Imam Rauf, who is in charge of the proposed Lower Manhattan Islamic Cultural Center, was on CNN last night discussing the controversy. (You can watch a heavily edited version of the interview here, or click here for part 1 of the full version on YouTube–although being copyrighted material I don’t know if it will stay up.) It’s interesting viewing. Here’s what jumped out at me:
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Sep 092010
The Anti-Defamation League (the ADL; an organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism) has participated and encouraged closed-minded and offensive behavior. They ought to know better, and I think they (and many other people in this instance) owe an apology to every person of faith.
Alright, now that I have your attention I should take a few steps back and explain what I’m talking about.
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Aug 062009
We’re living in a golden age of communication. The world wide web, email, texting, cell phones, laptops, satellites, etc. have all combined to improve the world quite a bit. People can stay in touch with friends and loved ones half way around the world, they can research or disseminate scientific, mathematical, or artistic information globally, they can improve their businesses, and they can collaborate with colleagues who live literally anywhere–and they can do it all with relative ease.
But there is a dark side to all that communication.
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Jul 092009
God blesses his children with success and prosperity. If I am more Christlike, I will be both more prosperous and successful. If the United States is more of a Christian nation (by which I mean it operates under increasingly Christ-like principals not that it contains more Christians), then that will lead directly to a more successful and prosperous nation. Believe it or not, I firmly believe these things to be solidly Biblical principals.
But there is a difference between me and those religious right leaders that proclaim that God will damn America if we legalize gay marriage or the televangelists that tell their Lexus driving parishioners that the reason they can afford that Lexus is because they are Godly folk. Continue reading »
Jun 162009
I was recently forwarded a sermon by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, a mega-church pastor (Coral Ridge Ministries) and syndicated televangelist. The sermon, “Christianity and the Federal Deficit” laid out pretty succinctly the basic arch-conservative argument against liberal fiscal policies, and phrases it in quasi-Biblical terms to boot. I will note that the sermon was originally given back in 1993, shortly after President Clinton was elected on a platform of economic mismanagement by President Bush and in an election in which the size of the federal deficit played a huge rhetorical role. It was rerun by Coral Ridge Ministries on nationally syndicated television a week ago, for reasons you can probably guess.
Anyways, the arch-conservative argument goes something like this (along with quotes from Dr. Kennedy so that you can see how this actually plays out, rhetorically):
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