Bias or Merely Ignorance?

Either way, a Dallas judge who ordered a Sikh man to remove his turban was wrong, and guilty of violation the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. The ACLU is suing.

John Allen on Catholicism

John Allen writes about Evangelical Catholicism and Liberal Catholicism.

Texas Monthly on Mike Tucker

Marty links to a review of the Arlington, TX, Seventh-day Adventist Church and its pastor, Mike Tucker, that was in Texas Monthly; written by Rice University professor Bill Martin.

Pictures of War

A picture is worth 1000 words, they say.

That’s true of pictures of war.

Matthew Brady started it in the Civil War, but because of the slowness of the cameras he was only able to capture the aftermath–sad faces of soldiers, bloated corpses of men and horses, smoke rising from destruction.

Photography helped us see the reality of Vietnam as it happened, but perhaps the most moving images were not the films of returning bodies or of combat on the evening news, but certain still photos that captured an instant of horror: a naked girl running down a road, burned by napalm; a police officer assassinating a man by putting a pistol to his head; Buddhist monks immolating themselves to draw attention to the horror; a young woman kneeling over the body of a fellow student at Kent State.

The images of the present war have been cleaned up by the major media, jealous to preserve their “embedded” status. But the internet has provided a new forum, and film-makers are also rushing into the void left by the abdication of the MSM. Consider this article.

Consider this: a Congressman is being pressured to resign because of a humiliating act in a bathroom. Who is being held accountable for the tragedies and foolishness of this war?

Body Worlds

Aaron Ginsburg sent me a link to his Stop Body Worlds page. He’s got lots of useful links on facts and criticism of this macabre exhibit by Gunther von Hagens that has traveled throughout the world.

Earlier this year in Pittsburgh, Eileen Catz, an employee of the museum that was to host it, resigned in protest. “We don’t know how these people died or why they died.”

“We don’t need actual human bodies to educate people about smoking,” said Mr. Ginsburg, the pharmacist. “The bodies are there to sell tickets. My issue is not just the source of the bodies, but the use of them. It cheapens humanity and that’s a dangerous direction to go.”

Mr. Geller said he believes the opposite is true.

“People who haven’t see the show can only speculate about it. If you see it, it takes away all the negativity.”

I haven’t seen the exhibit in person–but I don’t have to. When it was in Houston, the macabre images were plastered over billboards, in newspaper ads, on the internet, and on TV. These human beings were made in the image of God; while alive they were mothers and fathers and children and brothers and sisters; they once loved and were loved; now they are stripped of their dignity, plastinated, partially dissected and placed in ridiculous poses–riding a horse, playing cards, etc.

This is a voyeuristic spectacle, not science.

There are two issues here. One is this desecration of the human body. The other is the source of the bodies. China, a land where life is very cheap, is the leader in this industry. Many plants have opened up in China to process these bodies–but where do they come from? Who are they? How did they die? Did they know this would happen to them? Did they give their consent? These are other ethical questions the promoters can’t answer.

But even if they did answer these questions, the insult to human dignity remains.

Here’s an excellent statement from the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Unfortunately, in other cities, religious officials have been too often silent (Dallas) or have defended the exhibit (Houston). This is an issue where all men and women of conscience, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Agnostic–all who believe in the dignity of the human person–should be united.

What is our society coming to when this passes as entertainment?

School Bans Playing Tag

A Colorado school has decided to protect children from playing tag.

A Hero Dies

Richard Jewell, the hero who saved many lives when Eric Rudolph bombed the Atlanta Olympics, has died. But that’s not how he’s remembered by the meda. AP says, “Former security guard Jewell dies.” CNN says, “One-time Olympic Park Bombing Suspect Dies.” Atlanta newspaper says, “Richard Jewell found dead in home: Olympic security guard suspected but cleared in bombing.”

The best any of them can say is,

Jewell was initially lauded as a hero after a bomb went off at the July 27, 1996, Olympic celebration. He called attention to the suspicious knapsack that held a bomb and helped evacuate the area.

“Initially”? Why not now? The guy did what he did. The later dragging him through the mud by media and police doesn’t changed it. He saw something suspicious, he evacuated the area. He acted quickly and saved countless lives. That makes him a hero. Remember that, not what the media did to him.

Camp Meeting 2.0–The New Earth

Monte Sahlin on The New Earth.

