Morning Reading 09.26.08 - Bailout, Shmailout

Brooks - reviving the "Text or Context" conversation - money quote - "...what disappoints me about the McCain campaign is it has no central argument. I had hoped that he would create a grand narrative explaining how the United States is fundamentally unprepared for the 21st century and how McCain’s worldview is different."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/opinion/26brooks.html?th&emc=th

Peggy Noonan piles on:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122237691191376341.html

Going green is never easy - (YOJ, notice the rec on shower length):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122238422541876879.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

Best movie reviewer out there - every Friday - Joe Morgenstern:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122238344981876805.html

Another sign of the Apocalypse - McGangsta:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnRDS41TT3Iy0z4ISL2-0fOVA8pQD93DOTSG2

This just sounds like a really bad idea:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26preach.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

And in response, I post the wise words of John Yates II, rector of The Falls Church written to his Virginia congregation Sept 14:

"There is a movement afoot to recruit pastors next Sunday to 'preach politics.' The Alliance Defense Fund wants to challenge an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code, dating back to 1954, which says non-profit, tax-exempt entities (including churches) may not 'participate in, or intervene in ... any political campaign behalf of any political candidate.' It is hoped that, in their sermons next week, pastors will not only evaluate the current political situation and what sorts of candidates are desirable according to Scripture, but will also deal with specific elections and candidates, with specific recommendations about whom to support. That would, of course, violate the law.

"Over the years our policy here has been never to analyze individual candidates or to speak directly about political issues from the pulpit or in any other public forum. Candidates have visited us and attended worship, but we have refrained from singling them out in any way. I've always felt that our membership is extraordinarily well-informed on political matters and needs little encouragement from me to participate fully in the electoral process.

"But this law has always troubled me. I'm skeptical about the government's authority to dictate to the church in this way. There is a cultural elitism in America that would like to keep religion privately comforting but publicly irrelevant! But if our biblical faith does not inform and shape our thinking on public policy and guide us in whom to vote for, we are simply failing in our responsibility as followers of Christ. We won't always agree with one another, but it is unthinkable that followers of Christ wouldn't evaluate candidates policies in light of the Word of God. I don't plan to break the law next Sunday. But I could envision a time arising when I would feel that I would be disobeying God not to speak to you about some political issue or election."