Song of the Year, 2010- Why We Build The Wall

I am not sure I will start blogging again. However, a few (very few) people want to know my music selections for 2010. Since I am not employed by a newspaper with a deadline, I know I can take my time (plus I wanted to wait to hear everything I could in 2010).

Over the next few days I will offer my Top Albums (yes, I still listen to fully developed albums, not just mp3s of a single song), my playlist of the best songs/ my favorites of the year (I will put a mix tape on drop box for anyone interested) and today's entry:

Song of the Year

By declaring song of the year, I am not saying this is the best song in 2010. In fact, it was not. However, this song fully captures the spirit of 2010. It is a haunting track off Anais Mitchell's powerful Folk Opera based upon the myth of Orpheus, Hadestown (an easy top 10 album). This albums has guests like Ani DiFranco and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), but the highlight of the album is this song which captures that 2010 spirit, espeically in light of Tea Parties, Immigration reform, mosque battles, recession and people in need and the response many of us have to those we consider "other", "different," or "outsider."

There is no real video, but here it is on youtube coupled with another song. Listen to Why We Build the Wall by Anais Mitchell and Greg Brown:

Here are the lyrics:

HADES
Why do we build the wall?
My children, my children
Why do we build the wall?

CERBERUS
Why do we build the wall?
We build the wall to keep us free
That’s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

HADES
How does the wall keep us free?
My children, my children
How does the wall keep us free?

CERBERUS
How does the wall keep us free?
The wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That’s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

HADES
Who do we call the enemy?
My children, my children
Who do we call the enemy?

CERBERUS
Who do we call the enemy?
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That’s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

HADES
Because we have and they have not!
My children, my children
Because they want what we have got!

CERBERUS
Because we have and they have not!
Because they want what we have got!
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That’s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

HADES
What do we have that they should want?
My children, my children
What do we have that they should want?

CERBERUS
What do we have that they should want?
We have a wall to work upon!
We have work and they have none
And our work is never done
My children, my children
And the war is never won
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That’s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
We build the wall to keep us free

feel free to share your thoughts

Glenn Beck, outraged at Christianity's message of Social Justice declares intention to start new Religion

On his show today, Glenn Beck announced that he was leaving Mormonism and organized religion all together upon finding out that most Christian churches and those of other religions, including Mormonism, teach Social Justice. He will be starting a new religion, based upon the teachings of Ayn Rand, W. Cleon Skousen and his books including Arguing with Idiots and Common Sense. He will also be rewriting the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible to suit his needs, and those of his followers just as he has rewritten history and the constitution to suit his own purposes.

On his program, Mr. Beck said, “Well, let me tell you, I am very disappointed in today’s religions. I thought that the teachings of all religions, especially Christianity and Mormonism allowed me to believe whatever I wanted and read the Bible in whatever manner I decided, while declaring that your interpretation is incorrect. I was told by a religious leader that only the Pope and the leaders of denominations are allowed to interpret the Bible for themselves and everyone else. I think it is a conspiracy much like that Dan Brown discovered in The Da Vinci Code. I don’t believe in what he was saying, but I think it is obvious that something is going on, if you connect the dots. Which I have.”

Upon reading a Bible for the first time, Beck told listeners that he was shocked by the obvious communism of Jehovah, Jesus and the early church.

He stated, “This redistribution of funds advocated by Jesus is against the very Judeo-Christian principles on which this country was founded and we need to put a stop to it. Churches that believe the words of Jesus and Paul will be asking us to give money to their causes, they will feed the hungry, cloth the naked and most repulsively they will visit people in jail and heal the sick. It is almost as if they would want Health Care reform. So that message is tantamount to Communism, Nazism, Facisism, Socialism and any other ism I hear about. This must be stopped. Thank God the Judeo-Christian principles that this country was founded upon are directly opposed to the words of that dangerous book. I mean if our founders believed this book they would not have killed so many Indians and put blacks in slavery. Our founding was obviously different, thankfully. I am especially outraged at the treacherous behavior of the early church leaders in Acts 2, starting an alternative society in which people redistribute wealth. This must be stopped if any church engages in it. Because, next thing these church people will want is the government to abide by the same principles.”

