I carried a sign that said “I’m a Christian Against Christians Hating and Oppressing Others.”

Some of the comments on Monday’s post, Moving Beyond Pro-Birth, struck a cord and reminded me that it would be wise to reflect on where we as a church have been in an effort to figure out where we are to move to. The church, as made up of individuals, but it often becomes it’s own entity, for better or worse. So, this is a call out for you to share your stories about your church or a church you know of and how the church addressed the issue of …

(This is not a critique, but what I believe is an honest starting point for a dialog regarding mothers and babies and how the church can be the embodiment of the love of Christ)

I have seen so much passion regarding this issue, so much time, energy, finances, thought and more being poured into the anti-abortion stance by Christians and christian groups. I’m not sure that I’ve seen so much passion from the church in the USA regarding any other issue (at least from my limited perspective).  I’m excited to see …

While we recognize brushing our teeth is important, it’s not something we as Christians spend a whole lot of time on.

This might seem like a slight tangent from the topic of politics, but I assure you it is not. I’m kind of hoping someone else can lend some insight into this.
After reading the gospel and finding no way to reconcile “love your enemies” with going to war, I started looking for some theological insight that would make sense of how we as a religion had come to this point. Someone suggested a fascinating book called, The Powers That Be, by Walter Wink, which contained this brilliant quote:
Christianity’s weaponless victory over …

With the conventions inching upon us (and VP nominees to come), November will probably be here before we know it. I believe discussing politics is important, if for no other reason then to be actively in touch with our society. I have friends that think it is our ethical duty and Christian obligation to vote, and others who have the same motivations to abstain from voting. I know some here are staunch democrats, others Republican, and a few third party stragglers.
What I want to begin writing and dialogging about here …

This might be cheating but I’ll do it anyways. I read God For President (not to be confused with Jesus For President), by Lisa Venable. I was actually assigned it for the Twin Cities Daily Planet, which I’ve been writing for recently, and Lisa is a local author. So, I read it and reviewed it here: Pious parable parses presidential politics (long title, I didn’t think up). I’ll even give you the intro here:
Recent political events have shown us that Americans are open to more than just the status quo. …

I peeked at some definitions of democracy just to see if I could get a basic understanding of what it meant. I’ve grown up thinking that we live in a democracy mainly because we get to vote for our president (and other folks as well). I think that’s a good thing, I like the idea of a government put in place by the people it governs.
Yet, recently I’ve been thinking about the fact that our tendency to think of our country as a democracy governed within some arbitrary boundaries …

With the daily podcast, Thoughts on the Journey, moving full steam ahead, I figured I should compile a show for all the current Trying to Follow podcast listeners. Basically this is a compilation of 6 of the daily podcasts I’ve been doing through the month of October. This is being posted in the podcast section so it will show up on the itunes podcast page for all my Trying to Follow listeners.

or Download Here.

Well folks, across the country, Election day is just around the corner. I’m amazed that Tennessee is as progressive as they seem to be in their effort to give everyone a chance to vote. Early Voting has been available for anyone and everyone to go to a number of locations throughout the city and cast their ballot for the two weeks leading up to election day, including Saturdays. Considering how un-democratic our Presidential elections have been, with one day, a work day, not an official holiday, most polls closing after …

You probably don’t, and that’s a good thing. You see if you do recognize him, your recognizing a doctored image of him, Harold Ford Jr., a Congressman in Tennessee. The photo above is one that was sent Republican Party to disuade folks from voting for him. The problem with the photo is this:

The photo on the left is a real photo of Ford, the photo in the middle has the color removed, and the photo on the right is the one the Republican Party used in their letter.
I don’t need …

When it comes to the news, it’s important that we recognize that our choice of sources is extremely important. There is a reason it’s good not to rely on just one news source (even if it is Jon Stewart). The Internet has become a great tool for us to expand our awareness on news we might never have heard about through the major media outlets. Thanks to Project Censored, I bring you their recent list of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006:

#1 Bush Administration
…

9/11/06 is a memorable day for many. Anyone who has the access to technology that would allow them to read this blog probably knows exactly where they were on that day.
Regardless of your thoughts now, perspectives on the war, politics, etc. There is no denying that 9/11/06 had a major effect on many of our lives, our way of thinking, the issues we thought through, etc.
I want to make this an open thread for readers to share briefly how 9/11 shaped them, but to encourage that I’ll start with a …

Mindy never had a chance to see the cute, little red scooter I bought for her to use as her primary mode of transportation. A few nights before Mindy was to come back from Minnesota the little red scooter was stolen from next to the front steps of our new home.
I should have expected something like this would happen, mainly because for the last three years now my main mode of transportation was passed on unwillingly to someone else (my bike the last two years, Mindy’s scooter last week) sometime …

I think I’m going to go vote today. It’s the last day of early voting before this weeks official voting day here in Nashville. I never knew early voting existed like this, and I think it’s a spectacular idea. For folks who work multiple jobs or take public transit or have children, it’s difficult to get time in a Tuesday or other weekday to go and vote. Early voting gives EVERYONE an opportunity to exercise their rigts as citizens to vote.
Now, I just have to figure out who to vote …

So, I’ve heard of this lady, but I never listened to her talk or read any of her books. This evening I was bored and saw some video clips of here (while perusing the much funnier Jon Stewart).
I’m sorry by this lady is a hard one to like. She makes some HUGE generalizations. I’m really uncomfortable with her.
Here’s some clips for you to see:

What do you think of this lady?

A statistic I’ve heard thrown around, and I’ve hesitated to mention, regarding abortion was that the number of abortions had risen under Republican presidents and gone down under Democratic presidents.
I finally remembered it and thought to look it up, and found the oh so reliable FactCheck.org had put together a clear answer for me:
A number of politicians and organizations have been circulating an interesting and surprising idea: that abortions have gone up under George W. Bush’s watch.  The claim is repeated by supporters of abortion rights as evidence that Bush’s anti-abortion policies have backfired, …

I little while back I made a tiny off-hand reference to liking high gas prices, the comment was mentioned by my pastor, I then mentioned it to Mel, who then mentioned it to Gustave, and this was his response:
Dear Ariah,
I was talking to Melissa and she mentioned something offhand to me. She said you think high gas prices are good in that they will help change patterns of American consumption. I am not sure what your whole position is. It was something about a conversation with …

I am not uncritical of rap music, but I am also cautious to judge a culture I am not a part of and have not sought to understand.
As someone who has worked in the education system and with youth who are a part of this hip-hop culture, I have a deep interest in it’s affect on our generation.
I found this video intriguing because I feel there where valid points made by each of the people speaking. I feel bad that the conversation happened on a show like this …

If you consider yourself a person of the “Book” then you amongst others probably hold highly those two stone tablets with those Ten Commandments. The important question is, do you know what they are?
For those who could only stumble across about five of those commands Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, A man pushing for the Ten Commandments to be placed in public courthouses, will happily list them out for you.

If you didn’t catch them all here’s some more info.