SDG – Page 25 – Jimmy Akin

Red State Blues

BIG RED DISCLAIMER: What’s mine is mine. The blog belongs to Jimmy, of course, but the opinions in my posts on JimmyAkin.org belong to me, Michelle Arnold. Not to Jimmy Akin, not to Catholic Answers, but to me. (Even though JA.org has been a group blog for some time now, there is still some confusion on this point, so it bears repeating, especially in a post like this one.)

Today is Election Day in California, which means that I am willing to use the occasion to answer a reader’s question, one I would ordinarily have ignored as it was phrased in a rather snarky manner and was placed in the combox of a a post that had nothing to do with the subject. Here was the dialogue:

Reader: "You’re not a red stater, Michelle. You’re a wannabe at best."

Michelle: [Flippantly] "Very true…. I’m a native Californian who wants her blue state to be red."

Reader: "Okay, so exactly which issues are you ‘red’ on? By the way, Mark Shea is right about everything political, and he says he hasn’t found a political home.

[Less than 24 hours later, previous paragraph repeated and this comment appended] "Michelle is afraid to respond."

I cannot speak for Mark Shea, although I imagine that he would appreciate the vote of confidence for his political views.

As for my political views, that is something that I can speak about.

On social issues I am solidly red state (e.g., abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, euthanasia, homosexual marriage). Because of the preeminent importance of these issues, I place them over and above other issues such as the economy, the environment, the war, etc. My first concern is the life issues and I will do my best to vote for the candidate or proposition that best furthers the cause of life. Failing that, I will do my best to vote for the candidate or proposition that does the least damage to the cause of life.

On the secondary issues, I am more blue state. For example, I plan to vote today to thwart Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s "reform initiatives," apparently so-called because they mask what I believe to be a power grab. At the same time, I will be voting an emphatic "Yes!" on Proposition 73, a California state initiative that seeks to require parental notification of the planned abortion for a minor.

I don’t know whether or not Mark Shea has found a "political home" — I haven’t read what he may or may not have said on the issue — but I do know that I don’t have such a "political home," if by such is meant a political party affiliation. Since I turned 18 some fifteen years ago, I have not been a Republican, a Democrat, or a member of a non-influential Third Party. I am a non-affiliated registered voter, and plan for the foreseeable future to remain that way.

Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt

Over the weekend, I read Anne Rice‘s new book Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Not being much of a fan of goth-horror, I hadn’t read a novel of hers since having read some of The Witching Hour many moons ago. Since reports of her reversion to Catholicism started filling the press, I’ve been eager to read this new book.

The book is not an easy read. Rice tries to write from the point of view of a seven-year-old who just happens to be God Almighty, so between the seven-year-old’s voice and trying to juggle the different modes of Christ’s knowledge, the book is not a spine-tingling page-turner. I give Rice high points for working hard to be orthodox, but I think she would have had an easier time accomplishing her task if she had not attempted to tell the story in the first-person point of view of Christ himself. Perhaps it would have been simpler to have written from the point of view of James, our Lord’s "brother" and depicted here as a thirteen-year-old, either in the first- or third-person.

Rice draws liberally on apocryphal stories told of Christ’s childhood struggles with his divinity. Mentioned are the apocryphal gospels tales of Christ bringing to life clay birds and resurrecting a child he had accidentally killed through his childish inability to control his divine power. While the incidents in the apocrypha are apocryphal, I appreciated Rice’s attempt to show Christ as fully God and fully human. Fully God in that he had divine power; fully human in that he was a child who may, in his childhood, have had to learn how to control it.

Whatever you make of the theological implications and whether Rice was completely theologically-correct, she asks interesting "What if?" questions while still trying to remain faithful to orthodoxy. I would much rather read an honest fictional imagining of our Lord that leaves open the possibility of an orthodox Christian understanding of him than a clearly anti-Christian screed like Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code.

Rice does make some interesting small choices within her story. She uses the older tradition of Joseph being an older (but not elderly) widower who is James’ father by his first marriage, but incorporates the later tradition of extended relations among the Lord’s "brothers" by making the other "brothers" and "sisters" Jesus’ cousins. As a personal preference, not a matter of doctrine, I prefer the later idea of a virginal Joseph because it makes the Holy Family an earthly, human image of the divine reality of the Trinity, but Rice’s picture is just as possible and within legitimate Catholic opinion.

