This space is a place to post quick links to other sites, books or articles of interest. We don’t expect commentary here, just links and brief explanations. If it is worth discussing, let’s put it in a blog.
First, in thinking about Lent, and the Gospels, and then in thinking about some of the correspondence and recent 7V posts about dualism, I’ve come across two articles from NT Wright, which I have found interesting and pertinent.
I wanted to suggest a couple of resources that I found helpful regarding the discussion of Intellegent Design and real science. John Haught has several books. He teaches at Georgetown, or at least he used to. Perhaps the most instructive is God After Darwin Rather than arguing about the question of design (read static design), the issue has to do with novelty. Haught was also a key witness at the Dover judicial hearings.
You also might want to check out Back to Darwin: A Richer Account of Evolution, (in one edition, the book is titled It’s Not all That Easy) which is edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. This is a compilation of presentations at a recent conference sponsored by the Center for Process Studies at Claremont.
One additional article might help here – this is an interview with John Haught published recently in Salon about his forthcoming book and other related issues.
Some might also find this linked article by Charles Birch, joint winner of the Templeton Prize to help navigate through the unfortunate battle zone of the misconstrued relationship of science and religion.
Interesting sermon and interview with Diana Eck, a life-long United Methodist, about Islam. Diana is the director of the Pluralism Project and teaches at Harvard. This is part of the 30 Good Minutes series out of Chicago.
From one of my sources for humor. I thought about posting it in 7Villages, but….
Shalom!
dave
today’sFUNNY===========================
A large company, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.
On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall. The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business. He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, “How much money do you make a week?”
A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, “I make $400 a week. Why?”
The new CEO then handed the guy $1,600 in cash and screamed, “Here’s four weeks pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back!”
Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here?”
From across the room came a voice, “Pizza delivery guy.”
today’sTHOT============================
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?
=======================================
PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you’re REAL nice, you’ll tell them where you got it! http://www.mikeysFunnies.com
You have asked a great question that I have been struggling with but have found no solution – I wish there was a way to post a second postings page which would then allow a better dialogue – I am still working on a solution – perhaps, a second site address seamlessly linked to this opne is the solution – any suggestions that others might have would be greatly appreciated.
(In case “Arlo” decides he doesn’t like this reply at 7V):
“Is he bragging or complaining?”
Chances are good that Rev. Wallis is proud of having been arrested for speaking truth to power.
Chances are equally good that Mr. Tooley neglected to link to Rev. Wallis’s column because Mr. Tooley is afraid that readers might compare Wallis to Tooley’s characterization, and find Tooley’s words a bit slippery.
No, I am not proud of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Woo/Addington/Cambone’s directive to torture. Immoral, un-American, known (by the US Army) to be useless.
As military interrogators have explained: if you beat someone until they talk, they will tell you whatever they thnk you want to hear.
For gruesome details, see Janet Baker, The Dark Side.
If you want to find some shred of honor and decency in these last despicable years, study the actions of the Judge Advocate Genrals of the Army and Navy, both experts in military law, and both of whom wrote that the Addington/Woo “memorandum of understanding” to allow torture was against US military law — they know that law — and against US military tradition dating from George Washington.
The JAGs reminded the White House that no prisoner who had been tortured could be tried for their crimes. Courts down’t like torture.
Study, also, the actions of the military lawyers at Guantanamo, who insisted on following procedure, and who, no matter what Rumsfeld spluttered, could not give up the Anglo-American tradition of the rule of law. Just too deeply embedded.
I am proud that the UMC bishops have condemned torture. It was a low-minded eight years, but some held fast to the faith.by John WelchJan 30, 2009 9:36 am
Here is a provocative link to a recent Pew article – apparently, Pastor Rick Warren is offering breakaway Episcopal churches space at his Saddleback facilities.
While I won’t participate in the current rehash of the tired old arguments against biological factors contributing to homosexual orientation on 7 Villages led by our friend from Oklahoma, (I can’t I’ve been blocked for some time) I do think that people should be allowed to speak for themselves and not be subject to spin. Comment #48 suggests the discrediting of Dean Hamer’s 1993 genetic research. I thought some might be interesting in hearing what Hamer has to say.
