~ 7 July 2008 ~

Nonfailure is not an option

Writing on the nature of our cultural mood, Marilynne Robinson contrasts a time when “meaning had a larger frame and context than this life in this world,” to what our civilization aims for today:

I think the true name for what we aspire to is nonfailure.  Most of those who are household names in this strange time are objects of horror or derision, a fact which in many instances reflects our need rather than their deserving.  My son came home from school once staggered by a discussion of Abraham Lincoln, whom he revered. None of the other students would be persuaded that Lincoln went into politics for anything but the money.  The grandeur of his speeches merely proved the depth of his cynicism. In the same way, we can refuse evidence of actual merit, and we can discredit seriousness, and we can feel morally acute while we do it.  Our defenses against real success are invulnerable.  Our hostility to success of every kind is demonstrated afresh every day.

But nonfailure is another thing.  Income and credit shrewdly managed, desiderata learned from the better shops of catalogs and systematically acquired — for better and for worse, this is not much to aspire to.  It is because our hopes are in fact so very modest that we can be made to fear another teenager with a baby might snatch them all away.  It is because we hope to acquire rather than to achieve — in the old language of religion, to receive rather than to give — that the good we imagine can truly be taken from our hands.

The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, “Reality,” pp. 84-85

This is a good observation because it touches on the mediocrity that is — more often than not — more popular today than true excellence.  Excellence seems so often unattainable that the purveyors of low culture win the day because it’s something which people see within reach.

Thus, we end up with “reality shows” setting the tone for our national discussions, and “not getting kicked off the island” as the hallmark of success.

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~ 6 July 2008 ~

Now hiring

If you’re web-savvy, politically pro-family, and looking for a job in the Washington, D.C. area, Family Research Council is now hiring for the position of Web Editor:

The Web Editor serves as the editing and preparation channel through which all publications, papers, and communications from all FRC departments are funneled for the most effective presentation on FRC website. With assistance and expertise of information technology staff, insures posting, revision, and arrangement of material on website. The incumbent works to enhance FRC’s Internet presence and image as a public policy research, education, and advocacy organization.

See here for more details, and please pass along if you know of anyone else who might be interested.

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~ 29 June 2008 ~

In search of religion without a license

Karl Marx thought of religion as the opiate of the masses, but it is his offspring who have become intoxicated on the suppression of religion.

Take Belarus, for example.  The former Soviet “Republic” seems anything less than a free society these days.  Its president, Alexander Lukashenko, is known in some circles as Europe’s last great dictator, and is no friend to religious freedom.

Belarus’ government required in 2002 that all religious activity be registered — a practice not unlike the one in place during the Soviet regime.  Registration is, of course, much more than just giving a name and an email address.  Registration creates lists, and to be on a list in a country that leans Marxist is not a good thing.  It didn’t take long for violations of this law to pop up.

The past few weeks haven’t improved upon this track record:

Belarus has imposed a fine of more than two months’ average wages on a Baptist who “organised choir singing and conducted conversations on religious topics” outside Ushachi public market, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. After a plain clothes policeman told a group of Baptists from outside the area to stop, Vladimir Burshtyn replied that they were not disturbing public order and cited religious freedom guarantees in Belarus’ Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The fine is, to Forum 18’s knowledge, the highest yet imposed on Baptists for unregistered religious activity. Higher fines have been imposed on members of other communities. Olga Karchevskaya, an official who witnessed the incident, defended the state’s response and the Religion Law’s restrictions because “we need to know who’s coming to us - they could be destructive or acting against people’s interests.” In a separate incident, a Baptist congregation’s worship in Osipovichi was interrupted by officials, and the congregation’s deacon was fined about two week’s average wages for leading an unregistered religious community.

The wall has come down, the “bear” has been put to rest. Perhaps, however, some remnants of the Cold War weren’t quite as thawed as we thought…

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~ 16 June 2008 ~

Insurance companies are communist

Why else would they have such names as State Farm and Allstate?

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~ 15 June 2008 ~

Is the internet messing with our minds?

Nicholas Carr is right on target with his suggestion that the internet may be changing the way we think. In a provocative, must-read piece in the current issue of The Atlantic, Carr argues that the fast-paced bite-sized world of internet reading is not innocuous:

…Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going-so far as I can tell-but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I’ve noticed this in my own reading habits. After being immersed in a world of blogs and RSS feeds, I find it difficult to switch back to book-reading mode. It’s almost as if I have to ease into long-form literature by reading a magazine article or something brief.

What to do about it, I’m unsure. In a few years will I be able to read anything longer than Twitter post or a Facebook status update?

The phenomenon does reveal the truth that reading is a habit that must be practiced to be well maintained. It also shows that those who do maintain the ability to read long works may soon possess a skill set that puts them in a league of their own.

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~ 8 June 2008 ~

Sunday Drive

Given the price of gasoline these days, driving at high speeds on a Sunday afternoon is out of the question. But thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we can all live vicariously.

