The UmBlog

When poor minorities riot over unjust treatment, privileged majority observers speculate about the family breakdown that must be the cause of so much property damage. But the privileged majority observers never seem to worry about what psychological conditions lead to the police officer mindset that justifies capital punishment for non-capital offenses. Running away from a police officer is not a capital offense. Wrestling with a police officer is not a capital offense. Carrying an air soft pistol is not a capitol offense. Stealing cigarillos is not a capital offense. Selling single cigarettes is not a capital offense. Resisting arrest is not a capital offense. Walking down a dark stairway is not a capital offense. Property damage is not a capital offense. But the law disproportionately forgives or justifies the citizen wearing blue, allowing capital punishment... summary execution... murder. When trials do happen, poor minorities are disproportionately incarcerated, breaking dow...

I had a tough time sleeping when I was a kid. I wasn't afraid of the dark, but I did not like the quiet of night. My issues were more than being a light sleeper, one easily disturbed. No, I found it hard to rest because I was always vigilant. I feared burglars. I grew up in a two bedroom apartment on the 1st floor of a two story, 4 unit building off the state highway between a school bus station across the street and a forest that surrounded the town's reservoir. I lived there until we moved to another part of town when I was 13. The woods were such a great place to play and explore. However, when I was small, I heard adults talking about burglars, in our apartment complex. Somehow, I learned about rapists too, maybe from that episode of Little House on the Prairie . My dad worked swing shifts so for a week or two every month he was not home at night. Maybe when he was home I felt more secure and slept better. I don't remember. I do remember many little noises. Before I k...

David Blankenhorn recently wrote an important editorial in the New York Times, How My View on Gay Marriage Changed . His change of opinion is important because has been arguing in our culture for years the dreadful impact on children of divorce and single parenting and extolling the value of a lasting sole marriage between one man and one woman. He even testified on behalf Prop 8 defenders. But he has concluded that the traditional marriage defenders have lost the framing of the debate. I agree. He still agrees that children are best raised in a marriage of their parents, but the debate has been framed as treating gay citizens as full citizens with equal access to the legal rights only straight couples can attain, except in a few states like my own. He'd rather ally with all marriage proponents to strengthen marriage and keeping his focus on strengthening marriage. He no longer wants to be distracted by this culture war. I empathize with Blankenhorn. I also empathize with gay ...

I find a certain blogger provides good fodder to get my writing juices going. For some reason, Dr. Tony Jones, an adjunct theology professor at Fuller Seminary, who has demonstrated his dim view on marriage by refusing to legalize his union with his partner, quotes without comment , another culture watcher who asserts that marriage is not holy because quickie divorces desecrate the institution. The quotee may not be a Bible reader, but I expect Dr. Jones is. Here is what I read in Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous . Because some do not honor marriage, does not mean marriage is not honorable, nor sacred, for believers. In the same way, some gnu atheists have had fun desecrating communion hosts, sneaking into the service under the pretense of being a believer, then sneaking out, with the host, in order to post pictures of their attempt at desecration. This desecration did no...

I think religious conversations can be very pleasant with anyone other than conservative Christians and militant atheists. A cocktail party full of Buddhists, Hindus, Daoists, liberal Christians, even unorthodox christian splinter group members, Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, and perhaps Jews and Muslims, could all discuss religion dispassionately, but adding a conservative Christian to the mix is like tossing a grenade into the crowd. Why? Because everyone else has room in their theology for everyone else in the afterlife , or the non-afterlife. A conservative Christian takes Jesus' words conservatively, that no one comes to the Father [which means not just sitting on God's lap but all the heavenly afterlife stuff] except through the Son, JC himself, see John 14:1-7. The flip side for this is that those who reject Jesus go to hell, described by Jesus several times , with plenty more detail in John's Apocalypse, see Rev. 20:11-15. Every other belief system either lets ever...

I wish I could say this happens infrequently in my house, but I can't, and if I did, I would be lying. Nevertheless, I will confess the imperfection of my household. On occasion, when I send one child to deliver a message to a sibling, they feel that the authority of the message deputizes them and gives them latitude to be enforcers of the message. I did not give the messenger such authority, but they assumed the mantle of my authority. This often leads to escalating wills and rising noise levels and even pushing, shoving and hitting. Yet, I only wanted a message delivered, with the hope that obedience would follow. I consider it my job to determine what the level of consequence will be if my message is disregarded. The self-deputized might only take it upon himself to give me a report on the disobedience. They never deem it important to tell me when someone does obey me. As I've been reading Bonhoeffer 's Discipleship, I can see why many consider him a pacifist. He writes ...