Also, I guess I am dense, but I just realized the play on words between Focus on the Family’s Love Wins Out project and the work done to discredit reparative therapy by those at Truth Wins Out – boy, am I slow.
Couldn’t resist this… Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler singing “Amazing Grace” at the Church of Today in Detroit…
This actually is one of the few ‘church’ songs my daughter likes to sing, and she has sung it at church a couple of times for special events. One of our church band musicians, who tried to get her involved through the music aspect, whom she liked (he had played in a punk band in the 80′s when he was a teenager) played a great arrangement of it on the piano for her – very gospelly, which was the perfect accompaniment for her singing style.
I glanced at it and think I noted that the top ten does NOT include the financial crisis/economic woes or the Obama election among what must be many possibilities. Interesting omissions ISTM.
In case it gets lost, I’ve just posted this on 7V in reply to Bob Brooke. I’m happy to discuss ethics and science on gays, but I don’t have patience for throwing isolated Bible verses. Bob mentioned ethics, so here goes:
Hello, Bob, I feel you deserve a response, and, aside from the fact that I happen to like you, I want to avoid some of the mutually destructive discussions we’ve seen.
Some of that, I continue to say, comes from the heavy weight that we think our words carry: we are tempted to be “true believers”, and that slips, often, into a swamp. (You probably now the Eric Hoffer book I refer to.).
1. I think this is a moral / ethical issue. That’s why I also condemn many elements of the treatment of women. Clitorectomy might be a custom some places, but that doesn’t mean I have to support it. You know the rest, so I won’t continue, although Hilary Putnam has some interesting arguments against the argument that “if it’s not opur culture, we can’t have an opinion”. See his arguments in “Renewing Philosophy”, roughly pages 183, and his discussion of “the rational Nazi” in “Reason, Truth and History”.
2. Looking at ethics, I’ll go with the traditional “four cardinal virtues”:
- prudence
- justice
- fortitude
- temperance
That’s from Josef Piper, who traces the elements all the way back to a character named Agathon in Plato’s “Symposium”, and all the way up through Augustine and Aquinas.
3. I don’t see that gay people fail any of the virtues. I have lived through some excruciating debates in the predecessor to 7V, in which some people insisted that if we “tolerate” gays, then we must tolerate almost anything from pedophilia to incest to polygamy and polyandry to murder.
All of these might be “compulsions”, but not all pass the test of virtues.
It happens that I bat left and hit right, and write and hold a fork with my right hand. I’m right handed. My Dad throws right, hits right, but he’s left-handed, holds a fork in his left hand, but writes with his right hand. I’m being a bit frivolous, but the painful thing is that Dad was forced to writed right-handed back the ’20s and ’30s, because…I’m not sure why.
Some people are born left-handed. Likewise, some people are, as best we can tell, born gay.
From my experience, plus Kinsey, plus a recent British census, about 6% – 10% are gay. I know that some people are in-between. I know people who came out late in life, and I know people who came out and decided that, really, they weren’t gay. We live among a wide variety of people.
Some people are born pedophiles, but pedophilia violates rules of justice and equality. One person has power over the other. Same with any society that pushes polygamy.Same with incest.
I think that people have exagerrated the risk of sexual orientation.
4. To pick up a issue you mentioned elsewhere, it seems to me — actually to John Howard Yoder (who counts more) that the opinion of the Church toward gays tends to follow the opinion of society at large. Yoder followed John Boswell’s “Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality” (1980). No, I read Yoder (on the web) rather than the 400 page Boswell book, and, no, I don’t know what Menonites decided. Yoder was only asked to use his experice at confict resolution to set a discussion.
5. I’ve asked psychiatrists about sexual orientation…MD psychiatrists from Columbia-Cornell medical center, NYU med center, and Roosevelt- St Lukes (that’s a lot of the med schools in New York). Uniformly, they say that
- there is nothing in common among gays except who they have sex with (consider the similarity between J Edgar Hoover and Bayard Rustin…not much)
- gays appear as mentally healthy as all the rest of us
- gays form long-lasting and loyal relationships, just as straights do. (THe NY Times caried a marriage/committment article about two men who had formed a committed, excusive relationship 32 years ago.)
