I found this vocabulary list from my senior year in high school (2/94). I still use some of these words today.
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Vocabulary List #1
acuiesce:
agree or consent without complaint
burgeon:
bud; develop rapidly
circuitous:
roundabout, indirect
deleterious:
harmful or injurious
ephemeral:
short lived; transient
frenetic:
frenzied
inexorable:
relentless
loquacious:
talkative
maladroit:
clumsy, awkward
propitiate:
appease, gain favor of
Dogville, starring Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany (A Knight's Tale, A Beuatiful Mind, Master and Commander), is absolutely the best theatrical presentation of the gospel I have ever seen. That is besides, of course, actual presentations of the gospel and Les Miserables. Okay, so it's at least up there. This may be my new favorite movie (at least up there). To adequately give this movie the review and contemplation it deserves would require many thousands of words.
I am not sure the intentions of the writer in this movie (frankly, he is new to me) but it seems to be a deft parable illustrating the condition of man and the offer of grace. Sadly, it shows what happens when people deny they need grace and rather use grace to feed their own pleasure.
The stylizing of this movie is quite provocative. And if you haven't seen it, I'll let you be surprised. For I am afraid that in the telling you'd be deterred from watching this masterful story. It is enough to say that this movie is told uniquely and appropriately in a way that is totally engaging and underlines the themes of the parable.
That is not to mention the amazingly well-done performances given by everyone in the cast. Every character has depth and is illuminating. And even the kids (with lines) deliver convincing, realistic and weighty performances.
A word of warning: This movie has a few non-gratuitous, yet somewhat graphic scenes. This, together with the subject matter, earns it's R rating.
out of 5 smiley faces
I was flipping channels and came across Paula Zahn's show and a report about a marginalized and ostracized chaplain at the Air Force Academy. So I went online to learn more. Here's what I found. My comments appear in bold italics.
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From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, May 5, 2005 Posted: 12:17 PM EDT (1617 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it will appoint a task force to investigate allegations of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy.
Among the items to be reviewed will be Air Force policy and guidance concerning religious respect and tolerance at the academy, said acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael Dominguez.
Some 55 complaints of religious discrimination have been filed going back to 2001, prompting school officials to require that all 9,000 cadets and faculty and staff members take a 50-minute course on religious sensitivity, academy officials said.
In addition, a report last week by a Washington-based religious liberty group accused cadets and staff members of creating a climate that discriminated against non-Christians at the academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
That’s a new one. I wonder how we should fix that problem.
"We have concluded that both the specific violations and the promotion of a culture of official religious intolerance are pervasive, systematic and evident at the very highest levels of the academy's command structure," said the report from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
I’m sorry, but AU is not a “religious liberty” group.
The group, which according to its Web site is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization founded in 1947 to defend the principle of religious freedom, said its investigation and report were based on "numerous complaints from a variety of sources."
WOW! Check out that biased reporting. Now do you really think that the parenthetical clause describing the organization was necessary? Already, the “reporter” is painting the AU as the good guys, and characterizing an average of 11 complaints out of 9000 people a year as widespread.
Among the allegations are that cadets are frequently pressured to attend chapel and take religious instruction, particularly in the evangelical Christian faith; that prayer is a part of mandatory events at the academy; and that in at least one case a teacher ordered students to pray before beginning their final examination.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that non-Christians could actually respect our right to pray without having to join in, instead of revoking our rights for their appeasement?
The report said it found that non-Christian cadets are subjected to "proselytization or religious harassment" by more senior cadets; and that cadets of other religions are subject to discrimination, such as being denied passes off-campus to attend religious services.
Proselytizing and harassment are pretty emotionally and politically charged words. What do they mean by that? Would me talking about my faith and suggesting someone come to chapel with me count? If so, can’t one just say no without going and telling the colonel on me?
The report said that in at least two cases "highly qualified individuals were dissuaded from attending the academy ... after learning of the official culture of religious intolerance and hostility toward those who do not subscribe to and practice evangelical Christianity.
