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Religion and Zombies

February 14, 2012 in Life, Religion, Zombies with 3 Comments

While I was in Florida over this past weekend the second season of The Walking Dead returned. If you know me then you know I really dig that show. Of course, I also like to filter some of the tougher questions of meaning and morality through pop culture.

That’s why I asked Rob Shep to take a look at something I wrote a few weeks back as I attempted to make sense of some modern day bigotry through the lens of zombie drama, a.k.a., zomdram.

If you’re into the sound of what I’m singing or like to pick the more philosophical side of my brain then please head over to Rob’s site and check out my article on Christians, Racism, and Zombies.

And even though I still think it’s a completely contrived and basically meaningless holiday compared to an anniversary or other personally meaningful day, go ahead and have yourself a Happy Valentine’s Day. Or don’t. I love you either way. Send Skittles.

Will Norton & The Light

December 27, 2011 in Life, Religion with 19 Comments

I’m not really into reposting my old stuff but my top post of this year and all-time comes from this past June when I told the story of Will Norton whose amazing life was cut short by the Joplin tornado. I’ve been thinking about Will’s family this week and the pain of empty spaces around the holidays.

There’s a singer I like named TobyMac who’s been singing a song for a long time called In The Light. Will’s story changes lives because he lived in the Light. I hope you’ll take a minute to read this story, especially if you’ve never seen it. Then go look at the beautiful monument that the Norton’s had placed last month in tribute to their Willdabeast.

~*~*~*~

On May 22, a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Millions of people now know the story of Will Norton, the 18 year old who could not survive the storm that struck as he drove home from his high school graduation service.

The storm ripped him from his vehicle even as his father in the passenger seat struggled to hold him. A cell phone and graduation cap were the only thing found until Will’s body was discovered a few days later. He was reportedly reciting Scripture in those final moments. But the story goes deeper.

I first heard about Will through Amy, one of my original blogging acquaintances. Her family survived the deadly tornado despite harrowing conditions that she recounted in a powerful way. Her description of the town in the days following the tragedy will shake you.

I learned about the discovery of Will’s body when I came across a link Amy put on Facebook. She only added “What an amazing life. Thinking today about Will’s family and friends.” The search for the high school grad had come to an unhappy end, but Amy linked to a video called “50″ by Will Norton. I got choked up when I watched it, kind of like the way I feel now as I write this. Continue Reading…

Politics and Religion: The Party Taboos

December 15, 2011 in Education, Life, Politics, Religion with 2 Comments

One of my favorite parts of being a professor is that I work in places where the open exchange of ideas is expected. They say you should never talk about politics and religion at a party, but I get to teach about that stuff in the academy.

The biggest reason these topics are taboo is that so many people get too emotional at the expense of intellect. But it shouldn’t be that way.

I like to think about these things, especially at a time like this when Time magazine makes The Protester it’s “Person of the Year.” That’s a great call when you think about how much the world changed over these past few months.

I have a lot of unpublished thoughts on all kinds of spiritual-cultural topics but try to use this space sparingly for much of that. In a few days I’m going to post about my new web presence coming in 2012 and will be asking you for specific ideas to help design the new direction*.

One part of that new web stuff will be a place to bring a different side of my brain to the internet discussion. I like the phrase that Donald Miller used in the subtitle of his phenomenal book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality.

I’ve written a guest post along these lines for my friend Kim Wilson about how Christians can look like ignorant protesters if we’re not careful. I hope you’ll head over there, check it out, and join the discussion.

*No, eduClaytion isn’t going anywhere, just getting a face lift.

Will Norton: The Most Powerful Story I’ve Ever Blogged

June 10, 2011 in Life, Religion with 66 Comments

Some months ago I scheduled the blog post for this day, a Friday Flick Faceoff around the theme of natural disaster movies including Twister. Then the Joplin tornado happened, and I didn’t want to write that post anymore. Then I learned about the incredible life of Will Norton.

~*~*~*~

On May 22, a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Millions of people now know the story of Will Norton, the 18 year old who could not survive the storm that struck as he drove home from his high school graduation service.

The storm ripped him from his vehicle even as his father in the passenger seat struggled to hold him. A cell phone and graduation cap were the only thing found until Will’s body was discovered a few days later. He was reportedly reciting Scripture in those final moments. But the story goes deeper.

I first heard about Will through Amy, one of my original blogging acquaintances. Her family survived the deadly tornado despite harrowing conditions that she recounted in a powerful way. Her description of the town in the days following the tragedy will shake you.

