Politics

When Great Minds & Stubborn Hearts Collide: on Al Mohler & Karl Giberson

/ Paul Burkhart / 14 Comments

Ah, this is a tough one to write. As some on the blogo-rounds have been quick to jump on the coat tails of, Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Karl Giberson, the Vice-President of the BioLogos Foundation, have been in a bit of a tizzy for the past couple of months. Mohler is a very conservative Evangelical whom Time proclaimed as the most influential Evangelical intellectual in America of couple of years ago. Giberson is also a Baptist, but has devoted much of his time, writings, and energies to showing how Darwinian Evolution is not inherently antithetical to a Christian worldview. Mohler, as can be expected, disagrees. This little debate has reached a climax in the past couple of days. For a full account of what’s been written in this exchange, I have a full timeline at the bottom of this post.

Hopefully in the next few days I can actually lend some (hopefully) helpful thoughts on the actual argument taking place, but today I just wanted to step back and lament a little.

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An Amazingly Thoughtful Discussion on Gay Marriage

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

Thanks to David Sessions, the editor of Patrol Magazine for bringing this all to our attention.

Now, I have remained in the closet for much of this discussion (forgive the pun), though I have spoken of this in-person with others, with varying reactions. For a myriad of reasons, it’s generally wiser to controvert into a half-empty coffee cup or beer pint than it is to do so on the web. But nevertheless, this is a charged issue that demands response, both public and private, from those that have (hopefully) given it deep and communal thought, allowing both time and others to help refine and nuance one’s opinions. I hope I may be so bold as to include myself in those numbers.

Someday.

For now, I’m still figuring it out, and discussions like the one I want to bring to your attention today both clarify and confuse the issue for me.  I find myself agreeing with each article you will find below; a similar reaction Sessions has eloquently articulated in his Patrol article.  I appreciate his public candor and can easily relate.

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“BP, Obama, the Environment, and All That Other Stuff You’re Already Sick of Talking About”-Patrol

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

hayward

I have my newest article up on Patrol Magazine.  It is joining in on a discussion happening between a couple of the writers at the magazine concerning ways to approach this oil crisis.  My opinion?  Stop trying to destroy BP.  Why?  Read on to find out.  And please, give comments; I’d love to know what you all think.  Here it is:

“BP, Obama, the Environment, and All That Other Stuff You’re Already Sick of Talking About”–Patrol Magazine

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“Jack Cashill Writes a Good Book, But He’s Insane.” -Patrol Mag

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I have an original blog post I’m working on for tomorrow, but for now, I’ll promote my most recent article on Patrol Magazine.  It’s about a book I’m currently reviewing for Thomas Nelson publishers (full disclosure: they sent me the book for free).  It’s about the struggle I’m having after finding out that this otherwise enjoyable book is written by an author who is pretty crazy.  How?  Well, just read on.  Patrol even made it a cover story today, so I’ve provided the cover story picture as your link to the article.  Enjoy.  And leave comments!

cashill
You can read all my articles for Patrol right here.

“Okay, So Jack Bauer Didn’t Die”-Patrol Mag

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Another week, another article in Patrol Magazine. This week, I wrote a response to my article two weeks ago, “Jack Bauer Must Die“.  The response was needed because, as the title of my current article implies, the series finale of 24 happened and Jack did not indeed die.  Here’s the link:

“Okay, So Jack Bauer Didn’t Die”-Patrol Mag

Once again, just as the last article, this article isn’t even so much about the show itself as it is about what this show, and it’s ending says about our culture and what is profitable.  Please comment freely here and on Patrol.  I’d love your thoughts.  You can view all of my past articles for Patrol Magazine here. [p.s.-starting next week, I’m changing my blogging philosophy, which will result in a very different feel for this site.  More to come.]

“Jack Bauer Must Die” -Patrol Mag

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

My original title for my article this week for Patrol Magazine (before the editorial chopping block) was I’m Calling It: Jack Bauer Will Die (On Morality & “24”).  The article concerns the television series 24 and it’s upcoming series-ending finale.  My theory?  They’re going to kill Jack Bauer, the show’s iconic main character.  Read the article to find out my reasons why:

“Jack Bauer Must Die” – Patrol Magazine

It’s far more philosophical than “televisional”, so don’t worry.  I did not intend to bog people down with plot minutiae and spoilers.  Speaking of, as far as spoilers go, there are only a couple concerning very recent episodes of the current season, and even though are fairly nebulous.  Besides, how the story is told is just as exciting (if not more) as what the story is.

