Tags
American Idol, Arizona, David Sloan Wilson, environment, eucharist, evolution, gay rights, Hawaii, immigration, Politics, right wing GOP, teabaggers
The sun is just starting to work its way through the overcast. The rain was much appreciated by the garden veggies and flowers. The temperature has gotten back to a respectable high 70’s and we are having shrimp and fettucini alfredo with broccoli for dinner.
I’m lazy (I know, what’s new?) and just looking forward to a day of reading on the internet and reading generally and finding out later who won Idol this year. Crystal won the night, last but Lee is great too. Both will have fine careers.
I have books to beg for, since I’m down to my last book for review now. So many to choose from. As someone said, it’s good to be in ordinary time once again. Summer church activities are curtailed a bit, and life becomes that lazy hazy time of all those steamy Tennessee Williams novels. “Maggie, you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof.” Indeed. come on down and sip a lemonade.
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A really nice and informative interview with David Sloan Wilson on evolution, in Nature News. This comes via 3quarksdaily. How evolutionary theory is now making its way into all aspects of our lives.
Hawaii is my newly adopted fantasy home. This post points out how the right can twist the facts to fit the message. The election of a republican in a former democratic district is explained thusly: The marriage between men and women wins the day! NO.
Ellen DeGeneres destroys American Idol. Christian News Wire, claims it’s because of her lesbian activism, with no supporting facts. Claims the industry blames her for the show’s fall. Billboard is cited in the article for the proposition that it is Ellen’s fault, but the 4 page article, found here, says no such thing. Another example of twisting no facts to make your sick point.
TomCat at Politics Plus has a good article on the dangers of embracing the Teabaggers. Seems some of them have an err, God complex? And the GOP is runnin’ for the hills.
An important post on communion and who should receive. In our church, it is said, “it is not the church who invites you, it is the Lord.” Who is church to decide who is worthy? Thanks Diane for a timely post.
Episcopal Cafe has a report on how various Christian denominations are responding to the Arizona immigration law. From boycott to condemnation, the list goes on. What is not-surprisingly missing is anything from the evangelical right. They I guess favor the law. I guess they missed the parts of the bible relating to the alien amongst us.
Via our good friend Jim at OKJim’s Eggroll Emporium, we get a link to a couple of fine blogs you might like. One is Re-Evolved which seems bent on environmental matters and looks to be a real voice on all such matters. The other is only for the weirdo for whom everything about beer is well, readable. Oshkosh Beer.
Existential Ennui 
Thanks Sherry–It just struck my heart and begged for discussion!
Oh–and thanks for the other info you included!! Great minds think alike!
I have to learn to not hit submit so fast.
My thanks to you Diane for doing the work. lol…
So here is what I keep thinking about: a certain group of people in this country are crying foul over “Big government”…about government moving into too many arenas of life and costing too much money…and yet these same folk also cry out for the government (ie President) to do something about the oil leak….it seems like a damned in he does damned if he doesn’t (ie the President)….the rhetoric of these folks, and that they get away with it astonshes me….what do you think? am I just misinformed?
Terri, its much like biblical interpretation isn’t it. These same folks pick and choose what they emphasize. It just cracks me up that Jindal who was so against the monies to the states for the recovery is now screaming for federal assistance. It just depends on the topic. There is no logic to it.
No–you’re not misinformed! The people who believe them are misinformed.
They call for less government, but the government under the repuglicans grew by outrageous amounts to fight an unjust war in Iraq. they want less regulation for safety regs in big business, but they want to infiltrate my gynecologists office. They want to lower taxes, but they want to subsidize sending jobs overseas.
Basically, they prey on fear. They use short snippets of words proclaimed as if it’s the gospel truth; and after they hear it over and over and over, people begin to believe it must be the way it is. And those people are rich and powerful so they must be right or they wouldn’t be rich and powerful. So we can just let them make the decisions for us and we won’t have to worry about it.
