Kenneth Sutton's aide-mémoire
Jeff Sharlet at The Revealer has a wonderful short essay on the death of the Pope.
Anyone who has ever watched a person slowly die, close-up, knows that it’s a story easily told — “then, he died” — and even more easily misunderstood. Those who make a moral out of another’s death serve the needs of the living; they’d do well to recognize that their storytelling is metaphorical cannibalism.
And since politics matters to me, I didn’t have any intention of vacationing in Colorado anyway. But this story at DenverPost.com — LOCAL NEWS shows that some people need a wakeup call.
A town trustee’s refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance before board meetings has led to Tuesday’s recall election and hard feelings among some of the community’s 7,000 residents. . . .
“People want a vacation, they don’t care about politics,” agreed Judy Speece, owner of Mountain Vista Acre B & B. “They just want to get away from it all.”
Well, count me out!
And just for the record: Christians shouldn’t be pledging allegiance to a flag, either, or to a country. A Christian’s allegiance to a nation shoud always be subservient to an allegiance to God.
So there.
Found this fascinating article at the Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle: 3/11/2005: From Islam, Pluralist Democracies Will Surely Grow.
From the very moment that God spoke the first word of Revelation to Muhammad — “Recite!” — the story of Islam has been in a constant state of evolution as it responds to the social, cultural, political, and temporal circumstances of those who are telling it. Now it must evolve once more.
Raymond Barnett. I found much of the book to be useful or inspiring, especially the earlier chapters “Living in the Seasons,” “Continuity with Your Ancestors,” and “Celebrating Your Guides.” But there are some places where he unrealistically romanticizes the Chinese “people.”
But in China’s Bronze Age, the patriarchal, mind-exalting aspect of society began to wax. In time, this faction hitched its fortunes to the Confucian philosphy, and has been in control of the ruling central authority in China for the past three thousand years, whether in a feudal, imperial, or Communist regime. Taosim, with its appreciation of the richness of reality, the balance of yin and yang, the proper place of humans, has been the view of the people for these three thousand years.
Oh yeah, that explains why there’s an excess of young men growing up in China and an excess of girl babies being adopted overseas.
Then there’s his admittedly old-fashioned perspective. In “The Clown Within” he suggests–gasp–dressing like a member of the opposite sex in a Halloween Challenge. But “this is stretching things a bit, and it may be too much for you.”
And I found the chapter “But What about the Tough Cases?” disappointingly shallow.
Marilynne Robinson. Spectacular. A deeply moving portrait of a father’s love, a story of sin and redemption. Read it.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud has been found guilty in a United Methodist Church trial of being openly lesbian. Google News Search: stroud methodist .
The Freedom to Marry Coalition has sent out a notice that CBS and NBC have rejected this ad: God is Still Speaking — The United Church of Christ. It’s such a subtle ad (about including gays) that any media calling it sensitive material is totally outrageous.
CBS explained its decision in part as follows “...and the fact that the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.”
Fabulous post at Velveteen Rabbi that could have been written about Quakers.
Aaron Lansky. It’s not only amazing, it’s also inspiring and touching. Aaron Lansky is only a few years older than I. His life has been devoted to saving the literary record of the thriving culture decimated first by Hitler, then by Stalin, and weakened by assimilation and the good life of America. Of interest to book lovers as well as those interested in Yiddish culture.
The Revealer posts a press release they received for a National Witches Day of Prayer. Personally, I find the appropriation of the evangelical-dominated National Day of Prayer inspired magic-making (although the chant does have some lame poetry in it).