Deadly Budget Cutting

Yesterday, David Blatt of the Oklahoma Policy Institute provided the Oklahoma Conference of Churches a sobering look at the impact of proposed budget cuts in Oklahoma. Most alarming was the effect the cuts will have on public health in a state that is already ranked 49th in the overall health of its citizens. Here are the chief concerns given by Blatt:

The Health Department has been cut by 15 percent in two years, forcing 300 layoffs.

If the Health Department budget is cut by 5 percent or more this year, it will eliminate the Office of Child Abuse Prevention.

Further cuts to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) would threaten payments for kidney dialysis, prescription drugs, and wheelchairs for low-income residents.

Oklahomans receiving Medicaid assistance are at an all-time high of 865,000 and expected to increase to 950,000 by 2012.

News reports paint an even bleaker picture. Bloomberg Businessweek reports:

Nico Gomez, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said the agency would have to target health services that are not legally required by the federal Medicaid program. Those include dialysis for adult kidney patients, dental care, prescription drugs, medical equipment, such as oxygen for respiratory patients, and treatment for the mentally ill.
. . .

In Oklahoma, more than 2,000 adults received end-stage renal disease treatment, or dialysis, in the last fiscal year. About 110,000 received some prescription drug benefit, according to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

State legislators opposed to deep cuts in health care said they would fight to preserve the most crucial treatments for low income people.

"If you cut dialysis, you're killing people," said state Sen. Clark Jolley, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees health care funding.

Meanwhile, the Governor and leaders of the marjority party in Oklahoma insist on preserving a state income tax cut passed in 2008 and scheduled to go into effect the first year that state revenues increase by 4%. State revenues increased by 4% last year, but have not yet returned to the level they were when the legislation passed in 2008. The tax cut will reduce already depressed state revenues by an additional $61.5 million dollars.

Senate minority leader Andrew Rice's proposal that the tax cut be deferred until revenues reach the level of revenues in 2008 continues to fall on deaf ears at the Statehouse.

Oklahoma's Deadly Eating Habits

Yahoo News is running a story about the ten states with the deadliest eating habits. Oklahoma ranks fifth:

5. Oklahoma

Grocery Stores Per 1,000 Residents: 0.25 (24th)
Amount Spent on Fast Food Per Capita: $676 (15th most)
Gallons of Soft Drinks Purchased Per Capita: 69.8 (8th most)
Pounds of Sweet Snacks Purchased Per Capita: 103.2 (3rd least)

The rate of household-level food insecurity, including households with food access problems as well as households that experience disruptions in their food intake patterns due to inadequate resources for food, is 15.2% in Oklahoma. The national rate is 13.5%. Oklahoma also has the third-lowest rate of adults who meet the recommended two fruit/three vegetable daily intake, with only 9.3% of adults doing so. Perhaps this is part of the reason Oklahoma's obesity rate is 31.4%, the fifth-worst in the country.

Timothy Dwight on the U.S. Constitution

I just received an e-mail asking me for a statement for a press release about a debate in which I am a participant. The debate is over whether the constitution says that the United States is a Christian nation.

Here's my statement:

"When the constitution was written ministers denounced it for being a "godless constitution." Today, ministers are determined to read between the lines to find God. I appreciate this opportunity to discuss what the constitution actually says."

One of the prominent ministers who labelled the constitution "godless" was Timothy Dwight, grandson of the famous Joanathan Edwards and President of Yale University. In a chapel service at Yale as the war of 1812 broke out, Dwight said:

"The nation has offended Providence. We formed our Constitution without any acknowledgement of God; without any recognition of His mercies to us, as a people, of His government, or even of His existence. The [Constitutional] Convention by which it was formed, never asked even once, His direction, or His blessings, upon their labors. Thus we commenced our national existence under the present system, without God."

For a more complete discussion of this issue, it is hard to beat Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore's, The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness. An updated version is entitled The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State.

Former BP Executive on the Arrival of Peak Oil

Former BP Chief Petroleum Engineer Jeremy Gilbert has produced a Powerpoint presentation that debunks the arguments against peak oil.

Top Cop for Consumers

Mama Don't Let Your Children Grow Up in Oklahoma Schools

For several years, I've been explaining, to mostly sceptical audiences, that the Radical Religious Right in Oklahoma wants to destroy what they deride as "government schools."

Displeasure with public schools began with racial integration and was aggravated by the fairly timid teaching of evolution and enough sex education to describe how to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus.

The Radical Right in Oklahoma now has the political clout to remake public schools to suit themselves. In November, they managed to elect a School Superintendent who is hostile to public schools. Now, they are in the process of reducing the State Board of Education to a rubber stamp.

In my opinion, anyone with primary and secondary school age children and a lick of sense would be wise to get them out of Oklahoma schools as soon as possible.

On Principles and Leadership

An article at Ethics Daily quotes me today in a story about Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, quitting a group promoting religious liberty for Muslims:

"The whole world is watching how Baptists relate to Muslims," Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists and president of the Norman chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, wrote in an email to EthicsDaily.com.

"Richard Land heads an agency that purports to stand for the principle of religious liberty. Principled leaders stand on their principles. Land admittedly lacks the courage of his principles. Southern Baptists should be ashamed to follow his example."

How to Get Al Jazeera English

Common Dreams has posted a link to an article from the Kansas City Star that tells readers the easiest way to get Al Jazeera English.

Al Jazeera English is far and away the best source for up-to-date news about the revolution taking place in Egypt.

While being snowed in, I have watched Al Jazeera English from an internet connection, but found that I had trouble staying connected. Yesterday I discovered that I could get a feed on my Roku player which I ordinarily use only to watch Netflix.

It is way past time for Mubarak to resign.

What's Going on at the Oklahoma State Board of Education?

