Sat - March 10, 2007

Update your Bookmarks



Okay, all three of you should probably update your bookmarks. I'm shifting my weblog to the front page: davebarnhart.net. I'm going to be playing with the structure of the site for a while, so things may look pretty funky.

Posted at 07:43 PM     |

Mon - February 26, 2007

And What if We Discover an AIDS vaccine?


This is, of course, a knot of medical, legal, and ethical issues - parents' rights, the common good, greed, and so on. But people who think cervical cancer is a deterrent to adolescent sexual activity are simply nuts.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the social ramifications of the HPV vaccine. This is, of course, a knot of medical, legal, and ethical issues - parents' rights, the common good, greed, and so on. But people who think cervical cancer is a deterrent to adolescent sexual activity are simply nuts.

When I was an assistant youth director (which is about as low on the totem pole on a church staff as you can get) I once excitedly mentioned a news article about a breakthrough in AIDS research. I said to the youth director, who was the parent of two teenagers, "can you imagine if they discovered a vaccine for HIV?"
"Oh Lord, I hope not," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Then nothing will stop them from having sex."
Them. What did she mean? Teenagers? Unmarried people? Human beings?

I stared at the wall. What could I say?

Posted at 06:59 AM     |

Tue - August 15, 2006

The Meaning of the Word "Evangelical"


I've often misused the word "evangelical," but it still annoys me when a misuse is so flagrant, as in Boingboing's headline: "Some Evangelicals want to hasten Armageddon with bombs."

I've often misused the word "evangelical," but it still annoys me when a misuse is so flagrant, as in Boingboing's headline: "Some evangelicals want to hasten Armageddon with bombs." This is like saying "Some Republicans still enjoy using racist language," or "Some Democrats want to abolish heterosexual marriage." It may be technically true, but it is also misleading. Is it really appropriate to lump Tony Campolo, Jimmy Carter, and Bono with Pat Robertson and James Hagee - all of whom are evangelical? Evangel means "Good News." It does not mean "nutcase." While evangelical culture has come to represent a unique discourse in American society, I'm not yet ready to surrender usage of the word to a political agenda.

In the original article, the word "evangelical" appears in this context:

A small minority of evangelical Christians have entered the Middle East political arena with some of the most un-Christian statements I have ever heard.
and
I have been watching many American evangelicals trying to distance themselves from the calls in the name of the Almighty for the war to continue.

See? Kuttab's beef is with what he calls "Christian Zionists," not "evangelicals." As much as I like boingboing's eclectic blog (it is one of my daily stops), I get really tired of this classist and patronizing attitude toward religion. Boingboing contributors need to get religion.

Tags:
, politics, religion, Christianity, evangelical, journalism

Posted at 09:27 AM     |

Wed - August 9, 2006

J: Will you also leave? P: Lord, where else would we go?


In their place, the church has added more members who live in the surrounding community — African-Americans, Hispanics and Hmong immigrants from Laos.This suits Mr. Boyd.

An excellent NYT story here: Disowning Conservative Politics is Costly for Pastor

A couple of key quotes:

In the end, those who left tended to be white, middle-class suburbanites, church staff members said. In their place, the church has added more members who live in the surrounding community — African-Americans, Hispanics and Hmong immigrants from Laos. This suits Mr. Boyd. His vision for his church is an ethnically and economically diverse congregation that exemplifies Jesus’ teachings by its members’ actions.

Wow. Sounds like a powerful affirmation. Sometimes the Word can invoke the Kingdom, simply by being among us. I figure if you trade whitebread for multigrain as a result of a sermon, then you're getting closer to the bread of life.
........................

“I am sorry to tell you,” he continued, “that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”

Shazam! I mean, amen! Preach it, brother.
....................

One woman asked: “So why NOT us? If we contain the wisdom and grace and love and creativity of Jesus, why shouldn’t we be the ones involved in politics and setting laws?”

Mr. Boyd responded: “I don’t think there’s a particular angle we have on society that others lack. All good, decent people want good and order and justice. Just don’t slap the label ‘Christian’ on it.”

Oh, how rich: "if we contain the wisdom and grace and love and creativity of Jesus." That's what I am: Holy Tupperware.

Earth to John Calvin: Please do something. Your children are out of control.

edit: I paraphrased the title from John 6:67-68, when Jesus scares off a lot of would-be followers with scary talk of eating his body and drinking his blood - not the triumphalistic stuff they had hoped for.

Tags:
, politics, church and state, religion

Posted at 06:21 AM     |

Mon - January 9, 2006

New Political Criteria


After all, the President of the U.S. can hardly be expected to walk the dairy aisle at the Piggly Wiggly flanked by the Secret Service.

I have decided that, from now on, I will make all my political voting decisions based on some simple questions like the following:
1. Does the candidate do his or her own grocery shopping? Or does someone else handle that?
2. Does the candidate ever take his or her own vehicle to have the oil changed? Or is that a task assigned to some lackey?

I realize these may not be realistic questions in our country, in our world. After all, the President of the U.S. can hardly be expected to walk the dairy aisle at the Piggly Wiggly flanked by the Secret Service. But then again - why should I vote for any public officials who have no idea what I live like on a daily basis? Who never have to make a budget and decide spending priorities for things like groceries, fuel, office supplies, or clothes?

It also occurs to me - maybe they are not "out of touch" with the masses. Maybe I am "out of touch" with billionaires. I mean, heck, maybe they do actually buy groceries at the Pig. It's not like they go around wearing "billionaire" badges. I admit, much of my idea of billionaires comes from television, since I have not knowingly met any.

Posted at 07:11 AM     |

Mon - December 19, 2005

Bolivian News


It gets a mention in the body of the article, but there's no discussion of how issues of race and class play out in Bolivia.



It's interesting to see the way the press responds to the recent election in Bolivia.

From the Times: Cocaine may be legalized!
From Forbes: Leftists take control!
From CS Monitor: It'll Be a Tough Task!

What blows me away is that the fact that this is Bolivia's first president from the indigenous population doesn't make the headlines. It gets a mention in the body of the article, but there's no discussion of how issues of race and class play out in Bolivia. Now, I've only been to Bolivia once, and I'm certainly no expert on the political situation there. But there is precious little written about the long-standing effects of colonialism on this country. It's not just a rich-poor divide. It's a European-Indian divide.

It'll be interesting to see how this affects things when we go in May.

Tags: race, class, Bolivia, politics

edit: The Irish Times' headline from two hours ago does, in fact, address the race issue. The Chinese People's Daily Online lays out the race and class issues pretty well. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising, but the general rule seems to be that American media downplays race and class while focusing on the oil, drugs, and U.S. relations issues.

Posted at 10:05 PM     |

Tue - December 6, 2005

Science and Religion: Intro


I'm going to do four posts on Science and Religion.

1. Intro (this one)
2. Intelligent Design and Pulp Fiction.
3. Scientific Method as a Spiritual Discipline
4. Genesis' Two Creation Stories

The BBC has an interesting piece on science and religion here. I think the analogy he uses is interesting: Religion is to God what technology is to science. I think it is an interesting corrective to the way we usually frame the issue, although I would prefer to say that Religion is to faith (a method for apprehending God) what technology is to science (a method for apprehending the cosmos).

The issue gets brought up a lot recently because of the whole intelligent design controversy.

I do not believe ID should be taught in secular schools. I think it is an interesting philosophical tangent, one that helps us explore the philosophy of science, and how biases and assumptions are often built in to operational definitions. But I do not think it is necessary to include in a curriculum, and reasons for including it are suspect, at best. If we are looking at reforming school curriculum to make it more friendly to genuine faith in God, then we should start with history. I think the way we teach history is far more detrimental to Christian faith than the way we teach cosmological origins. American triumphalism has done more to pervert the gospel than anything else we teach in school.

I'm going to do four posts on Science and Religion.

1. Intro (this one)
2. Intelligent Design and Pulp Fiction.
3. Scientific Method as a Spiritual Discipline
4. Genesis' Two Creation Stories

After these four, I'm going to elucidate what I meant by the bold italicized statement above.

