Monthly Archive for
September 1, 2007 to
September 30, 2007
September 1, 2007 to
September 30, 2007
Sunday September 30, 2007
Fasting
A year ago I wrote about the need for Christians to take a fast from politics. Tonight I write about my need to take a fast from watching sports. I honestly don't do it very often - with young kids...Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: fast from politics, Pittsburgh Steelers
Hate
Hate: v., hat·ed, hat·ing, hates. v.tr. 1. a) To feel hostility or animosity toward. b) To detest. I hate the New York Mets. I do. I feel hostility towards them. I feel animosity towards them. I detest them. I hate...Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: baseball insanity, New York Mets
Saturday September 29, 2007
Thin Places
Here is one from Larry. It is Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill. He writes that it is a thin place for him because "there is a hill in my hometown where a life-changing event took place for me, and I immediately...Category: Faith
Filed Under: thin places
The faith-based voter
Thank you Holly for finding this one. It sort of speaks for itself....Category: Faith, Politics
Filed Under: christians and politics, newt gingrich, tom delay
Friday September 28, 2007
Baltimore Book Festival
I'll be at the Baltimore Book Festival tomorrow, Saturday, on a panel talking about... yes!... faith and politics. It should be a good discussion. I'll be joining former Md. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, PBS' Ray Suarez, and others at...John McCain over the edge
It appears that Sen. McCain has gone over the religious edge. In a new, exclusive inteview with Beliefnet, McCain reveals to my new colleague Dan Gilgoff - welcome Dan! - a remarkably sectarian view of America. When John McCain ran...Category: Faith, Politics
Filed Under: christians and politics, John McCain, Muslims, Straight Talk Express
For a Friday smile
Here is the link for the San Diego Zoo Panda Cam - it isn't the peace that surpasses all understanding I find when I watch the pandas but there is definitely peace... enjoy....Category: Faith
Filed Under: panda cam, san diego zoo
Where is the church headed?
Relevant Magazine has an interesting feature about the future of the church. It features Rick Warren, Rob Bell, and other Christian leaders. Here is their take on politics: How should Christians be involved in the political system? Rob Bell: At...Category: Church
Filed Under: christians politics, efrem smith, relevant magazine, rick warren, rob bell
Random Friday question
Are there parallel universes? And if so does it prove or disprove God's existence? Look here first....Category: Faith, Popular Culture
Filed Under: God, parallel universes
My new favorite blog
My new favorite blog is written by a 29-year-old woman, who loves U2, is a Lost-fanatic, loves Napolean Dynamite and Jesus (not in that order), is a pediatrician, and decided to give up the lure of American luxury to practice...Category: Jesus
Filed Under: Greg Boyd, Grey's Anatomy, Jen Halverson
Thursday September 27, 2007
Pope euthanized?
There is a provocative new article in an Italian magazine speculating that Pope John Paul II was actually euthanized - at least according to the definition of euthanasia used by the Catholic church: In a provocative article, an Italian medical...Category: News
Filed Under: Catholic church, euthanasia, Pope John Paul II
Religious books back in prisons
After saying it was sticking by the policy to only allow "approved" religious books in prisons, it seems the government has changed its mind: After the details of the removal became widely known this month, Republican lawmakers, liberal Christians and...Category: Faith, Government
Filed Under: bureau of prisons, religious books in prisons
"Mitchell wins"
That is what his parents wrote after Mitchell died this morning at 3am. 9/27/2007 Mitchell Wins......... Friends, Mitchell went to be with the Lord at 3am this morning. It was very peaceful and we both got to watch him pass...More on Mitch at the end...
I read this post about Mitch late yesterday afternoon, closed my laptop and headed home to be with my family and revel in the fact that we are together. This is the other side of heartbreaking: 9/26/2007 Day 23.........Peace and...Thin Places
This from Marcia: I experience "Thin Places" in the people we meet in Haiti. A Haitian proverb "Lespwa fe viv" translates to "Hope makes us live". Seeing this kind of hope in poverty has allowed me to realize my own...Category: Faith
Filed Under: thin places
What the $$ means for R's...