The last meeting of the Oklahoma state board of education was contentious. Some members of the board made some caustic comments and I wrote a blog suggesting that they needed to apologize.

Board members have apologized and one of them, Tim Gilpin, has written a Guest Editorial for the Oklahoma Gazette to explain the points of contention at the meeting. He makes it clear that the new Superintendant of Schools fully intends to overstep the bounds of her authority.

On Egypt and Ethanol

McClatchy Newspapers are carrying a story about how rising food prices have contributed to the unrest in Egypt.

The story talks about how the effects of the extreme weather have reduced the world's supply of food stuffs, how the accelerated development in emerging markets has increased worldwide demand, and how the U.S. Federal Reserves' policy of quantitative easing has exported inflation to the rest of the world.

The glaring lacunae in the McClatchy's coverage is how the production of ethanol as a replacement for gasoline has reduced the supply of food that the U.S. exports to other countries. As Larry Kudlow notes in the National Review Online:

To be fair, not all of the food inflation can be blamed on the Fed. A good part of this problem can also be placed at the doorstep of bipartisan U.S. policies to subsidize ethanol.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2001, only 7 percent of U.S. corn went to ethanol. By 2010, the ethanol share was 39 percent. So instead of growing wheat, our farmers are growing corn in order to cash in on ethanol subsidies. Egyptians who can't afford to buy bread and have taken to the streets in protest might be very interested to know this.

A story about soaring prices for Rice offers another ripple to the effects of subsidies for ethanol:

U.S. farmers are planting the fewest acres with rice since 1989 just as global demand surpasses production for the first time in four years, driving prices as much as 12 percent higher by December.

Plantings in the U.S., the third-biggest shipper, may drop 25 percent this year because growers can earn more from corn and soybeans, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts and farmers. Rice, the staple food for half the world, declined 4 percent last year, extending a 2.9 percent drop in 2009. The other crops jumped 34 percent or more.

Podcast: Brian Kaylor Interview

Podcast (27MB Mp3) of my 1-30-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dr. Brian T. Kaylor, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University. We talk about Brian's new book Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in an Age of Confessional Politics.

On Avoiding the Clash of Civilizations

Quote for the Day:

Our situation at the beginning of the twenty-first century is like that of Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Then as now, the landscape was littered with the debris of religious conflict, the result of the Reformation and the end of an era in which Europe was dominated by a single overarching power. It is fair to say that religion did not distinguish itself at that time. It was then that honest, thoughtful men and women began to say to themselves: if people of faith cannot live in peace, dispite their differences, then for the sake of the future we must find another way. The secularization of Europe, first in the sciences, then in the arts, then in politics and the structure of society, grew directly out of the failure of religion to meet the challenge of change. As one who deeply believes in the humanizing power of faith, and the stark urgency of coexistence at a time when weapons of mass destruction are accessible to extremist groups, I do no think we can afford to fail again. Time and again in recent years we have been reminded that religion is not what the European Enlightenment thought it would become: mute, marginal, and mild. It is fire -- and like fire, it warms but it also burns. And we are the guardians of the flame.

Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations, pp. 10-11.

Regarding Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Quote for the day:

An attempt to transform Muslim societies through regime change is likely to dramatically increase the threat we face. The root cause of suicide terrorism is foreign occupation and the threat that foreign military presence poses to the local community's way of life. Hence, any policy that seeks to conquer Muslim societies in order, deliberately, to transform their culture is folly. Even if our intentions are good, anti-American terrorism would likely grow, and grow rapidly.

Robert A Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (2005).

Podcast: Francie Moss and Ariel Rose Henderson Interview

Podcast (20MB mp3) of my 1-23-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Francie Moss, Director of the Upward Bound Program for Oklahoma State University in OK City, and Ariel Rose Henderson, Senior Class President at Western Heights High School in OK City and the 2011 Miss Oklahoma City Teen. We talk about the Upward Bound program and the Stand for the Silent project to put an end to bullying in public schools.

Pictured in the photo are Francie, Ariel, Kirk Smalley, and another member of the Stand for the Silent project.

Billy Graham and the Rise of the Religious Right (revised)

Christianity Today recently interviewed Billy Graham and asked him, "If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?" Graham responded:

I also would have steered clear of politics. I'm grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn't do that now.

Few people realize the significant role that Graham has played in the rise of the Religious Right in America. Graham was instrumental in creating the Christian Right as a political force while, at the same time, distancing himself from it publicly. He was a participant in meetings where the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention was organized as a means to influence secular politics. In 1985, Graham sent Charles Stanley a telegram endorsing his re-election as President of the SBC in the most contested election during the fundamentalist takeover of the denomination. Most revealing, as he had done in the takeover of the SBC, he could be counted on to lend support to the Religious Right candidate in a tight political election:

Two days before the 2000 election, Graham went a step further and declared his support for a Bush victory. The setting for what can only be called Graham's endorsement of Bush was Jacksonville, Florida, located in a state where the evangelist was wrapping up a three-day crusade and where Bush had staked his electoral prospects. . . . On Sunday, November 5, Graham met with George and Laura Bush for a private prayer breakfast. The gathering took place after Bush had attended a worship service with prominent Florida evangelicals and before he commenced a whirlwind final tour of the state. Jeb Bush made sure to mention the breakfast on the Sunday morning news show Face the Nation. . . . After the prayer meeting, Graham (accompanied by his son, Franklin) posed with the Bushes for photographs and talked with reporters. "I don't endorse candidates. But I've come as close to it, I guess, now as any time in my life, because I think it is extremely important," said the aging evangelist. . . . "I believe in the integrity of this man," Graham told reporters, insinuating that he had cast his absentee ballot for the Republican candidate. "I'll just let you guess who I voted for," he added, making sure (as he had during the Nixon years) to reiterate his status as a registered Democrat.

