Forget about the Music of the Spheres

A BBC nature story about the music of Micronecta scholtzi surely demonstrates that God must have a sense of humor.

Forget about the music of the spheres.  Nature prefers the music of the phallii.

Unrepentant CEO's Ought to be Ashamed

An essay by Michael Winship about how "The Rich are Different" has been posted on the Counter Punch weblog.  The essay discusses "the evolution of executive grandeur" and the already enormous and growing disparity between executive pay and the pay of average corporate employees.  It concludes with a description of how CEO's have been working to  repeal provisions of the Frank-Dodd financial reform legislation that cast light on their featherbedding:

The annual "Executive Excess" survey from the progressive Institute for Policy Studies last September found that back in the seventies, only a handful of top American executives earned more than thirty times what their workers made. In 2009, "CEO's of major US corporations averaged 263 times the average compensation of American workers." And a USA Today analysis earlier this year found that while median CEO pay jumped 27% last year, workers in private industry saw their salaries grow by just 2.1 percent.

So how are many of those corporations addressing this gross inequity? By trying to cover it up.

Last year's Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation requires publicly traded companies to report the median of annual total compensation for workers, the total compensation of the CEO, and the ratio between the two. Big business has lobbied loudly against the reporting requirement, and on Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee voted 33-21 to repeal it.

The bill to repeal is sponsored by rookie Congresswoman Nan Hayworth (R-NY), whose official biography cites "reducing regulatory burdens on businesses" as one of her top priorities. Among her leading 2010 campaign contributors: leveraged buyout specialists Vestar Capital Partners, distressed debt investors Elliott Management and financial services giant Credit Suisse. Not to mention the anti-taxation Club for Growth.

Ernest Hemingway claimed that when F. Scott Fitzgerald once said to him, "The rich are different from you and me," he archly replied, "Yes, they have more money." Whether it's true or not, the Hemingway in the story got it wrong. The rich not only have more money, they have more power, more clout -- and more to hide.

Our CEO's ought to be ashamed. Clearly, they are unrepentant.

On Neurons and Free Will

Jonathan Turley has posted a guest blog by Mark Esposito that addresses a scientific and legal question with revolutionary implications for society as well as for theological and philosophical thought. 

It appears that for every advance in our understanding of genetic biology and neuroscience there is a corresponding reduction in the space for free will in decision making.  If "his neurons made him do it," how do we hold a criminal accountable for his actions? 

If science can determine that certain persons are born with a "genetic predisposition" toward violent anti-social behavior, would it be right to take preventive action to protect society?  Should we lock them up before they can do harm to others or could we try to modify their behavior with drugs and/or genetic modifications?  Or, should we continue to wait until they commit a violent crime before locking them up and/or trying to correct their genetic and/or neuronal propensities?

I used to think the way most Americans would answer such questions was  self-evident.  That was before we launched a pre-emptive war in Iraq, turned a blind eye to torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, and approved the suspension of civil rights at home.  Now I wonder whether or not most Americans would willingly trade their souls for anything that offers them the hope for a subsistence that is safe and secure.

Red Churches and Blue Churches?

The Baptist Standard has published an edited version of an essay that I wrote about keeping the gospel inclusionary at a time when society is being divided between red churches and blue churches as well as between red states and blue states.  Below is the complete question that I addressed along with the complete response:

Not only do we have “red states” and “blue states,” but also “red churches” and “blue churches.”  This exclusionary theme seems to be taking hold in our own church.  How can Christians help maintain an inclusionary gospel that provides the driving energy for our congregation?

For several decades, a variety of forces within society, the church and the American political system have fueled the development of factions within our communities. 

Not all factions are exclusionary.  Some factions are inclusive.  Inclusive factions distinguish themselves by minimizing differences while magnifying what we have in common.  Inclusive factions seek to unite the community – usually around a common purpose.

Exclusionary factions distinguish themselves by minimizing what we have in common while magnifying how we differ.   Exclusionary factions tend to polarize and divide the community – usually over differences in belief.

The question betrays a preference for the inclusionary faction as does this response.

Exclusionary factionalism cannot be ignored, it must be faced.   Turning a blind eye to those who vilify, exclude, and scapegoat others effectively empowers them.  It is a form of collusion.  Leaders who ignore differences or stifle conscientious dialogue, create a vacuum that exclusionary factions will fill. 