- I think that science supports the view that gays are pretty much like anyone else. There are no “markers” or “signs”, and I just double-checked with a professor at NYU School of Medicine. Forty years ago, many of my friends “came out”, and all were a surprise. I could not predict who would or would not. Yes, I had a painful crush on Jody, the ex-girl-friend of my good friend Michael, and Michael, year or two and a a girl-friend later, came out and founded Bay Area Gay Liberation (BAGEL). Three years after that, Jody also came out. Who knew?
6. Whether we call it marriage or civil union, I think it can only help our cynical me-first society if we allow formalized unions between gay people. This society encourages disloyalty, distrust, selfishness. I happen to think that people cannot live outside of community, and people die by themselves. (Sources: Josiah Royce, especially “Problems of Christianity”, Edgar Brightman, and Walter Muelder. Brightman and Muelder were great Methodist theologians and philosophers. Oh, and my own observation.)
7. I have discussed several mutually re-einforcing lines of argument:
- scripture, which, according to the great JH Yoder, tends to be re-interpreted as society changes. Some verses condemn ‘homosexuality”, and others promote love of all, “agape”. Neither Greek nor Jew, b=neither male nor female…God’s special love for each person.
- reason, which suggests that sexual orientation is not a medical illness
- tradition, which helps interpret scripture, and
- experience
You’ve probably recognized the four legs of the Wesleyan quadrilateral.
This quote was the “Voice of the Day” on today’s Sojourner’s Verse and Voice email:
“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”
- Etty Hillesum,
died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29. From An Interrupted Life, a compilation of her diaries and letters.
Looked at it, and Yippee! Let’s be Advent Conspirators!!
*
Separately: just saw the “liberal media”, Rachel Maddow, do a piece showing singing lumps of coal praing “clean coal technology” to the tunes of Christmas songs. Including “Clean Coal Night” / “Silent Night”.
Clearly a fake, I thought. Clearly some of that ultra-liberal spin. Can’t be. So I googled, and, behold:
(Sorry, but I skipped over the panels that let you dress the carolers in hats, scarves, and gloves, or choose a different background. Right to the music! And that spirit!)
I stumbled across a website that has an immense amount of John Cobb and other interesting people. Anyone ever meet Georgia Harkness, the Methodist theology professor who campaign for the ordination of women? Who stuck by her opinions so stubbornly that Karl Barth threw a temper tantrum at having a mere woman disagree with him? Well, she’s there, too.
“I think they should. That’s an example of taking responsibility. I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, ‘I’m willing to make some sacrifice as well, because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times.’”
- President-elect Barack Obama, when asked in an interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters if U.S. banking executives should forgo large bonuses. (Source: ABC News)
from “Quote of the Week” in today’s SOJOMAIL email
I was really sad this week to learn that Father Andrew Greeley was in the hospital in critical, but stable, condition. During a dry time in my life, spiritually, I found his books to be a source of inspiration with their subplot of Her joy, grace, and forgiveness offered to us, even when we’ve messed up or thought we’d lost the way.
This is from the Lower Hudson Valley news, in New York – an article about Rev. John Collins receiving the first ‘John Collins Justice Fund Award’ at Memorial UMC in White Plains last weekend.
This article appeared in a Kuala Lumpur newspaper the other day. It provides a somewhat humorous Asian view of the USA elections.
Such Sweet Torture
Nury Vittachi
A Western journalist called me the other day to ask what Asians thought of Sarah Palin.
“Just a minute,” I said. “I’ll ask them.” I held my hand over the phone, counted to 20 and then got back on the line. “They like him,” I said. “But they think he should make more episodes of Monty Python.
There was a long pause. I heard the journalist’s brain cell click into place.
“That’s not Sarah Palin,” she eventually said. “That’s Michael Palin.
“Well Asians would like her to tell her husband to make more episodes of Monty Python.”
“Actually, I don’t think Michael Palin is her husband.”