One of the smaller choices I disliked was the idea that Jesus was taught to call Joseph by his name, rather than to call him "Father." Rice presumably chooses this for theological reasons and for dramatic purpose, and it is within the realm of acceptable opinion. Still, I prefer to believe that Jesus called Joseph Abba. It seems to me to fit better within the Catholic understanding of the sacramental understanding of creation. Human beings, because they are made in the image and likeness of God, can be physical, tangible images of divine reality.

All told, I’m glad I read this book. It’s not perfect by any means, either theologically or as fiction, but it is a solid piece of work that goes far in furthering Rice’s goal to take on the challenge of writing a novel about the Jesus of the Gospels instead of a Jesus of popular agenda. I hope that this book is the start in a series about Christ’s life. I would like to see how Rice’s development of Christ’s story matures.

Backtalk

Before I became a blogger, I used to be annoyed by weblogs that did not offer comment capability. By golly, I believed it the positive duty of blogmasters to offer me space on their sites to comment on their commentary. (Not really, but I’m working up to a rant here, so some hyperbole here and there is part of the game.)

Then I became a blogger. And while I love the great comments I often receive, even the ones that disagree with my brilliant insights (read, hyperbole again), the nasty ones are the bane of my otherwise happy existence as a co-blogger here at JimmyAkin.org.

Take today. I come back on a Monday, after a four-day weekend due to illness (much better now, thanks), and am going through my email. Typepad sends notice of when my posts receive new comments. I always know something’s up when I receive comments on old posts. Many are very kind, just like the original comments, but it is the old posts that often draw the weirdos. They figure they can spray graffiti on the site and get away with it if they target the old posts. Today I spent twenty minutes fighting with Typepad technology to erase several nasty — and I do mean nasty — comments from an old post from August and then to close commenting on the post.

After that, I gained a new appreciation for bloggers who refuse to go to the trouble and simply kill the comboxes.

The Ronald Knox Society

Msgr. Ronald Knox, one of the great British converts of the 20th century and perhaps a future patron saint of Anglican-convert priests, now has a society devoted to the promulgation of his life and work. It is titled The Ronald Knox Society of North America.

"The Ronald Knox Society of North America is a literary society dedicated to Msgr. Knox and his literary accomplishments. We are quite simply a group of assorted people who enjoy, and have benefited from, the writings of Msgr. Knox. Our goals are neither apologetic, nor scholastic. We count ourselves indebted to Msgr. Knox and therefore seek only to make others aware of a vast mine of spiritual and literary treasures available to them."

VISIT THE SITE.

How cool!

As an aside, if you’d like to read a sample of Msgr. Knox’s work, check out his satirical essay on false expressions of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, Reunion All Around, written while he was still an Anglican.

Baseball And Church Bells

I’m not much of a baseball or football fan, although hometown pride — and I am one of that rare breed known as the Native San Diegan — occasionally (usually when a rare championship series comes a’callin’) will transform me into a fair-weather fan of the Padres and Chargers. Even so, the past couple of years I’ve thought it nice that the BoSox and ChiSox have finally been rewarded with World Series victories. I wouldn’t have blogged on the White Sox win, though, until I ran across an article on fan reaction that tickled me.

"Loud music blared over the city’s South Side on Wednesday night, and one needed only to look up at the balcony of Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church to find its source.

"The White Sox had won the World Series, and for the Rev. Dan Brandt, it was time to party down.

"Father Brandt jumped with glee from his office in the heart of the South Side, then ran from the room to ring the church bells and play ‘Let’s Go Go Go White Sox!’ — the theme song for Chicago’s 1959 World Series appearance — when the game ended.

"But his main focus was to keep those bells clanging.

"’They’re going to keep ringing for at least several hours, maybe longer,’ said Brandt, as parishioners around him, who had gathered to watch the game together, hugged and smiled."

GET THE STORY.

One of the great things about being Catholic is the ability of Catholics to express joy in the world around us through distinctly Catholic means. Some Christians might be scandalized at the idea of ringing church bells for a baseball victory. For Catholics, celebrating such victories is just one of the reasons why God invented church bells.

Halloween Spooks

Is Halloween too spooky for children? One Penn State psychologist thinks so.

"It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.

"In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.

[…]

"According to Clark, who interviewed parents and children after three Halloweens, younger children may be unwilling participants in the whole ritual.

"The key ingredient in the recipe of Halloween fright is, of course, death.

