MAINSTREAM BAPTIST

On Roger Williams and Jean-Paul Sartre

2008-05-22T21:19:00.003-05:00

Here's a quote from a long footnote that I wrote explaining the statement quoted in the previous blog about Williams and Levinas:

"Unlike Sartre, who felt constricted and condemned by the gaze of others, Williams willingly subjected himself to the judging eyes of all others -- even the eyes of complete strangers to his race, culture, religion and community."

I'll be presenting my paper and powerpoint on "The Relevance of Roger Williams" tomorrow morning.

On Roger Williams and Emmanuel Levinas

2008-05-22T00:03:00.004-05:00

In a few hours, I'll be driving to Atlanta for the Baptist History and Heritage Society's Annual Meeting at Mercer University.

I will be presenting a paper on "The Relevance of Roger Williams."

Here's a quote from my paper:

"Three hundred and twenty years before the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas would propound his ethics of asymmetrical face-to-face relations, Roger Williams gives specificity to the eyes observing him and passing judgment on the church. He distinguishes the eyes from one another by identifying the faces that concerned him. He names the faces of Jews, Turks and pagans -- the very people whose eyes held least significance to the aristocratic Winthrop and the closed community that he helped create."

I'll write a little more about this tomorrow.

McGovern's Open Letter to Admiral Fallon

2008-05-21T11:24:00.002-05:00

Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern has published an open letter to Admiral William Fallon on the Common Dreams website.

Fallon was recently removed as head of CENTCOM over differences with the Bush administration's drive to war with Iran. McGovern urges Fallon to speak to the American public about the next unnecessary war that Bush is about to start. Here's an excerpt:

Dissing the Intelligence Estimate

Top officials from the president on down have been dismissing the key judgment of the National Intelligence Estimate released on December 3, 2007, a judgment concurred in by the 16 intelligence units of our government, that Iran had stopped the weapons-related part of its nuclear program in mid-2003.

Always willing to do his part, the malleable CIA chief, Michael Hayden, on April 30 publicly offered his “personal opinion” that Iran is building a nuclear weapon-the National Intelligence Estimate notwithstanding. For good measure, Hayden added:

“It is my opinion, it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to the highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq….Just make sure there’s clarity on that.”

Voicing his various “opinions,” Hayden is beginning to sound like the overly clever lawyers who advised him, orally, that it would be just fine to order NSA to violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and like the other attorneys who approved water boarding.

And, please; tell me why we should care about Hayden’s “personal opinion?” My neighbor Suzie, who gets her news from FOX, keeps voicing her “personal opinion” that all Muslims want to kill Americans, that generals with blue uniforms are the most trustworthy, and that weapons of mass destruction will still be found in Iraq.

But, seriously, I don’t need to tell you about the Haydens and the other smartly saluting, desk-riding headquarters generals here in Washington.

The Price of Silence

What I would suggest is that you have a serious conversation with a real general, Gen. Anthony Zinni, one of your predecessor CENTOM commanders (1997 to 2000). As you know probably better than I, this Marine general is an officer of unusual integrity. Nevertheless, when placed into circumstances very similar to those you now face, he could not find his voice. And so he missed his chance to interrupt-or at least slow down-the juggernaut to war in Iraq. You might ask him how he feels about that now, and what he would advise in current circumstances.

Posner Says GOP Props Up Religious Demagogues

2008-05-20T08:29:00.002-05:00

In an essay posted at the Huffington Post, Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits, accuses the Republican Party of propping up religious demagoguery.

When Hagee and Parsley were revealed to have spewed bigotry from their pulpits, many people wondered if McCain had a "pastor problem" like Obama's supposed problem with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The rejoinder from the McCain camp was that he was not responsible for every sentence uttered by people who endorse his candidacy. But his pastor problem is not just his own, it's his party's too. And it's not about candidates bearing responsibility for odious sermons. It's about bearing responsibility for propping up religious demagoguery in order to win elections.

Posner has thoroughly documented the demagoguery in her book. Here's a link to my "Religious Talk" podcast interview with Sarah a couple months ago.

8 Million on List to be Detained Under Martial Law

2008-05-20T07:05:00.002-05:00

The current issue of Radar Magazine has published a story that indicates that the Department of Homeland Security has compiled a list of around 8 million Americans who could be detained if the country is ever placed under martial law.

