Book Recommendation

Calling all Page Six people!!!

You should check out Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran. Even though being women under a fundamentalist Islamic regime is a far cry from having an incredible professor ousted from a Christian college/university in the States, the book really resonated with me and my experience with the Page Six movement.

And while I'm recommending books, does anyone else have reading recommendations????

The DaVinci Code--Fact, Fiction, Faith

Is anyone else totally annoyed by The DaVinci Code? Not the book in and of itself, but the hoopla surrounding it???? I almost feel physically ill every time I drive past a church with a sign for some kind of DaVinci Code seminar [like the title of this post], hear a preacher denouncing the book on the radio, or read a newpaper article where a pastor claims that The DaVinci Code is a dangerous book and warns Christians against going to see the movie.

The question is why the religious community is in such an uproar over this. This is not the first time anyone has ever suggested that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married or that the Catholic church has some skeletons in the closet. Hello---Holy Blood, Holy Grail wasn't published any more than 30 years ago and it caused a stir in its own day!!! Why does the church act like this best-selling work of fiction is the greatest apologetic crisis facing Christendom??? This either a testament to the faith of modern [or postmodern, whatever] believers or a horrifying sign of their ignorance and incapacity for independent thought or research. Whether this ignorance is real or just perceived by the clergy is another discussion entirely. If you want to comment on this, feel free. I'd love to hear what you had to say.

As far as I can tell, though, The DaVinci Code is the perfect strawman for the church. On one side of the ring, we have a best-selling work of fiction that many Christians have probably not bothered to read because of its inflammatory ideas. On the other side we have the irrefutable, divinely inspired Word of God. Is there really any contest? How hard is it to convince people that what they already believe is true?

People with genuine questions are going to be those who doubt that the Bible contains an unbiased, literal, factually accurate, historical account of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a much bigger problem that can't easily be countered with a few proof texts or a copy of Josh MacDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Just a guess, but these people probably don't run to churches for their answers to life's questions.

Still, what amazes me the most is that in a time when Africa is being ravaged by AIDS, there's genocide in the Sudan, poor disaster management reveals the economic and racial disparities that still exist in the US, militant Muslims have waged a terrorist war on anything and everything that represents Western life and culture, and we're beginning to feel the strain that we've put on Earth's natural resources, this is what the church chooses to spin its wheels about. I suppose that the problem of evil and events and actions that affect our daily lives can take a backseat to fictional works from time to time.

No big deal.

Immigration Reform

So I was in the car yesterday, listening to The Soundtrack of Our Lives. To be more specific, I was listening to Neil Diamond and recalling Andy Senter flying through the air. This made me think of one of my favorite poems. Emma Lazarus didn't write much, but this is a gem.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The poem made me think of the protests going on in major cities. Is there still a golden door? Do we really believe in "world-wide welcome"? Are illegal immigrants any less exiles than the rest of us?

I don't necessarily think that it is right that they came to our country illegally, but I can't blame these immigrants for coming all the same.