The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbin

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. Unusually for a Seuss book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins is written in prose instead of rhyming and strictly metered verse.

Set in feudal times, the story begins in the Kingdom of Didd, when King Derwin is riding through a street past Bartholomew Cubbins, the main character. According to royal rule all citizens must remove their hats as the king passes by. Bartholomew, who has a red hat with a white feather in it, does so. However the Captain of the Guards approaches him, and Bartholomew finds that another hat has mysteriously appeared atop his head. He attempts to remove this, and finds that there is another identical red hat still on top of his head.

He is whisked off to the royal palace, where the King Derwin attempts several methods to remove Bartholomew's hat. Manual removal, Archery, and even witchcraft fail. Bartholomew continues to remove hats, and the official scribe keeps a running tally of all the hats that have been removed. The king's mean-spirited nephew suggests that he be beheaded, and so the king reluctantly sends him down into the dungeon. However the executioner explains that he is forbidden from executing somebody with their hat on, which provides a Catch 22 —he can't be executed for failing to remove his hat until his hat is removed, making his beheading impossible. He returns to the royal chamber, where it is decided he must be pushed off the highest tower.

As Bartholomew is climbing the stairs to the tower, however, he continues to remove hats. As he ascends, the royal scribe, who has kept count of all the hats he has removed so far, notices that the hats have become more elaborate, with more feathers and other decorations. At the top Bartholomew has an immense hat, with huge feathers and a large gemstone in the center. Instead of allowing his nephew to push Bartholomew off the tower, the king has a change of heart, and offers to buy the hat, which according to the royal scribe is the 500th hat. After this hat is removed no hat reappears, and Bartholomew is finally bare-headed. The king pays him 500 pieces of gold, and keeps the other hundreds of hats in a chest to remind him of his foolishness.

The story overall expresses confidence that leaders--even non-elected leaders--will do the right thing.

www.answers.com

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This was a book, record, and animated movie in the 1940's. I remember it from the first grade in 1956 at Hexter Elementary. As precocious as I was at that age, I doubt I read it. This was also a time before TVs in the classroom, so I don't think I saw the movie then (besides, I remember the illustrations too well). My guess is that I listened to the recording while following along in the book as a reading development exercise.

Yesterday was the Feast of St. Bartholomew (Nathanial). One of the Twelve, he was martyred in Armenia... flayed alive and then beheaded. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling shows Bartholomew in Heaven, holding his own skin and the knife that was used to flay him.

On Wednesdays, I lead a small group of Christians in a prayer service (Matins) at Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas. We use the Lectionary of the Anglican Church, and we honor the Martyrs of the Church at these services.

As I was preparing my simple teaching on St. Bartholomew, I kept thinking about The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I looked it up, and much to my surprise discovered an allegory of Christian theology; of Law, Grace, and Atonement.

• The Law stated Bartholomew must remove his hat to honour the King.
  
• No matter how hard Bartholomew tried to obey the Law, no matter how often he removed his hat, there was always another hat on his head. He continued to break the Law, even though he tried to obey it. Bartholomew was unable to obey the Law, inspite of his will to obey.
  
• Brought before the King, Bartholomew was condemned to death by the King's nephew (think of Satan accusing Job in the court of God). But the executioner refused to chop his head off, because the Law clearly stated that you must remove a person's hat before cuttingoff his head. So the Law is Righteous, and we are protected by the Law even as we are condemned by it. God's nature is Righteousness, and he can not deviate from his own Law.
  
• Bartholomew is brought back to the King's Court, the the King's nephew decides to take him to the highest tower of the castle, and there push him to his death (Satan's taking Jesus to the Temple tower, and Satan's "pushing" of Adam and Eve into the Fall both come to mind here).
  
• But on the ascent to the tower, Bartholomew keeps removing his hats in the vain attempt to save his life by obeying the Law.
• When he reaches hat number 500, the King admires it, and offers him 500 pieces of gold for it. Bartholomew sells the King the hat, removes it from his head, and discovers the breeze (Ruach of the Spirit?) blowing through his hair. That was the final hat.
  
• Bartholomew is pardoned, and the King keeps all 500 hats.
  

Simul justus et peccator.

W.W.J.K.?

The Rev. Pat Robertson
Founder, The Christian Coalition




Who Would Jesus Kill? And why?

Seriously, this man is the Face of Christianity to millions of people, and he is no more a Christian than a certain Austrian now long deceased. But as a "Face of Christianity", he perverts the radical Gospel of Jesus Christ into a hate-filled invective against the VERY PEOPLE that Jesus came to save.


It is impossible for a man to be a Christian without having Christ;
and if he has Christ he has at the same time all that is in Christ.

    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546)

The GOP speaks about the war.

"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News,

"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

Of course, these were said about the war in Bosnia when Bill Clinton was President. That was then, and this is now.

The First Theologian.

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"

"Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."

"You won't die!" the serpent hissed. "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."

The woman was convinced.

Genesis 3:1-6a New Living Translation

---

I have been convinced for some time now that what we call "theology" is a subtle tool of Satan.

Most of Western theology is centered on figuring out (or explaining away) what God has said, both in revealed scripture and natural law. "God did not really say..." could almost be the opening lines of every book of theology I have read (it's admittedly not a very long list). Theologians seem intent on telling us what God really meant, as if the plain truth wasn't right before our eyes (to quote a black pastor from Cleveland, "God said it. That settles it. It doesn't matter what I believe or think.").

The True Revelation of God wasn't given to the Scribes, Priests, and Pharisees. It was given fishermen, thieves, and prostitutes...people who were quick to recognize the Kingdom of God being presented to them. Western theologians are usually either slow to recognize the Kingdom of God, or they are blind to it. They pile on laws to replace Grace, or they introduce independence when servanthood (slavery) is called for. They perform plastic surgery on God in the vain effort to make Him conform to OUR wills, not the other way around.