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Catholics on Scripture and Inerrancy

/ Paul Burkhart / 8 Comments

Oh, the Bible. It’s the lifeblood of the Church. It’s our backbone. But there’s so much we don’t get, and the culture both within and without the Protestant Church hasn’t helped. In its response to the Enlightenment, Evangelicals adopted the ground rules and assumptions that undergird modernism, namely, that Truth must be something that has a one-to-one correlation to things in created reality (as opposed to Ultimate Reality–God Himself), therefore making science and history the only vehicles for this Truth. This has caused so many problems with the rest of the world when talking about a little doctrine: Inerrancy which means, at its simplest level, that the Bible contains no “errors”. What does that mean?

Catholics can help us answer this.

I fear that Evangelicalism is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the current discussion on nearly every front because of these improper assumptions about Scripture. Catholics, though, were having these discussions in the Middle Ages! They have largely already dealt with the things that we Protestant are only now encountering issues with. This gave them a foundation that let them maintain intellectual and biblical credibility in light of the Enlightenment and now modernism. Here’s what they say about Scripture in the Catholic Catechism:

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Open Mic: John Yoo, Torture, & Christian Ethics

/ Paul Burkhart / 7 Comments

Yesterday I wrote about how Catholicism views the idea of torture and how a possible response to it and it’s socio-political effects can be found in the Eucharist.  That article was written because the idea of Torture has come front and center in the political discourse once more.  For those not keeping track of the current political climate concerning the previous administration, John Yoo is a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley that was given the charge by the Bush administration and the CIA to define the nature and limits of “enhanced interrogation techniques“. He along with Jay Bybee authored the famous “torture memos” which gave legal justification for the use of waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and other techniques in order to get information from suspected terrorists.

Last year, the Office of Professional Responsibility wrote a report finding the two men guilty of professional misconduct and recommended the Justice Department do a full investigation. Ealier this month, both Bybee and Yoo were officially cleared of all wrongdoing in the eyes of the Department of Justice. Further, the DOJ strongly suggested that no further investigation nor disciplinary action from the bar should be sought. Last week the Department officially closed its investigation. Yesterday, the top ethicist of the Department of Justice said that not only did Yoo and Bybee do nothing criminal, but neither did they even act unethically. (Full summary of the metanarrative of all of this can be found here.)

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Catholicism on Torture, the State, & the Eucharist

/ Paul Burkhart / 6 Comments

I know, I know — this seems like a weird topic to inaugurate this series. Today, in my ongoing series “Catholics Aren’t Crazy” I wanted to put up a post on a Catholic view of Scripture, inspiration, and inerrancy. They have some amazing things to say on these topics that Evangelicals could do really well to embrace. But alas, current events have changed that plan. Tomorrow I’m posting up a potentially controversial article here on a Christian view of Torture. I’m writing it in light of the recent developments, publications, and interviews concerning the legal and ethical exoneration of the “Torture Memo” authors, John Yoo and Jay Bybee. In my research I stumbled upon the following wonderful article by Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic, posted on his blog on Ash Wednesday:

“May the Judgment Not Be Too Heavy Upon Us” — The Daily Dish

The article concerns Marc Thiessen, former speech writer for President Bush. Thiessen is on a tour of every news outlet it seems (I’ve seen him on like four different ones just this past week) to promote his brand new book, Courting Disaster, the point of which is pretty much as follows: Our “enhanced interrogation” techniques were moral, effective, and NOT torture; and President Obama has ended them, thereby “inviting the next attack” and putting everyone in America at risk of being slaughtered by Islamic extremists.

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Health Care Summit Pre-Gaming

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

First and foremost, I need to admit that I think I was entirely wrong in the article I wrote last month on the Health Care bill. I feel like the comment left on that post by editor of Patrol Magazine, and friend, David Sessions was right on. I’m now super excited and pumped to see this stuff pass, hopefully soon. I’m mainly writing this post, though, to encourage everyone to tune in to the Health Care Summit going on tomorrow from 10am to 4pm (HuffPost). I believe most every news agency and network should be airing it both on TV and online. Also, I’m sure there will be several major New Media websites live-blogging the event or giving constant updates.

I really do think this summit could be so much bigger than just health care. It could begin a trajectory that determines both the results of the next fours years of elections and the very state of politics in America. It could transform political discourse. It could break the absurdity of the immature political feces-throwing that has defined how Washington has run. It could usher in a new era of bipartisanship for the sake of the American people.

Probably not, but in theory it could.