I took a sharp intake of breath. “They are not legally married? That’s something that Asians definitely do not approve of.”
“No, no, no, she’s married to someone else, not Michael Palin.”
“That makes it worse,” I said.
There are few things in life more pleasurable than tormenting American journalists. The only downside is that it is so easy. They are absolutely convinced that the rest of the world watches every detail of what happens in the United States as if it was some sort of wacky global sitcom designed to entertain the rest of the planet. Actually, that IS more or less the case. But I still like teasing them.
Anyway, the caller explained in words of one syllable that Sarah Palin could possibly be “the second most powerful person in the world” in a month and she needed a commend from Asia for a feature she was writing.
“I understand,” I said. “Well, the first thing that Asians would want to know is does this Palin come from Palin?”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“You do know there’s a place called Palin in Asia?”
Silence.
“It’s 400 kilometers north of Yangon. You do know where Yangon is, don’t you?” I asked.
She changed the subject.
“Sure, but are Asians concerned that someone with no practical understanding of Asia could soon be in a position of global leadership?”
It was my turn to sound baffled. “George W. Bush has been leader of America for eight years already. There’s a difference?”
“Ms Palin’s level of familiarity with Asia makes George W. Bush look like an old China hand,” she replied.
“Now you’re scaring me,” I complained.
“So Asians wouldn’t vote for her?”
“Most of us are not even allowed to vote for our own leaders. What’s the point of asking us whether we’d vote for yours?”
Her tone was becoming icy, so I decided to strike a more conciliatory note. “What’s Ms Palin’s position on Jammu and Kashmir? How does she see Taiwan? For late night takeaways, does she prefer Indian or Chinese?”
The journalist told me that Ms Palin had expressed no opinions on those subjects. Bit she claimed to have foreign experience, since she lived in Alaska, which was near Russia.
I nodded over the phone. “Alaska is near Russia, and Russia is near Asia, so that makes her an Asia expert.”
“She might think so,” the journalist said.
Reluctantly, I decided I had to give a straight answer. “I think most Asians would rather that Obama’s team won.”
“Because he lived in Asia?”
“Because his favourite food is chili. He says his heart is all-American, but his bowels are definitely Asian.”
First, in thinking about Lent, and the Gospels, and then in thinking about some of the correspondence and recent 7V posts about dualism, I’ve come across two articles from NT Wright, which I have found interesting and pertinent.
One I must have initially found from a link from Dave, because it for an article in Christian Century:
Kingdom Come: The Public Meaning of the Gospels
and one which I found from a link on “Faith and Fumbles”:
How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?
I wanted to suggest a couple of resources that I found helpful regarding the discussion of Intellegent Design and real science. John Haught has several books. He teaches at Georgetown, or at least he used to. Perhaps the most instructive is God After Darwin Rather than arguing about the question of design (read static design), the issue has to do with novelty. Haught was also a key witness at the Dover judicial hearings.
You also might want to check out Back to Darwin: A Richer Account of Evolution, (in one edition, the book is titled It’s Not all That Easy) which is edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. This is a compilation of presentations at a recent conference sponsored by the Center for Process Studies at Claremont.
One additional article might help here – this is an interview with John Haught published recently in Salon about his forthcoming book and other related issues.
Some might also find this linked article by Charles Birch, joint winner of the Templeton Prize to help navigate through the unfortunate battle zone of the misconstrued relationship of science and religion.
Chance, Purpose and the Order of Nature
Interesting sermon and interview with Diana Eck, a life-long United Methodist, about Islam. Diana is the director of the Pluralism Project and teaches at Harvard. This is part of the 30 Good Minutes series out of Chicago.
http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/eck_5219.htm
Shalom!
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-02-10-collider-delay_N.htm?csp=27&RM_Exclude=Juno
Looks like church speed, but I’m eager to learn what they learn.
Shalom!
dave
Addl. info from Habitat:
http://www.habitat.org/how/millard_feb2009.aspx
Shalom!
dave
Shalom!