Interestingly, in Eastern Christianity, theology is seen as prayer, and a theologian is seen as one who prays (not one who thinks). We discern knowledge of God in fervent yet quiet prayer, not in fervent intellectual activity. In prayer, we seek surrender to the Mind of God. In study, we seek to master the mind of God.

It ain't a happening thing.

Self Referential Live Blogging.

I hate the "Old Man", and I wish (and pray) that his death was complete.

It isn't. So I post from the Gingerman's beer garden to prove he still lives and thrives.

The Paulaner 1634 was less than fresh (I came here this afternoon because I thought it was Paulaner Glass Night...it isn't, they changed their mind). The Real Ale Fireman's #4 had a strong resemblance to the water flowing down the Rio Blanco River near it's source...cold, refreshing, water-like.

The Real Ale Rio Blanco Pale Ale hit the spot. The rebuses under Pearl Beer bottle caps got remarkably harder starting at number three, too.

Household god - Emporer worship.

Now just $1,995.00. Marked down so you can bow down.

Transfigured.

My first cousin, twice removed (he and my grandfather shared the same namesake), made a monumentous decision in 1945. Harry Truman authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Following the horrors of island hopping towards Japan, especially on Okinawa (and the high loss of life on both sides), it was believed probably correctly that an invasion of Japan's mainland would result in unprecedented slaughter. Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan was seen as a way to bring the war to an end quickly, and thereby save millions of American and Japanese lives. I do not argue the decision.

It was also undoubtably seen as a way to warn the Soviet Union.

On August 6th, 1945, the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Enola Gay dropped "Little Man" on an unsuspecting Hiroshima. The shodows of people were permanently etched onto walls.

Transfigured.

God Help US.

"Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that 'God helps those who help themselves.' That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor."

- Bill McKibben, in his Harper's magazine essay, "The Christian Paradox"

Simul Justus et Peccator.

The Justus was a free gift that I got on my second birthday, so I can take no credit for it.

On the other hand, the Peccator is something that I have spent my entire life practicing and can truthfully take full credit for.

Dinner at Casita Verana.

Curried chicken, orzo, cilantro, and bright blue frozen margaritas. Served on Fiestaware plates with these really cool (literally) blown-glass insulated glasses from Bodum. (BTW, at the Bodum Knox Street store where we got these glasses, you can sip espresso coffee while logging into the next-door Apple Store's Wi-Fi network).

Giving Grace lip-service, and thereby betraying Jesus with a kiss.

Family "Christian" Bookstore: the Unpenitent Thieves.

Violating Commandments 2, 3, and 4. They're open for business on Sunday, so you can pick up a nice Ten Commandments Shrine for your household gods display on your way home from church.

Of course, then there's the part about not charging usery.

Just because...

...I think it's pretty.

Do Urbanism.

A lot of my professional work is involved with a trend called "New Urbanism". New Urbanism is a land-use, planning movement meant to "reintroduce" an America that we wish existed before automobiles took over the world. It's all about anti-suburban sprawl, but new urbanism tends to take place in the suburbs. It's sort of an inner-city for young anglos, a Disneyland version of gritty urban big cities, but without the grit. It's a huge improvment over strip malls, but I prefer Old Urbanism (urban revitalization).

The photos to the left are of a new grocery store/yuppie entertainment establishment in downtown Dallas called Urban Market. Grocery store, bar, coffee shop, quesadilla bar, and bankette; the building is a mixed-use revitallization of the old Dallas Interurban Terminal (Dallas' old electric trolley-transit system from the early to mid twentieth century), which has been home to pigeons and the homeless for the last decade, and prior to that was the headquarters of Continental Trailways before it went belly up. The upper floors are residences and offices, with retail on the ground floor. And unlike suburban new-urbanism, several dozen homeless people can be found just a few yards away at the Main Branch of the Dallas Public Library.

I wish 'em all luck (the developers, proprietors and the homeless). Because UrbanMarket offer free Wi-Fi access, I'll make this a refuge from my network-restricted office. I'm posting this from the bar, enjoying a Hofbrau lager (as contract brewed by the Bavarian State-run Weihenstephaner Brewery, the world's oldest).

Prosit, ya'll!

I Like Ike.

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." (1954)

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Ten Commandments

1. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." - This commandment is to believe in the existence of God.
2. "You shall have no other gods besides Me...Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."
3. "You shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Lord..." - This commandment is to never take the name of God in a vain oath. In Exodus, the text reads "in a vain oath" (לא תשא את שם ה' לשוא), while in Deuteronomy it reads "in a false oath" (לא תשא שם ה' לשקר).
4. "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (the version in Deuteronomy mentions "Keep" rather than "Remember")
5. "Honor your father and your mother..." - This commandment is a development when compared to other laws of the Ancient East (for example, the Code of Hammurabi) that do not call for equal respect of the father and the mother.
6. "You shall not murder" - The Hebrew Bible makes a distinction between murdering and killing, and explicitly notes that murder is always a heinous sin, while killing is sometimes necessary, and in these cases just in the eyes of God. Thus, Jews take offense at translations which state "Thou shall not kill", which Jews hold to be immoral. The official doctrine of the Catholic Church and the beliefs of many Protestant Christians hold that this verse forbids abortion; in Judaism, abortion is prohibited based on other sources.
7. "You shall not commit adultery"
8. "You shall not steal" (sometimes interpreted as kidnapping, since there are other injunctions against stealing property in the Bible).
9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"
10. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house..." (in Exodus, the text reads "... neighbour's house, ... neighbour's wife, nor his manservant..." etc. while in Deuteronomy, "thy neighbour's wife, ... thy neighbour's house, his field" etc.)

According to Christian belief, if you break one Commandment, you are guilty of breaking them all. This underscores our status as sinners. But for all those who complain loudly about the the Ten Commandments not being put on public display to their satisfaction, I have a simple question.

