Lipscomb University theologian Lee Camp has clarified his remarks that were cited in yesterday’s Tennessean article, which apparently were taken out of context. I stand by what I said yesterday that respect, honesty and humility need to go hand-in-hand in any dialogue between people with different or opposing viewpoints. Professor Camp appears to agree, and I appreciate what he had to say. I would like to see more Christians share his opinion on loving neighbors, even ones half a world away:

“The dialogue prior to my lecture had been most encouraging and refreshing: Numerous speakers had insisted that Jews, Muslims and Christians must not pretend that our differences are insignificant. Moreover, we can acknowledge the seriousness of the differences, while honoring one another…

I believe and profess “Jesus is Lord,” and am compelled by Jesus’ Lordship to share this Good News world-wide. But if such sharing treats others in a way contrary to the teachings of Jesus, I have thereby denied my profession. I choose not only to proclaim that “Jesus is Lord,” but to live Jesus as Lord, among all — believer or unbeliever, Catholic or Protestant, Muslim or Jew.”

The Tennessean has posted a follow-up story this morning. The paper appeared to represent a summary of the evening’s discussion as Camp’s personal views in yesterday’s edition, and I’m glad they responded to Camp’s efforts to clarify his position.

I am impressed that the words below were spoken by two Lipscomb University professors and that an interfaith gathering recently took place on campus:

To live peacefully with Muslims and Jews, Christians must put aside the notion that their faith requires the creation of a Christian kingdom on Earth, a Lipscomb University theologian told an interfaith gathering at the university.

“We are not going to get very far in our relationship with Jews or Muslims if we do not let go of this idea,” Lipscomb professor Lee Camp said at Tuesday’s conference.

As I’ve said before, I don’t expect someone to forfeit their beliefs in the name of tolerance, but I do hope that we can all find a way to be respectful when sharing our viewpoints by acknowledging that other legitimate perspectives exist.

I’m a Lipscomb high school alumnus, and I’ve had my share of frustrations with the institution over the years. That said, there are many kind-hearted, well-intentioned people who attend, work for or otherwise contribute to life on that campus. I don’t think that this kind of event or the words above would have generated anything but outrage when I was a student. This kind of forum is major progress.

This is heavy handed, but I agree with it. I think this ought to apply to all of us, even beyond those of us who are Christians. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with entertainment or wanting to enjoy leisure time, whether it’s taking in a movie or doing something else. (Not that the Passion of the Christ is really anything people “enjoy” inasmuch as it depicts a very painful series of events.) No one person among us can save the world, but we can all give of our time and our money to make the world a little bit more hospitable for people who are in need.

Even though this cartoon is dead-on accurate in my opinion, maybe Christians are an easy target because the Bible calls us to such a high standard in trying to emulate Christ. There’s a paradox in seeking that goal because it’s unattainable for us as fallible beings, and yet it is noble and admirable to want to live humbly and be of service to other people. Christians can’t possibly live up to the standard Christ established, but it often doesn’t help that many of us, myself included, don’t seem to take that goal very seriously in how we live our lives. (It doesn’t help, either, that a lot of us think that we have God all figured out and in our hip pocket, but that’s a topic for another post.)

NBC News has chosen to call the situation in Iraq a civil war as of this week. Many other news outlets are doing the same. Here’s how President Bush responded when asked that question today:

“No question it’s tough, no question about it. There’s a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented in my opinion because of the attacks by al Qaeda causing people to seek reprisal.”

My point here, though I did not vote for Bush in 2004 and objected to the war in Iraq prior to its onset, has nothing directly to do with which side of the aisle the president or anyone else is on. This kind of non-answer to a reporter’s question, once lauded as an effective media relations tactic, is not only hurting public discourse in our country, if you ask me, it is damaging public opinion of anyone who uses it consistently. Democrats do it just as much as Republicans, and I think it’s hurting America.

The Bush administration spent six years refusing to answer questions, even ones that it was silly to refuse to consider. Now that the balance of power has shifted in Congress, the administration is finally beginning to address its critics humbly and openly, relatively speaking, despite what Bush did or did not say today. If the administration had learned how to do that even six months ago, it might not be dealing with a loss of seats in both sides of Congress today.

I think it’s fine to have talking points to get across in any interview, but it isn’t fine to just parrot them back incessantly as if the question were never asked. It’s really a moot point by now any way because the media is so accustomed to public figures doing this. CBS went ahead and did what Bush was trying to avoid by clarifying the president’s position: “President Bush said Tuesday that the sectarian violence rocking Iraq is not civil war but part of an al Qaeda plot to use violence to goad Iraqi factions into repeatedly attacking each other.”

Just say “yes” or “no,” and then tell us why. We’ll all be a whole lot better off, if you ask me.

I saw U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper walking to his office on Church Street downtown this morning as I made my own way to work. Congressman Cooper was juggling (OK, not literally) a couple of packages while flinging the door open.

