Be sure to check out two new blogs/sites on the sidebar: one from Dave Nevins, who leads a prayer/worship/fellowship group here in Alexandria. His site is worth perusing in some detail, as he lays out "Charismatic" (Catholic) Christianity in straightforward language. Ha, "Charismatic" and "Catholic" -- two terms sure to terrify many, especially in combination.
Also joining the blog roll is Marti Smith's site Telling Secrets. Marti led EC and I on a venture to Turkey a few summers ago with Caleb Project. In addition to being one of the most well traveled people I've every known (Marti is literally all over the world, all the time), she is a first-rate (and published) writer.
BC
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Once upon a time, in Dublin
A rare love story that doesn't peddle cheap sentimentality, Once is one of the best movies we saw this year. Not only will you hear good music, you'll also see great footage of Dear, Dirty Dublin. Cheers. -BC
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Root and Branch
After some thought and discussion, EC and I have decided to stop writing posts about politics and public policy.The writer of this blog, which I read regularly, happened to notice The (humble and meek) Wild Olive, and offered to have us listed on his site's blog roll. Given the new office I am working in and, frankly, the general area in which EC and I work (politics, government, policy), we've decided to pull all political and policy-related topics from The Wild Olive, in the interest of safeguarding ourselves and our workplaces from any unwanted attention. And incidentally, we had to turn down the good man's offer for increased blog readership.
Instead, we will focus primarily on issues of religion and culture, especially as they relate to our own lives. If society (or a country, state or city) is like a tree, politics and policy are a bit like the branches. Religion is the root, and culture the trunk. If someone wants to improve a tree's health, they can do all the pruning of branches and leaves they want. But if the trunk, or worse yet, the root, is rotten or diseased, any pruning is largely in vain. If anything, the pruning is delaying the inevitable death of the tree. By focusing on religion and culture, at a personal level, I think we are addressing a more fundamental level of life than politics and public policy. As Christians, we know this to be true.
This is a difficult thing in an election year. But nonetheless we will avoid the low-hanging fruit of Presidential politics on this blog.
The first 1/3 of Plato's Republic consists of a debate over the definition of justice. Much of the heated discussion is couched in terms of the local politics of the day in Athens, including the politics following the Peloponnesian War that eviscerated Greek civilization.
After going several rounds of defining precisely what justice is not, Plato's character Socrates turns the discussion in a completely different direction: In order to discover the nature of justice, he says, we should build a city in our minds (or "with our words."). Only by seeing the ideal community in practice will we apprehend this slippery virtue, justice. Joining with a couple worthy students, Socrates verbally creates what he considers an ideal city from scratch.
I propose something similar. Every time I am tempted to discuss politics or policy on this blog, I'll try to see if the issue transfers to the more fundamental level of the family. For example, I had a blog post in mind for the next few days on education policy. Instead of public education policy, I will instead focus on what might be called family education policy. How should we educate our child(ren)? In order to prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century, what will they need to know, and what skills do they need to acquire? What would the ideal education of our children consist of?
Family policy over public policy. Of course we all know the former is more important than the latter. But at some level, it takes more work to discern the former.
If anyone wants to ask a direct question or start a direct discussion on politics, government or public policy, shoot EC and I an e-mail or drop us a line on Facebook. I know the change will annoy some (including me at times), but it's all for the greater good.
See you on the front lines,
BC
Monday, January 14, 2008
Breakin' up (a coalition) is hard to do
Jonah Goldberg, mainstream Republican and intellectual rival of Crunchy Conservative Rod Dreher, wrote in Sunday's Washington Post a concise and funny summary of the current cleavages in American political conservatism, circa 2008.
Goldberg is grumpy because the Reagan Coalition is disintegrating. But coalitions are meant to be temporary, not permanent. That fusionist Republicanism held on this long is a bit surprising. Just a few years ago, Karl Rove was talking convincingly of a "permanent Republican majority." How distant that now seems. I suspect it's all for the best, as soul searching always is, especially for political types.
It's hard to say what direction post-fusionist political conservatism might take, but I for one do not want to join a populist movement. I think any new iteration of conservative politics could, as David Brooks said, "embrace capitalism but be suspicious of capitalists," without descending into the victimology of economic populism or delusional isolationism.
BC
Goldberg is grumpy because the Reagan Coalition is disintegrating. But coalitions are meant to be temporary, not permanent. That fusionist Republicanism held on this long is a bit surprising. Just a few years ago, Karl Rove was talking convincingly of a "permanent Republican majority." How distant that now seems. I suspect it's all for the best, as soul searching always is, especially for political types.
