Leftover links

Last updated on: November 27, 2011 at 12:08 pm By Fred Clark

Kevin Drum: “The Real Story Behind Black Friday.” The phrase originally was a snarky dig at customers by retailers, and so of course it started here in Philadelphia. “Thanksgiving: Busting the tryptophan myth wide open.” The American Chemical Society says we feel groggy from over-eating, but not from the tryptophan in turkey. I’m sure the over-eating has an effect, but I don’t find their attempt to exonerate the turkey wholly convincing. Via Sarah Kliff, here’s the “myth-busting” from Aaron Carroll:... Read more

Sunday favorites

Last updated on: November 26, 2011 at 11:43 pm By Fred Clark

James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of... Read more

Praying for time

Last updated on: November 26, 2011 at 11:23 am By Fred Clark

“George Michael is reportedly worsening after being admitted on Monday to an Austrian hospital for the treatment of pneumonia.” George Michael wrote some of the best and most enduring pop songs of the 1980s. For many people, that sentence probably cancels itself out, with the word “pop” diminishing the word “best,” and “the 1980s” diminishing the phrase “most enduring.” But listen without prejudice and, 24 years later, Faith still sounds great. There’s not a bad song on that album. Volumes... Read more

Fake authenticity and pretending not to use hair products

Last updated on: November 25, 2011 at 3:10 pm By Fred Clark

I’ve consulted with an expert — a licensed professional with decades of experience in crafting the hair of men who can afford to pay top dollar for such services — and she says this New York Times profile of Mitt Romney’s hairstylist is ridiculous. Mr. de Magistris, who gave Mr. Romney a $70 trim three weeks ago, agreed to share some of the secrets behind his most famous client’s coiffure in between haircuts the other day. No, he said, Mr.... Read more

Apples and oranges

Last updated on: November 25, 2011 at 11:43 am By Fred Clark

Well now way back in the Bible Temptations always come along There’s always somebody tempting Somebody into doing something they know is wrong Well they tempt you, man, with silver And they tempt you, sir, with gold And they tempt you with the pleasure That the flesh does surely hold They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple But man I ain’t going for that I know it was her pink Cadillac … — Bruce Springsteen, “Pink Cadillac” I’m reading... Read more

FGS relatives open thread

Last updated on: November 24, 2011 at 9:46 am By Fred Clark

Today is a happy day here in America, because it’s Thanksgiving Day — a day to gather with our families to enjoy a meal and spend hours talking with our relatives. Today is a stressful day here in America, because it’s Thanksgiving Day — a day to gather with our families to enjoy a meal and spend hours talking with our relatives. For many of us, Thanksgiving involves a delicate dance around topics that might “set off” certain family members... Read more

Judge says Alabama cannot steal immigrants’ homes

Last updated on: November 24, 2011 at 12:08 am By Fred Clark

This is good news: “US judge stops Ala. from enforcing part of law.” A federal judge in Montgomery has stopped state officials from using Alabama’s [harsh]* new immigration law to prevent immigrants from renewing required permits on manufactured homes. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday evening that allows Alabama residents to renew registration of manufactured homes without requiring that they prove that they are in the country legally. The deadline for renewing the registration without... Read more

An invitation to an argument: ’25 Books Every Christian Should Read’

Last updated on: November 23, 2011 at 11:53 am By Fred Clark

Renovaré has a new book out that seems designed to start an argument. It’s called 25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics, and it’s just what it sounds like — an introduction to 25 classic works of Christian writing, with excerpts from each and short essays arguing for why these selections are worth reading. As with all such lists — think of those AFI lists, or those lists of “the best novels,” or NPR’s... Read more

If the evangelical mainstream wants me to view the religious right as marginal, then they should do more to marginalize the religious right

Last updated on: November 22, 2011 at 6:07 pm By Fred Clark

Mainstream evangelicals generally do not identify with the tone and emphasis of the religious right. When people like me criticize the religious right, these mainstream evangelicals often complain that such criticisms overemphasize the influence of a vocal, but marginal, minority that does not represent the views of most evangelicals. That’s the complaint voiced here by Timothy Dalrymple and repeated, ad nauseum, as a central organizing grievance of sites like Get Religion. There are two very large problems with this complaint:... Read more

The boundaries of evangelical identity

Last updated on: November 22, 2011 at 1:11 pm By Fred Clark

A few more quick items on the way the “big four” issues — abortion, homosexuality, evolution, environment — create the boundaries of evangelical identity in America, determining the shape of that community far more than any doctrinal, pietistic or theological characteristic. 1. Tony Jones: “An Open Letter to Evangelical College Students“ A year from now, we in Minnesota will be voting on an amendment to our state constitution. If passed, that amendment will define “marriage” as exclusively between a man... Read more