The Burr in the Burgh

How do atheists celebrate Christmas? That's the question posed by the always articulate Dinesh D'souza here.

The added question, for me, is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?

Oh, I see. Parties and booze. Parties and presents. That's the ticket.

I don't know. It seems pretty disingenuous to me. I would not trouble myself to observe a major holy day of a religion I disbelieved. Even worse. Many of the new atheists are not just a-theists. They are anti-theists. If religion, and Christianity in particular, is responsible for the bulk of this world's woes as some claim, then why would they commemorate the birth of its founder? I guess it's the parties, the booze and the presents.

UPDATE: See my related post at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary.

New Book on Women’s Ordination Includes Essays by Several CTS Faculty

FORT WAYNE, IN (CTS)—A collection of essays on the ordination of women, Women Pastors? The Ordination of Women in Biblical Lutheran Perspective, edited by Concordia Theological Seminary professor John T. Pless and Matthew Harrison has been published by Concordia Publishing House and is available for $26.99. This anthology of essays includes chapters by CTS professors Charles Gieschen (“Ordained Proclaimers or Quiet Learners?”), Roland Ziegler (“Liberation Theology in the Leading Ladies of Feminist Theology”), William Weinrich (“Women in the History of the Church” and “It Is Not Given a Woman to Teach: A Lex in Search of a Ratio”), and David Scaer (“May Women Be Ordained as Pastors?” and “The Office of Pastor and the Problem of Women’s Ordination”). Other essays are included by North American, European, and Australian theologians Henry Hamann, Bertil Gaertner, Bo Giertz, Reinhard Slenczka, Peter Kriewaldt, David Bryce, Fredrik Sidenvall, Peter Brunner, John Kleinig, Hermann Sasse, Gregory Lockwood, Louis Smith, Louis Brighton, and Robert Schaibley.

CTS President Dean O. Wenthe commented on the significance of the anthology: “It is striking that in the ancient Near East where female deities and priestesses were abundant, Israel was told to have only male priests. Similarly, in the Greco-Roman world, where female gods and priestesses flourished, the church restricted the apostolic office to men. This volume is to be commended for similarly resisting prevailing cultural novelties by supporting in a scholarly and churchly manner the God-given order for the church’s ministry. Women as well as men are blessed when they hear and follow the living, healing voice of Jesus in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.”

David Klinghoffer clarifies the Iowa State University flap over denying tenure to highly accomplished astronomer, Guillermo Gonzalez, because he harbors unpopular views in this Daily Standard article. It seems that every outrageous theory is defensible in today's academia as long as you don't ever imply a supreme intelligence behind the origin of the planet.

I direct you to a fascinating review of The Lives of Others by Barbara Nicolosi. She makes an interesting argument for why Hollywood has made so many movies about the Nazi atrocities but so few about the appalling stories of the Soviets or modern communists in Cuba, China or North Korea.

I just added The Lives of Others to my Blockbuster Online list.

In my last post, I recommended Apocalypto, while warning that it is not for the squeamish. It's a great film and I firmly believe, as I said, that if this had been directed by anyone besides Mel Gibson, it would have been hailed as a masterpiece by Hollywood elites and critics alike.

It is simply a gorgeous movie. It's a feast for the eyes. The story is simple but very effectively told. Since the whole movie is in the Yucatec language, Gibson keeps the dialogue to a minimum. It takes special skill to tell a story without having character dialog or narration to explain things. They say a story-teller should "show" and not "tell." Gibson is the master at that. And to truly appreciate the complexity of the story, you must watch the movie at least twice. The subtleties of the story arc were much more appreciated by me the second time.

Certainly one of the reasons that the politically correct thought police disliked Apocalypto is that it is unabashedly pro-colonial. While the Europeans have very little screen time, they are arguably the most important characters in the film. The Spaniards bringing Christianity to the shores of paganism truly are the deus ex machina. The Mayans are portrayed as a society destroying itself, curved inward, unable to suppress the corruption from within. Just when hope is lost, the saviors arrive. This makes every new beginning possible.

In spite of their many scientific and cultural accomplishments, the ancient Mayans were brutal and savage to an extreme. I'm not saying that classic European society was violence-free, but the values and worldview of Christianity shaped Western culture to make it the great and wonderful phenomena it has been, extolling liberty, justice, knowledge, beauty and faith - in short, the peak of civilization.

But what about the much ballyhooed degree of violence? The gore-hounds surely will not be disappointed. People do get hurt and people do die. And it doesn't always happen off-screen. And it is seldom pretty. So for a society that prefers to paint our dead to appear alive and hire strangers to wash and dress our deceased for us, this will shock. But I don't see how Gibson could have shown the peril of the characters' world without revealing injury and death convincingly.

This is almost so outrageous, I'm tempted to think it's a jest. It seems that some British schools are starting to drop certain topics from their history curriculum for fear of offending the Muslim children. Which topics, you ask? Namely the Holocaust and the Crusades.

The reason, according to the Daily Mail, is because some of the things taught in the normal state curriculum contradicts what is taught in the local mosques. Things specifically pertaining to the Holocaust and the Crusades.

Gee, I wonder if the same schools are teaching things that might contradict what is taught in certain local Christian churches. Why would the opinions of Muslims receive such special respect?

After the Holocaust, the world said, "Never Again." Yeah. Right.

We went last night to our 11-year-old son's school musical. It was based on all those awesome Schoolhouse Rock ditties from the 70s. I used to enjoy those on Saturday mornings. Still remember so many of the lyrics from Conjunction Junction, I'm Only a Bill, Interplanet Janet, etc. It was great fun and the kids were beyond cute.

One thing struck me, however, when they sang the one on America being the great melting pot. I was reflecting on how politically incorrect that is today. You can tell that was written at least 30 years ago.

The favored notion today is multi-culturalism and NOT that we're a melting pot. The melting pot image says that people come here from all different backgrounds and blend together to make something new and wonderful. That's a cool image for America. But the politically correct view is not that our former cultural distinctives should be blurred to create a new and truly American culture. The newer view is that I am identified first by my native tribe and only secondly by being an American citizen.