Morning Report, July 23

Last updated on: July 23, 2009 at 2:17 pm by Timothy Dalrymple

Morning Report, July 23 2009-07-23T14:17:01-04:00 Timothy Dalrymple

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

1. President Obama explained the reasoning behind his push for health care reform in a prime-time presser last night. He said nothing new, but presented his argument in his usual smooth and eloquent manner. The only surprise came near the end, when he took a question on the arrest of Skip Gates in Cambridge, Mass. His response was not surprising in itself; but it was surprising, especially given how carefully controlled his press conferences are (reporters are chosen in advance when they intend to ask questions that the administration wants to answer), that he addressed a hot-button topic that distracted from the substantive matter of the moment. The next morning, there is more attention in newspapers and television shows to his comments on the arrest than there is to his argument for health care reform. This was not an effective management of the message–and with 50 percent of the public disapproving of his handling of the issue, he needed to be supremely effective in order to get a bill on his desk before the August recess. Meanwhile, as RealClearPolitics shows, there is abundant commentary from left and right on the issue.

2. Speaking of the Henry Louis Gates arrest, I will try to offer a reflection on this later. Yet it largely depends on whom one believes. Since the police report has been leaked to The Smoking Gun, one can see that, if the police report is honest and accurate, then there was reasonable basis for a disorderly conduct charge. It may have been “acting stupidly” from a PR point of view, yet it’s hard to see where officer Crowley acted in a racist manner. On the other hand, Gates’ account is quite different; if *that* account is accurate, then the policeman was certainly out of line–whether it was a clash of egos, and the policemen arrested him because he was irritated by Gates’ behavior, or did so because of racism, is anybody’s guess. The White House is now qualifying the President’s comments. For the full account from Gates, see this interview at TheRoot.

3. The mechanization of warfare in the early 20th century led to the massive, wholesale slaughter of World Wars 1 and 2. Now the robot-ification of warfare could actually reduce the number of casualties in armed conflicts. CNN has an article on the trend. The interesting question for me–and the question we always try to ask at this blog–is how Christians ought to think about this development. Presumably we can celebrate that fewer people are put in danger–yet killing could also become even further depersonalized, since it is not one person encountering another on the battlefield but one person, comfortably ensconced in front of a computer halfway around the world, directing a machine to kill someone from afar. If anyone has thoughts on this, please let me know.

4. Evidence of the Fall, items #3 and #4: Four boys in Phoenix, aged 9-13, after luring an 8-year-old girl into a storage shed with the promise of chewing gum, raped her. All were Liberian refugees. The girl survived, yet child protective services removed her from her home when her parents refused to support her, feeling that they had been shamed by their daughter. Let’s pray that this poor girl finds a loving home with parents who appreciate her and can support her as she heals from this horrific experience. Who knows what justice may be when it comes to boys of that age, but we can pray God’s hand will direct the process. On the other hand, may justice fall heavily on the shoulders of three people arrested in Ohio for letting rats chew the toes off of a six-week old baby girl.

(Yet God can bring good out of evil, as this story illustrates.)

5. Angelina Jolie, as this interview shows, has come a long way from her wayward youth. It’s easy to mock the Hollywood adoption craze, but most of these children (except when you tear them away from their unwilling families, which seemed to be the case with Madonna) do need help, and Jolie has been a very earnest representative for refugees around the world. Sometimes music and movie stars are entirely self-absorbed, and even figures such as Bono and Angelina Jolie surprise me sometimes with their vanities. But these, unlike so many celebrities with a cause, have really educated themselves on the issues and made a substantive impact for good.

6. Finally, two excellent ministry articles that I found today. The first concerns the very difficult matter of ministering to those who are recovering from addiction and similar struggles. The author discusses “the narrative of ascendancy,” that one becomes Christian and his life steadily improves, versus “the narrative of descendency,” based on Christ’s descent into death and hell.

I would rather speak of the baptismal formula of death and resurrection in Christ, but I think it’s well worth reading. The second concerns prison ministries that reach out to the children of the incarcerated. Having spent three years myself in prison ministry, I can tell you that there is no greater service you can do for most prisoners (those who care about their children) than take care of their sons and daughters. Read both.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 22, 2009

New Material on Faith@Work

Next Post

July 23, 2009 Further Reflections on Executive Compensation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abortion adoption Africa Aging AIDS America Worship American history Americolatry An Open Letter to a College Freshman animals Apologetics art Atheism Authors Barack Obama Bible Biblical Scholarship Billy Graham Blogging Bono Book Review Books That Change Lives Breakfast Links Bulletin Board Business Children Christian Approach to Politics Christian Media Christian Right Derangement Syndrome Christianity and Homosexuality Christians in Government Christmas Chuck Colson CLS v Martinez Comic Creation Creativity and the Arts Cross Examinations Cross Investigations Daily Fragment Daily Trinity Death debt Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood depression economy education Election 2012 entertainment Environment Epistemology Erik Campano Euthanasia Evangelicalism Evangelicals and Gays Everyday Transcendence evil evolution Facebook Jesus faith Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics faith and reason family Feminism foreign affairs Franklin Graham Future of Evangelicalism Galen D. gay marriage George W. Bush Guest Posts Guns Gymnastics Harold Camping Heaven Hell Holidays Hollywood Homosexuality iam2.org Illegal Immigration immigration Immigration Reform Injustice Inspiration Interviews Islam Jeremy Lin Jesus jesus christ John Mark Reynolds Johnnie Moore Judgment Day Just War Theory Killing Osama Link of the Day Lists of the Week Mark Goldblatt Marriage Military Missions Mitt Romney Modern Western Thought Monastic wisdom Mormonism Morning Hash Morning Report Motherhood Movies Obamacare Old Testament Orphan Care Palin Parenting Pastoral Resources Patheos Peace Between Religions PEPFAR Persecution Peter Wehner Peter Wehner Philosophy Political Quotes of the Day politics Politics and Economics Pornography Prejudice Prisoner Rape Question of the Week Race Radical Faith Rapture Ravi Zacharias Rick Santorum Russia Salvation Sarah Palin Scandals Science Science and Faith Separation of Church and State Series sex sex slavery social justice Social Justice Ministry Spiritual Disciplines sports Steven Tyler Suffering Suicide Sunday Funnies T. Dalrymple Tea Party Technology terrorism The Christian Media Files The Daily Trinity The Electorate The Ethics of Rhetoric The Future of Seminary Education The Middle East The Obama Presidency theological Theological Renewal Theology Uncategorized Understanding Evangelicalism Vocation war War and Peace With Distinction Word to the Wise Writers

Select a Month October 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz