Jimmy Akin – Page 547

Blog Trip

Howdy, folks!

Blogging will be a bit . . . unusual . . . the next two days (Thursday & Friday).

I’m taking a roadtrip through SoCal, Arizona, and as far as western New Mexico.

At least that’s the plan.

As a result, I may not have access to the Net–at least not the ordinary way.

I have, however, been preparing for this by getting myself set up with moblog (mobile blogging) capabilities–at least as far as the tech I have available will allow.

So, here’s what to expect: I’ll probably send a few camera phone shots. Probably won’t be able to do much explaining on what they are in the posts themselves, but I have a backup for that.

The backup is this: I now have an audioblog. You can access it by going to jimmyakin.blogspot.com. There I’ll try to post entries by mobile phone which you can listen to in .mp3 format. In these I’ll try to explain what’s in the camera phone pictures I’m sending, as well as other thoughts that occur to me along the road.

I may even find a wi-fi zone where I can do a more traditional post or two.

In my absence, I’d invite my co-bloggers to let fly with anything they may have that they want to say. (Thanks, guys! And don’t worry about scheduling. Just publish as soon as you write them.)

Folks can also use the combox to this post as a free-form discussion on . . . . well . . . anything y’all wanna talk about (but keep it within the rules).

Have fun, y’all!

Seven Days Of Posts

Okay, folks. As an experiment, I’ve upped the number of days of posts that the top page has from four to seven.

I’ll let it stay this way for a few days and then decide whether to leave it this way.

Lemme know what you think of this and if it causes problems.

RIP: WWI Veteran

One of the last remaining Australian veterans of World War I died on Monday, October 17. He was just 14 when he left to defend his country; he was 106 when he died.

"William Evan Allan enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy at the outbreak of the war when he was just 14. He served as a seaman on the HMAS Encounter from 1915 to 1918.

"’With his passing, we have lost an entire generation who left Australia to defend our nation, the British Empire and other nations in the cause of freedom and democracy,’ Veteran Affairs Minister De-Anne Kelly said in a statement.

"’Mr. Allan was just a boy when he went to war, much younger than most. His sacrifice is remembered and we honor him for his service,’ she said.

"Allan, born in the southeastern town of Bega in July 1899 and a resident of Melbourne, also was Australia’s sole surviving veteran of both world wars. In World War II, Allan served on an armed merchant cruiser and as pier master of a naval base."

GET THE STORY.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it amazingly uplifting and hopeful that in a day and age where parents kick out freeloading adult children on a "reality-TV" series that we are still within living memory of an era when young people, now considered minors, were mature enough to take on the adult responsibility of serving their country with honor. Perhaps we can still reclaim that heritage of raising self-sufficient and heroically-inclined children (although, of course, we should wait until they are eighteen before calling them up for war).

May William Evan Allan and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace through the mercy of God.

The Salton Sea

Whenever I go somewhere, I like to do laps around famous things.

For example, when I went to New Orleans for a visit, I went down to Bourbon Street and walked down the entire length of it and back up again. (And it is, let me tell you, one seedy place. Going to it once because it is the most famous thing in the city is justified. Going more than one is not necessary, thankyew.)

When I went to the Salton Sea, therefore, I did a lap around it.

I drove up the east-hand side of it first, stopping at Bombay Beach and the state park visitors’ center, then turned around and came back down the west-hand side.

Oh yeah. . . . and I promised to tell you why I went there in the first place. . . .

Continue reading “The Salton Sea”

The Wordplay Of Abortion

One of the great frustrations of pro-life advocates is that the mainstream media consistently shades the abortion debate in favor of those who advocate a "right" to abortion. As but one example of many, pro-lifers are "anti-abortion," even if opposition to abortion is only one of the fronts in the Right to Life battle; abortion advocates are, on the other hand, "pro-choice," even though the term gives no indication that the "choice" for which they lobby is for the choice to kill children.

One pro-life site has put together a helpful guide to the language issues, titled Coming to Terms: A Pro-Life Semantics Guide:

Those who govern the culture’s language govern the culture. Why so? Because words shape ideas and form the way people think. Put simply, words teach. Unfortunately, those who govern the language today are the mass media in America who are enemy #1 of vulnerable human life. Their semantics are why so many have come to think that killing itself is a human ‘right.’

"At least five different terms exist in the media’s lexicon for killing, such as abortion ‘rights,’ ‘right’ to the body, ‘right’ to choose, women’s ‘rights,’ privacy ‘rights,’ and reproductive ‘rights.’ At the same time, the most fundamental right of all, to life itself is censored by them, erasing it from public thought. Pope John Paul, spoke on this grave moral evil in his encyclical The Gospel of Life [Evangelium Vitae].

