Reclaiming The F Word

Deja Vu

A handful of years ago, the suits in Washington scared us half to death with reports of world-ending-weapons they were SURE the Iraqis had stuffed inside their mattresses and convinced us to sacrifice our daughters, sons, budget surplus, ethical commitments, constitutional rights, and moral standing in the world to attack a country that not only hadn't attacked us first but, as it turns out, didn't even have the stuff to do it with. This weekend those same suits (a.k.a. the boys who cried wolf) tried their best to scare us into handing them a Godzilla-sized blank check - which it looks like we are, in fact, going to do. 

Are we nuts?

A Skeleton In The Closet?

Even as Anglicans gathered in Lambeth these days try to bury issues that embarrass and divide them, Roman Catholics seem intent on digging them up. 

Approaching the final phase of declaring Cardinal John Henry Newman a saint, the Vatican has ordered his remains removed from the grave he shares with his long time, live-in, best "friend," Father Ambrose St John, and reinterred in a less --- umm --- unorthodox location.  

According to Jonathan Wynne-Jones, reporter for the UK paper, The Telegraph:

Continue reading "A Skeleton In The Closet?" »

Speaking of churches making the headlines: 

News reports today indicate the Tennessee church shooter targeted that congregation yesterday because of its liberal stance. Read the story here.

According to its website, the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church "is a nonprofit organization and a community of people who meet to worship, learn, enjoy fellowship, and work together for social change."

The congregation has given sanctuary to political refugees, fed the homeless, supported equal rights for women & gays, founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and been on the front lines of the civil rights movement.

Two people died in the shooting.

According to police, the shooter, 58 year old Jim Adkisson, planned the shooting for a week. He fired his shotgun just 3 times into the crowded sanctuary before congregational members were able to tackle him to the ground but he brought 76 shells with him. This was going to be a blood bath.

Maybe most of our congregations stick to car washes and chicken dinners (see my earlier post) because actually following Jesus is so damn dangerous.

Like lots of others today, I'm troubled by the trouble city newspapers are in. Here in Chicago, the Tribune has just announced deep staff cuts - including way too many among reporters - and yet another turnover at the top. The Sun-Times has been going through similar turmoil for some time. I get two papers delivered and read another half a dozen or more online every day. On her way out, Trib editor Anne Marie Lipinski said, "Your newspaper is both a joy and a powerful engine for good."

I don't think we realize what we stand to lose.

Continue reading "Newsworthy" »

A number of years ago the Confederate flag was finally taken down off the South Carolina state capitol building (and moved to another spot on the capitol grounds), but that doesn't mean things are peaceful in this beautiful sunbelt state. Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that:

South Carolina's lieutenant governor announced Thursday that he is willing to put up $4,000 of his own money so his state can become the first in the nation to issue "I Believe" license plates with the image of a cross and a stained glass window. 

The legislation allowing the plates was one of several religious-themed bills to became laws in the closing days of the state's legislative session. 

The bills mean South Carolinians attending local government meetings could soon see the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer posted on walls, pray without fear of being sued and drive home in cars with the "I Believe" plates. 

Civil rights groups are considering lawsuits.

No kidding.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of "CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back." He's blogging today at HuffPost about the Memorial Day speech he wants Barack Obama to give. It ends like this:

As Pope Benedict XVI heads back to Rome and the media bubble bath he received quietly swirls away, Roman Catholic reporter Tim Padgett, over at Time, reflects on some of the reasons he and others remain Catholic despite differences over church teaching and practice. It's not about "church" at all, Padgett says. It's about faith. Padgett addresses, for example, the pope's words chastising the "scandal" of American stubbornness on the issue of abortion:

LutheranChik, whose beautifully crafted posts from daily church & home life can't help but warm you up, rarely says anything I actually disagree with...but it happened last week! On March 31 she said that a recent excursion into the world of social networking led her to conclude that kids growing up today are doing it in a world that is worse off than the one she and I grew up in back in the old days. (OK, the 70's.) Maybe she was overstating it or just had a singularly bad experience online. On the other hand, I can understand why somebody would feel that way...I've wandered around FaceBook & MySpace, too...I have three kids (21, 19, 15)...I know there are a lot of crappy things going on out there today. But I think this sentiment is wrong. I left a comment to that effect before I left. Here's what I said:

I didn't know it at the time but, relatively speaking, I had a pretty boring Easter. Here's a roundup of some of the more exciting ways people celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord:

According to Eileen Lindner, editor of the yearbook for the National Council of Churches and an unapologetic number-cruncher, one of the primary reasons the mainline has struggled so much over the past few decades is as simple as national demographics. For example, the regions of the country where the mainline has traditionally thrived (north, midwest, east) have been the hardest hit economically, leading to a population drain. Also, the builder and boomer generations, who filled mainline churches in the middle of the last century, are getting older. Eileen says, if it seems like mainline churches are dying, it's at least partly because...well...our members are dying (from a presentation delivered at the Lutheran Theological School in Philadelphia, spring 2007). OK, I'll buy it. But the mainline church is not the only institution ever to face a crisis caused by changing demographics. According to an article in The Washington Post today, colleges and universities across the U.S. are a few years away from a demographic crisis of their own:

Making Headlines

Speaking of churches making the headlines: 

News reports today indicate the Tennessee church shooter targeted that congregation yesterday because of its liberal stance. Read the story here.

According to its website, the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church "is a nonprofit organization and a community of people who meet to worship, learn, enjoy fellowship, and work together for social change."

The congregation has given sanctuary to political refugees, fed the homeless, supported equal rights for women & gays, founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and been on the front lines of the civil rights movement.

Two people died in the shooting.

According to police, the shooter, 58 year old Jim Adkisson, planned the shooting for a week. He fired his shotgun just 3 times into the crowded sanctuary before congregational members were able to tackle him to the ground but he brought 76 shells with him. This was going to be a blood bath.

Maybe most of our congregations stick to car washes and chicken dinners (see my earlier post) because actually following Jesus is so damn dangerous.

Newsworthy

Like lots of others today, I'm troubled by the trouble city newspapers are in. Here in Chicago, the Tribune has just announced deep staff cuts - including way too many among reporters - and yet another turnover at the top. The Sun-Times has been going through similar turmoil for some time. I get two papers delivered and read another half a dozen or more online every day. On her way out, Trib editor Anne Marie Lipinski said, "Your newspaper is both a joy and a powerful engine for good."

I don't think we realize what we stand to lose.

Continue reading "Newsworthy" »

A number of years ago the Confederate flag was finally taken down off the South Carolina state capitol building (and moved to another spot on the capitol grounds), but that doesn't mean things are peaceful in this beautiful sunbelt state. Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that:

South Carolina's lieutenant governor announced Thursday that he is willing to put up $4,000 of his own money so his state can become the first in the nation to issue "I Believe" license plates with the image of a cross and a stained glass window. 

The legislation allowing the plates was one of several religious-themed bills to became laws in the closing days of the state's legislative session. 

The bills mean South Carolinians attending local government meetings could soon see the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer posted on walls, pray without fear of being sued and drive home in cars with the "I Believe" plates. 

Civil rights groups are considering lawsuits.

No kidding.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of "CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back." He's blogging today at HuffPost about the Memorial Day speech he wants Barack Obama to give. It ends like this:

As Pope Benedict XVI heads back to Rome and the media bubble bath he received quietly swirls away, Roman Catholic reporter Tim Padgett, over at Time, reflects on some of the reasons he and others remain Catholic despite differences over church teaching and practice. It's not about "church" at all, Padgett says. It's about faith. Padgett addresses, for example, the pope's words chastising the "scandal" of American stubbornness on the issue of abortion:

LutheranChik, whose beautifully crafted posts from daily church & home life can't help but warm you up, rarely says anything I actually disagree with...but it happened last week! On March 31 she said that a recent excursion into the world of social networking led her to conclude that kids growing up today are doing it in a world that is worse off than the one she and I grew up in back in the old days. (OK, the 70's.) Maybe she was overstating it or just had a singularly bad experience online. On the other hand, I can understand why somebody would feel that way...I've wandered around FaceBook & MySpace, too...I have three kids (21, 19, 15)...I know there are a lot of crappy things going on out there today. But I think this sentiment is wrong. I left a comment to that effect before I left. Here's what I said:

I didn't know it at the time but, relatively speaking, I had a pretty boring Easter. Here's a roundup of some of the more exciting ways people celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord:

According to Eileen Lindner, editor of the yearbook for the National Council of Churches and an unapologetic number-cruncher, one of the primary reasons the mainline has struggled so much over the past few decades is as simple as national demographics. For example, the regions of the country where the mainline has traditionally thrived (north, midwest, east) have been the hardest hit economically, leading to a population drain. Also, the builder and boomer generations, who filled mainline churches in the middle of the last century, are getting older. Eileen says, if it seems like mainline churches are dying, it's at least partly because...well...our members are dying (from a presentation delivered at the Lutheran Theological School in Philadelphia, spring 2007). OK, I'll buy it. But the mainline church is not the only institution ever to face a crisis caused by changing demographics. According to an article in The Washington Post today, colleges and universities across the U.S. are a few years away from a demographic crisis of their own:

"I Believe" This Deserves A Response

A number of years ago the Confederate flag was finally taken down off the South Carolina state capitol building (and moved to another spot on the capitol grounds), but that doesn't mean things are peaceful in this beautiful sunbelt state. Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that:

South Carolina's lieutenant governor announced Thursday that he is willing to put up $4,000 of his own money so his state can become the first in the nation to issue "I Believe" license plates with the image of a cross and a stained glass window. 

The legislation allowing the plates was one of several religious-themed bills to became laws in the closing days of the state's legislative session. 

The bills mean South Carolinians attending local government meetings could soon see the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer posted on walls, pray without fear of being sued and drive home in cars with the "I Believe" plates. 

Civil rights groups are considering lawsuits.

No kidding.

Memorial Day, Again

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of "CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back." He's blogging today at HuffPost about the Memorial Day speech he wants Barack Obama to give. It ends like this:

Take That, Your Holiness

As Pope Benedict XVI heads back to Rome and the media bubble bath he received quietly swirls away, Roman Catholic reporter Tim Padgett, over at Time, reflects on some of the reasons he and others remain Catholic despite differences over church teaching and practice. It's not about "church" at all, Padgett says. It's about faith. Padgett addresses, for example, the pope's words chastising the "scandal" of American stubbornness on the issue of abortion:

Kids Today

LutheranChik, whose beautifully crafted posts from daily church & home life can't help but warm you up, rarely says anything I actually disagree with...but it happened last week! On March 31 she said that a recent excursion into the world of social networking led her to conclude that kids growing up today are doing it in a world that is worse off than the one she and I grew up in back in the old days. (OK, the 70's.) Maybe she was overstating it or just had a singularly bad experience online. On the other hand, I can understand why somebody would feel that way...I've wandered around FaceBook & MySpace, too...I have three kids (21, 19, 15)...I know there are a lot of crappy things going on out there today. But I think this sentiment is wrong. I left a comment to that effect before I left. Here's what I said:

Easter Roundup

I didn't know it at the time but, relatively speaking, I had a pretty boring Easter. Here's a roundup of some of the more exciting ways people celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord:

Are You Down With It?

According to Eileen Lindner, editor of the yearbook for the National Council of Churches and an unapologetic number-cruncher, one of the primary reasons the mainline has struggled so much over the past few decades is as simple as national demographics. For example, the regions of the country where the mainline has traditionally thrived (north, midwest, east) have been the hardest hit economically, leading to a population drain. Also, the builder and boomer generations, who filled mainline churches in the middle of the last century, are getting older. Eileen says, if it seems like mainline churches are dying, it's at least partly because...well...our members are dying (from a presentation delivered at the Lutheran Theological School in Philadelphia, spring 2007). OK, I'll buy it. But the mainline church is not the only institution ever to face a crisis caused by changing demographics. According to an article in The Washington Post today, colleges and universities across the U.S. are a few years away from a demographic crisis of their own: