MissionalCOG has posted a video clip from a recent conference for emerging leaders by Dr. Raymond Culpepper, First Assistant General Overseer of the Church of God. I think that Dr. Culpepper is absolutely correct. Hopefully Leonard Sweet (whom he quotes) will touch on issues like this when he comes to the General Assembly in August. …
Barack Obama: Beyond American Political Grasp
The more I watch Barack Obama's campaign, the more I'm coming to realise that the basic problem that his opponents have is that he is beyond the normal "rules" of American politics. Let's start with the Jeremiah Wright business: people go back and forth on his video clips as to whether they're representative of his …
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Is It Possible for the “Haves” and “Have-Nots” to go to Church Together?
Steve Wright has posed an interesting question on MissionalCOG: can the "haves" and "have-nots" get together at church? And, of more import to him, can they do so at his new church? IMHO, the class stratification of American Protestant and Evangelical Christianity is one of the sorriest aspects of what has been otherwise represented as …
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Jesus: Beyond the Sting of Satan
From the hadith: Al Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 506: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "When any human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead." …
Red Light Running Cameras: Would Crashes, Injuries and Automobile Insurance Rates Increase If They Are Used in Florida?
I usually post stuff like this on my companion site vulcanhammer.net or vulcanhammer.info, but I cannot resist this here. The abstract (summary) of this paper is below; click here to download the whole thing. Running a red light can cause severe traffic crashes especially when one vehicle runs into the side of another. Red light …
Book Review: Velvet Elvis
There seems to be a growing dissatisfaction in the way American Evangelical churches are going these days, and there is emerging a group of spokesmen for this feeling. I've taken a look at the likes of Leonard Sweet and Brian McLaren, but another one of those who is looking for a new way of doing …
Just When The Democrats Thought It Was Safe…
New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is linked to a prostitution ring: Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved. But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the …
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Mike McManus and Successful Marriages
One frequent contributor to Virtue Online is Mike McManus, whose best known efforts are at saving marriages. He was featured on the 7 March 2008 700 Club, and that segment is this week's (delayed) podcast.
Underestimating the Clintons is a Dangerous Game
Johnathan Chait's piece in the New Republic is correct in showing how Hillary Clinton could win the Democrat nomination: Clinton's path to the nomination, then, involves the following steps: kneecap an eloquent, inspiring, reform-minded young leader who happens to be the first serious African American presidential candidate (meanwhile cementing her own reputation for Nixonian ruthlessness) …
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Californians for Home Schooling: Take a Cue From the French
The action by a court in the People's Republic of California threatening the end of home schooling there can be fought. Just take a cue from the French, as I noted last month: One of the Englishmen (whom I was having dinner with) noted that one reason the US is "behind" with cameras is that …
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Positive Infinity 