Beck's diatribe continued with a declaration that he would be starting a new group in the next few days called the 9-13 Project, an update of his previous 9-12 Project. This project would advocate for a new interpretation of Scripture, fully influenced by the writings of Ayn Rand and the Judeo-Christian principles Beck understands to be the bedrock of American society. It would reinterpret the words of Jesus or throw out those that were against American principles. His plans will be unveiled at a news conference.

Rumors among his close followers include armed takeover of churches led by Pastors believing in Social Justice, because Beck realizes those leaving churches need places to go, and there are already places to meet for his message.

another difference between Liberals and Conservatives

just saw another quote on the real differences between Democrats and Republicans/ Conservatives and Liberals that strikes me as true.

Rogert Ebert (via twitter) said, "Conservatives seem angry, Liberals seem appalled."

the real difference between Democrats and Republicans

been trying to keep politics out of here, but this one will warm the hearts of everyone:

Democrats and Republicans are basically the same on a lot of issues: They both voted for the Iraq War, they both love pork and useless weapons programs, they both lift their skirts for Wall Street. But they have one major stylistic difference: Republicans are unafraid to exercise power, while Democrats try to run government like one of those pansy T-Ball leagues, where every kid gets to have a hit, nobody loses, and nobody has to go home with an ouchie or hurt feelings.

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone- A Way Out for Obama

National Geographic on Arab Christians (and my 10 yr anniversary of friendships with a group of them)

link to pictures

The stories in this enlightening article about Arab Christians are the stories of my friends. I have mentioned it before on this blog and talked ad naseum about the plight of Arab Christians. This is mostly due to friendships gathered during the past decade (actually this weekend marks the 10^th Anniversary of an invite as speaker at Boston’s Arab Baptist Conference). What started with my assumptions about Arab Christians quickly became a lesson in how pointless assumptions are. I actually thought I was going to be with a group of extremely modest dressers in hijabs or burkas that would be offended by what I might say (kind of a combo of Muslims and Independent Baptist). This was nothing like what I encountered, the most hospitable, hip, well dressed and financed group of friends that kept us out too late and made fun of each other unmercifully (and made fun of me for being extremely white). In other words… my kind of people.

These Arab Christians shared their stories, invited us into their lives and homes, supported my ministry, attended our church in Boston and kept bringing me back to speak at their events. Of all the people my wife and I have met along our journey together as partners, Christians and ministers, this group of friends is close to the top.

Most of all they enlightened me, one that thought everyone from the Middle East was Jewish or Muslim. Although I had a Lebanese Christian Seminary professor and took classes on the area and its religions, I still had assumptions until I heard the stories; stories of people caught between Islam and Judaism and in the nether regions of a US foreign policy supported by American Christians which has ravaged Arab Christian numbers in the Middle East, a group of people feeling animosity at times for the support America and American Christians have for Israel and justified anger towards Israel's policies (the policies we support are often at the expense of Christians who have been lumped in with Muslims and find themselves aligning with them on many occasions). In fact, this American Christian unconditional support for anything done by Israel has hurt our own brothers and sisters, which is directly in conflict with the call of Jesus in Matthew 25 to care for our brothers and sisters in prison, without food and clothes. Ironic, huh?

I have heard the stories of a teenager from Gaza which was the hardest counseling session I have ever encountered (how do you counsel someone that fears bombings, is surrounded by another religion and wants desperately to leave her country for safety, when you have benefited from America’s luck?), sat on a train with a podiatrist from Lebanon as he told us of the day he returned to his home which had been bombed before fleeing to America or the mother of friends from Palestine who never had citizenship, rights or a passport in her own country, I have a Christian friend with the unfortunate name Jihad (he goes by Ji) and friends from Egypt that have been accused of being terrorists on many occasions, even though one worked for an American defense manufacturer.

These are the stories of Arab Christians many of whom are from the Levant (Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon), where Christianity was founded and flourished for centuries. Now Christians make up about 8% of the population (down from 25% a century ago), mostly in Lebanon and have all but left places like the area surrounding Damascus. They have left because of violence, oppression and pressure, not just from Muslims, but from Israelis and America’s foreign policy which at times put them in danger (see the plight of Iraqi Christians since our invasion).

I am grateful to National Geographic for giving their stories to us. I hope we remember them as we look at the Middle East and our Arab neighbors in America.

link to article

hat tip to Derek via David Dark.

things to make you think and get angry

There are some good things I would like to share today, in case you have not seen them. All of these are slightly controversial and have something to bother or piss off everyone, at least a little.

