Category Archives: Web Links

Links: Anarchist, Toys, Kanakuk, Hypocrites, Air Travel

A collection of links I found interesting this week:

A new survey of U.S. adults who don’t go to church, even on holidays,
finds 72% say “God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists.” But
just as many (72%) also say the church is “full of hypocrites.” –USA Today

The Revolving Door Of Washington

Not to get too political on you, but I participated in a cool little project by Sunlight Foundation today that I thought I’d tell you about. Sunlight Foundation is all about bringing transparency to Washington (the government) and they are doing some very innovative things to do it.
The project I helped with is called ‘Where Are They Now?’ and the website describes it as:

The 109th Congress closed up shop nearly one year ago.
For those top staff members whose bosses resigned, retired or were voted out of office, the one year “cooling off period”–during which they are not allowed to lobby their former colleagues on Capitol Hill–is coming to an end. Lower level staffers have been able to work the Hill all year. Let’s see which staffers of former members have gone through the revolving door.

Basically, they are seeking to point out the close ties between elected government officials and the powerful lobbyist just down the street from them. What we are finding is that there are a lot of Congregational staff members who after leaving office have gone to work for those lobbyist firms. To put it another way, government staff are being bought by lobbyist who are offering them jobs (=money and power) in return for buying their votes in the Congress.

The ‘Where Are They Now?’ site is very well put together, and I’ve been making calls to Lobbyist firms checking to confirm that some of their new staff are indeed the same staff of Congress members who left office one year ago (the one year rule is to prevent this very thing from happening).

Take a visit yourself and do you part for government transparency by making some phone calls.

Also Of Interest:

Random Linkage

Don’t know if I’ll make this a regular Thursday thing, but I’ve got to throw a post in every once in a while with an assortment of random links for your enjoyment. Here you are:

  • Miller takes on the ethical shopping dilemma.
  • Compassion in Politics predicts 2008 the Year of the Editor.
  • Josh Brown tackles our wayward patriotism.
  • You have to check out The Decapatator:

    A little gruesome but extremely creative anti-advertising campaign. Some great photoshopping skillz. [via] and [via]
  • This is what I’m going to do next time I’m called for Jury Duty. Brilliant. And I mean that in a “wow I never thought to take my Christian thinking and apply it to that part of life” sort of brilliance, not a “how to get out of Jury Duty” sort of brilliance.
  • Bart Campolo‘s take on the Bible.
  • And I leave you with a quote [via, via & via]:

“There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow Me.”

The man’s face clouded over, as this was the last thing he expected to hear. Suddenly, he had an idea.

“But Teacher, what if we try this: I’ll stay here with the way things are, I’ll keep all my stuff, and I’ll tell people it’s a blessing from You! It’s a win-win for both of us—I get to maintain my lifestyle, and You end up looking good! What do You think?”

Link: Christianity And The Social Crisis

Guess who wrote this and when:

If it is religious to advocate rebuilding a church, why is it non-religious to advocate tearing down and rebuilding slum districts? If it is religious to encourage the church to recarpet the aisles and cushion the seats for the feet and backs of worshippers, why is it non-religious to speak of playgrounds for young feet and old-age pensions for aged backs?

If you guessed Walter Rauschenbusch 100 years ago, your absolutely right. Looks like we still have the same theological dilemmas in the church today that we did back then.

Zach has put together a great collection of quotes from Walter’s book and wrote a post about the importance of writings such as this.

Read Zach’s Post Here.

Read Walter Rauschenbusch Quotes Here.

Read the entire Christianity and The Social Crisis Here.

Link: Mistaken Identity

A story of mine:
When I was in middle school I bought this sweet jacket, it had a reversible red vest inside, which had a black side and a bright red side. The red side was way stylish, but too cool for me to wear to school, however, I was in the mall one day and so I flipped it, red side out. I happened to be in Walgreen’s when an old lady came up to me and asked me if I could show her where the pepto bismol was. You can imagine my embarrassment, she had mistaken me, the cool middle schooler with the red vest, for a Walgreen’s employee. It was a case of mistaken identity, that ended only in my own embarrassment. Needless to say I never wore my vest red side out again.

Now, imagine if you couldn’t change your identity with just the flip of your vest… And, the mistaken identity resulted sometimes in more then just embarrassment.

Also, for some inordinate reason, white people often seem to mistake me for an employee of home improvement stores. Hello! No orange apron! (But every once in a while I like to answer the questions anyway.) Maybe it’s the tape measure and the manly stride. A white woman once abusively screamed that she wanted to see my manager RIGHT NOW because she did not feel I was helpful. Even after she found out she was mistaken, she did not have the grace to apologize.

There are a lot of stories both in the post and in the comments section. You absolutely must read this post, get a glimpse of what kind of regular encounters people of color tend to have with white people.

Read here. (ht. Ally Work)

And, once your done reading and realize something must be done about this. Read Ally Work’s post on Qualities of an Ally.