It's hard to say what direction post-fusionist political conservatism might take, but I for one do not want to join a populist movement. I think any new iteration of conservative politics could, as David Brooks said, "embrace capitalism but be suspicious of capitalists," without descending into the victimology of economic populism or delusional isolationism.
BC
Friday, January 11, 2008
"For this hour, and for this trial..."*
As of this week, I have worked exactly one year in legislative government - one session with the Colorado state legislature, and the past six months on the Hill. After my brief months here, I've observed a Washington, D.C. composed of regular people from all over country, many of them in their 20s and 30s, who are exerting as much power as they can in their own little fiefdoms, their own little corners of the Beltway.After hearing people's stories (either in the news or from colleagues), it seems most these run-of-the-mill young people work hard at their jobs, even if the work is sometimes aggravating, occaisionally seems trivial, or requires unreasonable hours for an unreasonable salary -- Though often, very often, at some point many of these folks find themselves at moments of tremendous consequence, when the decisions they make have national or international significance.
I notice this all the time now when I read the newspaper. The people in the pages are real - they are not fictional. And sometimes they fail. They didn't know they would be put in these critical and complex situations, but there they are all the same. It's a sobering realization.
EC has been auditing a Navy warship that Robert Kaplan thinks could play a role in determining U.S. military and economic power in the 21st century. I remember once EC told me who her team was interviewing for the week, and I had a moment of remarkable clarity -- she was interviewing him, and his staff? Any job quickly becomes routine, but at that moment I was struck with how important EC's team was, not just for us as a family, or just for her, but for the country.
Charlie Wilson's War, which EC and I saw recently, captures this phenomenon with humor and intensity. Charlie Wilson, a party-loving Congressman from East Texas ends up funding and prosecuting a covert war in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. His East Texas, all-female staff works with Charlie and a rogue CIA agent to supply the Afghan Mujahadeen with shoulder-fired missiles capable of bringing down Soviet attack helicopters. Wilson got elected because he was able to help elderly East Texans with their Medicare and Social Security. But he ended up with his fingers deep in a secret war in a faraway country.
It helps to remember that regular people put in extraordinary situations is nothing new.
On Spengler's elite forum (made up of academics, retired military, intelligence buffs and religious scholars), a young serviceman in Iraq -"Ehud" is his avatar- comments regularly, and is a youthful anomoly in the forum. Sagacious Spengler's words for Ehud follow:
Ehud, Stay safe. A lot of people are reading -- I am surprised how many and in what places. If there is any merit to what we do (and Providence will decide that, not us), it will take ten or fifteen years to have any impact. It won't be the present generation of power-brokers who pay attention, but young people starting their careers with a sense of dissatisfaction at what they have learned. As they rise through the ranks, these ideas -- if they are borne out -- very gradually will rise with them. I don't see how the Republicans can win this year's election given their poor showing in economic as well as strategic matters. That will give traditionally-oriented politicians four years to wander in the desert, with an open mind, and for a new generation to get involved.
Americans became complacent and underestimated the difficulties and the demands on them from the world of the 21st century. As always, they will have to learn the hard way. The one consolation is that they always have learned.
So here's wishing you a complete 2008.
There's nothing like a desert experience to focus the mind. As a wise man said a couple of nights ago in Alexandria, "God didn't just need to get the Jews out of Egypt, he needed to get Egypt out of the Jews." Amen. And here's to wandering.
* "I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial." -Winston Churchill on his appointment as Prime Minister in May of 1940; The Second World War, Volume I : The Gathering Storm (1948)
BC
Republicans are so five years ago...
...at least, according to the uber-respectable Pew Research Center, which calls 18-25 year-olds "the least Republican Generation."
BC
BC
Saturday, January 5, 2008
"The Republican Reformation"
Wow! The only thing more shocking than Mike Huckabee's startling ascendancy in Iowa was the former Governor of Arkansas' wide margin of victory over Manchurian Candidate-like Mitt Romney.
As I was telling a co-worker yesterday, I support Huckabee and like him a great deal, but not enough to defend him on all counts (who could support a national smoking ban? Are you kidding me?). I think the criticism of his lack of foreign policy knowledge and experience is valid -- but seriously, did Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan or (ahem) George W. Bush have a lick of international affairs experience when they walked into the Oval Office? I think not. One way to remedy this problem and assemble a more bullet-proof ticket would be a McCain-Huckabee combo. Only a McCain-Huckabee candidacy would provide the necessary jump-start to what David Brooks (resident conservative columnist at the New York Times) calls the upcoming "Republican Reformation."
As usual, Brooks has his finger on the pulse of change -- this time on the upcoming Republican Schism. Last week, Brooks penned two columns -- one on Mitt Romney's "Power Point-mentality" and the other on the conventional-wisdom busting Huckabee -Obama victories in Iowa. Both are worth a read. From the Romney column:
If any Republican candidate is going to win this year, he will have to offer a new brand of Republicanism. But Romney has tied himself to the old brand...The leaders of the Republican coalition know Romney will lose. But some would rather remain in control of a party that loses than lose control of a party that wins. Others haven’t yet suffered the agony of defeat, and so are not yet emotionally ready for the trauma of transformation. Others still simply don’t know which way to turn.
And from the Iowa column:
Huckabee’s victory is not a step into the past. It opens up the way for a new coalition....A conservatism that recognizes stable families as the foundation of economic growth is not hard to imagine. A conservatism that loves capitalism but distrusts capitalists is not hard to imagine either. Adam Smith felt this way. A conservatism that pays attention to people making less than $50,000 a year is the only conservatism worth defending...Mitt Romney is now grievously wounded. Romney represents what’s left of Republicanism 1.0. Huckabee and McCain represent half-formed iterations of Republicanism 2.0.
The old guard, fusionist Republican will be crushed in the near future. Young people are turning against the GOP in droves. Immigrants, primarily from Latin America and seemingly a perfect fit for small government, traditional values Republicanism, are repulsed by the "Send the dark people home" rhetoric spewing from mainstream GOP politicians. (FYI: Most recent immigrants to the U.S. are socially and fiscally conservative -- they are not the enemy!). Political and cultural conservatives who dare to espouse a belief in, um, conservation -- are finding the life of an Independent, or even a Democrat, more palatable. The old three legged stool of economic liberalism, social conservatism and hawkish national security is populated by old men, who will all fade away in the next 20 years. That doesn't mean the old men are wrong -- but it does mean a new iteration of conservatism is necessary. Or maybe more accurately, a recovery of the older meaning of conservatism deserves some fresh faces. The Republican Reformation is still waiting for its Martin Luther, though Huckabee and McCain are probably forerunners to that candidate who will fully articulate the new conservatism.
BC
As I was telling a co-worker yesterday, I support Huckabee and like him a great deal, but not enough to defend him on all counts (who could support a national smoking ban? Are you kidding me?). I think the criticism of his lack of foreign policy knowledge and experience is valid -- but seriously, did Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan or (ahem) George W. Bush have a lick of international affairs experience when they walked into the Oval Office? I think not. One way to remedy this problem and assemble a more bullet-proof ticket would be a McCain-Huckabee combo. Only a McCain-Huckabee candidacy would provide the necessary jump-start to what David Brooks (resident conservative columnist at the New York Times) calls the upcoming "Republican Reformation."
As usual, Brooks has his finger on the pulse of change -- this time on the upcoming Republican Schism. Last week, Brooks penned two columns -- one on Mitt Romney's "Power Point-mentality" and the other on the conventional-wisdom busting Huckabee -Obama victories in Iowa. Both are worth a read. From the Romney column:
If any Republican candidate is going to win this year, he will have to offer a new brand of Republicanism. But Romney has tied himself to the old brand...The leaders of the Republican coalition know Romney will lose. But some would rather remain in control of a party that loses than lose control of a party that wins. Others haven’t yet suffered the agony of defeat, and so are not yet emotionally ready for the trauma of transformation. Others still simply don’t know which way to turn.
And from the Iowa column:
Huckabee’s victory is not a step into the past. It opens up the way for a new coalition....A conservatism that recognizes stable families as the foundation of economic growth is not hard to imagine. A conservatism that loves capitalism but distrusts capitalists is not hard to imagine either. Adam Smith felt this way. A conservatism that pays attention to people making less than $50,000 a year is the only conservatism worth defending...Mitt Romney is now grievously wounded. Romney represents what’s left of Republicanism 1.0. Huckabee and McCain represent half-formed iterations of Republicanism 2.0.
The old guard, fusionist Republican will be crushed in the near future. Young people are turning against the GOP in droves. Immigrants, primarily from Latin America and seemingly a perfect fit for small government, traditional values Republicanism, are repulsed by the "Send the dark people home" rhetoric spewing from mainstream GOP politicians. (FYI: Most recent immigrants to the U.S. are socially and fiscally conservative -- they are not the enemy!). Political and cultural conservatives who dare to espouse a belief in, um, conservation -- are finding the life of an Independent, or even a Democrat, more palatable. The old three legged stool of economic liberalism, social conservatism and hawkish national security is populated by old men, who will all fade away in the next 20 years. That doesn't mean the old men are wrong -- but it does mean a new iteration of conservatism is necessary. Or maybe more accurately, a recovery of the older meaning of conservatism deserves some fresh faces. The Republican Reformation is still waiting for its Martin Luther, though Huckabee and McCain are probably forerunners to that candidate who will fully articulate the new conservatism.
BC
Two New Voices
Take note of two additions on the side column of blogs: Brother TC & and sister-in-law EC (another EC) have launched a couple of new sites: The Workman Project and The Lilly Awakens, both accessible from this site. As you, dear reader, have noticed, TC is a frequent commenter on this blog. I highly encourage you to join him in his fearless (and very welcome) commentating.
BC
BC
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Loving Dad
Joan Waithera Njoroge lives in Nairobi with her husband, Dan. I stayed at her house two years ago, where her mother made us chipati and peas, let us journal outside in her garden and take pictures of the monkeys in her trees ("those pests"). Joan, who joined two American women to travel to Sudan because she loved the Sudanese and wanted peace in Africa. Joan, my Kenyan sister, "Loving Dad," she always began her prayers when she prayed. Joan, a Kikuyu, married to a Masai. We talked about godly relationships, and about following Jesus. We played frisbee next to mud huts and laughed until our sides hurt.
Rhonda is in Eldoret with her husband and their baby who was born the 
same month as Hadassah Mae. Rhonda, an American missionary, married to a Kenyan missionary, a Luo. Rhonda, who let me bicycle with her through the shanties in Kakuma's refugee camp, who looked so small when our bush plane left her alone again in Sudan. We ate tex-mex over coals and talked about vanilla creamer in coffee. We prayed for peace in Africa.
same month as Hadassah Mae. Rhonda, an American missionary, married to a Kenyan missionary, a Luo. Rhonda, who let me bicycle with her through the shanties in Kakuma's refugee camp, who looked so small when our bush plane left her alone again in Sudan. We ate tex-mex over coals and talked about vanilla creamer in coffee. We prayed for peace in Africa.The New York Times today reported 50 people burned alive in a Pentacostal church in Eldoret as part of the violence that erupted after last week's controversial presidential election. 50 Kikuyu, they said. One man they interviewed had the last name Njoroge, like Joan. The President elect, a Kikuyu, is suspected of corruption. The opposition, a Luo, is calling for 1 million to demonstrate in Nairobi's downtown streets.
I don't remember when my heart stopped hurting for Africa. One day I woke up and the headlines about Sudan didn't affect me the same way anymore. In grad school they call this "crisis fatigue." Maybe emotional preservation set in. I remember how I marched in front of the Colorado state capital and waved a flag for Darfur. That seems ineffective and far away now.
Today at work from my office in downtown D.C. I saw the number, 300 dead in Kenya. Kenya, the "safe" African country, falling apart at the seams. Joan, a Kikuyu, Rhonda, now part Luo.
And this time it's not sorrow I feel, like I did for Sudan, or a Christian "burden" to pray for peace. Tonight it is different. Tonight I feel afraid for my friends.
As much as anything in my life so far, the faith and fellowship of these women has shaped the woman I now am. So tonight I pray for peace in Africa. For Rhonda, for Joan.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Foxes Have Holes...