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I thought liberals were all for diplomacy

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

People have been right to criticize the Republicans and their political posturing and obstructionism. Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, and others were right to openly mock the way Republicans have seemingly overnight changed their views on historic planks of their platform just because Obama was putting forward those ideas. Obama was correct to plead with them with calm, reasoned explanations on how they were politically shooting themselves in the foot in the long term and freezing the work that needed to get done in this country. It was right to speak of Republican Senators that had absurd and asinine holds on Obama’s nominations as holding the government “hostage”. In short, it has been right to describe Republicans as “obstructionist”, and not for principle, but for politics. I personally resonate more with historic “conservative” visions of the government, but I have been disgusted by the abhorrent politicking that Republicans have been doing merely in the name of re-election. As Obama put it, far more concerned with their own job security than ours.

We have been right to cry out, editorialize, mock, rally against, be shocked by, and call for the end of these Republican political antics that have no basis in reason, discourse, or benefit to the American people or process.

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The Good Motivations of the Heart: God-merica, pt.IIIb [REPOST]

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

[This is a repost of the last in a 4-part series of articles I wrote about a year-and-a-half ago (here’s Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) exploring my struggles with the idea of America as a “Christian Nation” and how my Christian faith should influence my politics. Where I ended up is a very helpful place, I believe, for us Christians struggling with these things.  

In the first post, I show how America has many similarities with Ancient Rome that lend itself to helping us in this discussion.  In the second, I discuss the motivations and limits of imposing a Christian worldview on a post-Christian society.  In the third, I laid out the wrong motives that seem to drive most of Evangelicalism’s attempts to take over the country, and their historical and philosophical roots.  In the post below, I pick up right where the third one ends and give a biblical foundation for a possible framework we can use to discern our political action as Christians.

___________________________________

My exploration of motives for Christian involvement in politics began to shift when I realized that the same Paul and Peter that preached a political worldview of simply obeying the laws were the same Paul and Peter that when told by authorities not to preach, they refused to obey.  What’s going on?  Apparently there’s some other principle at work that creates a depth, complexity, and dynamism within this issue: God and His Nature, Christ and His Glory.  More on this in the next post.

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I sort of want this health care bill to die.

/ Paul Burkhart / 11 Comments

[graphic design by kilroyart]

UPDATE: more thoughts on Health Care and the Health Care Summit that occurred in February 2010 can be found here.

[You can read more of my recent thoughts on health care over at Reform & Revive Magazine in an article entitled “Explaining Health Care Reform and ‘Christian’ Reflections Thereof“]

I think I really want to see this whole health care thing goes down in flames.

This came as a shock to me today as I greedily consumed as much news as I could concerning the Massachusetts Senate race. Something in me sort of stirred joyfully at the thought of all of this collapsing. This really surprised me at first, but upon further reflection I began to see why I felt this way.

First off, the emotional argument. I have been having frustrations and angst over our lack of control as Americans. I wrote about some of this back in July. At the time, I was focusing more on Capitalism and corporate greed, but the same definitely goes for the government. Politicians are supposed to work for us. We are not called to serve their whims which they decide on our behalves. They are supposed to be our employees and civil servants, not our elected managers. As of yesterday, the latest Rasmussen Report finds that only 38% of Americans are in favor of the health care bill, and 56% oppose it outright. In my mind, I’m forced to ask — why are we still having this discussion then? Democrats made their pitch, the people don’t like it as it is. Either change it or drop it.

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Politics are SOOO three weeks ago…

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

I know we’ve all had the followng experience: you’re in a group of people and someone makes a really good joke or pun.  Someone else in the group builds on that joke and the laughs increase.  Someone else does it.  This repeats itself over and over again as people build on the joke.  Eventually, the topic changes and the conversation moves on, but your mind is still churning, trying to figure out something else you could have said while the joke was going.  Sometimes you think of something that would have been truly brilliant and inspired if you had just thought about it a minute and a half earlier.  You consider saying it anyway.Whether or not you end up saying the joke says a lot about you, but either way you end up feeling pretty stupid.  You either say it and it’s awkward, or you don’t say it and then feel like an idiot for having exerted so much time and thought to a joke you knew you could never tell.  Why did I go through this whole scenario?

Because I had a thought today that I wanted some feedback on. I can’t remember what started it, but this morning I was thinking about some political idea and became more and more impassioned about it. I was angry and zealous, and felt like I had articulated in my mind the perfect flow of thought and nuanced argumentation that would convinced even my most ardent naysayers. I then thought (of course):

I should put this on my blog!

But then I felt a little absurd.  I felt that same absurdity one feels when the joke has already passed.  And this feeling struck me as a bit odd.  Has the national “joke” that is Politics passed (at least for a time)? Are we really in a relative political peace right now, where impassioned zealous political debate seems out of place?

