TERESA AVIÑA won’t open the windows or door of her small apartment, despite a heat that plagues the soul. On the kitchen table, beside two jugs of bottled water, a small, green, electric fan pushes thick air around the room.
“What good is the wind?” she asks, glancing out the window at the breeze that flutters the trees in her front yard. “It’s all poison.”
Jul 25, 2008
Repeat after me: Pesticides hurt people, especially poor people
Next time someone goes off about how the organic food people are oblivious to the realities of the lower classes, etc., you could do worse than to point them to this article on the human costs of conventional industrial agriculture:
Controversies large and small at Lambeth
Well, there's the gay thing. Or, if you prefer, the authority of scripture/doctrinal integrity/historic beliefs thing.
But there's also the Buddhist chant thing. Several bishops were outraged that the Bishop of Colombo gave a sermon that ended with the chant, even though the words he used were orthodox Christian by any standard. (Nobody tell them about the U2charist, okay?)
And let's not forget the thing where the bishops and their spouses marched in support of the Millennium Development Goals, but did so dressed to the nines--because immediately afterward they were to have tea w/ the queen. Nothing like making it easy for the press and the liberals-are-hypocrities-osphere to ignore the real story.
Meanwhile, the Common Cause Partnership--which represents the various conservative Anglican groups in North America that aren't part of TEC or ACC--is petitioning to become a province of GAFCON.
But there's also the Buddhist chant thing. Several bishops were outraged that the Bishop of Colombo gave a sermon that ended with the chant, even though the words he used were orthodox Christian by any standard. (Nobody tell them about the U2charist, okay?)
And let's not forget the thing where the bishops and their spouses marched in support of the Millennium Development Goals, but did so dressed to the nines--because immediately afterward they were to have tea w/ the queen. Nothing like making it easy for the press and the liberals-are-hypocrities-osphere to ignore the real story.
Meanwhile, the Common Cause Partnership--which represents the various conservative Anglican groups in North America that aren't part of TEC or ACC--is petitioning to become a province of GAFCON.
Since when do American civilians answer to a "commander in chief"?
Josh considers the militarization of the presidency.
Enjoy playing in the alley, Conor/Madison/Quinn. Wear your beach tag so people know you belong.
Next week, I'm spending a couple days on the Jersey Shore, in one of those towns where a bunch of people who drive everywhere they go in their regular lives pay a lot of money to spend a week or two in a dense, walkable town.
Matt Wanamaker contemplates this odd exemption to middle-to-upper-class NIMBYism on density. He also gives a good and thorough historical answer to a question I raise in the comments: Is it possible that people who otherwise despise multi-family housing, alleys, and other city-ish things are a little warmer to them in a place where they're unlikely to run into any of the kind of people they were wanting to avoid in the first place?
Matt Wanamaker contemplates this odd exemption to middle-to-upper-class NIMBYism on density. He also gives a good and thorough historical answer to a question I raise in the comments: Is it possible that people who otherwise despise multi-family housing, alleys, and other city-ish things are a little warmer to them in a place where they're unlikely to run into any of the kind of people they were wanting to avoid in the first place?
No room for theological skepticism in our wicked leads
Christian metal band Haste the Day has fired its guitarist--for becoming an atheist.
New study: Girls are just as good at math as boys are
From a new study by the National Science Foundation: Now that girls and boys take the same number of math classes, their standardized test scores are the same.
A great excuse to re-post this classic xkcd comic, titled "How it Works":
A great excuse to re-post this classic xkcd comic, titled "How it Works":
Jul 23, 2008
About that Brandenburg-trip thing
Ali raises a good point: For Obama, the equivalent to JFK's trip to Germany isn't going to Germany. It's going to Pakistan.
Jul 22, 2008
But I Thought the Religious Right Was Dead: Iowa edition
Sen. Grassley--Iowa's senior Republican elected official and recently an investigator of televangelists--will not be a delegate to the GOP convention.
Secrets
Doug Muder reflects on the religious themes that come up so often in Frank Warren's PostSecret project.
On a personal note, a few months ago I went to an art exhibit that featured something similar: Instead of secrets, visitors were invited to write down GOALS and drop them in a box; the artist later posted them. I submitted one--something serious and vulnerable--but I can't even remember what it was.
On a personal note, a few months ago I went to an art exhibit that featured something similar: Instead of secrets, visitors were invited to write down GOALS and drop them in a box; the artist later posted them. I submitted one--something serious and vulnerable--but I can't even remember what it was.
Indaba at Lambeth
So the bishops at the Lambeth Conference recently participated in Indaba meetings--a Zulu term for a meeting focused on hearing everyone out and talking about things rather than voting. Like most such things, sounds like a moving and frustrating experience. A couple posts: from the bishops of Missouri and Arkansas.
In other Lambeth news, Pope Benedict offers his prayers for the Anglican Communion.
In other Lambeth news, Pope Benedict offers his prayers for the Anglican Communion.
Jul 19, 2008
David Neff on environmentalism and eschatology
The CT editor tackles some of the tensions with which the topic of evangelical theology's intersections with environmental ethics is fraught.
SBC: We need to sing more songs about going to heaven/burning in hell
I've done a lot of reading on people's (strong!) opinions about the relative merits of hymns and praise choruses, but this is an angle I hadn't quite seen before.
The Nation: America's little white daughters are sexually attracted to a black presidential candidate
The inaugural comment in The Nation's regular sex-and-politics feature is more than a little bizarre.
Gift idea
For the guy who welcomed you into his home for six months, during which you both discussed much politics and put up much food, a t-shirt publicizing a new coalition:
Jul 18, 2008
Lambeth links
Why U.S. religious pluralism is way better than any European alternative: Mosques in Europe edition
USA Today:
• Supporters of the Swiss referendum collected enough signatures two weeks ago to call for a constitutional ban on minarets, the towers used to call worshipers to prayer. No date has been set for the vote.I'm feeling uncharacteristically patriotic today.
• Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni announced this month that he wants to close a Milan mosque because crowds attending Friday prayers spill onto the street and irritate neighbors. In April, the city of Bologna scrapped plans for a new mosque, saying Muslim leaders failed to meet certain requirements, including making public its source of funding.
• In Austria, the southern province of Carinthia passed a law in February that effectively bans the construction of mosques by requiring them to fit within the overall look and harmony of villages and towns.
• Far-right leaders from 15 European cities met in Antwerp, Belgium, in January and called for a ban on new mosques and a halt to "the Islamization" of European cities. The group said mosques act as catalysts for taking over neighborhoods and imposing Islamic ways of life on Europeans.
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