[noticed at TheyBlinked]

unconditional love hurts.

it also looks different as the conditions unconditionality lives within change.

Hey...I just noticed Wendy Cooper.net added me to her blogroll. Thanks! It adds to this list:

Been There...Still There
The Invisible Sun
Lake Neuron Bait Shop
ScottyD
...seeking serenity
Unedited Ravings
Worship Freehouse

[and grrrl meets world had me on her blogroll/sidebar...but now is on her bloglines/rss reader.]

Participation and Excellence

[Remember the Paralympics and Special Olympics during the Olympics...]

The theory is that competition draws each individual along, bringing out of him or her the best he or she has to offer. Competition and the resulting fame are thought to be among the great achievements of our rational meritocracy. They promise both self-improvement and participation.

The reality is almost the opposite. In a world devoted to measuring the best, most of us aren't even in the competition. Human dignity being what it is, we eliminate ourselves from the competition in order to avoid giving other people the power to eliminate us. Not only does a society obsessed with competition not draw people out, it actually encourages them to hide what talents they have, by convincing them that they are insufficient. The common complaint that we have become spectator societies is the direct result of an overemphasis on competition.

and

What we have been witnessing is the growth of perfectly innocent, even banal, physical pastines into something which makes governments, national and international communications systems vibrate with excitement. Clearly what excites them is not sportmanship, widely based participation or a profound or sustained interest in how many millimetres higher the high-jump bar has moved...Rather they are attracted by the event's ability to produce bevies of immediate stars who are tied to facile national emotions. These stars become not role models for the young- few would pretend they could ever jump so high -but dream models. They become the modern knights of the Round Table.

(John Ralston Saul, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, p. 507)

Political Intelligence

[noticed by small dead animals in this post]

I’m beginning to think that maybe the weakest link in America’s intelligence system isn’t the spooks who generate the intelligence. The weakest link may be the users, the policymakers. But then, the users, the policymakers are ultimately elected. So maybe the problem is us.

That’s the question that keeps hitting me as I read and reread the 9/11 report this summer. Yes, it tells of many disturbing intelligence failures. But even more disturbing are the intelligence successes – the many times that Osama bin Laden was within reach in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 and yet still nothing was done.

--David Frum, from here

Since the Republican Convention Cometh...

from the Holy Observer:

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Come January 2005, congregations across the world will be asked do the unimaginable—open their Bibles to the book of First Americans. The New Testament has been tinkered with for the first time in nearly 1,700 years by the Council at Colorado Springs—a hodgepodge of evangelical leaders from across the nation who have added the United States Constitution to the canon of Scripture.

"We had to do it," said Councilman and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson. "For those with ears to hear, this has been a move of the Spirit for some time now. Fortunately for God, His remnant here in America heard His call to do what should've been done a long time ago - add a 67th book to the Bible, the Constitution! If the liberals can have their neutered NIV, then the true church can and will have her PKJV - Patriot's King James Bible. Take that, liberals!"

{more here}

Right Religiously...or Not

via Discount Blogger in this post from here:

Some prominent evangelical Christians say they have not been invited to participate in or attend the Republican National Convention less than three weeks before the event is to begin.

Analysts said the move likely reflects a GOP desire to sideline its more polarizing supporters during a tight presidential race, but convention organizers deny they're marginalizing the religious leaders. Republican strategist Ralph Reed said Wednesday that invitations just started going out to evangelical figures, but he would not release any names.

...Republicans are doing everything possible to turn out the evangelical vote, since conservative Christians are among Bush's core supporters. The president's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, has estimated that 4 million conservative Christians did not vote in 2000, and the campaign is working hard to prevent that from happening this Election Day.

Analysts say that denying a prominent spot to leaders such as Robertson or Falwell likely will not hurt this effort. John Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron, said that after years of activism in Republican campaigns, conservative Christians are now party insiders who may not require a specific religious appeal at the convention.

Learning to Trust

[noticed in this post]

when another human being totally believes in you. its a most intoxicating thing but also a most terrifying experience. one in which we all need for healing and one we need to share love with others.

[from jammin']

Thanks to ...seeking serenity for having me on her blogroll. It adds to this list:

Been There...Still There
The Invisible Sun
Lake Neuron Bait Shop
ScottyD
Unedited Ravings
Worship Freehouse

[and grrrl meets world had it on her blogroll/sidebar...but now it's on her bloglines/rss reader.]

The personal is often prejudicial...

Good...but not new

Truth can be stranger than fiction at the Saskatoon Fringe, with one play called Jesus' Penis In My Heart featured in a church basement. Of course, it wasn't intentional, but just a logistical situation. Seeing it as a sign, this Door Magazine reader felt led to check it out (so to speak) on Wednesday.

Lest anyone possibly stumbles, let's be clear about the title. Jesus' Penis In My Heart is NOT a porno about Christian gals doing...right, but rather a play about a teenage Catholic school-girl who struggles to find her place within her faith. It tries to capture the ambivalence and doubt that coming-of-faith can be.

The play follows one particular day in the life of Lina, who's been struggling with typical teenage Catholic angst. From the straying mind at morning devotions to persistent questioning at chapel, Lina becomes rather frustrated with the easy answers of the faith. In Christian Ethics class, she's forced to read a note she tried to pass that expressed what part of the Body of Christ she wished to embrace. (It was...um, the "Sword of the Lord"?) Let's just say the class (and her) will never see Jesus quite the same.

Later, she starts realizing that being a righteous Catholic woman is harder than it seems. Even the most holiest (so it seems) women come across as not quite virtuous. So...in an epiphany, she leaves behind unquestioning faith and chooses to make space for herself, all the wiser. It seems that tempting choice is sexier than unquestionable faith.

---

Summary: A teenage Catholic school-girl struggles to find a place in her faith, and seems to find enlightenment

Good: Authentic examples, Affectionate, Tone

Bad: Simple, Cliched

Conclusion: All in all, good, but nothing new.