Messing About in Boats …

Pastors and Congregations

From Naked Religion, some points based on an exit interview the author had with the Pastoral Relations Committee of the church he was leaving. “What a Pastor Needs in a Congregation”:

1. Pastors need their congregations to be honest and transparent in their relationship with the pastor and one another. Lack of honesty often results in misplaced and unmet expectations that neither the pastor nor the congregation bargained for.
2. Pastors need for their congregations to recognize the sacrifice that their family is making and as a result be attentive to the need of the pastor to attend to his or her family during the critical points in his or her family life.
3. The Pastor needs a congregation who is willing to err on the side of generosity when it comes to salary, benefits, and vacation. If a pastor must fight for such things early on, there’s a pretty good chance the pastor will be fighting for things throughout their ministry there.
4. The pastor needs time to read the Bible reflectively, pray fervently, and plan thoughtfully and desires a congregation that recognizes the value of these practices for the long term health and well-being of the the pastor and the congregation.
5. The pastor needs time to cultivate meaningful friendships both inside and outside of the congregation. If the pastor is expected to attend every meeting that takes place in an active church, there is little chance that the pastor will have time to have friends outside the life of the church.
6. The pastor needs to know that he or she is not alone in their desire to promote healthy Christian practice. There is nothing worse than attempting to promote healthy spiritual practices only to discover that no one in the congregation shares that desire. Tell your pastor often when something they have said or done has been helpful for your spiritual growth.
7. The pastor needs a congregation to offer praise liberally and criticism gently and preferably not at the same time.
8. The pastor needs to know that when they make a mistake they will be recipients of the same degree of grace that they offer to those who fail in the congregation.
9. The pastor needs people who commit to pray for them and their family throughout their ministry and are interested enough to ask the pastor from time-to-time how they can pray for them.
10. The pastor needs the freedom to pursue hobbies that restore their sense of well-being in the midst of congregational life. Whether it’s painting, biking, or stamp collecting, a pastor with hobbies is a more well-rounded pastor than one who is exclusively dedicated to the ministry of the church.

Also see his post, Why Young Pastors Leave the Ministry. In bold, some comments based on my first experience in ministry 18 years ago.

1. The discontinuity between what they imagined ministry to be and what it actually is is too great. [I found it to be all conflict management--something I wasn't taught in seminary.]
2. A life without weekends sucks.
3. The pay is too low (most pastors in my denomination make less money than a school teacher with five years experience).
4. They are tired of driving ten year old cars while their congregations trade in their cars every two years.
5. Many young pastors are called into difficult congregations that chew pastors up and spit them out because experienced pastors know better. [That was my first church; I found out too late that other pastors wouldn't touch it, and as noted above, I didn't have any training in the areas I needed in that one and the next.]
6. Even though the search committee told them they wanted to reach young people, they didn’t really mean it. [I was pastor of one church that wase content to be a little family chapel. It said they wanted new members, but drove them off.]
7. When the pastor asked the search committee if they were an “emergent church”, the members of the search committee thought he said “divergent church” and agreed.
8. Nobody told the young pastor that cleaning the toilets was part of the job description. [In one, they couldn't understand why my wife and I couldn't clean the church and water the plants.]
9. The young pastor’s student loans came due and the amount of money he/she owes on a monthly basis exceeds his/her income.
10. Working at McDonalds has alot less stress.

Compare and contrast with Dean Hoge’s book, The First Five Years of Priesthood, and why young priests leave within the first five years. They don’t have the responsibilities of being a pastor (except in some small rural dioceses), but they do have the stress and the loneliness, which is manifested in different says. The Christian Century summarized:

Hoge found that between 20 percent and 30 percent of priests left because they fell in love with a woman. An additional 20 percent to 30 percent left because they felt “lonely and unappreciated” and could no longer abide by mandatory celibacy. His findings were published recently in his book The First Five Years of the Priesthood.

Between 30 percent and 40 percent of priests left because they were disillusioned with their fellow priests or the church hierarchy. And between 5 percent and 15 percent left because they wanted an “open, long-term relationship” with another man. The number of gay priests is not known, but some experts say it could be as high as 50 percent.

Hoge found that between 5 percent and 10 percent of departing priests left for reasons that do not fit into one of the other categories.

Things That Will Get You Arrested …

Which of these things will get you arrested?

1. Sprinkling flour in a parking lot
2. Lying to Congress and various other accusations of abuse of power
3. Improving your home
4. Arranging for a hitman to kill your family
5. Getting sick

The Boy Scouts

Over at Catholic World News, Diogenes has an interesting article showing how the Boy Scouts has dealt with sexual abuse of boys (and potential threats) over the years. He contrasts it with how his church dealt with the problem in the same period.