I almost enjoyed Mark Galli's essay in Christianity Today called The End of Christianity as we know it . He wrote in response to a recent NYT article (proving that blogging is mostly a midrash of the NYT ) regarding medical use of hallucinogenics to treat depression and anecdotes of their induction of transcendent experiences. The NYT article probably was recycled from the 1950's. These aren't new assertions. Neither am I saying they are false assertions. Galli doesn't either. For the sake of his argument, he let's it lie, then proceeds to wonder whether the American church need exert so much energy on creating worship experiences so that people can encounter God. Perhaps he should ask that of all those cathedral builders. Perhaps he should have asked Solomon to reconsider building the temple his father David designed. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Galli writes, From the point of view of experience, it seems it's impossible to tell the difference between...

I have to thank Randy Alcorn for this link to a Wired article on the 20 lessons from Twilight . Here are some that resonate with me as a dad of two daughters. If a boy is aloof, stand-offish, ignores you or is just plain rude, it is because he is secretly in love with you — and you are the point of his existence. Secrets are good — especially life-threatening ones. If a boy tells you to stay away from him because he is dangerous and may even kill you, he must be the love of your life. You should stay with him since he will keep you safe forever. If a boy leaves you, especially suddenly (while telling you he will never see you again), it is because he Cover of Twilight (Two-Disc Special Edition) loves you so much he will suffer just to keep you safe. When a boy leaves you, going into shock, losing all your friends and enduring night terrors are completely acceptable occurrences — as long as you keep your grades up. It is extremely romantic to put yourself in dangerous situations in or...

This quote from Atheist Delusions by David Bentley Hart is a corollary of his assertion I shared previously that the definition of humanity comes from Christian thought. I cannot help but wonder, then, what remains behind when Christianity's power over culture recedes? How long can our gentler ethical prejudices - many of which seem to me to be melting away with fair rapidity - persist once the faith that gave them their rationale and meaning has withered away? Love endures all things perhaps, as the apostle says, and is eternal; but, as a cultural reality, even love requires a reason for its preeminence among the virtues, and the mere habit of solicitude for others will not necessarily long survive when that reason is no longer found. If, as I have argued in these pages, the "human" as we now understand it is the positive invention of Christianity, might it not be the case that a culture that has become truly post-Christian will also, ultimately, become postman? p.215 ...

It was really nice in Haiti. I liked being disconnected from the news and the blogs. When I came home I went to google reader and told it that all 1,000 unread blogs were officially read. Surprisingly, life continued without difficulty. But now I'm back in the US where I blog and read blogs and sometimes comment on blogs. My friend Justin McRoberts posted a funny video about how good we actually have things, despite our bad economy. I compared things here to life in Haiti. I also made a comment on a post of his about Christian T-shirts . Jill in Alaska couldn't finish the Iditarod Race by bike this week because of frostbite and she fears she let her fans down. My friend Phil has started a blog for those who live in houses that weren't built with concerns of oil prices or shame of drafts. He had a great series on to replace windows or not. Like many of us, he'd love super windows , a post I inquired further about. I think his message could be summarized with the lyric,...

My religious friends of the progressive persuasion like to accuse unnamed brethren on the conservative persuasion of co-mingling their faith with their patriotism, see here . However, those of us who have been around recovery circle know the expression, "whenever you point at someone, there are 4 fingers pointing back at you." No one is out of their culture, we are, hopefully, learning to wear our heavenly citizenship more and more and our earthly stuff less and less, except for the earthly stuff that is in agreement with the heavenly stuff. In light of this, this author sounds interesting. He writes , Here is my question: if in every age the church has benefited and suffered from its engagement with culture, should we expect that our postmodern age is any different? Our postmodern context rightly reminds us of the biblical concern for humility, social justice, and care for the poor. But postmodern Christians can be so humble that they mumble, and they can be so focused on s...

Welcome to this week's Top 10 . I've been too busy to blog lately, but I've still had time to read the feeds. If you'd like to see what i find interesting other than these top 10, look at the top of the blog or click here . And without further ado... Church I have a few selections from in this category. Subheading: Conversion Guy Muse has two of importance this week. Follow up on new converts is essential. A first person account of joining a church from the St. Paul's blog. Sociologist Bradley Wright compares the NYT map of megachurches with population density. Subheading Missions Guy follows up this week with shared lessons on starting a church planting movement . Subheading Charismata In memoriam of John Wimber who went to heaven 10 years ago. Subheading Theology J.P. Moreland warns against replacing the power of God with Bibliolatry . Native Americans Indigenous names leave their mark all over the U.S. Yet Americans still think it's not a problem to use...