"’The moral conscience, both individual and social, is today subjected, also as a result of the penetrating influence of the media, to an extremely serious and mortal danger: that of confusion between good and evil precisely in relation to the fundamental right to life…’ #24."

"Friend, the culture war is largely a war of words and no one fights it better than the media elite. Better than anyone they know that if you want to change the way people think, just change the words. Yet verbal engineering applies to us as well. Using honest vocabulary is vital to restore protection for life. Terminology that devalues it is explained in this guide. Honest phrasing is given to restore its dignity."

The guide goes on to compile a list of words commonly used in the abortion debate and then offers alternative word choices to clarify what the euphemisms hide (e.g., abortion "clinic" v. abortion "site"). We could quibble with some of the suggestions (e.g., using "abortionist" as a replacement for "doctor"; like it or not, many doctors are abortionists and abortion is only a subset of their medical practice), and with the advisability of using some of the suggestions in all circumstances (such as when attempting to engage abortion advocates in discussion of the issues).

Despite certain deficiencies, though, the guide is useful in demonstrating the scope of the problem of how language whitewashes the abomination that is abortion.

Blog Preferences

Yesterday’s post on blog design raised some issues in the comments box that I thought I’d solicit some additional feeback on.

1) Some readers were of the opinion that they’d like to see more posts on the main page before they drop off into the archives.

This can be accomplished several ways. One way is for me to simply tell the software to display more of them. Currently I’ve told it to leave 4 days worth of posts on the main page, but I can up that number if desired. For example, I could leave 5, 6, or 7 (or more) days worth of posts on the front page.

I can also tell the software to leave a specific number of posts (instead of a specific number of days) on the front page. Currently there’s probably an average of 17 posts on the top page at any time, but I coud tell it to have 20 or 25 or 30 posts on at all times.

A downside of upping the number of posts is that, as things currently are, it would make the top page LONGER and possibly make it take MORE TIME TO LOAD for some folks.

This leads to a second issue:

2) Some folks suggest that I use the extended post feature more often. Currently I tend to use it only for really long posts (like ones with multiple pictures in them), but it could be used on a more frequent basis–say, any time the post runs more than 2-4 paragraphs.

The upside of this is that it would make the top page vertically tighter.

The downside is that it would make folks click more links.

Someone suggested having the format be Title:Summary:Extende Post. I’m not sure how that would work. I’m not sure that I’d want to do a summary of the post before the "Continue Reading" link. If I did, it’d probably be a single sentence or phrase as a slug line to get folks intrigued enough to click the link. Perhaps that person or others could suggest more on that is envisioned for that possibility.

Another way to tighten the page vertically would be for me to use longer paragraphs so that there would be less white space between them, but that is SOMETHING I WILL NOT DO. I’m frustrated by seeing others use absurdly long paragraphs (in books, in articles, and on the web), and I am conducting a personal crusade against this tendency as I believe that shorter paragraphs are easier to read than longer ones.

So.

Whadda folks think? Should there be more posts on the top page (accomplished by the day or # of posts methods–and if so, how much more?) and should the extended post feature be used more?

Boxing

A reader writes:

Did the Vatican come out against boxing? I was confronted about this and was unable to locate anything on their web site. Could you explain any of your thoughts on the subject of sporting events like boxing or MMA (mixed martial arts)?

I am unaware of any magisterial statements that condemn boxing. This is a subject that has been left to moral theologians, certainly in recent years.

There was, however, an article published in the magazine La Civilta Cattolica, which is published by the Jesuits. Despite the fact that the magazine’s contents basically get an imprimatur from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, they are NOT magisterial statements and are NOT binding on the consciences of the faithful.

It may have been reporting about this article that you ran into.

It is important to note that this article uses what sounds like hyperbolic language. For example, it reportedly refers to professional boxing as "a form of legalized attempted murder," which is clearly hyperbolic. One might conclude that professional boxing is horrendously brutal and immoral and that it ought to be banned, but it is not literally true that boxing legalizes attempted murder. Pro boxers are generally not attempting to murder each other and, if they are, what they’re doing in the ring is NOT legal. Countries have laws against against attempted murder, even in the ring.

It’s also important to note that the article CLEARLY DISTINGUISHES between professional boxing and amateur boxing. According to the Catholic News Service:

The magazine distinguished between professional boxing and boxing done as a controlled sport in a gymnasium with protective equipment, which it said can be morally acceptable and even useful.

