Monday, November 27, 2017

Hometown Christians and Editorial Cartoons

This could be part of a series after the Michelangelo cartoon awhile back. Anyway, here tis:

Cartoon by Adam Zyglis - Roy Moore

And my LTTE:

     I'm writing to question the folks outraged by the use of the creche in the editorial cartoon. It's fine to upset, but doesn't the inspiration for it bother you? No one mentions that. The cartoon doesn't exist in a vacuum. "Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus" (Jim Ziegler, Alabama State Auditor). That's the Holy Family used to defend the candidacy of an alleged sexual predator. I'd hope you're not cool with a moral equivalence between Joseph of Nazareth and Roy Moore. As a regular parishioner, my greater concern is being linked to Christian supporters of Moore.

     I've been told, thankfully not by anyone in my church, that liberals cannot be Christians. That's a stereotype that made me reluctant to return to worship. Luckily, our Judge is not on Earth. In a few weeks, there'll be many attending service that don't normally. There are Christians, thankfully not in my church, who vocally back the policies of Donald Trump and Roy Moore. There are also many who consider the brand of moral justice espoused by Jesus to be opposed to the views of men such as these and want to work toward that. Don't be put off by the loud minority. Come and celebrate His birth. Then come back. "All that the Father giveth  me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

I'll see if that gets me crosswise with anyone. 

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Loose Lips Trump

This is a great account of Trump's spilling the beans to the two Russians in the Oval Office. It's too long to take extracts from. Read. Enjoy.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Everybody Must Get Stoned

I put this up on Facebook, so I'll just link to it on my poor neglected blog, too. Milbank has a great collection of Bible passages that at least the sane among us would not follow literally or any other way. I'd like to think they never were.

Cutting off the hand of a woman if she grabs the penis of a man who is fighting with her husband (Deuteronomy 25:11-12).

Can't imagine that being a big issue. Think we could find a verse justifying cutting off something on Roy Moore if we look hard enough. 

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Ode to Hannity

An ode to Sean Hannity.
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity,
Oozing with vanity,
Plump as a manatee,
Faking humanity,
Journalistic calamity,
Intellectual inanity,
Fox News insanity,
You're a profanity, Hannity.


Thursday, November 2, 2017

Love When Churches Do the Right Thing

I know it's easy to point out when they don't. And this is a Baptist church in Georgia you should bear in mind as you read.

So it was front-page news in the Telegraph, Macon’s daily newspaper, when First Baptist called an Aug. 27 meeting of its membership to decide whether its stated policy of welcome and inclusion should extend to the celebration of same-sex marriages.

Two thousand out of 49,000 is a start. Respect and civility are nice, too.

After paying a visit, I think there’s something more to learn from this story: how to foster respect and civility even amid disagreement.

The news that hit driveways in Macon that Sunday morning had, in fact, been brewing a long time inside the church. First Baptist is one of about 2,000 congregations that have chosen to leave the conservative Southern Baptist Convention over the past 25 years. For the roughly 47,000 churches that remain in the SBC, same-sex marriage is a nonstarter; no church that condones such unions can participate.

Can you find a better use for the scriptures than supporting bigotry? Or who would Jesus shun?

And a discussion of Scripture focused on the Bible passages most cherished by church members. The same verses came up again and again, and none dealt with sexuality. “We reminded ourselves why we listen to Scripture in the first place: not to be a battleground, but to bring us together,” Dickison recalled.

Baby steps or giant leaps? Depends on how you want to look at it. 

Useful Idiots for the 21st Century

I seems like the only posts I've been putting up are LTTEs and I haven't been writing many of those. In any case, a letter to the editor in rough draft and associated links.

UPDATED: And new and improved(?)

     The Russians took actions to influence last November's election. That is a fact. Today I saw this posted on Facebook. "If liberal politicians treat the people this poorly when we're armed to the teeth, just imagine what they'll do once they've taken away your guns." In basic training, I was warned to beware of rumors and propaganda. I don't know the source of this meme, but it looks exactly like the products of Russian trolls recently released. Leaving aside the not so subtle threat to liberal politicians, are there folks "sharing" this who can't recognize propaganda when they see it?
     "What we're talking about is the beginning of cyber warfare. What we're talking about is a major foreign power with sophistication and ability to involve themselves in a presidential election and sow conflict and discontent all over this country" (Sen. Dianne Feinstein). "The strategy is to take a crack in our society and turn it into a chasm" (Sen. Angus King). They're both on Senate Intelligence and are investigating an adversary attacking us. Is it really necessary to help spread divisive material on the internet? I've struggled, but can't find a more appropriate term than the classic useful idiot.
     House Intelligence feels their time better served examining the sale of Uranium One to a company owned by Russians. Naturally, this conspiracy theory involves Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Lately, I've seen iterations that work in Robert Mueller. When nothing is found, we the people deserve a full report. The president should get one too so he can move onto another flight of fancy. 


WP Editorial 

David Ignatius 

Craig Timberg 

House Uranium