Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2593

Can Church Be Hip? Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

I've been having an interesting time reading your musical posts.  As someone who prefers higher liturgy to "low church," but who also harbors more sympathy for low church theology than high liturgy's more elitist theological constructions, I'm torn on the issue.  But there is one thing I would stress to your reader who objects to the "can church be hip?" thread and draws distinctions between a more consumerist entertainment-driven spiritual music and a more...

The Daily Wrap

Today on the Dish, we followed the Beck backlash; parsed polls for November; and reflected on the Big Question of the best way to engage people who disagree. Politicians weren't as important as parties; Christianity in America made a splash; and the Heritage Foundation's newest hire doesn't quite gel with its ideals.

We played with the Rubik's cube of Pakistani politics; and wondered sarcastically about what will happen to all the Mexican police officers fired for their ties to drug cartels. ...

Sullivan Bait

by Chris Bodenner

A green shoot from the GOP:

A major same-sex marriage fundraiser hosted by former RNC chairmanKen Mehlman and other Republicans provides one of the sharpestillustrations of how gay rights is becoming a cause among more elite,establishment members of the GOP. In addition to Mehlman, who recently announced that he was gay, the list of attendeesincludes several surprises, such as Ben Ginsburg, one of the RepublicanParty's top lawyers, and Henry Kravis and Paul Singer, two of...

About My Job: The Pastor

by Conor Friedersdorf

The reader writes:

My profession involves more listening than people imagine, and certainly more than people imagine from the "celebrity pastors" who get most of the media attention.  I am a pastor, serving a 100-member liberal Protestant congregation in a small city in northern California, outside the Bay Area.  Although I do prepare and deliver a sermon every week, much of my time is spent listening.

I listen to people and the story of their lives.  I am attentive to...

The Prescient Pope, Ctd

by Zoe Pollock

A reader writes:

I think you misread Farrell's piece. While giving Pius some credit for dealing with the issue of evolution, Farrell's main point was the caveat you mention second: modern biology shows man descends (as do virtually all species) from a population, not a single individual (or couple), and this contradicts Pius's assertion that the doctrine of original sin requires "a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all...

Codex or Screen? Cont'd

by Conor Friedersdorf

Alan Jacobs is still reading Infinite Jest:

Wallace is a writer of riffs, and I have often been frustrated by my inability when using the Kindle to get a sense of just how long the riffs are. It helps to know whether this is going to be a relatively brief one or whether it will go on for pages: having that knowledge enables the reader to adjust the quality of his or her attention accordingly. Again and again while Kindling my way through IJ I have been forced into...

Face Of The Day

An Iraqi soldier mans his position at a checkpoint in central Baghdad
on August 31, 2010, as US forces are set to declare an end to combat
operations on August 31, leaving fewer than 50,000 soldiers in the
country with the mission of training and advising local troops ahead of
a complete withdrawal at the end of next year. By Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images.

Baghdad - Iraq - United States armed forces - Middle East - Soldier

For Stupid's Sake, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Apatow fires back at Christian Lorentzen. Money quote:

There certainly are a lot of dick jokes in Funny People but there is no way to portray comedians without having them tell a lot of those types of jokes. If I was a hundred percent accurate I would have doubled the dick joke count. The only thing more troubling than making jokes about the male penis would be to be serious and honor the male penis.

Funny People - Humor - Recreation - Jokes - Penis

Churchill on Appeasement

by Conor Friedersdorf

Via Will at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, a lesser known quote from Winston Churchill:

"The word 'appeasement' is not popular, but appeasement has its place in all policy," he said in 1950. "Make sure you put it in the right place. Appease the weak, defy the strong." He argued that "appeasement from strength is magnanimous and noble and might be the surest and perhaps the only path to world peace." And he remarked on the painful irony: "When nations or individuals get...

About My Job: The Shadow Civil Servant

by Conor Friedersdorf

A male reader writes:

I am not a government employee - I might as well be, but not for the reasons they think. I work in the federal division of one of the many IT companies in northern Virginia, and people assume that I lead a quiet life because we're just like the government. This is sort of true: I don't work mad hours like our teams on commercial contracts. However, we are the focal point of all of our customer's frustrations of the structural impediments (and peer...