Dec 10, 2007
Dec 9, 2007
For the first time, a second secession vote
The San Joaquin Episcopal diocese in California held a second vote to leave TEC. It passed by an overwhelming margin. Quote from the presiding bishop has the right combination of gracious tone and firmness of principle/intent:
"We deeply regret their unwillingness or inability to live within the historical Anglican understanding of comprehensiveness," [Katharine Jefferts Schori] said in a statement. "We wish them to know of our prayers for them and their journey. The Episcopal Church will continue in the Diocese of San Joaquin, albeit with new leadership."
Dec 7, 2007
Romney fever!
I was thinking about writing a longer analysis of the Romney speech, but I think that ship has sailed--absolute saturation in the MSM opinion pages today. I won't even link--just open up any major paper. Dionne, Gerson, Krauthammer, unsigned pieces in the NYT and WSJ. Not to mention all the stuff that ran yesterday, before the speech itself.
I will say that I was surprised at how much of the speech did, in fact, make direct reference to the JFK speech. At other points, of course, Romney completely contradicted the sort of capital-S Separation doctrine that Kennedy articulated, and which has since become Democratic boilerplate. Plenty of having it both ways, to be sure.
But you don't need me to discuss that--you can read about it anywhere. And probably already have.
I will say that I was surprised at how much of the speech did, in fact, make direct reference to the JFK speech. At other points, of course, Romney completely contradicted the sort of capital-S Separation doctrine that Kennedy articulated, and which has since become Democratic boilerplate. Plenty of having it both ways, to be sure.
But you don't need me to discuss that--you can read about it anywhere. And probably already have.
Dec 5, 2007
The real JFK speech
Sounds like we will NOT be hearing a "JFK speech" from Gov. Romney tomorrow. However, if you're interested in watching the genuine article--Kennedy in 1960 w/ the Greater Houston Ministerial Association--CSPAN has posted the video. Best of all, it includes the rather intense Q+A that followed the speech.
Via Melissa Rogers.
Via Melissa Rogers.
Baptists love rosary beads
Part 2 in our occasional "who the hell's handling photos over at ABC?" series: this story on Huckabee.
Part 1.
Part 1.
Dec 4, 2007
Dec 3, 2007
Romney: I, Senator, am no Jack Kennedy
The governor said today that his upcoming Mormon Speech will NOT be in the mold of JFK's speech during the 1960 general election. No word as to whether he uttered the phrases "Massachusetts pluralist," "godless separationist," or "damn papist Irish."
The speech is going to be one hell of a balancing act. I think the only safe path is to jettison all nouns and verbs, leaving only vaguely pro-but-not-too-pro-religious feeling.
The speech is going to be one hell of a balancing act. I think the only safe path is to jettison all nouns and verbs, leaving only vaguely pro-but-not-too-pro-religious feeling.
And here I thought we were experiencing a resurgence of populism
Does anyone else think this sounds like it was written either ten years ago OR on opposite day?
Romney as JFK
Looks like Romney's going to give the religion speech.
I still think this is a bad idea, a lose/lose with the conservative evangelicals he so badly needs.
Marc Ambinder has a nice list of some additional pros and cons.
I still think this is a bad idea, a lose/lose with the conservative evangelicals he so badly needs.
Marc Ambinder has a nice list of some additional pros and cons.
Nov 29, 2007
Prooftexting a chapter number
Of all the reasons I'm glad I moved to Saint Paul, MN, this has to be the most significant.
Nov 28, 2007
The dreaded wooden spoon
At my parents' house for Thanksgiving, I was making gravy and couldn't find a wooden spoon. A bit sheepishly, my mother admitted that she'd stopped buying them once my youngest sibling got too old for spankings. We used to have a simple system for eventually demoting the newer, food-worthy spoons to bottom-smacking detail (lest we wind up with some temper tantrum or sass in our stew). But it turns out the repurposing was itself the purpose, and there's no longer a single wooden spoon in the house.
(A friend with a similar upbringing once told me that he still cringes when his mother reaches toward him for a hug--even though they have a close and loving relationship and he doesn't think her punishment techniques were ever over the line--because she used to smack him in the face when he was mouthing off. Always sensitive to a serious moment, I pointed out that the wooden-spoon thing has kept me from eating any cooked food for the past 15-20 years.)
In high school speech class, my first assignment was to make a traditional argument for a position and subject of our choice. I chose corporal punishment, arguing that, while there's no evidence that it's the best or only good way to discipline children, used responsibly and lovingly it's one good one. I might still believe that--anecdotally, I know an awful lot of people who grew up like I did and are pretty well-adjusted, parent-loving adults.
