Have You Voted In the 2006 CBAs Today?

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Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

54 thoughts on “Have You Voted In the 2006 CBAs Today?”

  3. I wish they had a category for best logo. I love American Papist’s! I also love the “Wish You Were Here” graphic at the top of each page at the Curt Jester, though that’s not his actual logo. Both had me laughing out loud (belly laughs, even).

  4. What is the logic behind “one vote per day?”
    Is this a Chicago organization?
    Forgive me, Chicago-ans/ites, political machines have done a lot of good over the years too.

  5. Isn’t this an egregious amount of self-promotion? I mean, Blog Awards- Seriously? How much room on here (not to mention time) are you using to stump for a “virtual” vote on a “virtual” space. Imagine what you could do if you were actually OUTSIDE, with real PEOPLE.Just a thought.

  6. Jimmy, I love your blog, and you definitely deserve to win. But it’s very hard for me to take an internet vote like this seriously at all. It’s too easy to “stuff the ballot box”, so to speak. Just my two cents.

  7. Even those posting comments critical about the awards process are being exposed in the process to faith discussions.
    “Be as innocent as doves, but clever as serpents.”

  8. Gosh, Jimmy, I really wish I could honestly vote for you as “the best”, but I couldn’t. I looked at the entries for each category and there is not a single category in which I visit at least another blog.
    For example, in the “Most Informative” category, it’s only “JimmyAkin.org” which I visit (although I have heard of some of the contenders).
    I feel that voting for Jimmy means voting against the others, which is unfair, since I have not seen their contents on the same regular basis.
    ‘Best’ and ‘Most’ are also too subjective. As Goldilocks might say if she were alive today: this blog is too deep, that blog is too light, but Jimmy’s blog is juuuusssst right.

  10. This whole enterprise is fundamentally silly and insidious, a capitulation to today’s vacuous democratic infestation into all things sacred.

  11. “There must be a time in life for purposeless things, even foolishness.”–St. Thomas Aquinas, quoted by Bishop Sheen in his autobiography, “Teasure In Clay”, page 20.

  12. Dear James,
    Having been aware of your conversion since 1994, I gotta love you and your “blog,” but …
    It was the fact that you shamelessly SOUGHT votes that made me decide to vote against you. Well … that, plus the fact that Dave Armstrong (Cor ad Cor Loquitur) works at least as hard at apologetics as you do.
    Be humble, please.

  13. if you like Jimmy’s work, as many of you do, its good to support it.
    When Jimmy’s bosses, publishers, radio producers, etc, see that he’s won an award, they give him a raise, extend his contract, call him first, etc.
    This a) supoorts him financially and in his career
    b) spreads the Kingdom.
    When a priest asks you to support the Church, do you ask him to be humble, tell him its shameless, or wax poestic about the fact that you can’t contribute, because you have no experience with other parishes, which might need the money more? No. You give.
    This award, though apparently meaningless vanity to most of you, is probably a credibility asset, and a shot in the arm, to Jimmy, who does something we all need him to do.
    Grow up and vote for the blog.

  14. Man! What is with all the open-faced dissing going on?
    If you want to vote for someone else, I am sure Jimmy would want you to do so. But common manners would require that you don’t rub it in his face.
    The mouse button is a wondrously egalitarian device, which allows you to leave JA.O and read anyone else’s blog whenever you like.
    The kind of feedback that comes from such a contest is just another way that these blogmeisters can see how they are doing. Professionally, I’m sure bragging rights don’t hurt, either.
    If anyone thinks that this might be unsavorably vain, you have obviously never been to an art competition, with every artist trying desperately to look nonchalant, while hovering around his/her piece and evesdropping for compliments. Egos on parade…

  15. jd, Jimmy Akin is not a priest.
    Tim J., are you suggesting that the world’s standards should be the Catholic’s standards? I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume not.
    Excellence is excellence, regardless of whether the many acknowledge it. It need not be submitted to any vote; indeed, if the many see something as great today, we can almost rest assured that it’s vile.

  16. jackson;
    i know jimmy is not a priest. i was making an analogy comparitive to the situation here. everyone has a reason not to support, and none of them are all that sensical.

  17. jd, I think I can state my position this way, in a way that hopefully makes sense:
    I assume that Catholic bloggers are mutually involved in the pursuit and spread of truth. The pursuit and spread of truth is not a competition. To give awards like this, however, implies that it is. Because few voters are aware of all the merits and demerits of every blog involved, it cheapens the pursuit and spread of truth by turning it essentially into a popularity contest. This strikes me as fundamentally worldly, and seriously raises my skeptical antennae regarding anyone who pushes such a vote. I can’t imagine Christ doing such a thing.