It’s of interest to me how Millard Fuller turned his life around and about, as well as how he chose to be buried.
http://www.koinoniapartners.org/
And, in addition, Koinonia sells the best chocolate products!
Shalom!
dave
Shalom!
From one of my sources for humor. I thought about posting it in 7Villages, but….
Shalom!
dave
today’sFUNNY===========================
A large company, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.
On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall. The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business. He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, “How much money do you make a week?”
A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, “I make $400 a week. Why?”
The new CEO then handed the guy $1,600 in cash and screamed, “Here’s four weeks pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back!”
Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here?”
From across the room came a voice, “Pizza delivery guy.”
today’sTHOT============================
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?
=======================================
PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you’re REAL nice, you’ll tell them where you got it! http://www.mikeysFunnies.com
Michael,
You have asked a great question that I have been struggling with but have found no solution – I wish there was a way to post a second postings page which would then allow a better dialogue – I am still working on a solution – perhaps, a second site address seamlessly linked to this opne is the solution – any suggestions that others might have would be greatly appreciated.
John (in the capacity as site administrator)
Is there any way to get the Bulletin Board turned upside down, so that the newer posts are at the top, rather than the bottom?
(In case “Arlo” decides he doesn’t like this reply at 7V):
“Is he bragging or complaining?”
Chances are good that Rev. Wallis is proud of having been arrested for speaking truth to power.
Chances are equally good that Mr. Tooley neglected to link to Rev. Wallis’s column because Mr. Tooley is afraid that readers might compare Wallis to Tooley’s characterization, and find Tooley’s words a bit slippery.
No, I am not proud of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Woo/Addington/Cambone’s directive to torture. Immoral, un-American, known (by the US Army) to be useless.
As military interrogators have explained: if you beat someone until they talk, they will tell you whatever they thnk you want to hear.
For gruesome details, see Janet Baker, The Dark Side.
If you want to find some shred of honor and decency in these last despicable years, study the actions of the Judge Advocate Genrals of the Army and Navy, both experts in military law, and both of whom wrote that the Addington/Woo “memorandum of understanding” to allow torture was against US military law — they know that law — and against US military tradition dating from George Washington.
The JAGs reminded the White House that no prisoner who had been tortured could be tried for their crimes. Courts down’t like torture.
Study, also, the actions of the military lawyers at Guantanamo, who insisted on following procedure, and who, no matter what Rumsfeld spluttered, could not give up the Anglo-American tradition of the rule of law. Just too deeply embedded.
I am proud that the UMC bishops have condemned torture. It was a low-minded eight years, but some held fast to the faith.by John WelchJan 30, 2009 9:36 am
Shalom!
Happy Birthday, Granny D!
http://www.grannyd.com/about-grannyd.html
Shalom!
dave
Shalom!
I’m most certainly no movie buff, but this was interesting because of the interplay of the moviemaker’s upbringing, faith exposure, and body of work.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/fof_griffith.html
Shalom!
dave
Here is a provocative link to a recent Pew article – apparently, Pastor Rick Warren is offering breakaway Episcopal churches space at his Saddleback facilities.
http://pewforum.org/news/rss.php?NewsID=17327
While I won’t participate in the current rehash of the tired old arguments against biological factors contributing to homosexual orientation on 7 Villages led by our friend from Oklahoma, (I can’t I’ve been blocked for some time) I do think that people should be allowed to speak for themselves and not be subject to spin. Comment #48 suggests the discrediting of Dean Hamer’s 1993 genetic research. I thought some might be interesting in hearing what Hamer has to say.
Also, I guess I am dense, but I just realized the play on words between Focus on the Family’s Love Wins Out project and the work done to discredit reparative therapy by those at Truth Wins Out – boy, am I slow.
Just like you, I go forever with out reading RSS. My view is, if it’s important at all, It will hit my twitter stream.
Couldn’t resist this… Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler singing “Amazing Grace” at the Church of Today in Detroit…
This actually is one of the few ‘church’ songs my daughter likes to sing, and she has sung it at church a couple of times for special events. One of our church band musicians, who tried to get her involved through the music aspect, whom she liked (he had played in a punk band in the 80′s when he was a teenager) played a great arrangement of it on the piano for her – very gospelly, which was the perfect accompaniment for her singing style.
Shalom!
Here’s a youtube piece from the music film shown recently on Bill Moyer’s JOURNAL:
Shalom!
dave
Shalom!
In a futile effort to do some monitoring of conservative opinion, I get daily emails from the Crosswalk folks. Today’s, I think, can be found here:
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11597255/
I glanced at it and think I noted that the top ten does NOT include the financial crisis/economic woes or the Obama election among what must be many possibilities. Interesting omissions ISTM.
Shalom!
dave
In case it gets lost, I’ve just posted this on 7V in reply to Bob Brooke. I’m happy to discuss ethics and science on gays, but I don’t have patience for throwing isolated Bible verses. Bob mentioned ethics, so here goes:
Hello, Bob, I feel you deserve a response, and, aside from the fact that I happen to like you, I want to avoid some of the mutually destructive discussions we’ve seen.
Some of that, I continue to say, comes from the heavy weight that we think our words carry: we are tempted to be “true believers”, and that slips, often, into a swamp. (You probably now the Eric Hoffer book I refer to.).
1. I think this is a moral / ethical issue. That’s why I also condemn many elements of the treatment of women. Clitorectomy might be a custom some places, but that doesn’t mean I have to support it. You know the rest, so I won’t continue, although Hilary Putnam has some interesting arguments against the argument that “if it’s not opur culture, we can’t have an opinion”. See his arguments in “Renewing Philosophy”, roughly pages 183, and his discussion of “the rational Nazi” in “Reason, Truth and History”.
2. Looking at ethics, I’ll go with the traditional “four cardinal virtues”:
- prudence
- justice
- fortitude
- temperance
That’s from Josef Piper, who traces the elements all the way back to a character named Agathon in Plato’s “Symposium”, and all the way up through Augustine and Aquinas.
3. I don’t see that gay people fail any of the virtues. I have lived through some excruciating debates in the predecessor to 7V, in which some people insisted that if we “tolerate” gays, then we must tolerate almost anything from pedophilia to incest to polygamy and polyandry to murder.
All of these might be “compulsions”, but not all pass the test of virtues.
It happens that I bat left and hit right, and write and hold a fork with my right hand. I’m right handed. My Dad throws right, hits right, but he’s left-handed, holds a fork in his left hand, but writes with his right hand. I’m being a bit frivolous, but the painful thing is that Dad was forced to writed right-handed back the ’20s and ’30s, because…I’m not sure why.
Some people are born left-handed. Likewise, some people are, as best we can tell, born gay.
From my experience, plus Kinsey, plus a recent British census, about 6% – 10% are gay. I know that some people are in-between. I know people who came out late in life, and I know people who came out and decided that, really, they weren’t gay. We live among a wide variety of people.
Some people are born pedophiles, but pedophilia violates rules of justice and equality. One person has power over the other. Same with any society that pushes polygamy.Same with incest.
I think that people have exagerrated the risk of sexual orientation.
4. To pick up a issue you mentioned elsewhere, it seems to me — actually to John Howard Yoder (who counts more) that the opinion of the Church toward gays tends to follow the opinion of society at large. Yoder followed John Boswell’s “Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality” (1980). No, I read Yoder (on the web) rather than the 400 page Boswell book, and, no, I don’t know what Menonites decided. Yoder was only asked to use his experice at confict resolution to set a discussion.
5. I’ve asked psychiatrists about sexual orientation…MD psychiatrists from Columbia-Cornell medical center, NYU med center, and Roosevelt- St Lukes (that’s a lot of the med schools in New York). Uniformly, they say that
- there is nothing in common among gays except who they have sex with (consider the similarity between J Edgar Hoover and Bayard Rustin…not much)
- gays appear as mentally healthy as all the rest of us
- gays form long-lasting and loyal relationships, just as straights do. (THe NY Times caried a marriage/committment article about two men who had formed a committed, excusive relationship 32 years ago.)
