Katie Petroski of the Austin American-Statesman has written an elegant profile of Lloyd Dalton, a longtime telephone lineman by day and guitarist by night, who rediscovered his faith after a deadly shooting in a bar. The details of Dalton’s night in the bar are drama enough for his story to work: A man walked into O’Neill’s Sports Tavern in Marble Falls, as Dalton and his band played “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” A bartender was killed as he tried to intervene.
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A testimony from the Third Coast
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, has some troubling views on that subject. From the New York Times : In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor , an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.” In her speech , Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion — often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O’Connor — that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.
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Isn’t justice blind?
Rummaging in the Blue Book #2, on the resolution of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music re “Holy Women, Holy Men.” I read this amazing undertaking of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM), but I must confess it was a scan.My primary questions of this work had to do with the spirit of the thing – whether or not it was particularly useful or helpful to have expansions of the
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Blue Book Rummaging #2: "Holy Women, Holy Men" Holy Smoke!
Can the EU promote ethical values in the economic crisis? Reuters Blogs The Universal Society of Hinduism issued a statement complaining it had not been invited and declaring: “It was clearly an insult.” A spokesman for European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who initiated the annual gathering with religious …
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Can the EU promote ethical values in the economic crisis? – Reuters Blogs
We all have our unique interests. One of mine is curricula. I love looking at the curricula of Bible schools, or helping to think through new possibilities for Bible schools (perhaps adding a second year to a one year program, etc.) So perhaps it is only me that would enjoy the last of the chapters in Explosive Preaching , where the author describes the one-year curriculum he helped to design for a house-church movement in China. The radical design is worth sharing, not only for those who share my fascination with things academic, but for all of us as a good nudge in our level of preparation for preaching. Here’s the 66:33:1 curriculum: 66 – Each student, by the end of the year, has to be ready to preach (without notes) a one-hour sermon on each of the 66 books of the Bible. This sermon is to include an outline of the content of the book, and contemporary application to the individual, the church and the nation of China. At the end of the year, 3 books would be selected at random, then the student has five seconds to launch into their message. 33 – Each student had to prepare 33 one-hour sermons on the life and work of Christ, each based on a single verse (only 10 allowed from outside the gospels). His whole ministry must be covered, from pre-existence to second coming (although I’d suggest His ministry extends beyond the second coming!) Interestingly, students are allowed one page of notes per sermon in this category! 1 – Each student has to prepare an “end-of time” sermon – any length (since time constraints are irrelevant in eternity). The goal is to help the student consider the whole salvation story from God’s point of view. Perhaps at the great feast we will get to enjoy such a sermon looking back over it all . .
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Preaching Curriculum
The first readings at yesterday and today’s Masses from Acts contain St. Paul’s farewell to the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus before his departure for Jerusalem. Paul knows this is the last time he will see these people who he has taught and who he loves and by the end of his address, the people, who have been taught by Paul and who love him, also realize they will never see him again. Making the scene even more poignant, Paul knows that he is going toward “imprisonment and hardship.” He doesn’t know exactly what he will face, but he know it will not be good
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Paul’s Good-Bye
Black bean, shrimp and corn burritos Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Serves 3 Cost per serving: about $2 Note: The prep time does not include the 30-minute chill time for the shrimp before cooking or the time to make the pico de gallo. INGREDIENTS 35-40 frozen medium cooked shrimp, thawed 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1/4 teaspoon cumin 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper One 15-ounce can black beans One 11-ounce can sweet corn kernels 2 cloves garlic 1/2 serrano pepper 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil Cooking spray 3 whole wheat tortillas Pico de gallo (see recipe below) Avocado and sour cream, to serve at table INSTRUCTIONS In a medium bowl, combine the thawed shrimp, garlic salt, cumin and cayenne pepper, and mix to coat the shrimp thoroughly
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‘Poor Girl’ recipes
Recent violence has cost Punjab Rs7000cr 26 May 2009, 1938 hrs IST, IANS NEW DELHI: Punjab has incurred property losses of up to Rs 7,000 crore on account of the violence by followers of the Dera Sachh Khand sect,according to conservative estimates arrived at by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). “Social tension in Punjab has caused a loss of Rs.6,000-Rs.7,000 crore of public property and pushed behind its investment prospects to a significant extent,” Assocham said in a statement Tuesday
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Recent violence has cost Punjab Rs7000cr
Rise and rise of Dalit deras in Punjab 27 May 2009, 0127 hrs IST, I P Singh, TNN JALANDHAR: Along with their growing influence in the political arena, Dalits in Punjab are increasingly marking their presence in the state’s religio-cultural sphere. This is manifest in the surfacing of exclusive Dalit deras or sects. Their rise, however, has been triggered largely by Ravidassias, who have taken a lead over other big ‘‘backward’’ groups like Valmikis and Mazhabis through sheer money power
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Rise and rise of Dalit deras in Punjab
Hinduism promptly responded (to this threat) by admitting them into its pantheon as Gods (posthumously of course)…If someone said that Hinduism has lost the woods for the trees, my response as a proud Hindu is that we never saw beyond the trees in the first place….My view is that Hinduism has done mighty little by way of charity….Of course there are a lot of good and welcome initiatives sponsored by Hinduism – few examples are the work done by Shankara foundation, Puttaparthi Sai Baba and m any others who promote social causes. But I still think it is very little….
