Finding a better story 3

In the last post in the series, I posted some general observations about the cultural context in which the Genesis 1 creation was composed. I contend that the Biblical creation story, as well as other parts of the primordial history (Genesis 1-11) were written to challenge the literary-symbolic world of the Ancient Near East, in [...]

Finding a better story 2

Since I have this unfortunate tendency to start a series and then never finish it, I’m not going to make any promises about how long this will go, how many installments it will have, or even if it will be all that coherent. However, I went back and re-read my “Finding a better story” entry [...]

“Green energy” and Amazon rain forests

People need to to read things like this before they ignorantly ramble about how great biofuels are.
At the bottom of page one it talks about the possibility of the Amazon rain forest turning into something like a savannah or even a desert. It wouldn’t be the first time human deforestation has caused a vital and [...]

Ironic quote about the efficacy of war

“The blood shed on the European continent in the course of the last three hundred years bears no proportion to the national result of the events. In the end, France had remained France, Germany Germany, Poland Poland, and Italy Italy. What dynastic egotism, political passion and patriotic blindness have attained in the way of apparently [...]

Support our troops?

This morning, my grandfather sent me an email “action alert” from the American Family Association urging protest of the recent Berkeley, California City Council resolution that declared the downtown Marine recruiting office “unwanted” and urged the recruiters to leave town. This article does not respond to that issue, but rather to the subject line of [...]

By the way…

If anyone hasn’t read NSPD 51/HSPD 20, they definitely should. It basically states that the president can take over all functions of the government as well as some private functions (read: corporate business interests) in the event of a “national emergency”. It was released May 9 of last year.
For some reason every time I think [...]

Christians: haters of humanity

Michael Cline has written an excellent article over at Jesus Manifesto. An excerpt:
The charge of hatred is enmeshed with the idea of religious piety in ancient Rome. To be a good citizen in the Roman Empire meant to participate in the civic life of the state. The gladiator games, the burning of incense to gods, [...]

Thanksgiving

It’s hard to believe, given the association of Thanksgiving with feasting and making merry with family and friends, but Thanksgiving actually grew out of a European tradition of taking days to fast and pray and humble one’s self before God that was carried on by English immigrants to the new colonies (particularly by the Puritans, [...]

World War II and American Empire

“The formulation of a statement of war aims for propaganda purposes is very different from formulation of one defining the true national interest… If war aims are stated, which seem to be concerned solely with Anglo-American imperialism, they will offer little to people in the rest of the world, and will be vulnerable to Nazi [...]

This day in history, September 11

810 years ago, in 1297, the Scots under William Wallace and Andrew de Moray defeated the English under Edward I in one of the major battles of the First War for Scottish Independence. The Scottish army was vastly outnumbered, but after a number of the English had crossed the bridge they attacked and forcibly divided [...]

May 1 – International Workers’ Day

Happy May Day, or as it is widely known, International Workers’ Day.
On this day in 1896 the great general strike for an 8-hour workday (over 350,000 strikers across the United States) that culminated in the Haymarket affair began. Today is an international day of labor recognition in many countries – with the United States a [...]

another thought on Romans 13, the oppressiveness of Christianity

Absolution Revolution has moved! You can view this article here: http://absolutionrevolution.com/blog/2006/10/03/another-thought-on-romans-13-the-oppressiveness-of-christianity/\

The US Constitution: intended to provide liberty and justice for all?

Absolution Revolution has moved! You can read this article at http://absolutionrevolution.com/blog/2006/09/29/the-us-constitution-intended-to-provide-liberty-and-justice-for-all/

USAmerican self-determination ideals and contradiction

Absolution Revolution has moved! You can find this article at http://absolutionrevolution.com/blog/2006/08/23/usamerican-self-determination-ideals-and-contradiction/