Inside all the numbers analysis surrounding the latest round of presidential campaign money raising is this amazing statistic: According to an August analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute done in partnership with Politico... among Republican givers, 89 percent of donors...Category: Politics
Filed Under: George W. Bush, GOP, religious right
Wednesday September 26, 2007
U2 goose-bumps
I found this tonight. Spectacular....Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: u2, window in the skies
Why Christian whining?
Is there Biblical justification for Christians protesting "anti-Christian" behavior? I ask because of the reaction by some about the poster affiliated with the Folslom Street Fair. "Folsom" as it is known, is described by organizers as "the world's largest leather...Category: Faith
Filed Under: Concerned Women for America, Folsom Street Festival
Two beautiful letters
I repost something beautiful from the comments section attached to my last post about Mitch. Please read to the end: My heart is melting. It is pooling in the same place in my body that it did less than a...Terrence Howard on the Bible
Check out this interview with noted actor Terrence Howard in New York Magazine - not exactly a hotbed of conservative activism: Do you align yourself with any party? No, I firmly believe in what the Bible set out: that God’s...Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: God and politics, New York Magazine, Terrence Howard
Tuesday September 25, 2007
100,000 pieces of the Pope's robe
A cassock worn by Pope John Paul II is being cut up into 100,000 pieces and given away to people (some of whom make a donation) who use them to augment their prayers: The relics on offer are known as...Category:
Filed Under: cassock fragments, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Vatican
Jesus, Mahmoud, con't
Different thoughts on what Jesus might say to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: From Saadaya: Jesus didn't go for rhetoric, like the Iranian President's, he was straightforward and direct. He was the very embodiment of Truth. I can see some of Jesus in...Awaiting Mitchell's beginning
For Mitch and for his family and for all who pray for him it is now time to wait for his rebirth: 9/25/2007 Day 22 As parents we begin making decisions for our children long before they are even born,what...The 23rd Psalm
I've said the 23rd Psalm countless times but last night, for the first time, a new thought and a new image - a smiling shepherd. Every time I have said that Psalm and reflected on the Psalm I've thought of...Jesus introduces Ahmadinejad
You may have seen Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, introduce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday. It wasn't exactly a love-in. That introduction plus all of the protests got me to thinking about how Jesus might have introduced Ahmadinejad. Would he have listed all...Category:
Filed Under: jesus, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Thin Places
Eight years ago tonight I married Kimberly Ann McCreery. As with all weddings I was left with snapshots in my head that I tried to take throughout the busy day. They were the kind of snapshots the hired photographer never...Category: Faith
Filed Under: thin places
Monday September 24, 2007
A Jewish lesbian's crush on Ahmadinejad
You really can find absolutely anything on the Web. Anything. For instance, an entry entitled "Why I Have a Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" . The writer, Sally Kohn, begins: I know I'm a Jewish lesbian and he'd probably have...Bush says Hillary will win...and?
Perhaps it is all the Welch's grape soda but I am not sure why it is a big deal that President Bush has reportedly said Sen. Clinton will win the Democratic nomination. It is all over the news and blogosphere....Category: Politics
Filed Under: 2008 election, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton
Gore, Nobel Peace Prize?