Link: On Modesty

Mak writes a great post on the topic:

Which then led me to think about the concept of “modesty” in general. And as I pondered all of these things, I finally figured out why I can’t stand the typical conservative Christian teachings about women’s appearance that go on all over the world in youth groups and Bible studies and women’s ministries every week…the whole point of these “lessons” teaches girls/women that our bodies do not in any way belong to us.

Read the Rest here.

Link: Intentional Suburbunites

I’m an advocate for people moving out of suburbia for a number of reasons, but I can respect people’s decisions to stay there. Will Samson is one of those people I’ve come to see as a conscience suburbunite. He recently posted a letter from someone else about 10 Ways to Live Intentionally in the Suburbs and I think they are worth checking out:

1) Live with others from your church community

Whether you share your home with another person or family, or whether you have several families that have homes in close proximity or both, sharing life together is perhaps the most powerful (i.e., going against the grain of suburban culture) way to be the body of Christ in suburbia. If you can’t live together, at least find a way to share resources (power tools, lawn mowers, children’s clothes/toys, etc).

2) Work Less!

One of the major powers that enslaves suburbia is the idolization of the career. There are many ways to pay the bills that do not involve a 9-5 job, and even within a 9-5 job, there are ways to work less (turning down promotions, taking unpaid leave, etc.) Working less will free you to serve your church community, your family, your neighbors, etc. It will also spur creativity: finding a solution for working less, finding a way to “make ends meet” financially, etc.

3) Throw out the television

Another (and perhaps larger power) that enslaves suburbia is consumerism. You’ll be amazed at how your desire for things ebbs as you take the TV out of the picture. If you can’t bring yourself to kill the television, at least take steps to lessen its influence (get rid of cable, only use it for movies, put it on a cart that can be wheeled in and out of a closet, etc.) Throwing out the television will also stimulate your creativity.


Read the rest here

The Economies of Jesus

I don’t usually completely repost someones writings, but since JesusManifesto is down and might be so indefinitely, I figured Mark wouldn’t mind. But what’s written below is not mine, it’s all Mark Van Steenwyk:

A while back, I listed some alternative economic practices.  Here’s a summary of them (go here for more details).

  • Abolish the tithe…
  • Care for the poor in your midst…
  • Financial accountability groups…
  • Spend less than 50% of your church budget on staff, building, and office expenses…
  • Support local economies…
  • When buying “globally” buy fair trade…
  • Minimize waste, reclaim waste…
  • Share stuff…
  • Devote tax returns to the Kingdom, rather than to that “gotta have” luxury item…
  • Donate your best stuff, rather than your worst stuff…
  • If possible dump your car and use a combination of foot travel, bike travel, and public transit.

My co-conspirator Josh and I have started using Google docs more and
more for online collaboration.  It is a very synergistic way of
brainstorming-from-afar.  We use it for various ministry lists,
descriptions, and action plans.  And we recently came up with more
economic practices for Jesus followers:

  •  Whenever possible, foster a gift economy. 
    This goes beyond just sharing stuff.  Instead, it encourages people to
    give stuff without expectation.  For example, we have a weekly outdoor
    hospitality meal called the “Hospitality Train.”  We load up our bike
    trailers, go set up a solid meal, and feed ourselves, our friends, and
    strangers.  And we have encouraged folks to bring something to give
    away next time.  Our hope is that our free meal will help foster a gift
    culture.  We hope that, someday, a sort of Free Market will grow up
    around this economy.
  •  Christians should try to open source all of their intellectual property. 
    Instead of seeing our creations as our property, we should see it as
    belonging to the Body of Christ.  I believe that this is more faithful
    to our theology than assuming that we “need to work within the system.”
    We don’t anymore.  There are TONS of alternatives.  If you REALLY
    believed that your message is from God, then why should you make a
    profit off of it?  There is only one real challenge to this (and I
    believe it is a valid one): you’ll get a wider audience if you publish
    through the mainstream publishing companies or release music through a
    record label, etc.  In this case, we should feel free to use such
    methods, but always fight to make things available for free or cheap as
    we foster a better alternative.
  •  Garden with friends and share the bounty. 
  •  Supplement your gardening with Community Supported Agriculture.
  •  Share housing. Yep…I sound like a hippy.  In some
    places like San Francisco, housing is SO expensive that many
    conventional and normal people share housing in order to afford living
    in a home.  In Minneapolis, housing is cheaper, but it is still
    economically beneficial to share housing.  It frees up money for other
    things, fosters sharing of resources, encourages hospitality, and helps
    us live the way that most people in the world live (and the way folks
    in America lived before the 1940s).
  •  Start making and fixing more things yourself.  I
    grew up in rural Minnesota.  I grew up sucking at all those things that
    country kids were supposed to be good at: engine repair, agricultural
    skills, fixing stuff, building stuff, etc.  But compared to most of my
    friends who grew up in the suburbs or the city, I am a master among
    men! When you don’t know how to make stuff or fix stuff, you take
    things for granted.  And when you take your “things” for granted, you
    become wasteful and you begin to take your wealth for granted.  Don’t
    throw away that old chair, FIX IT.  Don’t throw away that rice
    maker…FIX IT.  Don’t throw away that bike, FIX IT! Don’t buy that
    Chinese food…MAKE IT YOURSELF.  Don’t go out and buy that $300
    bookshelf…MAKE ONE! Making bookshelves is the easiest thing in the
    world.  Trust me.
  •  If you can’t make it or fix it, buy it used. I
    know it looks crappier than something new.  But you’re spoiled and
    should deal with it.  Stop caring about shiny appearances and take some
    pride in the fact that your simpler living frees resources for better
    things.  
  •  Instead of investing in your future, invest in the futures of others through micro-financing. Liberating Waste
  •  Reclaim Christmas as a celebration of Christ, rather than a
    celebration of affluence.  Celebrate a “Buy Nothing Christmas” or give
    away stuff at Christmas. 