"When the Air Force is denied the service of the country's best and brightest young people because they feel excluded from the academy by religious intolerance, the armed forces and the nation as a whole are weakened," the report said.
Here, here!
The Air Force said its investigating task force will comprise Air Force officials, including a representative of the general counsel's office and a chaplain. The team is expected to report to the academy in about a week.
The task force is expected to examine academy commanders who may "enhance or detract from a climate that respects both the free exercise of religion and the establishment clauses of the First Amendment," according to an Air Force statement.
The investigation follows a sexual assault scandal that rocked the academy in 2003.
Hold on! Don’t you dare start putting evangelization on par with sexual assault! Why even bring that up but to negatively characterize evangelism.
More than 90 percent of the academy's students identify themselves as Christians, with 60 percent saying they were Protestant and 30 percent Catholic.
Excuse me, but this might help explain the prevalent positive attitude towards participation in Christianity.
About 1 percent are Jewish and the rest is made up of Hindus and Buddhists, among others, according to academy officials.
Complaints ranging from anti-Semitic slurs to teachers preaching in class were mounting with the school's chaplain last summer, according to school officials.
If there are slurs they must be dealt with. It is inevitable to come across some ignorant and immature cadets, but they should be dealt with individually. I’m sorry, but if these cadets found themselves in an university rather than the academy, they would be listening to their professors preach about things they didn’t want to hear there too.
In one case, students promoted the Mel Gibson movie "Passion of the Christ" by plastering hundreds of movie posters in the cafeteria.
Oh the horror!
Students also used their school e-mail accounts to promote the movie, prompting the superintendent of the school, Lt. Gen. John Rosa, to clarify that students could not use government e-mail to promote their religion.
In another instance, the commandant of the academy, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, a born-again-Christian, drew fire from at least one student who said the general put God in front of the Constitution in a speech to students.
Can we be a little pettier, please.
The student who filed the complaint noted that as a member of the military one first swears allegiance to the Constitution and then to God.
That’s right, “God and country” is the boy scouts.
An academy official said Weida's messages must now be approved by Rosa and other commanders.
But he’s the commandant!
Officials said none of the complaints appeared to have involved physical attacks and none were reported at the time they occurred.
So, none of the supposed incidents were a big enough deal to report immediately. If I were a speculating man I’d say that some of the non-Christians (who most probably hang out together) got tired of the Christians always talking to them about what they believe and decided to band together to complain.
Officials said most of the incidents were either verbal or actions that insulted another religion.
Come on this kind of stuff happens on the school playground. I can’t go out in public anymore and not have religion insulted. What makes them so special?
None of the complaints involved broken laws or violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but officials said that several students have been counseled for their actions.
Then why an investigation? Why such a big news story in the New York Times and on CNN?
No punishments have been handed down for religious intolerance issues, but one case is being investigated by the Air Force inspector general and they could not comment on it, academy officials said.
The Air Force has said that a survey of cadets in 2004 uncovered "perceptions of religious bias."
Of the more than 3,500 cadets who responded, more than 50 percent agreed that religious slurs and jokes are used.
Conversely, just fewer than 50 percent reported they "never" heard demeaning comments.
This is the freakin’ military. I’d expect much worse.
Nearly 50 percent of non-Christian cadets surveyed said classmates have a low tolerance for those who do not "follow a religion" or "believe in a divine being."
Maybe “low tolerance” can be read “incredulity.”
On Fox New’s The Big Story with Jon Gibson, the bias went the other way, asking “are secularists trying to silence people of faith.”
Religious Intolerance in the Military?
RICHARD THOMPSON, PRESIDENT, THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER:
First of all, the organization that has been most vocal in this area, Americans United For Separation of Church and State, they're basically an anti-Christian organization. And they're looking at a complaint ratio of 55 complaints over four years, where there have been 36,000 cadets and military people going through that academy, where you have a percentage of .0015. And so, this is really a tempest in a teapot. And what they're trying to do is trumpet their agenda to detract from the Christians that are there.