As our plane descended last week, the South Dakota countryside looked like a white sheet of unlined paper – unscratched and inviting. There were no red lines of taillights; no cars trying to squeeze into a stream of speeding drivers. It was nice. We exited the airport and started to drive. And as we drove, for the first time in six months, my knuckles were not white. In the fading sun the snow on the hills turned pink and grey, and I reflected on the goodness of appreciating a place. As a native Coloradoan, I can say that we are, at times, state-centric. We’ve joked about a Texan quota, bemoaned the implants from the west coast, and suggested drawing the state line along the
Then I came to discover that some people in D.C. did not appreciate that I was from
Not long ago, I realized that as a Christian, I am perpetually far from Home. The book of Hebrews reminds us that like Abraham, we are sojourners until Heaven and the Kingdom come. This did not mean I was to be “homeless” and literally living on the street (although it could) but that my eyes were to be fixed on the heavenly, spiritual
And there I was, racing in my high heels for a spot on the metro. Every day jostling through the Chinatown morning crowds, walking in the shadow of D.C. with the nation’s Capitol building to my right, the
Can you believe it, in its uniqueness, in its differences, even D.C foreshadows heaven. It is not filled with the pine trees of
I’m reminded of a statement by C.S. Lewis: “Heaven is that place where all that is and all that happens issues from God’s creative genius. In that sense, it is like earth, except that in our present earth even nature groans, waiting for its deliverance….”(Beyond the Shadowlands)
If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and our hearts set on returning Home, we are liberated to follow Him… “wherever He goes.”
EC
Saturday, December 29, 2007
A Ham or an Artichoke for Dinner, Honey?
Only Spengler could pull this one off: In a Christmas column dealing with human-animal relationships, he works this money quote into the mix:
"Most cultures do not change; they persist until their best-used-by date, and then are destroyed by their enemies or die of their own despondency. Fundamental cultural change - a change as it were in human nature - appears in human history as a response to revelation."
The column is worth reading in detail, as is one of the essays Spengler references, Michael Wyschogrod's The Revenge of the Animals.
Wyschogrod (a conservative Jew) speculates that God "would prefer a vegetarian humanity." Diet, as it relates to our spiritual life, is an issue most Christians think little or not at all about. I am amazed at how fiery some Christians can get at the comment: "I feel convicted to become a vegetarian." Think of the reaction if the comment were: "I feel convicted to eat a strict kosher diet -- I don't believe Jesus abolished all dietary requirements in the law."
I think the key question is: When the risen Christ commands Peter to "kill and eat," is he aboloshing all dietary requirements (or even all dietary concerns) for Gentile Christians, OR is he more broadly exposing Peter's limited, ethno/nationalistic vision of what new Christ followers must do in order to be saved (i.e. follow the Levitical law)?
BC
"Most cultures do not change; they persist until their best-used-by date, and then are destroyed by their enemies or die of their own despondency. Fundamental cultural change - a change as it were in human nature - appears in human history as a response to revelation."
The column is worth reading in detail, as is one of the essays Spengler references, Michael Wyschogrod's The Revenge of the Animals.
Wyschogrod (a conservative Jew) speculates that God "would prefer a vegetarian humanity." Diet, as it relates to our spiritual life, is an issue most Christians think little or not at all about. I am amazed at how fiery some Christians can get at the comment: "I feel convicted to become a vegetarian." Think of the reaction if the comment were: "I feel convicted to eat a strict kosher diet -- I don't believe Jesus abolished all dietary requirements in the law."
I think the key question is: When the risen Christ commands Peter to "kill and eat," is he aboloshing all dietary requirements (or even all dietary concerns) for Gentile Christians, OR is he more broadly exposing Peter's limited, ethno/nationalistic vision of what new Christ followers must do in order to be saved (i.e. follow the Levitical law)?
BC
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Hucka-gotta-be a Communitarian?
BC wonders if Mike Huckabee isn't an American version of Europe's Christian Democrats?
Friday, December 21, 2007
A New Batch of Mustard Seeds
Many of us who pray for unity in the Body of Christ don't do enough reflecting on what that unity looks like. I've speculated in the past that any future ecumenism in the Body won't come primarily from meetings, conferences and letters of agreement from church leaders -- though these are still highly significant, and historic, efforts.
Instead, we are more likely to see more what is occurring today -- what John Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Register (one of the most astute observers of Catholic Christianity, and global Christianity in general) calls "the ecumenism of daily life" -- detailed here in his recent column, "Springtime for Ecumenists: A Realistic Assessment." From Allen:
But even after all the "ecumenism of daily life" you can handle, what is the dirty little secret behind greater Christian ecumenism? What will bring Christ-following Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox together irrevocably?
Persecution. And I'm not talking about having to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." I'm talking about hard persecution, not soft.
I think TC's comment in the previous post is very relevant, because he highlights the trend of many young Christians ignoring fixed church buildings altogether, and meeting in homes, or gyms, or whatever structure they can find. The early Church did this because they had to in order to avoid imminent arrest, or death. Why are young people doing it today?
At least one (and many other) Christian leaders are predicting difficult times ahead, and preparing for a small, dedicated Body living in the world as a "Creative Minority."
