Monthly Archive for
November 1, 2006 to
November 30, 2006
November 1, 2006 to
November 30, 2006
|
|||||
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
Monthly Archive for
November 1, 2006 to November 30, 2006 Thursday November 30, 2006Open letter to James Dobson and Chuck ColsonDear Dr. Dobson and Mr. Colson,I note with some interest that you have continued to comment on my proposal for a temporary fast from politics. Unfortunately, your comments have fantastically misrepresented my position. Chuck, here is what you wrote in...Wednesday November 29, 2006Inanity, idiocy, and real hopeDay after tomorrow Rick Warren will be holding a massive two-day conference on the global AIDS crisis at Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. It is an extraordinary event that will include addresses by Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates,...Tuesday November 28, 2006The Iraq Civil WarA cover story from today's Washington Post couldn't put it more clearly:::The Iraq Study Group began two days of intensive behind-closed-doors deliberations yesterday as the White House conceded that Iraq has moved into a dangerous new phase of warfare requiring...Monday November 27, 2006Help... U2 lyrics... do not understandTwo new songs on U2's latest compilation of singles. One is called Smile. It is haunting and heavenly, but the lyrics are confusing. Any thoughts?Gravity, is not pulling meI won't be a picture with no signDecaying, I'm prayingYou are my...Rev. Hunter's letter to his churchMore of Rev. Hunter's thinking:---Original Message-----From: Northland, A Church Distributed [mailto:info@northlandchurch.net]Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 4:04 PMTo:Subject: Thanksgiving Update From Pastor Joel C. HunterDear Family:Well, it is Thanksgiving Eve...and I was going to write to you today anywayso that Becky...religious right reexamination continued...The Associated Press reports that Rev. Joel Hunter, tapped to lead a revitalized Christian Coalition earlier this year, has resigned because the organization would not allow him to expand the organization's agenda beyond abortion and gay marriage:Hunter, who was scheduled...Saturday November 25, 2006Bono tonight on HBOIn the debut of a new HBO series called "Off the Record" which is, of course, not off the record, Dave Stewart (formerly of the Eurythmics) interviewed Bono and The Edge about... well... being Bono and The Edge. In the...Friday November 24, 2006Shopping - the new religionFrom today's New York Times about the big shopping day after Thanksgiving:Perhaps it should be renamed Black-and-Blue Friday.For decades, the day after Thanksgiving has been called simply Black Friday, because it is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season,..."Godly humility"......is being beat all day long at board games by your 11- and 9-year-old daughters. The priceless moment came over a game of Monopoly: "Oh Dad, here's an extra $100 because you are losing so badly." Fun. Delightful. Humbling. Oh...BustedAmong the least discussed of life's milestones is this one - the first time your children look at you and say (explicitly or implicitly), "busted." It just happened.My two oldest (11 & 9) daughters and I were playing Jenga -...Wednesday November 22, 2006Thanksgiving thoughts from a friendI got this in an email from a dear friend... too good not to share:You remember the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who sent singers ahead of his army to praise the God who fought on their behalf. I...EvilN.T. Wright has written a new book called Evil and the Justice of God. It is extraordinary. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be writing about it and pulling some choice paragraphs here and there. And while I...Tuesday November 21, 2006Illegitimate birthsAccording to the Associated Press, "Out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday."In the early 1990s, I did research on Bill...Surprised by God?I was flipping through a Bible commentary on Genesis -- I'll omit the name of it because it is generally just fine -- when I stumbled across this sentence which, admittedly, could be read several ways. However, it struck me...Hunger? GoneThe Bush administration has done it. Hunger is officially gone. There are no hungry Americans anymore. Here is the proof:The US government has tweaked its terminology in referring to the nearly 11 million Americans who face a constant struggle with...Monday November 20, 2006Want to know why evangelicals hate Hollywood?Look no further than this quote from Scarlett Johansson, "We are supposed to be liberated in America but if our President had his way, we wouldn't be educated about sex at all. "Every woman would have six children and we...What's a Nooma?Beyond the Dobsons and Falwells and Robertsons are the actual leaders of the modern evangelical church. Rob Bell is one of those leaders... check out www.nooma.com to see what he is doing to communicate God beyond the stereotypes....Tune in to CSPAN around 12:30 ESTCSPAN will be covering a conference put on by the Center for American Progress around noon today EST discussing the "real" values voter. I'll be appearing along with several interesting folks including:Reverend Timothy C. Ahrens, Senior Minister, First Church, Columbus,...Sunday November 19, 2006Anti-intellectual evangelicals?An interesting article on a conference held this weekend just outside of Washington, DC. An "apolgetics" conference featuring more than 20 of the most prominent evangelical thinkers. One of the speakers, J.P. Moreland, apparently decried how the evangelical mind has...Saturday November 18, 2006Neal Cavuto inteview transcriptFor those interested here are some interesting parts of my interview with Fox News' Neal Cavuto yesterday:NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Meanwhile, if you believe all the post-election headlines, the religious right is weak, and getting weaker.Well, my next guest says, you...Friday November 17, 2006End of the religious right?A new piece by Alan Wolfe in The Guardian entitled "The religious right's last rites" is worth a read. In it he concludes:Before the election of 2006, people like myself wondered whether this election would be the first to show...Anticipating the walk and walking the walkContinuing from below...There is the theory of the walk and then the reality of the walk. The world seems less bleak and the questions not so pressing right now because so much of the fear is gone. I just walked...Walking where you don't want to walk...Part of my journey, my walk with Jesus, is my walk through places I do not want to go, places I do not want to be. That is true of everyone he calls; it is true of everyone who follows...Thursday November 16, 2006"...and sometimes souls."A reader wrote to me:"It is my hope that Christians can discern the social aims of the Gospel from the political agenda of the Republican party and the religious right. Please be aware that I am an independent voter who...Fast?Here is a link back to something I wrote last month on the idea for a fast from politics. And here is a quote from that piece:"Can anything that dilutes the name of Jesus be worth it for Christians like...Some more on "Stranger than Fiction"Great comments from two readers: (click here for the beginning of the discussion)#1"Eiffel falls back on a 'deus ex machina' (which is considered a very cheap and poor way to resolve the tensions of her novel.)I was very amused by...A New York Times piece today...I wrote an oped for today's The New York Times. Click here to read the piece. As always, I love thoughts and comments either posted here or emailed to dkuo@beliefnetstaff.com....Social justice on ESPNNow this is fantastic: Gregg Easterbrook, writing for ESPN.com's Page 2, not only does a fantastic job talking about the past weekend in football -- as a Steelers fan I particularly appreciate his observation that that "direct snap" to Deuce...Wednesday November 15, 2006Jack Abramoff and Harold Crick and all of usMr. Abramoff is now off in a prison. We are all dreadfully aware of his sins. They have been very public. And he is aware of them, too. He wrote this in a final email to friends:``I have learned more...Been at CNN most of the day......in December they are going to air a piece called "Welcome to the Future" with nerdy types like me talking about all sorts of different stuff. It was a great panel discussion. Jeff Greenfield of CNN, Irshad Manji, author of...Tuesday November 14, 2006Last year the RNC got $200 million and the DNC a little less......imagine what that kind of money could do in Africa. And see what Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life is doing by asking that question: Race Against Time.Here is the basic pitch:Around the world people are running a...What is stranger than fiction? LifeA movie this afternoon in an attempt to forget about politics and see if I could find Jesus in Stranger than Fiction, the new Will Ferrell movie.First, the obvious: afternoon movies? Fantastic. Empty theaters (or at least mine was), no...Giuliani?Well, Rudy Giuliani's hat is now in the 2008 presidential ring (cage?).Quick thoughts:- Terrorists couldn't bring him to his knees, but the Republican primary probably will.- Former Bob Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield had the best quote: "Rudy Giuliani is going...Amazing debate on conservatismGo to Andrew Sullivan's blog for a remarkable discussion on his book that is really a discussion about the nature of conservatism....Monday November 13, 2006Christian Science Monitor on targetThe Christian Science Monitor will publish a very nice review of my book in tomorrow's edition. I appreciate it because the reviewer says something I have been trying to say:Shortly before the recent election, David Kuo's book captured the headlines...Elton John's comments in the windSo Elton John wants all religion banned. Why? Because it inspires so much intolerance and hatred for gay men and women. Hmmm.In his attempt to fight for tolerance he is intolerant of the billions of people who find meaning from...Better than politicsThe Assemblies of God, a Pentacostal denomination, has undertaken a huge Times Square ad campaign using the massive jumbotron screens to flash positive messages -- "God gives hope" -- for the next two weeks. They have also launched a simple...The new Evangelical tideFormer Family Research Council head Ken Connor writes this about the past election:...it is clear that Christian conservative leaders contributed to the Republican defeat, and in the process they've lost credibility. When Tom DeLay's excesses were exposed, Christian political groups...Saturday November 11, 2006The Late PassengerI don't know what had me thinking about this poem but I was thinking about it. Just simple and bemusing and funny and poignant.The Late PassengerThe sky was low, the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,And Noah's sons were...Friday November 10, 2006Conservative or Christian?Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson has written an interesting piece called "A pounding at the polls." In it he says this:"My hope and prayer is that conservatives in America will do some serious, sober soul-searching. We need to get our...The Evangelical opportunityAn amazing article from John W. Whitehead, head of the Rutherford Insitute -- a conservative legal organization that, at one point, represented Paula Jones -- has just been published. Take a quick look at his bio and you will see...Thursday November 9, 2006"Politics chops off ears. Jesus puts them back." -- a note from a readerA very insightful reader emailed me this:"If the assumption of many is true that Judas Iscariot was a Jewish Zealot, then we can perhaps discern – even allegorically – that the political solution is not the worthy or productive one....Political obsessionWhy am I, the advocate of a Christian fast from politics, writing blog posts on politics? In Tempting Faith, I argue that Christians should take all of the time, money, and energy they have been expending on politics and expend...Wednesday November 8, 2006President Bush, please call your faith-based officeFrom President Bush's press conference today:"And so I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I can tell you that I believe the faith-based and community-based--the faith- and community-based initiative--is a vital part of helping solve intractable problems here...The day after: the Family Research Council's perspectiveThe Christian response? Hey guys, how about that political fast for a bit?...The RNC's soul...Here are the central talking point coming out of the RNC this morning: + We need to refocus on our conservative principles of less government, lower taxes, less regulation, strong national defense, judicial restraint, and fiscal conservatism. We have a...The ring of power......in the House is now on the Democratic hand. It is hard to say right now how many seats Democrats will win. The speeches of Rahm Emanuel, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi speeches were thrilling in the way that election...Tuesday November 7, 2006and tomorrow...Rod Dreher, Crunchy Com author and bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif here at Beliefnet, says it very well:"I have to admit that I'm excited about this next era of American politics, which'll start tomorrow morning. The Dems will take the House, and maybe the...We need some evangelical realismDespite some of the excitement about evangelical voters moving to the Democrats, the latest figures are a bit more modest - a little south of 30% so far. John Kerry garnered 21% nationally in 2004.Send me your thoughts on the...Watching Sen. Clinton's speech...on MSNBC... and see former President Bill Clinton behind her... is it just me or is he fidgeting and twitching just enough it looks like he is about to seize the podium and microphone?...From Steve Waldman - The shrinking God gap?People who attended church weekly voted 58 to 41 for Bush in 2004. This year they voted 51% for Republicans to 48% for Democrats. A significant improvement in the "God gap" for Democrats....From Steve WaldmanWith all the attention on evangelicals, we shouldn’t lose sight of this: Democrats this election have won back the Catholic vote. In 2004, President Bush beat John Kerry among Catholics 52%-47%. The exit polls for the House races show Catholics...CNN - Did Paula Zahn just have Ed McMahon show up?She can't contain her glee as she announced Chafee go south in Rhode Island... it is hysterical...Now Mike DeWineThis is becoming the anti-1994.In 1994, I staffed Bill Bennett as he tromped around the country raising money for Bill Frist and John Ashcroft and Rick Santorum and Mike DeWine and dozens of others. I helped lead the "Candidate Schools"...Rick Santorum has lost......I know this is great glee to so many people but I also know this - the United States Senate has lost the ONLY Republican who regularly fought on behalf of compassion programs to help the poor. Yes, that speaks...This just in from EJ DIonneWell, with only 38 minutes remaining till many polls in the east close, EJ Dionne has gone above and beyond with these observations:House Dems +27Senate Dems +5 Surprise number One (Or maybe not a suprise): These predictions are much too...that mysterious Virginia marriage amendmentMy wife calls me this morning after spending an hour in line at our suburban Virginia polling place. "Did you know Virginia had a marriage amendment on the ballot? I hadn't heard a thing about it." Me, "No, no clue."Either...from one reader...House Democrats: +17 Senate Democrats: +1 Surprise news: Cheney shoots another friend while hunting quail on Election Day...Marvin Olasky (World Magazine) says...House +15 DemsSenate +3 DemsBig morning news - litigation about who really controls the House...Come back tonight for continual election night blogging......and send in your thoughts and observations so I can post those too... davidkuo@beliefnetstaff.com...Bill Bennett's predictionsHouse Democrats + 19Senate Democrats +3Surprise news? Steele wins in Md....Joe Klein responds1. How many seats will Democrats pick up in the House? 222. ...in the Senate? 43. What will be the surprise story of tomorrow morning? Webb wins.email me at: davidkuo@beliefnetstaff.com with your guesses... winner gets a George W. Bush tie...Picking timeThis morning I asked some friends these questions... I'll post their responses throughout the day (if they have guesses)... Here are the questions:* How many seats will Democrats pick up in the House? * ...in the Senate? * What will...God, lust, politics, peril - from one who has lived it and failed and learnedTwenty years ago Rev. Gordon MacDonald "fell" when the leader of a large church. His sin was adultery. In commenting on Ted Haggard's story in one of Christianity's Today's blogs he writes:Ever since the beginning of the Bush administration, I...Monday November 6, 2006Democrats aren't the answer eitherAre evangelicals moving left and talking about the environment and poverty and Africa? Will this move translate to enough new votes for Democrats to bring them to Congressional power?Were this world all that was at play, was the question just...ScaryGo to The Daily Dish and see this... frightening....Sunday November 5, 2006Ted Haggard's last sermonThis past Sunday, October 29, Ted Haggard gave what only God knew would be his last sermon from the pulpit of New Life Church as head pastor. It is a remarkable message given the week that would follow. (I will...A fallen pastorNew Life Church in Colorado Springs has fired Ted Haggard as their pastor. Read the Press Release:We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor...New Time piece...New piece on Time.com by Nathan Thornburgh on Tuesday's evangelical turnout in the wake of the Rev. Ted Haggard accusations and revelations... Click here for the full text. "David Kuo, the former number two at the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives...Saturday November 4, 2006James Dobson - Seeing Dimly and Seeing More ClearlyJames Dobson, Christian psychiatrist and political activist. His first reaction Wednesday upon hearing the accusation against Rev. Ted Haggard:"Ted Haggard is a friend of mine and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing..."Desk" by Laura Kuo (11)With a father's pride, a post from my daughter Laura, 5th grade.DeskI start in a box,Just pieces of wood or metal, With bolts and screwsStill in a bagI am lifted into a car or truck,Roughly and with no care.Put on...Friday November 3, 2006Christians beware - Understand your political worthFew things were as telling about the White House and how they view evangelical voters (and leaders) than this paragraph from the AP story of Ted Haggard, "White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Haggard was on the weekly calls between... | |||||