Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Medical Conspiracy?

    This is a good post. Not only is it true, but it’s fun. More of us should dissect certain advertising claims in this way.

  • Highlights from Christian Carnival CXCV

    • From The Peculiar Club, there is How to Know God, simple, practical, brief, down to earth–all the things my posts usually aren’t! This one would be worth putting into practice.
    • After reading the book unChristian, Tom Gilson says “Christianity has a reality problem.” He then does a very thoughtful job of discussing just what is involved in that reality problem.
    • Mark Olson has a thought-provoking post about being aliens. Are you an American Christian or a Christian living in America (or whatever country you live in).

    There’s lots more. The full carnival is posted at Everyday Liturgy.

  • Christian Carnival CXCV

    . . . has been posted at Everyday Liturgy.

    My submission for this carnival was one I wrote for wife’s devotional blog. Next week, I will be hosting the carnival here.

  • Different When WE Do It

    As I’ve watched the debates about various aspects of our behavior as a nation (the United States), I am very concerned with the way we seem to be able to rationalize things that normally would be totally unacceptable. The same action can be acceptable when we do it and a gross violation of justice when done by someone else. Something that is acceptable done to another person is a horrible violation of our rights if it is done to us.

    Here are just a few stray thoughts . . .

    When we grab terrorists and torture them, we are just protecting ourselves. When Russia does it in Chechnya, it’s a human rights violation.

    When we arrest someone without a warrant it’s a necessary part of defending ourselves against terrorism. When someone else does it, it’s an abuse of power.

    When we invade a country it’s preemptive defense; when someone else does it it’s naked aggression.

    This extends to our personal lives. As a nation we have a low view of congress, but we generally have a favorable view of our own congressman. We like it when our congressman brings home the pork; all those other congressmen ought to stop! We dislike attorneys as a profession, but we generally like our own attorney–at least as long as he wins.

    The other guy’s defense attorney is a sleaze who is prostituting himself to get a criminal off; our attorney is just using the best possible strategy to see to it that we get a just result.

    When we consider the justification–or more likely rationalization–for some of the things we are doing in the war on terror, we need to ask ourselves how we would react if some other country, or some other person, did the same things. I think we would find it much harder to justify these actions when done by others than when we do them.

    There is, of course, the argument that we must do these things in order to survive. But let me ask this: If I survive by lowering myself to the point of torturing someone else, just who is it that survived? Do I want to be that person?

    Who would Jesus torture?

  • Florida Science Standards Under Attack

    The new draft science standards in the state of Florida are under attack for their forthright inclusion of evolution. You can read more about the state of the debate on the Florida Citizens for Science blog. Those of us who support sound science are acquainted with the style of argumentation involved.

    I want to help make it clear that this is not a “religion vs. secularism” debate. There are a substantial number of people of faith of many persuasions who support the inclusion of the consensus scientific position in the science standards. I even know a number of ID supporters who don’t believe ID should be included in the High School science curriculum.

    Robert Crowther, contributor to the Discover Institutes EvolutionNews.org blog has even weighed in with a comment:

    I just blogged at Evolutionnews.org about this amazing development of the Florida Citizens for Science now being the sole arbiters of who is or is not a part of the “scientific community.”

    Apparently scientific inquiry is free, only so as long as you adhere to the Darwinian orthodoxy. Otherwise you will find yourself not a part of the “sceintific [sic] community.”

    This is presumably a response to this quote from Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science:

    “It’s a PR issue,” he said. “And it’s a religious issue. In the scientific community, it’s not an issue.”

    Well, Mr. Crowther, I see the PR issue. I see the religious issue. I even see some philosophical issue. What I don’t see is the debate in the scientific community. I see a few dissidents who seem uninterested in doing science, but prefer instead to hire PR people, write popular books, and hijack other people’s research. Now PR and popular books aren’t bad, but they don’t constitute an “issue in the scientific community.”

    (Full disclosure: I am a board member of Florida Citizens for Science. The list of board members is here.)

