Lots of interesting stuff in the Pew survey released last week. One item that's gotten some attention is a question asking repondents how important each of the following issues is to their vote for president: the Iraq war, domestic issues, and social issues. The last of the three gets the fewest "very important" responses--even among white evangelicals.
But the question doesn't ask people to rank the three issues/areas, just to rate each one's importance independently. So the survey doesn't do much to answer what I think is the biggest question about evangelical political behavior--to what degree will the environment/poverty/war/whatever start to be a priority to a large number of evangelicals, as opposed to another issue that's "very important" (but perhaps less very important than, say, protecting your marriage from the gays and lesbians who seek to tear it apart)?
Unless we've switched to a system in which individuals get to vote directly on individual policy questions and no one's told me, this would seem to be the more important question.
Sep 11, 2007
Sep 10, 2007
"I've never even been to Rwanda, but we are Rwandans now."
A single minor news story neatly presents some of the best reasons both U.S. congregations and non-U.S. bishops should think twice about forging formal ecclesial relationships--reasons that have nothing to do with homosexuality or the authority of scripture.
The CT headline is telling as well, summing up only half of the problem.
The CT headline is telling as well, summing up only half of the problem.
Sep 8, 2007
Sep 5, 2007
CT on Zionism
CT has been generally pretty impressive over the last couple years on Middle East-related issues--balanced, non-reactionary, airing a variety of views. This piece is thoughtful and informative. The question is whether it represents the evangelical mainstream to the degree that a CT unsigned editorial once did (and perhaps continues to on other topics).
Sep 4, 2007
Some issues never go away
This one's been energizing anti-hierarchical and anti-clerical movements for hundreds of years.
What on earth is Good Morning America up to?
New poll asks the important questions.
I got this link from my friend John, who added,"In related news, fifty-two percent of Americans said they’d rather wash a dog with John Edwards than John McCain, and forty-nine percent said they’d rather eat a peanut butter sandwich with Mitt Romney than Barack Obama."
I got this link from my friend John, who added,"In related news, fifty-two percent of Americans said they’d rather wash a dog with John Edwards than John McCain, and forty-nine percent said they’d rather eat a peanut butter sandwich with Mitt Romney than Barack Obama."
Sep 3, 2007
15 shots fired at an unarmed man
Not sure how I missed this detail months ago, but in case you did, too--along with the hundreds of thousands of people who have signed a petition demanding a presidential pardon for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, 100+ members of the House have cosponsored a bill to the same effect (including five Democrats).
Good Salon piece on how Lou Dobbs et al. managed to turn these guys into heroes.
Good Salon piece on how Lou Dobbs et al. managed to turn these guys into heroes.
An entirely different context
The Church of Nigeria, the second largest province in the Anglican Communion, is well known as of late for its theological and social conservatism. But it's important to remember that this exists in an utterly different cultural context than that of CANA and other U.S. conservative Anglican bodies--one in which, for instance, a bishop's family is repeatedly targeted with violent attacks. In such a situation, what would motivate you to liberalize/deliteralize your reading of a text filled with sectarian intensity, with hope for the oppressed faithful and judgment for their enemies? And even if you were sympathetic to more progressive ideas about sexuality, it'd be easy to place this a ways down your list of priorities. These factors, however, have almost nothing in common with the conservatism found in, say, Northern Virginia.
It's not at all clear if or how this marriage of convenience will sustain itself. Nor, for that matter, is it clear that many Episcopalian critics of Archbishop Akinola and his African allies have any sense of the context in which they read their scripture and do their theology.
For an extremely informative (and fairly neutral) look at the conflict in the Anglican Communion, see the recent Pew Forum event with Philip Jenkins.
It's not at all clear if or how this marriage of convenience will sustain itself. Nor, for that matter, is it clear that many Episcopalian critics of Archbishop Akinola and his African allies have any sense of the context in which they read their scripture and do their theology.
For an extremely informative (and fairly neutral) look at the conflict in the Anglican Communion, see the recent Pew Forum event with Philip Jenkins.
More labor endoresements for Edwards
Last week the carpenters and joiners; this week the steelworkers and the miners.
Sep 2, 2007
The real threat to the orthodox
Evolution, gayness, the ACLU, Hollywood, or Episcopalians? Nope--it's yoga.
Constantinople, the new Canterbury
Via Commonweal, pretty good piece in TNR about the trend of evangelical-to-Orthodox conversion. Author Jason Zengerle knows the U.S. religious landscape fairly well, but he misses some important points.
