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POPSThe latest on Rifqa Bary, from the Orlando Sentinel (Sept. 4, 2009) It appears that the legal issues surrounding Rifqa Bary's situation are getting more and more complicated. The judge has so far been dealing only with procedural questions. For the time being, most of the relevant documents are sealed, the attorneys are under a gag order, and the seventeen-year-old Bary, who is insisting on staying in Florida (her parents want her to return home to Ohio), remains in foster care under the guardianship of the state of Florida. In my opinion, the child's lawyers have been making some very unscrupulous and inflammatory public statements, such as the claim that the parents' Columbus mosque is a "haven for Islamic terrorists" (law enforcement officials say there is no evidence for this). From the perspective of the parents, this is a matter of family law; for their opponents, it's about Christianity versus Islam.
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POPSControversy at Calvin College over GLBT issues in the classroom It sounds to me like this is a classic case of a teaching faculty resenting the imposition, by a relatively distant and detached board of trustees, of a set of vague and ideological guidelines for classroom discussion. As a teacher myself, I find it incredibly insulting when someone who's never worked in a classroom setting presumes to tell me what constitutes an acceptable thing to say. Seen on christianitytoday's Delicious stream (delicious.com/christianitytoday).
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POPSNick Cave on Mark: Jesus' anger, loneliness, and desperation Nick Cave describes his fascination with and attraction to Mark in very sophisticated terms, identifying as key elements of Marcan theology a kind of pressured narrative urgency, a constant undercurrent of conflict, the isolation and anger that seem to characterize Jesus' own inner life, hopeless incomprehension on the part of his own family and followers, a looming, desperate awareness of the cross, and the restless activity of Jesus' "jewel-like imagination." Seen at Christopher Cocca's blog (bit.ly/11zhE6).
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POPS"Islam is of the devil": a Gainsville, FL church attracts controversy The photo and the pastor's comments pretty much speak for themselves. I probably wouldn't have clipped this except for the final paragraph in the clip -- "we are definitely trying to open up dialogue." This baffles me. I wonder what they're actually trying to accomplish -- presumably the primary purpose of the sign is illocutionary in nature. To the pastor, I would point out that "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial" (1 Cor. 6.12). Is this beneficial?
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POPSA "celebration of guns" at a Kentucky church Some impressively paranoid quotations can be found in the article, suggesting (it seems to me) that the "parishioners" in this church expect that they will have to use their weapons against the government at some point in the not-too-distant future.
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POPS"Jesus Didn't Tap Out": stepping into the octagon at SOSChurch.tv A new kind of Easter observance -- "Jesus as Ultimate Fighter." The point is "relevance" and bringing young men back into the fold. Check out the awesome video at the source (complete with youthful pastor sporting shaved head and soul patch and his hottie wife, Darla). The church website is SOSChurch.tv.
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POPSChristianity Today on torture David Gushee for the evangelical Christian magazine Christianity Today on five theological grounds for the unequivocal and universal condemnation of torture by Christians, and why, from a Christian perspective, no exceptional circumstances can ever justify the use of torture. From February 2006.
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POPSBuilding bridges between Jews and Latino Pentecostals In L.A., a Jewish group has been mounting outreach efforts to Latino Pentecostal congregations and organizations, including a Spanish-language 'Essence of Judaism" course. The piece suggests the outreach has been pretty successful.
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POPSTorah Borntrager on "how I escaped the Amish" A young woman who was raised Amish, but who left the community at age 15, tells her story. This is an interview by Tim Ferris (the time-management guru) -- not what I expected to see at his blog at all, but I assume it's genuine.
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POPSPassion Fest 2008, Pottstown, PA (July 19) I'm seriously thinking about going to this. Out of curiousity, really. My understanding is that it has a heavily evangelical, proselytizing flavor, but that isn't really indicated by the website.
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POPSRembrandt's two renderings of the Binding of Isaac The first one is the one Rembrandt did late in his life, and it's arguably a much superior piece of art. In the early one, the image is violent and dynamic, in the later one, it's much quieter -- characterized by a sense of mourning and consolation.
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POPSReflections on James Dobson, child-rearing, and U.S. political discourse For some time, Dr. Dobson has been known for his insistence that a key component of parents' responsibility is the inflicting of controlled violence on their children in order to make them obedient, virtuous, and "God-fearing." Here a blogger considers links between Dobson's typical language of war, as pertinent to child-rearing, marriage and homosexuality, and foreign policy.
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POPSNew blog on religion in american history A pretty diverse bunch of academics blogging on religious themes in American history from a variety of perspectives. Worth checking out. The clip is just a taste of the type of material covered.
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POPSPhotos of American churches These are kind of funny -- particularly the odd and whimsical titles -- but also beautiful. There are several pages of these photos.
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POPSDoing it and doing it and doing it well -- for God "The 30-Day Sex Challenge: Are You Up For It?" asks Paul Wirth, the pastor of Relevant Church in Tampa Bay, FL. Married couples are supposed to have sex daily for 30 days, while unmarried people are supposed to abstain completely.
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