So the simple idea here is to try to get a Bread for the World chapter revved up at Saddleback Church, the Southern California mega-church led by Rick Warren. This would be a Good Thing. It’s something that ought to happen. It would, I think, be a big help for Saddleback, its people and its pastor. And it could be a big boost for Bread and for the hungry people it represents. Bread for the World is an ecumenical, nonpartisan... Read more
“In science fiction, if somebody tells you that everything you know is a lie and that you need to follow him down the rabbit hole, he’s probably telling the truth. But in the real world? He’s trying to con you.” “What Happens to 3 out of 4 Girls After Leafing Through a Fashion Mag for 3 Minutes?” (via) “The framers thought not just purchase mandates but medical insurance mandates were perfectly proper indeed.” “The students in UCLA’s undocumented immigrant club... Read more
Timothy Noah again expresses his frustration with how the “New York Times Mislabels ‘Christians’” — using the word to apply exclusively to Republican members of the evangelical tribe: A 78-percent majority of Americans is Christian. Only about a third of them self-identify as evangelical, which is a very rough proxy for the Christian conservative minority that increasingly insists on being called, simply, “Christian.” Such totum pro parte synecdoche de-legitimizes mainline Protestantism, historically black Protestantism, and Catholicism, which account, combined, for... Read more
Matt Stoller: “Corruption Responsible for 80% of Your Cell Phone Bill“ (via Susie) Americans continue to have a small number of expensive, poor quality cell phone providers. And how much does this cost you? Take your phone bill, and cut it by 80%. That’s how much you should be paying. You see, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, people in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland pay on average less than $130 a year for cell phone service.... Read more
16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But... Read more
“If it had been a 10- or 11-foot gator, it might have been a different story.” “Make sure you hang in there until the 1:50 mark to get the full pop-and-lock effect, along with some moonwalking in penny loafers.” “Far too many churches are answering questions that few people are asking.” “So, once again, they fail to understand the central meaning of their office: That they serve the church rather than rule it.” “That was like obstructing justice cubed.” “I... Read more
In his contribution to the new anthology Letters to a Future Church, Peter Rollins tells this joke, presenting it as a parable: Early one morning a man turned up at the house of his minister in tears, saying, “Please, can you help. A kind and considerate family in the area is in great trouble. The husband recently lost his job, and the wife cannot work due to health problems. They have three young children to look after, and the man’s... Read more
Romans 13:5-7 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due to them — taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Read more
Travis Loller of the Associated Press follows up on the Richard Land scandal at the Southern Baptist Convention. When I say “scandal,” of course, I don’t mean that the SBC, or Land see it as such. They don’t, and neither apparently do most white Southern Baptists or most white evangelicals, among whom Richard Land remains a respected and respectable member of the establishment. But when the chief “ethics” spokesman of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination unloads a racist rant on... Read more
“If your ship is sinking – Keep Playing.” Read more
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