Morning Report, Friday, April 9: Bonhoeffer, Celibacy and Abuse, Soul-Sorts, Megan Fox, and Other Nuclear Weapons

Last updated on: April 9, 2010 at 10:39 am by Timothy Dalrymple

Morning Report, Friday, April 9: Bonhoeffer, Celibacy and Abuse, Soul-Sorts, Megan Fox, and Other Nuclear Weapons 2010-04-09T10:39:10-04:00 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.

Christian and secular news and commentary that one Christian found important or entertaining today:

1. A CHRISTIAN HERO. Today is the 65th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution.

2. R.C.C. WITH T.L.C. FROM YOUR S.O. At First Things: “What Can the Catholic Church Learn from a Married Priest?” By a married man who as a Lutheran pastor before he became one of the RCC’s few married priests. One paragraph:

“The Long Lent of 2002, now dawning afresh in Ireland and Western Europe, has also led many to wonder anew about the wisdom of celibacy. While a celibate community does provide concealment for offenders and has contributed to the formation of dark networks of abusers, ending celibacy would not end human sinfulness. Celibacy does not cause abuse any more than marriage causes adultery. A married clergy and the ordination of women have hardly ended violations of the sixth commandment and pastoral trust in Protestantism. Protestantism endures the scandal of divorced and remarried clergy, sexual abuse in all forms, and in the mainline the increasingly successful effort to normalize homosexual liaisons. The Protestant experience ought to warn any thoughtful person off the notion that celibacy causes sexual misconduct.”

Also, as Newsweek makes clear today, RCC priests abuse children at the same rate as other men. Of course, they should abuse children at a lower rate, and much of the crisis concerns the cover-up efforts rather than the abuse in the first place. Also, the fact that priest-child abuse is 80% of boys while child abuse among non-priests is overwhelmingly of girls does cry out for some kind of explanation. But the point is important — not to absolve the Catholic church of its very real responsibility to clean house, but to remind the rest of us that we too have to deal with this problem. There is sexual abuse that takes place in Protestant churches as well as Catholic, in Jewish synagogues as well as Christian, in non-religious school and sports settings as much as well as in religious settings. In any setting where men are trusting to be alone with children for extended periods of time, there will be some degree of abuse.

My question: will it take some sort of crisis within their own denominations before, say, Baptists take strong measures against child sexual abuse in their own ranks? Have Protestant denominations or church planting organizations or para-church organizations taken care to address this issue? It’s all too easy to sit back and let the Catholic Church take all the heat. But we have this problem as well, and it has to be addressed.

3. SOME SORT OF SORTING. Scot McKnight continues his series critiquing Brian McLaren’s “soul-sort narrative” argument. Well worth reading.

4. CHURCH FATIGUE. Kevin DeYoung offers a very strong series on dealing with disappointment in the church. I wish that everyone would read this who has felt burned, burned out, or turned off by a church. (H/t Justin Taylor)

5. LOOKING UP? An optimistic take on the American economy.

6. COVERING UP. Major banks, sensitive to the concerns of investors who so recently saw over-leveraged firms crash when their riskiest bets lost, are masking their levels of debt and risk by cutting down their risk right before they send out their reports. After a report is sent out, the firms (including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and the like) take on more debt in order to make more bets, and then cut back on the debt again before the next report is due.

7. SUPPLY LINES. There’s trouble in Kyrgyzstan, and it could cause problems for America and its efforts in Afghanistan.

8. NO AIR. Three new species have been found – over 2 miles beneath the surface of the Mediterranean – that require no oxygen to survive. As the report notes, “further research into animals that can live without oxygen could help scientists examining the possibility of alien life existing on other planets.” In other words, some contend that one of the primary constraints on life-sustaining planets is that they must have a sufficiently oxygen-rich atmosphere. But if we can understand how creatures might survive without oxygen, then we may be able to look elsewhere for life in the universe.

9. HATE CRIME? New York City is seeing a rash of attacks on Asian women.

10. OLD MAN. More information on the 2-million-year-old hominid skeletons discovered recently in South Africa. This is not at all a profound observation, but it’s just amazing to imagine human-like creatures living, loving and carrying on the stream of generations for millions of years.

11. PRO-LIFE. Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Michigan) has announced that he will not seek reelection. Stupak’s decision to vote for the health care reform legislation, given his concerns regarding abortion, was one of the major turning points in getting the legislation made into law.

12. MEGAN FOX FOR TEACHERS. Don’t let your friends become celebrities and try to make political commentary.

12. TODAY’S TWO-SIDES. On our nuclear posture review and pact with Russia: Charles Krauthammer for the Right, and the Boston Globe editorial board for the Left.

Morning Report

Previous Post

April 8, 2010

Morning Report, Thursday, April 10, 2010: Adoption, Abstinence, Easter at the White House, Catholic Crisis, and the Future of China

Next Post

April 12, 2010 Is God Triune?

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