[Stephen P. Miller, Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), pp. 215-216.]

Paul Ricouer on Biblical Interpretation

At the first annual board meeting for the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy this week I suggested that the group invite someone to speak who applies some of Paul Ricoeur’s insights on biblical interpretation. Some of the members of the group were not familiar with Paul Ricoeur, so I promised to suggest a brief introduction to his thought for them.

After skimming through my books on Ricouer, I think the best place to start is still Lewis Mudge’s essay “Paul Ricoeur on Biblical Interpretation” which is the introduction to Paul Ricouer’s Essays on Biblical Interpretation, ed. by Lewis Mudge. The best source for applications of Ricouer’s hermeneutic to biblical texts will be found in Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies by Andre LaCocque and Paul Ricoeur.

In 1980, Lewis Mudge offered a succinct explanation for why he thought Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy would become influential, as indeed it has, in the sphere of biblical interpretation:

Ricouer’s work approximates positions often seen poles apart. With biblical “conservatives” he shares reverence for the sense of the given text, the “last” text. He is not concerned to draw inferences from the text to its underlying history, to the circumstances of writing, to the spiritual state of the authors, or even to the existential encounter between Jesus and his followers. Indeed, Ricouer, in his own way, takes the New Testament for what it claims to be: “testimony” to the transforming power of the Resurrection. Moreover, all the literary genres of the Bible, not just certain passages of special theological import, are media for this “revelation.”

On the other hand, Ricouer attracts “liberals.” With them, he opposes every form of “dogmatic mythology,” political or ecclesiastical authoritarianism, intellectual obscurantism or false consciousness. Moreover, he shares the liberal concern that interpreters of the Bible should be in dialogue with all that has gone on in “the great romance of culture” and all that is happening in contemporary experience. In Ricoeur’s hands interpretation is always confronted with the perspective of “counter-disciplines”: physiology, psychoanalysis, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, the history of philosophy. The sense of the text is taken seriously in the midst of the other constructions of the human condition that enter into dialogue with it.

Essays on Biblical Interpretation

Is the Patriot Act Incompatible with Christian Missions?

I used to consider warnings about the erosion of civil liberties like those in a recent essay by Colleen Rowley, former FBI agent and whistleblower, as more alarmist than necessary. After talking with Robin Meyers, pastor of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, I'm not so sure.

Mayflower sponsors an extensive medical missions ministry to deaf children in Nicaragua. When I spoke with Dr. Meyers Monday morning he mentioned that his medical mission ministry was being investigated and the church was preparing for a visit from the Department of Homeland Security to audit their financial records.

Today, when I read warnings like Rowley's below, I pay more attention.

--In the course of arguing the Holder v Humanitarian Law Project case in the Supreme Court, Georgetown Law Professor David Cole warned that the federal law against providing “material support” to U.S.-designated terrorist groups could be used to improperly target and prosecute a whole range of humanitarian, human rights and peace advocacy groups based on protected exercise of speech and other First Amendment rights.

However Cole failed in his arguments to overturn a few words in the Patriot Act that broadened this "material support” concept to encompass "expert advice and assistance" to "foreign terrorist organizations” as designated by the Secretary of State. (For more explanation, see: How Easy Is It for Peaceful People to Violate the Patriot Act?)

Last June’s Supreme Court decision, which essentially makes advocacy of peace and humanitarian issues illegal with respect to the 40 or so designated groups, was likely not something Congress intended when it hastily passed hundreds of pages of “Patriot Act” revisions.

All kinds of missionaries, fair-election proponents and humanitarian workers could be placed in jeopardy.

People like Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson could be in trouble since he has had to meet with a variety of foreign country nationals in war zones to successfully formulate consensus to build schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

So could former President Jimmy Carter who engages in pro-democracy efforts to monitor election fraud in many places in the world.

The paradox is that true non-government affiliated efforts aimed at furthering education, humanitarian assistance, free elections and non-violent conflict resolution in other parts of the world are widely recognized as more effective and beneficial than efforts controlled by the U.S. military and the U.S. State Department

.

Stephen Colbert on Disintegration

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
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www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Warm Welcome at Southwestern Seminary?

Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas has given Tarrant Baptist Association six months to vacate their facilities. The Seminary says it needs the facilities for a welcome center.

The seminary admittedly has no real intention of extending a warm welcome. There are certain people and certain Baptist churches that it is determined to shut out. The trustees at Southwestern are miffed that the association of Baptists in Tarrant County Texas has not booted Broadway Baptist Church out of the association.

Broadway Baptist is a welcoming church. They minister to people regardless of their occupation (or lack of employment), race, gender or sexual orientation.

If Jesus rode into town to have dinner with prostitutes and tax collectors, I don't think it is difficult to know where he would find the warmest welcome.

Podcast: Graham Fuller Interview

Podcast (20MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 1-16-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Graham Fuller, former Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council and author of A World Without Islam and The Future of Political Islam. We talk about the tensions that arose between the West and the Middle East before the rise of Islam and discuss the role of political Islam in the future.

On Al Mohler's Blinkered Worldview

Race horses and carriage ponies often have blinkers beside their eyes to restrict their range of vision. Blinkers keep the horses focused on what is immediately in front of them and help keep them from being distracted by whatever is around them.

Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, could be likened to a firmly blinkered race horse who has devoted his life to seeing that all the other ponies in the Southern Baptist stable wear equally firm theological blinkers.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the Winter 2011 issue of the seminary's magazine where Mohler closes his eyes to the mountains of scientific evidence confirming the veracity of evolution theory and, once again, reaffirms his faith in the inerrancy of his literal interpretation of the Bible. He seems to be increasingly threatened by the theistic understanding of evolution espoused by some Mainstream Baptists and other unblinkered Christians who place their faith in God, rather than a book, and interpret the early chapters of Genesis as metaphor, symbol and poetry.