  18. I’m sorry, Jackson, that strikes me as overweening priggishness.
    If you don’t like the idea, then don’t vote.
    Simple!

  19. Jackson-
    here’s the problem.
    Jimmy makes his living by virtue of building the Kingdom. So do I. So does my wife. So do all of us, of course, but I’m speaking particularly of those who work directly for a parish, diocese, or Catholic apostolate.
    If somehow, voting for this man, who makes his living doing this, will help him to make his living, by all means do it!
    The award is not neccesarily competitiveness, it is simply recognition of quality. Recognition of quality is an important recogntion.
    It is difficult to make your living at this. The apostle Paul made tents for a reason. When someone’s career could be benefited by something as simple as this, not supporting him just seems insulting.
    but, that’s all im going to say about this.
    in peace,
    jd

  20. “If somehow, voting for this man, who makes his living doing this, will help him to make his living,”
    But do you see that a vote for Jimmy is a vote against the others. Not as simple as you illustrate.

  21. Jimmy makes his living by virtue of building the Kingdom.
    That is an evangelical notion. Catholic tradition teaches that the Kingdom comes on its own time; we don’t “build” it or hasten it. Here is a fundamental problem with blogs like Akin’s; they are not really Catholic, but are a form of evangelism that masks itself as Catholic.

  22. Tim J., I’m well aware that what I say sounds priggish today, in this age of relativism, hedonism, and pride. Read the Bible. Does it get more priggish? Read some of Jesus’ words. Does it get more priggish by today’s standards?
    Take a look at this:
    “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” James 4:4
    Or this:
    “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
    Priggish? Amen. You know that more priggishness could be cited a thousand-fold.
    To present this blog’s work as a competition is to adopt the mind of the world. But make no mistake about it, I’m under no delusion that anything I say will make a difference. Pride is a blinding beast.
    jd, I don’t buy your notion that making a living via this forum means compromising one’s integrity by cheapening the gospel. If it does, then Jimmy should get another job.
    “The award is not neccesarily competitiveness, it is simply recognition of quality.” No, it is not simply a recognition of quality. To truly judge which blog is the highest quality, the voters would have to be thoroughly familiar with the content of every blog. This is just not possible for most people. Therefore, the vote is merely about popularity, and is essentially a popularity contest.
    Take the example of a jury hearing a case. To come to a fair verdict, we hold that the jury must be presented with all relevant evidence. The trial won’t end until all parties have submitted such evidence to the jury and the jury has thoroughly evaluated it. Only then do we deem it possible that a fair verdict may be reached.
    Have the jurors in this case studied all of the evidence before them, evidence that is constantly expanding, evolving, and slipping away into the various black holes of cyberspace? To ask the question is to answer it. It’s simply not possible to come to a fair verdict in this case. Thus the whole enterprise is nothing more than a popularity contest, or at best a measure of what blog voters are most familiar with, or of what blog most appeals the the voters’ tastes. It’s certainly not about which blog is best, any more than a vote for President is a vote for the best candidate.
    You speak of the insulting. Anon is absolutely right. Is it not insulting to cast a vote in favor of Jimmy, and therefore against others, when one is not fully informed of the quality of other blogs? Isn’t this really what’s insulting?
    Finally, as for Paul, it would be apt to compare a priest to Paul, but not Jimmy to Paul. If Jimmy wants to make his living by being spreading the Word, he should enter the priesthood.
    Again, I’m aware that pride will cause my words here to be dismissed, if only as a reaction against what I’ve said. Such is the way of the world. Nevertheless, a priggish and admittedly passé regard for truth demands that I go on record against this vote. I too will say no more.

  23. Jackson, read my above quote from Aquinas, and lighten up. You’re taking this way too seriously. The only thing our Lord ever took seriously was a soul.

  25. Sorry, I used the right end-italics code but it didn’t turn the italics off. I’m trying again while I say something else.
    I voted for Jimmy a few times because 1.) it means something to him (which is enough) and 2.) I like and appreciate his blog so I gladly oblige to reciprocate for the free entertainment/service in a way he asks.
    It could amount to a popularity contest in a way; that’s true to an extent. However, I tend to think that the quality of a blog is what makes it popular.
    I’ll tell you what I did in other categories–and maybe this is where the one vote per day rule is a help: I liked blog A and blog B, but I liked blog A a little better. I gave two votes to blog A and one vote to blog B. So each blog has my votes, weighted to the best of my ability according to how much I like them. I could sit around to decide all week how many votes to give blog A and blog B if I wanted to be more scientific about it.
    In the end, though, unscientific as it is, I still tend to think that the popular blogs are popular by reason of quality. Who wins will probably reflect at least that much. Someone with a great blog who gets 2nd place should be very encouraged by that even if their blog only got half as many votes, and not get too hung up on numbers, in that case.
    The voting also exposed me to other blogs worth reading. That’s always a good thing. 🙂

  26. Karen, because of your reason #1,Jimmy just received one vote from me. Another one coming tomorrow. If only they have titled the categories as “My Favorite Apologetics Blog” or “My Favorite Political Commentary Blog” much of the soul-searching might have been spared I would think.

  27. Luke 6:37. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven”
    None of us has the Lord’s permission to judge what may be going on inside Jimmy’s soul.
    However, this does not mean that we are not to discern right behavior (external action) from wrong. We have a responsibility from God to teach our brothers right from wrong.
    Matthew 18:15-18.
    “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
    Some here have openly condemned him here in writing (an external action) for alleged pride (which is something inside a soul). Such condemnations are sinful actions. (I don’t know what’s going on inside your souls, but those who have openly written condemnations of pride against Jimmy have externally done something that is forbidden by God.) An apology to Jimmy is in order. A sacramental confession is also in order.
    Some questions still may legitimately be asked. “Is the Catholic Blog Awards a good thing or not?” “Is it good to ask for votes or not?” “Is it a popularity contest, or is it a judgment of quality?”
    You may ask those legitimate questions and try to answer them. However, judge not Jimmy’s soul!
    Jimmy does very good work here. It deserves to be made widely known. The Catholic Blog Awards process does that.
    By the way, I regularly hear confessions at St. Therese Church in San Diego. It’s the ministry of binding and loosing on earth and in heaven…. The external actions of some here are in need of it.

  28. P.S.
    Every single one who has posted comments here (and that includes me) is asking the populace to read what one has to say. That’s the purpose of a blog–both for the owner of the blog and those who participate in it.

  30. You gotta be “popular” first before someone will even nominate you in the first place, by definition.
    As it is, the voting system is scientific enough to do. But I’d like to see weighted votes in the future. (I.e. in any single voting session you can say that Jimmy Akin gets X points, Michelle Malkin gets Y points, etc. etc. etc.)

  31. Karen, I’m with you. I didn’t intend to vote, but then I realized, as you commented, that it means something to Jimmy. That’s good enough for me.

  32. [i]You gotta be “popular” first before someone will even nominate you in the first place, by definition. [/i]
    How many nominations does it take to get on the list?

  34. “If Jimmy wants to make his living by spreading the word, he should enter priesthood”
    That comment is the single most disrespectful thing I have ever heard said to the thousands of lay workers in America who make the vehicle of the Church run. Catholics everywhere should be insulted by the comment.
    The USCCB disagrees with you too:
    http://www.usccb.org/laity/laymin/co-workers.pdf

  35. I should note that I don’t claim to be a Christian in any way. This makes my insight into this issue all the more damning for all of you. Consider it carefully. Look at all of your excuses, with some offered even by a priest himself. You’ve been seduced by the world and by its vacuous notion of entertainment capacity as the highest measure of value. Look at the comments about “fun” and “entertainment.” Yet this enterprise is deadly serious. None of you is willing to take an absolutely radical stand, as Christ demanded. This milquetoast mentality is precisely why I can’t bring myself to become a Catholic. I see that Christ, the living Logos, and his Apostles Paul, James, John called for a sweeping opposition to the ways of the this world, I see that the Catholic Church is His Church, yet I see that it’s composed largely of compromisers. Benedict XVI is the one man who has kept me going on this quest. Thank God for his writings. It’s now time for me to go read the Parable of the Weeds. If I’m wrong here, forgive me. If not, consider.
    As for popularity being a reliable indication of quality, two words destroy this assertion: Britney Spears. Multiply her by thousands.

  36. “I can see that the Catholic Church is His Church…” yet you won’t join it because of the company He keeps. Others have said the same. “They say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'” Matthew 11:19.

