Kristof writes in in the NYT:

Many aid workers and diplomats suffered a panic attack when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant this week for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for committing genocide. They feared that Mr. Bashir would retaliate by attacking peacekeepers and humanitarian workers.

But instead of wringing our hands, we should be applauding. The prosecution for genocide is a historic step that also creates an opportunity in Sudan, particularly if China can now be induced and shamed into suspending the transfer of weapons used to slaughter civilians in Darfur.

If China continues — it is the main supplier of arms used in the genocide — then it may itself be in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Article III of the convention declares that one of the punishable crimes is “complicity in genocide”; that’s the crime that China may be committing if it goes on supplying arms used for genocide, even after the I.C.C. has begun criminal proceedings against the purchaser of those weapons.

(credit: Faith in Public Life)

I just ran across this at Deadly Viper Character Assassins:

People of the Second chance have 3 core values:

1. People of the Second Chance are individuals who are fast to forgive. In a culture that believes in revenge and payback, we rebel with grace.

2. People of the Second Chance receive second chances in their own life. When we have experienced personal, professional, or relational failure, we refuse to be defined by our mistakes. We learn, we grow, and we have the courage to move on.

3. People of the Second Chance serve in places where people need second chances. We advocate for the vulnerable and fight for equality for the poor, the prisoner, and the voiceless.

These three values can be simply summed up by:

Give, Receive & Be the Second Chance.

Interesting. Thoughts?

Hopefully whether you live in Nashville, Brentwood, or Franklin this will be a helpful resource to find fun and exciting things to do on the weekend in the greater metropolitan area.

Perhaps you’d like to check out the outdoors at Cheekwood, Radnor Lake (check out Tennessee State Government’s Radnor Lake site), or some of Tennessee’s parks or wonderful trails.

Take a class with Nashville Metro parks and recreation.

People watch in Hillsboro Village or 2nd Avenue downtown.

Check out whats going on at Belcourt, 12th and Porter, Mercy Lounge, and 3rd and Lindsley

Resources to Find Weekend Events in Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN

Craigslist for Nashville offers community events and group activities.

The Nashville Backpage offers
info on events, classes, and volunteering.

Yahoo Upcoming can help you find local events, including arts events.

Of course, there are always the music and arts events calendars Nashville Scene, the Nashville Rage, and the Tennessean.

Got a Nashville resource for weekend events and fun things to do?

Nathan Ketsdever is a Business Blog Coach and Communications Strategist

Bobby Gruenewald at Livechurch.TV:

Those of you that care probably already know that tomorrow is the launch of the new iPhone. We are hopeful that our YouVersion iPhone application will make it in the new app store in the morning so that you can have access to the Bible via your new (or old) iPhone. I’ll post all about the new app on swerve as soon we can confirm it is available.

Having a Bible on your mobile device seems to make life easier.

2 Corinthians 5 : 21 - 33 The Christian Marriage Relationship 411 (AKA Hermeneutic Exegesis and Commentary )

Mr. DG Hollum, pastor and all around nice guy I met at Podcamp, recently did a breakdown of one of the most controversial biblical texts. Here is what DG had to say about this most famous text for analyzing Christ based husband and wife relationships:

The way I see it:

1) this is only for husband and wife, not male and female roles.

2) Christ is the example that qualifies “headship”, and “submission”.

3) this must be read with the first century culture in mind.

4) the submission of the wife to the husband is within the wider submission of everyone to each other in 21.

5) the motive for submission of the wife is within the context of the wife’s relation to the Lord.

6) this submission is regulated by the divine pattern of Christ’s relationship to the church.

7) so, the husband’s authority is regulated by Christ’s example and the principle of love.

I think #4 is quite interesting. It seems to suggest that #3, which I think is perhaps the most controversial claim, is already dealt with–perhaps there is not a need to consider the cultural context given that #4 is true.

Any disagreement with DG? Any disagreement with my commentary?

Always on top of important controversy, The Onion says:

Change: Opting for the concept rather than an actual person will really drive the point home

David Duke: Could help Obama win over racists, a demographic among which he has polled very poorly

John McCain’s first wife Carol

Fireworks from Nashville, TN
(image credit: used under a creative commons license from paul nicholson)

Dear Laura Ingraham,

Your stance on the overabundance of sex on television is commendable and we can agree that this is anti-family and particularly anti-compassion for the youngest members of society. It would certainly be nice if Fox Reality and the Rupert Murdock actually followed at all through on these principles. If Rupert and the rest of the Fox family could put his money where their mouth is–it might actually help make ours a more family and compassionate oriented society.

My second concern deals with the fundamentals of Biblical interpretation. I’m sorry you misguided interpretation of the bible (see below). Even though it must be interesting to fundamentally re-write it on the air of Fox News.

Its further saddens me that you profit off rhetorical vitriol, the anger, and misapplication of Biblical principles. Is that all much different from John Hagee and Creflo Dollar?

Hugs and kisses,

Me

My Criticism of Laura Ingraham and Fox News:

Laura Ingraham said it was “Christianity 101″ that Leviticus and the Sermon on the Mount apply equally. Apparently, its lost on Laura that the New Testament represented a new covenant and that the old law was dead. Otherwise words like grace aren’t particularly meaningful in the Christian lexicon and the entire delineation between old and new is pretty meaningless. Not to mention the fact that the Sermon on the Mount represents words from the very mouth of Jesus.