Polarized churches and communities can only be reconciled by an exercise of humility.  Special attention and more than lip service needs to be given to Paul’s teaching in Philippians 2:1-11.  Both sides need to look at themselves – with humility -- through the eyes of the other.   It would be helpful for everyone to consider the wisdom expressed in the title of Rabbi Brad Hirschfield’s book,  “You don’t have to be wrong, for me to be right.”  Both factions also need to honestly entertain the possibility that they could be wrong.   Conscientiously opposed factions cannot be united without a willingness from both sides to exercise humility and forbearance in Christian love.

Reconciliation takes place best in face-to-face forums for open dialogue where people respect conscientious differences.   If Christians cannot discuss sincere political differences with humility within the church, there is no hope that discourse within society will be conducted with civility.

The Baptist distinctive emphasizing separation of church and state does not mean that discussion of politics and public policy has no place within the church.   Endorsing political candidates and political parties is out-of-place, but discussions of public policy issues are relevant.

The Baptist distinctive of religious liberty is based on the conviction that because we are all personally accountable to God, every conscience must be free to relate to God personally.  Our consciences are formed through prayer, bible study, and dialogue with other Christians.  The gospel is relevant to discussions of politics and public policy.

At times, consciences within the church will be collectively convicted about injustices within society.   Those are times when the church has a prophetic role to fulfill within society.  At the same time, dissenting consciences within the church must not be censored and excluded.  There are times when God’s prophets must stand against the consensus within their own communities.

Life Expectancy Falling Short in USA

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) issued a report today that indicates that "Life expectancy in most U.S. counties falls behind world's healthiest nations."  The report compares statistics from the year 1987 with statistics from the years 1997 and 2007 and finds that the U.S. is not only falling behind the advances being made in life expectancy in other countries but, in some U.S. counties, life expectancy is declining from advances made in previous decades.

The U.S. currently ranks 37th internationally in life expectancy for both men (75.6 years) and women (80.8) years.  When compared to the average life expectancy in the ten nations with the lowest mortality, average life expectancy for men and women in the United States is 3.2 years shorter than the average life expectancy for people in the ten nations with the lowest mortality.

IHME has made information about life expectancy available for every state and county in the United States.

I did some checking.  I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  In Bernalillo County, New Mexico average life expectancy for men was 71.5 in 1987, 74 in 1997, 74.8 in 2007.  For women, life expectancy was 79.2 in 1987, 80.5 in 1997, and 81.1 in 2007 -- at this rate of improvement it will take 15 years for Bernalillo County to catch up with the current average life expectancy in the top ten nations.

I went to seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.  In Tarrant County, Texas average life expectancy for men was 70.4 in 1987, 73.2 in 1997, and 75.3 in 2007.  For women, life expectancy was 77.9 in 1987, 79.0 in 1997, and 79.9 -- at this rate of improvement it will take 21 years for Tarrant County to catch up with the current average life expectancy in the top ten nations.

I pastored a church in Houston, Texas and my children grew up there.  In Harris County, Texas average life expectancy for men was 70.7 in 1987, 72.8 in 1997, and 75.8 in 2007.  For women, life expectancy was 77.8 in 1987, 78.8 in 1997, and 80.5 in 2007 -- at this rate of improvement it will take 18 years for Harris County to catch up with the current average life expectancy in the top ten nations.

I now reside in Norman, Oklahoma.  In Cleveland County, Oklahoma average life expectancy for men was 73.4 in 1987, 75.1 in 1997, and 75.0 in 2007.  For women, life expectancy was 78.9 in 1987, 79.8 in 1997, and 79.8 in 2007 -- at this rate of improvement it will take 22 years for Cleveland County to catch up with the current average life expectancy in the top ten nations.

Surely we can do better.  I suspect that one of the chief differences between the U.S. and countries at the top of the international standard is that the U.S. has "privatized medicine" and the top countries have some system of "socialized medicine."

Podcast: Linda Terrell Interview

Podcast (33MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 6-12-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Linda Terrell, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA). We talk about the work of OICA, the Kids Count program, the teen pregnancy rate in Oklahoma, the cost of teen childbearing, and the need to develop and fund a program to reduce the number of teens bearing children in Oklahoma.

Tom Toles' Single Prayer Alternative

Civil Rights Champion Passes

Steve Gey, professor of law at Florida State University and member of the national board for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, passed away yesterday after a long and valiant struggle with ALS.

Gey was one of the most brilliant advocates for separation of church and state and civil rights in the country. He will be sorely missed.

On Graduation Prayers

Bill Leonard, professor of church history at Wake Forest Divinity School, has written an outstanding OP-ED about the recent court decision permitting a Texas High School valedictorian to force fellow students and their families to pray at their graduation.  Here are some of his affirmations:

-- The faith of the valedictorian should be celebrated and taken seriously.
-- At state-based public forums even implicit compulsory prayer is problematic, since that is not what governments are about.