I learned about the discovery of Will’s body when I came across a link Amy put on Facebook. She only added “What an amazing life. Thinking today about Will’s family and friends.” The search for the high school grad had come to an unhappy end, but Amy linked to a video called “50″ by Will Norton. I got choked up when I watched it, kind of like the way I feel now as I write this. Continue Reading…

Should Muslims Get A Mosque At Ground Zero?

June 4, 2010 in News, Politics, Religion with 10 Comments

Should New York build an Islamic mosque near the World Trade Center site in Manhattan?  Amidst economic crisis, oil catastrophe, and the plummeting popularity of a president this heated debate has exploded onto the scene in recent weeks.  Folks keep asking me what I think, so I figured I should formulate some kind of educlayted opinion.

The argument has already gotten pretty nasty since the announcement of the project.  The issue remained somewhat quiet until a recent vote by Community Board 1 came down 29-1 in favor of the worship/community center.  A quarter of the board members abstained.

This issue comes down to two main questions.  Should Muslim leaders pursue this project?  Do they have a right to build a mosque there?  Everything beyond those two factors falls into the camp of emotions, lots of emotion.  As one protestor stated at the board hearing: “This house of evil will be the birthplace of the next terrorist event.”

***

A recent caller to a talk show on a radio station which I will leave unnamed objected to the project with this statement: “Would they build a monument for Hitler next to Auschwitz?”  That’s an intense reaction.  Some folks find that comparison incredibly offensive while others find it accurate.  Nazism was short-lived and brutal.  These days the beliefs and symbols of Hitler’s regime are outlawed in Germany.  I find the Holocaust comparison somewhat off for this debate.   

Perhaps a better example would be the Japanese-American conflict of the 1940s.  It’s hard for this generation to understand the impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, but that event felt a lot like 9/11 and cost a comparable number of lives.  What would you say about a project to build a Shinto temple a few hundred yards from where the U.S.S. Arizona was sunk by Japanese fighters?

Nearly a decade after Pearl Harbor, Japan and the U.S. were building a healthy relationship.  Could you imagine a Shinto priest pushing for a facility in that spot?  How would Americans have reacted then?  Let’s flip the scenario.  How do you think Japanese people would have felt about a big, ol’ catholic church right on the doorstep to the Hiroshima memorial?  Why would any American even promote such a plan?  Sounds like a slap in the face.

Allow me one more distinction between 1941 and 2011.  Pearl Harbor was a military facility staffed by men and women serving their country.  The World Trade Center was filled with civilians just working and trying to live out their free lives.

Islam is accepted by our pluralistic society, as are many other beliefs.  We tolerate opposing beliefs, but we’re under no obligation to celebrate them.  Muslims who want this facility have rights in America because heroes of this nation have shed blood by the millions to guarantee freedom.  To mere suggestion of this facility does not seem like the workings of peace but a stirring of conflict.  Lots of folks say, ”Build a mosque, just NOT THERE!”  Yet there’s another significant fact that warrants incredulity. 

The Imam and company claiming a desire to “bridge the gap” between Muslims and the rest of America want to break ground on this facility to celebrate Islam on September 11, 2011–the 10th anniversary of the attack.  Continue Reading…

Meaning Amidst The Violence

April 20, 2010 in Life, News, Religion with 20 Comments

Today is the anniversary of one of the most shocking events of my lifetime. On this day in 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their sickening assault at Columbine High School. Last year, upon the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the massacre, President Bill Clinton said the events at that school in Colorado “changed us forever.” 

I wonder what that change has looked like for us. There are plenty of different perspectives after an event of this magnitude. Some people are closer than others, some always seem to see things more clearly, and some are perpetually clueless. Now that eleven years have passed, there’s a large segment of the population who weren’t old enough to notice the worst public school shooting in American history.

Change comes in a lot of forms. The harshest form reshaped the lives of the families of the 15 people who died, two dozen wounded, and countless others in that devastated community. Some folks used the shootings to pump up the gun control debate. A lot of people threw their hands in the air and saw no hope. Many more, especially those inspired by the character of Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott, found light in the midst of darkness, meaning amidst the monstrous.

I think if we’re honest, a lot of us hear about these hellish tragedies and thank God that it didn’t happen to us. Then we go on with our lives hoping that nothing like that ever will.

We always want everything to make sense but sometimes life just doesn’t. So what do we do with a story like this?  How are we supposed to commemorate what took place in Littleton, Colorado? The short answer is that we live purposefully, intending to make a positive difference in the world around us everyday.

If you could, would you reach out to one of the parents whose child was slaughtered while they were at school? Most of us would. Then who is around us today, even right now maybe, and hurting? What person in your life needs a soft word of encouragement or a few minutes of your time?