- I think that science supports the view that gays are pretty much like anyone else. There are no “markers” or “signs”, and I just double-checked with a professor at NYU School of Medicine. Forty years ago, many of my friends “came out”, and all were a surprise. I could not predict who would or would not. Yes, I had a painful crush on Jody, the ex-girl-friend of my good friend Michael, and Michael, year or two and a a girl-friend later, came out and founded Bay Area Gay Liberation (BAGEL). Three years after that, Jody also came out. Who knew?
6. Whether we call it marriage or civil union, I think it can only help our cynical me-first society if we allow formalized unions between gay people. This society encourages disloyalty, distrust, selfishness. I happen to think that people cannot live outside of community, and people die by themselves. (Sources: Josiah Royce, especially “Problems of Christianity”, Edgar Brightman, and Walter Muelder. Brightman and Muelder were great Methodist theologians and philosophers. Oh, and my own observation.)
7. I have discussed several mutually re-einforcing lines of argument:
- scripture, which, according to the great JH Yoder, tends to be re-interpreted as society changes. Some verses condemn ‘homosexuality”, and others promote love of all, “agape”. Neither Greek nor Jew, b=neither male nor female…God’s special love for each person.
- reason, which suggests that sexual orientation is not a medical illness
- tradition, which helps interpret scripture, and
- experience
You’ve probably recognized the four legs of the Wesleyan quadrilateral.
Peace,
John
Shalom!
Other than greeting you with “Merry Christmas,” this doesn’t merit discussion, but it’s kind of fun.
http://gpsinformation.info/main/merryxmas.swf
Shalom!
dave
This quote was the “Voice of the Day” on today’s Sojourner’s Verse and Voice email:
“Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”
- Etty Hillesum,
died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29. From An Interrupted Life, a compilation of her diaries and letters.
Looked at it, and Yippee! Let’s be Advent Conspirators!!
*
Separately: just saw the “liberal media”, Rachel Maddow, do a piece showing singing lumps of coal praing “clean coal technology” to the tunes of Christmas songs. Including “Clean Coal Night” / “Silent Night”.
Clearly a fake, I thought. Clearly some of that ultra-liberal spin. Can’t be. So I googled, and, behold:
http://www.americaspower.org/Carolers
(Sorry, but I skipped over the panels that let you dress the carolers in hats, scarves, and gloves, or choose a different background. Right to the music! And that spirit!)
Shalom!
I’ve been stumbling around too, and found the Advent Conspiracy site today. Don’t know how this will copy….
One of the things I find interesting is the names for the congregations that are involved at this time.
Shalom!
dave
Welcome to Advent Conspiracy!
Take the challenge and enter the story with us this season.
Worship fully, spend less, give more, love all
Christmas can [still] change the world.
This year, Give Presence.
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
I stumbled across a website that has an immense amount of John Cobb and other interesting people. Anyone ever meet Georgia Harkness, the Methodist theology professor who campaign for the ordination of women? Who stuck by her opinions so stubbornly that Karl Barth threw a temper tantrum at having a mere woman disagree with him? Well, she’s there, too.
See http://www.religion-online.org/
Kay Pere and group singing her song, “Time at the Table.” Very moving: http://kaypere.blogspot.com/2008/11/video-me-singing-time-at-table.html
Kay is a member of my Artist’s Way Graduates mailing list.
Here’s a quote I agree with:
“I think they should. That’s an example of taking responsibility. I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, ‘I’m willing to make some sacrifice as well, because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times.’”
- President-elect Barack Obama, when asked in an interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters if U.S. banking executives should forgo large bonuses. (Source: ABC News)
from “Quote of the Week” in today’s SOJOMAIL email
This blog article makes some interesting comparisons concerning “How Blogging Resembles Friends Meeting” and how to be good bloggers:
http://markfranek.wordpress.com/2007/09/01/friends-and-cyberspace-the-many-doors-to-meeting-for-worship-include-the-virtual/
I was really sad this week to learn that Father Andrew Greeley was in the hospital in critical, but stable, condition. During a dry time in my life, spiritually, I found his books to be a source of inspiration with their subplot of Her joy, grace, and forgiveness offered to us, even when we’ve messed up or thought we’d lost the way.
http://www.andysword.com/
I send my prayers for a speedy and complete recovery.
