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12 September 2006

Progressive Faith Blog Conference

At Faith in Public Life, Peter Laarman of Progressive Christians Uniting, reappropriates Reinhold Niebuhr’s legacy.

JSpot notes that Wal-Mart is helping mayor Daley become the new low-price leader.

CrossLeft circulates the Katrina Fairness and Opportunity Petition. Also, click here to enjoy Keith Olberman tossing a lil' moral rhetoric back at Rummy.

Chuck Currie posts the NCC statement on September 11.

Save yourselves from a corrupt generation
notes the increasing Christian support for environmental action.

Drawing from USA Today and Baylor, Mainstream Baptist blogs about how ones "View of God Can Predict Values, Politics."

At Street Prophets, Pastor Dan takes on the Bush Administration's spinning of the 9/11 anniversary.

Faithful Progressive points out the surreal aspects of the Bush talk about terrorism.

Just Inside the Beltway echos Sullivan on presidential dishonest statements.

And over Talk 2 Action, Frederick Clarkson entitled his post: Catholics For a Free Choice Monitors Tax Abuse by Religious Right Agencies.

03 September 2006

Question for you

What if the Spectrum Blog looked and functioned like this blog?

Notice the central area as well as the diary listing on the side.

It's run by Scoop, a Perl-based CMS. Read about the features here.

02 September 2006

Weekly Potluck: What's hot in the Sevy blogosphere

By Alexander Carpenter

Kev_and_kc_show_1 "I rock so much," says La Sierra University pastor Sam Leonor on the Kev and K.C. Show podcast.

Commenting on the Sabbath school lesson, Greg quotes Mark Twain: "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Also, I am at the Global Internet Evangelism Network conference. Just met some of these savy fellas at netAdventist.  They set up this blog on the conference. 

Hollywood pastor Ryan Bell recommends a bibilical way of thinking about the bible


And speaking about smart evangelism, Monte Sahlin points out:

"A lot of things were said in passion during the fall and early winter of 2001. 'Postmodernism is over ... an American revival is underway ... things have changed forever.' That's all nonsense and some of us said so at the time, but Christian leaders didn't want to listen. . . . We have to get real about what it takes to influence such a massive organism. That includes at least two things that it seems that Christendom, and American Christians in particular, have a hard time coming up with: (A) A long attention span. (B) A serious investment; at least the majority of our total giving."

If you have a recommended blog, let everyone know about it in the comments section.

15 August 2006

Progressive Faith Blog Carnival

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It's Spectrum's turn to host the Progressive Interfaith Blog Carnival. Here's what's hot.

Pastor Dan at Street Prophets catches the hypocrisy of Pat Robertson, who's apparently not going to win any humanitarian awards.  Great collection of stats on the conflict. "Lebanese economists have cut growth forecasts to zero or below from 5-6 percent. Some say the economy could shrink by 2-3 percent, with the tourism sector particularly hard hit." Yeah, that'll drive out the terrorists!

David Buckley's got a good Boston Globe cartoon on Lieberman over at Faith in Public Life. For "Moore" Lieberman hilarity  catch JSpot, too.

Michelle, of Metacentricies, posts an interesting round up of environmental and tech news. Check out the link to the Washington Post on Cheney's wacky comments about the majority of Americans supporting al Qaeda. If you are interested in some possible repercussions of the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict catch Sy Hersh in the current New Yorker. Money quote:

Some current and former intelligence officials who were interviewed for this article believe that Rumsfeld disagrees with Bush and Cheney about the American role in the war between Israel and Hezbollah. The U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said that “there was a feeling that Rumsfeld was jaded in his approach to the Israeli war.” He added, “Air power and the use of a few Special Forces had worked in Afghanistan, and he tried to do it again in Iraq. It was the same idea, but it didn’t work. He thought that Hezbollah was too dug in and the Israeli attack plan would not work, and the last thing he wanted was another war on his shift that would put the American forces in Iraq in greater jeopardy.”

Always musing and Catholic, Even the Devils Believe reflects on reasons for war. "I guess the question is whether pacifism is a principled position or just a rhetorical one,"he wonders.

Radical Torah posts on Lebanon Through the Lens of Tisha B’Av. And Islamicate notes a Newsweek article about how Jews deserted Lieberman.

