Tag: religion

Christianity on Al Jazeera

Inside USA, a program on the English version of Al Jazeera recently did a story on Christianity and politics in America. Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw and the Psalters were each featured briefly as they worked on the audio version of “Jesus for President.”

If I’m not mistaken you’ll also catch a glimpse of Jamie Moffett sitting behind the sound board in the recording studio (Moffett was on the Something Beautiful Podcast 1.6).

Related ::
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera :: Inside USA article
HT :: Ordinary Radicals
Jesus for President
Something Beautiful Podcast :: Jamie Moffett

new year humor

my mate Thomas shared this video clip of Emo Phillips (whom you may remember as the woodshop teacher in UHF)… enjoy!

update :: just saw that this video has been taken down šŸ™ and I can’t find it anywhere (when I’d really like to use it Saturday for our community group. as a fill in, here’s a copy of the main joke ::

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”

He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”

Northern ConservativeĆ¢ā‚¬Ā Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

Let’s stop stereotyping Evangelicals

Joseph Loconte and Michael Cromartie have an interesting column in yesterday’s Washington Post: “Let’s stop stereotyping Evangelicals.”
In it they encourage the rest of the country to stop stereotyping Evangelicals because of a few vocal and “loopy” members.

Evangelicals led the grass-roots campaigns for religious liberty, the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage. Even the Moral Majority in its most belligerent form amounted to nothing more terrifying than churchgoers flocking peacefully to the polls on Election Day. The only people who want a biblical theocracy in America are completely outside the evangelical mainstream, their influence negligible…
Whether or not that’s true, these evangelicals — Bible-believing and socially conservative — are redefining social justice. They’re mindful of the material conditions that breed poverty and despair, but they emphasize spiritual rebirth. Though willing to partner with government agencies, they prefer to work at the grass roots, one family at a time.

The column makes specific mention to Dallas’ TD Jakes and “The Purpose Driven Life” author Rick Warren and his work to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Of course it’s true that a handful of Christian figures reinforce the worst stereotypes of the movement. Their loopy and triumphalist claims are seized upon by lazy journalists and the direct-mail operatives of political opponents.

College students considered religious centrist

I caught a press conference on CSpan last night about a study by Harvard University Institute on Politics on College Students and their religious and political views.
I found a link to the video of the press conference on CSpan.org, but it appears to be bad.
Maybe it will start working in the near future. You can however watch the full press conference from the Harvard University website.
Anyways, it was an interesting study.

Traditional party identification labels of “conservative” and “liberal” are antiquated, and don’t fully represent students.

They said that the majority of college students define themselves as independents rather than the traditional Republican or Democrat. Students also tend to buck traditional liberal or conservative labels, looking more at right vs. wrong.

Religion is important in the lives of college students, but Republicans and Democrats may never agree on the role of religion in politics today.

Seventy percent of the students felt religion was important to them.
Twenty-five percent of students said they became more spiritual during college. Over 60 percent of Republican students thought that religion and spirituality in America was declining and it was a bad thing.
While over 50 percent of Democrat students thought that religion and spirituality in America was increasing and it was a bad thing.

Morality playing a strong role in students’ political views.

On the issues of right and wrong, Republican students tend to be focused on three major issues, abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage. But the study found many are also concerned about the moral issues with the Katrina response.
Democrats also tend to add educaenvironmentroment and health care to their concerns.
All students are concerned about genocide worldwide.

(The survey) finds seven out of ten of America’s college students believe that religion is somewhat or very important in their lives, but they are sharply divided “along party lines” over how strong a role religion should play in politics and government today. Despite these differences, more than half of students agree they are concerned about the moral direction of the country. While a majority believes hot-button issues like abortion policy, gay marriage and stem cell research are issues of morality, many also agree that the Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, education policy and Iraq war policy are also questions of morality.

Some other information the study found was:

  • Both Democrats and Republicans agree on their concern over the country’s moral direction, but students are generally optimistic about our country’s future.
  • College students continue to support a more multilateral U.S. foreign affairs stance and are conflicted over unilateral action to prevent nuclear weapons development, including in Iran.
  • More than seven in ten students believe the United States should withdraw some or all U.S. troops from Iraq.
  • Potential 2008 Clinton-McCain presidential matchup is a dead heat on campuses.
  • President Bush’s approval rating still dropping, as students continue to feel the country is on the wrong track.
  • A majority of students trust our government’s ability to correctly choose which phone calls and e-mails to monitor, but they are still generally unwilling to allow it.

I felt like the study showed that today’s students are more concerned about human life in general than their parents may be.

One part of the study showed that students supported the spread of democracy by large ncasualtiesil casualities were in play.

Then the support decreases dramatically.

Anyways, it was an interesting program.

  • Video of the press conference