The state of the American Dream in Stonegate and Sunset Village

Last updated on: September 6, 2012 at 12:51 pm By Fred Clark

Here’s a story from the Chisago County Press. That’s Chisago County, Minnesota — north of the Twin Cities and south of Duluth. The county is home to about 54,000 people, including the 50 households of a neighborhood called Stonegate in Lindstrom, Minn. The Press’ Denise Martin tells us about those families and their impressive battle for independence, “Mobile home park residents take rare action in purchasing their neighborhood“: There are as many types of people who call Stonegate home as... Read more

We can have political debate or politicized facts, but we can’t have both

Last updated on: September 6, 2012 at 9:07 am By Fred Clark

First the bad news. In The New York Times, Leslie Kaufman reports on how zoos and aquariums are struggling to communicate the facts of climate change in a political climate that considers scientific facts to be matters of partisan dispute: American zoos and aquariums enjoy a high level of public trust and are ideally positioned to teach. Yet many managers are fearful of alienating visitors — and denting ticket sales — with tours or wall labels that dwell bleakly on... Read more

Mike Huckabee is lying. Again.

Last updated on: September 5, 2012 at 3:18 pm By Fred Clark

Former Southern Baptist pastor and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is not an honest man. Huckabee has taken to repeating the lie that President Obama is a God-hating God-hater who refuses to say the word “Creator” when quoting from the Declaration of Independence. This is a lie. Mike Huckabee is lying. And Mike Huckabee is telling a particularly stupid lie. President Obama speaks in public, a lot. And almost every word he has said for the past several years has... Read more

Love dares you to care for the people on the edge

Last updated on: September 5, 2012 at 12:48 pm By Fred Clark

Happy birthday, Freddie Mercury. “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith?” “For the most part, it seems that they eat, crawl and mate on your face without harmful effects.” “The money spigot was now wide open. Abramoff was being paid millions as a lobbyist. Reed was being paid millions to dupe his fellow Christians. And... Read more

Ken Ham, Andrew Lloyd Weber and lazy KJV-only monoglots

Last updated on: September 5, 2012 at 11:30 am By Fred Clark

Via Patheos blogger and New Testament professor James McGrath, I learn that Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis has dismissed both of us as “secularists.” I’m a Baptist, and our core belief in “believer’s Baptism” stands in stark opposition to the practice of involuntary baptism into the state church. That makes all of us Baptists — in doctrine, at least — advocates of secular government. Somehow I doubt that’s what Ham meant. Maybe he’s still upset that I suggested he... Read more

A deed of emancipation

Last updated on: August 9, 2012 at 5:53 pm By Fred Clark

I had never heard of Robert Carter III until I read this post from Warren Throckmorton last month. The bad news about Carter, who died in 1804, was that he owned Nomini Hall, a large slave plantation in Virginia. He “owned” more than 400 enslaved persons on that plantation. The good news about Carter is that eventually he decided to free them all. After the death of his wife, Frances Ann Tasker Carter, in 1787, Carter embraced the Swedenborgian faith... Read more

Do ‘something awesome’

Last updated on: September 4, 2012 at 3:39 pm By Fred Clark

The Community Church of the Open Door “did something awesome.” They had a church-wide garage sale. Except at this garage sale, everything was free to anyone in the community who needed it. The Bangor Daily News‘ Nok-Noi Ricker reported on the event at the Hampden, Maine, church: Hundreds of items, donated by church and community members, disappeared fast during the free yard sale. “We started at 9 [a.m.] and we’re pretty much down to nothing and it’s only like 10:30,”... Read more

Why I am not a ‘theistic evolutionist,’ etc., part 2

Last updated on: September 4, 2012 at 12:13 pm By Fred Clark

In the first part of this discussion, I objected to the idea that the modifier “theistic” in “theistic evolution,” might simply refer to the believe held by us theists of God’s pervasive providence. The problem, we noted, is that if we’re talking about God’s constant presence in all things, that can’t explain the use of this word in this exceptional way. If “theistic evolution” means only that God is present in the process of evolution in the same way that... Read more

Smart people saying smart things

Last updated on: September 3, 2012 at 10:22 pm By Fred Clark

Neil Williams: “Does Christianity promote tribalism?” What I am concerned about is something different — an exclusive mentality that leads to indignation, shunning, meanness, oppression, violence, and even murder. Again, Christianity’s record is sullied. Common examples include the Crusades, Inquisition, and witch-hunts. But there are many others. For example, Philip Jenkins in “Jesus Wars” mentions an even greater bloodshed that occurred between Christians in the 5th and 6th centuries as they fought over doctrinal differences. Even today, many of us... Read more

Right-wing ‘Messiah,’ ex-con Sun Myung Moon dies at 92

Last updated on: September 3, 2012 at 7:03 pm By Fred Clark

Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon — a self-proclaimed Messiah, conservative political donor, and owner of a media and real-estate empire — has died at the age of 92. Daniel Burke of Religion News Service sketches Moon’s odd rise, his views and his legacy. Steve Hassan describes how life once looked to him from inside Moon’s Unification Church. Emma Brown has a long obituary in The Washington Post: His stated ambition was to rule the world and replace Christianity with... Read more

True or False: According to 1 John, God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God.