Silent Servants...

Silent Servants...

... of the Used, Abused, and Utterly Screwed Up.

A Secular Franciscan looks at the world...
with a more jaundiced eye than ever...
and lots of ellipses for you to fill in the missing text...
(with thanks to Thomas S. Klise for the title)



Showing posts with label Evangelical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelical. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

We really would



have missed out on a lot.

Would Paul Have Made a Good Evangelical?

The correct answer is 'no'.


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Class Warfare



Fuck Your Prayer, Show Me Solidarity

She's angry. Angry for good, legitimate reasons. She is consumed by the injustice that swallows her and her anger is directed toward the 'justice' proposed by certain liberal Evangelicals. But she has very, very good points. I have felt anger toward some of these people for years. The situation really is class warfare. It is all around us. Our society is built upon the model (and I was just being criticized for not acknowledging that belief just the other night!).

I live in the same world, and hold very similar, though not quite as extreme, debt. I am ill, but to this point not quite ill enough to lose my livelihood. I am older, and therefore not as bitter about lost opportunity, lost hopes and a lost future. I am not as angry. I fully expect to lose everything before the end of my life, and I expect to live in poverty. I don't know the form it will take, but when illness strikes (as the author has so capably noted) the ability to fight back is taken away. Our society needs to put this wrong right. And it won't, because our society is controlled by the elite, by those with wealth. My country is on the path away from possible just resolution of ills to a model based on the U.S. model, which panders to the wealthy and elite as if they have done something special and important. Apparently,we are supposed to love the wealthy simply because they do what we haven't been able to do - make money. And we're expected to die and get out of the way so they can make more...


Friday, September 16, 2011

I really think


that the people in charge of programming should make sure that this gentleman only speaks into dead microphones when they're not on the air.


Pat Robertson says Alzheimer's makes divorce OK

He has no credibility now, so this won't likely make any difference. 'Just another nutty comment from that Robertson guy...'
 


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Another 'Good Grief' statement


from the irrepressible Pat Robertson...

Pat Robertson: Crack in Washington Monument ‘Sign from the Lord?’

He's starting to preface his statements with a disclaimer, though, so that's a step in the right direction. I can help him with a suggestion, though. Instead of "I don‘t want to get weird on this so please take it for what it’s worth." he needs to preface his statements with "And here's another c-r-a-a-a-a-z-y idea!".

You're welcome.


Monday, August 29, 2011

Partly correct

Dominionism Isn’t Just an Evangelical Thing


"Everybody knows the Catholic Church is very preoccupied with the body, particularly the female body."
Only partly true because of the abortion issue. The truth is, as Pope John Paul II's 'Theology of the Body' outlines, that it is all humans, male and female, that are now a serious preoccupation of the Catholic Church. The media's (and people in general) focus on women's issues makes the female body the most talked about. There's not a lot of focus by the media on 'men's issues', but the Church doesn't ignore them...


Saturday, August 20, 2011

What a difficult thing



for their faith.

Evangelicals Question The Existence Of Adam And Eve

Their theology is based on certain main principles. If these things change, are modified or destroyed, what is the outcome? Either their theology has to change or their faith changes. Or vanishes...





Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Is America still Christian?


Teavangelicals: in capitalism and free markets they trust


"Their 19th-century forebears would not recognise the conservative solipsistic morality of these evangelical Christians"

It would depend on your definition of 'Christian', I think...


Thursday, July 21, 2011

About churches where size does matter



The Most Risky Profession: Why you need to pray desperately for your pastor.

A really good, though non-apologetic, discussion of why American Evangelical churches are the way they are, why pastors aren't really shepherds, and things can easily get swept away by the cult of personality...





Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Being mean for Jesus


This sounds like a great film.

Christian country singer's coming out told on film

What an incredibly difficult thing she chose to do. It must be difficult enough in the world of the average person let alone the special atmosphere she was in...




Wednesday, July 06, 2011

The only problem with churches today



is that they're still comprised of people...

Schuller ousted from Crystal Cathedral board

People who can't get along, people who fight, families who squabble, people who need huge church monuments and ministries, people who can't agree on choirs let alone the truth and reality of Jesus Christ. Of course, without people churches wouldn't be necessary. It's a problem with human nature...


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The music of the times


CCLI Top 25 Songs

For February. By royalty payout. This would be the Christian Copyright Licensing International website. Limiting the Christian world to Evangelicals, of course. If you're Catholic you'll likely not have heard of any of these, unless you're a sincere Catholic youth who loves music...


Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Questions

that many theologians ask over and over in every generation are now being asked by some in the Evangelical tradition.

Pastor Stirs Wrath With His Views on Old Questions

Many in the conservative faction of the faith don't like his ideas.

What I find amusing is how the article discusses the controversy as taking place on blogs and 'Twitter messages'. The concept of theological discussion in 40 characters or less interests me. The 'sound bite' of theological discourse...


Sunday, January 09, 2011

It's not all one


Among the Evangelicals: Inside a fractured movement

It's a blanket classification for many different, and disparate, groups...

Scenes from a Monty Python film (you know the one) come to mind.

"Splitters!"




Friday, January 07, 2011

Yes, God put humans in charge of nature,

to whatever degree we can affect it, and we haven't done too well, have we?

Environmentalism can be bad for soul, group warns

"Evangelical leaders say faithful are misled by environmentalism"
The response to a lack of moderation in one area is usually a knee-jerk lack of moderation in the opposite direction. It seems to be the human condition.

(If I were to give my child a kitten, and the child kept harming it, I would take the kitten away from the child. If God is a loving parent, perhaps God should consider taking nature away from humans before we destroy it, and ourselves, completely...)


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

An interesting article

that doesn't dwell much on specifics, and looks more at the Rapture and the Tiger in equal measure.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright: The end of the world and Tiger Woods.

Interesting...


Saturday, June 05, 2010

I hope


that in this new church he really practices what people appear to have given him after his hypocracy and fall from 'grace'...

Ted Haggard to Pastor New Church in Colorado

That would be forgiveness, understanding and acceptance. He speaks about that. It appears that he's had a conversion. If true, perhaps he could become a Franciscan? (Sorry. Joke. Catholic first, then Franciscan...)


Tuesday, March 16, 2010

It's sad

that right wing extremists like Beck get so much attention...

Evangelical leader takes on Beck for assailing social justice churches

And all the right-wing evangelical extremist religious leaders come out to support Beck. 'Gosh-durn, Jesus weren't no commie, y'know. He was a strong, male American!'

Jim Wallis is a brilliant individual, and a preacher with a huge heart...


Saturday, March 06, 2010

Uh-huh

He's worked hard and never been on the dole so he deserves a huge salary? So do a lot of people, then. But he's worked for God? So have a lot of others.

Tamaki: God doesn't want me to be poor

I wonder, if the congregation now decided that they agreed that he should take a vow of poverty, whether he would or not. I suspect not.


Thursday, February 18, 2010

An interesting article...


Evangelical Panel Responds to Avatar Phenomenon, Popular Culture

People have to discuss it because they'll have to respond to it. A film and the film's actors can have an incredible effect on a naive, or perhaps gullible, film audience...




Thursday, February 11, 2010

Justifying

their own size...

Warren: Megachurches, Multi-Site Venues Are Biblical

Just so no one is confused, but by 'Biblical' he means they are either mentioned or alluded to in the Bible, either directly or by extrapolation, and not that Scripture was approving of them. Just saying.