BC
Instead, we are more likely to see more what is occurring today -- what John Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Register (one of the most astute observers of Catholic Christianity, and global Christianity in general) calls "the ecumenism of daily life" -- detailed here in his recent column, "Springtime for Ecumenists: A Realistic Assessment." From Allen:
The great irony is...the ecumenical movement is actually among the most phenomenally successful currents in global Christianity in at least the last 100 years. It may not have achieved full, visible communion, but it has swept away centuries of prejudice and broken down denominational ghettoes in what can only seem historically like the blink of an eye.
Today, for example, Catholics and Protestants around the world pray together, work together, celebrate when their kids marry one another, and in general no longer see one another as bogeymen. While anti-ecumenical attitudes certainly persist (for example, in some sectors of the surging Pentecostal movement across the global south), the few remaining places where Catholics and Protestants are at one another's throats strike mainstream believers on both sides as not only anachronistic but almost incomprehensible. Much the same point could be made about Catholic/Orthodox relations.
If proof is needed, I offer the case of Hill City, Kansas, the tiny western Kansas town where my 93-year-old grandmother resides. Grandma, if prompted, tells stories about the time Protestants tried to stop construction of a Catholic church in town, not wanting the papists to get a toehold. (I have no idea how much truth there is to that memory, but the point is that reflects an era not so long ago in which such things were common.) Today, by way of contrast, her greatest point of pride about her pastor, Fr. Don McCarthy, is that he's well-liked by the Protestants too. There's almost no religious initiative of consequence in town that isn't ecumenical, such as the time in 2004 that the Ministerial Alliance, a coalition of the various Christian denominations, pooled $1,800 to rent the local cinema for free showings of "The Passion of the Christ." For three nights, Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and Lutherans sat shoulder by shoulder, then went out for coffee, pie, and conversation.
In microcosm, that tells the story of the runaway success of what experts have come to call the "ecumenism of daily life."
Our not-so-distant ancestors would be utterly shocked by the level of harmony among Christians today. For those of us who desire to see a more united Body, our current assessment reads like a GAO report: "Some Progress Has Been Made, but Much Remains to Be Done." (By far the best treatment of discerning a road to Christian unity is Peter Kreeft's message "Ecumenism Without Compromise").But even after all the "ecumenism of daily life" you can handle, what is the dirty little secret behind greater Christian ecumenism? What will bring Christ-following Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox together irrevocably?
Persecution. And I'm not talking about having to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." I'm talking about hard persecution, not soft.
I think TC's comment in the previous post is very relevant, because he highlights the trend of many young Christians ignoring fixed church buildings altogether, and meeting in homes, or gyms, or whatever structure they can find. The early Church did this because they had to in order to avoid imminent arrest, or death. Why are young people doing it today?
At least one (and many other) Christian leaders are predicting difficult times ahead, and preparing for a small, dedicated Body living in the world as a "Creative Minority."
BC
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Putting the "Cult" back in Culture - Part I
Cult: Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus - "care, adoration," from colere "to cultivate"
1: formal religious veneration : worship 2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents
Our little family lives just down the bike path from Cameron Station, a master-planned, neo-traditional development complete with its own main street, pre-school, farmer's market, large park and town hall where residents can vote and conduct other basic public business. Cameron Station has all the typical high points of "quality of life" - walkability, security, outdoor recreation opportunities, and so on.
Yet there's one thing I find missing as I stroll or drive around the community, making the place feel at best, lacking something, at worst, contrived. Cameron Station is missing a House of Worship.
Developments like Cameron Station are popping up all over the country, and I find this trend enormously positive. Make no mistake -- the "New Urbanist", neo-traditional community style generally produces very desirable places to live and work. Stapleton, Lowry and Belmar in Denver, Dawley Farm Village and Northern Lights Community in South Dakota, serve as examples. But the neo-traditional style is lacking a significant component of traditional communities: religion -- and by "religion", I refer to its original meaning, derived from and related to the word "relationship" (with God).
I realize the need for developers to turn a profit. They wouldn't be in the business if they couldn't earn a living. But the trend to eliminate the religious element from considerations of urban planning/development only contributes to the general spiritual corrosion in so many communities (for a series of wonderful examples, choose almost any country in Western Europe, where developers are in the business of converting unused Houses of Prayer to one-bedroom condos and dance clubs).