Very cool. Period.

High schoolers doing that. Wow!!!

(h/t to Ariah Fine for YouTube Tuesday)

Political Spin Games: Why the Focus on the Family Should be a Real “No Spin Zone”

I generally have a great deal of respect for James Dobson and his efforts at Focus on the Family. From most all accounts he and his organization seem to be committed to Christian principles even if I don’t always agree with particular policies they endorse or pursue.

However, when James Dobson and those like him become so emeshed in the political dogfight and the actual spinning of political rhetoric–his mission has perhaps gone awry. The Associated Press points out:

He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the “lowest common denominator of morality,” labeling it ``a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution.”

I worry that such mud flinging and name calling is hardly constructive or Christian. Moreover, in doing so he ceases to be an independently minded Christian and becomes a virtual mouthpiece of Fox News broadcasts. Instead of being the voice of God in the world, he becomes a more of a political huckster and much more Rovian in nature.

Erasing and Ignoring Minorities = Not Factual, Not Statistical, and Anti-Christian
The broadcast went further, suggesting that we were only a Christian nation, even by its own statistics it pointed out that were 2% other. The implication seemed to be one in which any all Christian morality could be imperialistically installed into law, without reference to the first amendment guarantee of the separation of church and state. Second, these stats seem radically misapplied–on face I doubt their scientific and statisical validity–even in the most conservative places on the planet like Nashville, TN. (perhaps they polled in Utah or rural Colorado) Also, I fail to see how this is constructive to say we shouldn’t respect and take into account this supposed other 2%–which I would argue is far closer to 20-40% (they claimed self-proclaiming Christians made up about 70% of the American populous) . It also begs the whole “self-identify” as Christian vs. “live” as Christian distinction–which is a distinction I’m quite sure Mr. Dobson applies in the opposite ways consistently on other broadcasts. The story of the Samaritan–is anything if not the story of respecting minorities, be they white, black, brown, yellow, or purple. Tactics aimed to power charge the will of the majority at the price of legitimate minority rights (ie freedom of religion, excluding harm to another) has warped the Sermon on the Mount along with the rest of the mission of Jesus.

Dobson Should Speak, Just Not Spin and Encourage Theocratic Control:
I’m not saying that Christian leaders can’t have political views or can’t voice them–but when the unsaid premises they rely on suggest (and even encourage) unChristian values and their actions contradict Christian values when they lower themselves into the political quicksand of spin politics, something has gone dramatically, dramatically wrong. Coerced faith on the part of non-believers isn’t faith at all. Conversation and bridge building seems to be the solution to these types of disagreements in most cases. In these cases arguments can compellingly be made in the name of rights, responsibilities, and communities which create a civic language that respects others and nurtures a civic community that is the basis of any hope of constructive change at home and abroad.

If Christian values represent truth, and I firmly believe they do, there is positively no need to resort to manipulation and name calling and political spin, rather than logical and compelling discourse.

I think as commentator Tad Delay aptly concludes:

I think the Church is coming to see what happens when you hop in bed with political parties and fail to acknowledge that each have good and bad, and that neither are a more Christian party. Let us repent of our allegiances that we have prostituted out in exchange for political power. Let us always seek a third way.

Endnote: I can’t find a transcript of Dobson’s speech, I’m my humble opinion he should have released in an easy to access location on his website. Without it, it makes it hard to fully develop the above insights.

My summary of the The Associated Press exchange:

“Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?” Obama said. “Would we go with James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?” referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

As a sidenote, I don’t think Obama probably should have instigated when happened, don’t get me wrong. His larger point about Leviticus and gays (may) be correct–its certainly open to interpretation. In such a gray and muddy water, its misguided to name call with such impunity.

HBO just aired a fantastic documentary on high school debate. The film narrative follows two story lines: one from an elite white school in Texas and an inner city african american school in California.

The documentary discusses issues of race, class, and priviledge by juxtaposing two distinct core story-lines. As a former debater of 6.5 years and debate coach of 5 years it made me reflect deeper on issues of race not only in debate but in society at large. The back story explanation of debate, the contrast between the two worlds, and the cinema- tography are all quite interesting. The documentary airs again on Sunday, June 29 2008.

HBO Online highlights:

Through the stories of two debate teams, the fascinating intricacies of high school debate give way to a portrait of the equally complex racial and class divide in American education in Resolved. As Matt and Sam, gifted debaters from an affluent Texas suburb, rise to the semifinals in their bid to win the national Tournament of Champions, Richard and Louis, talented inner-city debaters from Long Beach, CA, mount a successful challenge to modern debate by refocusing on personal experience and dialogue in their own quest for the championship. This 90-minute film offers a verité, behind-the-scenes look at the stresses and pressures of this highly competitive pursuit, while serving as a primer on the idiosyncratic techniques that have evolved over the years in high-school policy debate. Inspiring and enlightening, Resolved reveals a constantly shifting sport that is as much philosophy as it is a competition.

You can check out info on Paulo Freire and his banking model of education, who the African-American debaters reference.

You can check out a teaser preview below:

Perez Hilton has nothing on this:

(h/t Ariah Fine @ Trying to Follow)