I mean, the health care thing has quieted down, people seem to at least appreciate the time and consideration that’s being put into a decision on Afghanistan before it’s announced, the economy seems to be at least evening out if not moving back up now, and the biggest political frustration right now has to do with the administration’s opinion that Fox News isn’t a legitimate news organization.  Heck even things that you would think would cause uproar hasn’t.  Gay rights marches, talks with Iran, and the occasional “tea party” (I’m shaking my head right now) are reported on with a relative ho-hum sort of attitude.

Maybe I got too used to the absurdities and loss of decorum that have ruled the both sides of the political world since last November (I’m having flashbacks of a particular outburst during a speech by the President).  Maybe I’m just a bit too late to get in on the joke.  Or maybe I’m just a fighter by nature and I feel weird when there’s nothing for me to give my opinion on that seems relevant and timely.  Maybe I should learn to be content writing/thinking about seemingly inconsequential-to-everyday-life things like theistic evolution and the eternality of Hell.  But let me just ask all of you:

What’s the big political story right now?  Am I missing something?  Is the joke still going on, or has the punchline already passed?  Is the world finally settling in and learning what the rhythms of everyday life in an Obama world looks like? What do you think?

Of Google, Books, & Alexandria

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

google_book[Sorry, previous version of this got cut off and I didn’t know it]

I know, I know.  I shouldn’t.  But I do.  I trust Google.  Really.  They are a great company that gives great products for free and really seems to care about their customers.  Yes, it is creepy they know so much about me, but their mission statement is akin to “we want to organize the world’s information.”  To do that wonderful, good, and noble task, one needs resources.  For Google, that’s advertising, and I feel that the information they know about me is a means to an end rather than some weird technoglomeration scheme to take over the world.

That’s why I didn’t have a problem with Google’s plan to scan the world’s books and post them online (and searchable).  God knows how many times I’ve been reading a book and have longed to press the non-existent “Ctrl + F” function to just look for a keyword.  Also, I’ve hated Amazon’s posturing of themselves as a future monopoly of the ever growing market of E-Book readers.  With proprietary formats, proprietary hardware, and a proprietary means of distribution, Amazon is fixing to rape the publishing industry of all that is left making it a worthy venture.

That’s why they’re scared and have joined other companies like Yahoo in a lawsuit against Google, to prevent them from creating a digital library of all the world’s books, most of which would be downloadable for free in formats that most other e-Book readers can in fact use (but the Kindle cannot).  So, in short, Google wants to exert huge resources to provide us with both incredible access to information and to save Capitalism as we know it in the literary world.

But, in the wrangling over this deal, a judge has indefinitely postponed the settlement of the issue.  I really want to see this deal go through.  It is just such an incredible opportunity for us on every level.  What has stoked my passion over this?

This wonderful article by Tim Wu of Slate magazine outlining the legal issues involved here. He writes:

…if the settlement dies, it will be researchers, not Google, who will be hurt. It’s unlikely that anyone else will take on a money-losing project to scan millions of low-value volumes. If the Justice Department pushes too hard now, one day we’ll be asking, “Who lost Book Search?”… A delivery system for books that few people want is not a business one builds for financial reasons. Over history, such projects are usually built not by the market but by mad emperors. No bean counter would have approved the Library of Alexandria or the Taj Mahal…[So] if you want to put Google in its place, the book project is the wrong way to do so…To punish Google by killing Book Search would be like punishing Andrew Carnegie by blowing up Carnegie Hall.

In short, we have an opportunity to build the new Library of Alexandria; except this time, it is a searchable, downloadable, bigger, and more comprehensive library that will be available to children, the poor, the third world, the rural, the scholar, researcher, and the like. As the article says, historically, projects like this are more the product of crazy geniuses than government intervention. It should be done. It should be supported. And it should be done now.

The bigger danger here (I think) is Amazon, not Google. Google is actually trying to open the market, while Amazon is trying to close it. Google is trying to accomplish a noble mission, Amazon is trying to make a profit. Google is trying to let little known books and authors get distribution, exposure, and money (if they want); Amazon is trying to market the corner so they can dictate prices to publishers in order steal money from authors, and fix their prices lower. Google is not the enemy here. They are willing to lose so much money and do pain-staking work to bring future inevitabilities to the present.

Do I think this little blog post will save Google Book search? No. But I’m just doing my part to hopefully change one or two people’s minds, maybe inspire someone else to right a blog post or talk to their friends, or perhaps just cause a conversation that might be the proverbial butterfly flutter helping to bring about a hurricane we all will ultimately benefit from.

Save Google Book Search.