Steve Thorngate
"The All-Organ-Blast-N-Make-Younger-Machine"
This video from American Public Media's Marketplace isn't the
funniest Dr. Seuss ripoff ever, but it does accomplish the unlikely feat of
...
What's a godparent?
I didn't refer to my godson as my godson until I heard one of his parents do it first. They asked me to be a baptismal sponsor but didn't use godparenting language at first, so I wasn't sure what name(s) they were giving the relationship. I was glad when, just before the baptism, the baby's mother said to him, "These are your godparents!" It's pretty awkward calling a kid your "baptismal sponsee." Really drains the cute right out of the moment.
More on Savage and monogamy
Our August 23 cover story on monogamy and Dan Savage has
gotten a lot of feedback, both positive and negative. Benjamin Dueholm offers a
nuanced take on the ways the popular sex columnist is beating pastors at their
own game--and the ways Savage's ethical worldview falls short. Some readers
seem too stuck on the first point--"the Christian
Century believes we should be instructed by an advice columnist," crows Joe Carter at First Things--to hear Dueholm out on the second.
What kind of "growing movement"?
The LA Times has an interesting article
about evangelical pastors' involvement in political mobilization. Tom Hamburger
and Matea Gold don't do enough to prove their now-more-than-ever hook--that
pastors whipping votes in Iowa and elsewhere are "part of a growing movement of
evangelical pastors who are jumping into the electoral fray as never
before"--but it's still an important story to follow as we slog through yet
another election season in which the religious right is still not dead.
Will our 15 percent poor country get a jobs bill?
The new poverty numbers came out today, and they aren't pretty. The Census Bureau reports that more than 15 percent of Americans are living in poverty--a number that's gone up for three consecutive years and is the highest it's been since 1959.
9/11 in the Century archives
We recently asked five Century contributors to reflect on the 9/11 attacks and the decade that followed. Century subscribers can also read the following highlights from our coverage in the weeks following the attacks.
A banner weekend for civil religion
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning ceremonies for the 9/11 anniversary without the participation of clergy. Jay Sekulow et al. think this is an attack on religion. Jim Wallis et al. are criticizing both sides of this debate and also calling for less criticism of others, or something like that.
Wal-Marting Wal-Mart
With consumers focused on thrift, the Dollar Palace is to Wal-Mart what Wal-Mart once was to Sears: the bargain alternative for folks with less to spend.