What did you do last Saturday? I mowed the yard, did some laundry, went shopping, and did some other internet-related work (Sunday was about the same).

Christianity Today says it. I just post it.

George W. Bush is not Lord. The Declaration of Independence is not an infallible guide to Christian faith and practice. Nor is the U.S. Constitution, nor the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights. "Original intent" of America's founders is not the hermeneutical key that will guarantee national righteousness. The American flag is not the Cross. The Pledge of Allegiance is not the Creed. "God Bless America" is not the Doxology.

Sometimes one needs to state the obvious—especially at times when it's less and less obvious.

It's a whole 'nother country.

It really is fascinating to me that the Press (especially the European Press) refers to Lance Armstrong as a Texan, but almost never as an American (and then only secondarily). If Armstrong was from California, I somehow don't think you'd see people waving Golden Bear flags. Greg LeMond (the first American to win the Tour de France... and three times at that) was from Nevada, which is perhaps an even more "western" state than Texas and home to internationally famous Las Vegas, and yet he wasn't ever referred to as a Nevadan (sp?), but simply as an American. Something about the Texas myth.

When I visited Quebec a few years ago, I was told to identify myself as a Texan so that I wouldn't be confused for an "English" Canadian. Being known as an American was good, but being a Texan got me a free beer in Montreal.

It's good to see that the world's fascination with Texas and the "Lone Star Myth" stills lives, and that even the loathed "Cowboy from Crawford" hasn't totally expended that currency in Europe.

How He taught me to pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, your Name is holy.

Your kingdom is breaking in,
so that your will can be done on Earth,
just as it is done in Heaven.

You give us all we need, day by day.

You forgive our sins,
just as we forgive others.

You do not turn us over for trial,
but you free us from our Accuser,
because the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours for all eternity.

Amen.

Amazingly ignored grace.

How can we get around the fact that, according to Jesus, to understand God and God's relationship with the world we have to begin with grace? This is especially troublesome for Christians, who claim to follow the teaching of Jesus, but it is also problematic for those who consider Jesus simply a wonderful teacher. After all, this wasn't a minor part of the legacy he left us; this was its central theme. We can't fault him on this without negating his entire ministry.

But how can we go along with this, really? It would mean a total reversal of our values. It would disrupt everything. Absolutely everything.

What might work is this: don't reject grace, just tame it. Honor it, by all means, and enshrine it in official confessions and praise it in religious ceremonies, but keep it within reasonable bounds, keep it away from the rest of life, keep it from running wild. If grace remains free, it will get into too much mischief. So always qualify and explain it. Preach sermons about it, if you must, but always conclude with a mighty therefore, as in "therefore, this is what you must do in response to God's grace,"

Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian, said the most cunning strategy for defending ourselves against grace is to tame and harness it, to allow grace "to take its seat in the pew, cheerfully don the vestment and mount the pulpit, zealously to make Christian gestures and movements, soberly to produce theology, and in this way, consciously participating in the confession of Jesus Christ, radically to ensure that His prophetic work is halted, that it can do no more injury to itself, let alone to the world."

-- Donald McCullough, The Trivialization of God: the Dangerous Illusion of a Manageable Deity

Where these things can end.

"God is with us."

Why this bothers me.

Politics is creepy stuff. Always has been, and sadly, always will be. It has its shining moments, like when Lyndon Johnson pushed the Voting Rights Act through Congress, knowing full well that it would kill the Democratic Party in the South for decades to come. That was one of politics shining moments, when principal, honor, and yes, Christianity, overcome greed and the lust for power.

But moments like that are few and far between.

Since embracing Christianity over twenty years ago, I've not cared too much for politics. I paid attention, I had my preferences (based on the New Deal and the Sermon on the Mount), but I didn't sweat the results on a day to day basis. But this current bunch of Right Wing GOP leaders, having risen to power on the basis of Southern Racism and faux-patriotism coming out of the Reagan years, decided to grab the flag and drape it over the Cross of Christ, equating Christianity with the GOP. Gullible Christians, who for too long have heard a watered-down version of the Gospel that stressed cheap grace and the law, have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. Following the pattern of original Sin, they have exchanged the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for a works-based religion that has more to do with Islam and Mormonism than it does with following Jesus.

That's why it bothers me. The GOP has blasphemed my Lord. They have dragged his Holy Name in the mud, all for mammon's sake. They swept into power proclaiming themselves virtuous, while filling the air with all manner of filth. No lie is too big, no smear is too brazen, as their god Mammon demands sacrifice.

May God have mercy on us for our foolishness, for calling them to power in Jesus' Name.

It depends on what the definition of "is" is.

Joseph Wilson, in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, said he thinks the White House's posture in this controversy represents a continuing "cover-up of the web of lies that underpin the justification for going to war in Iraq."

Wilson was asked about statements by Rove's defenders noting that an e-mail describing Rove's conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper indicated that Rove did not specifically mention Valerie Plame by name.

"My wife's name is Mrs. Joseph Wilson," he replied. "It is Mrs. Valerie Wilson. He named her. He identified her," Wilson said. "So that argument doesn't stand the smell test ... What I do know is that Mr. Rove is talking to the press and he is saying things like my wife is fair game. That's an outrage. That's an abuse of power."

-- AP

On traitors.

"Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, narco-trafficking, people killing each other, fundamentalists killing each other in the name of God. These and more. Many more. As our analysts know, as our collectors of intelligence know - these are our enemies. To combat them we need more intelligence, not less. We need more human intelligence. That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country.

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors."

George H. W. Bush
Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence
April 26th, 1999

Godammit!

When I was a child, I would occasionally bring home a new word or phrase I’d picked up at school. If I learned the word in class, that was usually a good thing, and I would proudly try it out over the dinner table.