GET THE STORY.

Personally, I am not a boxing fan. I recognize that it can be done in a moral way, particularly in amateur settings (like the other martial arts). I have qualms about the way it is done in the boxing industry, but I’m not enough of an expert to form an opinion about professional boxing. I’d have to know a lot more before I’d be able to comment responsibly on it.

I think the same may be true of the author(s) of the piece in La Civilta Cattolica. Any time hyperbolic language starts getting used in a cultural critique, it makes me wonder if the author is doing balanced, sober reflection on a cultural phenomenon or if he has had a visceral reaction and his writing is moved by passion in a way that causes him to lose sight of important facts.

The God Bloggers

If Jesus were a blogger, what would he blog? That question and others were recently asked at a Christian (read, Evangelical Protestant) blogging conference:

"What would Jesus blog?

"That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for ‘God bloggers,’ a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

"The three-day conference at Biola University marked an important benchmark for Christian bloggers, who have worked behind the scenes for years to spread the Gospel and infuse politics with religion.

"Topics included God bloggers’ relationship with the traditional church, their growing influence on mainstream politics and how to manage outsiders’ perceptions.

"Some predicted bloggers could play a role in reforming the modern church by keeping televangelists and other high-profile Christian leaders honest."

GET THE STORY.

The most intriguing metaphor used by the God bloggers was given by Joe Carter of The Evangelical Outpost, in which he compared blogging to Martin Luther’s 95 theses. In that spirit, it sounds like we need a Counter-Reformation of Catholic bloggers. If Mary were a blogger, what would she blog? And when will St. Blog’s Parish have its own conference to discuss that and other questions of Catholic blogging? We could call it The Saint Bloggers.

Becoming An Apologist

A reader writes:

I would like to know what the best way to become an expert on Catholic apologetics? I want to someday organize and give lectures around the country on the subject and bring Catholics home. I am awestruck when you answer the questions thrown at you. Do I have to go to seminary to become an expert? Thanks.

First, good for you! We need more workers in the field!

Second, you’re much too kind.

Third, you don’t have to go to seminary.

In fact, I’m unaware of any seminary or theology program in the country that gives people much background in the skills that are actually needed in day-to-day apologetics work. I’ve dealt with people who have masters degrees in famous Catholic theology programs which shall remain nameless and have found that they still had a dramatic learning curve when it came to doing apologetics in the field.

This is understandable since very few seminary and theology professors have much experience in helping people with apologetics in practical situations. You’ll get a much better sense of the kinds of things that one needs to study up on if you listen to the Q & A shows on Catholic Answers Live or read the Ask An Apologist forum at catholic.com.

HERE’S AN ARTICLE I WROTE ON HOW TO BECOME AN APOLOGIST.

The skill-building advice comes toward the end of the piece, but the rest is of use, too–particularly if you want to do apologetics full-time.

Hope it helps!

Papal Pancake

It seems fitting, in an odd, amusing way, that the pope who was totally devoted to Mary ("Totus tuus") would join her in making the rounds of appearances in food. (Before I annoy any apparitions purists, please understand that I am speaking ironically. When Mary or any saint appears, they appear. They do not appear as an image in food.) In any case, the image of John Paul the Great has recently been spotted in a flapjack:

"One Sunday morning, Myrna Kincaid’s life changed with the flip of a pancake.

"’Look at my pancake,’ she reflects. ‘It looks like, looks like the pope.’

"’I thought it could very well look like him,’ said Jay, her husband.

"Instead of eating the pancake bite by bite, they stored it in the freezer and scurried to church. But, what to make of this, they thought.

"Luke Galen is a Grand Valley State University professor who teaches a course on psychology in religion. ‘That one’s pretty accurate as far as these pictures go,’ said Galen."

GET THE STORY.

Why would images like this, what we might call nature’s icons, "appear"? Who knows. But one of the things I love about Catholicism is that we have such a sacramental view of life that even cooking breakfast for one’s family can become a holy moment when one’s mind is uplifted to God and to his friends.

For a longer meditation on this kind of phenomena, see the links below.

OUR LADY OF THE UNDERPASS

OUR LADY OF THE UNDERPASS, REDUX

JIMMY ADDS: I’m skeptical about all "phenomena" of this nature, though sometimes there may be coincidental resemblances. In this case . . . I dunno. The contrast between the background and the pope figure is so extreme and the edges between them so sharp that it looks . . . artificial to me.