Posted at 07:26 AM     |

Fri - September 2, 2005

UMCOR



Not just to plug UMCOR as a good charity, but I realized today that sometimes the connectional system really works. Since all administrative costs are covered by church apportionments, 100% of funds donated to UMCOR go to disaster relief. It's times like this that I really appreciate the connection.

A report on UMCOR's expenses is here.

Posted at 07:58 PM     |

Wed - August 31, 2005

Flood Buckets and Health Kits


A good way to get kids and families involved in disaster recovery is to assemble flood buckets and health kits. Of course, money is always welcome, but if you're like me, you also like to feel as if you are doing something.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with RP and his family.

Posted at 04:04 PM     |

Wed - August 17, 2005

Sad News


I just found out that Brother Roger was stabbed to death.

Brother Roger founded the Taize community, which has been an inspiration to people searching for other ways to be a church together. Some of the most beautiful sacred music and prayerful liturgy have come out of Taize. Even though I've never been, it's been an influence on the way I think about worship, community, and spiritual discipline.

Posted at 01:40 PM     |

Thu - May 5, 2005

Pray the News


I think it's a really neat site, but I wish Pray the News would update more often.

I especially like the round table discussion. It's a fabulous idea. Their perspectives on the election of the pope are interesting.

Posted at 06:02 PM     |

Sat - April 2, 2005

Food and Families


I wrote this post on March 24, but didn't post it until today:

I really can't add anything to the debate surrounding the Terri Schiavo case - and it annoys me greatly when people try to "boil it all down" to anything. It doesn't boil down. It boils over. Pick at one thread and another ravels. It is a bottomless pit of issues and arguments. I can really only say with authority what I believe should happen if it were me, or a loved one, thrust into a similar situation. None of those speaking loudest really knows the details. I suspect there is much more below the surface.

Take, for instance, that the action of removing support involves a feeding tube. And she is in this situation precisely because of a nutrition issue:

"While no formal proof emerged, the medical records note that the combination of [Theresa's] aggressive weight loss, diet control and excessive hydration raised questions about ...Bulimia, an eating disorder, more common among women than men, in which purging through vomiting, laxatives and other methods of diet control become obsessive." (From Abstract Appeal. )

Not that it isn't obvious, but there are some seriously messed-up family dynamics which have created this situation, and they sound like the kind of troubles that surround families of persons with eating disorders. And I can only imagine the collective guilt and anger on the part of her parents and husband which inform their very strong feelings about removing or maintaining a feeding tube - which must symbolize everything they couldn't achieve for her in the first place. When I connected these two pieces of information it hit me pretty square. There are far, far more issues operating here than simple bioethics, or states' rights vs. federal government politics, or religious belief in the sanctity of life. It is unfortunate that the family will never be able to get the kind of pastoral care they need, now that they are poster children for issues.

St. Paul says it would be better to be wronged than to let such things go to court. Sometimes I wonder. Would it be better for her husband to divorce her and move on with his life, abandoning whatever claims he has on insurance or malpractice money, regardless of whether or not that is even an issue for him? Or if he feels letting her die is right, should he stick with it no matter how much money someone offers him to walk away? Would it be better for her parents to acknowledge that for better or for worse, the sanctity of a marriage into which their daughter willingly entered gives the husband the right to make decisions for his wife? All the subsequent finger pointing and inferences about his motives or their motives are all too late. If any of the family truly had faith - faith in the resurrection, faith in the law of love, faith in the sanctity of life (and by that I mean not merely the preservation of it) - they would have worked this out long ago. I say this not to disparage the family, but to point out that all the religious posturing over this issue by politicians and pundits and priests is entirely hypocritical.

Again, not that anyone didn't already know that.

Posted at 12:09 AM     |

Mon - January 10, 2005

A Contract with God


This is from the first graphic novel by Eisner. Man. Good stuff.