But if it was a word I learned on the playground (or the boy’s room), I knew better than to test it in front of my mother or father (Dad used Lava soap, but Mom preferred Ivory… neither tastes very good). But accidents happen, and cleanliness’ immediate following of Godliness is something I have practical knowledge of.

I recall once saying “God damn it!” while playing either Monopoly, Risk, or Mille Borne (our three family games). It was "Ivory Time", as I was hauled down the hall to the lavatory. Mother explained to me that I had broken one of God’s Ten Commandments, and had taken his name in vain. I’ve been pretty careful about that ever since, although I have often wondered just what that Commandment meant.

The Hebrews were very careful to not use the name of God. They usually used a term like “Lord”, or the letters YWYH as a stand-in for the Holy Name. So “God” isn’t his name (anymore than “Christ” is Jesus’ middle name). So I’ve long thought that while I may have deserved my “tongue lathering”, I wasn’t breaking the 3rd Commandment.

So just what is “taking the Lord’s name in vain”? In large part, it was a prohibition against making claims for God that were untrue. This verse meant that one is not to use the name of God for “any frivolous or malicious purpose or in magic.” Which brings me to the point of this post; the activities of the “Religious Right”, a.k.a. the Pharisees (for those who worry that the Left -- the Sadducees -- will get off easy, don't fret yourself as I'll be addressing them as well).

When we KNOWINGLY use God’s name for material or political gain, we are violating the Third Commandment (remember, the Ten Commandments aren’t graded like a school test… miss three and you can still pass… no, here an inch is as good as a mile when it comes to missing one). In the Book of Acts, when Herod allows the citizens of Tyre to praise him "like a god, not a mortal", Herod is consumed by worms. In 1 Samuel, when Saul assumes the authority that God has given to others, the kingdom is taken from him. Even Moses suffers from failing to give God the glory when he strikes a rock for water, allowing people to think that he (Moses) brought forth the water. To play God, or to assume God's authority, always leads to destruction.

Hence my horror at the GOP and the religious Right's appropriation of not only the mind of God, but also His mantle. Of course, it's always a Graceless God, a God of LAW (the only time God's Grace is appreciated is on a ME level... Chuck Colson will talk about how God saved and forgave HIM, Dubya will talk about HIS accepting God and being forgiven for HIS sins, even while laughing at another Christian who pleads for mercy on her way to the executioner's gurney. "Salvation by Grace is for ME, but YOU have to earn it through the LAW" they seem to be saying. The Mormons must see the Religious Right as their next, great conversion field. Of course, their personal Grace reception excuses them from whatever sins they continue to commit... but not yours.

Am I being harsh? Some say so, but this issue is the Crux of the Gospel. The True Gospel ("Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near!" Mark 1:15) is made inaccessible to those who need it... even to those who yearn for it. This is the great sin, this is taking the Lord's Name in vain. Almost every right-wing "Christian" organization will espouse "tax cuts" as one of their goals. "Prayer in school, end abortions, cut my taxes, punish homosexuals." The only thing I can find in either the Old or New Testaments about taxes is our being told to pay them, and tax agents being told to not cheat. The only financial burdens I see being called to be lifted are those on the poor, not the rich. ANd make no mistake, by the World's standards (and by God's standards) the vast majority of White American Christians are rich.

"Viper's brood", Jesus called them. Worm food.

But the Left? The United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church of Canada have all claimed to be guided by the "Holy Spirit" in making their decisions to normalize and sacramentalize sodomy, that somehow it is the "Holy Spirit" that approves of men inserting their penises into other men's rectums (in the name of love). Guided by a spirit, no doubt, but certainly not the Third Person of the Trinity. And so the Left not only takes the Lord's Name in vain, they also commit the sin that cannot be forgiven (in Jesus' own words), by blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And what of the men and women trapped in homosexual sin? They are now told it's not only OK, it's God's plan for them.

Those who think they are homosexual are denied the chance to be forgiven and healed by the very vessels they would turn to for comfort and healing... imagine an alcoholic showing up at an AA meeting only to find an open bar, and their sponsor telling them to "Drink up!". That's what the liberal churches have done.

"Viper's brood", Jesus called them. Worm food.

The GOP's Big Lie about Valerie Plame

By Larry Johnson

From: TPMCafe Special Guests

The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and, by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big lie.

For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we now know includes at least Karl Rove.

Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover--in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover. That means we had a black passport--i.e., a diplomatic passport. If we were caught overseas engaged in espionage activity the black passport was a get out of jail free card.

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.

They try to hide behind the specious claim that Joe Wilson "lied". Although Joe did not lie let's follow that reasoning to the logical conclusion. Let's use the same standard for the Bush Administration. Here are the facts. Bush's lies have resulted in the deaths of almost 1800 American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. Joe Wilson has not killed anyone. He tried to prevent the needless death of Americans and the loss of American prestige in the world.

But don't take my word for it, read the biased Senate intelligence committee report. Even though it was slanted to try to portray Joe in the worst possible light this fact emerges on page 52 of the report: According to the US Ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Joe's visit in February 2002), "Ambassador Wilson reached the same conclusion that the Embassy has reached that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq and Niger was going on." Joe's findings were consistent with those of the Deputy Commander of the European Command, Major General Fulford.

The Republicans insist on the lie that Val got her husband the job. She did not. She was not a division director, instead she was the equivalent of an Army major. Yes it is true she recommended her husband to do the job that needed to be done but the decision to send Joe Wilson on this mission was made by her bosses.

At the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass. That's the true outrage.

-- The above post is from Josh Micah Marshall's TPM Cafe weblog.

Denominational Changing of the Lightbulbs

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

Charismatic : Only 1
Hands are already in the air.

Pentecostal : 10
One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

Presbyterians : None
Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

Roman Catholic : None - Candles only.

Baptists : At least 15.
One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken .

Episcopalians: 3
One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about
how much better the old one was.

Mormons : 5
One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.

Unitarians :
We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

Methodists : Undetermined - Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Bring a bulb of your choice to the Sunday lighting service and a covered dish to pass.

Nazarene : 6
One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting
policy.

Lutherans: None - Lutherans don't believe in change.

Amish : What's a light bulb?

-- Note: Of course, Mormons are not Christians, nor are MOST Unitarians. But for the sake of the joke, I'll let that pass.

Movie Quote of the Week.

Saw "The Aviator" this weekend (the partly ficticious story of the life of Howard Hughes). In a scene from the film, Howard Hughes and Katherine Hepburn visit her blue-blood, upper-crust parent's estate in Conneticut for an artsy-fartsy family gathering.

Hepburn's mother announces from the wood-paneled, leaded-glass dining room, "We're all Socialists here. We don't care about money." Hughes responds sardonically, "You don't care about money because you have it. You've never had to earn any."

A reminder that the Left has it's love of money as well as the Right does, and that Jesus tolerated neither's.

Hail, Mammon!

"My first thought when I heard - just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack [i.e., yesterday's terrorist attack in London] and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, 'Hmmm, time to buy.' "

- Brit Hume, Fox News

A clearer example of the Right's worship of Mammon I can not imagine.

To my friends who stand on the right, I encourage you to consider how common this attitude is on that side of the aisle.

To my friends on the left, I encourage you to not worry TOO much about that speck in your neighbor to the right's eye.

As We Forgive Our Debtors

Now, for all its failings and its perversions over the last 2,000 years—and as much as every exponent of this faith has attempted to dodge this idea—it is unarguably the central tenet of Christianity: that everybody is equal in God's eyes. So you cannot, as a Christian, walk away from Africa. America will be judged by God if, in its plenty, it crosses the road from 23 million people suffering from HIV, the leprosy of the day.

What's up on trial here is Christianity itself. You cannot walk away from this and call yourself a Christian and sit in power. Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world—and stop being its apologist.

- Bono

A Kindred Spirit

SGVTribune.com - News

Firecrackers

(An e-mail to a Christian friend whom I admire, in response to a patriotic/christian Fourth of July message.)

We only like checks and balances when they favor us. We only like power when we wield it. This is not a "Christian Nation", any more than it is the "New Jerusalem". The Enemy would have us believe otherwise.

I will dare to be so bold as to quote the Christian hymnist Robert Zimmerman (from his mid-sixties song "With God on Our Side") to one whom I think in all ways to be my better:

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

Peace and love... His Peace and His Love, as there is no other.

For the love of God.

Billy Graham's faith mission nears close

By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 26, 2005

NEW YORK CITY -- The curious and the committed arrived by the thousands last night, the second day of New York's three-day Billy Graham crusade, to hear the 86-year-old evangelist preach one of his last sermons to the world.

The event, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, drew about 80,000 people, more than the revised official estimate of 60,000 for Friday night.

New York's top Democratic leaders, former President Bill Clinton, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican, appeared on the platform with Mr. Graham.

"I told [Mr. Clinton] he should be an evangelist," Mr. Graham joked. "He has all the gifts, and he could leave his wife to run the country."

Mr. Clinton informed the crowd he had attended several Graham crusades, starting 46 years ago.

"I want to tell you what an honor it is to be here as a person of faith with a man I love," he said.

The crowd gave the Clintons a stronger ovation than they did for Mr. Graham, who, because of Parkinson's disease and other ailments, is closing down his evangelistic career this year. Last night, his speech was barely 15 minutes long.

The evangelist geared the evening to young people, intertwining mentions of the rock group U2, St. Augustine and MTV. U2's lead vocalist, Bono, visited him and his wife at their Montreat, N.C., home, he said, and composed a song for Ruth Graham.

"In his song, he said we are 'estranged by sin and bones,' " he said. Young people are sidetracked by many distractions, he added, including loneliness and sex.

"Yes, there is pleasure in sex," he said. "Sex is given to us. There is no harm in sex as long as it's according to the Word of God, but you will not find answers in sex."

High-voltage performances from the South African rock 'n' roll group Tree63, hip-hop vocalist Nicole C. Mullin and the pop group Jars of Clay also were geared toward the young.

Mr. Graham's eldest son, Franklin Graham, now president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told the crowd of his wayward teenage days.

"I didn't want God in my life," he said. "I wanted to party. I wanted to have fun. I wanted to enjoy life. I wanted to experience it to the fullest."

He was 22, he said, "when I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life. I went to church, but being religious is not going to save you." Gesturing with a thin, black Bible in one hand, he added, "If you're not sure where you're going to spend eternity, be sure tonight."

The thousands seated and standing in several overflow areas ringing the stage appeared to be from every ethnic and racial group imaginable. Rice University sociologist Bill Martin, Billy Graham's official biographer, said this weekend appeared to be Mr. Graham's "most diverse, polyglot gathering ever."

Event organizers have presented the three-day revival as a last chance to hear in person a man who has preached to more people in live audiences (210 million in 185 countries) than anyone else in history. Event organizers said they counted 2,249 "faith commitments" Friday night.

"We're here to hear one of God's generals close out 60-plus years of ministry," the Rev. A.R. Bernard, local crusade chairman, told thousands of listeners. "What better place than New York?"

"It's truly an honor for our city to host this historic gathering," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Every nation on Earth is truly represented on the sidewalks of New York City, and they are also represented here on this lawn tonight."

Steven Curtis Chapman, one of the musicians picked to lead the worship Friday night, exhorted the throng to look ahead instead of to the past: "There's a lot of talk about tonight being the end of an incredible era," he said, "but God's doing amazing new things."

