Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

It isn’t easy reading the news. It isn’t easy to sit down at a table with a mixed group of people. It isn’t easy to share things on social media. The reason? Because politics seasons all of these. And sometimes, the seasoning is off putting. Have you ever put salt in a dish when sugar was called for? That is how some conversations go these days. I think it is time to make some declarations about my politics. One, so others can judge me by my own position. Two, so I can look back on this and see development and change. Three, just so I can get a few things off my chest. I don’t affiliate with a single political party or platform. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree within their own party on what they think is important. The two party system has limited the true freedom of expression and a realistic representation of all people in this nation. We are convinced that these two parties are the only “real” way government can be run. Strangely, the two we have are not the two we ha...

After last weeks posts, there have been a few comments and conversations of substance outside of the blog. I want to share some of my responses in those conversations. I haven't asked the others I have spoken to in these conversations to share their comments. I will only give the framing question and my response. I was asked by one dear friend: What is the United Methodist churches stance on same-sex marriage? My response: We are in a state of quiet disagreement. There are plenty of voices on both sides of the issue stating clearly their opinion. The quiet part of the disagreement is two-fold.   First, we have put a moratorium on clergy trials for clergy who perform same-sex weddings. There are clergy who feel it is their Christian duty to perform weddings in states where it is legal. There are clergy who believe that, since our Book of Discipline has clear rules against it, no one within the UMC is legally/ecclesiastically eligible to do those. (That brings up an interestin...

Part One: Religious Freedom In the Midst of the Culture Wars Part Two: Culture Wars...and Politicians and the Media Part Three: Onward Christian Soldiers... Before I begin this post, let me lay out my biases first. I am an Evangelical (putting much authority on what Scripture says). I am a traditional Wesleyan Methodist (I gain my theological perspective from the theology of John Wesley and the Methodist movement of the 18th century). I believe in the Church's creedal statements from the middle of the first millennium.  That means I look at the world through a biblical, orthodox, Wesleyan lens. I also have some confessions to make. I struggle with the issue of same-sex marriage. I don't like weddings, period. I don't feel that gays deserve any more special treatment (positive or negative) than any other citizen of the United States. I do not judge another person's sins as greater than mine and I try not to let those sins diminish that person as a human being. Some...

Part one of the series: Religious freedom in the midst of the Culture Wars Part two of the series: Culture Wars....and the politicians and media. I have been a Christian since I was 7 or 8. I remember my first experience of accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I remember sitting in church and Sunday School listening to the lessons of what the Bible says and is about. I remember reading the Bible, finding its messages for myself. And in all of that, I came to believe the Bible to be an authority in my life. Its words I have allowed to speak into my life. I make the best attempt possible to transform those words into a lifestyle. I don't make the best example of what the scriptures say at all times of my life. I am called to account for bad choices and I hold myself to account for bad choices.    And to those Christians who have chosen to represent the Church in a stance against gays, I want to hold you to account for your choices.   Let me begin with a point...

 Here is part one of this series: Religious Freedom In the Midst of the Culture Wars The first people I would call to account for their behavior in this kerfuffle would be the politicians and the media. The current concept of culture war is being churned (as is the way with actual war) by the politicians jockeying for power and position. The media feeds the beast. Politicians have a way of being most sincere about the lines they are drawing. They make it appear that there is something to fear. They can find all of the concerns that constituents possess and them amplify them to terrors that must be stopped. In Pat Buchanan's day, it was the Religious Right or Christian Coalition or Moral Majority. The politicians of those confederations identified all of the anxieties where the moral fabric of the nation was coming to pieces. They proclaimed loud and proud how the enemies of traditional family values or moral propriety were leading this nation away from its once proud heritage....

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of point-counterpoint over the subject of RFRA's. If you don't follow the news media in any way, a RFRA is a bill passed by a governmental body (federal or state) that has as its subject religious freedoms. That sounds fairly governmental, right? The problem is that the current crop of RFRA's are being described in the media (print, television, talk radio, and internet) as the latest front in the culture wars. The language is intentionally battle related. Siege, offensive/defensive, campaign. You get the picture? What is a culture war? That is an interesting subject. It has roots in the 19th century. It was grounded in the effort of Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck of Germany to distance the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over the Prussian portion of the German Empire. The kulturkampf, or culture struggle, represented laws that were enacted that were biased against German Catholics. In the 20th century, the shift...

Recently, Houston has been a news magnet in the Christian world. I'm linking to the snopes.com entry only because it includes the sources and dates if you want to inform yourself. In a thumbnail sketch, here is the issue: The mayor of Houston signed an ordinance into law that was controversial.  Opponents of the ordinance began a petition drive to repeal the law. The petition was declared invalid by the city. The opponents filed a lawsuit against the city. The city attorneys responded and part of their action was to subpoena the sermons of 5 area pastors dealing with certain topics. The news world erupted in a frenzy of tree- and atom-killing as they printed/published/posted/aired reports about this issue and the blogosphere launched its own rhetoric, saber-rattling campaign. Got it? Okay. Here is my question: why would a pastor be offended/angry/persecuted if someone wanted copies of their sermon? I would be delighted if someone asked for a copy of all of my sermons o...