1. Here is an interesting article in Sojourners on Starbucks and why they may not be as stellar as we want them to be (my mantra for too long). Link

2. Why both sides are wrong about America as a Christian or Secular nation. Link

3. Christianity Today on The Gospel and The Gosselins. The gist of this article is how Christians prop up anything that looks "Christian" in the media and quickly tear it down, if it screws up, never looking in the mirror at how an immature Evangelical faith is part of the problem (see Mel Gibson, Miss California, etc.). Link

4. And something to piss off most people. Will Saletan of Slate magazine, America's foremost writer and journalist on abortion (one with conflicted feelings- pro-choice but abhors abortion) asks if it is wrong to murder an Abortionist, declaring the similarities between George Tiller and his probable murderer, both of whom are men that believed in something so strongly that they would do things that no one else would for that cause. Link

I like risky writing, especially in a mainstream publication.

torturous television

"It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke," Mancow told listeners. "It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back...It was instantaneous...and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture."

"Absolutely. I mean that's drowning," he added later. "It is the feeling of drowning."

"If I knew it was gonna be this bad, I would not have done it," he said.

While I was away this weekend I missed something you may have caught. If so, please forgive the redundancy.

Self described Right Wing radio host Erich Muller from Chicago subjected himself to what Sean Hannity has refused to, waterboarding. He participated in the stunt to prove once and for all that waterboarding is not torture, and not that big a deal. Like torture supporter Christopher Hitchens, he came to the conclusion that... (surprise) Waterboarding is torture. You know Hannity won't do it, not because he is scared to try it, but because he knows what the outcome will be. It is easier to condone a behavior such as the torturous waterboarding if you have never experienced it.

So, all you waterboarders, join the fun and give it a try. The summer will be hot and dry so you could use a cup of cold water poured over your face. I am sure it will be refreshing.

Here is the article about Muller's experience, plus video. By the way, the water pouring lasted only 6 seconds before he gave up (or 5 seconds longer than Hannity or I would last).

Jesus Died for Your License Plate

Floridians have more license plate options than you can imagine. We have licenses with panthers, dogs and cats, clown fish, manatee, bass, spoonbills and cave divers. They include licenses to support breast cancer research, pro-life causes, tennis, organ donation and home ownership. You name a sports team in our state and you can have a license to support that team. To see a list, click here. But, we don't have anything that says, I am a Christian, beyond fish symbols, bumper stickers and rosaries from the rear view mirror. Many Christians have noticed that it is unfair to be excluded from trumpeting faith from the back of an SUV, because nothing says "I love Jesus" like a license place while cutting people off in traffic.

While I will only say this is about as useless as an expression of faith could be, even moreso than T-shirts, pens and mudflaps, St Pete Times' columnist shares his insight in What Would Jesus Say About His License Plate, noting that not only does it potentially break the 2nd Commandment, but it is quite tacky. Did Jesus die so we could depict "the Son of God, the Lamb, the Savior …On an official state of Florida automobile tag. An auto tag?" according to Troxler (thank the Lord for "Secular" journalism).

other Money quotes:

Jesus is to be mass-produced, imprinted on metal, given a reflective coat and sold for money. His crown of thorns will lie just beneath the "FLORIDA" across the top of the plate; his outstretched arms will be truncated to the left and right by the tag numbers, so that one does not actually see the cross, the nails, the wounds — no, we would not have that! The words "SUNSHINE STATE" will be stamped across his unscathed, unlashed torso.

Instead, my first thoughts were more about the stories of Christ in the Bible, angrily throwing the money changers out of the temple, and instructing his followers to pray privately in their closets rather than displaying prideful piety on the public streets like the "hypocrites" (which is exactly what he said. Look it up.).

just in case you are offended by an image of Christ on the back of your automobile, here is a quite class and snazzy opther option, all of which still await votes from a Florida legislature with nothing better to do with their time.

