Inappropriate Conversations

Continuing from last week, prayer may be the best example of establishing religion. From a Christian perspective, if your prayers "in no way establish a religion" then you are not praying. So, does a "pledge of allegiance" to God establish religion?  Never mind, Jesus explicitly warns against such public declarations in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Different Drummer: Matthew

With a strong Biblical foundation, I have a theory that most prayers at public events like high school football games or graduation ceremonies have more to do with the speaker than God. If you only bow your head to follow a spoken prayer led by someone on a public address system, are you really genuinely praying? I believe prayer is much more than that. Different Drummer: Andy Partridge

If we are serious about free market capitalism, then we shouldn't be name-calling or establishing barriers to the free exchange of opinions and beliefs. This notion is consistent with America's founding fathers. It is consistent with the writings of the apostles who spread the word of Jesus without any help from a ruling majority in government. Are we "restoring America" to those perspectives? If you are watching rallies on TV and reading the news, you don't really know what "restoring honor" precisely involves. I wonder why. Different Drummer: Thomas Jefferson

Where were you on September 11, 2001, when planes hit the towers in New York City?  I was facing questions about whether God is in control of all things, and how to reconcile that with acts that scream to be called "un-Godly."  My answer involves as much metaphysics as theology. In each case, possible world theory has much to do with how I understand both Providence and prayer. Different Drummer: Richard Linklater

"Most Likely To" was both an employer reference, recommending someone I'd once supervised for admission to a university, and a short story with wild anecdotes from college days. Completely inappropriate, but hopefully a bit of fun. Happy Labor Day! Different Drummer: Larry Winget

Questions can be valuable even when we don't answer them fully or at all. In a change of pace, here are a few questions that I've mulled over in the past. Some people may find this uncomfortable. I believe facing these types of considerations will lead us to think, or at least to ponder.  Stay tuned through the end for the title track of Craig Bevan's CD, "I Think We've Made It." Different Drummer: Terry Gilliam

Representative democracy has almost become a joke in the United States of America. The two-party system gives voters a false, and limited, sense of choice where the parties themselves join forces to keep other options out. Worse, it often seems like no one votes their conscience anymore. We complain about the "lesser of two evils" while so easily settling for just that. We will never get anything better until we stop trying to "pick the winner" and start demanding something better than a "race." Different Drummer: Ralph Nader

We miss huge opportunities to make meaningful connections with people and ideas when we separate science from daily living. Even culturally, we often fail to recognize the implications and possibilities that certain scientific theories present to us. With the laws of motion, for example, something more profound than physics is described in Isaac Newton's work. Different Drummer: Salvador Dali

The realm of "the arts" is most likely to present a healthy confrontation of sex, religion, politics and culture. At times in our history, this has been a safe haven for new ideas. At other times, it has been the last stronghold against totalitarian conformity. Few artists have demonstrated this better than this week's different drummer. He is a filmmaker who mercilessly skewered self-righteous religiosity and stood up against fascism as boldly as any soldier. Different Drummer: Luis Bunuel

Anyone can believe as I do. Prophets told us that the words of faith are written in our hearts. If I summarize down to a list, it starts to look like cliche. Well, I do not approach this topic as an attempt at evangelism. I cannot "give you my faith." That is, in fact, one of my beliefs: any faith you find will come from your own heart. On the other hand, I can tell you about Permanent Things I've found in my heart. Different Drummer: Larry Crabb

A poetry reading sets the tone for the first of a two-part focus on religious beliefs. Negative part first: what I don't believe.  In some ways, the state of Christianity in America today is so shameful that you almost have to share your faith by distancing yourself from aberrant views that many people expect to hear from what I call "Politically Active Christianity" or PAC. Different Drummer: C.S. Lewis

Americans have a somewhat adolescent obsession with fairness. As an example: most of our sports, including our "football" game, include specific penalties for simulating injury.  USA results at this year's World Cup have attracted the largest American audience ever, but FIFA's inability or unwillingness to address simulation of injury will stop the largest sports market in the world from getting fully invested in the planet's most popular game. Different Drummer: Mike Emrick

Every four years when all the election talk about "character" starts running wild, I get a reminder that in some ways I'm the ideal candidate for president. If you are only ticking off items on a checklist, what do we value most in a president?  I have my own reasons for thinking that I am not the best person for the office. Top of that list: I believe in telling people the truth. Different Drummer: Todd Snider

America functions with a careful balance on a couple of ideas. One is majority rule. The other is checks/balances on power. Controls are in place specifically to prevent oppression of minority groups.  Always get suspicious when you hear someone complain about "the will of the majority" being thwarted. Does such a majority know what it's like to be on the other side?  I don't believe we've advanced as far in race relations as some Americans might suggest. Different Drummer: Carlton Douglas Ridenhour

My father has been gone for close to two decades now. I miss him more than I ever have. I'm still not yet older than he was when he died, and I sense that his life experience could inform me greatly today.  Some sociologists believe that the absence of dads is a big factor in the problems we are facing. There may be many things that our children, collectively, are not hearing from fathers. Not just hard words, either; the list surely includes laughter. Different Drummer: Jacques Clouseau

When it comes to drugs and drug policies, we'd better say much more than just "no."  In many ways, the "just say no" campaign invested its power in the simplicity of ignorance. After all, if you merely abstain then you never have to understand what you are abstaining from. Or do you?  Education is crucial because knowledge is the only way to avoid being duped ... or doped. Different Drummer: Steven D. Levitt

Knowledge is power, and it is very difficult to resist temptations that come out of nowhere. Being prepared and understanding consequences are crucial ways of making good choices when other options are very tempting.  When I was growing up, 10 years old, education was the approach my parents and my church used for sexuality. And it wasn't "abstinence only" either.  I openly wonder whether my Protestant denomination would handle sex education the same way today, or at all. Different Drummer: Alex Comfort

Equality in marriage is a fairly new idea, and I wonder if our society takes for granted something that we've only begun to experience. In the past, a wife was legally regarded as a possession. At times, marriage has been viewed as a political tool or even an economic exchange, referring to the dowry concept.  The notion of Companionship Marriage is unique in granting marriage a value all its own, where the partnership is truly between spouses rather than governments or families.  In a seemingly unrelated matter, have a blessed Memorial Day, Americans! Different Drummer: Paul of Tarsus

Pentecost may be the most important celebration in the Christian calendar for me. It is also horribly under-regarded. Christianity recognizes Trinity: God interacting with creation in three primary and personal ways. One of those is through creation itself. Christ is another. What about the third?  When Christians talk about "God changing hearts and lives" they are referring to the Holy Spirit.  I've heard some people resist the notion that such a manifestation of deity could be called a person, but this is precisely how a relationship with God actually becomes personal. Different Drummer: The Holy Spirit

Here's an Inappropriate Conversation about how to have an inappropriate conversation.  Things only grow when you shine your light on them.  Fair-skinned as my family is, though, how do I let the sun shine in without getting burned?  Even more important, I need to make sure the storyteller doesn't get in the way of the stories I need to tell. Different Drummer: Allison Downing http://www.simplysyndicated.com/