, but so many judicial determinations, not indeed concerning the rights of single persons, but concerning the rights of large bodies of... Read more
I recently quoted from Mere Christianity, a passage in which C.S. Lewis warns against seeking “the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible.” That temptation, Lewis says, is “the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils.” That’s how it works. We can seek good and seek to do good. Or instead we can seek to feel good by reassuring ourselves that at least we’re better than others.... Read more
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