The Gay Flap

The Episcopal Church is in the process of deciding whether to promote an openly gay man to the post of bishop. This is one of those cases (rare cases) where the issue is actually homosexuality. Most religious folks scream "gay" when the real issue is usually not homosexuality, but fornication. The only time when homosexuality should be addressed is when two people are committed to a long-term relationship.Heterosexuality has done far more harm to this world than homosexuality has.

Thou Shalt Not Steal

We all know this quote, and those of us of a spiritual bent try to take it seriously. Then why are Christian songs (which account for seven percent of all music sales, more than Latin, jazz, or classical) pirated just as often as other kinds of music. This pirated includes online file-sharing, as well as the more traditional taping for a friend. If you consider music a ministry, then sharing is a reasonable activity -- we pass on tapes of sermons, right? But when music becomes an industry and not a ministry and if money means more than touching lives, then it's stealing. It should be different, but I'm not sure if it is.

An Interesting Case

This one might be going to court in the next few years, so consider this a sneak preview. In 2000, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which bars governments from enforcing zoning codes that impose "a substantial burden" on religious assembly. This law is being challenged in Los Angeles, where a group of Hassidic Orthodox Jews has torn down a 70-year-old house to build a synagogue in the heart of pricey Hancock Hill. A citizens group has been established to protest the construction, while the congreagation argues that the law is on their side. The RLUIPA is new law, and this may be one of the eraly cases to test the constitutionality of the law. This one has so many issues that it can't help but get ugly.

Translation Issues

The Wall Street Journal strikes again! This time, it is a fascinating article about the battle over Bible translations in the Zondervan company. Bought out by HarperCollins recently, Zondervan is the publisher of the wildly popular (45% market share) New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. Not content to dominate the evangelical market, Zondervan has annonuced plans to publish the Today's NIV (TNIV) in 2005. The TNIV is a gender-inclusive translltion, targeted at the more liberla-minded of denominations. The interesting thing to watch is if the NIV suffers among its constituencies as a result of the TNIV coming out from the same publisher. This move seems to make perfect business sense, but that assumes that conservatives will understand the business sense that HC and Zondervan are using.

Dan Brown's DaVinci Errors

Dan Brown's mega-popular "DaVinci Code" is an OK read that posits a sinister role for the Catholic Church and the Knights Templar over the last 17 centuries. The book is supposedly well-researched, and seems so possible . . . until Brown stumbles on a basic tenet of Catholic faith. The book then starts to appear sloppy, as well as being anti-Catholic to the core.

Among Brown's big mistakes is a misunderstanding of The Immaculate Conception. Brown has a serious religious scholar wrongly describing the Immaculate Conception as the miraculous implantation of the sinless Jesus in Mary's womb . . . but it is not. The Immaculate Conception -- as anyone who as ever take one religious class in college can tell you -- refers to the miraculous implantation of the sinless Mary in her mother's womb.

Dan Brown wrote a fun, readable yarn in this one . . . but keep in mind the mistakes. Despite what the author seems to be claiming, it is fiction.

Wanted: Brothers

Like any organization looking for new members, the Alexian Brothers selected a professional music video producer (of Madonna's work, no less) to put together recruitment ads for the order. The order traces its history back to the Middle Ages, but currently has a worldwide membership of 37, of whom the median age is a spry 65. The ads have been running for a month or so now on channels as disparate as MSNBC and the Golf Channel.

Dirty Money?

One of these executives of a failed company, Tyco, has tried to do good. Mark Belnick, the top in-house counsel at the mega-conglomerate, was paid $12 million as a bonus. Prosecutors are now claiming that the bonus was "hush money" to keep Belnick from testifying against the former CEO, Dennis Kozlowski, who is charged with pillaging the company. But the payment that Belnick received went almost immediately to a small Catholic college in California, and to a pro-life organization in Washington. Belnick, formerly an observant Jew, quietly converted to Catholicism a few months before receiving the bonus. The Wall Street Journal had a fascinating front-page piece last Wednesday about Belnick, and how his "two journeys" intersected at Tyco. According to the paper, Belnick "became embroiled in one of the messiest corporate scandals ever, and simultaneously pursued a sudden conversion and devotion to Catholic philanthropy." Check out the piece. It is a neat look at the changed life.

The Atheist Minister

From Yahoo! News: A Danish Minister, Thorkild Grosboel, has stated in a recent interview that "there is no God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection." A couple of questions spring to mind as a result. 1) If you do not believe, why do you go into this line of work? 2) Does the confession of faith mean so little to Grosboel that he ignored it as he became a minister and 3) Has the Danish church so watered down the message of redemption that an atheist could feel comfortable with a career as a clergyman? I am not sure who is responsible for this situation. Bishop Lise-Rotte Rebel, who oversees Grosboel, has demanded a retraction and an apology, so the official church seems to have the right attitude.

The Return of Worship

The last few years have shown a real re-birth of modern worship. In the US, this started with the Vineyard movement, but has spread to touch people all across the Body of Christ. After spending the eighties and the start of the nineties singng really bad songs, the last seven or eight years have given us a large number of terrific worship songs and talented musicians. Jeff Deyo, the Worship Circus, Soul-Junk, Chris Lizotte, and of course SonicFlood and Delirious? have helped make this decade (century? millenia?) the age of worship.

Another Musical Act

This entry will feature the work of a singer-songwriter I have followed for well over a decade. Johnny J. Blair put out one album, "Door In The Water" through a label back in the eighties, but has been producing his music independently since then. His entire family participates, which brings a unique sense of intimacy to the work. He plays a wide range of instruments, and sings about the kind of things we can all relate to. Check him out.