Finally, some perspective.
There are some vague allegations made that there is a culture there of Christianity. Of course, 90 percent of the cadets there are Christians. And cadets who are Christians talk and try to evangelize. But that is cadet-upon-cadet speech. That is not a command structure that is involved in there. You have really great regulations that the military has on religious freedom and religious tolerance.
And so, what you have here is not a legal issue. It's more of a leadership issue, if there are some specific incidents where there has been intolerance shown.
First of all, we are not talking about students in kindergarten or high school students. We're talking about military personnel. They certainly don't have to say a prayer even if there is a prayer, let's say, before meals. They can stand quietly. They don't have to engage in prayer at all. I think it's really, again, a red herring that is really being drawn into the public arena because of the agenda of Americans United For Separation of Church and State.
AP adds some details:
Air Force Cadets Complain of Religious Harassment
The superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Rosa, conceded there was a problem during a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors, the civilian group that oversees the academy.
"The problem is people have been across the line for so many years when you try and come back in bounds, people get offended," he said.
The board chairman, former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, warned Rosa that changing things could prove complicated. He said evangelical Christians "do not check their religion at the door."
Why should anyone have to?
Other critics point to a series of incidents, including:
—The Air Force is investigating a complaint from an atheist cadet who says the school is "systematically biased against any cadet that does not overtly espouse Christianity."
—The official academy newspaper runs a Christmas ad every year praising Jesus and declaring him the only savior. Some 200 academy staff members, including some department heads, signed it. Whittington noted the ad was not published last December.
— The academy commandant, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, a born-again Christian, said in a statement to cadets in June 2003 that their first responsibility is to their God. He also strongly endorsed National Prayer Day that year. School spokesman Johnny Whitaker said Weida now runs his messages by several other commanders.
— Some officer commission ceremonies were held at off-campus churches. In a letter dated April 6, Weida said the ceremonies would be held on campus from now on.
Rosa and other academy leaders say some among the large number of Christian cadets — nearly 2,600 are Protestant and some 1,300 are Roman Catholic — may not realize that evangelism is unwelcome among their fellow students. The rest of the corps includes 121 Mormons, 44 Jews, 19 Buddhists and a few Muslims, Hindus and others. There are 15 chaplains and one rabbi.
Rosa himself intervened when Christian cadets began promoting "The Passion," Mel Gibson's movie about the crucifixion of Christ. He told cadets they should not use government e-mail or other facilities to promote their personal agendas.
USA Today reports it this way:
Academy critic says she was fired
By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
In a two-page memo last July, [chaplain, Capt. Melinda] Morton and Yale Divinity School professor Kristen Leslie summarized the findings of a weeklong visit to cadet basic training. Academy officials had invited Leslie and six Yale graduate students to observe how the chaplains minister to the cadets.The Yale team complimented the chaplains for "talent and enthusiasm" in serving new cadets during the grueling, six-week boot camp before their freshman year. But the memo also raised concerns about the "stridently evangelical themes" at a worship service attended by 600 new cadets.
That sounds voluntary to me.
Leslie reported that an academy chaplain urged cadets to pray for those who didn't attend, to try to convert them and "remind them of the consequences ... (that) those not 'born again will burn in the fires of hell.' "
That sounds compassionate to me.
"When we saw this kind of predominant, pervasive evangelical conservative Christian message putting itself forward as pastoral care, we noted it," Leslie said in an interview.
This is a comment by a Lutheran chaplain who, apparently, has never read the Bible. If she had she probably would have recognized that message from the New Testament.
Whitaker told The Gazette of Colorado Springs last month that several other chaplains have denied the team's depiction of that service, because no one said anything about burning "in the fires of hell."
"I can't find anybody who said they said what was quoted in (the Yale report)," Whitaker told the newspaper.
