The post-mortem opinions that have followed Senator Lieberman’s loss to Ned Lamont in Connecticut this week are coming from many directions. Here is one that I think includes a lot of good sense and insight from the Wall Street Journal. Check it out at: http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008784.
A survey taken by Scott Rasmussen in 2004 demonstrates the issue of "exceptionalism" and "transnationaism" that I addressed yesterday with regard to the Democratic Party. Rasmussen’s survey consisted of only two questions:
1. Is America generally fair and decent?
2. Would the world be better off if more countries were more like the U.S.?
About 2/3 of the voters polled said yes to both questions. About 80% of those who voted for President Bush said yes to the two questions. John Kerry voters were split with the answer yes barely edging out no on both questions.
It is also interesting that a growing percentage of voters who vote for candidates like John Kerry and Ned Lamont describe their religion as "other" or "none" in surveys. There is a Right wing religious movement in this country that favors Republicans but few in the media wish […]
The primary loss of Senator Joe Lieberman to political novice Ned Lamont on Tuesday has been debated widely in the United States. Was this a signal of the electoral mood as we approach the fall elections? And if so, what does this mean about the future of the United States? I have no idea and tend to believe that the political pundits don’t know much more than I do. One thing is for sure, almost everyone has an opinion.
What I am more convinced of is that the Democractic Party has changed rather dramatically over the course of my lifetime. I am not sure when, or exactly how, this happened but that there has been a discernable change is now indisputable. The party of FDR and John Kennedy has now become the party of "transnationalism" wrote Michael Barone, senior writer at U. S. News & World Report, in today’s Wall Street Journal (August 10). Older Democrats, argues Barone, were "exceptionalists." This meant they differed very little from Republicans regarding the essential nature and character of America. Both parties, for over a century, saw […]
The late Henry Ford once said that history was “bunk.” Lots of modern Christians seem to agree with Ford without realizing it. Why do I say this? Because so many pay little or no attention to the stuff of history, demonstrating that they know little about what is actually happening, and why it matters, in our own time. There is an old epigram that adds, “Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.” There are consequences to our ignorance, willful or otherwise.
I meet a lot of people who are blest with an incredible certainty about almost everything in the world but who have little basis for that certainty. Hans Urs von Balthazar, the magnificent Catholic theologian, understood correctly that “true history is [really] made up of the distillation of countless biographies.” Get to know people and you will become really interested in history. Ignore people, focus on your own views as the truth, and you will be doomed to make huge mistakes in life. King Louis XI understood this and thus said, “When conceit marches in front, shame and […]
How do you work for renewal and reform in a mainline denomination where the leadership is primarily set against your cause? Such is the question faced every day by a group like Good News, a renewal ministry begun in 1967 to help awaken the United Methodist Church to the good news of Christ and the requirements of Christ’s law for those who follow him as his disciples.
I am convinced that of all the various renewal groups in the mainline none has done more good, and produced better resources, than Good News. Because of a growing friendship with James V. Heidinger II, the president of Good News, I was afforded the great thrill of speaking to the board of Good News this week (August 1-3) in Wilmore, Kentucky. I was asked to talk about staying in the mainline and working with Christian courage to reverse the secularizing tendencies of a denomination. I also fielded questions for several hours alongside one of the best Wesley scholars I have ever met, Professor Kenneth Collins of Asbury Theological Seminary. I highly recommend Ken’s work as […]
Language and the use of stories related to now long past cultures is always problematic. This was brought home again yesterday by the brouhaha that erupted over Governor Mitt Romney’s (R-Mass.) reference to the “Big Dig” construction project in Boston as a proverbial “tar baby.” No sooner was the statement made, at a fundraiser in Iowa where Romney appears to be pursuing a presidential bid in 2008, than he faced severe criticism for making a racist reference.
The context for Romney’s statement was a speech in which he was acknowledging that he took a large political risk in his state by getting involved in a project that was obviously failing. He argued that inaction would have been worse than getting involved in a mess. His point was to demonstrate that he was willing to tackle this project that had no upside politically. Here is the offensive sentence: “The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can.”
Black leaders were outraged at Romney’s use of the term “tar baby,” seeing it as […]
Somewhere I recently read this statement: "Every story has three sides. Yours, mine and the facts." I think about that statement often and generally smile when I do. I am also reminded that this is generally true in ways that are so easily forgotten in human relationships. I see my side very clearly. I know the facts, or at least think I do. So do you. We are at an impasse. It is helpful to remember that we both may well be wrong and the facts, especially when we factor into the equation an all-knowing and all-wise God, can correct us both.
Another truism that helps me in a similar way goes like this: "Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love truth." I have had to retract more than one opinion because of blogs and articles I write. One reason this medium has something very positive about it is that it allows each of us to change our mind, especially this writer. When you are sure of yourself remember that the facts may stand against you and you […]
The person who would have real friends must be a friend. Though I have many that I can call friends, at least on one level, I am blest with several true soul-friends that I definitely do not deserve. These friends make my life what it is and give it a richness that fills me with profound blessing.
As I reflected upon this blessing again this morning, praying for these friends, I was reminded of an old aphorism that I believe sums up one essential for having and keeping soul-friends. The aphorism says: “We should be more ashamed to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” How very true. Friends will hurt you, even deceive you in rare cases, though almost always unintentionally if they are truly good people. But once you distrust your good friend the relationship is over. I do know this for sure. The one thing a deep relationship of love can not withstand, long term, is distrust.
Most international peace keepers agree with the idea of bringing international forces into the south of Lebanon to end Hezbollah’s decade-long reign. What is unresolved is how to accomplish this and when. What is not surprising here, at least to me, is the growing evidence that a groundswell of support for Hezbollah is growing in the Arab world. Originally regional Arab governments criticized Hezbollah for provoking this present conflict but that response is virtually muted after several weeks of intense fighting. Even in the United States voices agianst Israel are also growing louder by the day. It is odd to me that we can justify “defending” America when it is attacked by Islamic terrorists but if Israel defends itself this is seen in the world’s opinion as a militant nation that must stop all such action to defend itself.
As an illiustration of my point Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, one of the country’s most influential religious leaders, described Hezbollah raids on Israel as a "defense of its country and not terrorism." But Hezbollah doesn’t even have a country and […]
The Wall Street Journal had an impressive front page story in today’s edition titled: “Holy War: A Texas Preacher Leads Campaign to Let Israel Fight.” It tells the story of John Hagee, a popular dispensational preacher and best-selling author in San Antonio, Texas, who has become the America’s most outspoken and influential voice for Christian Zionism. Hagee is leading pro-Israel gatherings these days that are putting a great deal of pressure on the White House and other sympathetic congressional leaders to stay out of any peacemaking deals in the Middle East. Hagee believes that Israel has God’s complete support in this conflict and that these present events are likely to lead to Armageddon so we should steer clear of interfering with what God is about to do in Israel in these last days.
I have no quarrel with those Christians who believe ethnic Israel, and even the modern state of Israel, has a major part to play in biblical prophecy, though I disagree with about 98% of what they think the Bibel actually says about these matters. I do have a huge problem […]
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