3 random things (torture, Carnival and "Christian Rock")

I have come across 3 things to make you aware of:

1. rant warning- Did you see this? The New York Times reports that 2 of the terrorism suspects were waterboarded 266 times. One of them was waterboarded 83 times, while the other (a bad man I do admit- but punishment is for the courts to decide) was waterboarded an astounding 183 times. I have a hard time believing each of those times were to get info, and none were for other reasons. But, however we feel about these individuals, how can one not believe that waterboarding someone 183 constitutes anything but torture? Seriously, how blind to your own nationalism or belief system does one have to be to think this is acceptable behavior, especially if one believes in the concept of American Exceptionalism (if you believe in this, you must see that what makes American "great" is its "values"- and the values expressed by this, are not particularly exceptional). And if you are a Christian and feel this is justified, you need to reexamine your belief system, because something besides Jesus and Scripture are guiding you.

Un-freakin-believable.

Rant over

2. Did you check out Bono's latest op-ed in the New York Times? While disjointed it is worth reading, covering Carnival, Christianity, lent and Easter for believers and non-believers. There are lots of great little quotes, including:

I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search.

and

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.

3. Manchester Orchestra's second album dropped today. It is phenomenal, seriously. Wow. I was writing a review and then saw Paste's. It literally said everything I was going to say, only better. Imagine a bunch of young emo influenced Christians that showed serious potential their first time around, realizing they wanted to make a big rock-n-roll album while channeling everything good about Nirvana and not sounding derivative. This band could be a future Emergent Idol band if they continue on this trajectory. The lyrics are for anyone except those with sensitive Christian ears, easily offended by doubt. The opening line of this album is, “I am the only son of a pastor I know who does the things I do."

Anyway, here is the review by Paste. I really needed this album after so much navel gazing post-rock and folky stuff. I needed something smart and rowdy. It is the perfect combo of the holy grail- intelligence, melody and noise.

Mean Everything to Nothing is only $7.99 on Amazon (Cd or MP3) and iTunes.

what conservatism is not good at and what Patrol magazine is good at

I have been trying to stay away from anything that smacks of politics, but I cannot help it. Hopefully this post will find resonance on both sides of the fence...

The wonderful Patrol magazine has brought up some of the weaknesses of conservative Christian approaches to culture and art lately. Below are a couple of links. What blows me away about Patrol magazine is that it is essentially a pop culture magazine written by a bunch of Christian college kids and grads from a college affiliated with a very conservative Christian group, Campus Crusade for Christ (who were important to my college spiritual journey). If this magazine had been around, or I had found more conservative Christian kids like these I may have had a different journey. I moved a bit to the left in most areas because of my views of culture, which were not mainstream Christian (however, they are mainstream at Patrol).

By not having mainstream Christian views of culture as something bad that needed to be transformed I stood out like a sore thumb, even in high school (while a Southern Baptist, I never fit in and never drank the kool aid, choosing to stick with the sugar cookies offered). So, I moved out of the ghetto culturally which pushed me to align myself with those a bit more left in their views. This also pushed me (along with my views on race, justice and the environment) to the left politically (albeit with a core libertarian DNA). This is also why I am not dismissive of cultural conservatism... it is my home and I left with no malice, no animosity and no burned bridges. I still love those guys and consider them family (and love it when I find myself in agreement with them).

So, I moved left because of my love of culture (music, film, art, literature) because I felt I had no home on the right. What I have noticed is, with the advent of the Internet age, enlightened Conservatives with a love of culture finding each other and making their voices heard, even those from Christian backgrounds. It is a new conservatism I hope wins out in the end. It will be very good for the country and world. I wish them luck and will cheer from the sidelines. I just wish I had found them as a teen or college student.

Anyway, Patrol magazine is the magazine I would have written for, had they accepted me, 15 years ago had it existed (or I could have started it- yeah, right).

So, here are some of the critiques of the way Christians and conservatives handle culture, by some in the camp (found the link through Patrol).

First of all, from the defunct Conservatism's Slate-light Culture 11 comes this critique by Joe Carter, the editor, formerly of Evangelical Outpost:

Conservatism works best when it focuses on culture rather than on government. Indeed, when it comes to government, conservatives are quite clueless. Unlike libertarians, liberals, socialists, Marxists, and other advocates of utopian political philosophies, conservatism has no idea how to build a healthy social and political structure. We do know, however, how to recognize a sick one. Just as physicians define bodily health as the absence of sickness, conservatives view the absence of sickness as the primary gauge of the health of the culture and body politic. Our political and cultural objectives, therefore, are similar to that of medical doctors – preventing and eliminating sickness.