"’Intriguingly, Halloween is a holiday when adults assist children in behaviors taboo and out of bounds,’ Clark writes in the anthropological journal Ethos. ‘It is striking that on Halloween, death-related themes are intended as entertainment for the very children whom adults routinely protect.’"

GET THE STORY.

After reading through this story, I wondered why the results of so many scientific studies seem to point to the solution of simply using common sense. Basically, it boils down to parents making sure their children learn the difference between reality and make-believe, and that they be on guard against well-intentioned people who expose children to more Halloween fright than the kids can handle. Then again, these days common sense is all too often an uncommon commodity.

REINVENTING THE HALLOWEEN LIGHT.

Happy Halloween! (Or, have a happy All Hallows Even, if you prefer.)

JIMMY ADDS: My own theory on the spookiness of Halloween celebrations is that it’s part of the same psychological process that leads humans to watch drama (which always involves dramatic tension–if the drama is any good) and to "play fight" as children. It’s a way of exposing oneself to dangers in a simulated, safe manner and thus learning to cope wiht the emotion of fear that accompanies them so that you’ll be able to handle it when you face REAL dangers. Such simulated danger situations are part of life–and of growing up. That’s not to say that some kids may not find the whole experience too scary. I know that when I was a small boy I was quite scared of some Halloween stuff, though that didn’t stop me from wanting to stay up late every Friday night to watch monster movies on Boo Theater.

Banning Teen Bloggers

In a story that has been making waves throughout St. Blog’s Parish, one Catholic high school has decided that enough’s enough and it is going to crack down on its students … by banning students from blogging, not just on school computers on school time but even from the comfort and privacy of the kids’ own homes.

"When students post their faces, personal diaries and gossip on Web sites like Myspace.com and Xanga.com, it is not simply harmless teen fun, according to one area Catholic school principal.

"It’s an open invitation to predators and an activity Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta will no longer tolerate, Rev. Kieran McHugh told a packed assembly of 900 high school students two weeks ago.

"Effective immediately, and over student complaints, the teens were told to dismantle their Myspace.com accounts or similar sites with personal profiles and blogs. Defy the order and face suspension, students were told.

"In the arena of unregulated online communities, which has largely escaped the reach of schools, Pope John appears to be breaking new ground. While public and private schools routinely block access to non-educational Web sites on school computers, Pope John’s order seeks to reach into students’homes.

"’I don’t see this as censorship,’ McHugh said this week. ‘I believe we are teaching common civility, courtesy and respect.’"

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to the Curt Jester for the link.)

Dawn Eden of the Dawn Patrol has a post requesting opinion. Although I am not (yet) a parent or a Catholic school educator, here’s mine:

The policy stinks.

As others have pointed out, it is unenforceable, usurps parental authority within the parents’ own home, and does nothing to teach teens responsible use of the Internet. A letter to parents outlining the dangers; a rule forbidding blogging on school computers on school time; a policy disallowing students to name the school, school employees, or fellow students in an identifiable fashion on their privately-maintained blogs; and a student assembly to teach the students safe Internet habits may well have been far more effective.

That said.

If I were a parent of a student, I would require my child to obey the policy.

Catholics are not supposed to be rugged individualists with a me-the-Pope-and-Jesus worldview (although some American Catholics unfortunately appear to be formed by such a quasi-Protestant worldview). They are members of a larger community that inculcates the virtue of obedience to legitimate authority, religious and civil, in all things but those that are inherently sinful. Children should learn that while growing up may free them from that obedience to parents that is proper to childhood, it does not free them from the requirement of obedience to lawful authority. Practicing the virtue by obeying their parochial school’s authority can prepare them for the obedience they may one day have to give to a bishop or religious superior.

Legitimate authority may make prudentially unwise decisions. Granted. But parents who place the value of their child’s freedom to express himself on the Internet while under parental supervision over and above the value of teaching their child the virtue of Christian obedience — even when it’s difficult to be obedient to a prudentially unwise rule — do their child no favors. Far better, IMHO, to express to the school one’s displeasure with the policy while refraining from bad-mouthing the school to the child and requiring the child to follow the policy while it’s in effect.

JIMMY ADDS: Much of what I am about to say would be moot because I am a strong advocate of homeschooling and would not plan to put my children in an outside-of-the-home school, but here goes. . . .