First, the greatest movie car chase of all time, from the 1968 film Bullitt. Steve McQueen, in his 1968 390 CID V8 Ford Mustang, is followed by two crooks in a black 1968 Dodge Charger. He quickly turns the tables on them, and the chase commences. When the music stops, the engines roar, and it’s time to hang on. Read the details of the car chase here, and watch the clip below:

Since we’re competing with the Europeans for the price at the pump, I’m reminded of another high-speed driving flick called C’était un rendez-vous. Shrouded in mystery, this 9 minute film is a high speed morning ride through the city of Paris at dawn — shot in a single take:

Drive safely…

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~ 3 June 2008 ~

Truth on the slant

In the most recent issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, Ken Myers spoke with Eugene Peterson on the place of reading in the spiritual lives of Christians. They reference a brilliant poem by Emily Dickinson from which Peterson takes the title of his upcoming book, Tell it Slant. Here’s the poem:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Cirrcuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—

I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never before come across this gem, but I’m glad I did, as it expertly highlights an oft-overlooked aspect of truth-telling: sometimes the best way to tell the truth is indirectly.

The principle is not foreign to the Bible. Moses, for example, asks to see the full glory of Yahweh, but is told by God, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (see Exodus 33:17-23) Moses is instead offered a glimpse of God’s backside — an encounter that was still so powerful that he had to veil his face because it glowed so brightly.

Peterson noted that Jesus’ parables were constructed explicitly to bring truth in an indirect manner. Having people get the point immediately didn’t seem to be goal of such cryptic storytelling. Truth apprehended immediately doesn’t always have the same staying power as truth revealed eventually.

Such indirection is not to be mistaken for deception. Deception, with its substitution of false reality, is too intertwined with untruth to be a proper tool for truth telling.

It must also be noted that indirection isn’t the only manner in which truth must be presented. It was necessary for the Apostle Paul to be blinded (by the Truth, no less) on the road to Damascus. Only such an abrupt encounter with truth could prepare him to later write these words: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Indeed, sometimes the truth hurts. But it can also hint, or — better said — dazzle gradually.

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~ 28 May 2008 ~

What is ‘good’?

It’s a good question — one posed by Ron H. in his comment on my recent “Darwinism and good” post:

What can adequately explain why something is or isn’t good? Equivalently: What is good?

For many (in practice this is most, I imagine), something is good if it turns out the way a person wishes. Good is reduced to whatever is the most pleasant outcome.

This view is problematic in that there is so much more to “goodness” than its typical subjective uses. There exists an objective good, whether or not we can ascertain it.

As a Christian, I view the concept of good through the lens of biblical revelation. The concept is there throughout Scripture, and shows up early on in the Old Testament book of Genesis:

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4, ESV)

Good is that which is wrought by God.

In the New Testament, good is applied on a personal level:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:17-18, ESV)

And to gifts we’ve been given:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17, ESV)

These are but a few examples that begin to show a biblical view of good. The Scriptures indicate that good is a reflection of God’s actions and his character. Good emanates from God.

Without such grounding, it becomes difficult to quantify good in terms other than mere personal preference. It would seem, for example, that a naturalist — who believes that the natural world is all that there is — has little grounding for appealing to the good. I can say that a little girl’s smile is good, because I know that she is a good creation of God.

Upon what can a naturalist base a view of good?

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~ 27 May 2008 ~

We named the dog Indiana

I’m now back from travels to the hinterlands of Tennessee, where I saw — among other things — Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As someone who has long considered Raiders and Last Crusade two of my favorite movies, I’ve looked forward to the next Indy sequel ever since the rumors started flying back in the mid-90s.

Even so, I had low expectations. Overhyped sequels rarely do well. How else does one explain Spiderman 3, a film that competes even with Twister on my all-time worst film list?

Thankfully, Indy 4 avoids such pitfalls. Is it a great film? No. Among the other films of the franchise, it probably ranks 3 out 4. What it is is entertaining, far fetched, and loads of fun. Any attempt to read anything else into the movie is taking higher criticism too far.

If you’re a fan, go see it. If you’re not, don’t even try to comprehend.

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~ 21 May 2008 ~

The Hulk must be an incredible smoker

The other night, during a television commercial break, something strange caught my eye in a trailer for the new movie The Incredible Hulk:

It didn’t strike me until 10 seconds into the next commercial. Quick rewind (this is the stuff DVRs are made for!). Yes it’s just as I thought:

The Hulk uses tobacco

Notice the dire warning box at the bottom of the credit screen (which looks eerily like a McCain-Feingold style political disclaimer). Yep, just when you thought it was safe to enter the cinema again, they had to go and ruin it.

Nevermind that its PG-13 rating includes “Scenes of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief suggestive content,” this film contains depictions of tobacco consumption, for crying out loud!

Why can’t they just let the monstrous gamma-ray infected superheroes bludgeon each other to the death without bringing tobacco into the mix? Films these days are getting as dangerous as the front porch of the Baptist church of my childhood, which featured more than its fair share of tobacco consumption.

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