Constantine is dead

Last updated on: June 29, 2011 at 4:25 pm By Fred Clark

If there were an award for seeking out the bare-minimum lowest common denominator of Christian morality, I would nominate the new ecumenical document, “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct.” Christian missionaries should renounce all “deception and coercive means” of winning converts, according to an agreement released Tuesday by a broad coalition of evangelicals, the World Council of Churches and the Vatican. … the document [also] denounces proselytizing with the use of “financial incentives and rewards.” Well, good.... Read more

Just say no

Last updated on: June 29, 2011 at 11:15 am By Fred Clark

(Note: This post from 2009 seems to have slipped through the cracks on the migration over here to Patheos so I’m reposting it here.) He took offense. It started out in college. You know, just experimenting with it. But he liked it. He liked how it made him feel. For a while it was just recreational — weekends and parties and rallies and that kind of thing. But soon he was hanging out with some pretty hard-core users, with the... Read more

Comment spam

Last updated on: June 29, 2011 at 10:04 am By Fred Clark

The spam filters here seem to shield us from most of the inane, mechanically generated drivel that clogs the comment sections of blogs without antispam software. But a few items occasionally filter through the filter. I loved the awkward earnestness of this one: “Wow, you might say that the technology is very good! Photo, so beautiful, very clear, wish you good luck, create the future together! And I share my blog http://www.shirts-sneakers.com…” That comment has been spammed onto more than... Read more

'I decided I was going to be the mayor for everybody'

Last updated on: June 28, 2011 at 11:42 pm By Fred Clark

This, from CNN, is a beautiful story about an impressive man, Paul Bridges, mayor of tiny Uvalda, Georgia: “Republican mayor in the South becomes unlikely advocate for immigrants.” Bridges is an unlikely soldier on the front lines of the nation’s immigration debate. The 58-year-old native Southerner describes himself as a conservative Republican. For years, he knew little about immigrants but didn’t lack strong opinions about them: “They were just low-class people,” he recalled. “They weren’t even able to speak English.”... Read more

A bipartisan enemy of the people

Last updated on: June 28, 2011 at 5:23 pm By Fred Clark

Amy Traub writes about one of my hobby horses for The American Prospect: “Give Us Some Credit: States work to curb the financial background checks that can keep the unemployed out of work.” Today, six in ten employers say that they check the credit histories of some or all prospective employees before making final hiring decisions. This traps many jobseekers in what workplace advocate Nat Lippert describes as a devastating catch-22: They can’t attain employment because of poor credit, yet... Read more

TF: 788,400 moments so dear

Last updated on: June 27, 2011 at 6:54 pm By Fred Clark

Tribulation Force, pp. 398-399 Buck and Tsion Ben-Judah arrive at Tsion’s home where the former rabbi’s nameless wife wails, “Our lives are ruined!” That’s technically true. Tsion’s broadcast will certainly entail some big changes in the Ben-Judah household. He worked for decades to establish a position as a distinguished scholar and a respected figure within Judaism and he just left all that behind him, burning his bridges with a very public rejection of both Judaism and scholarship. But Mrs. Ben-Judah... Read more

Something close 2 nothing

Last updated on: June 26, 2011 at 10:38 pm By Fred Clark

So last night I heard “Give Me Three Steps” on the radio. Nice to hear some catchy Skynyrd without having to try to get past the whole praise-of-segregationist-governors thing. Lyrically, the first verse of “Give Me Three Steps” is brilliant: I was cutting the rug Down at a place called The Jug With a girl named Linda Lu When in walked a man With a gun in his hand And he was looking for you know who He said, “Hey... Read more

If we can make it there …

Last updated on: June 25, 2011 at 10:04 pm By Fred Clark

This is a joyful Saturday night in New York after yesterday’s vote to legalize marriage equality for same-sex couples in the Empire State. My favorite reaction to that good news was Patrick Nielsen Hayden’s two-word summary/response: “Love wins.” And I commend Republican state Sen. Mark Grisanti for his very honest, and very American, explanation for his vote in support of New York’s marriage equality law: Republican Sen. Mark Grisanti, who was previously undecided, announced he would vote for the bill:... Read more

Peter Falk (1927-2011)

Last updated on: June 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm By Fred Clark

Cut waste, create jobs, save money — what's not to like?

Last updated on: June 24, 2011 at 7:39 pm By Fred Clark

With 14 million Americans looking for employment, former President Bill Clinton offers his suggestions for “14 ways to put America back to work.” It’s a pretty good list. A few of these things were included in bits and patches and pieces in the original too-small Recovery Act but need to be done, as Clinton suggests, on a scale commensurate with the magnitude of the problem. Clinton also includes one of my favorite ideas, one that Atrios has been beating the... Read more