By Steve
Monday February 1, 2010
- The Hitchens Transcript: The complete interview between the renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens and Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell. Here is the most interesting section.
Maryiln Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make and [sic] distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion? Christopher Hitchens: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian. (Portland Monthly)
- Secret skin: An essay in unitard theory by Michael Chabon (New Yorker)
- Willie Mitchell, soul music and Al Green producer, dies at 81 (NY Times)
- Jack White to produce next Wanda Jackson album: The White Stripes frontman is to collaborate with the ‘Queen of Rockabilly’ and former girlfriend of Elvis Presley (Guardian)
- DeMille on rights, liberty, and the right to work by S. T. Karnick (The American Culture)
- Elvis never leaves Brooklyn barbershop where clients can’t help falling in love with King’s haircut (Daily News)
- Brains can’t handle all our Facebook friends (Telegraph)
- Coffee breaks and screen breaks aid memory: Taking a break after learning something you remember it, scientists claim. (Telegraph)
- Forget Jenny Craig. Hit the drive-thru. (NY Times)
- The lessons of Lady Gaga: With digital dominance, business savvy, a niche-busting sound and 1,001 wardrobe changes, she is a new model for success (Wall Street Journal)
- New Orleans Saints’ long strange journey from laughingstock to toast of the NFL (Daily News)
- ‘Narnia’ drifts from its vision by Julia Duin (Washington Times)
- ‘Disneyland for the Spirit World’: New documentary puts the lens on demon possession in various parts of the globe by Mark Moring (Christianity Today)
- An audience with Brian Eno: “I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant. Ultimately, the message of gospel music is that everything’s going to be all right. If you listen to millions of gospel records – and I have – and try to distil what they all have in common it’s a sense that somehow we can triumph. There could be many thousands of things. But the message… well , there are two messages… one is a kind of optimism for the future rather than a pessimism. Gospel music is never pessimistic, it’s never ‘oh my god, its all going down the tubes’, like the blues often is. Gospel music is always about the possibility of transcendence, of things getting better. It’s also about the loss of ego, that you will win through or get over things by losing yourself, becoming part of something better. Both those messages are completely universal and are nothing to do with religion or a particular religion. They’re to do with basic human attitudes and you can have that attitude and therefore sing gospel even if you are not religious.” (Guardian)
- McCarey’s ‘My Son John’ by S.T. Karnick (The American Culture)
- Devo to play 2010 Winter Olympic Games: And release their first studio album in 20 years… (Gigwise)
- In the midst of Haiti’s tragedy, faith — and questions by Kristin Butler (Crosswalk)
- Salinger’s genius: He was the great poet of post-traumatic stress. His characters look at the world, at the implacable surface of post-war affluence, and cannot believe no body else sees the cracks veining slowly through it. What will pierce the surface of things? Jesus? The Bodhisatva? Psychosis? He never said by Stephen Metcalf (Slate)
- Invented the Bat Mitzvah, rejected a supernatural God: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and his Reconstructionist ideas. (Wall Street Journal)
- Unhappy hipsters: It’s lonely in the modern world (Unhappy Hipsters)
- 10 Food Tattoos (Daily Fork)
- Tim Tebow: An inconvenient life (Salvo)
- Great chat with Guy Fieri (Bulls-Eye)
- Switchfoot: Taking their fate into their own hands (NZ Herald)
- Dave Matthews, Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers lead Neil Young tribute (Spinner)
- Sports fanatics: How Christians have succumbed to the sports culture—and what might be done about it by Shirl James Hoffman (Christianity Today)
- I love the iPad: Apple’s new tablet is the computer I’ve always wanted by Farhad Manjoo (Slate)
- In 1970, a 43-year-old George Blanda became the Raiders’ comeback kid (NY Times)
- Flyleaf guitarist no fan of ‘Christian rock’ label by Rich Copley (Herald-Leader)
- Eco-spirituality: Perhaps the Vatican should be worried about nature worship. The Catholic Church was offended by the green spirituality of Avatar, but the movie reflects a real-world shift to nature-based religions (Globe and Mail)
- Young activists adding fuel to antiabortion side (Washington Post)
- Why some Americans mix Christianity, Eastern religions. Worshipers are borrowing from Eastern religions and New Age beliefs. Open-mindedness or a dilution of faith traditions? (CS Monitor)
- Senate Chaplain: Religious leader for secular flock (NPR)
- Faith strong among scientists by David Masci (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Firm to remove Bible references from gun sights (NY Times)
- Honoring God in everyday life: In recording his prayers, resolutions, and daily events, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) left behind an encouragement to us to live a disciplined Christian life in the midst of our ordinary routine. Collected and introduced by Leland Ryken (Christianity History)
- Paramore’s Hayley Williams joins Weezer on stage for ‘Say It Ain’t So’ (MTV)
- Rule of thumbs: Koreans reign in texting world (NY Times)
- Are you a pristine pillow or an unmade bed? (New English Review)
- James Cameron’s “Avatar” becomes the highest-grossing film worldwide (Art Knowledge News)
- A collision of Church and State: Frederick Brown’s “For the Soul of France” examines the decades-long turmoil that engulfed the French in the 19th century as religion and politics battled for social supremacy. Michel Gurfinkiel reviews. (Wall Street Journal)
- Peaceful coexistence of science and faith: Interview with NIH Director Francis Collins by Jeannie Choi (Sojourners)
- ‘Catcher In The Rye’ author J.D. Salinger dies at 91 (NPR)
- The right has ‘Avatar’ wrong: Forget its left-wing themes. At its core, the movie is about defending property rights — something conservatives should embrace by David Boaz (LA Times)
- Flyleaf members keep faith in sight while navigating the rock waters (Courier Press)
- ‘Dollhouse’: Eliza Dushku on the dollhouse closing its doors (LA Times)
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