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The tattooed pastor
I got my fourth tattoo recently.
The typical person wouldn't know I had any, let alone four. The only ways people find out is if I or somebody else tells them, or if there's some occasion that calls for no sleeves or shirt. I don't really hide them, but I don't really broadcast them either.
Poverty's down, but not enough
Some modest good news this week from the Census Bureau [pdf]: for the first time since the Great Recession began, the poverty rate is down a little and the child poverty rate is down a little more. The latter was driven by a bit of job growth and—among families with children—higher income.
But at this pace it'll take years for the poverty rate to get back down just to where it was in 2000.
Nigeria braces for elections amid Muslim-Christian rifts and Boko Haram threat
(The Christian Science Monitor) Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has its largest economy....
Marching into danger: Fear and hope in Ferguson
"We are not afraid today," we sang as we walked. I turned to the person next to me and whispered, "That's a lie."
The wrong preferential option: Resident Aliens at 25
I once actually was a resident alien. I wonder if Hauerwas and Willimon have any clue what it means to occupy that space.
Unintended aid: Resident Aliens at 25
Denigrating "social activist churches" was central to Hauerwas and Willimon's agenda. Yet Resident Aliens revived social gospel arguments.
Elmer Gantry
In my copy of Elmer Gantry, one sentence is underlined six times: “He had, in fact, got everything from church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason.”
That sums up Sinclair Lewis’ 1927 satire of scandalous fundamentalist ministers pretty well. None of the underlinings are mine, though. I have a Kindle version of Elmer Gantry, so this is a “popular highlight,” a sentence noted by other readers, on other e-devices.
4 things that perfection costs us
Several years ago I heard a TV special in which actress Jane Fonda said this about life: “We are not meant to be perfect. We are meant to be whole.”
Hearing it was one of those stop-me-in-my-tracks kind of moments. What truth!
From survival to love: Evolution and the problem of suffering
For Andrew Elphinstone, human selfishness and violence are not evidence of a world gone wrong. They show a person ripe for transformation.
Murdered nuns laid to rest in the Congo as crime investigation continues
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Sunday, September 28, 2014: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Matthew 21:23-32
Ezekiel steps right into the middle of a group of people busy at that most ancient of activities, going back to Eden: the blame game.
Islamic State: Iraqi leaders created the problem and can end it, say Sunnis
(The Christian Science Monitor) An Iraqi truck driver knows just how Sunni militants are created in Iraq—he nearly became one....
Historic civil rights church to be considered for national recognition
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Yale chaplain’s resignation reflects larger mainline tensions over Israel
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Kids of summer
The Cubs and White Sox have some of the worst records in the league. Yet Chicago still went a little crazy over baseball this summer.
Targeted medicine: Resident Aliens at 25
The image of a resident alien offers an important biblical corrective. But it isn't the only such image we need.