Features
Running on hope: Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
In June, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a professor in the justice and peace studies program at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis, ended his bid for the U.S. Senate after Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party picked Al Franken as its nominee. Nelson-Pallmeyer was endorsed by 35 percent of the delegates at the DFL state convention.
If the truth were told: Fox TV's 'Moment of Truth'
Earlier this year the Fox network, showing either the effects of the writers’ strike or the signs of social decay, offered a gem of televised exploitation—the kind that repulses you but you can’t help watching. The game show The Moment of Truth features contestants who have previously answered questions while attached to a polygraph and then, in front of a TV audience, have to answer some of the same questions, with the polygraph “voice” indicating whether he or she is telling us the truth.
The risks of writing: An interview with Ron Hansen
Do you see your writing and ministry as connected?For me, my writing and my ministry are joined, and I think they are joined for many of my readers, who are looking for some kind of spiritual nourishment as well as entertainment. Usually they've had some kind of religion in the past, at least enough background to know what is going on. They get the fact that Atticus is the story of the prodigal son.To entertain and to educate are the dual functions of any writer. I want people to notice God’s actions in their lives and in the lives of others and to have sympathy for other people. I want them to see that there is something going on here that matters. You can’t do that by hitting people over the head; you have to slowly draw them into it.In a sense, I am trying to proselytize by means of entertaining fiction. Fiction is ideally suited for this because it involves people in other worlds. It lets them see that world through a character’s eyes. Then they find themselves making judgments about whether a character is acting properly or improperly.Fiction, by its nature, asks ethical questions. As you are reading, you are constantly asking whether a character has done what you would have done or if the character has gone awry in some way. When you are reading, whether you are aware of it or not, you are offering advice to the character, and thus offering advice to yourself.
Life without parole: The story of Liam Q.
Seventeen-year-old Liam Q. joined the U.S. Navy to see the world. His test scores marked him for further training in a technical specialty, but Liam wanted to steer an aircraft carrier, so the navy made him a helmsman. As every sailor knows, shore leave is the most dangerous part of any cruise, and this turned out to be true for Liam. He fell in love with an older woman and was convicted of shooting her husband. In 1983, at the age of 19, he embarked on a different kind of cruise: a life sentence “up the river.”
The Dark Knight
As a boy, I was a slave to DC Comics. When the new issues of Superman, Batman, Action, Adventure and World’s Finest hit the stands, I was off to the drugstore to purchase and devour a fistful of 12-cent comics. It was a ritual that continued for many years, until I finally moved on to sports biographies. Little did I realize that years later, as a student, critic and teacher of film, I would be bombarded by movies based on my comic-book heroes.
Books
Piety and power
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Islam: Past, Present and Future
Shortly after the attacks of September 11, President Bush declared that the perpetrators had “violated the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith...
Speaking Conflict: Stories of a Controversial Jesus
In 2000 David Buttrick began a project that focused on the language of Jesus and the ways in which attention to Jesus’ languag...
BookMarks
The impulse to philosophize about sports is often best suppressed—or confined to the back porch....
Departments
The reach of grace: The power of old stories
Students of Shakespeare know that the bard didn’t create his material solely out of his own imagination, but instead masterfully recrafted stories that were centuries old....
Faith-based doubts: Do we need another initiative?
Not many policy proposals from the 1990s can be trotted out a decade later in almost exactly the same form. But Barack Obama’s plan to launch his own faith-based initiative closely echoes proposals endorsed years ago by Al Gore and George W....
Upside of a downturn: What we will have left when the money is gone
Like everyone else I know, I am feeling the pinch of a straitened economy. I eat out less often, I drive less far and I write fewer checks to my favorite charities....
Public stewards: Needed: New ways of thinking
Former Colorado senator Gary Hart has drafted a policy blueprint for the next U.S. president....
Cantus firmus: A melody that is firm and clear
To Dietrich BonhoefferExecuted by the Nazis in April 1945...
News
John Templeton, backer of religion-and-science studies, dies at 95: Funded research on the "Big Questions"
John Marks Templeton, who first made his mark as a pioneer international investor, is being remembered in religious circles for his commitment to the most prominent prize in religion: the annual Templeton Prize....
Churches using Internet for social networking: The new coffeehouses
Social-networking Web sites like Facebook and MySpace are redefining the way many Americans build and maintain relationships—and also how their churches communicate....
NCC: Race poll shows need for 'sacred conversations' Still sharp divisions along racial lines
A recent poll indicating sharp national divisions along racial lines should remind Americans of the need for “sacred conversations on race,” said the head of the National Council of Churches....
Will evangelicals respond to Obama's overtures? More voters are undecided: More voters are undecided
Heather Rosema of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is precisely the kind of Christian voter that Senator Barack Obama covets....
Century Marks
Think twice about ethanol: Before you buy a car that uses E85 (ethanol-based) fuel, consider this: ethanol-burning vehicles consume 25 percent more fuel. In this country ethanol is mostly made from corn, and the amount of corn used to fill an SUV with ethanol could feed a person for a year (caranddriver.com).
People
Nikki Stephanopoulos, a longtime spokesperson for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and mother of Washington political insider George Stephanopoulos, retired this month....
Three bishops say Iowa migrants deserve better after raid, floods: "Inhumane" conditions
Iowa bishops from three denominations have demanded an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy in the wake of a government raid on a large kosher slaughterhouse and allegations of worker mistreatment during relief efforts after June’s floods....
Lutherans to apologize for Anabaptist persecution: Decision of Lutheran World Federation Council
The Lutheran World Federation is preparing to formally ask forgiveness from Anabaptists—Mennonites, Amish and similar believers—for 16th-century persecution, including torture and killings....
Retired UMC clergy offer to perform gay marriages: In California
Adding fuel to the growing controversy over gay marriage in California, a group of retired United Methodist clergy has volunteered to perform same-sex marriages, a move that conservatives call a “surrender to popular fashion.”...
Church of England may allow women bishops despite threats of split: Mixed reactions
The Church of England is facing the threat of a major split and years of turmoil over a vote by the church’s General Synod to allow the consecration of women as Anglican bishops....
Danish court rejects suit over Muhammad cartoons: Newspaper said it didn't intend to offend Muslims
An appeals court in Denmark has voided a lawsuit against the newspaper that was the first to print controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005....
Move to block Bush institute at SMU fails: Complex should be complete by 2013
A long-shot attempt to block a George W. Bush policy institute on the Southern Methodist University campus fell short at a regional United Methodist meeting in Dallas....
Lectionary
Gradual confession: Matthew 16:13-20
Only Peter stands up to answer Jesus' question.
Boundless discipleship: Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
How do we determine and define what is pure and wholesome?