iolation of "Church and State"?
UPI reports that the widow of the Piedmont, S.C. preacher, E.E. Wood filed suit against the county in April, alleging that it was the
government's negligence that allowed a dead tree to fall on her husband and kill him in 1991. The government responded that the tree falling was an "act of God."
This appears to represent some progress anyway. Usually the civil government claims to be God.
Dobson's Anarchism?
James Dobson's Focus on the
Family magazine recently published its confession of faith, part of which reads, "We believe that God ordained
only two institutions: the family and the church . . . Neither is to replace the other, though each is called to reach out to the world."
Now that's deficit reduction (unknowingly?). This statement suggests that we get the whole civil gummint down to zero.
The Research god Strikes Again
Parents Baby Care magazine, the prestigious Pampers and Luvs diaper publication, has finally provided a scientific bit o' wisdom for
child-rearing: "Research has convincingly demonstrated that using the "rod" creates children who are not more obedient but who are instead simply more
angry and aggressive than other kids. Parents who routinely strike their children are actually handing them a model of violence to imitate -- and
many do indeed grow to be abusive, some even murderously so."
Actually, we are trying to give our kids "a model of violence" for them to imitate -- so that they, when
their kids are stinkers, know how to administer
biblical paddywhonkings.
Speaking of Nonviolence . . .
The Associated Press reports that Ted Turner, "accompanied by his wife, actress Jane Fonda, advised the House Energy and
Commerce telecommunications subcommittee not to let up on its campaign against TV violence. `Unless you keep the gun pointed at their heads, all
you'll get is mumbly, mealy mouthed, BS,' he said. `Parents can push a simple little button and get the garbage out of their homes. If it's not
done voluntarily, Congress should act and ram it down their [the TV industry's] throats.'"
And we think Ted Turner was not spanked hard enough as a child.
More Child-Rearing Gems
The University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Newsletter contains this prolegomenon to their advice about the problem of children
who lie. "We have searched and searched and can't find a single adult who never told a lie as a child. Actually, we can't find any adults who never
lie now . . ."
But maybe they are lying to us now. Maybe they didn't really search and search.
Ye Shall be as God, Having High Self-Esteem . . .
Someone recently shared a pamphlet with us, the title of which says it all. It is called Believing in Your Own Inner Goodness, and was distributed at what used to be a Presbyterian church. One of the pearls from the pit contained therein was this one. "You need to claim your inner treasure, your God-ness."
Good News on the Free Enterprise Front
Do you have trouble sharing your faith at the beach? Do you have difficulty striking up conversations? Now you can solve that problem by
ordering a "Messiah Beach Buddy" -- a clever "twist-off container to hide valuables for waterproof safekeeping." It is on sale for only 99 cents.
You can also put any talents the Lord gave you into this thing, and bury it in the sand!
How Green Was My Ad
An "elder" of the envionmental movement, David Brower, recently took out a full-page ad in
The New York Times, headlined "Economics is a
Form of Brain Damage." The screed was addressed to President Clinton, and took the usual Chicken Little approach -- with the interesting twist of
an attack on traditional economics. So among other things, his green jerimiad contained this -- "conventional economic advice has brought
humanity to the edge of a precipice. Before we take another step . . ."
We are not trying to be difficult, but refusing to step over a precipice is conventional economics.
Patronizing Leadership
The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently took a survey and discovered that one in five lifelong Southerners still believes that the South should be its own nation.
Even more interesting, the poll also showed that twenty-seven percent of black Southerners "lean toward Southern independence."
Columnist Lewis Grizzard noted that in regard to the latter, "the Rev. Joseph Lowery of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
said he didn't think blacks understood the question."
The problem is that Lowery understands the question all too well.