The article fails to provide details about how people got on the list. Perhaps they'll interview Karl Rove next month and ask him.

Department of Energy Touts Wind Power

2008-05-19T09:07:00.003-05:00

The U.S. Department of Energy has just released a 248 page report entitled "20% Wind Energy by 2030."

The report indicates that it is possible, with the right combination of political policies and incentives, for the U.S. to generate one fifth of our electrical energy by wind power. If we were to do so, we could also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when generating electricity by 25%.

Surely this makes more sense than burning tons of coal and dredging the oil out of Canadian tar sands.

Moyers on our "Out of Luck" Democracy

2008-05-17T07:58:00.003-05:00

Bill Moyers has an essay on AlterNet that is an excerpt from his new book "Moyers on Democracy." Here's his introduction:

Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is "better" than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works."

Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions. A sense of political impotence pervades the country -- a mass resignation defined by Goodwyn as "believing the dogma of 'democracy' on a superficial public level but not believing it privately." We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to bring the corporate state under popular control. There is considerable vigor at local levels, but it has not been translated into new vistas of social possibility or the political will to address our most intractable challenges. Hope no longer seems the operative dynamic of America, and without hope we lose the talent and drive to cooperate in the shaping of our destiny.

The earth we share as our common gift, to be passed on in good condition to our children's children, is being despoiled. Private wealth is growing as public needs increase apace. Our Constitution is perilously close to being consigned to the valley of the shadow of death, betrayed by a powerful cabal of secrecy-obsessed authoritarians. Terms like "liberty" and "individual freedom" invoked by generations of Americans who battled to widen the 1787 promise to "promote the general welfare" have been perverted to create a government primarily dedicated to the welfare of the state and the political class that runs it. Yes, Virginia, there is a class war and ordinary people are losing it.

NASA on Human Caused Climate Change

2008-05-16T11:55:00.002-05:00

As Richard Land and the modern day flat-earthers in the SBC and the Christian Right are disputing the role that humans are playing to cause climate change, NASA is publishing a study that demonstrates the linkage. Here's a quote from a NASA press release:

The team conducted a "joint attribution" study. They showed that at the global scale, about 90 percent of observed changes in diverse physical and biological systems are consistent with warming. Other driving forces, such as land use change from forest to agriculture, were ruled out as having significant influence on the observed impacts.

Next, the scientists conducted statistical tests and found the spatial patterns of observed impacts closely match temperature trends across the globe, to a degree beyond what can be attributed to natural variability. The team concluded observed global-scale impacts are very likely because of human-caused warming.

Extinctions Epidemic

2008-05-16T10:59:00.002-05:00

The UK Independent is reporting that there has been "An Epidemic of Extinctions" over the past 38 years. Here's a quote:

The Living Planet Index out today shows the devastating impact of humanity as biodiversity has plummeted by almost a third in the 35 years to 2005.

The report, produced by WWF, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network, says land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent.

Between Southern Baptists and Bill McKibben

2008-05-16T09:11:00.003-05:00

Today's Daily Oklahoman has posted a story with the headline, "National Baptist Group Gets Inhofe's Support." The National Baptist group is the Southern Baptist Convention and the title should really be reversed. Inhofe is the world's most infamous climate change denier and he's in what may be a hotly contested campaign to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate. Southern Baptists are demonstrating their support for him by sponsoring a "We Get it" campaign to deny that green houses gases are effecting the environment.

Baptists used to be involved in personal evangelistic campaigns like the "I Found It" campaign of the mid-1970's. Now Southern Baptists "Get It" about the supposed need for getting churches involved in covert political campaigns. They replaced the call of the gospel to be born again with a movement for a rebirth of Southern Culture long ago.

On the other side of the global warming issue is a dire warning from environmentalist Bill McKibben who says getting this issue right may be "The Last Chance for Civilization."

Surely, the truth about climate change is somewhere between Southern Baptists and Bill McKibben. I think it is much closer to McKibben than to Baptists.

Challenging Christian Nationalism Could Be Dangerous

2008-05-14T20:16:00.006-05:00

Newspapers in Florida are reporting that Sean Allen, one of Truett Seminary's brightest graduates, has been receiving death threats at his church.