Still, the event had the trappings of a last great hurrah, which Mr. Graham referred to Friday night when he talked about a photograph for which he had just posed with about two dozen grandchildren. Mr. Graham's second-eldest daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, said about 70 members of the Graham family, including spouses, had come to New York for the event.

"We are quite a mob," she said. "We just wanted to be here to support him."

A variety of other groups were drawn to the event, many of them passing out literature advertising various Christian ministries. Several groups of anti-Graham demonstrators -- mostly Christian groups that disagree with his ecumenical stances -- posted picket signs near the park entrance, which prompted shouting matches with others.

"That's not right," observed Greg Parker, who identified himself as a Jewish resident of Huntington, Long Island, who had come out of curiosity. "Billy Graham is a man of peace."

For the love of God?

Bill, Hillary Clinton Use Billy Graham to Gain Political Ground

Some disappointed that Graham too friendly with the morally bankrupt

National Clergy Council president Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) walked out on his role model Billy Graham after the evangelist surrendered his microphone to Bill Clinton on the third night of his New York City crusade, then gave a veiled endorsement to Senator Hillary Clinton who was sitting nearby on stage.

According to the Associated Press, when Bill Clinton joined him on stage, Graham "quipping that the former president should become an evangelist and allow 'his wife to run the country.'"

Rev. Schenck has considered Billy Graham his role model for over 25 years. That's why the Capitol Hill minister traveled from Washington, DC, to New York City this weekend to witness what may be the ailing evangelist's last crusade. But after he saw the Clintons exploit the aging Graham, he couldn't bear to stay and hear him preach.

"I was stunned and appalled," said Schenck, who left the Flushing Meadows Park as Graham was still complimenting the Clintons.

"This was a deliberate, cunning, purely political move by the Clintons to divide the Evangelical vote and assure Hillary of a victory in '08," said Schenck, a minister with the Evangelical Church Alliance and a missionary to elected officials.

Schenck is a longtime admirer of Billy Graham. But when the soon to retire evangelist announced to NBC's Katie Couric in a recent interview that he is a life-long Democrat, it took a few points away from that admiration.

Mr. Schenck has met Dr. Graham personally and has attended his schools of evangelism and conferences for itinerant evangelists.

"I'm disappointed that my role model of 25 years retained his membership in a party that promotes the expansion of abortion and homosexual marriage," said Mr. Schenck, who will attend Graham's last crusade this weekend. "Whoever replaces him will need to hold unequivocal stands on these two paramount moral issues."

-- The Dakota Voice

Following in W's footsteps.

Young Republicans support Iraq war, but not all are willing to join the fight

By Adam Smeltz

Knight Ridder Newspapers

NEW YORK - Young Republicans gathered here for their party's national convention are united in applauding the war in Iraq, supporting the U.S. troops there and calling the U.S. mission a noble cause.

But there's no such unanimity when they're asked a more personal question: Would you be willing to put on the uniform and go to fight in Iraq?

In more than a dozen interviews, Republicans in their teens and 20s offered a range of answers. Some have friends in the military in Iraq and are considering enlisting; others said they can better support the war by working politically in the United States; and still others said they think the military doesn't need them because the U.S. presence in Iraq is sufficient.

"Frankly, I want to be a politician. I'd like to survive to see that," said Vivian Lee, 17, a war supporter visiting the convention from Los Angeles,

Lee said she supports the war but would volunteer only if the United States faced a dire troop shortage or "if there's another Sept. 11."

"As long as there's a steady stream of volunteers, I don't see why I necessarily should volunteer," said Lee, who has a cousin deployed in the Middle East.

In an election season overwhelmed by memories of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military's newest war ranks supreme among the worries confronting much of Generation Y'ers. Iraq is their war.

"If there was a need presented, I would go," said Chris Cusmano, a 21-year-old member of the College Republicans organization from Rocky Point, N.Y. But he said he hasn't really considered volunteering.

At age 16, Chase Carpenter has.

"It's always in the back of my mind - to enlist," Carpenter, a self-described moderate Republican visiting Manhattan this week from Santa Monica, Calif., said Wednesday on the convention floor. He said he's torn over whether he'd join the military if he were 18.

Others said they could contribute on the home front.

"I physically probably couldn't do a whole lot" in Iraq, said Tiffanee Hokel, 18, of Webster City, Iowa, who called the war a moral imperative. She knows people posted in Iraq, but she didn't flinch when asked why she wouldn't go.

"I think I could do more here," Hokel said, adding that she's focusing on political action that supports the war and the troops.

"We don't have to be there physically to fight it," she said.

Similarly, 20-year-old Jeff Shafer, a University of Pennsylvania student, said vital work needs to be done in the United States. There are Republican policies to maintain and protect and an economy to sustain, Shafer said.

Then there's Paula Villescaz, a 15-year-old from Carmichael, Calif. who supports Bush and was all ears Wednesday afternoon at the GOP's Youth Convention in Madison Square Garden. She doesn't support the war, but she supports the troops and thinks the United States "needs to stay the course" now that it's immersed.

If Iraq is still a U.S. issue when she's 18, Villescaz added, she'll give serious thought to volunteering.

"I'm in college right now, but who knows?" said Matthew Vail, a 25-year-old from Huntsville, Ala., who works with Students for Bush. He said he might consider enlisting after he finishes his degree at the University of North Carolina, but not until then.

"The bug may get me after college," he said.

Jesus is a bleeding heart revolutionary.

Not a bleeding heart liberal, and not a heart of stone conservative.

Jesus was not a liberal.

But he wasn't (isn't) a conservative, either. A considerable part of his earthly ministry was to point out the hypocrisy of both the liberals' accommodation of the culture (the Sadducees) and the conservatives' (the Pharisees) hypocritical insistence that the Law be maintained... at least in public, and as it applied for others.

