Call It A Comeback
Sorry Kevin, but the Poorman beat you to the punch and instead discusses how it is a shame to lose Stanley Kurtz’s mind.
Dr. Strangelove was a fucking parody people–not a how-to manual–GOT IT!
My problem with the Left Behind series that Kevin defends in relation to snotty liberal secular attacks is that it is bad theology. Many evangelicals reject the end of the world is on us crap and indeed, it is the subject of many o’debate on fundamentalist radio. Dispensationalism is sort of the fundamentalist wedge issue…
As far as policy connections to fundamentalist thought on the end-times…from Time’s July 1st issue:
The election of Ronald Reagan brought "Christian Zionism" deeper into the White House: Lindsey served as a consultant on Middle East affairs to the Pentagon and the Israeli government. Interior Secretary James Watt, a Pentecostalist, in discussing environmental concerns, observed, "I don’t know how many future generations we can count on until the Lord returns." Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger affirmed, "I have read the Book of Revelation, and, yes, I believe the world is going to end–by an act of God, I hope–but every day I think time is running out." It was no accident that Reagan made his "evil empire" speech at a meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals.
While Kevin might be right to be leery of Bush himself believing this stuff (Methodists aren’t big on dispensationalism), the influence on many conservative politicians is quite clear (Salon Premium). John Ashcroft, James Inhofe, Tom DeLay, and Dick Armey are just a few who use Revelations to argue for specific policies towards Israel and the world as a whole.
Kevin is also correct that all evangelicals shouldn’t be treated as the lunatic fringe. A part of the problem that secular individuals have with understanding these distinctions is they don’t have enough of a religous background. Even many liberal Christians are very underexposed to fundamentalists and Dispensationalists. Evangelicals come in many shapes and certainly all evangelicals aren’t fundamentalists. Some evangelicals are liberal–evangelical only signifies those who try and evangelize Christianity. However, Dispensationalists do have dangerous ideas and they should be fought when they try and have those ideas put into public policy. Having read the book review, I took the dark overtones to only apply to dispensationalists and not evangelicals as a whole. And as a somewhat liberal Christian—yeah I’m worried about them. Very worried.
Now, if they were to undergo a second great withdrawal from politics as they did early in the 20th Century, that is fine. Their beliefs would be no more dangerous than the Heaven’s Gate Cult.
Tolerance of all sorts of religious beliefs is a good thing. However, I do not think that making fun of silly beliefs is the worst thing in the world. I make fun of Scientologists, Heaven’s Gates types and Dispensationalists as well as an assortment of other strange groups. I only get concerned when any of these type of groups gain political power, and Dispensationalists are the only ones who really fit that category.
Kevin addresses a post by Eugene Volokh concerning college athletics. It seems that Kevin and Eugene identify the problems pretty well, but fail to grasp the most obvious solution—have colleges actually treat sports as an extracurricular and stop offering any sort of inducement to play (slightly simplistic–some other extracurriculars offer scholarships).
But really, what is the purpose of an athletic scholarship? I understand the purpose of athletics, but I have no idea how athletic scholarships promote the missions of universities. When someone can answer that question, I’ll support the existence of athletic scholarships.
Universities have no responsibility to take care of young athletes as Eugene suggests. If someone wants to be an athlete–join an athletic organization, not a university. There is no reason for a university to be involved in the education of a student at another institution simply to provide an athletic opportunity.
Athletics are important to building character, teamwork skills and a variety of important skills, but they aren’t part of the mission of the university, the are a feature to help achieve the universities’ missions. As such, there is no point to athletic scholarships.
Thank goodness, of course I’ll be stuck watching the Rams.
Illinois is looking at adopting an HMO Model for its Medicaid program.
The state tried it before, but the federal government rejected the plan as did HMOs. It is too early to comment much since the details aren’t available.
In the category of the lie was as bad as the action, NICOR is about to be hit hard by the Illinois Commerce Commission for lying about the motive behind using alternative natural gas supplies. The fine is equal to the profits received in this case, but even worse, the investigation is continuing.
Up at the Political State Report, with Pate Philip at risk for a perjury charge.
Is up over at the Political State Report
Looks at the school finance crisis in Illinois and focuses on New Trier. New Trier, for those not familiar with it, is probably one of the best funded districts in the nation, and performs at a level with the best private prep schools in the country.
The fact that New Trier is facing a shortfall doesn’t mean it is in crisis, it means New Trier needs to being economical for once. I do not begrudge New Trier anything, however, it is assanine to cite them as an example of a school budget crisis when they are not in an actual crisis. Of all of the working class suburban and rural schools in deep crisis, the Trib chose one district that might have to cut a few extras. Nice.
is pointed out by Steve Rhodes:
?It?s a mournful day in the neighborhood.?
? The opening line to Steve Johnson?s front page Fred Rogers obituary in the Tribune last week
Rhodes also mentions Nathan Bierma’s move to Christianity Today’s Contents and Culture on-line. We’ve mentioned it before, but I like to promote it because:
A) Nathan posts about Chicago
B) He is a observant Christian who fits the Fred Rogers model and voices his views as Christians should-out of love, not out of exclusion
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