Article
Recently I was pointed towards an old article on the website of Harvard Divinity School, written by William T. Cavanaugh, associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the author of Being Consumed. The article is titled, Does Religion Cause Violence? It is essentially the short version of another of his books, The Myth of Religious Violence, Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict.
It is a wonderfully enlightening read. In it he writes, “The myth of religious violence helps create a blind spot about the violence of the putatively secular nation-state. We like to believe that the liberal state arose to make peace between warring religious factions. Today, the Western liberal state is charged with the burden of creating peace in the face of the cruel religious fanaticism of the Muslim world…. Their violence is religious, and therefore irrational and divisive. Our violence, on the other hand, is rational, peacemaking, and necessary. Regrettably, we find ourselves forced to bomb them into the higher rationality.”
hds.harvard.edu.
Bible?
The Stinque Zombie Bible (yep, you read that right!) is a unique option for the morose and just plain weird. In other words, it’s just crazy enough to catch my eye. The project is a collaborative work based on an online Bible that visitors to the site can edit. As they say on their home page: “If, like us, you’ve thought the Good News would be even better with zombies, here’s your opportunity to add some.” In short, people sign up to edit the King James text to include zombies and zombie scenarios. Warning: anyone can edit… so PG rated it is not. Unless you join and edit it into one!
zombie.stinque.com
Movie
Soul Surfer is a 2011 American-made and religiously-based drama based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton. At the young age of 13, real-life Bethany was attacked by a bull shark while surfing in Hawaii. The shark took her left arm off just below the shoulder. The movie is essentially a recap of Bethany’s own book about her faith, her loss and her lifelong dream to be a professional surfer.
The film version stars Anna Sophia Robb as Bethany, with Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as her parents. In a unique twist, this film doesn’t whitewash the faith away, with several scenes where the family worships in church, attends Bible studies and uses scripture verse to help drive the storyline. The movie is PG (because of the shark attack scene) and seems at times like it’s a sermon put to film. Watch it as a church, use it for a Bible study or just sit back with the family and enjoy a heartfelt, true story of faith.
sonypictures.com/homevideo/soulsurfer
Video
The Redneck Ten Commandments is a video posted on YouTube. I don’t know if it was really made up on the spot like it appears to be, but, it’s funny. In just two minutes, Josh Burrows gives a good and simple explanation for each of the Ten Commandments for all you rednecks out there. You might think the Second Commandment is, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” but Josh knows better. “Don’t be widdle’n on nutt’in” is his answer.
I could do ‘em all for ya’ll but I’d rather ya’ll look ‘em up fer ya’selves on that there computer box ya’ll got back at the house there.
YouTube.com.
Music
This band has been out for about eight years now and the next album isn’t going to be completed for some time, but the other day I stumbled upon the band BarlowGirl which was a favourite of mine some time ago.
BarlowGirl is an all-female Christian band out of Chicago that got its start at the mega-church, Willow Creek. It is comprised of three sisters. Their style is dependent upon the individual song but for the most part they are a three-part harmony group. At times that means they do soft and flowery ballads. At other times they do what could only be called Guitar Heaven Opera/Metal. Unfortunately, there are no Canadian tour dates this year but if there were,
I’d thrown down a few bucks to see the show.
YouTube.com.