Mohler warns his stable mates to keep their blinkers on with breathless exclamations like, "The Bible's account of the Fall, and its consequences, is utterly incompatible with evolutionary theory" and "We now face the undeniable truth that the most basic and fundamental questions of biblical authority and Gospel integrity are at stake."

Despite Mohler's exclamations, evolutionary theory is not "utterly incompatible" with the Bible, the Gospel, or the Christian understanding of humanity. It is incompatible with a blinkered worldview that focuses solely on presuppositions about the inerrancy of literal interpretations of the Bible.

Take the blinders off Baptists! Mohler's theology will only lead you off theological track and keep you running around in circles.

Obama's Worst Appointment

Reading the commentary about Obama's recent appointment of William Daley to be his chief of staff is more than depressing. Simon Johnson's blog about "The Bill Daley Problem" offers the most sobering analysis of what this portends for the future. Here are a few excerpts:

This is not a critique from the left or from the right. The Bill Daley Problem is completely bipartisan -– it shows us the White House fails to understand that, at the heart of our economy, we have a huge time bomb.

Until this week, Bill Daley was on the top operating committee at JP Morgan Chase. His bank – along with the other largest U.S. banks – have far too little equity and far too much debt relative to that thin level of equity; this makes them highly dangerous from a social point of view. These banks have captured the hearts and minds of top regulators and most of the political class (across the spectrum), most recently with completely specious arguments about why banks cannot be compelled to operate more safely. Top bankers, like Mr. Daley’s former colleagues, are intent of becoming more global – despite the fact that (or perhaps because) we cannot handle the failure of massive global banks.

. . .

Top bankers, including Bill Daley, have pulled off a complete snow job -– including since the crisis broke in fall 2008. They have put forward their special interests while claiming to represent the general interest. Business and other groups, of course, do this all the time. But the difference here is the scale of the too big to subsidy – measured in terms of its likely future impact on our citizenship and our fiscal solvency, this will be devastating.

Most smart people in the nonfinancial world understand that the big banks have become profoundly damaging to the rest of the private sector. The idea that the president needed to bring a top banker into his inner circle in order to build bridges with business is beyond ludicrous.

Bill Daley now controls how information is presented to and decisions are made by the president. Daley’s former boss, Jamie Dimon, is the most dangerous banker in America – presumably he now gets even greater access to the Oval Office. Daley is on the record as opposing strong consumer protection for financial products; Elizabeth Warren faces an even steeper uphill battle. Important regulatory appointments, such as the succession to Sheila Bair at the FDIC, are less likely to go to sensible people. And in all our interactions with other countries, for example around the G20 but also on a bilateral basis, we will pursue the resolutely pro-big finance views of the second Clinton administration.

. . .

Let's be honest. With the appointment of Bill Daley, the big banks have won completely this round of boom-bust-bailout. The risk inherent to our financial system is now higher than it was in the early/mid-2000s. We are set up for another illusory financial expansion and another debilitating crisis.

Exemplary Civil Discourse on the Abortion Issue

On Speech That Promotes Civil Society

Amidst all the talk about "hate speech" and the "rhetoric of violence" in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, here are some of my thoughts concerning the kinds of speech that could promote civil society.


1. TESTIMONY

Testimony is talk that tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It offers an open and honest account of understanding and experience. Honest speech promotes trust and good will within society. It treats all others with dignity and respect and thereby preserves the peace and tranquility of society.

Recognizing that all humans are fallible and that all experience is perspectival, honest speakers will welcome sincere efforts to correct, verify and/or seek corroboration for the veracity of their testimony.

2. CRITIQUE

Critique is the voice of convicted civility. It promotes civility by confronting error conscientiously and preserves society by refusing to remain silent in the face of injustice.

Conscientious, constructive critique is correction that is offered discretely, with humility, and without impugning the dignity and integrity of the other. It gives others the benefit of a doubt, is reticent to ascribe unworthy motives to others, and is careful to examine one’s own self and perspective through the eyes of the other.

3. TEACHING

Genuine teaching is speech that opens the mind. Teachers speak with the authority of wisdom and experience. They continually search for deeper forms of analysis, broader perspectives and a more complete understanding of truth. They seek to instill within the student a passion to search for truth and understanding. Teachers share the skills and abilities necessary to analyze experience, to evaluate or correlate alternate viewpoints, and to develop new forms of speech and expression.

This form of speech promotes civility by increasing understanding and tolerance within society. It preserves peace within society by encouraging respect for the stranger and opening lines of communication to the foreigner.

4. DIALOGUE

Dialogue is open, honest and respectful conversation between two or more persons. It is talk with an other listening. It is talk that genuinely listens to others.

Dialogue is essential to democratic societies. Governing by naked power and force is tyrannical. Power is controlled by dialogue and open discussion in democratic societies. Open discussion requires those in authority to declare their positions and debate alternatives openly. The "common good" of society emerges as the "general will" of the people is formed by the dialectic of opinions and ideas that are produced by respectful dialogue and open discussion.

The "general will" of the majority must also be exercised with humility. Pluralistic democracy protects the rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority. Foremost among the rights protecting minorities are those associated with liberty of conscience – the rights to religious liberty, freedom of speech, press, peaceful assembly, and petition to the government. These rights of conscience assure that civil dialogue and discussion will always contain the element of critique that can promote advances toward a more equitable, just and humane society.

We need more testimony, critique, teaching and dialogue -- a lot more.

On Speech That Destroys Civil Society

There is much on the internet, in the newspapers and over the airwaves today discussing the uncivil rhetorical climate that preceeded the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' life. Here are some of my thoughts about the types of speech that destroy civil society.

