After my post asking that Fred Phelps’ family religious group be termed a cult a few people wondered at the wisdom of the media making such a designation. The Topeka based group refers to themselves as The Westboro Baptist Church and has since the 1940s. Why then, should the media refer to them as a cult rather than how they define themselves? In a word: accuracy. For many years Christ followers have equated cults with belief systems aberrant from orthodox Christianity. Christian Science, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses (aka The Watchtower), Armstrongism, and the Unification Church are such groups. However, Tal Davis, cult and sect expert, provides a framework clearly allowing for the inclusion of the Westboro as a cult. The Apologetics Index classifies them in just that way. Davis argues that cults (or “sects”) 1) claim to be biblically based, 2) deny or redefine one or more Christian doctrines, 3) have “official” adherence to Christian doctrine while having other cultic tendencies, 4) claim to have divinely inspired leaders, 5) usually claim to have other scriptures or supplements to the Bible, and 6) claim to be the one true, or most true, church. Only the fifth one is not clearly held by the Westboro cult. Their strict adherence to Fred Phelps’ warped interpretations, however, are held in nearly as high esteem as the Bible.
The Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, Session 2, Condoleezza Rice
Condoleeza Rice, the former secretary of state of the U.S. speaks then is interviewed by Bill Hybels, during Session 2 at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, August 2012. 9/11 changed how people viewed physical security (Brings more terror to our soil than any since the War of 1812) The 2008 crash changed how people view financial security Arab Spring has reminded us of authoritarian insecurity (When the boundaries are removed, all that is left is anger. When anger takes hold, there is no reform, but, instead, there is revolution. We see the desire for freedom. “When the framers said we the people, they didn’t mean me. My ancestors were in the constitution at 3/5 of a man.” 1) Democracy (one man/one vote) requires protection of minorities. It requires that the strong not exploit the weak. This is not the role of government. Government cannot place into the hearts of people to hold up the weak. Democracy is only as strong as its weakest link. 2) Every life is worthy. There are no kinds and queens. There are no permanent station in life. No one is condemned to the place there are born, otherwise democracy will not be stable. Every life is capable of greatness and every person has the responsibility to promote that. “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for each and every one of us.”
The Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, Session 1, Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels has long been a blessing to me. His passion for the local church is apparent every single time his speaks. His heart for the lost is infectious. His desire to teach and train Romans 12 leaders is challenging, pervasive, and beneficial. Annually the Willow Creek Association presents the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. It is hosted Barrington, ILL, broadcast by satellite to locals all over the United States, and ultimately to dozens of countries around the world. The “faculty” consists of top business, social, religious leaders from across America. Please note: These are not all direct quotes. Some are paraphrased. More bloggers are linked at the bottom.
‘Argo,’ movie trailer [VIDEO]
I grew up, as did others in my generation, with the pall of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) spread over us like the shadow of a 450 story building. For my younger readers MAD was a nuclear stand-off between the United States and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the now-dissolved U.S.S.R.). This stand-off was like a game of dare consisting of megatons of nuclear missiles aimed at out respective countries. The sheer volume of warheads aimed toward our respective countries was enough to keep either nation from “pushing the button” first. Several years before the Cold War began to thaw a revolution took place in Iran. The Shah (who we had helped bring to power under rather questionable circumstances–a coup–in the 1950s) was deposed. The most recognizable Iranian during those days was the Ayatollah Khomeini who opposed, along with others, normal relations with the West. On November 4, 1979, a group of students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days. The night time news show, Nightline was birthed to keep a running update of the crisis. Ultimately, the news program outlasted the subject matter by many years. If memory serves me properly the Atlanta Journal that landed on our driveway each afternoon kept a daily tracker of days in captivity on the front right corner. Newly declassified documents from the period reveal that six Americans who had escaped the hostage taking made it to the house of the Canadian ambassador. Through a joint U.S.-Canadian effort an initiative was mounted to rescue them under the auspices of making a science fiction movie entitled, Argo. I hope it’s as good as this looks. And, a big hat tip to whoever chose the song.