When the West Wing was on TV, I used to get mad that the character of Josh kept saying that the public didn’t matter–they had to do what they had to do. (I can’t remember exactly, but that’s the idea.) Now I understand it completely. “The Public” doesn’t know what needs to be done so those who can do it must do it anyway.
At least now we may have someone in power who will actually do what needs to be done, not just what he can get away with!
I’ll be back later today to read and read. Thanks, Sherry.
You betcha Jan. and thanks for the E-mail link. It’s terrific and going on today’s what’s up.
Thanks for the linkage, Sherry. I am boggled that such individuals can get any following at all, let alone become the GOP frontrunner.
Hey Sherry–
Thanks for the link to TomCat’s piece–loved it and commented there.
The communion piece moved me greatly. Building a fence around the Table digs a moat around the Cross. If the grace we celebrate in the Eucharist cannot accommodate the weakest, least worthy of us, then what’s the point? The article the post responds to loses credibility simply because it promotes divisiveness. And we all know what Jesus thinks about that!
Thanks for the tips! I always envy how plugged-in you are to so many diverse voices and opinions.
Coming from the RCC, I was so happy to see such a sensible respect for the purpose of eucharist in TEC. And I always thrill when our priest intones those words…it is not the church who invites you, it is our Lord. Who are we to act as guardians of the Lord in such a way? Can he not handle this himself?
Let me add my thanks. Tim is most welcome there.
Tim–I’m glad you liked my musings on communion. Christianity has been of two minds on Salvation–Free Grace or Lordship Salvation. Allowing all accept God’s call to communion is Free Grace and putting requirements on who can partake is Lordship Salvation.
I was raised to believe in Free Grace. And just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s cheap! It just means we have absolutely no say in God’s decision to grant it to one and all! God’s choice–not ours!
And what is “Commun”ion if not “Commun”ity? And the community is all the people we live with and near, not just the ones we like! And what better way to make a pleasant, friendly, loving community that to share our gifts and God’s love?
“I guess they missed the parts of the bible relating to the alien amongst us.”
Yes, they often seem to miss all the parts of the bible that have to do with compassionate support for the outcasts and excluded in society.
Sadly, I’ve come to see evangelical Christianity as about little other than personal salvation, and charity being a irritating but necessary part of it. Thus govt sponsored assistence to the needy is a rape of one’s income and doesn’t fulfill my obligation of charity–which has to be MY giving. Thus they think. It’s crazy.
Yeah, the argument that government assistance is bad because it takes away from individuals from doing charity is one of the really bizarre arguments that I sometimes hear from the religious right (or from the right in general). The implicit idea behind that objection is that charity is really somehow about benefiting the giver, rather than helping the recipient. This, of course, has it backwards.
When you think about it, the idea that religion is about personal salvation is a rather selfish notion to begin with. It makes it all a religion about “what’s in it for me”, rather than a religion that is outwardly driven.
I agree. Jesus never did seem much about the business of teaching us how to get salvation in my opinion. He seemed about showing us how to relate to our fellow humans, and in doing so we automatically relate to God. Least that’s the way I’ve come to interpret things.
In addition to charity being a way to prove your salvation (old puritan notion–you will act compassionately if you are saved, so to prove you are saved, you act compassionately–and obey all the rules set up by the church that indicate your one of the elect) becoming wealthy is another way.
If you are elect, you will share in God’s abundance–i.e. Wealth–so you can do acts of charity. Even if it is OK for the government to do charity, if they use your money for it, they might fund the wrong program! So you need to keep all of your wealth so you can personally make the right decision of who deserves help.
The government should not decide how to “redistribute the wealth.”
Diane, it becomes that Calvinist thing I can’t handle…the elect! I’m way to inclusive for all that. Yet, in a perfect world, it might have worked, except it’s not. Too many Christians are such for reasons other than true discipleship. Fear, social advancement, economic advancement, political advancement drives a good deal of this, and charity has no place on their plate pretty much, except as you suggest–where they, the elect decide it is deserved. Coupled with the puritan work ethic, that means basically people like themselves who have suffered some unforseeable tragedy and need a bit of help.