Zengerle situates his story in Wheaton, Illinois, making for an odd juxtaposition when he brings up the anti-intellectual strain of evangelical heritage. It's not clear if Zengerle's aware that, at this point, Wheaton is not so much the center of evangelicalism itself--Colorado Springs holds that title--as of specifically intellectually rigorous evangelicalism. This overlooked fact troubles his idea that the converts he talks to in Wheaton are motivated largely by their own tradition's intellectual shallowness--that stereotype ends up being (even) less true in Wheaton than elsewhere. (Zengerle even quotes Mark Noll, but without mentioning that, before his recent move to Notre Dame, Noll was for years a high-profile and beloved Wheaton College professor.)
While this may seem a rather fussy objection, it's important because, had Zengerle noted the highly intellectual nature of Wheaton evangelicalism, it might have led him to conclude that the conversion phenomenon must be about something very different from (or at least in addition to) a desire for "smarter" church. Seems to me that many folks who leave the evangelical fold for more traditional practice are seeking not a deeper intellectual setting so much as one that is not defined exclusively or even primarily on intellectual terms at all.
In other words, the goal is not smarter but rather more mystical. After all, U.S. evangelicalism, even outside the Wheaton world, is in general not lacking in developed doctrine so much as in an appreciation for the limits of doctrine of any kind. One's hard pressed to find a significant appreciation for mysticism in the modernist-rationalist evangelical world; even the emergent movement has tended to be more about an intellectual faith with a vaguely postmodern flavor and quasi-mystical trappings than actual mystical spiritual experience. But there's much mysticism to be found in a variety of traditions that pre-date the U.S.--whether Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, or certainly Orthodox. The more learned and rigorous your evangelical context--the more Wheaton (or Calvin or Westmont) profs in the pews--the more you might feel this utter lack of anything right-brained, non-verbal, etc.
Yes, the subject of renewalism (Pentecostal/charismatic movements) throws a whole additional factor into this subject, but I think I'll lay off for now, as this post is getting quite long...
(Okay, one more thing: Zengerle also situates this conversion phenomenon within the worship wars, which strikes me as odd--whatever the best strategy is for those who seek to protect the Great Hymns of White Europe from the play-the-God-Rock-and-the-kids-will-dig-it crowd, I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with...chucking both options in favor of hours of choral chant.)
Zengerle situates his story in Wheaton, Illinois, making for an odd juxtaposition when he brings up the anti-intellectual strain of evangelical heritage. It's not clear if Zengerle's aware that, at this point, Wheaton is not so much the center of evangelicalism itself--Colorado Springs holds that title--as of specifically intellectually rigorous evangelicalism. This overlooked fact troubles his idea that the converts he talks to in Wheaton are motivated largely by their own tradition's intellectual shallowness--that stereotype ends up being (even) less true in Wheaton than elsewhere. (Zengerle even quotes Mark Noll, but without mentioning that, before his recent move to Notre Dame, Noll was for years a high-profile and beloved Wheaton College professor.)
While this may seem a rather fussy objection, it's important because, had Zengerle noted the highly intellectual nature of Wheaton evangelicalism, it might have led him to conclude that the conversion phenomenon must be about something very different from (or at least in addition to) a desire for "smarter" church. Seems to me that many folks who leave the evangelical fold for more traditional practice are seeking not a deeper intellectual setting so much as one that is not defined exclusively or even primarily on intellectual terms at all.
In other words, the goal is not smarter but rather more mystical. After all, U.S. evangelicalism, even outside the Wheaton world, is in general not lacking in developed doctrine so much as in an appreciation for the limits of doctrine of any kind. One's hard pressed to find a significant appreciation for mysticism in the modernist-rationalist evangelical world; even the emergent movement has tended to be more about an intellectual faith with a vaguely postmodern flavor and quasi-mystical trappings than actual mystical spiritual experience. But there's much mysticism to be found in a variety of traditions that pre-date the U.S.--whether Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, or certainly Orthodox. The more learned and rigorous your evangelical context--the more Wheaton (or Calvin or Westmont) profs in the pews--the more you might feel this utter lack of anything right-brained, non-verbal, etc.
Yes, the subject of renewalism (Pentecostal/charismatic movements) throws a whole additional factor into this subject, but I think I'll lay off for now, as this post is getting quite long...
(Okay, one more thing: Zengerle also situates this conversion phenomenon within the worship wars, which strikes me as odd--whatever the best strategy is for those who seek to protect the Great Hymns of White Europe from the play-the-God-Rock-and-the-kids-will-dig-it crowd, I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with...chucking both options in favor of hours of choral chant.)