1. LYING

Speaking takes place within a community. Communities are comprised of persons who relate to one another on the basis of mutual trust. The level of trust within a community depends upon the degree to which persons talk to one another honestly, openly and respectfully. Slander, gossip, lies, half-truths and all forms of deceitful speech reduce the level of trust and increase the level of suspicion within a community.

Lies destroy both the community and the individual. Liars wound their victims by depriving them of mutual respect and injure themselves by destroying self-respect. They harm the community by undermining the foundation of mutual trust and personal respect on which civil society is built. Both the individual and the community are degraded.

2. PROPAGANDA

Propaganda is more than lies frequently repeated. Propaganda consists of facts falsely interpreted and actions falsely attributed to unworthy intentions and motives. Propagandists always speak in tones of moral indignation. They reduce trust by identifying a group as a threat to community. They raise the level of suspicion by relentless verbal attacks designed to isolate the group and exclude it from community.

The more prolonged and passionate the rhetoric of the propaganda, the greater the likelihood of violence against the isolated group. Impressionable individuals will be incited to collective action against the perceived "enemy." Perniciously, the reproach of association with the isolated group discourages discerning members of the community from protesting about injustices against the group.

3. INDOCTRINATION

Indoctrination is talk that closes the mind. Indoctrinators speak with unquestioned certainty and unshakable conviction. They believe they possess the truth. They transmit a formula for faith, a uniform way of viewing the world, and a standard form of speech and expression to their pupils. Questioning the formula is not permitted, perceiving different points of view is not tolerated, and deviating from the standard form of speech and expression is not welcome.

This form of speech reduces trust to the small group of the indoctrinated. Suspicion of others can be so intense that adherents often feel threatened by any friendly and open conversation with those who do not accept their doctrine.

4. MONOLOGUE

Monologue is a single speaker talking with no one listening. It is talking without listening. Monologue is the culmination and conclusion of speech that is uncivil. It is the talk of those so suspicious of others that they trust no one but themselves.

There is no community in monologue. It is the talk of those who have closed themselves off from others and are tormented by their isolation and loneliness. There is danger that those so tormented will forego speaking altogether and express themselves by acts of violence and rage against civil society.

Grassley's Senate Finance Committee Makes Goofy Recommendation

Senator Charles Grassley's investigation of several TV-ministries to determine whether they have abused their non-profit status has ended with a goofy recommendation. His committee is recommending that the ban on partisan political activity by non-profit groups be modified or ended.

Barry Lynn at Americans United for Separation of Church and State offered a succinct appraisal of Grassley's boneheaded suggestion:

"If these multi-million-dollar ministries are already misusing their donations for personal gain, imagine how much more dangerous they would be operating in the world of partisan politics," said Lynn. "I don't want to see Pat Robertson and other TV preachers using their tax-exempt empires to give backing to favored candidates, and I don't think most other Americans want that either."

Will States Legalize Assaults on Hispanics

Miguel de La Torre offers a sobering testimony in an essay on Ethics Daily entitled "Anti-Hispanic Assault Shifts to State Governments:"

When I see the hatred motivating these laws and the harassment faced, I am afraid. I know all too well what it is like to be beaten up in my younger days while my assailants hurled racist epithets. I still carry the scars on my body. I honestly believed those days were behind me.

Now I fear they are our future.

Regretfuly, Oklahoma is one of the states in this latest assault on Hispanics.

The Other Side of Immigration

Available on Netflix.

Graphic Pictures of Change in America

More graphs here.

Baptists: Dissidents from Birth

Bill Jones has begun a video series of Baptist Briefs at the Texas Baptists Committed website.

Here's a link to his first video -- Baptists: Born Dissenters

Here's a link to his second video -- The First Baptist Church ever

Top Blogs of 2010

Top Ten Mainstream Baptist Blogs of 2010

1. Will Faith Overcome Fear?
2. Baptists and the Rise of the Religious Right
3. The Scariest Verses in the Koran
4. Christian Nationalism Costs Haskell County
5. Ethics Daily Video Makes Impression on Denzel Washington
6. Haunted Memories
7. On What Principle Does Ken Starr Stand?
8. More Easy Money and Loose Accountability
9. It’s Time for Leadership Change
10. Francis Wayland: First Baptist Ethicist


Top Five Blogs written before 2010 (as measured by page views since May 2010)

1. Regarding Evangelical Youth Cults
2. Atheism: The Forbidden Topic
3. Pastor Apologizes for Church Sign
4. Put Down the Patriot Bible
5. What is Progressive Faith?

Most Popular Videos of 2010

Here are the ten most popular Mainstream Baptist videos of 2010:

1. Christian Reconstructionism in a Nutshell
2. How Al Mohler became the Baptist Pope
3. Why Baptist Churches are Declining
4. Baptists and the Rise of the Religious Right
5. Rick Scarborough's Dominionist Altar Call
6. What Was at Stake in the Takeover of the SBC?
7. Steven Hotze's Christian Reconstructionism
8. Bethlehem Night
9. Feza School Rap
10. His Nets Distributes 100,000th Net

Most Popular Podcasts of 2010

Here are the five "Religious Talk" podcasts that proved most popular in 2010:

1. Obama's Faith-based Program
2. Chris Rodda Interview
3. Razi Hashmi Interview
4. Robert Parham Interview
5. John Esposito Interview

Here are the top ten "Religious Talk" podcasts overall:

1. Interviews with Bob Stephenson on Peak Oil 7-10-05, 8-7-05, 11-18-07, 6-1-08
2. Interview with Sally and Terry Jackson on End of Life Issues
3. Paul Weller Interview
4. David Berliner Interview Part 1, Part 2
5. Charles Kimball Interview Part 1, Part 2
6. Dr. Katherine Schiermann Interview
7. 9-11 and the Price of Freedom and Security
8. Oklahoma's Monument to American Theocracy
9. Mary Kinny Branson Interview
10. A Mainstream Perspective on Abortion Part 1, Part 2

I Saw Three Ships

Les Downs Plays "I Saw Three Ships" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs opens his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma by playing "I Saw Three Ships."