The Episcopal Church (which was just pitched out of the worldwide Anglican Communion for all practical intents and purposes) clearly exhibits the danger these two groups can do to the Church. The liberal Episcopalians don't seem to stand for anything except niceness, and they hate people who aren't "nice". Throw out most of the teaching about how we are to live our lives, but be nice.

The conservatives take what's left, and turn it into an orgy of mammon. I remember as a teenager in a very conservative Episcopal church the plans that were made to lock the doors to the church on a Sunday morning because there were rumors that some blacks were going to try and break up our all-white God party. It's sobering to realize that as Jesus/God hung on that cross, he could see what we were doing in his name.

On the Dean's List.

I don't care much for Howard Dean. Even when he's right, he's usually wrong. He left the Episcopal Church (right), he likes to promote bicycling (right), but he left the Episcopal Church (the Church of the Blessed Convenience) because they wouldn't allow a bike path to be built on their lakefront property (wrong).

What he said.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus spent a lot of time warning us about the "love of money" and criticizing the Religious Right of his day. He didn't cut the Secular Left any slack, either, but he wanted the people to understand the twin dangers of money and law.

The Pharisees of today are clearly the GOP, and they have made their god Mammon into an idol disguised as Yahweh. If the Sermon on the Mount were delivered in Congress today, it would be denounced as an "un-American and unpatriotic appeasement of terrorism". The Democrats are happily playing the part of the Sadducees to the Republicans Pharisees, so there's not much comfort to be found in that camp.

But why did Jesus single out the Pharisees and money for special warnings? The Pharisees greatest fault was their hypocrisy. They used the Law to point out (and punish) the faults and shortcomings of others, while touting their own "obedience". But of course, they weren't obedient. They only tried to make it appear as such. All the more reason to sanction public stonings and crucifixions, as that underscored their own "lawfulness", while distracting attention from their "unlawfulness".

The danger lies in their sincerely felt, but false, piety. The Pharisees had created a new god to take the place of Yahweh. This was clear to Jesus. It was also clear to Jesus that by wrapping oneself in the self-righteousness, the Law, and money, one could safely insulate themselves from the demands of Yahweh. The early Church exploded among the Gentiles because the Jews weren't convinced they needed Jesus. They had their reward. The radically good news of Jesus was the last thing the self-righteous Pharisees wanted to hear. The Gospel threatened their position, their power, and their wealth.

As it did then, the Religious Right stands against the Gospel of Jesus Christ; promoting a self-filtered "Law" that applies to the public sins of others, while conveniently ignoring our own "private" sins. The chief threat to the Gospel comes not from the Sadducees, those outside the Law, because they are the open mission field (well, most of them... I don't hold out much hope for Dr. Dean). The chief threat to the Good news of Christ comes from the Pharisees, those claiming to obey the Law.

By proclaiming the Law over Grace, they thus claim that they have no need for the Gospel. They then lay an unbearable burden upon others for whom they are unwilling to lift a finger, while engaging in a blatant and destructive "Christian" hypocrisy invisible only to themselves (see Dr. Ron Sider's, "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience").

By the Religious Right's hypocrisy, many of those outside the Church who are in need of Jesus Christ are turned off from enquiring about him, while many of their own followers are deceived into thinking that their brand of Law-governed and "Mormonized" Christianity somehow is salvific. Self-satisfied as "Christians", they lead pious lives that are pristine on the outside, but full of all manner of filth and decay on the inside (greed, hatred, violence).

White-washed tombs.

More from the late Douglas Adams.

• "Mozart tells us what it's like to be human, Beethoven tells us what it's like to be Beethoven and Bach tells us what it's like to be the universe."

• "I wrote an ad for Apple Computer: 'Macintosh - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end.'"
• "The Macintosh may only have 10% of the market, but it is clearly the top 10%."
• "First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we've realized it's a brochure."
• "I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
• "A nerd is someone who uses a telephone to talk to other people about telephones."
• "Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet"
  
• "The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place."

He's right and VERY wrong, at the same time. I'm sorry his time ran out.

The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.


-- Douglas Adams

Rube's Cube.

In Houston: Poltical Icon or Religious Relic?

Kerrying on

Earlier in the day, Sen. Kerry met in a "town hall"-style meeting with about 75 seniors, where he assailed the recently passed Medicare prescription drug benefit, the GOP's tax cuts for wealthy Americans and the attempts to privatize Social Security.
He said to the largely supportive group, "The next time one of those conservative senators or congressmen comes to you and starts talking to you about American values, I want you to look him in the eye and say, what is the value that is represented in providing the wealthiest people in America with a great big tax cut at the expense of the poorest people in the country?"
"I went back and reread the New Testament the other day, and I've got news for you. Nowhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ is there any suggestion at all that you ought to take from the poor and give to the rich and leave children at risk," he said to a loud round of applause.

-- STEVE URBON, Standard-Times (Conneticut) senior correspondent

Memorial Day

Over the course of our nation's history, millions have sacrificed so much that we remain free. They do so today, as well.

Increasingly, there is a gap between those who serve in the military and the leadership class. Without a draft, this gap likely to continue for many years to come.

And it is striking how virtually the entire Republican boomer leadership class avoided serving in a war they supported. The Moose experienced an ironic moment several years ago at a conservative tribute to Reagan where all the speakers celebrated the defeat of Communism. However, the only speaker on the podium who had actually fought commies was McCain, and he was the object of the conservative leaders' ire.

-- The Bull Moose

Waste not, want not.

The grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon
withdrawn was not only that faith and holiness were well-nigh
lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began then to
ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves and to cry
them all [down] as evil madness or imposture.
-- John Wesley (1703-1791)

Doing and Obeying

Humanly speaking, it is possible to understand the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways. But Jesus knows only one possibility: simple surrender and obedience - not intrepreting or applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only way to hear his words. He does not mean for us to discuss it as an ideal. He really means for us to get on with it.