Allen is pastor at First Baptist Church in DeLand, Florida. He has been receiving hostile notes and death threats ever since he removed both the U.S. flag and the Christian flag from the church's sanctuary.

It's no secret that many Christian Nationalists have little tolerance for those who refuse to join them in equating the symbols of the nation with the symbols of faith. Those in DeLand, however, seem more extreme than most.

Pray for Sean. He and his family have taken a leave of absence from the church.

Americans Grow Weary of Mendacity

2008-05-14T10:47:00.002-05:00

Real Clear Politics has published a story assessing the implications of the margin by which a Democrat won a House seat in a district in Mississippi that had been solidly Republican.

Tom Cole, the National Republican Committee Chairman, is taking some heat from Republicans who want him to make some changes in the GOP. Here's a quote:

Still, losing heavily Republican seats in the Deep South is a big blow to the Washington GOP. "To lose two Southern seats in two weeks, I mean, oh my God," the leadership aide said. The aide told Real Clear Politics that something new is going to happen at the NRCC. "People look at Cole, and they say, 'What are you going to do to change?' And if he doesn't want to change, change is going to be forced on him."

It looks like Tom Cole will be the scapegoat for Republican losses this year.

For some reason, few Republicans are willing to admit that their party continues to promote leaders that have repeatedly employed deliberate deception and public lies to lead the country toward goals and objectives that would not have been approved had they been openly and honestly discussed.

Americans are weary of the mendacity of politicians.

Party affiliations and conservative/liberal labels no longer hold credibility. We are tired of being manipulated by politicians on both the left and the right.

We are looking for politicians with the integrity to tell us the truth -- even when that truth is hard for us to receive.

Hollady Says Constitution Defies Strict Interpretation

2008-05-13T15:05:00.002-05:00

Don Holladay, an attorney in Norman with more than a decade of experience as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer, has written an Op-Ed published in today's Norman Transcript contending that the "Constitution Defies Strict Interpretation." Here's a quote:

Politics aside, saying the Constitution should be strictly interpreted is a flawed proposition. Taken literally, it presents an almost impossible challenge in light of the document's actual wording. The Constitution's language, without elaboration, instructs judges to guard the "privileges and immunities" of citizenship. It speaks of our guarantees with phrases such as "life, liberty or property" without further detail. It requires "due process of law" and "equal protection" and mandates the federal judiciary's responsibility to protect these fundamental rights. These word choices are the pillars upon which our constitutional rights exist. And yet, the words on their face are hardly capable of being "strictly interpreted" as written.

Who Wants a Lying President?

2008-05-13T11:01:00.002-05:00

Jimmy Carter doesn't and he says so in a guest blog for the On Faith section of the Washington Post. Here's a quote:

I do not think the President of the United States should be a liar, and believe that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens agree with me. For security reasons, the whole truth cannot always be revealed, but it is quite obvious that lies are seldom made to protect our nation. Almost invariably, the political fortunes of the prevaricator are at stake.

Podcast: Interview with David Blatt

2008-05-13T09:03:00.004-05:00

Dr. Bruce Prescott's 5-11-08 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dr. David Blatt (27MB MP3), Director of Policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

We talk about the Institute's first issues brief: "On the Brink: Oklahoma Families are already Facing Tough Times."

Evangelical Leader Likens Obama to a Plague

2008-05-12T09:57:00.001-05:00

Bob Novak has written an article suggesting that Mike Huckabee privately concurs with Homeschool Champion Michael Farris in believing that evangelicals should sit out this year's presidential election.

Farris and other far right evangelicals think America deserves a "plague-like presidency" and Obama fits the bill.

Personally, it is hard for me to understand how any American searching for an example of a "plague-like presidency" could overlook the stiff-necked Pharaoh currently occupying the White House.

Most Popular Podcasts

2008-05-09T12:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a list of the most popular podcasts from the "Religious Talk" radio program.

From the year 2005:

Still the all-time favorite -- the interview with Petroleum Geologist Bob Stephenson on Peak Oil in July 2005. A follow-up interview in August 2005 also proved popular.

The interview of Fred Clarkson (Part 1 and Part 2), author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy.

From the year 2006:

The interview of Muhammed Cetin, President of the Institute for Interfaith Dialog.