What about those victims? Would you love to go back in time and tell them what was coming? I think we all wish we could go back and prevent some terrible things that have happened. Of course we can’t, but the future is coming. How much of it do you have left?  What if tomorrow is your day? What if it’s today? Are you ready? None of us want to face that reality right now, but could you if you had to? Cassie and Rachel did.

The last one is toughest of all. What about those two young guys who planned the rampage and never looked back? Why did they hate? What did they need? We’ll never have all the answers, but wouldn’t you like to go back to the point in their lives when they ran so far from the main path? I wonder if maybe they were pushed a little from that path, from the crowd. I bet they were pushed a lot. Continue Reading…

Quicksand Jesus

April 3, 2010 in Pop Culture, Religion with 3 Comments

A few years back, exhausted from a late night drive, I crawled into a hotel room somewhere and flipped on the television to crash out. Some religious program popped on with talk of controversy over a song call Quicksand Jesus by the band Skid Row. Lead singer Sebastian Bach was laughing at criticisms that his lyrics were blasphemous or something.

Skid Row blew up in the 80s along with all those other hair metal bands in the years before Kurt Cobain killed the pretty boy culture by declaring everything so useless with his angst-ridden movement. (What a downer that guy was). My sister was always quick to point out that Bach (not the German composer) was tone deaf. I’ll be quick to point out that he’s Canadian. Some of you might be quick to point out he’s on Celebrity Fit Club, a show so terrible I wouldn’t watch it even if I had cable.

Anyway, back to the controversy in that hotel room. I should have paid better attention because I really can’t remember the argument. This is where my snarky friends say, “Good story hot shot.You oughta write that down.” Well, enough years have passed that I can take some artistic license here in recreating the argument.

Late Night Preacher Type With Bad Hair: This song is offensive.

Strung Out Canadian Front Man: Yeah right! (High pitched scream).

LNPTWBH: …Satan sings the chorus…

SOCFM: You couldn’t be more wrong. This song is actually about how people use religion as a crutch.

LNPTWBH: That’s enough for me.

Not known for theology

The real irony, other than the contrast of hair styles, is that they were probably both off the mark. Skid Row wasn’t trying to make the church happy, but they also weren’t exactly in league with Lucifer. The song is actually filled with questions, probably honest questions of someone trying to understand how spiritual beliefs work or matter so much to certain people.

***

The idea of Quicksand Jesus has generated a lot of discussion since its release nearly two decades ago. I guess the popular thought is that people turn to religion or Jesus when they are in the quicksand, when life is falling apart. That means God is either a crutch or a savior. You could move towards extremes in either direction from there. I’ve heard one person say those with faith are only sinking; another says once Jesus has you it’s like being locked in quicksand.

I think it’s pretty amazing that billions of people are still trying to figure out what to do with Jesus as we go on over 2,000 years after his crucifixion. Half the world doesn’t even believe in him and the half that does can’t decide whether he belongs on a cross or not. The man is not going away. He’s as relevant as ever.

Here we are at Easter, a holiday for which the very name has become divisive. People are having battles on Facebook and email and TV over just how offensive Jesus actually is. Some folks get enraged by the simple mention of his name while others think the whole thing is a joke. All of history is divided on his lifetime. Today, all of society is divided over his death. Some say it never happened. Some say he stayed dead. Many people, including President Obama again today, say Continue Reading…

Scientologists Gone Wild

May 28, 2009 in Humor, Religion with 2 Comments

Someone should tell the Mormons that they blew it.  Sorry Mitt.  If you’re ever gonna make up a new religion don’t pick Utah as your headquarters.  Where would be better than Utah you ask?  Good question.  The answer is just about anywhere else, but preferably the beach.  For followers of sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard that would be Clearwater Beach, Florida.

I know this because I recently spent a fortnight (assuming fortnight means 8 days) down at Clearwater.  Sure, like any other religious seeker I dabbled in other areas like Tampa Bay and Ft. Myers, but those other spots lacked all I came to love about ClearH2O, endearing features like torrential rainfall, tornado warnings, shark attacks, haters of all things Pittsburgh and, most of all, Scientologists.

Quick editorial note: I don’t really believe Scientology should have a capital S, but let’s not take the chance since they could sick aliens on me to melt my brain and/or face.

Since you, like me, have probably never researched this unique organization, let’s take a closer look, and by closer look I mean ridicule and satirize without actually researching anything.

***

All I knew about Scientology heading into my vaca was that L. Ron Hubbard created the thing, Tom Cruise & John Travolta were big fans, and aliens were involved.  That alone helped explain Cruise’s behavior on Oprah and Battlefield Earth.  Also, they want to “clear the planet” of us 6 billion or so people in their way.  Bet you didn’t know that little chestnut.

As I first took in the sights of Clearwater Beach, I began to learn more of these pleasure seekers.  They’re not exactly catching rays at the surf, more like walking in circles around landside buildings.  And they love Starbucks.  Beware coffee drinkers, methinks there’s a powerful elixir in that steaming venti.

Key Centers Of Scientology. Notice Starbucks. I Have No Idea Why 311 Eldridge St. Is Marked.

One day I got stopped at a red light next to a parked van, the official ScientologyMobile.  Graphics adorned the white box on wheels, messages explained that I was empty and miserable and urged me to buy L. Ron Hubbard’s book Dianetics so that I could attain peace and happiness.  Inspired by the cult-mobile I yearned to know more.  Well, that and it had rained for five straight days.

At first I tried to speak to some of the local faithful.  Scientologists are easy to spot.  Their dress code apparently came out of the employee handbook for Red Lobster servers.  Perhaps sensing my outsiderness, they hoarded their Starbucks cups and sidestepped me as I approached.  I tried signaling them ala Spock from Star Trek, but I never could do that stupid salute with two fingers pointing each way, so I inadvertently gave a bunch of Scientologists the finger.  Trust me, not something you want to do on their home turf.

I looked to my family for help, but they had jumped in the rental van and drove away.  Relentless as Rosie O’Donnell after porkchop sandwiches, I determined to infiltrate the Clearwater compound for answers.  Continue Reading…

Hating On Hate Crimes

May 5, 2009 in Politics, Religion with 6 Comments

What exactly is a hate crime?  Is it hurting someone because of who they are or what they believe?  Do only certain people count?  Such questions marinate on my mind these days as debate twizzles over a new bill passed by the House on the issue of hate crime. 

At first you might guess that a hate crime is when a member of a minority group is targeted.  If a black or Jewish or gay person is targeted, then you have a hate crime right?  I hear women also count.  So every crime is a hate crime unless it’s against straight white people?  No, because minorities are killed everyday without mention of a hate crime.  So if blacks or Jews or gays or women are killed just because, then don’t sweat it, but look out if the killer acted because of skin color, religious belief, or sexual orientation.

Look, if someone kills me I’m pretty sure they hate me. I don’t think my family cares much what motivated my murderer.  What if I was killed for being 6’3″?  Maybe some angry, short guy hates tall people.  That would be a hate crime right?  As a dead person I don’t think I would really care.

***

The current scuttlebutt revolves around fears that anyone opposing gay lifestyles or marriage will get nabbed when someone they know does something bad.  According to Fox News contributor James Osborne: “For much of the last decade gay rights activists have been fighting for inclusion within the federal hate crimes law, which places greater penalties on crimes that are committed based on race, ethnicity and religion.”

Many conservatives are up in arms over the bill saying that prosecutions will be extended against groups, particularly Christians, who teach that homosexuality is morally wrong.  Another group against gays would be Muslims, but I don’t want to go off course here. Continue Reading…

Worry About Your Own Sin

April 21, 2009 in Life, Religion with 10 Comments

Are evangelical Christians too tough on homosexuals?  Monday’s USA Today featured an article called An Evangelical’s Plea: ‘Love the sinner’ by Jonathan Merritt who takes on this issue.  Merritt contends that his fellow American believers are hypocritical by claiming to follow Jesus Christ yet condemning gay men and lesbians.

While Merritt believes that God’s model is “lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual union,” he’s asking where the love is these days.  The old mantra of “love the sinner, hate the sin” isn’t working out he claims.  There’s plenty of sin hating but little sinner loving.

I remember sitting offstage in a  TV studio a few years ago as Dr. Tony Campolo, radical evangelist dynamo conducted an interview for a future broadcast.  I had escorted Tony and his wife Peggy from the airport.  The host asked about all the tough issues facing Christians and what Campolo believed.  Then that host asked for a clarification to a point.  

The question went something like “so we should love the sinner and hate the sin?”

Peggy Campolo backhanded my forearm and gulped a sound that seemed to mean “oh brother” and yuck all at once.  She had heard this before.  I was intrigued.

On the stage, under the lights, Dr. Campolo squared against the interviewer and responded.  “No.  You should love the sinner and worry about your own sin.”

I will never forget that.  You shouldn’t either whether you’re a Muslim, atheist, Catholic, or whatever. Continue Reading…

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