That is the headline from an AP news story out this morning:

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced surprise plans Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to convert, reaching out to those who are disaffected by the election of female and gay bishops to join the Catholic Church’s conservative ranks.

Pope Benedict XVI approved a new church provision that will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining many of their distinctive spiritual and liturgical traditions, including married priests, Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal official, told a news conference.

I’m neither Anglican nor Roman Catholic, but this seems a little opportunistic.

Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News and World Report religion writer, reports on new Gallup poll data showing that “Jews are the religious group most supportive of Barack Obama.”

Gallup reports that Jews are the religious group most supportive of Barack Obama in the United States. Sixty-four percent of American Jews express approval of Obama’s job performance, compared with 52 percent of Americans at large. And though Jewish approval for Obama has dropped from 83 percent since January, that’s in line with the falloff in support from the general public, suggesting—Gallup says—that Obama’s Middle East and Iran policies have not disproportionately affected his image among Jews.

Any thoughts on this?

Friends at Answers in Genesis sent along the following:

As the highly acclaimed Creation Museum of Answers in genesis turns the corner on its second year, it expects to see the 720,000 visitor cross the threshold any day now, a testament to the museum’s continued ability to attract guests and attention for its more than 70,000 square feet (and growing) of hi-tech, top-quality exhibits.

“We enter our third year excited about the growing opportunities the museum provides for reaching people with the creation gospel message,” founder Ken Ham said. “We believe God is using us to make a difference in our post-Christian culture, and we will continue to do everything we can to help believers defend the Word of God, from the very first verse.”

There is much reason to celebrate the successful operation and growth of this ministry that shows the absolute necessity of affirming the divine creation of all things.

…

Londoners gathered last week at the Royal Geographic Society to hear philosopher Roger Scruton and others debate the idea that Britainers are growing indifferent to beauty (or already are).

Here is a review of Scruton’s new book, Beauty.

Here is the Guardian news piece about the debate.

Here is a Guardian editorial about the debate, with these closing lines:

“The optimists are right in their observation that trade and commerce have spread access to wonderful things wider than ever before through society. Beauty has been democratised. But the pessimists are right to point out that a by-product of that process is commodification. A consumer society knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing, which is, of course, the classic definition of a cynic.

And what is the antidote to cynicism? As the audience at the Royal Geographical Society found, it is remembering that, all around us, we never lose sight of beautiful things.”

…

I read this piece today in the New York Times. It seems there is a “Missouri Model” of juvenile justice that is getting attention for good results.

VonErrick celebrated his 14th birthday last year by committing a daylight carjacking, beating the driver to the ground. With a long record of truancy, assault, and breaking and entering, he was sent to a state group home - the same home that his two older brothers passed through after their own scrapes with the law.

Both of those brothers are out now. Tory, 16, has A grades and plans to attend college. Terry, 20, has a job and has had a clean record for four years. VonErrick was recently released and immediately started high school.

The brothers say they benefited from confinement in the Missouri juvenile system, which emphasizes rehabilitation in small groups, constant therapeutic interventions and minimal force.

Juvenile justice experts across the nation say that the…

When my sons heard the “A-Rod did ‘roids” story on the radio, my eleven-year old said, “I sure am glad Albert Pujols never took steroids.”

Ditto.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a good op-ed piece by Thomas Frank, “Wall Street Mocked American Values.”

Frank talks about the demise of niche periodicals devoted to helping the really rich figure out how to spend their money “properly, conspicuously, flamboyantly.”

Reading Frank’s piece theologically, one can hear echoes of Augustine, speaking about God: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

Consumption, even in the extreme, can only provide distraction, not delight.

Frank writes:

One does not get the sense that its trader readers aspired to live this way because they were jolly bon vivants. Quite the opposite. At one point it its intermittent pursuit of the best possible record player, for example, Trader Monthly described what it claimed to be a $300,000 turntable as “a huge middle finger to everyone who enters your home.”

If you didn’t understand why someone would want to greet their guests…

A friend sent this along - a commercial that has been playing on some outlets on Black Entertainment Television:

You don’t need this New Testament, but if you get your hands on one, I promise that you will enjoy it.

It is a facsimile of William Tyndale’s 1526 New Testament, the first English Bible translated from the original languages. Take a look at the photo below to get an idea of the excellent production quality - very clear type and excellent color.

Tyndale biographer David Danell offers an introduction to this New Testament, bringing us into the dangerous world of Tyndale - a martyr for the Christian faith and the freedom of access to Scripture in one’s own language.

Tyndale believed the Bible could and should be available in every man’s own tongue. He knew the outcome of Bible transmission would be spiritual renewal, famously saying, “The boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than an educated man.”

This publication of Tyndale’s New Testament provides great opportunity to talk to your…

USA Today has a story out today (Thursday) analyzing results released today from the latest Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

“Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey finds.

Of the 65% of people who held this open view of heaven’s gates, 80% named at least one non-Christian group — Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists or people with no religion at all — who may also be saved, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.”

The “including most Christians” part is a symptom of the rampant doctrinal confusion that abounds within Christianity today.

I suggest that the folks the article calls “most Christians”, the ones who believe that salvation outside of Christ is possible - they should at least be consistent and make a…

Newsweek gave us a lot to talk about this week with Lisa Miller’s “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.”

In summary, Miller argues:

(1) If the Bible is your kind of book, take a closer look and you’ll find that it actually affirms gay marriage.

(2) If you’re not into the Bible, that is o.k. too because who needs an ancient book of stories telling we modern folks how to regulate our sex lives.

With news pieces like Miller’s, who needs the editorial page?

The Sunday Times published a column by Daisy Goodwin titled “Bringing Up Baby Too Fast.”

In the article she laments two trends -

(1) Parents who strip their children of their childhood, even their infancy:

“My objection to the Heelarious shoes and all the baby Tod’s, miniature biker jackets, tiny Ray-Bans and baby Birkin bags (yes, really) is more to do with what they represent: a perverse desire to end childhood before it has even begun. I wouldn’t be surprised if the purchasers of Heelarious shoes are also buying Baby Einstein flash cards and taking their toddlers to art appreciation classes or mini-manicure sessions.”

(2) Adults who either refuse to grow up, or revert back to their childhood:

“But somewhere around the age of 20, these miniature adults become babyish – big kids who have no desire to do “adult” things like leaving home, getting married, doing their own laundry and wearing lace-up shoes. …Look at the leagues of…

Did anyone catch the story this weekend about the 19-year-old Florida teen, Abraham Biggs, who committed suicide (drug overdose) in front of his webcam? Twelve hours elapsed from the point that he declared his intention to commit suicide to the point that police officers broke into the house and found him dead.

According to the story:

“Some online observers encouraged him to do it, others tried to talk him out of it and some discussed whether he was taking a dose big enough to kill himself, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with Broward County medical examiner’s office. One person who claimed to have watched said that Biggs went to sleep after swallowing pills and appeared to be breathing for a few hours. Meanwhile, observers cracked jokes.”

Apparently the young man suffered from bipolar disorder and had threatened suicide in the past.

As sad as any story about suicide is, this one truly makes you stop…

A study out today by the RAND research organization finds a connection between teen’s TV viewing and their own behavior.

“Exposure to some forms of entertainment is a corrupting influence on children, leading teens who watch sexy programs into early pregnancies and children who play violent video games to adopt aggressive behavior, researchers said on Monday.”

In other shocking news today, researchers also discovered:

• a proven link between urination and the drinking of fluids
• automobile drivers have far fewer accidents when awake than when sleeping
• people prefer fleece blankets over blankets with fleas

The Times Online reports on a recent anonymous survey of Cambridge University students, showing that nearly half (49%) of them admit to cheating.

Other facts:

• 62% of law students admitted to plagiarism.
• Only 5% said they been caught.
• 82% said that Wikipedia was their source for the plagiarized material.

What does it say when the student body of an academically prestigious institution consists of academic liars?

Is this merely a symptom of intellectual laziness that a few highly publicized student expulsions will correct?

Or, is this a sign of something even more challenging - a breakdown in the notion of truth and falsehood?

On a less serious note, it is also depressing to think that 80% of these high-brow Cambridge academics cheat by turning to Wikipedia! “The blind leading the blind” comes to mind.

Photo: Winslow Homer The Country School (St. Louis Art Museum)

Here is a must-read article by Princeton University professor Robert George.

This is how it opens:

“Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States.  He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate.  Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.

Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals—even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals—who aggressively promote Obama’s candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

What is going on here?

I have examined the arguments advanced by Obama’s self-identified pro-life supporters, and they are spectacularly weak.  It is nearly unfathomable to me that those advancing them can honestly believe what they are saying.  But before proving my claims about Obama’s abortion extremism, let me explain why I have described Obama as “pro-abortion” rather than “pro-choice.”

…

“My friends rooted for the Cardinals and grew up happy and therefore liberal. Because of my early and prolonged exposure to the Cubs, I became morose and conservative.”

ABC News is in the process of visiting “50 States in 50 Days.” Today they broadcasted their visit to my new state of residence, Kentucky. They actually filmed the piece last Friday.

How do I know that? Because in a state of 40,000 square miles and 4.2 million people, they chose my boss and our office as the launching pad for their story. Click here for the ABC video (Yes, the link does work. No, it does not work for everyone’s computer and/or browser).

I think it is hilarious because, given the parameters of the series, the story could have been about ANYTHING - as long as it touched briefly on the fall election and something to do with Kentucky.

They could have gone to Churchill Downs and asked folks leaving the races their thoughts on the race, for President that is. They could have gone to tobacco farmers to ask about health care or…

Two questions popped out at me in my reading today. Completely unrelated questions mind you, but both were fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) articles to read.

(1) Why Don’t Churches Pay Taxes?

That is a question The L.A. Times hoped to shed some light on by inviting Barry Lynn (Americans United for the Separation of Church & State) and conservative columnist Erik Stanley together for a Point/Counter-Point column. Lynn consistently gets on my last nerve, but so do preachers who confuse the Bible with political party platforms. Funny though, I’ve never actually sat under a single preacher who pushed his personal political views or endorsed a candidate. I am sure they are out there, but they haven’t served as my pastor. Anyhow, that is a little off-subject from the Times column, but these issues end up all running together anyway. See the article here.

(2) Is Mormonism Christian?

The October 2008 issue of First Things puts…

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams have once again proven their invaluable worth in experienced disaster relief, this time in the form of meals, showers, and places to stay for refugees from Hurricane Ike in Texas.

For better or worse, I’ve never known my fellow Southern Baptists to be strangers to big portions of good food - we know how to cook it, serve it, and eat it.

Well, there has been a lot of disaster relief cooking going on in the past few weeks as Southern Baptist relief teams have been all over the South, delievering timely help and assistance wherever needed (see an article here for more of the story).