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March 23, 2010

Volume 127, Issue #6
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Features

Feature

Out of Afghanistan: Why Matthew Hoh resigned

Matthew Hoh is a former Marine Corps captain who has served with the U.S. Department of State in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last fall he resigned his post in Afghanistan, declaring in his resignation letter: “I find specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and sacrifice from our young men and women in Afghanistan. If honest, our stated strategy of securing Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda resurgence . . .

by Amy Frykholm
Feature

Out of the rubble: Haiti's long-term needs

After having been buried for a week in the rubble of Haiti’s January 12 earthquake, Ena Zizi was rescued by the Gophers. As they pulled her dirty and injured body out on a broken piece of plywood salvaged from the rubble and carefully passed her down over three stories of debris to the ground, the 70-year-old woman began singing. Her singing was inarticulate, as she hadn’t had any water to drink for seven days. Yet her joy was infectious. The members of the Mexican rescue team who were carrying her began crying.

by Paul Jeffrey
Feature

Now can we sing?

We Christians believe that we have a moral obligation to point to the pain that the rest of the world can’t see. Others may stroll past the suffering, but we stop and stare, take up an offering, make an appeal and collect blankets, sighing as we do our bit to alleviate some of the misery. That life may not actually be rotten in our part of the world today only increases our guilt for our occasional lapses into joy. How dare we sing when others are sufffering?
by William H. Willimon
Feature

“Do not presume”

The fate of the other thief
by David S. Cunningham
Film

Avatar

By the time you read this, Avatar will have grossed enough to pay down the national debt, bail out a few more banks and provide top-shelf health care to everyone west of the Mississippi.

reviewed by John Petrakis

Books

Lowering the volume

Here’s a reality show I would like to see....
By Lillian Daniel

On Moderation:Defending anAncient Virtue in a Modern World

Some years ago a young Southern Baptist minister in North Carolina, identifying her political stance in that church, ...
reviewed by Donald W. Shriver

Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the GodDebate

Terry Eagleton is many things, all of which converge into intelligent passion and a command of thinking beyond ideolo...
reviewed by Walter Brueggemann

BookMarks

Lanier is the computer scientist who coined the term “virtual reality” after being part of “a merry band of idealists” in the 1980s who were thr...

Departments

From the Editors

Build back better: Haiti's future

The initial humanitarian response to the January 12 earthquake in Haiti has been impressive. Within weeks, Americans pledged over $500 million to the relief effort, almost equaling their response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina....
Faith Matters

Working people: To serve with gladness

When Studs Terkel, described by Donna Seaman as “oral historian, writer of conscience and raconteur-on-a-mission,” died on Halloween in 2008, he left a tall stack of books behind him....
by Barbara Brown Taylor

Born again again: When Christians and missionaries meet

In the 19th century, European and North American missionaries spanned the world, bringing the light of the gospel into what they thought were the dark corners of heathendom....
by Philip Jenkins
Editor's Desk

Raised up: Christ goes with us

In time for Holy Week, this issue features David Cunningham’s essay on the destiny of the “other thief” who was on the cross beside Jesus....
by John Buchanan

News

Baylor’s choice of Starr was a surprise to many: The former Whitewater special prosecutor

The initial Baptist reaction to the choice of a controversial national political figure to serve as president of Baylor University has ranged from enthusiastic to skeptical....

A new, ethical financial order? Recommendations for change: Recommendations for change

Ever since the Great Recession began in the fall of 2008, Christians and other faith leaders have criticized the speculative excess and greed that led to the crisis. A consensus on what to do about it, however, has yet to emerge....
Century Marks

Century Marks

Just in case: Virginia state legislators passed a bill preventing employers or insurance companies from placing microchips in humans against their will. Mark L. Cole, sponsor of the bill, was concerned that the devices could someday be the “mark of the beast” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Says Cole: “My understanding—I’m not a theologian—but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark” (Examiner, February 14).

Briefly noted

A group of “traditional Anglicans” in Australia has voted to accept the invitation of Pope Benedict XVI to convert to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, while retaining their membership in the Anglican Church....

Orthodox patriarch argues for church dialogues over self-imposed isolation: Bartholomeos I's Lenten encyclical

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, a key leader for the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, has written a Lenten encyclical that stresses the need for greater unity for churches and counters accusations from a trio of Greek archbishops ...

Israel adds WestBank shrines to protected list: Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs

A decision to include two West Bank shrines in a list of Jewish heritage sites slated for preservation has been praised by religious and right-wing Jews and scorned by Palestinians and their supporters....

Kässmann quits post as German Protestant leader after drinking offense: Apprehended for drunk driving

The first woman elected to lead Germany’s 24 million Protestants in the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Bishop Margot Kässmann, resigned the post days after she was apprehended for a drunk-driving offense....

Two suspects arrested inEast Texas church fires: Suspected of setting at least nine fires

Two young men suspected of setting at least nine churches on fire in East Texas were active in the youth group of a Southern Baptist congregation before drifting away from church after the mother of one of them died three years ago....

Presbytery OKs gay church leader for ordination: John Knox Presbytery in Wisconsin

A former Presbyterian pastor and nationally known ecumenical leader has been approved for ordained ministry in Wisconsin by a presbytery which noted his declared conscientious objection to denominational standards that rule out ordaining an openly...

Clergy seek IRS probe ofD.C. boarding house: The C Street Center

A group of 13 Ohio clergy is asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of a Washington boarding house used by conservative members of Congress....

Lectionary

Pure praise: Luke 19:28-40

by Jin S. Kim

Be the kingdom: Isaiah 65:17-25

The promise of Isaiah 65 is that God is doing a new thing. What's taking God so long?
by Jin S. Kim

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