I don't have cable or satellite or even rabbit ear television, so when we vacation, we tend to over-indulge. One indulgence this weekend was a repeat of a new Survivor style show involving 8-14 year olds who are dropped in a ghost town to learn how to survive together, Kid Nation . What a miserable premise, eh? A summary from Slate is here. Of course our thoughts turn to Lord of the Flies , which is a brilliant argument for the total depravity of the human soul, no matter what age. In this situation though the depravity is perhaps more evident in the producers of the show than the children, who, nevertheless, do manifest their depravity. Who is my hero of the show? I give the gold star to 8 year old Jimmy from New Hampshire . He missed his family. He was under the impression things would be more like a summer camp. He wanted to go home. He resisted tremendous pressure from the host and fellow "citizens" in a public forum and stuck to his principles. He at least has princ...

I came across an interesting article at the Out of Ur blog regarding ministry to illegal immigrants . I left a brief comment there, the third of the day, and the first one not nodding in complete agreement. Two comments later the Nazi trump card was played. I really don't think my comments regarding civil disobedience that compelling to draw the nuclear weapon of internet debate. Two other commenters, a minority, also questioned the illegal means of assistance to illegal immigrants. Since I've learned to bite on my tongue and hold my replies for awhile, I let it go until this morning where I saw someone else making points I thought needed to be made. I surfed around to get some more perspective on the issue and found a great series at the blog, Another Think . I haven't read everything, and I don't know if I'll agree with the conclusions, but I fully appreciate the attempt to shine a light on all the angles. I have a friend who is not a believer. He is a home contra...

this anthropology professor makes a case

reported at Yahoo news, titled Sex of any kind can harm teens emotionally , something church ladies have been saying for millenia. unfortunately, these scientists don't endorse Biblical ideas... In particular, the study found, girls were twice as likely as boys to say they'd ever "felt bad about themselves" after having sex, and three times more likely to say they'd felt used. Though the study could not look at the reasons for this difference, other studies have noted that there's pressure on girls to at once be sexually attractive yet resist having sex. "In contrast, boys' sexuality and sexual behavior is generally accepted," Brady and Halpern-Felsher pointed out. "Parents can play an important role in helping to eliminate this double standard by encouraging respect for women and discouraging the use of derogatory sexual terms." The findings are based on a series of surveys given to 618 students at two public high schools, beginning...

 the angle of Get Religion  intrigues me,  Depending on how you want to interpret the 4th (or 3rd if you’re Catholic, Lutheran or New Church) Commandment, watching professional football on Sunday is not exactly keeping it holy. For a church to sponsor a mass viewing 50 years ago would have been unheard of. Alas, times have changed, and yes, I will be watching the game Sunday. The Indianapolis Star seems to have broken this story Thursday with an article about how a local Baptist church was told that it was improper to show the game on the big screen. The paper told residents a week ago that there would be no mass viewing of the game at the Colts’ downtown stadium, the RCA Dome, due to the copyright law (the significant road games of local basketball teams are frequently shown at the local facility), but apparently churches around the country were unaware... perhaps the church needs to counter the culture and resume services at the same time as stuff on TV.

Boundless blog looks at the NYT's numbers on calculating 51% of women aren't married... They arrived at that number by including "women" as young as 15, women whose husbands are deployed overseas, women who are currently separated and widows. They want us to believe marriage is on the outs.

the Randoph band near the bottom and the treadmill ballet at the top are worth you time at the EO

Christian History reports ...The Romans decked their homes with evergreen branches during the New Year, and ancient inhabitants of northern Europe cut evergreen trees—ancient symbols of life in the midst of winter—and planted them in boxes inside. Many early Christians, like Tertullian, were hostile to such practices. But by the early Middle Ages, a legend had begun to circulate that when Christ was born in the dead of winter every tree throughout the world miraculously shook off its ice and snow and produced new shoots of green. At the same time, Christian missionaries preaching to Germanic and Slavic peoples were taking a more lenient approach to cultural practices. These missionaries believed that the Incarnation proclaimed Christ's lordship over those natural symbols that had previously been used for the worship of pagan gods. Not only individual human beings, but cultures, symbols, and traditions could be converted. Of course, this did not mean that the worship of pagan gods ...