  37. Popularity in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It is mistaken to cite popularity as an indication of good quality.
    It is equally mistaken to cite popularity as an indication of bad quality.
    I have not “been seduced by the world and by its vacuous notion of entertainment capacity as the highest measure of value” as Jackson accuses.
    The funeral of Pope John Paul II was an immensely popular media event. I know several persons who have chosen to enter the Church as a direct result of their exposure to the Church through the popular media.
    Popularity in this instance was not a bad thing.
    Mother Teresa of Calcutta did not snub the Nobel Peace Prize as “vile” and “vanity” (words that some have applied in posts above). She went and graciously accepted it so that she could use the process to announce the Gospel and intercede for the poor. She used the popularity that was offered to her.
    Jesus himself sent seventy-two disciples ahead of himself to those places he himself intended to visit. He sent them to announce that the Kingdom was at hand–because he himself was shortly to be at hand.
    Christ commands us to go out to the ends of the earth and make disciples.
    Sometimes we will be popular in doing so, and sometimes we won’t.
    Paul the Apostle went into the marketplaces of the cities. He even took advantage of a pagan altar dedicated “To the Unknown God”, telling the citizenry the God whom they didn’t know was the True God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
    I see the Catholic Blog Awards as a means of taking the internet media for Christ.
    Pope Benedict XVI (in his Message for World Communications Day, Jan. 24, 2006) says that “certain tendencies within the media engender a kind of monoculture that dims creative genius.” He adds, “Participation in the mass media arises from their nature as a good destined for all people.”
    The Catholic Blog Awards can incite the pursuit of excellence–as opposed to something “that dims creative genius” in the words of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI.
    Jackson writes, “I see that the Catholic Church is His Church, yet I see that it’s composed largely of compromisers.” True! Peter the Apostle compromised to save his own skin after the arrest of Jesus, swearing and cursing that he didn’t know Jesus at all. The whole point of the Son of God becoming a man of flesh and blood was to make use of the compromised human “instrument” to save it from it’s own self-compromising. The Lord’s Resurrection glorifies the human instrument. It is profoundly, essentially Christian and Christ-like to make use of this world’s goods (GOODS!) for God’s glory and man’s salvation. They can also be used to dishonor God and ruin man. The goods are not the problem; their use may be either a problem or a further good.
    It seems clear enough from Jimmy’s list of Categories on the left side of this page what his intentions are in drawing attention to his blog by way of the Catholic Blog Awards.

  38. How immensely depressing to see a priest promote a gospel of compromise, fully in accord with today’s Zeitgeist. Not the way of Christ at all. With this I take my leave.

  39. We sinners will remain with the Friend of tax-collectors and sinners, Jackson. We pray that someday you will join us.

  40. I have in no way promoted a “gospel of compromise.” I believe, Jackson, you fail to understand what I have written.
    As for being “fully in accord with today’s Zeitgest,” I wear my full-length Benedictine monastic habit (“robes”) all day long at the parish where I am assigned, except when I must be out on errands where “robes” would be a physical danger–and on those occasions I always wear a black clergy-collar shirt and black pants. I dare to say here that among Catholics and clergy in San Diego I am well-known for lack of compromise both in this matter and in my adherence to Church doctrine.
    The human reality is wounded (compromised) by sin. Our task is to make the best use of this reality for God’s glory and our salvation.
    Certainly, some aspects of reality must be rejected. Others may be used, though they may need some degree of purification or modification.
    I commend you for admiring Pope Benedict XVI. He has already brought attention to himself through an increased or restored use of “cultural” or “worldly” arts or signs in the service of his mission: a more classical coat of arms, the “old fashioned” camauro (a red, fur lined hat for warmth) and also the formerly traditional fur-lined, red half-cape, again for warmth. These exterior material “trappings” are not compromises, but serve to make use of noble human artifacts in calling attention to the glory of God and the dignity of our humanity that God deems worth saving.
    When a woman known to be a sinner dared to crash a banquet, touch the feet of a man (Jesus) and anoint Jesus’ feet with perfume costing nearly a year’s worth of salary, it was Judas who complained, but Jesus who honored the extravagance sincerely spent in honoring him.
    The kind of Christianity that may satisfy your preferences could be classical Calvinist Christianity.
    God wants the compromised world tranformed, not burned. Otherwise, why would Jesus have come at all?

  41. Jackson, one thing that we converts have to learn before we enter Christ’s Church is that we all enter it as beggars. Christ does not “need” us in His Church.
    If you entertain some notion that, upon entering the Church, you will then instruct it’s members on how to be Christian, you are setting yourself up for a life of disappointment and frustration.
    We all need to become like little children, even babies. It was for good reason Paul warned that recent converts should not presume to teach.
    I pray that you will respond to God’s call.