Morton said, "The issue is the environment that we the adults are creating ... in which we set the tone that evangelicalism is the official religion of the Air Force Academy."
I’ve been to the Air Force Academy. The most prominent and beautiful structure there is the chapel. Why would they have built that there if not to express the faith of many of its officers?
Americans United lay some of the blame on evangelical Christian groups in Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city. Across Interstate 25 from the academy are such groups as Focus on the Family, the International Bible Society and New Life Church, an 11,000-member church whose pastor, Ted Haggard, heads the National Association of Evangelicals.
Oh, by the way, while we’re at it, here’s something else we don’t like about evangelicals.
Cadet surveys show more than 90% of the students are Christian. Of those, about one-third consider themselves evangelical Christians.
"There's a great deal of overlap of on-campus and off-campus evangelism," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "You simply don't find that at the other service academies. Since all of this broke, we have had over 50 new incidents in e-mails and complaints, and all but one relate to the Air Force Academy."
Hmm, makes me want to join the Air Force.
Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, said Lynn's group is on a "witch hunt here. They will not rest until religion is eradicated from that campus."
Minnery said the academy's most recognizable building, its multispired Cadet Chapel, "is not there by accident. These cadets are being trained to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, to meet their maker."
I've enjoyed some of Ridley Scott's movies, but Kingdom of Heaven was a piece! I can't even justify it as a puny piece of crap. It was more like a rancid lingering fart. The actors were good... in other movies, which makes me think that their mediocre performances were Scott's fault. There was no passion or humanity played in any of it. The editing was horrendous, probably due to trying to chop the movie down to size; but it was done at the expense of flow. The cinematography was completely uninspiring. And though the music often fit the genre, and in some other movie with better visual storytelling may have evoked the right kind of emotion, the end result was an utterly cliche soundtrack. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was the same music as in the Age of Empires video game I was playing the night before. But what's the worst thing about this movie? The writing was excruciating. It was cliche, predictable and offensive. It was offensive because of the deplorably blasphemous philosophy and political commentary that was being passed off as a story.
The underlying message of the movie was that all faiths are created equal. Muslims and Christians are basically the same. They both hold sincere beliefs. They should be given the freedom to worship as they like and should affirm each others' faith. In fact, they shouldn't even bother with religion. Religious people get too worked up over what they believe. Don't listen to what anybody tells you is right or wrong. You decide that for yourself. Ultimately, all God wants is for you to live a good life, at least more good than bad. Just be good to other people (the needy, your family) and you'll win God's favor. Don't get caught up in trying to find "God's will."
What the movie fails to point out in depicting Christians as scoundrels ( and thus having genuine Christian faith as unwise) is that the villianous "christian" crusaders were actually perverting their faith. The Muslim warriors were following the example of their founder Mohammed. Of course, I did not expect any different in the treatment of this issue. But I would have appreciated the respect of not sidestepping the complexity of the history and trivializing the motivations behind the crusader-jihadi conflicts.
Obviously, the crusades are a point of major objection for those who do not want to follow Christ. People point to the attrocities performed in the name of Christendom. And while this movie could have shed light and brought some balance to the issue, it actually tipped the scales by presenting the Mulsims as wise, honorable men who only fought out of provocation.
This movie is a great example of what a subject of such great historical significance and human complexity looks like when it's reduced to shallow religious pluralism dressed in crude imitation art.
As a communication scholar in my undergraduate endeavors it never crossed my mind that I would actively seek out apologetics training. Yet, I find myself now beginning the process of pursuing a graduate degree in that field. Since I am about to embark on that journey, I offer an excerpt from a paper I wrote, The Defense of Truth and Dignity: A Christian Approach to Communication Ethics, that is (to my recollection) my first articulation of the need and nuances of apologetics.