Cities across the U.S. are trying to attract the so-called "Creative Class" -- Young, single professionals working in IT, education, graphic design, writing, filmmaking, architecture, and so on. Like most ideas, this one has an element of truth: The new economy demands a healthy dose of Creative Class occupations in any locale that wants to advance, or even survive. This trend naturally leads to urban planning and development for singles: condos, edgy art districts, and uber-hip restaurants. What is left behind? Churches, schools and parks are ignored -- in other words, the things that often bind a family to a specific place are almost disregarded entirely.
So what happens to these hip-locales? Young, talented folks move in -- and promptly leave after a few years (maximum) when they are ready to settle down with a family. The "community" produced is temporary, transient and superficial. Joel Kotkin, urbanist guru, addresses this topic in his recent op-ed "The Rise of Family-Friendly Cities." It's worth a quick read.
I know, many of you are saying: BC is changing his tune now that he has a family. And many of you are absolutely correct, and let me make it clear that I have moved a full five times in the last five years. But hey, this isn't politics -- I reserve the right to change my mind.
BC
1: formal religious veneration : worship 2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents
Our little family lives just down the bike path from Cameron Station, a master-planned, neo-traditional development complete with its own main street, pre-school, farmer's market, large park and town hall where residents can vote and conduct other basic public business. Cameron Station has all the typical high points of "quality of life" - walkability, security, outdoor recreation opportunities, and so on.
Yet there's one thing I find missing as I stroll or drive around the community, making the place feel at best, lacking something, at worst, contrived. Cameron Station is missing a House of Worship.
Developments like Cameron Station are popping up all over the country, and I find this trend enormously positive. Make no mistake -- the "New Urbanist", neo-traditional community style generally produces very desirable places to live and work. Stapleton, Lowry and Belmar in Denver, Dawley Farm Village and Northern Lights Community in South Dakota, serve as examples. But the neo-traditional style is lacking a significant component of traditional communities: religion -- and by "religion", I refer to its original meaning, derived from and related to the word "relationship" (with God).
I realize the need for developers to turn a profit. They wouldn't be in the business if they couldn't earn a living. But the trend to eliminate the religious element from considerations of urban planning/development only contributes to the general spiritual corrosion in so many communities (for a series of wonderful examples, choose almost any country in Western Europe, where developers are in the business of converting unused Houses of Prayer to one-bedroom condos and dance clubs).
Cities across the U.S. are trying to attract the so-called "Creative Class" -- Young, single professionals working in IT, education, graphic design, writing, filmmaking, architecture, and so on. Like most ideas, this one has an element of truth: The new economy demands a healthy dose of Creative Class occupations in any locale that wants to advance, or even survive. This trend naturally leads to urban planning and development for singles: condos, edgy art districts, and uber-hip restaurants. What is left behind? Churches, schools and parks are ignored -- in other words, the things that often bind a family to a specific place are almost disregarded entirely.
So what happens to these hip-locales? Young, talented folks move in -- and promptly leave after a few years (maximum) when they are ready to settle down with a family. The "community" produced is temporary, transient and superficial. Joel Kotkin, urbanist guru, addresses this topic in his recent op-ed "The Rise of Family-Friendly Cities." It's worth a quick read.
I know, many of you are saying: BC is changing his tune now that he has a family. And many of you are absolutely correct, and let me make it clear that I have moved a full five times in the last five years. But hey, this isn't politics -- I reserve the right to change my mind.
BC
Friday, December 14, 2007
"Maybe it's not what he wants from you either."
Huckabee must be a contender, if the respectable conservative National Review (which endorsed Mitt Romney) is spewing this type of invective -- try to choke down some of the venom emanating from Lisa Schiffrin:
Everything that happens, Huck, all those reporters are going to want you to say something, everywhere you go, 24/7. And lots of people will act based on what you say. And not all of them have lots of love in their heart, Huck. That bait shop on the lake — it's looking good. You'll be surrounded by nice neighbors, real Christians, and you can be the smartest guy in the room. You can go out running every morning. Remember Huck — Jesus wouldn't be dumb enough to go into politics.You were right on that one. Maybe it's not what he wants from you either.
Well, here's to high school politics. Go get 'em Huck (and by the way -- COOL IT on the Lou Dobbs-like rhetoric on immigration -- I thought you weren't mad at anybody? Stick with authenticity, not linking hands with scaremongers)
BC
Everything that happens, Huck, all those reporters are going to want you to say something, everywhere you go, 24/7. And lots of people will act based on what you say. And not all of them have lots of love in their heart, Huck. That bait shop on the lake — it's looking good. You'll be surrounded by nice neighbors, real Christians, and you can be the smartest guy in the room. You can go out running every morning. Remember Huck — Jesus wouldn't be dumb enough to go into politics.You were right on that one. Maybe it's not what he wants from you either.