  42. Jackson, I was thinking of defending your posts in this way: “Maybe Jackson is a youth, and that’s why his zeal for the faith burns brighter than ours and more demanding”. But then you post that you are neither Christian nor Catholic (!).
    And we are one of the reasons why you aren’t.
    That’s certainly damning and requires some introspection on our part, but at the same time you must recall that the Church on earth is not a perfect Church. That’s why we are able to enter it, and why you are qualified to enter as well. But I think you know that already.

  43. I ask for forgiveness from all of you. Father Stephanos, pray for me. I mean this.
    As for Calvinist “Christianity,” I’ll have nothing to do with heresy. Protestantism of every stripe nauseates me.
    Until I can summon the courage and will to enter the Catholic Church, I’ll simply observe without comment from now on, while continuing to study.

  45. Some here may be converts to Catholcism, some may be “cradle Catholics.” Those in the Church from birth know the colloquilisms, if you will – the Catholic short hand; but it doesn’t take long for a convert to get to know them. But it’s something we tend to take for granted & someone not used to the lingo might take it wrong. That’s kinda what I see happening here.
    Jackson, we’re on your side. We want you to find Truth! Others are praying for you. I am, too. But don’t remain totally silent. Ask, study, learn. We’re all on the same path, companions on the journey. I think you’ll find that the vast majority of folks here (99.9% in my estimation) believe 100% in everything the Catholic Church teaches & are as thankful for Pope Benedict XVI’s writings as are you. If you think about it, please pray for me, too.
    Fr. Stephanos, I love your posts! I appreciate your encouragement. God bless!

  46. Jackson, Gene B is right. Don’t hesitate to comment or ask, and, if you think one of us is wrong, let us know(it’s been known to happen). I’ll pray for you, and, if you get the chance, please pray for me(I need all the help I can get).

  47. Dear Jackson! Fear not! Your zeal is admirable. However, its harshness can mislead you. I know that from my own experience of scrubbing way too hard at the mistakes of others. I was absolutely right where another was dead wrong, but I didn’t help my soul or my style of relating to be holy by the way I went about it.
    I was already praying for you: simply that God would bless you with whatever he knows you particularly need (things God knows INFINITELY better than I).
    I wasn’t recommending Calvinist “Christianity” to you. I was suggesting a likeness between its severity and some of your sentiments.
    A wonderful movie I enthusiastically recommend to you: “Babette’s Feast.” It portrays a Catholic servant’s appreciation for both God’s gifts of food and human gifts of hospitality and culinary artistry; she lives, however, in a severely Calvinist village in Denmark.
    I would also recommend a book that is keyed to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” and that presents a graceful “comprehensive digestion” of the Faith: “The Teaching of Christ” by Wuerl.
    Remember James and John in the Gospel? Luke 9:52-56!
    “Jesus sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them.”
    Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). They still turned out to be saints. Maybe you’re a saint in the making. By the way, “Jack” derives originally from “Jacobos”–which is the Greek for “James.” So, you as “Jackson” or “Son of Jack” are a “Son of a Son of Thunder.”
    Stick around!

  49. Thanks everyone, especially Fr. Stephanos. I have indeed seen “Babette’s Feast.” Wonderful in every way!
    To show that I’m not a complete ogre, I’ll share a bit of my music with all of you:
    http://tinyurl.com/mh7sm

  50. Jackson-
    I was particularly harsh because I read things into your comments from my experience, not from what you were saying. I’m truly sorry.
    In Christ.

  51. Wow. Thanks for sharing, Jackson. Great work, brother! Reminds me that I’ve gotta be far more diligent about practicing guitar. (It’s a laziness thing. Perhaps even an entropy thing!) I love classical but I’ve come to realize in the last couple years that I’ve got a jazz heart. 😉

  52. If a vote is intended to say, and is taken as, “The work your doing is worthwhile, worth your effort, and helpful/meaningful”, then I don’t see anything wrong with that, and with wanting to gauge such things. It doesn’t necessarily indicate pride. If a blogger’s out for his or her own ego instead of using talents given by God for the glory of God, well that’s a personal problem between him/her and God we can’t do anything about it, let alone know that it’s the case.
    I’m voting for some bloggers to encourage them and assure them that I think their efforts are worthy of encouragement. It’s just one method, of several, of giving feedback/encouragement to blogs you’d like to see stick around. I hope everyone who is nominated is encouraged; we Catholics already tend to like our blogs high-quality and orthodox, and I think that’s why blogs like the ones which are nominated, become nominated. Cheers.

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