I Wonder as I Wander

Les Downs Plays "I Wonder as I Wander" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "I Wonder as I Wander" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Les Downs Plays "Go Tell It on the Mountain" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Go Tell It on the Mountain" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

We Three Kings

Les Downs Plays "We Three Kings" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "We Three Kings" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow

Les Downs Plays "Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow," a traditional spiritual, at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella

Dr. Les Downs Plays a Traditional French Carol from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," a traditional French Christmas carol, at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Angels from the Realms of Glory

Les Downs plays Angels from the Realms of Glory from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays Henry T. Smart's arrangement of "Angels from the Realms of Glory" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Fum, Fum, Fum

Dr. Les Downs Plays Fum, Fum, Fum from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs treated NorthHaven Church to a concert of Christmas carols before the Christmas Eve service last night. Fum, Fum, Fum was the finale of the concert.

Robert Parham Interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko

Note: If the video does not load from the link on the picture, click on the title to this blog to go to the source video.

Robert Parham Interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Robert Parham of Ethics Daily interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko, Imam of a village in Tanzania. Parham was part of a joint Baptist-Muslim effort to distribute insecticide treated mosquito nets in Tanzania. They discuss relations between Muslims and Christians in Tanzania. Gervaz Lushajy of the Feza School for Boys in Dar Es Salaam translates.

Baptists and Muslims Working Together to fight Malaria in Africa

Muslims and Baptists Working Together to fight Malaria in Africa from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

T Thomas, a Baptist, of HisNets and Orhan Osman, a Muslim, of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog explain to villagers in Tanzania why they are working together to fight malaria in Africa.

Bethlehem Night

Bethlehem Night from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Podcast: Kirk Smalley Interview

Podcast (20 MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 12-19-10 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Kirk Smalley. We talk about the tragic death of his son Ty Smalley, the work of the "Stand for the Silent" group, and Kirk's campaign to help put an end to bullying in the public schools.

Remembering a Time When Baptist Queens Ruled the World

The New York Times has published a story about the time when Wayland Baptist's Flying Queens ruled the world of women's basketball.

I'll bet the guy driving that convertible wishes he still owned that car today.

Dave Stockman on Extending Bush's Tax Cuts

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bantering About CBF's Future

Ron Crawford has been bantering with Bill Leonard about the future of CBF.

I'm with Ron on this one.  

One succinct paragraph by Crawford summarizes most of my own concerns about the current direction of CBF: 

I find no fault with those who led us out of Egypt; but it is helpful to acknowledge the impact of key organizational foundation stones. Early in the life of CBF, it was decided the only thing one could build a denomination around was missions. Consequently, CBF missions became our primary entree. Other traditional entrees on denominational menus were quickly turned into side dishes: literature publication, theological education, annuity and health services and a variety of ethical and social concerns. Now, we are discovering a single entrée will not sustain a broad clientele. There are many people who love good home-cooked missions, but there is a much larger potential audience who like a variety of full entrees, not just one.

CBF has been especially timid in addressing ethical issues and social concerns.  I am convinced that our failure to collectively take a prophetic stand against our government's pre-emptive warfare, human rights violations, and use of torture has undermined the credibility of our witness.   When the world desperately needed the citizens of God's kingdom to be a voice for justice and speak truth to power, we were silent. 

I fear that for quite some time, in the eyes of the unbelieving world, even our finest mission endeavors will bear the stain of the American Empire that we unquestioningly sustained by our passive acquiesence.

Tanzania Travelogue

I have been reflecting on experiences during the joint Baptist-Muslim mosquito net distribution in Tanzania. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, I was impressed with the mutual respect that people of different faiths show one another in Tanzania. Every village we visited to distribute mosquito nets had both Muslim and Christian members living as neighbors and working together. In both the private schools and the schools run by the government, Muslim children and Christian children were studying together and playing with one another with no signs of division or tension.

Second, I was especially impressed by the hospitality of our Muslim hosts. They provided our transportation, lodging, and meals during our stay. Expecting and fully prepared for Spartan accommodations, we were pleasantly surprised to have private, air conditioned rooms at the Giraffe Hotel on the Mbezi beach with a spectacular view of the Indian Ocean. Every meal we ate was good, but the highlights of the trip were the times we were invited to eat in the homes of the headmasters of the Turkish sponsored private schools in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar. In both cities we were treated to multiple courses of exquisitely prepared Mediterranean cuisine.

Both headmasters went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable during our visit to their homes. The weather in Tanzania is very hot and humid. Electricity is expensive. A simple home electrical connect fee is more than four times the average annual income in Zanzibar. Few are so fortunate as to have an air conditioner in their home and few of those who do have air conditioners can afford to run them much. The headmasters were no exception, but they made sure that the room in which we ate and conversed was comfortable during the time of our visit.

Third, I was impressed with the self-confidence, initiative and industry demonstrated by many of the people I saw in Tanzania. The country has an abundance of people who appear willing and eager to better themselves by working hard to improve their living conditions. They lack good educational opportunities (a pupil teacher ratio of 120 to 1 is not conducive to good education), vocational training for 21st century job skills, and a reasonable possibility of attaining gainful employment.

Fourth, I am concerned about the number of young men I saw standing at the side of the road and sitting on porches looking for something to do. Pineapples, mangos, coconuts, and bananas are abundant in the areas around Dar Es Salaam. No one is starving for food at that location, but many seem starved for something constructive to do with their time. Jobs are scarce. Internet service is rare. Meanwhile, when foreign countries like China undertake construction projects in Tanzania, they are also exporting tens of thousands of their own citizens to fill up the manual labor jobs that Tanzanians could easily do.