Well, here's to high school politics. Go get 'em Huck (and by the way -- COOL IT on the Lou Dobbs-like rhetoric on immigration -- I thought you weren't mad at anybody? Stick with authenticity, not linking hands with scaremongers)
BC
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Read, and Weep, All Ye Bluegrass Fans
Nickel Creek, spunky bluegrass band from SoCal, recently concluded their farewell tour, which started here in D.C. and finished in Nashville.
EC and I had the good pleasure of seeing Nickel Creek perform at Denver's hallowed Fillmore Auditorium (on less-than-hallowed Colfax Avenue).
Also, music fans: Be sure to browse NPR Music beta, an enormously content-rich site full of public radio's best tunes.
BC
EC and I had the good pleasure of seeing Nickel Creek perform at Denver's hallowed Fillmore Auditorium (on less-than-hallowed Colfax Avenue).
Also, music fans: Be sure to browse NPR Music beta, an enormously content-rich site full of public radio's best tunes.
BC
Friday, December 7, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Romney's Religious Conundrum
Mitt Romney delivered his "I'm a serious-but-not-that-serious Mormon" speech today in College Station, Texas. Intending a JFK-like address on how his religion interacts with his duties as a public official, most of Romney's speech reads like a (well-written) civics lesson in religious pluralism.
And let me say at the outset: Romney could very well be a fine President (though I would certainly not vote for him in a primary). One of my biggest objections to Romney is that he seems to be the Republican version of John Kerry -- a stuffy, aristocratic fellow trying desperately to look like a common Joe -- who would ultimately be beaten soundly by the Democratic nominee.
One of the primary differences between JFK's and Romney's speech is that Kennedy actually declared he would resign his office if there was a fundamental conflict between his beliefs as a Catholic and the duties of the Presidency. That is a startling claim, and I couldn't imagine a candidate today making it. (Kennedy actually made a much more vigorous case for a bright line between Church and State than Romney - so don't take this as a full endorsement of JFK's Houston speech over Romney's more moderate stance).
But Romney's religious problem is intractable: Many of the voters to which he is appealing want a candidate whose actions as President are informed directly by their (Christian) faith. Because Romney is self-conscious about his religion (and broad public acceptance of it), he feels the need to make the opposite claim: that his Mormonism will not directly influence how he governs the country from the Executive Branch. How this furthers his cause with politically conservative Christians is not at all clear.
BC
Monday, December 3, 2007
Missionaries Wanted - Location: Paris
Via Spengler, a call for missionaries where they perhaps are needed most:
Secular liberalism, the official ideology of almost all the nations of Western Europe, offers hedonism, sexual license, anomie, demoralization and gradual depopulation. Muslims do not want this. In Africa, Christian missionaries go to Muslims and offer them God's love and the hope of eternal life. But I am aware of no Christian missionaries active in the Muslim banlieue (outskirts) of the Paris suburbs or the Turkish quarters of Berlin. By contrast, there is indeed a war with Islam, and it is being won in parts of the world where Christians wage it on spiritual grounds. No Christian army has had to march in its support. Europe, meanwhile, is losing ground to Islam because it declines to fight.
I agree. There are already thousands of Christian missionaries in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them are Africans. Who would think to be a missionary (or "tentmaker") in majority-Muslim suburbs of Paris, Rotterdam and Berlin? Not many, apparently.
BC
Secular liberalism, the official ideology of almost all the nations of Western Europe, offers hedonism, sexual license, anomie, demoralization and gradual depopulation. Muslims do not want this. In Africa, Christian missionaries go to Muslims and offer them God's love and the hope of eternal life. But I am aware of no Christian missionaries active in the Muslim banlieue (outskirts) of the Paris suburbs or the Turkish quarters of Berlin. By contrast, there is indeed a war with Islam, and it is being won in parts of the world where Christians wage it on spiritual grounds. No Christian army has had to march in its support. Europe, meanwhile, is losing ground to Islam because it declines to fight.
I agree. There are already thousands of Christian missionaries in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them are Africans. Who would think to be a missionary (or "tentmaker") in majority-Muslim suburbs of Paris, Rotterdam and Berlin? Not many, apparently.
BC
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