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The second principle I want to discuss I call an apologetics of word and character. It is laid out in the following verse: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). First, we are always to have an answer. This is most definitely where we can employ our arsenal of communication power in defense of our hope. It is not that every Christian needs to be able to argue every truth of Christian doctrine, but they "should be well acquainted with the ground and foundation of the Christian religion . . . therefore it becomes them daily and diligently to search the Scriptures, meditate on them, and get all the help and assistance they can, to lead them into an acquaintance with them" (Gill, 1999). Secondly, this ethic is not as burdensome as it may sound at first, since we do not have to go around explaining ourselves to everyone at all times. We are to live our lives in such a distinctly Christian way that makes others curious, just as salt would make them thirsty. And we are to answer those questions that are asked of us; nothing more is required. Dr. Daniel Taylor, professor and author of The Healing Power of Stories, talks about sharing the gospel in terms of telling a story. He says, "In some ways The Story doesn't need defending, it needs living. And we are sometimes so busy defending it that we don't put all our energy into living it. If we live it well, it is so powerful that people won't even require that intellectual defense of the gospel. They'll be too drawn to it" (Allen, 2002). This is what I mean by an apologetic of character. When we defend our faith, we are called to do it with gentleness and respect. Gentleness "is best translated 'meekness,' not as an indication of weakness, but of power and strength under control. The person who possesses this quality pardons injuries, corrects faults, and rules his own spirit well" (Hayford, 1995). Some Christians may be acquainted well enough with Scripture that they can prove any doctrine and refute any objection, but it is humility, not haughtiness, that wins a hearing. Taylor comments on this crucial ethic of apologetics:
"Built into the ethics of storytelling is
both a teller and a listener which forms a
kind of community. Often we only listen to
the stories of the secular world with an ear
to finding out flaws, often missing the
heartache or the reaching out or the good
that is there. We listen to find out where
is the place that I can attack. That is an
immoral way of listening. And we don't
listen only to "know the enemy", which is
one rationale often given for knowing about
culture. We listen because they are human
beings made in the image of God who have
things to tell us that we need to know and
will be better for hearing. And at the same
time listening to their stories will help us
form relationships with them at some
point"(Allen, 2002).
Along with gentleness is the ethic of "respect," which one biblical commentator remarked as being "due respect towards man, and reverence towards God" (Fausset, 1871). It is that and more. In fact, most translations render this word as "fear," which more precisely expresses the idea not just of respect for one's hearers and for the God whose story one is sharing, but also of the gravity of what is taking place. When people defend the gospel, they are bearing witness to the ultimate reality of God's love as revealed in His Word. What is at stake is not merely an accurate account of the truth, but the sowing of that truth as a seed in the soil of souls. Apologetics is not a weapon to be used for the sake of sport. "One reason the gospel is not heard or people don't want to hear it is because the image of Christians is that they are not only self-righteous but arrogant people who know everything and have nothing to learn from anyone outside themselves"(Allen, 2002). On the contrary, apologists must defend truth with a profound reverence for the value of a human being. Philosopher Martin Buber, addressed this issue with his idea of the I-Thou relationship where "we see the other as created in the image of God and resolve to threat him or her as a valued end rather than as a means to our end" (Griffin, 2000). In Buber's view, what happens as we take the time to listen is that those to whom we are listening gain a greater awareness of self and, in the process, are able to catch a clearer glimpse of who they are meant to be. In other words, as we behold a person, we help them to become.
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Click here for full text and references.
I must share this quote I have come across as I believe it ought to be a fundamental guildeline of human intercourse. It is a statement that once I read it realized I had always believed and sought within myself to achieve. It is sound advice for the serious shaper of souls.
"Argument, properly understood and subject always to charity, is merely a dialogue in which both parties intend to arrive at the truth, or at least end up closer to it. The argument must never deteriorate into a quarrel, something which must be considered scandalous among Christians of whatever persuasion, but if we do not argue these issues how can we ever agree--even if ultimately we only agree to differ?" (Joseph Pearce, C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, XXX)
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