Finally, I am concerned about the subordinate role of women that was apparent in both Muslim and Christian society in Tanzania. I only remember seeing two women with positions of responsibility, the principal of a primary school and a social worker, and both were Christians working for the government in positions that would traditionally be filled by women. The only woman I saw with a semblance of authority was the wife of the Turkish Ambassador who represented her husband in his absence at the Feza School’s graduation ceremony.

Kirk Smalley to be Interviewed on Religious Talk

Kirk Smalley will be my guest on the "Religious Talk" radio program this Sunday, December 19th at 10:00 AM.  We will be talking about the tragic death of Ty Smalley, bullying, and the "Stand for the Silent" campaign.  Tune in to KREF radio at 1400 on the AM dial in the Oklahoma City area or listen to the live streaming audio/video at Sports Talk 1400.

Structures of Time

HIS NETS distributes 100,000th Net

His Nets Distributes 100,000th Net from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.


Robert Parham at Ethics Daily has posted a story about HisNets giving its 100,000th net to a Muslim mother in Tanzania.  Fetimah Ramanda received the net.

I was filming children at the Bunjub School when Robert Parham and T Thomas distributed the net to Ramanda and interviewed her for the story at Ethics Daily.  Above is video of a mother receiving a net at the same location earlier that same day.  More than 800 nets were distributed at this location.

Baptists and Muslims Working Together in Tanzania

Robert Parham at Ethics Daily has posted the first of a series of stories about the recent Baptist-Muslim joint venture to distribute mosquito nets in Tanzania.  Pictured above are boys going to get water at one of the villages we visited in Tanzania.  Pictured below is Robert Parham with the guide who directed us to a lair for some of the rare, nearly extinct, red colobus monkeys of Zanzibar.

Feza School Rap

Feza School Rap from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.


I just got back from a trip with T Thomas of His Nets, Orhan Osman of the Institute for Interfaith Dialog, and Robert Parham of Ethics Daily to distribute insecticide treated mosquito nets in Tanzania.  While we were there we were invited to attend the graduation ceremony of the Feza Schools in Dar Es Salaam. 

Some of the boys who were graduating sang a rap about their school that proved to be a crowd pleaser.

Obama Faith-based Regulations Permit Discriminatory Hiring Practices

The Obama administration has just issued new guidelines for the office of faith-based initiatives.  Americans United and the Baptist Joint Committee have both issued statements conveying their disappointment that the new guidelines do not address the issue of discrimination in hiring for religious non-profits who receive federal funds.  AU's Barry Lynn said, “Taxpayer money should never be used to underwrite religion or religious bias.” BJC's Brent Walker said, "It is simply wrong for the government to subsidize religious discrimination."

There are serious problems with religious non-profits receiving federal funds while maintaining discriminatory hiring practices with the use of those funds.  I've written about this before.  Here's reprise of my May 18, 2006 blog on Anne Lown and the Salvation Army:

I got a copy of Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming and started reading this superb book last night.

One story that Michelle told stopped me in my tracks. The story disturbed me so much that I had to put the book down and walk around the block to lower my blood pressure. It was the story about the "Christianization" of the social services division of the Salvation Army.

I have a vague recollection of reading newspaper articles about the Salvation Army receiving federal money while purging itself of homosexuals and non-Christians, but Michelle's account of her interview of Anne Lown, daughter of the nobel prize winning physician and peace activist Dr. Bernard Lown, personalized the issue and clarified the values that are at stake.

Here's a quote from Kingdom Coming:

Lown, who had been an employee at the Salvation Army for twenty-four years and oversaw 800 workers, said religion had never had anything to do with her job. As long as she'd been there, the New York social services division had been independent from the evangelical side of the organization. Her office ran more public programs than any Salvation Army division in the United States, most of them for children. Almost all of the money came from the state and local government, and Lown assumed that it would be illegal to infuse taxpayer-funded services with Christianity. Her division had gay, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu employees, reflecting the city it served. (p. 130)

Before this administration took office, it was "illegal to infuse taxpayer-funded services with Christianity." When those responsible for enforcing the law and upholding the constitution refuse to do so -- and actively work to undermine it -- anything is permitted.

Apparently, the Salvation Army decided to take advantage of this administration's lax enforcement of the first amendment. Colonel Paul Kelly was brought in to "heighten the agency's evangelical aspect." Here's another quote:

According to the complaint filed by the NYCLU, Kelly asked the human resources director at the Salvation Army headquarters, Maureen Schmidt, whether one of the human resource staffers at the social services division, Margaret Geissman, was Jewish, because she had a "Jewish sounding name."

Schmidt told him she was not. Geissman, who described herself to me as a conservative Catholic, told me that Schmidt then started asking her to point out gay and non-Christian employees at the division. She refused to answer, but day after day Schmidt kept pushing. "She said Kelly wanted to know and that eventually they were going to find out about everyone," Geissman told me. "She said the new vision for the Salvation Army was to have Christians and Salvationists and not to have homosexuals." (p. 131)

Anyone who has studied the holocaust knows the resonances of these conversations.

How Universal Health Care Became a Socialist Idea

Rachel Maddows' recent interview with insurance industry whistleblower Wedell Potter.

Mike Huckabee's Campaign for President Begins in Earnest

Ethics Daily is reporting that about two months ago around 40 Conservative Christian leaders gathered near the airport in Dallas to plot the political overthrow of President Obama. The meeting was convened by Evangelist James Robison.

In another article, Robert Parham chides these leaders for calling their plot a "prayer meeting."

30 years ago, James Robison convened a meeting like this and the result was the election of Ronald Reagan as president.

30 years ago Mike Huckabee quit seminary to assist Robison and his coterie of conservative clergy in their efforts. Later, he parlayed his connections to become governor of Arkansas. Now, Mike Huckabee is running for President of the United States.

