Christian Century:
An intellectually compelling look at our faith
subscribe to the Century
politics
Immigration, children, and the way of Jesus
Mon, 06/14/2010 - 10:37 — Debra Dean MurphyLast month, an encounter between Michelle Obama and a Latina child in a suburban Maryland school brought into sharp relief one of the most pressing issues surrounding U.S. immigration policy: the effect that the current broken system is having–and has had for a long time–on the young children of immigrants.
The second-grade girl seemed to want confirmation–or perhaps it was refutation–of something she’d heard her mother say: “Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers.” In typical miss-the-main-point fashion, the media focused more on the First Lady’s response (she handled the awkward situation admirably) than on the heartbreaking reality exposed by this little girl’s question.
For several months I helped teach Sunday School and provide child care in a small Latino congregation in North Carolina.... READ MORE.
The theology of Watchmen
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 09:06 — Matt ShaferI went to see Watchmen last night, having read the comic book graphic novel some months back. The novel is a work of art; it’s richly interlayered, accomplishing literary effects and conveying subtleties of meaning that are impossible in straight prose. It was of course impossible for the movie to live up the original, but the film nevertheless was well done. And incidentally, though many fanboys will protest over the film’s changed ending, I thought it made the finale stronger.
Like any narrative of artistic merit, Watchmen, as both film and graphic novel, raises profound theological questions. Lengthy papers could be written on the “Theology of Watchmen“, but this post will seek merely to briefly consider and draw attention to a few of the issues the story raises.... READ MORE.
James Dobson misrepresents Barack Obama’s views on religion
Wed, 07/02/2008 - 08:27 — Drew SmithThis past week, Dr. James Dobson, Founder of Focus on the Family, used his organization’s radio broadcast to criticize a speech on religion and politics given by presidential candidate Barack Obama two years ago. Before commenting on Dobson’s remarks about Obama’s speech, I must admit that I stopped paying attention to Dobson a long time ago. While I had been introduced to him when I grew up in a fundamentalist church, a church that took every word he said as “gospel truth”, I came to find his rhetoric often divisive, unreasonable and unhelpful for making real contributions to the common good.
Yet this past week, when I learned of his criticism of Obama’s speech, I took a few minutes to listen to Dobson’s program and to re-read Obama’s speech. On the broadcast, Dobson and Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family’s Vice President of Public Policy, played snippets of Obama’s speech on religion and offered their observations. What is interesting is that Obama made this speech in June of 2006 and Dobson is just now publicly commenting on the address. What drew Dobson to make his remarks, however, is even more interesting.
Obama referenced Dobson’s name in his speech along with making mention of Rev. Al Sharpton in the same context. Obama referred to the two religious leaders as a way of demonstrating the diversity within the Christian faith in America. Dobson and Minnery, however, accused Obama of attacking Dobson, even suggesting that Obama equated Dobson with racial bigotry. Yet, no common sense person who reads or hears the speech would understand Obama’s mention of Dobson as disparaging of him. Obama does not come close to attacking Dobson.