On the other hand, my professional life has also exposed me to the research community's consensus that the effects of different kinds of spanking range not from good to bad but from bad to worse. And my theological development makes me a bit uncomfortable with the idea that you can use physical pain or violence to promote good character (though I have trouble describing the kind of careful, loving spanking that my parents used as "violence" with a straight face). And I know that many parents who ARE child abusers by anyone's standard got there via escalation of well-intentioned and considered corporal punishment.
Anyway, Massachusetts might be on the way to being the first state to ban spanking. If "blogging" was an acronym, the "b" would stand for "burying the lede is okay, especially if you don't have an editor."
Via World magazine.
(A friend with a similar upbringing once told me that he still cringes when his mother reaches toward him for a hug--even though they have a close and loving relationship and he doesn't think her punishment techniques were ever over the line--because she used to smack him in the face when he was mouthing off. Always sensitive to a serious moment, I pointed out that the wooden-spoon thing has kept me from eating any cooked food for the past 15-20 years.)
In high school speech class, my first assignment was to make a traditional argument for a position and subject of our choice. I chose corporal punishment, arguing that, while there's no evidence that it's the best or only good way to discipline children, used responsibly and lovingly it's one good one. I might still believe that--anecdotally, I know an awful lot of people who grew up like I did and are pretty well-adjusted, parent-loving adults.
On the other hand, my professional life has also exposed me to the research community's consensus that the effects of different kinds of spanking range not from good to bad but from bad to worse. And my theological development makes me a bit uncomfortable with the idea that you can use physical pain or violence to promote good character (though I have trouble describing the kind of careful, loving spanking that my parents used as "violence" with a straight face). And I know that many parents who ARE child abusers by anyone's standard got there via escalation of well-intentioned and considered corporal punishment.
Anyway, Massachusetts might be on the way to being the first state to ban spanking. If "blogging" was an acronym, the "b" would stand for "burying the lede is okay, especially if you don't have an editor."
Via World magazine.
Oh, it's the same God. Thanks, NYT!
After running this good piece in the city section, the Times apparently got some complaints about the headline. It responded by running a thoughtful pair of online-only commentaries by religion scholars from different perspectives; the ombudsman also devoted part of his column to it. The Times ran a simple correction, and it's a gem:
(What's more, the headline said different RELIGIONS, not different GODS, and the correction says that "the two faiths worship the same God"... Separate from the question of whether Jehovah and Allah are one and the same, is the Times now in the business of defining the difference between a religion and a faith?) CORRECTION: I was mistakenly looking at the corrected headline, which changed "Gods" to "Religions." So disregard this paragraph.
(Tip via Get Religion.)
A headline last Sunday about a Muslim man and an Orthodox Jewish woman who are partners in two Dunkin’ Donuts stores described their religions incorrectly. The two faiths worship the same God — not different ones.That's why we need a paper of record--to present two sides of an age-old and ultimately unresolvable debate not as point and counterpoint but as simple fact and simple correction.
(Tip via Get Religion.)
Bill Clinton as red-meat-to-the-base spouse?
The former president told Iowa voters yesterday that he "opposed the Iraq war from the beginning." Anne E. Kornblut pokes some holes in this claim, and Tim Grieve finishes the job effectively.
Both use the word "nuanced" to describe Clinton's past statements on the topic. While certainly they were that--basically everything the man says is--I don't like the value-laden word's implication that, say, statements made before the war began calling it a "dumb war" and predicting correctly some of the problems that would result are somehow less "nuanced." Consistency and strength of opinion are not the same as painting in broad strokes.
Both use the word "nuanced" to describe Clinton's past statements on the topic. While certainly they were that--basically everything the man says is--I don't like the value-laden word's implication that, say, statements made before the war began calling it a "dumb war" and predicting correctly some of the problems that would result are somehow less "nuanced." Consistency and strength of opinion are not the same as painting in broad strokes.
Nov 27, 2007
Songs of the Rich and Poor
So I finally posted a couple songs from the songs-about-money-and-class revue I did with a couple friends in DC last month. Check it out on my MySpace space. (It's still cool to have one of those, right?)
"For evangelicals, the cumulative effect of heavy coverage has been the impression that they’re shifting left. They are not."
See Columbia Journalism Review for an excellent takedown of the MSM frenzy over The New Evangelicals.
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