-- At its best, prayer like faith itself is freely chosen, not implicitly or explicitly compelled of anyone, especially under government auspices.

What if future valedictorians are Muslim, or even Wiccan in their faith commitment? Would others at the graduation join their prayers then? If next year’s valedictorian affirms a non- Judeo-Christian faith, and invites prayer from such a tradition, what might be the response? Given the expanse of American religious pluralism, that day is not simply to be imagined, it is already here. Today’s religious majority can readily become tomorrow’s minority, especially if it is “ineffective in its ministry” whether in 1953 or 2011.

Paved Surfaces Have Adverse Effect on Air Quality

Science Daily is reporting that recent research is indicating that the paved surfaces in large cities soaks up heat, reduces wind and has an adverse effect on air quality.  The research was done in Houston by an international team led by Fei Chen.  Chen suggests a few things that  could help to counter the adverse effects of paving:

"If you made the city greener and created lakes and ponds, then you probably would have less air pollution even if emissions stayed the same," Chen explains. "The nighttime temperatures over the city would be lower and winds would become stronger, blowing the pollution out to the Gulf of Mexico."

How Religion Can Contribute to Peace in Palestine

In his book, "The Fate of Zionism : A Secular Future for Israel & Palestine" Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg records the response he gave in th 1970's at a Harvard Divinity School conference addressing the question: "What can the religious traditions contribute to making peace between the Israelis and Palestinians?"  He recounts:

I gave a one-sentence speech.  Its text was "The greatest contribution that religion can make to peace between Jews and Arabs is to get out of the equation."  . . . Biblical religions are by their very nature absolute.  They cannot easily yield anything to each other.  Since peace can be made between Israelis and Palestinians only by compromise, it will happen only when men and women of religion are left outside the door and practical politicians make the necessary untidy deals.

 Hertzberg goes on to clarify what he meant that day:

I did not really tell the truth that day at Harvard, some thirty years ago.  I did not want, then or now, for biblical religion to absent itself from the strife between the Palestinians and the Israelis.  What I wanted was the insistence of hardliners on both sides to end.  Let neither side keep invoking its supposed right to attack the other in the delusion that each is doing God's work.  Let them hear the deepest teaching of the biblical faith that we are all God's children.  We are a family that must find ways of making peace.

I would give an "Amen" to both statements.

Podcast: Rabbi Brad Hirschfield Interview

Podcast (27MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 6-5-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, President of The National Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL) and author of the book "You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism." We talk about his work with CLAL, about his book, about his experiences in an Israeli settlement at Hebron, and about the recent interchange between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism

Daily Oklahoman Offering Bad Analysis

United for a Fair Economy (UFE) recently offered a simple solution to the budget shortfalls that the Oklahoma state legislature has been facing for the past few years.  Their solution is to flip the percentage of the tax burden currently being paid by the most disadvantaged to the most advantaged.  I blogged about this and endorsed the idea when UFE offered their solution.

Today the Oklahoman, Oklahoma's  leading newspaper, says UFE's "Flip It to Fix It" is a bad idea.  The Oklahoman says, "In pushing this program, UFE pays only lip service to economic equality. The real goal is to increase the size of government" and lambasts the plan for increasing the taxes of those earning between $48K and $79K from 8.2 to 9.5%.

The Oklahoman is offering an abysmally bad analysis.  Nothing in UFE's report talks about increasing the size of government.  The report offers a solution that would enable lawmakers to maintain woefully underfunded services that are being cut back or eliminated for lack of funds. 

While record numbers of Oklahomans are on food stamps, programs to prevent child abuse are being cut, teachers are losing their jobs, corrections officers are being furloughed, and state parks are being closed, the Oklahoman continues to provide a smokescreen for the callous disregard that the most advantaged Oklahomans have toward the disadvantaged in this state.

Being in  that  $48K-$79K middle class tax bracket, I know that these figures reflect earnings after subtracting all the tax deductions available for real estate and vehicle taxes, home mortgage interest, medical and dental expenses, charitable contributions, unreimbursed job expenses, tax preparation fees, losses from casualty or theft, political contributions, and other miscellaneous deductions.  I don't think it would be unreasonable at all for persons in my tax bracket to pay 1.3% more in taxes to protect kids, care for the disabled, maintain our schools, pay state employees, and keep our state parks open.

If the facts were known, I am confident that a majority of middle class Oklahomans would be more than willing to pay their fair share in taxes.  Unfortunately, they will never know the facts as long as they trust the Oklahoman to do their analysis for them.

