Angolan locavores

toothpastefordinner.com

Empty words?

Mark Silk has an interesting, so-crazy-it-actually-makes-sense theory: Because the Court's makeup is so different than it was a few years ago, abortion law might ACTUALLY CHANGE in the foreseeable future. Therefore, McCain can't emphasize his anti-abortion credentials too much, because the majority of the country that opposes criminalized abortion might fear that he'll actually do something about it, i.e., that for once a Republican's electoral-season talk on the issue might actually amount to something substantive.

Quick poll: Which is in general more bizarre, U.S. electoral politics or the abortion debate?

Why should evangelical pastors preach about the uninsured?

Because it's apparently a group that includes many of them.

Via RNS Blog.

Two good pieces on the Anglican conflict

Jason Byassee reports on the state of post-Episcopal Anglicanism in one of it's hotbeds, the area around my alma mater, Wheaton College.

And the must-read: a beautiful piece of first-person reportage and reflection, in which Garret Keizer teases out some of the major tensions w/ which the whole subject is fraught. He makes clear that his essential loyalties are to TEC's position, but also that his instinct is to see the world fundamentally in terms of socioeconomic inequality, not doctrinal integrity or sexuality or anything else. I'd describe myself similarly, so naturally, I'm predisposed to appreciating his analysis. Here's an excerpt:

My tendency--at least my temptation--is to see the church crisis, at least in America, as I see most other political disputes between bourgeois conservatives and bourgeois liberals: as cosmetically differentiated versions of the same earnest quest for moral rectitude in the face of one's collusion in an economic system of gross inequality. It goes without saying that by touting this stark binary, I, too, am seeking to establish my rectitude. Still the question remains: How does a Christian population implicated in militarism, usury, sweatshop labor, and environmental rape find a way to sleep at night? Apparently, by making a very big deal out of not sleeping with Gene Robinson. Or, on the flip side, by making approval of Gene Robinson the litmus test of progressive integrity, a stance that I have good resaon to believe would impress no one so little as Gene Robinson himself.

This is, of course, a bit hyperbolic. (I cringe at the idea that the difference between alligning yourself with the U.S. church and w/ Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola is a mere cosmetic one.) Still, it's pretty damning, and elsewhere in the piece Keizer asks more questions than he makes pronouncements. It's a tour de force, full of sophisticated analysis, ambiguity, and personal voice.

"Protest Incorporated" vs. "The Players"

David Sirota on why the Dems aren't likely to get us out of Iraq.

Evangelical priorities

As I've been saying every chance I get for a long time, a "broadening evangelical agenda" or whatever may be great for church life and the general health of debate. But it matters ELECTORALLY only to the degree that evangelical PRIORITIES change--and the evidence of such a shift is tenuous at best.

Meanwhile, Stan Guthrie insists that abortion retains priority status. And in the zero-sum game of electoral politics, it's priorities that matter.

Is Obama a Muslim, or isn't he?

New site offers an adequately nuanced response.

Twain's war prayer

A day late, required Memorial Day viewing, in two parts:

IRS: UCC is fine

Even though they let Barack Obama, a church member, speak to them!

Just one more step in the country's undeniable march toward a social-gospel-theocratic dystopia! What's next, a "Department of What Would Jesus Do" executive agency devoted to not bombing the hell out of anyone who crosses us? Dangerous stuff, people...

Economic Conservatives to Christian Coalition: WTF?

The Christian Coalition supports net neutrality legislation, citing its potential to protect grassroots interest groups generally. Makes perfect sense, right?

Wrong! The group's conservative allies are bewildered, frankly, bewildered. Christian conservatives against The Market?! There's no "go against the unholy alliance" in "team"!

It's a sad thing that a religious right group's backing a platform clearly in its own interests (and those of democracy) raises flags, as everyone simply expects such groups to be in bed w/ the Regulation Must Die set. But good for the CCA for doing it anyway.

GOP VP watch

I, for one, would find immense satisfaction watching the religious right bend over backwards to try to articulate why John McCain and the assumed-gay Charlie Crist support Family Values more than Obama and, say, Ted Strickland do.

We hope you don't get it!

A steaming pile of slick, greenwashed propaganda from James Dobson et al.

A holy, seedy love

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Mainline megachurches?

A trend piece from Mark Pinsky--turns out mainline churches aren't dying out as much as you might have thought. Some of them are even getting pretty big!

Of course, 1,000 or even 5,000 members doesn't put you in Saddleback/Lakewood/Willow Creek league. More importantly, he doesn't get into the question of slippage between mainline and evangelical labels--are these large, thriving denominational churches LIBERAL, or do they represent the conservative-to-moderate (arguably, the EVANGELICAL) branches that exist in each of the mainline bodies?

This hole in the piece becomes especially evident when Pinsky points out that, while evangelicals have one of their own in the White House right now, both Democratic candidates are mainliners. In a sense, this may be true. However, Bush and Clinton belong to the same denomination (United Methodist). Defining the mainline in terms of denominational affiliation is only useful as far as it goes.

(The evangelical-mainline binary is a sociological and journalistic minefield, and Pinsky, a smart and insightful writer, has been simplistic about it before. Here's my review of his book on U.S. evangelicalism.)

Church order vs. severely autistic teen

This is heartbreaking.

As long as they still have super-slick music and a "prayer department"

Willow Creek is abandoning its "seeker sensitive" approach to Sunday services.

40 years since Catonsville

Chris Hedges talks to Fr. Daniel Berrigan.

Protect me, father. I am helpless, though pure.

What's creepier than a "purity ball," at which young women dress up all fancy and vow to keep their bodies pure of Satan's Sexy Ways?

How about one at which the girls stay silent while their fathers do the vowing?

Bush: I can veto whatever the hells I want

Despite the veto-proof level of support in both houses, the president will veto the farm bill anyway. So there.

For the next six months anyway, same-sex marriage is legal in California

NY Times article.

And from now till November, a whole lot of Christians will be embarrassing the rest of us.

Um, creepy. Definitely creepy.

CNN asks the tough questions.

The trend pieces vs. the voters

Mark Silk makes a point that some of us have been making for a couple years, one that's as relevant as ever right now: The problem with the evangelicals-go-Democrat narrative is that THERE ISN'T MUCH MEASURABLE EVIDENCE OF IT. And he links to new poll data that finds that evangelicals--not just the white ones--prefer McCain to Obama: 69 vs. 28 percent.

Another reminder that you really can't make something true just by saying it over and over again.

The bathwater without the baby

Interesting observation from Alice Blair Wesley--despite the many aspects of Puritan New England that the American Unitarian tradition rejected, the UU church retains congregational polity.

Not sure why this matters much, but I'm the sort of nerdy person who finds it interesting.

Well yes, sir, we DO have the engorged liver of a tortured duck today!

Based on my own limited experiences, a basic dining-and-travel guide:

Go to the Twin Cities for Asian food and great beer. Burn off the calories on the wonderful bike trails.

Go to DC for Ethiopian food and overpriced bad sandwiches. Enjoy the city's beauty (for the few minutes you can stand the heat), its crowds of uptight squares (w/ the fascinating knowledge and high ideals they may even condescend to tell you about), and its admission-less museums (which you don't have time to visit).

Go to Chicago for Mexican food and everything else that's good about food/the world. Including, recently, foie gras. Taste the astonishing cruelty again, for the first time.

With less pressure to pander, Romney talks some sense

Romney: Oh wait, did I hedge in my religion speech on whether non-religious people have any real worth in U.S. society? Let me fix that now, when it doesn't really matter much.

Yes Edwards Can

Late is better than never.

Ezra has some good analysis of the difference between the Edwards and Obama narratives. I share his ambivalence about the Obama all-unity-all-the-time thing, despite my enthusiasm about the man, his character and intellect, and (a lot of) his policy ideas.

Bush to veto farm bill

So says the secretary of agriculture.

Sustainable food people: Is this good or bad? It's a pretty shitty bill, but it's the only one we have...should we cut our losses and wait five years, or will U.S. ag policy have already destroyed the world by then?

Fish bait

At my local farmers market, one vendor sells (delicious) raw-milk cheese aged <60 days under the name "fish bait." It's a winking thing; she's not actually fooling anybody. But the raw-milk thing is quite a lively topic among food types, and the laws vary considerably by state.

Last month's Harpers includes a good reported piece that deals with the topic thoughtfully and fairly. I was especially interested to read about why pasteurization of milk came about in the first place.

Evangelical manifesto

This is pretty interesting. Hopefully, among other things, a good corrective to the typically clueless media coverage of U.S. evangelicalism, except when it's about politics...

Feature on progressive Christianity conference

Hello, I'm still here. I'm finishing up my internship at Utne Reader and spending most of my time trying to find a job. So blogging's been a bit light.

Here's a short feature I wrote for Utne on a progressive Christianity conference in Minneapolis last month.

Prayer for all people! Who endorse a particular brand of Protestantism!

Today is the National Day of Prayer, and a lot of folks aren't pleased that Shirley Dobson et al. still control this thing.

Gary Stern has a good summary.