I concur with everything Michelle said about the badness of the policy, and I respect her opinion regarding how she would handle the issue in her family. That’s a matter of parental choice. In my case, I would do things differently. Since the school has no legitimate authority over what the child does at home (that’s the parents’ domain), I would use the situation as an opportunity to teach the child the difference between obedience to legitimate authority (mine) and resistance to illegitimate authority (the school’s telling him what he can and can’t do on the Internet at home). I would therefore require my child to ignore the policy. (I would also explore taking action against the school, such as having recourse to the diocese.)

If the child wants to blog that would be fine with me–AND we’d have to face the issue of blogging anonymously to avoid the school policy–BUT no posts would go up without prior parental authorization of them (which would be a household rule irrespective of the school’s policy). If left unsupervised, kids say things that they shouldn’t, and in the electronic age they need to learn what is acceptable to say on the Net and what is not. In the process of parental reviewing and approving of posts, the child would learn the difference (gossip about classmates and teachers being things that fall into the unacceptable category).

RIP: Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, the quiet seamstress who sparked the civil rights movement by refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white man, died Monday at the age of 92. (As an aside, beyond the issues of racial bigotry, which are heinous in and of themselves and which I do not intend to trivialize, I’ve wondered if that white man’s mama dressed him down for expecting a lady to give him her seat.)

"[Congressman John] Conyers [D-MI], who first met Parks during the early days of the civil rights struggle, recalled Monday that she worked on his original congressional staff when he first was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964.

"’I think that she, as the mother of the new civil rights movement, has left an impact not just on the nation, but on the world,’ he told CNN in a telephone interview. ‘She was a real apostle of the nonviolence movement.’

"He remembered her as someone who never raised her voice — an eloquent voice of the civil rights movement."

"’You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene — just a very special person,’ he said, adding that ‘there was only one’ Rosa Parks."

GET THE STORY.

While reading through this section of Parks’ obituary, I was struck by the Marian tone of the piece. Parks was a motherly figure to the movement and offered a presence that gave the cause a mantle of quiet dignity and courage. Interesting, isn’t it, how great paradigm shifts in history are often ushered in by women? Men may take the lead in fighting the battle, but the "incarnation" of the moment often enough enters history through a woman.

May Rosa Parks rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon her through Christ our Lord, as mediated by Mary his most holy Mother.

No Bowling For Rome

Did you know that goldfish bowls make fish go blind? Well, Romans aren’t too sure that such a factoid is true, but it was floated in the press in Italy. Other experts posit that such bowls do not provide enough oxygen. Rather than allow Junior and his parents to discover that Jaws lives longer in an aquarium than in a goldfish bowl (presuming that such is true), Romans have outlawed the bowls altogether.

"The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel, and has made regular dog-walks mandatory in the Italian capital, the town’s council said on Tuesday.

"The classic spherical fish bowls are banned under a new by-law which also stops fish or other animals being given away as fairground prizes. It comes after a national law was passed to allow jail sentences for people who abandon cats or dogs.

"’It’s good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention,’ said Monica Cirinna, the councilor behind the by-law.

"’The civilization of a city can also be measured by this,’ she told Rome daily Il Messaggero."

GET THE STORY.

The civilization of a city depends on the welfare of its goldfish? I do hope that Romans sleep easier knowing that their elected officials have made the streets of Rome safe for goldfish.

One Nation Under … Christ?

It’s 1860 all over again … if Cory Burnell and his group Christian Exodus have anything to say about it. You’ve heard Revelation 18:4 ("Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins") used in reference to the Catholic Church, right? Mr. Burnell’s group has identified a different woman who should be abandoned.

The United States.

"Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly.

"To that end, Burnell, 29, left the Republican Party, moved from California and founded Christian Exodus two years ago with the goal of redirecting the United States by ‘redeeming’ one state at a time.

"First up for redemption is South Carolina.

"Burnell hopes to move 2,500 Christians into the northern part of the state by next year and to persuade tens of thousands to relocate by 2016. His goal is to fill the state legislature with ‘Christian constitutionalists.’

[…]

"Burnell picked South Carolina partly for its Christian majority and conservative politics.

"’Historically, Southerners do have a states’ rights mentality,’ he said. ‘Christians in the North are experiencing the most liberalism, or you could say persecution.’"

GET THE STORY.

Uh huh.

One of these days I’m going to write that essay I’ve been thinking about on the evangelistic value of silence. One of the major points of that essay will be to discuss how credibility can be destroyed when someone makes public an "outside-the-box" pet brainstorm that, as they say on "Saturday Night Live," is not yet ready for primetime.