Turns out "the environment" is full of people, many of them poor
Amanda Griscom Little (who writes for both Grist and Outside) has a piece in today's NYT magazine about the environmental justice movement and two Sen. Clinton-sponsored bills--one that would make the EPA (remember the EPA? Apparently there's a whole federal agency charged with protecting the environment!) pay more attention to the health effects of industry and another that would direct federal money toward localities facing serious environmental problems.
It's just a little one-pager on p. 17 (not quite significant enough to run ahead of an old Nixon/Agnew man's musings on some prepositional phrase or whatever). Still, great to see an MSM piece on environmental justice amid the din of How to Buy Your Way Out of Global Catastrophe environmental coverage.
It's just a little one-pager on p. 17 (not quite significant enough to run ahead of an old Nixon/Agnew man's musings on some prepositional phrase or whatever). Still, great to see an MSM piece on environmental justice amid the din of How to Buy Your Way Out of Global Catastrophe environmental coverage.
Sep 1, 2007
Praise the Lord and pass the CFLs
Interfaith Power and Light has launched an online store for eco-conscious congregations.
If you've visited this blog before, you may already know that I'm deeply skeptical both of trying to save the earth by buying different, cooler stuff AND of the idea that the creation care movement will lead to a significant change in the U.S. religious and/or political landscape.
However, as Glenn Hurowitz reports, Greater Washington IFL finds that 30 percent of congregations that install LED exit signs end up getting involved also in bona fide environmental activism. That's an exciting statistic, and while I fear that the movement will always be largely about individual choices (an emphasis rather ingrained in at least the evangelical community) and not about systemic change, I'm hopeful that I'll ultimately be proved wrong.
If you've visited this blog before, you may already know that I'm deeply skeptical both of trying to save the earth by buying different, cooler stuff AND of the idea that the creation care movement will lead to a significant change in the U.S. religious and/or political landscape.
However, as Glenn Hurowitz reports, Greater Washington IFL finds that 30 percent of congregations that install LED exit signs end up getting involved also in bona fide environmental activism. That's an exciting statistic, and while I fear that the movement will always be largely about individual choices (an emphasis rather ingrained in at least the evangelical community) and not about systemic change, I'm hopeful that I'll ultimately be proved wrong.
The only married boys in Des Moines
Exactly one couple managed to get married in the 23-hour span during which same-sex marriage was legal in Iowa. An absurd consequence of a national debate that has generally been defined on absurd terms.
One of the best Onion stories ever, on the subject of the supposed threat same-sex marriage poses to the rest of us.
One of the best Onion stories ever, on the subject of the supposed threat same-sex marriage poses to the rest of us.
Italian Church hosts eco-youth rally
Pope Benedict, to 300,000 young people: "Discover the beauty of love, but not disposable love, that is here today and gone tomorrow, that is deceitful and prisoner of an egoistic and materialistic mentality but a love that is real and deep."
Wise words, even if the eco-connection is a bit of a stretch. At any rate, the event is substantively more impressive than the Vatican's publicizing its carbon-free status (inviting a variety of mildly offensive indulgence jokes).
Wise words, even if the eco-connection is a bit of a stretch. At any rate, the event is substantively more impressive than the Vatican's publicizing its carbon-free status (inviting a variety of mildly offensive indulgence jokes).
I don't envy Rowan Williams' job
The Archbishop of Canterbury is coming to the States this month to...well, it's not clear what he'll be able to accomplish, exactly. This Western Mail piece includes an atypical number of quotes from Williams, quotes that reveal nothing other than the utter carefulness with which he must speak as of late on any topic related to the U.S. church, homosexuality, or the authority of scripture. While it's not clear what ultimately will happen to TEC and to the Anglican Communion, what is clear is that the archbishop's main task--preventing schism--is getting constantly harder and may well prove impossible.
My circles of Anglican and Episcopal friends include a wide sample of opinions on the issues at play here. What most all of us agree about is how very, very sad the whole situation makes us.
My circles of Anglican and Episcopal friends include a wide sample of opinions on the issues at play here. What most all of us agree about is how very, very sad the whole situation makes us.
How about "I don't solicit strangers--male or female--for sex"?
To add to the list of areas of common ground for people w/ different beliefs about homosexuality: I hope we can all agree that it will count as progress when someone in Sen. Craig's position doesn't feel the need to defend himself primarily in terms of not being gay.
Meanwhile, looks like he's resigning.
Meanwhile, looks like he's resigning.
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