Inappropriate Conversations

Business author Jason Jennings once raised the question: what's the good business reason for doing this? It's a notion we should apply to other aspects of life. The church should mix this with "what would Jesus do?" slogans and challenge whether congregations have asked about the good Jesus reasons before taking a stand. Likewise, in the area of state secrets, our government leaders need to ask themselves tough questions before classifying documents. Making secrets out of things that either ought to be public or should not be done in the first place is abominable public policy.

Different Drummer: Edward Snowden

It is possible, from recent shows, that my tastes in music seem a bit soft. I've spoken about easy listening (The Ink Spots) and Christian music (Chris Rice) at some length lately. Truth is, my tastes vary wildly. Most people think they have a broad taste in music; typically, that means broadly within a genre. I cut both across and deep, with examples here that don't include any jazz (Anthony Braxton, for example), and at a length that had to skip things as obvious as Sepultura or Metallica and as niche as JFA (Jodie Foster's Army) and Laurie Anderson. Speaking of Anderson, here is her perspective: "So, sit bold, upright, in that straight-back chair. Button that top button. And get set for some difficult music ... ooh la ..." indeed. Different Drummer: Henry Rollins

We may hesitate to conclude that it's an act of violence to deny that someone exists or that he or she is real.  So much damage has been done, though, by denying that people are who they say they are and their rights can be compromised as a result.  This may be a quiet violence, but it cuts to the very core of what "human" even means in the context of human rights.  Evangelical Christianity has been increasingly guilty of this during the past five decades, and I call out a podcast that I've praised in the past as a frustrating example. Different Drummer: Harvey Milk Human Sexuality Is Complicated

Lore of the United States' "founding fathers" is that they were brave, creative thinkers who were not afraid to discuss ideas and both learn from and break with the past to create a new vision of the future.  So why are our current leaders so frightened?  At election time, both Republican and Democrat candidates seem to be fearful about the future, their past, and anything resembling "truth."  Above all, they are afraid of independent political thought and 3rd parties -- meaning, non-RepubliCrats. Different Drummer: Pier Paulo Pasolini

Most pro-life apologists have an issue with Judith Jarvis Thomson's position in "A Defense Of Abortion."  Of course!  They have come to opposite conclusions about one of the most divisive issues of our time.  My quarrel with a number of those apologists has nothing to do with abortion rights or the lives of unborn children.  No, my problem is with dishonesty, made worse since it comes from people who purport to stand up for "truth." Different Drummer: Os Guinness

Most emphasis on "the good old days" is about comparing the current state of society to a time when moral values were stronger and centered on the traditional family structure.  The problem is that those longing looks to the past are full of self-deception.  Even The Puritans, who are often held up as an extreme example, were not what society has said they were.  Premarital pregnancy, open discussions in church meetings about sexual behavior, and even second-trimester abortion were not at all out of place then.  I'll bet you didn't learn that in American History class. Different Drummer: Thomas Paine

6) America could not provide adoptive homes for more than a million children per year over limitless successive years.  7) After agreeing to pay a clinic several hundred dollars, a woman does not need an extra day of waiting to decide if she is doing the right thing.  8 ) Most Americans do not know the names and telephone numbers of more than 30,000 women, and certainly none can name that many new acquaintances for each calendar year.  9) If doctors never study or practice the abortion procedure, then an emergency abortion to save the life or health of a pregnant woman is less likely to be safe and free from complications.  10) If a person threatens the life or welfare of a man's wife, most of us would understand the man's decision to kill this assailant -- even if we wouldn't take that same action ourselves for moral reasons. Different Drummer: Aristotle