MeyerBros

howard zinn wrote an article in the progressive yesterday calling for an end to nationalism. nationalism is harmless, he says, in a country without power. pride is fine untill you mix in a nuclear arsenal and potential for global domination.

the article gives some history of our nation’s conception of unique-god-chosen-ness - and it’s affect on “outsiders” - from Indians to Mexicans to Filipinos, Afghanies and Iraqis.

nothing new, really, but always worth noting and remembering.

since he throws in a bit about the flag - i’ll add a scott adams note on recent flag developments. ironic - the heavy government restrictions on it’s “symbol of freedom”.

(As a newbie, I don’t know when to “write post” and when to “reply.” This started out as a reply in a thread where Carl commented on talking with “value voters” and Eric tried to figure out how Jeb Bush could like X-Men 3 . . . So does some wise person file these things where they belong?)

Sitting by a Christian Zionist on my last flight from Tel Aviv to Newark brought me to the conclusion that all of these conversations with Christians need to start with (or include early on) an honest look at how all Christians who have any use for scripture use scripture, i.e. (1) that we all choose which passages/themes are authoritative for our lives, relativising other passages/themes, (2) that we all use some hermeneutical principle for doing this, and (3) naming that principle is part of knowing ourselves and communicating with others. I think it is worth a LOT to get this on the table, because otherwise politically conservative Christians claim to respect the authority of scripture and discount social progressives as “not believing the Bible.”

So state the themes that seem most important to you. (If, for purposes of this exercise, which involves communicating with self-described Christians, you can find a verse to represent that theme, then you may call it a “Biblical theme.”) Then name the hermeneutic that prioritizes these themes. (For extra fun, name some BIBILICAL themes that you reject, and why: “Paul having a bad patriarchy day” or “who knew we could overpopulate the planet?” or “Oops, there’s that ethnocentric nationalism again!”)
(more…)

how do people say these things?

“[God] is the chairman of this party.” (the story)
– Texas GOP leader Tina Benkiser, at state convention

Form that same article: “Lord, your words tell us there’s a sign that this nation is under a curse, when the alien who lives among us grows higher and higher and we grow lower and lower,”
– Rev. Dale Young, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Laredo

Anyone know the exact reference? Can we get a hermeneutic ruling on this one?

And one from Fox News for good measure:

“There’s no scientific proof that global warming even exists. To be honest, it’s a bogus consensus dreamed up by Greens because they hate industry. They hate advancement. They hate technology…Greens will lead us back to the stone ages.” (more on this)
– Fox News analyst Jonathan Hoenig