Beers, Aliens, and Purple Hazes

Sorry that I haven’t updated the blog in a while. I’ve been busy with work and family outings (trying to get in some final summer activities before the kids return to school). To be honest, most of my blogging energy is being used up over at UrbanFaith.com, which I’d like to encourage you to visit and bookmark, if you’re not familiar with it already. UrbanFaith is an online magazine that I work on as part of my day job at Urban Ministries, Inc. Here are a few of the interesting items we’ve posted recently:

• Redeeming a “Teachable Moment.”  This one goes beyond the beer summit to try and get at the real lessons from the Henry Louis Gates arrest and the subsequent racialized fiasco. We solicited commentary from seven Christian scholars and pastors, including William Pannell, Cheryl Sanders, Glenn Loury, Curtiss DeYoung, Art Lucero, Vashti Murphy McKenzie, and Tali Hairston. Pannell and Loury, especially, offer a trenchant analysis of President Obama’s handling (or mishandling) of the matter. The topic’s a bit dated now, but please check it out and let us hear your feedback.

• Justice or Socialist?  The legendary Christian reconciler and activist John M. Perkins shares insights on pursuing biblical justice without letting our politics, ideology, or suspicions get in the way. Very relevant in light of the current health-care debate.

• How to Handle Panhandlers.  Should we give without constraint, or does God want us to be more discriminating. My friend Arloa Sutter allowed us to adapt this one from her blog. This one will always be a timely issue for us to wrestle with.

• Aliens vs. Racism.  A review of the new film District 9, which isn’t your typical UFO flick. For starters, it’s set in South Africa. Plus, the human heart turns out to be a lot more frightening than the ugly extraterrestrials.

• Three Days in 1969.  Remembering Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix, and our continuing search for peace and love. If you’re a fan of Hendrix or the Woodstock era, you’ll want to check this one out.

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Making Sense of the Gaza Conflict

I’ll admit that I’m a bit slow in understanding all the details of the current Israeli-Gaza conflict that’s tearing apart the Middle East and causing the deaths of countless innocent men, women, and children. I know the bloody history and understand that Israel must defend itself. And what’s more, as an American evangelical, I know the expected response is for us to automatically side with Israel. But, as always, there’s more than one side to the story. And in this case, people who have nothing to do with the central conflict have become the primary victims of the violence. So, as Christians, how are we to think about this thing?

I’m serious about that last question. I’d really like to hear from you regarding your thoughts on this issue. If there are articles, books, blog posts, etc. that have been particularly helpful to you in sorting out this issue, please share your recommendations here. I, for one, need to brush up on the history and its relationship to the present crisis. For instance, I found the perspective in this op-ed from Wednesday’s New York Times to be very informative.

For you strong supporters of Israel out there, please don’t take this post the wrong way. I’m not anti-Israel; I’m genuinely trying to make sense of this thing. So, I look forward to your suggestions for resources.

In many ways, I feel like Glenn Loury in this Bloggingheads.tv clip—shocked, saddened, exasperated. I know how I feel, but how should I be thinking? And, more important, how exactly should we be praying for peace in this situation?

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Et Tu, Democrats?

From a new Associated Press report:

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them “lazy,” “violent,” responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He’s an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation’s oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

Read the full article here. Also, Glenn Loury and John McWhorter continue their engrossing conversation about the election over at Bloggingheads.tv. These two scholars continue to offer some of the most intelligent, balanced, and unpredictable commentary on the political and social implications of the presidential race.

Update, Sept. 21: “The Race Discussion Obama Didn’t Want,” Politico.com’s analysis of the AP-Yahoo poll.

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