  • A Reason Not to Vote for Huckabee

    Well, I wasn’t going to vote for [tag]Mike Huckabee[/tag] anyhow, and since I’m not Republican he’d have to get the Republican nomination before it would get on my horizon, but still here’s another reason:

    Chuck Norris has endorsed him.

    I last mentioned Chuck Norris in my post Sneaking God into Public Schools.

    On the other hand, [tag]Fred Thompson[/tag] gave what I regard as a good, thoughtful response to a question about Terri Schiavo. In general, many of the things that the media is complaining about with regard to Thompson, I regard as positives. Again, not being a Republican, I don’t have a dog in that hunt, but it’s nice to hear some thoughtful, nuanced answers. The media prefers sound bites, but the voters–and thus viewers, readers, and listeners–should demand better.

  • Burma/Myanmar Reminder

    On October 4, 2007 I participated in Free Burma Day by posting just a banner reading Free Burma and nothing else all day.

    I received an e-mail today from the U. S. Campaign for Burma, asking that we not forget what’s going on there. They mentioned several avenues for action, one of which works well for me–posting a blog entry reminding people of the situation. Very often our attention span for issues like this runs in days and weeks when actual reform requires months or years. Let’s keep paying attention.

    Check out the U. S. Campaign for Burma web site if you’re in the United States, or find organizations in your country to support.

  • Taking Care of Veterans

    I linked yesterday to a story about PTSD related discharges, and today I found this Newsweek article on problems with the [tag]Veterans Administration[/tag].

    I believe people from all across the political spectrum should be able to agree that we must take good care of our troops and our veterans.

    But I want to point out something else. The figure given in the Newsweek article is that [tag]veterans[/tag] care resulting from the wars in [tag]Afghanistan[/tag] and [tag]Iraq[/tag] will be at least six times the official estimates. I can’t confirm the accuracy of those figures, but it does fit in with a constant refrain from these wars–they cost more than is projected, and the actual cost is extremely high.

    Jesus used preparation for war as an example of the need to count the cost (Luke 14:31-32). I’m not using this as a call to cowardice, but rather as a call to use such resources as we have effectively and wisely. Just looking at the costs of the two wars we are in right now should let us know that a strategy of attacking and occupying every country that promotes terrorism in any way is not going to be cost effective. Continuing even further to reform their governments into an image that we prefer is well outside any range.

    I’ve heard Iraq advocated as a base to fight terrorism elsewhere. But what sane strategist would suggest a base that costs more resources to maintain than those that can be projected from it?

    One of these costs that must be counted is the care of veterans. It’s a moral duty. But even more it’s a practical duty. If people come to understand that if they sacrifice themselves for their country they and/or their loved ones will not be cared for properly, it will become harder and harder to find the necessary quality of troops. Loyalty will only carry people so far when it is not reciprocated.

  • New Florida Science Standards

    New science standards for [tag]Florida[/tag] public schools are now available for review (HT: Florida Citizens for Science. These look very good, but there will inevitably be conflict about the issue of evolution.

    There was also a good article on this process in the Orlando Sentinel (again HT: Florida Citizens for Science.

    Interested parties should read and comment on these standards. Though I would expect that the evolution items will generate more controversy than others, the key issue here is not evolution, but sound science education in all areas.

    Thanks to the dedicated folks who participated in writing these new standards for our state.

  • Just What We Needed: The LOLCat Bible

    Prowlog

    1 In teh land of Uz wuz a man calded Job. Teh man wuz goodz, afraid of teh Ceiling Cat and evilz.2 Teh man hadz seven sunz and tree doters,3 And lots of sheepz and camlez and rinoceruseses and servnts, srsly.4 His sunz tok turns mading cookies, and they all eated them.5 And Job wuz liek “Oh noes! Wut if cookies were sin? Gota prey, just in cased.”

    So goes the LOLCat Bible of Job 1:1-4, which the LOLCat Bible site suggests as a good example of how to translate–for the LOLCat Bible, of course!

    Perhaps someone needs a life. Then again, perhaps not …

    HT: meeyauw.