cup a joe

Interesting article in Al Jazeera today from Robert Jensen.

But a blanket claim that "religion and politics don't mix" misunderstands the inevitable connection between the two. Whether secular or religious, our political judgments are always rooted in first principles - claims about what it means to be human that can't be reduced to evidence and logic. Should people act purely out of self-interest, or is solidarity with others just as important? Do we owe loyalty to a nation-state? Under what conditions, if any, is the taking of a human life justified? What is the appropriate relationship of human beings to the larger living world?
These basic moral/spiritual questions underlie everyone's politics, and our answers are shaped by the philosophical and/or theological systems in which we find inspiration and insight. Since everyone's political positions reflect their foundational commitments, it doesn't seem fair to say that those grounded in a secular philosophy can draw on their traditions, but people whose political outlooks are rooted in religion have to mute themselves.

Thoughts?

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If you make disciples, you get a church.  If you make a church, you don't always get disciples.

 From: Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen

Labels: QOTD

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An interesting article from the BBC this morning.  It seems like churches can no longer claim that God still heals in the UK.

The ASA said the leaflet read: "Need Healing? God can heal today! Do you suffer from Back Pain, Arthritis, MS, Addiction ... Ulcers, Depression, Allergies, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, Paralysis, Crippling Disease, Phobias, Sleeping disorders or any other sickness?
"We'd love to pray for your healing right now!
"We're Christian from churches in Bath and we pray in the name of Jesus. We believe that God loves you and can heal you from any sickness."
The ASA said it had been alerted to the adverts by a complainant, and concluded that they could encourage false hope and were irresponsible.
HOTS Bath said: "It seems very odd to us that the ASA wants to prevent us from stating on our website the basic Christian belief that God can heal illness.

HOTS Bath stands for Healing on the Streets, which is a ministry that started out of a Vineyard in the UK.  They gather in town centers, set up a some of chairs, and offer free prayer.  The ministry has since spread to many different churches throughout the UK (and the world).

It seems strange to me (as an American) that the government would want to get into a religious battle.  They don't say God will heal, they say he can heal.  But I guess that is too "irresponsible" for the local authorities so they censored the group.  I wish that we were that irresponsible here.

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But there is a secret here, too:  getting lost is not fatal.  Almost every time, it will make your world bigger.   You can look at the edges of your map, the places you were unsure about.  Old explorers even had a phrase for it: "Here be dragons."

From: The Flinch by Julien Smith

Labels: QOTD

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