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God only knows!
I think LarryNiven may be too kind to “our side” when he says, in reference to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, … there are certainly people for whom “the right hates her” is a convincing reason to declare in favor of Sotomayor even without knowing anything else about her . At this stage, to put it bluntly — and in a way I know will not be pleasing to all members of “our side,” certainly not at first blush — what precious little we know of this nominee is obscuring of what is supposed to matter about her potential as a Supreme Court Justice
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Sotomayor and Sides
Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West Author: Rajeev Srinivasan P ublication: Rediff….Do Hindus have the right to be treated as equals with followers of other religions, or are Hindus and Hinduism to be deemed, ipso facto, inferior and objects of s corn?…Hinduism, like Judaism, can reasonably induce guilt because Christian colonialism has directly caused the deaths of 30 million Indians, mostly Hindus (see Mike Davis’ L…However, it turns out that in the case of Hinduism, ancient prejudices are still at work….
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Bigotry and Prejudice: the Depiction of Hinduism in the West
From MercuryNews.com: Though widely anticipated, the California Supreme Court’s decision today to uphold the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage induced anger, tears and vows to intensify the fight for equal rights for same-sex couples to marry. Those who supported Proposition 8 at the ballot box hailed the ruling as a defense of traditional values, as did conservative politicians gearing up for next year’s battle to succeed Gov
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San Francisco police arrest 175 anti-Prop 8 protesters
What was the first picture of absolutely nothing? Those who try to trace the origins of modern art have come up with various candidates. Maybe it was one of the three canvases painted by Rodchenko in 1921, a red, a yellow, and a blue, as a serious and final act of iconoclasm, “reducing painting to its logical conclusion”, so the artist later said
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Garden & Cosmos: The first picture of nothing? (Independent)
New reporting strengthens the claims that former President Bush was driven by theological fancies in his pursuit of the Iraq war: In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France’s President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated. In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped.
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Following God Into War
Paul Harvey Congratulations to our blog contributing editor Luke Harlow, who has completed his dissertation “From Border State to Solid South: Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky, 1830-1880″ (Luke will also be decamping from Rice University to take a position as an assistant professor at Oakland University this fall, formerly home to our own Matt Sutton — congratulations on that too, Luke). Luke sent me PDFs of the diss., which I just had the pleasure of reading.
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Forging the White Republic in Kentucky
When we here at the BlogCatalog (BC) offices heard we would be enlisting the services of a new intern, Terry Forch, we were all very excited. We all quickly began writing down our daily coffee orders and getting our dry cleaning slips together for pick up. Then, we found out that our intern would be working remotely from Virginia, and thus we will still be getting our own coffee and dry cleaning. So now you may be asking yourself the same question we were when we heard this baffling news. “What good is an intern that can’t get coffee or pick up our clean clothes?” Well, in actuality we think that she will be a great addition to the team. And, although she won’t be delivering caramel macchiatos or making sure we have clean clothes for our Friday night dates, she will be making some very valuable contributions to the team
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May the Forch Be With You
… beginning in March 2008, argues that it is a pure and blatant ridiculing of Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents a nd a rich philosophical thought….Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stresses that the Cinematograph Act lays down that a film has to be certified keeping “m…
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"Love Guru" still awaiting certification for exhibition in India
On May 8th, we announced that BlogCatalog members had the privelege of entering a contest to design a piece of promotional material for the release of the movie What Goes Up. Well, many of you responded, and as of yesterday the producers of What Goes Up have chosen their winners! So, without further ado, the winners are: Placements were decided by the producers of What Goes Up and descriptions of the individual projects are provided courtesy of the What Goes Up Movie Blog : First Place — “Countdown” by The Polybore Press While the first place entry submitted by The Polybore Press was titled “What Goes Up Movie HD,” the producers have been affectionately referring to it as the “Countdown” video since they first saw it (and thus, the name change). In addition to combining several elements from the film and BlogCatalog, the promotional video is driven by a portion of “Blue Straggler” by Electrelane, which is featured on the What Goes Up soundtrack.