The Shalom Center lists Ten Ways to Save the Lives of Abraham's Children.

Reverend Mommy posts about working on the CPE.

If you are interested in the politics of the Anglican communion, be sure to read Father Jake Stops the World. He reprints a recent Coats article from Episcopal Majority. He's got 58 comments on it the last I checked.

And, Semitism.net (pro-Israel, pro-Arab, pro-peace) doesn't pull punches:

no matter which way I head these days in the pro-Israel world — Jewish or Christian right — it looks like I am going to Hell.

Mainstream Baptist marks the loss of church/state separation champion Robert Alley.

Xpatriated Texan writes about the Limits of Greed.

And finally, speaking of limits, Talk to Action points out the connection between politics and the tribulation. Because one of the most dangerous weapons in the world exists as the belief in scriptural and historical determinism for the end time.

01 August 2006

Adventist bloggers continue to ponder Pastor Boyd

Sherman at Adventist Pulpit points out what happens when "When a Mega Church Disowns the Republican Party."

He writes, "Pastor Boyd, Thanks for reminding us that Christianity is not synonymous with American Nationalism, but don't let us vacate the public arena. The world needs the witness of the true Christ."

Adventist media watcher, Ron Corson, sees only politics, not religion, and attacks what he sees as "over the top generalization" and concomitant divisiveness.

And seminarian Trevan Osborn, actually writing before the Times article, candidly ponders the fine line of pastors and politics.

"I am a Democrat. I agree with their stands on most issues and don't see myself changing anytime soon. Yet, if I like a Republican candidate better than the Democrat, I'll vote for them. Just because I'm a Democrat does not mean I'm obstinate, close-minded, and unwilling to change my mind on an issue. I can say the same things about most other Democrats and Republicans. We need to move past the idea that just because we consider ourselves a Democrat or Republican we can't embrace, accept, and appreciate those who view things differently."

28 July 2006

Adventist Blogs - the results

I am now back to blogging after a vacation along the East Coast - Boston, New York and now back in sticky DC.

Here's some less known and recommended Adventist blogs to check out this weekend. And feel free to leave a comment or two - let's start some good conversations. Thanks to all those who contributed. We'll post more recommended blogs soon.

Blog the Future

Jonathan Scriven on politics

Mission Catalyst Network

Andrew on The Pilgrimage

Jericho Road

Oregon Adventist Pastor

21 July 2006

Adventist Blogs - Question

Reflecting on the Pew survey of American blogging, it seems clear that blogs could play an increasingly important role in Adventist communication as well.  Connecting people, fostering throughtful conversation, highlighting issues and motivating action. Well ok, actual action may be stretching it. . .

Use the quick and easy comment button and let's share all the interesting Adventist blogs we know and if you want, what you enjoy about a particular site. There are some lists of Sevy bloggers out there, but I'd like to know who you like to read.

Spectrum will then create a gateway site for the Adventist blogosphere.

Commenting below, which Adventist blogs do you read?

20 July 2006

Room for Blogger Progress

By: Alexander Carpenter                               

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just released its survey of bloggers and their habits.

Interestingly, only 11% of bloggers focus on politics and only 2% write on religion. The report points out that most bloggers use their platform for self-expression. With so few people posting on public life and even fewer on faith, this gives progressive bloggers significant voice compared to other forms of mass media such as radio or television. There's room for forward-thinking folks to write on how their faith informs their public values and doing so just might make a difference.

Also, in thinking about the future of media coverage of faith and public life, it's important to note that more than half of all bloggers are under the age of 30 which suggests that the blogosphere will grow in importance both as a tool for information and mobilization in the years to come.

Read the press release here.

And read the entire report here.

                           

10 June 2006

Essential Reading

Monte Sahlin's blog on religion, values, and contemporary issues gives readers a quick digest of information relevent to the Adventist context.

His quick summary on how the Da Vinci Code functions within postmodern religious discourse gets well beyond the usual platitudes.

Monte writes:

"The idea that the largest religious establishments in the world today are corrupt and have engaged in massive cover-up over the years is entirely believable to the average person. It has already been proved to them in contemporary headlines. If you must teach your children that they most not entirely trust the youth pastor or parish priest, then why should it seem strange to wonder if basic doctrines are somehow untrustworthy?"