The interview of Randall Balmer, author of Thy Kingdom Come.

The interview of Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming.

From the year 2007:

The interview with Michael Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

The interview of Mary Kinney Branson, author of Spending God's Money: Extravagance and Misuse in the Name of Ministry.

From the year 2008:

The interview of Dr. Barbara Forrest, author of Creationism's Trojan Horse.

My son, Will Prescott's interview of Dr. William Martin, Emeritus Professor of Religion and Public Policy at Rice University.

When Norman Got Malaria

2008-05-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

The Norman Transcript has published a story about NorthHaven Church's recent conference on "Norman 'Gets' Malaria."

Oklahoma's first lady, Kim Henry, was the featured speaker. Here's an excerpt:

Keynote speaker Kim Henry spoke about a Ghana trip and presented a slide show of photographs she snapped in the African nation.

"This is really an important issue for many reasons," Henry said.

She described the week-long journey as an "incredible, life changing experience."

The First Lady said it's clear that poverty is an issue for the people of Ghana. The annual income is about $300 per person.

During the trip, Henry visited hospitals that were overwhelmed with patients suffering from diseases including malaria. She noted Ghana's mortality rate is 50 percent.

"We didn't just go into the village and hand out nets," she said.

Henry said she discovered that individuals find peace in their spiritual lives and relationships with a higher power. Whether someone was Christian or Muslim didn't matter.

"People seem to be so spiritual and in tune with God," she said.

On the Evangelical Manifesto: The Elephant is Still in the Room

2008-05-07T10:44:00.004-05:00

A group of evangelical scholars has issued "An Evangelical Manifesto" in an attempt to redefine and restore a good name to the evangelical movement within Christianity.

There is much to commend in their statement. Most of it would have been of much more value had it been said years ago -- no, decades ago. It is much too little and way too late.

This statement comes at a moment when evangelical Christianity has lost all credibility because it is so closely identified with the American political right. More than any other group in America, the world knows that evangelicals are the political base for an administration that has disrupted the peace and tranquility of the entire world by fighting wars under false pretenses, undermining human rights, and condoning the use of torture.

Now that the political influence of evangelicals is declining, you'll find numerous admonitions that evangelicalism must be defined theologically and not politically. Now that the media megaphone is slipping away from evangelicals, you'll find many lamentations about the lack of civility in America's "culture wars." What you won't find is any clear apology for the role that evangelicals have played and are still playing as cheerleaders for a worldwide "clash of civilizations." In fact, the document itself singles out the religious extremism of "Islamist violence" for censure while ignoring the many examples of "Christian violence" bombing abortion clinics and federal buildings.

You'll find several admissions of human sinfulness and fallibility and many appeals for repentance and reform, but not a single confession regarding the failure of American evangelicals to address this nation's militarism, human rights violations, and abuse of prisoners.

Until evangelicals muster up the courage to address their own most egregious sins and shortcomings, the message they want to share about the good news of the gospel will fall on deaf ears.

Evangelicals have lost all credibility. Their manifesto is a timid step in the right direction, but an elephant is still in the room and they are still ignoring it.

His Nets Issues Appeal for Nets for Burma

2008-05-06T13:15:00.008-05:00

As the extent of the humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Burma, the need for insecticide-treated mosquito nets to protect tens of thousands from malaria is urgent.

“The U.S. and other countries will provide food, drinking water and shelter,” says T Thomas. “However, standing water from the cyclone will quickly cause an outbreak of malaria. This will result in a second wave of deaths if nets are not provided quickly!”

Thomas is director of His Nets, an Oklahoma-based charity that works closely with the Baptist World Alliance in fighting malaria around the world, especially in Africa.

His Nets has already committed funds for over a thousand nets, but the need is much greater. We’re asking for your assistance. For six dollars, you can provide a net that protects an entire family for up to 5 years.

“Whenever tragedies like this happen, we watch the news and sit around thinking ‘Isn’t that awful?’” Thomas adds. “This is a way to make a difference. We can save lives .”

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to His Nets, 1017 Elm Avenue, Norman OK 73072. Donations can be also be made at http://www.hisnets.org.

For additional information contact T. T Thomas, Director of His Nets (work: (405) 447-2471; cell: (405) 831-2987; e-mail: cfrankthomas@att.net).

