May 2012
7 posts
“You have to understand first what the Mavs sell, which is not basketball…...”
– —Mark Cuban, Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, The Fan Experience at Sporting Events.
Religion, especially progressive religion, needs to reevaluate its “product.” I’ve seen a series of new ads on making church all about doing good in the world, and while that’s a nice idea, it...
Occupy Movement Wins Spate of Legal Battles →
Police arresting political protesters under demonstrably false charges, threatening physical violence, and “disappearing” people for 12 hours—in Chicago. When this happens anywhere else in the world, the US demands economic sanctions. What’s happening to my country?
WatchThank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Chris Matthews, for sharing your progressive Christian take on this wonderful news. Absolutely right on.
"You Americans," he said -- not quite accusing,... →
I just read a great answer on Quora to the question, “What are some of the most interesting or shocking things Americans believe about themselves or their country?” The best answer, by far, reflected on a conversation with a Norwegian journalist:
“You Americans,” he said — not quite accusing, but emphatic — “You believe there is a solution to every...
April 2012
5 posts
“At their best, both Christianity and Judaism seek to affirm that absolute truth...”
– Dow Marmur, Sharing religious insights with other traditions enriches our own faith, The Star, 4/15/2012.
“The top-ten Republican-tilted shows are “The Office,” “Rules of Engagement,”...”
– —Let the Nanotargetting Begin, New York Times, 4/15/2012.
Maybe Democrats really are more informed?
What creatures exist today virtually unchanged... →
Totally off topic, but for anyone who loves ancient sea creatures—and really, who doesn’t?—I posted an answer on Quora about nautiluses/nautili, the coolest “living fossil” in the world, ever.
Jeff Bridges’s answer: The creature from the long-past that most blows my mind: the nautilus. According to Wikipedia, “Having survived relatively unchanged for millions of...
Andrew Sullivan: Christianity in Crisis →
Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests, and get-rich evangelists. Ignore them, writes Andrew Sullivan, and embrace Him.
A solid piece by Andrew Sullivan that gets a lot right about what’s wrong with Christianity today, but really misses the point of a faith engaged with the world in proposing Saint Francis of Assisi as the religious ideal.
February 2012
5 posts
“There’s plenty of humor that colors safely within the lines of what we...”
– —Chris Bliss, Comedy is Translation, TEDxRainier, Dec. 2011.
This is why I want to work for Stephen Colbert.
“The opposition to contraception has, as I said, no scriptural basis. Pope Pius...”
– Garry Wills, “Contraception’s Con Men,” New York Review of Books, 2/15/2012.
“Effective rebellion isn’t just expressing your personal feelings. It means...”
– David Brooks, “How to Fight the Man,” New York Times, 2/2/2012. (via anotherwasteoftime)
Watch“Speaking Christian” is not, actually, what you think it is:
In his book “Speaking Christian,” Marcus Borg argues that some of Christianity’s most important terms have acquired meanings vastly different from their original intent. For many Christians, the word “believe” now means believing the statements in the Bible to be literally true. This can...
January 2012
4 posts
“The story of Job is that one day God and Satan are having a conversation, and...”
– Jeff Jensen, “Why are bad guys bad?”, RadioLab, January 9, 2012.
Duke professor wants to replace term papers with... →
Having written both myself, this is totally absurd. The academy exists to teach people how to think critically and express those thoughts in a clear, nuanced way. Blogs exist to persuade and convince through rhetorical force. Clear and nuanced arguments can contribute to this end, but rarely constitute the core of a post. From the article:
Because, say defenders of rigorous writing, the brief,...
A "Strongly Worded Letter" to Bank of America
From maryschmidt, written to BofA the day before the auction of a house her parents had owned for 23 years. It was taken by the bank after her father suffered a stroke, and they couldn’t refinance the mortgage:
When you enter the house, you will notice the colorful walls and vibrant tiles. We call that my mom’s “mid-life fiesta.” Enjoy that. It was a labor of love. Each colorful tile was...
“Wherever the early Christians appeared, spreading Christ’s doctrine of love, the...”