- Dietrich Bonehoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

The Six Marks of Discipleship for the Changing Church

1. Pray daily.
2. Worship weekly.
3. Read the Bible.
4. Serve at and beyond your local church.
5. Be in relationship with others to encourage spiritual growth.
6. Give of my time, talent, and resources.

- Michael W. Foss

Give a shit.

Dr. Tony Campolo once said to a nationwide gathering of Evangelical Christians (paraphrased): "In the time it takes me to speak this sentence, another child will die of malnutrition... and the Church just doesn't give a shit. What's worse, more of you are outraged that I just said 'shit' than that another child has just died."

Click the headline.

Anselm believed, so that he might understand. I am believed, that I might exist.

Before I became a committed Christian, I believed in God, but I can’t say I believed in the same god that Jesus called his father. I believed in this vague, “god-thing” that was quite flexible on my end, and unknowable on its end. I was a Christian only because I was raised an Episcopalian (baptized at three months, confirmed at twelve years).

I believed in God, but I had no sense that God believed in me.

When I came convinced of that… that God believed in me, knew me, cared about me and took an active interest in my life… then I became a real Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. God believed in me first.

Guilty as charged.

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

-- Soren Kierkegaard

Woe to you Pharisees.

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

Matthew 12:34-36 NIV

But after all, he's just a guy.

I CHOSE to become a Lutheran (that's not an oxymoronic statement, is it?) in part because of my growing disgust with a sarcedotal understanding of the clergy's role in the Church in the more "catholic" denominations. Recent news that there is a move to "fast track" his beatification to Sainthood simply reminds me that we don't really want obedient servants as leaders, but people whom we think are somehow more "god-like" than we are.

In the words of Leo Tolstoy:

But Christ could certainly not have established the Church. That is, the institution we now call by that name, for nothing resembling our present conception of the Church - with its sacraments, its hierarchy, and especially its claim to infallibility - is to be found in Christ's words...

1663602

Funny the things you remember. Chassis and block number (matched) of my old BMW 2002.

The pope, Terri Schiavo, and moral consistency

-- Jim Wallis, Sojourners

It's sadly rare for a church leader, or for the leaders of most of our dominant institutions, to demonstrate a spirituality that attracts millions of people around the world - particularly so many young people. But the scene of millions lining up to simply pass by the body of John Paul II in Rome this week is remarkable indeed. The enormous attraction to this pope goes far beyond agreement with all the positions of the Catholic Church or even all of the decisions of his papacy. Indeed the "ecumenical" and even "interfaith" attraction to John Paul II reflects his own practice of reaching out to more people in more faith traditions than any other pope ever has.

One of the great attractions of Pope John Paul II's spirituality was his consistency. At the core of Catholic social teaching is the idea of a "consistent ethic of life," an ethic that seeks to protect and defend human life and dignity wherever and whenever they are threatened, and which challenges the selective moralities of both the political left and right.

As I've been watching the non-stop coverage of the pope's death, I have been struck by how many people - especially political leaders - would like to claim the pontiff as their own, as someone who affirmed their causes and commitments. At the same time, they tend to ignore the other things this pope said and did that directly challenge their own political decisions.

Many conservatives are pointing to the pope's clear teachings on abortion, euthanasia, and sexual morality, which are often contrary to the positions of many liberals. But they seem to forget the strong and passionate opposition of this pope to the war in Iraq, capital punishment, and the operations of a global economy that neglect the poor and deny human rights for millions. This pope helped bring down communism, but also was no capitalist and constantly lifted up a vision of economic justice. Promoting a "culture of life" was the language of John Paul's papacy before it became the rhetoric of President Bush, and its meaning goes far beyond the narrow interpretations of the Republican Party. Yes, Pope John Paul II certainly opposed John Kerry's views on abortion, but the White House did not get the photo op they wanted when the president visited the Vatican and the pope shook his finger disapprovingly at George W. Bush over the American war in Iraq.

Consistency is deeply attractive to people who long for public integrity - particularly to a new generation. The same lack of consistency in the politically selective eulogies of the pope also characterized the highly politicized responses to the sad story and death of Terri Schiavo.

Personally, I cannot understand why parents willing to take care of their disabled daughter were not allowed to by a husband who had moved on to another life and family. Terri Schiavo was severely mentally disabled but was not dying, and we don't decide to end the lives of many similarly disabled people, even children, whose mental capacities greatly diminish their quality of life. As my wife, Joy Carroll, put it, "the issue is not their quality of life, but the ethical quality of our society." And in situations of medical, scientific, or legal complexity, the morally safer course is always to err on the side of life. However, it became painfully clear that for many political partisans the issue wasn't so much the life of this young woman but other related political issues and agendas. And a leaked Republican memo about firing up the conservative base of the party and even defeating Democratic opponents in Florida were way out of line.

Again, the issue is consistency. Will Schiavo's defenders now also care more about the loss of civilian lives in Iraq or prisoners (even innocent ones) put to death on death row? Will they refuse to accept the silent tsunami that takes the lives of 30,000 children every day due to hunger and disease, or even support the Medicaid funding for vulnerable people that helped sustain Schiavo's life for many years? Somehow I doubt it.

Consistency is spiritually and morally attractive. We didn't see much of it in the tragic drama of Schiavo. But the life of John Paul II is a lesson of its truth and power for all of us.

I'm a fool for Christ...

...who's fool are you?

The Dogwood

While growing up, I was told about the dogwood tree, and how it was the wood the Jesus' cross was made out of (not true). As the story went, the dogwood tree would blossom for Easter with white flowers that had red centers... like the wounds on Christ's hands and feet. Of course, being in Texas with our early springs, the dogwood trees always blossomed closer to Ash Wednesday than to Easter.

But this year, we had an early Easter, and the dogwood in our backyard bloomed. I thought I'd share it with you.

The tomb is empty!
The Christ is risen!