This is from the Lower Hudson Valley news, in New York – an article about Rev. John Collins receiving the first ‘John Collins Justice Fund Award’ at Memorial UMC in White Plains last weekend.
I will try to make a clickable link, but in case it doesn’t work: http://www.lohud.com/article/2008811010366
peace,
lorna
Shalom!
Here’s an interesting story about a group at the Lincoln Memorial listening to Obama’s speech in Chicago.
http://rosemarieberger.com/2008/11/05/midnight-at-the-lincoln-memorial/#comments
Shalom!
dave
Here is the link to the most recent “Weekly Round-up” from Methoblog.
http://arbevere.blogspot.com/2008/11/methodist-blogs-weekly-roundup.html
This article appeared in a Kuala Lumpur newspaper the other day. It provides a somewhat humorous Asian view of the USA elections.
Such Sweet Torture
Nury Vittachi
A Western journalist called me the other day to ask what Asians thought of Sarah Palin.
“Just a minute,” I said. “I’ll ask them.” I held my hand over the phone, counted to 20 and then got back on the line. “They like him,” I said. “But they think he should make more episodes of Monty Python.
There was a long pause. I heard the journalist’s brain cell click into place.
“That’s not Sarah Palin,” she eventually said. “That’s Michael Palin.
“Well Asians would like her to tell her husband to make more episodes of Monty Python.”
“Actually, I don’t think Michael Palin is her husband.”
I took a sharp intake of breath. “They are not legally married? That’s something that Asians definitely do not approve of.”
“No, no, no, she’s married to someone else, not Michael Palin.”
“That makes it worse,” I said.
There are few things in life more pleasurable than tormenting American journalists. The only downside is that it is so easy. They are absolutely convinced that the rest of the world watches every detail of what happens in the United States as if it was some sort of wacky global sitcom designed to entertain the rest of the planet. Actually, that IS more or less the case. But I still like teasing them.
Anyway, the caller explained in words of one syllable that Sarah Palin could possibly be “the second most powerful person in the world” in a month and she needed a commend from Asia for a feature she was writing.
“I understand,” I said. “Well, the first thing that Asians would want to know is does this Palin come from Palin?”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“You do know there’s a place called Palin in Asia?”
Silence.
“It’s 400 kilometers north of Yangon. You do know where Yangon is, don’t you?” I asked.
She changed the subject.
“Sure, but are Asians concerned that someone with no practical understanding of Asia could soon be in a position of global leadership?”
It was my turn to sound baffled. “George W. Bush has been leader of America for eight years already. There’s a difference?”
“Ms Palin’s level of familiarity with Asia makes George W. Bush look like an old China hand,” she replied.
“Now you’re scaring me,” I complained.
“So Asians wouldn’t vote for her?”
“Most of us are not even allowed to vote for our own leaders. What’s the point of asking us whether we’d vote for yours?”
Her tone was becoming icy, so I decided to strike a more conciliatory note. “What’s Ms Palin’s position on Jammu and Kashmir? How does she see Taiwan? For late night takeaways, does she prefer Indian or Chinese?”
The journalist told me that Ms Palin had expressed no opinions on those subjects. Bit she claimed to have foreign experience, since she lived in Alaska, which was near Russia.
I nodded over the phone. “Alaska is near Russia, and Russia is near Asia, so that makes her an Asia expert.”
“She might think so,” the journalist said.
Reluctantly, I decided I had to give a straight answer. “I think most Asians would rather that Obama’s team won.”
“Because he lived in Asia?”
“Because his favourite food is chili. He says his heart is all-American, but his bowels are definitely Asian.”
The Sun, Kuala Lumpur, October 13, 2008 p. 19.
John B. Cobb, Jr. wrote this in 1997. Looks interesting!
Reclaiming the Church: Where the Mainline Church Went Wrong and What to Do about It
The following link is to Barnes and Noble. You may have to cut and past.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Reclaiming-the-Church/John-B-Cobb/e/9780664257200/?itm=3