For the past two years Huckabee has been courting the far out religious conservatives who think democracy is heresy and want an American theocracy. Some of those at Robison's recent meeting in Dallas are undoubtedly in that camp. Most of them, however, are simple Christian Nationalists who are opposed to the first amendment's disestablishment clause and want to impose conservative Christian morality on all society by force of law. The latter group appears more moderate to the public and has a larger audience within the conservative Christian community.

Southern Baptist Pastor Calls for More Dialogue on Bullying

Ed Sasnett, Pastor of Northeast Baptist Church spoke about the need for more dialogue about the problem of bullying in Norman. Sasnett spoke at a public dialogue on respect, tolerance and bullying sponsored by the Xenia Institute. The event was organized as a response to the suicide of Zack Harrington after a recent contentious city council meeting in which numerous abusive comments about homosexuals were spoken by members of the Norman community. The Norman Transcript's report about Sasnett's comments makes it clear that Sasnett is a voice of compassion and reason within a community that has acquired a reputation for arrogance and abuse:

“Everyone should have the freedom to give an opinion without being called names,” Sasnett said. “There are always going to be differences of opinion that are irreconcilable, but the opinions must be expressed in a way that is not abusive.”

. . .

Sasnett said he would like to see more small-group initiatives where those with opposing viewpoints could express themselves “in a respectful way.”

On Shopping for Energy Efficiency

TopTen.org, a new non-profit devoted to making it easy for consumers to find the most energy efficient products, unveiled their new website yesterday in a press release:

On TopTenUSA.org, visitors will find lists of the 10 best choices for each product category, along with pricing, specifications, local and online retail options, and personalized rebate information.

“We want to make it easy for consumers to find, choose, and buy the most efficient products on the market,” said Norman L. Dean, President of TopTen USA. “We’re spurring an upward spiral toward efficiency—the more consumers demand it, the more emphasis manufacturers will place on efficiency. Rather than copying technology to meet a standard, manufacturers will be innovating to be the best.”

Former Oklahoma Woman Becomes Deacon in Texas Baptist Church

Helen Moore Montgomery, a Mainstream Baptist and formerly a deacon at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, has become a deacon at Community North Baptist Church in McKinney, Texas.

The Dallas Morning News recently published a story about her church's historic vote to elect women to serve as deacons. Three other women were elected to serve as deacons with her.

Podcast: William Tabbernee Interview

(Podcast 24 MB Mp3) Dr. Bruce Prescott's 11-7-10 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dr. William Tabbernee, Interim Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches and Retired President Emeritus of Phillips Theological Seminary. We talk about his new book "Prophets and Gravestones: An Imaginative History of Montanists and Other Early Christians."

Mainstream Baptist a Favorite Blog at Oklahoma Policy Institute

The Oklahoma Policy Institute has just posted its list of "Favorite Oklahoma Politics and Policy Blogs."

We made their favorites list for "liberal-leaning" blogs.

On Vouchers for Private School Education

Last night I debated Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute in a forum on “Religion in the Public Square” hosted by the Federalist Society and the ACLU of Tulsa University Law School. My time for rebuttal was up before I could challenge Bandow’s advocacy of vouchers for private school education. During the ensuing lively question and answer session the topic did not arise.  If I had an opportunity to speak to this issue, I would have said something along these lines:

There are a lot of things that could be done to improve public education in this country. Vouchers for private school education is not among them. We need realistic solutions for problems in the real world. The Cato Institute is offering idealistic solutions for a libertarian utopia. The latest article on school choice posted on the Cato Institute’s website makes that fairly clear. Andrew Coulson in his 2009 article Comparing Public, Private, and Market Schools: The International Evidence all but admits that evidence for the effectiveness of school choice in this country is weak:

“Would large-scale, free-market reforms improve educational outcomes for American children? This question cannot be reliably answered by looking exclusively at domestic evidence, much less by looking exclusively at existing “school choice” programs. Though many such programs have been implemented around the United States, none has created a truly free and competitive educational marketplace, being too small, too restriction laden, or both. To understand how genuine market forces affect school performance, we must cast a wider net, surveying educational systems from all over the globe.” (p. 31)

Then Coulson describes the utopian conditions that are required for vouchers to be effective:

“I found that school choice and direct payment of fees by parents, autonomy for educators, minimal regulation, vigorous competition among schools, and the profit motive for at least some portion of schools were associated with the most effective and responsive educational systems. The lack of even one or two of these characteristics was associated with inferior outcomes.” (p. 32) (Emphasis mine)
. . .

“A free education market is defined here as a set of competing, minimally regulated, parent-chosen private schools whose tuition prices are not strictly controlled by the state and that are funded (at least in part) directly by parents.” (p. 32) (Emphasis mine)

In Coulson’s ideal world vouchers would provide even the poorest parents with the means needed to directly fund a quality education for their children. In the real world, however, vouchers don’t cover the costs of education in a good private school.  Research has shown that the primary beneficiaries of vouchers were students from wealthier families. In Arizona, the state with the most recent school voucher case to come before the Supreme Court, only 12% of the students using vouchers for private schooling transferred from a public school.  Most of the vouchers are going to students who were already attending non-public schools. (Kevin Welner, NeoVouchers, pp. 45-46)

Transcript Publishes Blog

Today's Norman Transcript published my blog about Haunted Memories.

Christianity Today Covers Baptist Communitarian Controversy

Christianity Today has finally covered the controversy over CBF of North Carolina revising its foundational statements.

Voting Patterns

Yup, those senior citizens on social security and medicare must have gotten riled up against Obama's socialized medicine.

Income Inequality in America

The Economic Policy Institute has just released a preview of their report on the state of working America.

The chart above makes it clear where the income gains have been concentrated.

Jimmy Carter on Fox News and the Tea Party