I totally agree except for one detail. I think Conservatism, especially in its Christian form is not particularly well suited or good at the creation of the art which makes up much of a particular cultural language. It is, Carter states, very good at critique of culture (and I find myself in agreement much of the time when it stands up and says "stop."). This does not mean it cannot create better forms of cultural language than it can government (which it cannot do because it stands against it). However, it much be careful not to repeat its past mistake of substituting propaganda for art.

Read the rest of the article about self censorship here.

Here are some examples of good cultural critique of Christian and conservative approaches to culture, especially art.

what killed Culture 11

Conservative safe zones

why Christian film making usually does not work (hint- it is propaganda masquerading as art. not art with a strong spiritual bent)

Check out Patrol, and follow them on twitter. Let me know if you like them.

_______________________________

update: Read this great piece on Conservative journalism and the sad demise of Culture 11, one that attempted to fill the void (there is lots of conservative punditry and opinion, but very little good conservative journalism. Why, they are good at pointing out why they are right, but poor at telling stories). Culture 11 was pretty good conservative journalism with moments of brilliance. Alas, it failed.

quick thought on politics, partisanship and stimulus grows bigger than the debt in a matter of moments

I am not going to bloviate* on this subject, but I want to make something clear politically speaking. While I have been in the tank for Obama during the past 4 years I have stated on more than one occasion that, unlike some of my friends, I do not genuflect at a shrine in my home office, lighting candles as I leave offerings. I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican that has seen the light. I am a radically moderate Independent (and have probably always been one). In say this, I want to make sure you understand something...

This stimulus package blows. I would not vote for it. It has elements in it that will help the economy, but much of it is spending that is not useful in the midst of a crisis or could be helpful but not at this moment, in this package. I think the Republicans should vote against it. I think the Democrats, apart from our President, should be ashamed for not talking to Republicans about it. I hope they raise a stink- just not a disagreeable stink.

While I am radically non-partisan, I do not want Republicans to roll over for the Democrats.  I do not want unity at the expense of debate and discussion. Of course, I don't want Republicans to do as they are doing right now and whine like big bad bully Democrats stole their lollipops. While I do not like politics in the name of partisanship and power, I care deeply about philosophical differences and political realities. I want Republicans and Democrats to fight over (debate) ideas, philosophy, pragmatic approaches that will work, etc. 

In this new era of unity, let us not neglect that.

* well I wasn't when this post began. Oh well.

Bushisms.. Inaguaration Day Edition

Good Bye sweet prince.

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it. " Philadelphia, May 14, 2001.

one of the major disappointments of his administration is reneging on this pledge to offer shooting classes to criminals to increase accuracy.

Bushims (2fer Tuesday), Inauguration Day Edition

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."- Washington, DC, Aug. 5, 2004.

See, it was not incompetence but a well executed plan by innovative and resourceful people.

Bushisms, Ron Paul edition

"I'veabandonded free-market principles to save the free-market system." Washington, DC, Dec. 16, 2008

because, like all man made systems it is farce built upon circular logic and ideology, as opposed to reality and truth.

Bushisms, Postmodern edition

"Let's make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times in our economy."- Washington, DC, June 2, 2008.

I am also certain that there is uncertainty, kinda.

Bushisms, "There is some who say" edition

"There is some who say that perhaps freedom is not universal. Maybe it's only Western people that can self-govern. Maybe it's only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-government. I reject that notion." London, June, 16, 2008.

Knowing many Methodists myself, I, too, reject, the notion they are capable of self government.

Bushisms, historical edition

"You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone." Washington, DC, May 5, 2006.

Because you are watching those televisions they have in heaven, like in the cartoons.

Bushisms, Triple Shot Thursday- smarter than Nixon edition

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened in this Oval Office." Washington, DC, May 12, 2008

We hid the tapes in a super secret spot that only that guy from National Treasure 2 can figure out. Heh, I like that guy. I liked it when he jumped out of a plane dressed like Elvis. He was in that weird movie where he played his brother and got killed by an alligator, wasn't he? I didn't like that one. I don't think he has ever been in my office though. If so, I had better check on those tapes. Whoops, this is not being recorded, is it?

Bushisms, Triple Shot Thursday- Healthcare edition

"One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be."- Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007

explaining the Republican platform and his success in accomplishing this task.

Bushisms, the Ironing is delicious edition

"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against those hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."- Washington, DC, Sept. 17, 2004.

Is he incinerating that they are barking up the wrong track?