A plea to all media outlets re: ‘the Westboro cult’
To All Media Outlets, Reporters, Writers and Editors: It is abundantly clear to most Americans that the “Westboro Baptist Church” is neither “Baptist” nor a “church” according to any commonly accepted meaning of either word. As a Christ follower, and a long time church attender, I enter this plea to stop using the phrase “Westboro Baptist Church” in favor of the more accurate “the Westboro cult.” The journalistic profession has turned out a small number of plagiarists whose words were stolen from the creativity and hard work of others then passed off as their own. Yet, though some among your number bring a pall on the word “journalist,” I do not refer to each of you as “cheats,” “word thieves” or “plagiarists.” It would be inaccurate to label you thusly because of a few whose actions obviously do not represent the whole. But in the mass media we see, with alarming near-universality, a refusal to call the wackos from Westboro anything except a “Baptist church” or a “church.” Please begin referring to all family and followers of Fred Phelps as “the Westboro Cult,” for that is exactly what they are.
Pork rinds, goat milk and abominations: Some problems in the gay marriage debate
Christ followers should take the lead in this. We have spoken the truth for years. Without forsaking it, we should also be quicker to hear than we have been and love more in deed than in word.
Flailing toward retirement
A recent opinion piece in the NYT by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, asserts most Americans who are approaching retirement are completely unprepared for it. Says Ghilarducci Seventy-five percent of Americans nearing retirement age in 2010 had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts. The specter of downward mobility in retirement is a looming reality for both middle- and higher-income workers. Almost half of middle-class workers, 49 percent, will be poor or near poor in retirement, living on a food budget of about $5 a day. There are many, many people who are flailing toward retirement. With IRAs and annuities gutted just to put food on the table now, many will feel the need to work long past planned retirement just to break even later.
Three reasons I did not eat at Chick-fil-A Wednesday, but will today
I chose not to participate in Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day this week. No, I was not boycotting; I love Chick-fil-A. I could eat those sandwiches, nuggets and Chick-fil-A dipping sauce all week long. For your own safety do not stand between me and a Chick-fil-A shake, either. In my younger days I ate at the Chick-fil-A in Hapeville, GA (known as the “Dwarf House” for those of you unfamiliar) which was the first restaurant Truett Cathy opened. I have also eaten at some of their early restaurants that went into malls. No stranger to Chick-fil-A am I. My family eats there, my kids eat there, and my grown son still comes home with a bag and drink two or three times a week. So why did I not go to Chick-fil-A on a day to show appreciation? 1. Wednesday did not come across to me as appreciating Chick-fil-A as a corporation. The purpose was, ostensibly, affirmation of Dan Cathy’s remarks on traditional marriage. Today there is supposed to be a “National Same Sex Kiss Day at Chick-fil-A.” Time will tell whether anything actually happens. Only 2,500 have “liked” the page (compared to 700,000 or so for Mike Huckabee’s Appreciation page), which is barely enough for two kissing people at each Chick-fil-A’s 1,600 +/- outlets. Some may end up kissing the back of their hand, I suppose. I go today not looking for a dude to smooch, but to show support to two (not one) constitutional rights: Support for Dan Cathy’s right to free speech, and support for gay people’s right to peacefully assemble. 2. However well intentioned, I fear actions like this only widen and deepen the chasm between warring cultural factions in America. “Why don’t we get together and talk about this?” becomes less and less likely as we grow so far apart that only screaming can be heard by the other side. If indeed the “other side” is even trying to listen. My friend Alan Cross seems to share this same concern. 3. I want to be sensitive to people who view support of Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day as a hateful, spiteful act. No, I do not think it was, but I want to be sensitive to those who feel it was. It is telling that Christians who have a large number of gay friends seem to see this, while Christians who are insulated from personal relationships with gays seem oblivious to it. If you are a Christ follower it is on you (and me, as I am one, too) to love people not just because Jesus does, but as Jesus loves. The measure of love is not whether we feel loving toward them, but whether the recipient actually feels loved. It matters not how much we say, “Love the sinner hate the sin,” or “I really love you.” If people on the receiving end (in this case the community of homosexual people) do not feel love, it is us who must find out why. We dare not be like an abusive husband who, after another fit of rage, assures his battered spouse, “But I love you so much.” So, I will eat at Chick-fil-A today. If I run into any gay or lesbian folks smooching, holding hands or *gasp* eating lunch, I will say, “Hi.” And try my best to show Jesus’ love. Click to read a related post, A few thoughts in light of President Obama’s support of gay marriage
Black pro-life activist says Planned Parenthood was ‘criminally negligent’
“We pray this tragedy awakens the collective conscience of Black America to a wretched and unregulated industry that is profiting from the deaths of children and the deliberate mis-education of young women,” said Dean Nelson, Chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation.
Selected #chickfila tweets from today
Here are a few of the most provocative and observant tweets about Chick-fil-A today.