Kim Henry 'Gets' Malaria

2008-05-06T11:32:00.003-05:00

A fifty second excerpt from Oklahoma's First Lady, Kim Henry, as she speaks about her trip to Ghana last year with His Nets to pass out mosquito nets to prevent malaria.

Henry was speaking at NorthHaven Church in Norman, OK at their "Norman 'Gets' Malaria Conference" on the evening of May 5, 2008.

America's Economic Strike Against Iran

2008-05-04T23:14:00.002-05:00

An article by John McGlinn in Japan Focus makes it clear that the U.S. launched an economic strike against Iran on March 20th.

As the article indicates, the economic pressure that the U.S. is bringing to bear on Iran is enormous. There is no doubt in my mind that if another nation deliberately brought such economic hardship on our nation, it would lead to war.

The strategy behind this form of economic warfare is so new to me that I'm not sure how to make an appraisal of it. Here are my preliminary observations.

If the stratgegy is intended to accomplish the administration's objectives without resorting to military force, then it beats the alternative. It still raises concerns, however, about the ways in which a tactic that seemingly amounts to international economic blackmail could be applied in the future. It appears to me that it fails any test for rules of universalizability (i.e. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you").

If it is designed to prompt a belligerent reaction from Iran that could be used as a pretext for our exercising military force, as I fear that it is, then it is an exceedingly bad idea.

America doesn't need another war to fight in the Middle East.

Rangel Rips Into Blitzer

2008-05-04T16:44:00.002-05:00

Crooks and Liars has posted video of Congressman Charles Rangel raking CNN's Wolf Blitzer over the coals for continuing to ask questions about Obama's relationship to Rev. Wright. Here's a quote:

Rangel: It’s disgraceful that he has to make any explanation for anything. The intrusion of the media and Republicans into the sacred relationship that worshipers have with their spiritual leaders I think is going to come back to haunt us. To think that we have to go into the lives and the beliefs of Rabbis and Priests and ministers and Imams is absolutely ridiculous. We’ve got a war on. We’ve got an economy that’s splintered. I think the media should be more responsible and start dealing with those issues. I don’t think many people care what reverend Wright thinks and I don’t see why any candidate should have to explain what ..

Well said, Congressman Rangel.

U.S. Planning Strike in Iran

2008-05-04T07:28:00.002-05:00

The TimesOnline is reporting that the U.S. is making plans to strike an "insurgency camp" in Iran. Here's a quote:

British officials believe the US military tends to overestimate the effect of the Iranian involvement in Iraq.

But they say there is little doubt that the Revolutionary Guard exercises significant influence over splinter groups of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, who were the main targets of recent operations in Basra.

The CBS television network reported last week that plans were being drawn up for an attack on Iran, citing an officer who blamed the “increasingly hostile role” Iran was playing in Iraq.

Gulen Schools Moderating Islam in Pakistan

2008-05-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

The New York Times has published a story entitled "Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Islam." The schools are inspired by the schools that the Islamic scholar Fetulah Gulen started in Turkey and are now spreading around the world. Here's a quote:

The model is the brainchild of a Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen. A preacher with millions of followers in Turkey, Mr. Gulen, 69, comes from a tradition of Sufism, an introspective, mystical strain of Islam. He has lived in exile in the United States since 2000, after getting in trouble with secular Turkish officials.

Mr. Gulen's idea, Mr. Aytav said, is that "without science, religion turns to radicalism, and without religion, science is blind and brings the world to danger."

The schools are putting into practice a Turkish Sufi philosophy that took its most modern form during the last century, after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founder, crushed the Islamic caliphate in the 1920s. Islamic thinkers responded by trying to bring Western science into the faith they were trying to defend. In the 1950s, while Arab Islamic intellectuals like Sayyid Qutub were firmly rejecting the West, Turkish ones like Said Nursi were seeking ways to coexist with it.

The article quotes some Turkish scholars who are wary that the Gulen movement is employing education to attain power and influence. I think their fears are unfounded.

There is nothing wrong with Muslims teaching a moderate and tolerant faith in private religious schools. Neither is there anything wrong with empowering people to better their lives through education. The same principle, though without a religious emphasis, can be found in schools involved with the Knowledge is Power Program here in the U.S.