Christopher Hitchens predicts that Al Gore will win the Nobel Peace Prize this year: On Oct. 12, we shall hear again from Oslo, and I will be very surprised indeed if the peace prize is not awarded to Albert Gore...Category: Politics
Filed Under: Al Gore, Inconvenient Truth, Nobel Peace Prize
Mitch
More on Mitch. He is still battling: 9/24/2007 Day 21........ We are still making every effort to keep Mitchell comfortable. Last night was very trying..........Mitchell was very unsettled. That strong will of his makes him so hard to sedate........he went...Appreciating pregnancy
I think I am a pregnant woman. No, I think I appreciate what it is like to be a pregnant woman. Sort of. So I finished another round of chemo last week. For two and a couple days afterwards I...Category: Family
Filed Under: Welch's grape soda
Thin Places
A reader writes: "From this balcony I heard from God for the first time in a very, very long time. I remember thinking, 'This is a holy place.' I guess it was a 'thin place.'" Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico Please...Saturday September 22, 2007
Iranians loving Christian TV
Interesting story - a Christian satellite channel is apparently one of the more popular channels in Iran. This stood out: ...SAT-7 [has] deliberately chosen not to tackle political issues and focuses instead on the message of hope and peace. "I...Category: Church
Filed Under: christian tv, Iran, jesus and politics
High cows (not Hai-kus) - win iTunes gift certificate
Thank you Andrew Sullivan for finding this. Can someone come up with a good haiku for high cows? Winner will get a $15 iTunes gift certificate....Category: News
Filed Under: mad cow, medical marijuana
Thin Places
Today's thin place is one that can only be reached by words. Thank you Thinker: Watching your child suffer is the worst - it comes no more painful than that. But those days in the hospital were often times of...Mitch - near the end
9/22/2007 Day 19.........and so it goes..... All, Mitch's chance for a meaningful recovery are beyond bleak. Mitch's breathing difficulties continue to worsen and the infection is getting worse. We can not start chemo with Mitch in this condition because I...Jena
If you are like me and don't understand what happened in Jena, here is a helpful timeline....Category: Social Justice
Filed Under: Jena, race, social justice
My Mormon visitors
This morning as I got ready for a short family walk I grabbed a t-shirt off the top of my t-shirt stack in the closet. I put it on without looking at it. On the way out the door two...Category: Faith
Filed Under: Jesus and money, money and God, Mormon missionaries
Friday September 21, 2007
God on trial
It is hard to look at all the Mitchell is going through and not question and challenge and even, shamefully, accuse God. My friend Greg Boyd examines just this sort of thing in his blog today. Regarding that lawsuit against...Thompson/Dobson
Well, it wasn't the most powerful response - more like, "Uh, huh, yuh" but Fred Thompson pretty much blew off James Dobson's critiques. Maybe what it shows more than anything else is Dobson's declining influence and current Republican disregard for...Category: Politics
Filed Under: evangelicals in politics, Fred Thompson, James Dobson, rudy giuliani
From Donny...
From Donny, about Mitchell: If faith were just a wish upon nothing, I would not be crying right now. I would not pray for Mitchell. I would see Mitch through my tears and move on as if nothing were before...Why we are parents
In response to my post on the $1000 football helmet, Charity writes: ...the primary purpose of our job as parents is NOT to protect our children. The primary purpose (I believe) is to raise them into adulthood to be functioning...A little satire
From the people at Slate... very funny....Category: Politics
Filed Under: Mitt Romney
Mitchell at night
I can't get this little boy out of my thoughts...and prayers. Last evening's wrenching update: 9/20/2007 Thursday night in the ICU Family, Friends, & Fans....... The day that was Mitchell's breathing has improved exponentially. He is as comfortable as a...Thursday September 20, 2007
More Mitch
Go here for the latest on Mitch. Things don't look good right now - please pray...Meet Burns Strider, Sen. Clinton's Faith Adviser
I did not expect Burns Strider when I met Burns Strider. I knew he was Senior Adviser and Director of Faith Based Outreach to Sen. Clinton and her campaign for President. I knew he had worked on faith and values...Category: Faith, Politics
Filed Under: Burns Strider, christians politics, democratic faith outreach, Hillary Clinton
The Dobson speaks
James Dobson has spoken - written, actually - about Fred Thompson. Note - he doesn't like him: "Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage...Category: Evangelicalism, Faith, Politics
Filed Under: evangelicals in politics, focus on the family, fred thompson, James Dobson
Christians for deportation
A friend sent this to me. It kind of speaks for itself I went back home last week and had dinner with some old friends. It was fun chitter chatter about all the expected things. Now that we are a...Category:
Filed Under: christian charity, immigration
Thin places
Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, our thin places will be found in the simplest of places. I know that my most intense moments of meditation and prayer with God have come in prayer in my home office or in...Category: Faith
Filed Under: thin places
The OJ-free zone
There will be no OJ posts in this blog. None (apart from this one). I can't stand to think about it - about any of it. I remember back in the "summer of OJ" I had a colleague who watched...Wednesday September 19, 2007
Collins v. Dawkins, God and evolution
In response to some of the discussion about my last post re: genes and morality, I'm posting an interesting section of the debate between Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins Time printed last year. The full article can be found here....Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: evolution, francis collins, moral reasoning, richard dawkins
Morality in our genes?