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What Goes Up Movie Promo Contest Winners Announced
The father of a girl who died after refusing blood transfusions, on the basis of un-biblical teachings by the Jehovah’s Witnesses — continues to battle the cult in court. Some legal scholars observing the case see what could be worrying setbacks for this legally aggressive sect accustomed to mobilizing the courts to block members from receiving life-saving transfusions
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Man sees subtle victory in fight against Jehovah’s Witnesses
Our Gospels for today through Thursday consist of portions of what is sometimes referred to as Jesus’ “priestly prayer.” John’s Gospel for these days invites us to share an intimate experience that takes place between Jesus and His father, as Jesus prays to God in the hours before his arrest. There is something incredibly exquisite about listening to Jesus talk to his father about us
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Jesus’ Priestly Prayer
The title today is surely misleading. A few weeks ago I asked “What font do you preach in?” and received comments with suggestions on the best font to use for powerpoint. Oops, it is a good idea to read the post before sharing your timely tips! Nevertheless, I leave today’s title as it is. I’m going to keep this post short. Again, it is prompted by one of the last chapters in Explosive Preaching. It is prompted by the importance of preaching out of fellowship with God. In the book a fantastic conversation is recounted, a conversation between the author and a Chinese pastor kept in solitary confinement for many years. So much to benefit from that brief conversation – the notion of simplifying life (building a cell), in order to enjoy fellowship with God (the cell becomes a garden, and God becomes a friend). But here’s the simple quote I want to share, a quote that may touch a nerve for many of us: Fellowship pace is a lot slower than service pace.
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Preaching and Pace
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy After making headlines last week with its excitable coverage of Bible verses decorating intelligence briefing cover sheets, GQ has published another story that mentions religion. This time, an 8,700-word profile of CNN’s Larry King touches only briefly, and with minimal understanding, on King’s marriage to Shawn Southwick, an actress, singer — and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Gaseousness in GQ
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy After making headlines last week with its excitable coverage of Bible verses decorating intelligence briefing cover sheets, GQ has published another story that mentions religion. This time, an 8,700-word profile of CNN’s Larry King touches only briefly, and with minimal understanding, on King’s marriage to Shawn Southwick, an actress, singer — and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Slate’s Jack Schaffer linked to the article as an example of King’s “twisted relationship with his personal history.” Writer Chris Heath quickly runs into a common hazard in journalism: The repackaged anecdote, in which a person attributes direct quotations, of dubious worth, to somebody else: King has yet to become one of those who belatedly embrace faith before the final tally is taken
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Brain farts in GQ
This is one of those cases when the mainstream press cannot be accused of burying the lede. The headline in the New York Times says it all (kind of): “2 Ex-Timesmen Say They Had a Tip on Watergate First .” Wow. We are, after all, dealing with one of the foundational stories in modern American journalism, the creation myth that send a generation of young people racing into journalism schools.
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“God and the Editor”? Tell all!
• Mobs attacks police stations, buses and banks in Punjab region • India’s Sikh prime minister ‘deeply distressed’ by disturbances Associated Press guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 May 2009 17.10 BST India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, appealed for calm , as riots prompted by the fatal shooting of a sect leader at a Sikh temple in Austria spread to several northern Indian cities. Hundreds of people defied a curfew and army patrols, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains.
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Riots flare in India after Sikh sect leader killed in Austrian temple
Continued from Objection to Biblical Inerrancy #7 An eighth objection is that inerrancy is too complicated . Daniel Day complains that the inerrancy claim prima facie is that there is no error anywhere of any kind, but then its claimants “undermine its claims with exclusions and exceptions so as to permit wiggle room for this or that indisputable finding of science or for some post-biblical social revolution, proving that the initial ground staked out was too high.” [1] Day is talking about Article XIII of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy , a paragraph on the phenomena of Scripture. We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture
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Objection to Biblical Inerrancy #8