Religion and Politics

We've been talking lately on politics and the role spirituality can/should play in our this political season.

Last week we passed out an article, and we will focus our conversation around this article from Christianity Today. Jim Wallice is a name that is seen on the news a lot during this election time... He is the author of two books; God's Politics and The Great Awakening.

He makes some interesting comments in this article, any are open for discussion this week.

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

Also if you are interested in joining in the AIDS walk this sat. Sign up HERE: select join a team, then in "please select a team" drop-box click on Divine Conversations. Then fill out the info.

You can also register there. Registration is at 1pm and the walk starts at 4pm. Information found HERE.

You can also give donations on the site, or bring it for the change jar on thurs.!!!!!!!!!

Everyone is invited to join in!!! Hang out after!!!!!! for dinner.

Questions On Suffering, Evil, Love and Justice

Possible topic this week as we look into recent headlines. The timeless questions on suffering, evil, death, war, Love, humanity, justice, etc... Here may be some starting points in the news recently.

Shooting of a gay middle-schooler by another middle-schooler.


A BETTER Video is found here on CNN.

Eve Carson's death, Student Body President for UNC.


Lauren Burk, 18, was found shot on a side road, and her car was found burning in an Auburn University parking lot.


See full story of both here!!

And of course we can't ignore the War in Iraq: From REAL NEWS

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Also don't forget the Questions project mentioned last post, and we are beginning the random change jar back up. If you have any place you would want our random change to go to in the next month or so, we are taking requests now!!!!

see you Thurs, or on the blog discussion!

Exclusion and Embrace

This wed. we have 2 possible topics to talk about.

1) Last week CBS aired Episode 3 of KID NATION (<--click to see the full episode).

Several people have had a conversation about this episode because of it's topic. It might be good to bring it into our forum for discussion!

The topic was religion, and these kids had some interesting reactions, and an interesting ending to the episode. Watch the episode, and we can talk about differing religions, ideas, tolerance,acceptance, and other topics dealing with that in our personal lives (and wherever else that leads us). Please watch the full episode before wed. night, it's worth it!!!!

2) Last week we mentioned a news story that had been making headlines, as well as a new book based on this adventure. A.J. Jacobs has released a new book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

FROM AMAZON: What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All). He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day. (He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky. Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer.

Jacobs considers himself an agnostic, yet explored this social experiment. You dont have to read the book, but google him and read a couple of articles:

You can find an article here

and a vid. interview here

It's really enlightening! Lots of options with this topic too!

CAN'T WAIT, SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW!

"Ma Teresa's Joined the Mob, Unhappy With her Full-Time Job"

A possible Discussion topic this week comes from an article in Time Magazine in August about Mother Teresa's

"dark times". This article is based on this book of her coorespondences about her faith.

Click here for the online article!

There are many directions we can take this in discussion group, but we'll just post the article here and discuss it on wed. PLEASE READ BEFORE COMING AS TO BE ABLE TO DISCUSS!!!!! (it's easier to read if you print it fyi).

N&O Aug. 26th

click here for the full story

HERE IS ANOTHER OPTION FOR CONVERSATION ON THIS COMMING WED., AUG 29th!!!!

I'll bring the full article that night (please try to read it before though) if we want to talk about it!!!! It's up to you guys!

AGAIN, PLEASE DON'T COMMENT ON HERE UNTIL AFTER THE 29th UNLESS YOU CAN'T MAKE IT THAT NIGHT!

Can't wait until wed!

-j