Podcast: Muneer Awad Interview

Podcast (34MB mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 5-29-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Muneer Awad, Executive Director of  CAIR-OK.  We talk about the work of the Council for American-Islamic Relations and the lawsuit that CAIR-OK and the Oklahoma affiliate of the ACLU filed challenging the constitutionality of the state's anti-Sharia law.

Rich Americans Don't Give Much to Religion

The Congressional Budget Office recently issued a report that revealed how much or how little people in different income brackets give to support religious charities.  It should come as no surprise that, in general, the more people make, the less they contribute to religious charities. 

Here's a graph (click on the graph to see a larger image) that reveals the distributions:

Progressive vs. Regressive Taxes in Oklahoma

Click on the charts for a larger image.

The United for a Fair Economy organization recently issued a report entitled "Flip It to Fix It:  An Immediate, Fair Solution to State Budget Shortfalls."   The report discusses the injustice of the regressive state tax system that prevails across our country and suggests a simple and fair solution to the budgetary shortfalls facing our state legislatures.  The solution is to expect more from those who have benefitted most from our society.  Simply invert the percentages of taxes being paid by the wealthiest and poorest citizens in each state.

In Oklahoma, when taxes from all sources are considered, the citizens in the lowest 20% of income bracket pay 9.9% of their annual income in taxes while the citizens in the highest 20% of income bracket pay only 5.9% of their annual income in taxes.     Reverse the percentage of taxes for the highest and lowest income quintiles.  Currently, citizens at the second lowest income quintile pay 9.5% of their annual income in taxes while the citizens at the second highest income quintile pay only 8.2% of their annual income in taxes.  Those percentages should also be inverted.  Taxes would remain the same for those at the middle income quintile.

The chart below graphs the difference in the amount of revenue that the state of Oklahoma would receive if the tax system was structured fairly.  Revenues in Oklahoma would increase by about $4.3 billion. 

The Flip It to Fix It report documents the difference in revenue for every state.  Click here to see the difference it would make in your state.

On Stagnant Wages Amid Rising Productivity

The graph above is from a recent report  by Frank Levy and Tom Kochan entitled Addressing the Problem of Stagnant Wages.  It shows trends in labor productivity and compensation since 1980. 

As shown in the figures (click on the picture for a larger image), between 1980 and 2009, labor productivity increased by 78 percent but:

• The median compensation of 35 to 44 year-old male high school graduates (with no college) declined by 10 percent.
• The median compensation of 35 to 44 year-old male college graduates (without graduate degrees) grew by 32 percent, less than one half as much as overall productivity growth.
• Only the median compensation of 35 to 44 year-old men with post-graduate training came close to labor productivity growth increasing by 49 percent.

I agree with Levy and Kochan's conclusion.  It is time for a new social compact to reverse these trends.

Declining Emergency Room Health Care

After Oklahoma's Governor returned a $54 million health care grant from the federal government and as the Oklahoma Insurance Department announces that it is returning $1 million in federal funds that were granted to conduct health insurance premium rate reviews, the New York Times has published a story about "Fewer Emergency Rooms Available as Need Rises."

Emergency rooms are closing because so few people can afford health insurance.

Oklahoma's elected leaders are demonstrating their commitment to reducing the debt of the federal government at the expense of the most vulnerable among us.

If they really had the courage of their convictions, however, they would give up their own government funded health care insurance and expose themselves to  the same level of risk as those they are depriving of affordable health care.

Podcast: Charles Kimball Interview

Podcast (27MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 5-15-2011 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dr. Charles Kimball, author of the best selling book "When Religion Becomes Evil" and Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma. We talk about Dr. Kimball's new book, When Religion Becomes Lethal.

Francis Wayland: The First Baptist Economist

Last summer, as I was reading D.H. Meyer's The Instructed Conscience, I was surprised to learn how influential Francis Wayland, a Baptist educator, was among 19th century American academic moralists and intellectuals. I wrote a blog about this entitled, Francis Wayland: The First Baptist Ethicist.

Yesterday, as I was reading a book by a Nobel Prize winning economist, I was surprised to learn how influential Francis Wayland once was in the field of economic theory. In a fascinating book entitled, The Fourth Great Awakening & the Future of Egalitarianism, Robert William Fogel writes:

The principal economic theorist of the Second Great Awakening was the Reverend Francis Wayland, president of Brown University and one of the most influential figures in the Northern Baptist Church before the Civil War. His treatise The Elements of Political Economy was the most widely used economics textbook from the time it first appeared in 1837 until the outbreak of the Civil War.

Considering the profound intellectual legacy Baptists have, it is a shame that contemporary Southern Baptists have turned all their institutions of higher learning into obscurantist indoctrination centers.