Sex Talk in Church

From the Akron Beacon Journal:

``The more culture becomes frank and crude about sexuality, it becomes more and more appropriate for the church to address the issue of sexuality,'' Paris said. ``The church can address the issue in a healthy, dignifying and respectful way and we need to be proactive rather than reactive to what secular sources are teaching about sex. I applaud pastors who are meeting the challenge.''

As the student of history knows, the Roman Empire was pretty open and vulgar about sex, so this is nothing new that Christianity has had to deal with.

As our culture falls away from its Christian heritage (and as many in Christianity fail to engage the culture and make the case for relevancy), it's no wonder our civilization is becoming more crude; it's simply reverting back to the most basic human elements--after all, it's secular humanism that we're trading Christianity in for.

We have to tell the truth about human sexuality because too many people don't know:

``God invented sex for our pleasure. But sex is not just a physical act, it is a mingling of souls that happens between husband and wife,'' said Herron, whose church meets at 10:30 a.m. Sundays at the Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St. ``Sex is a very spiritual thing. That is why it is sacred and why God reserves it for a husband and wife. The church should be very transparent about it.''

It is unfortunate that ministries have to deal with these issues (they should be dealt with at home), but given the state of our culture, I think there is no alternative. Other than to allow the "anything goes" pagan approach to reign unchallenged, that is.

New Sale Price on Global Warming Snake Oil

From The Independent:

The core of the report is the calculation of how much CO2 can be cost-effectively reduced at a given level for the price. If the price were at $20 a tonne by 2030, the report says, emissions could be cost-effectively cut back by up to 17 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. If it were to rise to nearly $100 a tonne by the same date, the cut could be as much as 31 billion tonnes, which would be the 50 per cent reduction the world needs to avoid disaster.

The price of doing all this varies with the rate of the world's economic growth, but it reckons it could be done for less than 1 per cent of global GDP, a figure similar to that given by the British economist Sir Nicholas Stern in his report last year.

Leftist are doing what they always do: if they can't get the revolution in one blow, they'll go for the incremental approach (it works well, I hate to admit). That's how the frog is compliantly boiled.

They've apparently reached the conclusion that people aren't buying the "we have to scuttle our economies today to save tomorrow" approach in sufficient numbers (in fact, skepticism is rising), so they're doing what the car salesman does when he wants to sell you a car. He does some "cypherin'" and, darn it his boss is not gonna be happy about this, but he'll let this beautiful car go at the low, low price of $X. So now, they've lowered the price of "fixing" global warming.

The theory of global warming is the same old lemon it always was. I'm still not buying. Are you?

Gays for Giuliani

From the Boston Globe:

DENVER --Rudy Giuliani emerged as a favorite among many members of the GOP's largest gay organization, who cited his record on social issues, taxes and defense.

However, delegates to the Log Cabin Republicans annual convention said Friday they also fear that the former New York mayor, in his bid to capture the Republican presidential nomination, might be waffling as he reaches out to the more conservative GOP voters who hold sway in the primaries.

Interesting...

Day of Silence Not So Peaceful

Some folks didn't like it when parents protested the pro-homosexual "Day of Silence."

From LifeSite.net:

Described as “screaming, swearing and throwing food,” the students surrounded the half-dozen parents while several school faculty members and administrators stood by.

One parent, identified as Bruce C., told Mass Resistance, “At least one hundred kids were surrounding me like buzzing bees debating these arguments, some yelling degrading comments like "moron", "idiot", cursing, occasionally throwing food and wads of paper at me, burning my flyer, doing simulated homosexual sex acts, telling me they were going to sodomize me, boys were kissing and making out with other boys and girls were making out and fondling other girls to loud ecstatic cheering.”

Doesn't sound like these pro-homosexual students were very "silent" on the Day of Silence.

Doesn't sound very "tolerant" either.

Doesn't look like the opposing view was very welcome in several California schools, either.

You can look for much more of this type of treatment if the Senate doesn't reject the "hate crimes" bill or the president doesn't veto it. Remember, it isn't a "hate crime" if the victim isn't a protected class (e.g. heterosexual).

Regrets of the Founding of America?

Last week the Oxford Union debated the proposition: “This House regrets the founding of The United States of America.”

If that gets your ire up (it does mine, a little), remember that if nothing else, it provides a platform to spell out to those who have forgotten why the founding of the United States is so worthy of celebration, not just for Americans but for the whole world.

From National Review Online and Jonah Goldberg, one of the debaters:

The United States is not flawless, to be sure, but we are the fruit of freedom, the flawed champions of liberty and defenders of decency.

And some of the more everyday contributions of America:

From penicillin to the iPod, the artificial heart to rising crust pizza, jazz and the Simpsons to the Marshall Plan, America — through its ingenuity, openness, generosity, and adherence to the liberal principles it inherited from this great land — has championed the relief of man’s estate (in the words of Francis Bacon) and the liberty to let your freak flag fly (in the words of David Crosby).

Note: he refers to classic "liberal" principles, not the divisive, class-envy, self-loathing, America-hating, appeasing, morally-adrift liberalism of the modern era.

Goldberg's description of the event makes me smile in appreciation; no mamby-pamby milquetoast pretense of civility here, just good ole' debate:

The Union audience respects aggression, humor, and more aggression. In fact, the design and energy of the room is such that when I concluded my remarks, I felt like I should throw my sword at the upper decks like Maximus in Gladiator, shouting “Are you not entertained?!”

(That was a great scene from one of my favorite movies, by the way).

A BBC report about the event details one of the things that makes America so unique and so wonderful:

The US is a nation built not on ethnicity, not on religion, not even on history but on an idea.

The British, especially, should in the end be the most thankful for America. If it weren't for us, they'd be eating sour kraut and speaking German right now.

But then, it was just a hypothetical question, wasn't it?