Canoeing

Speaking of canoeing, here’s an impressive video of some interesting techniques known as “Canadian style” paddling.

Hypocrisy in Science

It seems lots of big name folks are up in arms over a display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science over a new display.

HMNS is exhibiting “Lucy,” the supposed early human ancestor found in Ethiopia. The critics accuse the museum of sensationalism and of “prostituting” the fossils. A decade old UN policy says it is OK to take fossils out of a country for scientists to study them in labs, but not for people to see them. Said Richard Leakey: “It’s a form of prostitution. It’s gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity, and it should not be permitted.”

“Advance ticket sales, about 3,000 so far, are on par with Body Worlds 3, the museum’s most popular exhibit ever. The Lucy exhibit costs $20 for adults.”

And that brings me to my point about hypocrisy. Did any of these scientists criticize Body Worlds? That was the macabre exhibit of partially dissected human bodies arranged in surreal poses (riding a horse, playing cards, etc.). No, none of them uttered a word. And while European Catholics unanimously condemned it, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, in the voice of Msgr. Frank Rossi, said that was a perfectly fine use of a human body. (Fr. Daniel Callam of UST gave a very good sermon blasting this desecration of human bodies, but his was a lonely voice crying in the wilderness).

Back in the Saddle Again

Just back from a youth/young adult retreat that we did at Pine Cove up in Tyler. I’m exhausted, but we had a good time. My son and I got in quite a few hours of canoeing and an hour of horseback riding in between everything else. Tomorrow: first day of school for both the kids and me (teaching World Religions again down in Alvin).

Religion and College Students

Religious Engagement Among American Undergraduates.

Recent studies of college students’ attitudes toward religion suggest that the academy is no longer the bastion of secularism it was once assumed to be. And these studies further reveal that the spiritual landscape on today’s college campuses is virtually unrecognizable from what we’ve seen in the past. Evangelicalism–often in the form of extra-denominational or parachurch campus groups–has eclipsed mainstream Protestantism. Catholicism and Judaism, too, are thriving, as are other faiths.

To help make sense of these changes, the SSRC offers this online guide, which was derived from a series of essays it commissioned from leading authorities in the field of religion and higher education.

The ELCA and Sexual Abuse

It would be a good thing if other churches were to learn from the Catholic experience of the past several years about dealing with sexual abuse by clergy.

The ELCA apparently has not learned, in the case of a pastor who died in 1997. Both the South Dakota Synod and the ELCA national office refuse to tell reporters what churches he served in his career (a matter of public record, I would think), or how many victims have come forward.

Time: “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith”

Time magazine looks at a new book on Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, “consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years.”

Come Be My Light is that rare thing, a posthumous autobiography that could cause a wholesale reconsideration of a major public figure — one way or another. It raises questions about God and faith, the engine behind great achievement, and the persistence of love, divine and human. That it does so not in any organized, intentional form but as a hodgepodge of desperate notes not intended for daylight should leave readers only more convinced that it is authentic — and that they are, somewhat shockingly, touching the true inner life of a modern saint. …

In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the “dryness,” “darkness,” “loneliness” and “torture” she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. “The smile,” she writes, is “a mask” or “a cloak that covers everything.” Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. “I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love,” she remarks to an adviser. “If you were [there], you would have said, ‘What hypocrisy.’” Says the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of My Life with the Saints, a book that dealt with far briefer reports in 2003 of Teresa’s doubts: “I’ve never read a saint’s life where the saint has such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that tormented.” Recalls Kolodiejchuk, Come Be My Light’s editor: “I read one letter to the Sisters [of Teresa's Missionaries of Charity], and their mouths just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension to the way people understand her.”

Seniors and Sex

There’s a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine on the sex lives of senior citizens. Abstract. News report summarizing the research.

The Perils of Apologetics

I find much of contemporary apologetics embarrassing. It too often quickly goes from proof-texting to name-calling. I know Steve Ray to be a nice guy, but here and here something happened. Read his comments (and the lengthy comment he posted each time he deleted someone’s comments) and this lengthier response. Steve’s normally a genial apologist; his videos are well-done, and show him as a nice guy you’d want for a neighbor. But something happened here.

His argument defending the Assumption and Queenship of Mary is basically this: Catholics accept both Scripture and Tradition as authoritative; Catholics know of the Assumption and Queenship through Tradition; Catholics can then look back at Scripture and find examples that Catholics can see as types of the role they ascribe to Mary (e.g., the Queen Mother of ancient Judah). A Catholic apologist needs to realize that Protestants aren’t going to buy this, since they don’t accept the first premise. And usually Steve would do this.

But when you get caught up in the heat of battle, it is easy to lose perspective, and one’s cool. It happens to Catholics and Protestants. Can we all learn to do apologetics without apology …?

On one of the questions raised by Ray, the “Queen Mother” in Israel, is it possible for Protestants and Catholics to have a civil discussion? I think so. Consider this article: Niels-Erik Andreasen, “The Role of the Queen Mother in Israelite Society,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 45 (1983) 179-94. It’s a Catholic journal … and the author is a leading Seventh-day Adventist theologian, currently serving as president of Andrews University.

Now, is Niels-Erik going to run off and accept the Assumption and Queenship of Mary? No, because he doesn’t accept the authoritative nature of Catholic tradition. That’s the key here. When I accepted the Catholic tradition as authoritative, I accepted (and defended) many things taught solely by that tradition. When my confidence in it fell, I needed a more solid foundation.

Since Catholics and Protestants both accept Scripture as divinely inspired and authoritative, Catholics really shouldn’t be offended when Protestants say, “Don’t just appeal to your own private authority; base your argument on that authority we share.”

Church and State in Louisiana

Democrats, in an effort to unseat Gov. Bobby Jindal, are accusing the Catholic convert of having written some politically incorrect articles on religion. Kos. Commonweal.

Update: Rod Dreher on Jindal response.

The EU and Texas

The EU has sought to engage itself in Texas affairs. Gov. Rick Perry’s office responds:

230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.

“A Key Encounter”–Named after an Old Friend

A Key Encounter–Family Nature Theater and Jungle Walk, at the George M. Kretschmar, Jr., Memorial Planetarium in Key West, FL. Cover story in the latest Adventist Review talks about the founders, retired Adventist Pastor Merlin Kretchmar and his wife, Juanita. I knew their son, George, at Atlantic Union College–George was also an Adventist pastor, but died tragically of cancer at age 38. They’ve posted some of George’s sermons on the webpage.

Old Advice to Soldiers re: Iraq Still Relevant

Lt. Col. John Nagl, USA, found an old treasure full of practical advice that could have saved the US some headaches if heeded: Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq During World War II, a handbook first published in 1943. I found it at the bookstore today. One statement that jumped out for LTC Nagl (and for me): “Americans success or failure in Iraq may well depend on whether the Iraqis like American soldiers or not.” NPR story. Chicago Tribune.

From the latter:

“Some of the guidance in this little book is eerie to anyone who has fought in Iraq recently,” [Nagl] wrote in the introduction. “It is almost impossible, when reading this guide, not to slap oneself on the forehead in despair that the Army knew so much of the Arabic culture and customs, and of the importance of that knowledge for achieving military success in Iraq, six decades ago — and forgot almost all of those lessons in the intervening years.”

QOD

Looks like I’ll be taking a trip in October to attend the Questions on Doctrine conference at Andrews University. Among other things, it will be a chance to see some old friends and professors and to meet some fellow bloggers.

Heaven as a Texas Barbecue

Rod Dreher links to an article in his newspaper about a Dallas barbecue joint that offers something special …

Think of it as the Tuesday combination special at Smokey John’s BBQ – brisket and Bible study, prayer and potato salad, sweet tea and sympathy.

“It’s real here,” said one woman who has attended the fellowship for five years. “And there’s no condemnation. Church has a lot of rules, and that scares people. But here, it’s real.”

It began 26 years ago when “Smokey” John Reaves, 62, sat mostly alone with his Bible at his restaurant on Mockingbird Lane. Now the Tuesday fellowship pulls standing-room-only crowds to a backroom that might comfortably seat 30, yet regularly hosts twice that and more.

It is a haven for both the believer and the broken, for people living on the street and those with upscale addresses in Preston Hollow and the Park Cities.

“Rich folks, poor folks, black, white, brown, Asian – they all come to this meeting,” Smokey said. “This is what heaven looks like. And I want to get a glimpse of heaven here on earth so when I get there I don’t have culture shock.”

Sounds like potluck at my church.

Hurricane Dean

I feel sorry for folks in Jamaica and Mexico, of course, but I am nonetheless very relieved that we are now completely out of the projected path of any of the computer models.