Representative Cooper wasn’t breaking any laws as far as I could tell, and he didn’t appear to be cursing about the door. I know there are 430-odd members of the House, but I just found it refreshing to see one of them lugging his lunch pail to the office just like the rest of us, so I thought I’d share.

Happy birthday, Jon Stewart! By “Jon Stewart,” I mean the host of the Daily Show, not the:

• Scottish footballer
• The secret identity of the Green Lantern
• Member of the Kingston Trio
• Financier and railway builder
• U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania
• Canadian Member of Parliament
• Scottish Earl
• Son of James II of Scotland
• Son of James III of Scotland

What Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (Stewart’s given name) may lack in anti-Semitism, it gains in recognizance. Still, Jon, kick back and enjoy your 44^th knowing that among Jon Stewarts, you currently have monopolized name recognition big time compared with your counterparts above. Take that, John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan!

Thanks to DVR technology, I have been a pretty regular Daily Show viewer for about two years now. I love Stewart’s sense of humor because it is somehow even drier than my own. (Some of my friends, and possibly my wife, would dispute that. Water, anyone?) Here’s hoping for many more years of fake news and occasional cameos by Steve Carell.

Has sports replaced religion in our society? I think maybe it has. It’s hard to argue that point looking at the sports page in the newspaper or looking at football stadiums on weekends.

The more curious question, for me, is why. Are we looking for an escape? Are we looking for meaning? How many of us who are sports fans can honestly say that we are as invigorated on Sunday mornings as we are on Sunday afternoons? For those who aren’t sports fans, how often are you more excited about a worship service than you are about your favorite television show? How many of us care more about what takes place on a screen in our living room than what takes place across the street?

Now that survival is generally no longer a challenge for us, are we desperate to escape the malaise of our everyday lives to be a part of something larger and more exciting? Are we looking for a gift for ourselves when we already have “everything?” Are we choosing the easy way out by escaping into entertainment and comfort instead of looking to connect with the people around us and finding ways to change our worlds for the better?

I think we are, and I think it’s because it’s easier to choose that path. Most of us in the U.S. don’t have to work especially hard to eat, sleep and survive each day. The tribes and battles that would have engaged us centuries ago are gone or at least irrelevant for most of us, or they are half a world away where they are easily forgotten. For many people, questions of faith and reason are much murkier than they were for prior generations, and religion isn’t the simple answer it once was (not that it can’t still ultimately be a solution). Perhaps we are struggling to hold on to any meaning we can, even if it is as fleeting as wins and losses and jerseys and goalposts.

Don’t get me wrong. I love sports, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I just wonder why it can become so important, sometimes excessively important, at the expense of more important things.

It’s a safe bet that this story about a South Carolina fan killing a Clemson fan makes it into an upcoming edition of News of the Weird. Regardless, it is a terrible and sad (and weird) story.

People often say in the South that college football is a religion. I love football (and hockey), and I’m as guilty as the next guy of taking sports too seriously. But how does this get this far? Yes, this story falls into the common NOTW category “People different from us,” but I think we all get carried away frequently by stuff that just doesn’t matter. Why is that? Is it because it’s safer than focusing on things with real substance, such as our friends and families, our mortality and the contributions we hope to make while we’re here?

I’ve had some awful, awful arguments in my lifetime, I’ve done some really stupid things and I’ve at times consumed a high volume of alcohol. A few times those things have even overlapped. I still never thought it made sense to collect on a bet with a firearm, not that I own one. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I hope I can remember the next time that I’m really upset about something to ask whether whatever it is is really all that important. Odds are, the answer may be no. Did I mention that one of my coworkers owes me a six-pack for a recent bet? It’s true, but I think I’ll wait awhile before I ask whether he is going to fulfill his end of the bargain.

It’s conventional wisdom (or at least common nostalgia) that the past was a simpler, kinder and gentler time. I’m as guilty of buying into this notion as the next guy, but this MSNBC article is a good reminder that it likely isn’t true. Here’s a sample:

“Perhaps such mercy [in punishing lasciviousness] was a nod to human nature. After all, according to [University of Virginia anthropologist Lisa M.] Lauria’s estimates, up to 50 percent of Plymouth colonists had premarital sex, despite the laws. Some were gay or bisexual. There were bad marriages, cheating wives, teenagers flooded with hormones. Life was complicated.”

I think as a society, we tend to assume that morality is an admirable yet old-fashioned concept that is falling out of favor. That may well be true, but articles like this one (and there are many) suggest that we’ve been pretty equally good or evil, depending on your perspective, for awhile now. Granted, we have access to more innovative and advanced ways to lie to each other, steal things and explore beastiality (assuming on that last one, I am…) than ever before, but it appears that there was plenty of wrongdoing going on way back when in the snowdens of yesteryear, too.

Does this all come down to a control issue? Is it mainly about us as individuals beginning to accept our own mortality and the surety that we will eventually be left behind by time? Are we reminiscing for what is long gone and most familiar about our individual childhoods or adolescences? Or do we tend to focus on what was good about the past and overlook what was not so good? Maybe it is that the past is a known and (relatively) fixed thing, while the future is unknown and possibly frightening. When we can look back and “know” that things were better “then,” at least we have something. The future is a promise we may never see.

One thing I know for sure is that I’m not going to answer this question tonight or anytime soon. But I do find it fun to wonder, since we don’t often stop to explore the reasons why we do the things we do. Maybe the reasons aren’t as simple as we think.

I had never heard of Joel Hunter, who resigned from the presidency of the Christian Coalition, until earlier today. I’m not sure yet whether I think his decision to resign before he even officially took office is a good or a bad thing.

Even though Reverend Hunter and I disagree on abortion and same-sex marriage, he stated publicly when announcing his resignation that easing poverty and protecting the environment are” issues that Jesus would want us to care about.” Hunter resigned, reportedly, because he could not get other coalition leaders to put genuine weight behind these issues. According to this Orlando Sentinel story, coalition leadership considered these issues to be “fine” but “not our base” and “not our issues.”

These remarks reinforce my perception that the coalition is much more interested in retaining and increasing its political power and influence than it is in making a difference in the lives of individual people and making a difference in this country. How much more influence could the coalition have if it would stop worrying about power and politics and start helping people in need?

I’d like to see the coalition stop intentionally driving division in our country and begin focusing on compassion and mercy. Even though I don’t side with coalition on its two core social issues, I could still respect it as an organization if it would stop wielding those positions as a weapon. Why can’t acknowledge these positions respectfully and focus on helping others where there is more agreement? It will have far more relevance and more more meaningfulness if it can find a way to do that, I think.

Reverend Hunter has written a book called Right Wing, Wrong Bird. I haven’t read this book, but descriptions of it on Amazon.com make me think that Hunter is exactly the kind of leader the coalition needs right now. Here are a couple:

“Finally, a book for those committed to biblical political engagement, but embarrassed by the antics of the religious right. Hunter effectively combines historical reflection with biblical exegesis, calling the church to live out its cultural mandate by both contributing to society and confronting injustice.”

“Can Christians learn to approach political issues constructively rather than negatively, learning to serve rather than yell? Pastor and author Dr. Joel C. Hunter says it’s not only possible, it’s necessary! Dr. Hunter offers a manifesto for fellow conservatives who feel “left out” by the Religious Right.”

It sounds to me like the coalition is taking a step in the wrong direction with Hunter’s resignation, but perhaps his principled departure will mean that the coalition begins rethinking its impact and its purpose. Let’s hope so.

I survived a visit to Wal-Mart today. I wasn’t brave enough to line up or even show up at 4 a.m., like hundreds of local shoppers did (including those above). Our DVD player decided to self-destruct around 1:00 today, so I took a trip to consumerland to replace it.

It really wasn’t that bad by the time I got there. It was full, but not much more full than most of the other times I go. The cashier I spoke to said that he had been there since before the store opened at 5 a.m. and that he couldn’t wait to go home in 20 minutes. (I couldn’t blame him.) He told me that it was a madhouse when the doors first opened today. He said that one woman ultimately had to be escorted out of the store after she cut to the head of a line and tried to buy a television. She became argumentative and loud and refused to leave until the police walked her out of the building.

It’s a cliche at this point to decry consumerism and Black Friday. I guess I am on the fence somewhere on this one. On the one hand, I think it is sad that people flock to retail stores before dawn and (especially sad) that they often trample each other and get in fights over merchandise. Yes, life is very short, and it shouldn’t come down to what items or gadgets we have or don’t have.

The reality is that life very often comes down to haves and have nots, even though I agree that it should not. I don’t personally want to “keep up with the Joneses” or gorge myself on material purchases, but I also have to acknowledge that I am a consumer, too. As a consumer, I frequently make impulsive and unwise purchases, but I hope I am becoming wiser about my consumption as I grow older. Regardless, something bothers me about the annual practice of forming mobs to purchase as much as they possibly can and also about the recurring habit of covering this activity in the media. Each year, the point seems to be to point out in coverage that people are even more greedy and obsessed than in prior years. Is the fact that lots of people shop compulsively the day after Thanksgiving really news? It reminds me of the tendency of media outlets to routinely cover sweltering heat in July, as if this were unexpected.

I believe that the media generally reflects our interests and attentions as a society, so I can’t pass the blame solely to reporters. I think we all either participate in the Black Friday masses or like to hear about it in order to feel superior for not having participated in it. This post, I’m realizing, has been a long attempt to say this: I wish all of us didn’t focus on our possessions and our appetites quite so much.

That’s all … feel free to resume shopping, and thanks for stopping by.

For once, I’m not too full at the end of a Thanksgiving day. I managed to anticipate the point of fullness without continuing to eat well past it. I’m not one to gorge on food on a regular basis, but I do tend to overeat on Thanksgiving and Christmas just because there is so much food on the table. Sometimes I’ve felt like I ate six elephants or nine Hummer H2s. Not this time, thank goodness.

Wherever you are tonight, I hope you stopped at three or four elephants and that you’ve had a good Thanksgiving.