Learning From the Sin of Sodom

This is a fascinating article about religious and secular groups and aid; drawing the conclusions that more good would probably be done if both groups put aside their different approaches and worked together. Kristof comments on a (challenging) section from Richard Stern's book (The Hole in Our Gospel) :

"What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?" he writes. "Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these 'orphans and widows in their distress.' (James 1:27). Shouldn't the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion? "How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?" Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about "a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics." In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn't so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49)

Read more here.

new sounds

Here's some interesting news ...  Thom Yorke premiering some new songs..   (via NPR). I really like 'Give up the ghost'. I'd love to see either Thom Yorke and his band (now Atmos for Peace) or Radiohead come back downunder.

Church and state

There was an interesting article in The Australian today about politicians and faith. The article was in response to the question of whether politcians need to 'leave their faith at the door of parliament once they are elected'.

I'm not sure that it is a realistic request - in the sense that what we believe is a significant part of our character, and our view of things. Perhaps theres something in Rawls argument of public reason, that arguments should be made which would appeal to those who are religious and those who are not. But is governing and legislating morality something the church should be concerned with.

art

 I read this interesting article about art in Australia. It does't really seem surprising that people may have a range of tastes. One of the points that reasonated with me is the quote by Catherine Lumby.

"Television, particularly interactive forms like reality TV, are the Shakespearean drama of our time," she says. "That's not saying that Big Brother housemates speak in soliloquies, they don't. But in the broader sense, it has the same appeal of the theatre and human drama. She says the blurring of the lines between high art and low rent has been particularly strong in the virtual world. Video-sharing sites such as YouTube give anyone the opportunity and the power to produce their own works of art, she says.

That every can write; or produce content is great... and that content can be seen by so many people is great too -- without the internet I would not have found much out about Paul Potts and Susan Boyle (and yes there is negatives there too). Perhaps thats the beauty of art, its a matter of taste, there's something for everyone.

olympics..

Its no secret that the worst thing about the Olympics, is the commentators, actually its probably one of the most frustrating things about sport is the inane comments made by those who are describing it to us. But in Vancouver, on of the stories is the Canadian figure sakter Joannie Rochette, whose mother passed away a few days before she was to skate. Here's a great piece about her story. I can't say that I'd be skating in her circumstances.

Other than the figure skating which is always great; I've enjoyed the Ice Hockey, the sliding sports, and the distance ski-jumping..  I actually think its been more fun to watch than the summer games. :-)

Cause of Crime...

I don't find this particularly surprising ... the root cause of crime is opportunity.

"200"

Wow.. it was always only a mattter of time before a man managed to score 200 runs in a one-day cricket match. [Australia's Belinda Clark already acheived that]. I had to admit that I always thought that Adam Gilchrist would have been that man. But last night, and I guess its fitting, Sachin Tendulkar became the first to score 200 runs in a one-day international. (And as a bonus here is a list of some of his other great innings).

Q&A

I watched the Q&A tonight, where a large group of 18-25 year olds, were given the opportunity to ask questions of the PM. There was something inspiring about this, our elected leader, standing in a room, respondng to questions. A two way conversation between the elected leader, and the electors is a great exchange of information. I'm not sure whether it would impact or influence the PM's mind, but the dicusssion is valuable, hopefully the young people in the room left feeling their PM was accessible. Flowing from this - I'd love to see a situation like in the US, where the President took questions from the opposition. I don't know how or even if it would work, but the example of dialogue it would set if it did, would be great.