From Sunday’s Houston Chronicle, Lessons Unlearned after Rita. E.g., Who should evacuate? We’re far to the west side of Houston, not in any danger from the storm surge, not in a flood zone, and in a masonry structure. At the time of Rita we were in a second floor apartment, with growing trepidations concerning the neighborhood, with some very large trees by windows we weren’t able to cover, and with the declaration that Rita was category Five we thought it best to leave and visit my brother in Atlanta. We’ll stay put next time.

“Religious ‘Infantilization’”

R. Scott Appleby reviews book by Paul Lakeland, Catholicism at the Crossroads.

…. [This is] the best educated and most sophisticated generational cohort of Catholics in the history of the United States, the apathetic majority of whom continue to accept religious “infantilization” within an ecclesial structure that privileges hierarchy at the expense of community, fosters clerical elitism and condescends to the laity in matters theological, spiritual, ethical and (even) financial and administrative[.]

…The underlying problem is structural—the absolute lack of a formal voice for the laity in the teaching or the governance of the church. … The laity can and should be consulted on governance and empowered to a greater degree on personnel and financial matters.

In the Catholic system, authority lies solely in the hierarchy, in bishops and pastors. Theirs are the only voices that really matter. Lay officials of dioceses may act with some delegated authority, as I did in my roles in a parish and a diocese, as may parochial vicars (priests who are not pastors)–but they both know who holds the real authority. Unlike other denominations which have lay representation, this is something that does not exist in the Catholic church. Any group of laity, be it a parish or diocesan council or a board associated with an office in a chancery, is “advisory only,” with no real decision making authority in areas affecting their faith, life, or church finances. This is something that was drilled into me in every job I had–pastors and supervisors told me to keep a firm grip on the reins. Likewise, lay theologians may teach in colleges and seminaries from here to Rome, but only documents by bishops have authority; and only Roman documents have authority for everyone.

Liberals criticize the Catholic Church for being patriarchal, but that misses the point. I’d say that it is, rather, paternalistic. “Father knows best.” Lay opinion is too often dismissed; lay questions too often turned aside with an appeal to authority; lay frustrations too often ignored or even reprimanded (as seen in complaints over the years about abusive priests and the church’s response).

In a previous era, laity were told to “pay, pray, and obey.” When John Henry Newman suggested the laity be consulted in matters of doctrine, his bishop dismissively quipped, “Who are the laity?” Newman responded that clerics would look pretty funny without them. Vatican 2 spoke of the apostolate of the laity–but made clear it was an external apostolate in the secular world. The rise of “lay ecclesial ministry” has not really changed this–it has just inserted a caste of lay professionals in between the clerics and the “lay faithful.”

The question Appleby and Lakeland raise is this: should the laity be treated as children who will never grow up–or as adults empowered by the Holy Spirit, who are called to exercise real leadership in the body of Christ? Those churches which have seen this have learned they have nothing to fear.

Gaillardetz on the CDF on the Church

Catholic theologian Rick Gaillardetz looks at the CDF statement on the church in the latest America. He throws out this hypothetical as “a thought experiment”:

Consider the following thought experiment. Imagine a neighborhood with two churches: Grace Lutheran and St. Bernadette Catholic parish. According to the council’s teaching, the Lutheran congregation would be lacking some specific “means of sanctification and truth” available, in principle, to St. Bernadette’s. Presumably, they do not have access to a universal ministry of unity (the papacy), the sacrament of reconciliation or the full reality of the Eucharist. Yet Grace Lutheran Church might be fostering a community that emphasizes Christian fellowship, hospitality and the dignity of one’s baptismal calling. Church leaders might stress the necessity of being biblically literate and living with fidelity and passion, a biblical vision of discipleship.

On the other hand, St. Bernadette’s might be a community where Christian hospitality is almost completely absent and genuine fellowship minimal, a community in which baptism is simply a christening ritual performed on infants, where the Scriptures are poorly proclaimed and the homilies are filled with arcane, pious references and silly jokes but say little about the concrete demands of discipleship in daily life. In this scenario we must grant the possibility that Grace Lutheran Church, although technically lacking ecclesial “fullness,” might in fact be fostering a form of Christian communal life that more effectively brings them into communion with Christ than does St. Bernadette’s.

Pastor Abandoned for Three Days at Airport

An elderly pastor on a trip to Orlando asked a skycap at OIA for a wheelchair, and asked to be taken to the curb. There he sat for three days–suffering a stroke along the way–ignored by airport personnel.