November 2005 Archives

Today's Washington Post ran this excellent opinion piece on the cruel, inhumane and degrading interrogation techniques used by the US government against detainees, and their relationship to torture as defined by US and international law: Torture, American-Style. The article does a good job of deconstructing the Bush administration's doublethink and doublespeak, concluding that:

Shamefully, it is a system that permits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, smudges long-standing lines about what is and is not permitted in routine interrogations -- and then expresses hypocritical horror when soldiers and interrogators cross the blurry line into torture and murder.

As a Christian, one must ask inevitably what Jesus, no stranger himself to the experience of torture at the hands of an imperial power, would make of this. How can a government which calls itself 'Christian' fail to heed the example and words of Christ himself? Who would Jesus torture?

Today is the first Sunday of Advent in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is the first of four Sundays leading up to Christmas, where we are meant to think and pray about the arrival of the Christ, Emmanuel - 'God with us'.

The Advent lectionary readings from the Gospels and Hebrew prophets encourage us to ponder the birth of Jesus and look forward in anticipation to Christ's return. In doing so, we look not only to the past and future but eagerly await and pray for the in-breaking of God's transformative presence in our lives and world today.

I've been reading the Purple Pew for a while, mainly for the commentary on gay religious concerns and the conservative fight against same-sex marriage. The author, VL Carey, calls herself a 'progressive Christian' and 'a queer Christian with a personal relationship with Christ'.

A lot of other bloggers who link to the Purple Pew consider it a progressive Christian site. Carey is a strong advocate for reform in the church and for acceptance of same-sex marriage. Thus I was quite surprised, as I dug into some of the articles today, to realize that underneath the progressive exterior lies an unreconstructed fundamentalist with a bias against gay male sexual expression.

Carey's theology of human sexuality, while rightly stating that sexuality is neutral to God, defines anal sex or 'sodomy' (or what she refers to in one posting as 'sex from the backside') as a sin against God. Her views on anal penetration (whether practiced by heterosexuals or homosexuals) do not seem to be particularly progessive or queer at all.

A little housekeeping was necessary, so I spent some time getting better acquainted with the inner workings of Movable Type. I tossed out the custom templates provided by my service provider (LivingDot) in favor of the default set provided by SixApart. I think they look better anyway, plus they offer better support for style customization.

I've updated my categories list. To provide better linking I've added a blog roll and news feed to the sidebar. If I get time this weekend I'll add a links section and info on books or music I'm currently into. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

As fall came to a close, I noticed our neighbors next door didn't bother bagging their leaves. They just blew them out onto the street for the city to clean up. Reminds me of this story about US greenhouse emissions:

Mr Connaughton hailed the “stabilisation” of greenhouse gas output as a victory for the US policy of avoiding mandatory targets and concentrating on new technologies, such as methane capture and “clean coal”.

The reason emissions have 'stabilized' in the US is the large scale offshoring of the manufacturing, chemical and fertilizer industries to locations like China and India. The hubris of empire - 'outsource' the costs, and what can't be outsourced, simply transfer to the next generation.

Yeah, right! One of the most interesting aspects of the whole same-sex marriage 'debate' is the way in which conservative voices position 'traditional marriage' (and by extension the Christian conservative movement) as the victim and GLBT-rights advocates as the oppressors.

It is most startling to hear conservative black clergy referring to their work to deny equal rights to a section of society as representing the modern continuation of the civil rights and justice struggle of the last century.

OK, so I'm just trying to increase my chances of being read...

But before you turn that virtual page, consider this: Sony Music wants to control your Windows or Macintosh PC and obtain your personal data without your consent, and has hatched a cunning strategy to do just that.

I would not normally paste a press release in its entirety, but the entire statement bears reading and I can't find a copy yet on the MCC web-site.

(Los Angeles) -- One day after openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson criticized the Roman Catholic Church's stance on gay clergy as "vile," the Moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), the world's largest predominantly gay Christian denomination, echoed the bishop's words and issued a challenge to Pope Benedict XVI.

The comments by the Reverend Nancy L. Wilson came as the Vatican prepares to issue "Instrumentum Laboris," a document that recommends a purge of seminaries of all gay men preparing for the priesthood. According to Vatican officials, the purge is designed to address the causes of priestly sexual abuse of minors.

I fail to understand why the Star Tribune continues to provide a soap box for Katherine Kersten’s misinformation pieces on the presumed horrors of same-sex marriage. On Wednesday she provided a nightmarish list of horrors being supposedly inflicted on God-fearing Christians north of the border as a result of Canada’s legalization of same-sex marriage:

'In Canada, "privileging" male-female marriage in any way is now a violation of human rights.'

'Terms such as husband and wife are now forbidden across the spectrum of Canadian law and government programs.'

'People who disagree with same-sex marriage risk charges of hate speech.'

The ultimate outcome, she contends, is nothing less than the totalitarian dictatorship of the state.

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to discuss my faith in front of a college class on World Religions. I sat on a panel with two Mormon missionaries, a Christian Science practitioner and a Unitarian Universalist minister (it was ‘misunderstood religions’ week). Each of us talked a little about the history of our movement and our own personal journeys of faith. With the exception of the Mormons, the overwhelming emphasis from each of the speakers was the inclusive, persistent and all-encompassing love of God, and how we try to allow that love to guide us in our daily lives.

Reflecting on the experience afterward, I jokingly referred to myself as ‘Tammy Faye’ to a friend. Tammy Faye… as in the better half of ‘Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’, the televangelists who built a religious empire on Christian broadcasting and a Christian-themed amusement park back in the 80s.