If you have some that you’d like to add, you can comment here or visit our Facebook group page.

Link: The Gentrification Shuffle

“Gentrification: The displacement of poor women and people of color. The raising of rents and eradification of a single, poor and working-class women from neighborhoods once considered unsavory by people who didn’t live there. The demolition of housing projects. A money-driven process in which landowners and developers push people (in this case, many of them single mothers) out of their homes without thinking about where they will go. Gentrification is a premeditated process in which an imaginary bleach is poured onto a community and the only remaining color left in that community is white…”
—Taigi Smith, “What Happens When Your Hood is the Last Stop on the White Flight Express?” from the anthology Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism.

Racialicious does a fascinating piece on gentrification which every person in any way connected with gentrification, whether your living in a gentrified, gentrifying, might be gentrified in the future neighborhood, or no someone who does, should read this piece.

Link: The Gentrification Shuffle.

Check out the Asides

Through out the week I post a lot more then the daily post you get in your feedreader or email. I post small posts called ‘asides‘ throughout the day. For now, you can only read the asides on the website, but they have a custom look so they are easy to recognize. I figured the best way to get you interested is to give you a little sneak peak of what types of things I’m posting. Below is the asides from the past week. If you find them interesting, then be sure to stop by throughout the week and check out the asides at Trying to Follow.

  • Sam sent me this link discussing how renting is better then buying a home. (1) #
  • Find out which Ten companies own almost all of the major media. (0) #
  • Jon Stewart on Art, particularly Pollack (0) #
  • “…ending poverty is essential to God’s mission in the world and our task as the people who participate in that mission. The fact that we carry on our ordinary lives consuming and participating in injustice must make God weep.” –Lucas (0) #
  • “Giving oneself and one’s possessions voluntarily for the well being of others and without compulsion is a Christian duty of which organ donation is a striking example,” the Church of England’s statement says. [via] (0) #
  • Here’s my short reply to Why Protest? (from my comment on Christy’s blog) We protest for two reasons: to stay true to our convictions by speaking them and to allow others to notice those values/convictions and possibly be compelled by them.
    1. Think of it like getting baptized, and outward expression of an inward commitment. Sometimes we need to protest not to change the world, but to keep the world from changing us. You can’t be neutral on a moving train, unless you are actively voicing your conscience, you are often passively agreeing with the majority.
    2. Regardless of how unlikely it seems, people do hear/see/notice you and other protesters. They’re response might not always be what you would like for it to be, but they do take note. Politicians take note of what the people think, polls, phone calls, letters, protest, etc. They might listen more to lobbyist, but they keep a careful eye on what the people think. I think it’s a credit to the many individual protesters who went out into the streets in the early years of the Iraq war that the general public was open to the idea of questioning the administration and war tactics. Protesting is simply taking a strong stance on something you believe strongly in and hope to compel others to believe in also.
    The truth is we protest all the time, it just takes different forms. We rant on our blogs, we critique in conversation, we choose not to shop certain places, we complain to customer service (apple maybe?), we march, call, write letters, lobby, we protest. It is not unusual, though in many ways it has become rather unoriginal. (0) #
  • “John Perkins has been saying lately that “we have over-evangelized the world too lightly.” He is remarking on the contrast between the reported religiosity of the U. S. in comparison with the lack of fruit in the form of compassion, justice, and reconciliation. He is pointing out that the so-called evangelistic fervor of modern churches has asked less and less of the convert. A mere momentary statement of desire to know God becomes enough to be deemed “saved” or “Christian.” He challenges evangelical and evangelistic churches to review the Great Commission, which says to go and make disciples through teaching and training in the ways of Jesus. What we have is Christian Lite, Church Lite, Jesus Lite.” –Mike Broadway (0) #
  • 7 Loving Challenges for Emergent, tips for white parents with adopted children of color, 5 Rules for listening to your spouse’s sermon, 10 Mistakes White People Make When Talking About Race. (0) #
  • How I feel during most ‘worship’ services. (0) #
  • The Anti-Advertising Agency pointed out these interesting ‘ad’ sites: LogoMotto and Ad Generator (0) #
  • What if we took all our money and possessions and gave them all to God & had to ask to use them. Would we spend money the same way? –Keane (0) #
  • Food Not Bombs is on trial in Orlando. For feeding People. (0) #
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church. [via] (0) #
  • This should be the first statement of any church. thanks, Daley. (0) #
  • Music: One problem of the church. (0) #