The NYT has a thought-provoking article on whether morality - "do unto others" for instance - is written in our genes. Sexy premise - evolution offers the answers to morality: Where do moral rules come from? From reason, some philosophers...Category: Faith
Filed Under: God, Jonathan Haidt, moral reasoning, new york times
Faith of our Fathers
A thought from the old hymn, "Faith of Our Fathers" about what it means to love Jesus and love others: Faith of our fathers, we will love Both friend and foe in all our strife; And preach thee, too, as...Category: Church
Filed Under: christian living, christians and politics, Faith of Our Fathers, hymns
More Mitch
Sometimes it is harder to pray for a person without seeing their face. Here is a picture of Mitch and his family... let's keep praying that God keeps them whole. Go Mitch go....Thin Places
This morning a thin place of a different sort from Deacon Greg Kandra: Thanks Greg and thanks for your terrific blog too. Check out Greg's blog, The Deacon's Bench. Please continue to send your thin places to me at dkuoblog@mac.com....Category: Faith
Filed Under: grace, mother teresa, thin places, U2
My last Slate post
I've posted my last email to Hanna Rosin over at Slate. It has been a wonderful exchange and I look forward to her final response later today. Here is part of what I had to say. To read it all,...Category: Evangelicalism, Government, Politics
Filed Under: David Kuo, evangelicals in politics, God's Harvard, Hanna Rosin, Patrick Henry College
Tuesday September 18, 2007
Gorbachev and Louis Vuitton - did I miss the apocalypse?
Is it possible that I missed the apocalypse? Seriously? Did it come and go? Was it nice? I ask because of this: Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton, luxury bag/clothes/etc. maker. My friend Rod Dreher calls it the...More on Mitch
Here is a bit more on Mitch, the boy battling leukemia: Dear Friends, As I write this, Mitchell is recovering beside me in his bed........resting in relative comfort (which means minimal discomfort). All of the procedures we performed successfully today...The $1,000 football helmet
Found in Time: Coming soon to a worried parent near you: a sales pitch for a $1,000 football helmet that can monitor the precise location and severity of impacts to little Johnny's head. Leading helmetmaker Riddell plans to begin flooding...Category: Popular Culture
Filed Under: children, football, parents' guilt
Anne Rice on Jesus, vampires, writing
On her website, novelist Anne Rice offers a lengthy and fascinating and important defense of her "earlier" (pre-Christian conversion) works within the context of her Christian faith. She writes in part: Let me begin by saying that I see my...Category: Faith, Jesus, Popular Culture
Filed Under: Anne Rice, church, evangelical beliefs, Jesus, spiritual warfare
Bush losing more conservatives
What is the old saying? Hell hath no fury...? Well, conservatives are increasingly feeling like that scorned lover. The latest is over Bush's nominee for Attorney General. Powerline blog covers it best: I wasn't going to write anything more about...Category: Politics
Filed Under: George W. Bush,