Posted at 07:37 PM     |

Wed - January 5, 2005

To the Best Seminary Professor I Never Had


Will Eisner passed away on January 3, 2005. He was one of the greatest comix artists ever.

His Contract With God had as much impact on me - my spiritual life, my understanding of communication, my interest in preaching and storytelling - as C. S. Lewis or David Buttrick or Jurgen Moltmann or any number of theologians and authors.

He wasn't a theologian. He was a cartoonist, according to some of the obits.

Part of me has a problem with calling such an artist a cartoonist. Visionary, maybe. Storyteller in Parables. But part of me prefers cartoonist. He didn't think of what he did as art. He left the theorizing to others. He just made comics. Of course, I am certain he didn't think of himself as a theologian, either. But he was to me.

I'm not his hugest fan. I've only read a handful of his graphic novels and a few collections of The Spirit. But the ones I read have influenced me in a profound way.

Posted at 01:31 PM     |

Fri - October 22, 2004

Bush's Spirituality


I feel about the President's spirituality the same way I feel about Madonna's: there's something a little too showy and superficial about it. I'm not sure there's much else for a celebrity - or a politician - to be. However, I have some real problems with this article.

Although it makes some good comments and pretty well nails the problems with Bush's religious rhetoric, I bristled when the author referred to John Wesley's "heartwarming experience" as part of a "self-help ethos." First of all, the casual use of the phrase "self-help" as a throwaway word full of contempt reflects a modern way of thinking that was alien to Wesley's world. Second of all, it shows not only a misunderstanding of what Wesley was describing with this language, but also a failure to connect it to the behavior which followed it.

Wesley was describing an experience of assurance. Whether you decide that this event was his experience of justifying grace (being "saved") or an experience of sanctifying grace (being filled with the Holy Spirit), it's pretty clear that JW's understanding of salvation is very different from modern evangelicals. Wesley doesn't fit into the Southern Baptist model of salvation. He wasn't a Baptist.

He immediately went from that experience to tell his brother Charles, and they stayed up long into the night talking about it. The excitement which he reports goes way beyond warm fuzzies. He wasn't talking about a "warm feeling." He was talking about the presence of the Holy Spirit, an intimate encounter with God which gave him assurance of his salvation and empowered him from that point to be a more effective disciple.

This is an important point for understanding the difference between Methodism and the dominant Christian culture in America today. Although a personal experience of salvation is important, salvation itself is understood as a process. You don't "get saved." You are saved, every day, by the grace of God. Evidence of your salvation and your growth in discipleship should appear as a disciplined life in the pursuit of holiness. This is not self-help. It's common sense. God helps you have the chutzpa to actually do something about your spiritual growth. You can't just "get saved" one afternoon, receive your get-out-of-hell-free card, and continue to live the same way you did before.

In that sense, the article does hit on an important disconnect between Bush and the fundamentalists who support him. He does not claim to be born again. He does not even claim to be evangelical. But, you see, I don't think that's a problem. Because I live each day in the Bible Belt, where the dominant theology is "once saved, always saved."

What I do have a problem with is the way GWB hijacks religious rhetoric. The Christian far right has been allowed to define the terms of the debate, and social justice has been left out of it completely. That's something like ripping over half of the Bible out, including all of the prophets and the Gospel of Luke. Why is it, when Christians point to the moral depravity of America, they point to Hollywood or MTV, and not to foreign and domestic policy? It is long, long past time that the church found its prophetic voice.

Part of my evangelistic concern is how to find and celebrate a uniquely American version of Christianity which is not syncretic with American paganism and idol-worship. There's stuff in our culture which is great, and should be lifted up and celebrated. But there's also the worship of our corporate and institutional gods - Pluto, god of the Free Market (and Death), Mars, god of War, Jupiter, god of the Empire and Pax Americana, and the rest of the Pantheon (Nike, Ikea, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and so on). Y**H just becomes another god among gods, as in Mom, God, and Apple Pie.

Although Apple Pie is a pretty enticing god, I must admit.

Posted at 09:15 AM     |

Take a Breath Already!

Blame the Peasants!

Bolivian Politics

©