– Martin Luther King, Jr. (via azspot)
December 2011
4 posts
6 tags
“The officer repeatedly punched the left side of my face for long enough that I...”
– Rev. John Helmiere, on his encounter with Seattle Police at an Occupy protest earlier this week.
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From an interview this afternoon with my friend...
October 2011
4 posts
2 tags
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever...”
– Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech, 2005. Godspeed.
September 2011
4 posts
“When people say, “the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001,” we have to...”
– —Stanley Hauerwas
While I have a great deal of respect for Stanley Hauerwas, there are many different ways to interpret the crucifixion, and not all of them require some sort of ontological change in the universe. The third-century Christian theologian Origen, for example, saw the incarnation as...
My 9/11
Ten years ago I was on a plane from Denver to Columbus, connecting through Chicago. After landing in Chicago, our pilot got on the intercom and told us, “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s been an incident. The president has been notified. Two planes have flown into the World Trade Center.” Then he walked up and down the aisle comforting passengers. I learned that he used to work with...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Who is worship for?
A couple of weeks ago I went for high tea at the National Cathedral here in Washington. My girlfriend made me do it, and while I’d like to say I hated every minute of it, those tiny sandwiches were actually quite good.
After our tour of the world’s sixth largest cathedral (and the first place I ever felt closer to God after a worship service), we stopped into the gift shop and I...
2 tags
July 2011
5 posts
WatchMore press coverage for today’s “pray-in” at the Capitol. In this video from Huffington Post, you can see my boss Jennifer Butler, Executive Director of Faith in Public Life (where I’m a fellow this summer), just in front of the adorable old rabbi. She’s also the first one carted off to the holding cells. From the article:
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill police...
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What Sharia Is...And Isn't
The Center for American Progress hosted a panel yesterday on Sharia law, featuring three people the far right would call Sharia apologists (or worse). But as panelist Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, pointed out, “I’m not a sharia apologist, I’m a religious freedom apologist.” Also on the panel were Professor Asifa Quraishi, Assistant...
3 tags
Study: The Bible Makes You Liberal
Want to get your conservative Christian friends to think more liberally about social justice, science, and conservation? Try getting them to read the Bible more often.
A study by Baylor University researcher Aaron Franzen found that increased frequency of reading the Bible correlated with greater support for a broad range of progressive issues—with the exception of gay marriage and...
June 2011
2 posts
2 tags
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“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life...”
– Ben Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1746. (Google Books)
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
1 post
March 2011
3 posts
2 tags
“There is no regret. We should look forward. How many days do each of us have in...”
– —Wang Xing, founder of the Chinese social network Renren, in Fast Company, The Facebook of China, January 2011.
I’m currently writing a paper on Pascal’s Pensées, exegeting a passage on the “brief span of my life absorbed into the eternity which comes before and after” (#68...
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Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Harvard Minister, Dies at 68 →
My advisor at divinity school passed away last night due to complications from a stroke he suffered in December. Godspeed, good sir.
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“The question should not be “What would Jesus do?” but rather, more...”
– Rev. Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About the Good News (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 69.
February 2011
5 posts
2 tags
Watch“The Beatles did not invent teenagers. They merely decided to lead them. Most movements, most leadership that we’re doing is about finding a group that’s disconnected but already has a yearning, not persuading people to want something they don’t have yet.”
—Seth Godin, The Tribes We Lead, TED, February 2009.
Great talk on how, in the internet age, building a...
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"What Would Jesus Cut?" The Budget as a Moral...
Yesterday morning I got an email from Sojourners, one of my favorite progressive Christian organizations, asking for a donation to help deliver “What Would Jesus Cut?” bracelets to every member of Congress. The message? “To challenge elected officials and the administration to remember their moral priorities when they vote on the budget.”
From a communications standpoint, I really like how...
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“Humiliation is the single most powerful human emotion, and overcoming it is the...”
– —Thomas Friedman, Out of Touch, Out of Time, New York Times, Feb. 10, 2011.
I’m not entirely sure Friedman is right on this one, but humiliation certainly counts as one of the more powerful human motivators—a lesson American foreign policy makers would do well to remember, especially in...