A carefully curated list of interesting links just for you:
Lillian Daniel/Christian Century: On people who claim to be spiritual but not religious. A piece that has been burning up the internet (at least amongst my small, insular circle of divinity school students).
Ed Kilgore/The New Republic: An argument for why Bachmann and Perry are religious radicals. I am still not sure that Perry is. I think he is playing the game just like G.W. did. Though I am not sure which is worse at this point.
Andrew Sullivan/The Daily Dish: Differing opinions on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Matthew Yglesias/Think Progress: All genders and races can vote in America. Doesn't mean there still aren't ways to make it hard.
Killing the Buddha: An online magazine about religion, culture, and politics. Check it out.
I leave you with a fun song about finding heaven on earth. Have a great weekend. Thanks for supporting the blog.
-Tim
A blog from Protestants for the Common Good about faith and politics.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Zizek: Learning to Love Trash
As we think about the environment today, here is Zizek screwing with my mind. (warning: there are about 2 seconds of potentially offensive things. well worth overlooking if you ask me, but I have warned you)
-Tim
-Tim
Support the Clean Power Ordinance! (Chicago Residents)
The Clean Power Coalition - of which Protestants for the Common Good is a member - is attempting to collect over 5,000 signatures from Chicago residents on a petition to Mayor Emmanuel in support of the Clean Power Ordinance.
The Ordinance would require that the two coal-fired power plants in Chicago (Fisk and Crawford) reduce their emissions of soot, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide. The ordinance is co-sponsored by 35 of 50 aldermen and alderwomen, and while the Mayor has expressed support for the effort, we need to keep the pressure up and remind him that the public cares about this issue.
Please download the signature form, bring it to your churches or community groups this week and over the weekend, and then mail in the sheets to:
Protestants for the Common Good
77 W. Washington St.
Suite 1124
Chicago, IL 60602
or email Courtney Eccles and she will come pick them up.
The Ordinance would require that the two coal-fired power plants in Chicago (Fisk and Crawford) reduce their emissions of soot, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide. The ordinance is co-sponsored by 35 of 50 aldermen and alderwomen, and while the Mayor has expressed support for the effort, we need to keep the pressure up and remind him that the public cares about this issue.
Please download the signature form, bring it to your churches or community groups this week and over the weekend, and then mail in the sheets to:
Protestants for the Common Good
77 W. Washington St.
Suite 1124
Chicago, IL 60602
or email Courtney Eccles and she will come pick them up.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Embracing Uncertainty
A guest post from a friend of mine, Kevin Corek, a graduate from UCLA Law School who has worked for the Democratic National Committee.
Tim's post on uncertainty got me thinking about a recent TED talk (embedded below) that Tim Harford gave on "Trial, error, and the God complex." The thrust of the talk was that as humans we fail to recognize our own fallibility with respect to solving complex societal problems. Perhaps there's something instinctual to the kind of thinking that demands or proffers solutions to every problem without acknowledging our limits.
To put this in the political context, it's a rare politician who would say, "I don't have a solution to X problem, but let's try these 5 different approaches and see what works." The party system and political ideology exerts a powerful influence in shaping the discussions we have about public policy. In the prevailing atmosphere, a political party can't admit they don't have a solution or that a problem is too complex and we might just have to use trial and error. Trial and error isn't a solution in the mold of a political principle, like say, the validity of a social safety net or philosophical opposition to wealth redistribution through taxation.
If we want to change this mentality within our existing political structure, uncertainty needs to be embraced as part of a political platform. The Democratic Party is closer to this today by virtue of not disputing the scientific method and empirical evidence. But that's not the same thing as valuing uncertainty in and of itself. How do we get there? It's complicated, but to start, let's try talking about uncertainty more and see what happens.
-Kevin
Tim's post on uncertainty got me thinking about a recent TED talk (embedded below) that Tim Harford gave on "Trial, error, and the God complex." The thrust of the talk was that as humans we fail to recognize our own fallibility with respect to solving complex societal problems. Perhaps there's something instinctual to the kind of thinking that demands or proffers solutions to every problem without acknowledging our limits.
To put this in the political context, it's a rare politician who would say, "I don't have a solution to X problem, but let's try these 5 different approaches and see what works." The party system and political ideology exerts a powerful influence in shaping the discussions we have about public policy. In the prevailing atmosphere, a political party can't admit they don't have a solution or that a problem is too complex and we might just have to use trial and error. Trial and error isn't a solution in the mold of a political principle, like say, the validity of a social safety net or philosophical opposition to wealth redistribution through taxation.
If we want to change this mentality within our existing political structure, uncertainty needs to be embraced as part of a political platform. The Democratic Party is closer to this today by virtue of not disputing the scientific method and empirical evidence. But that's not the same thing as valuing uncertainty in and of itself. How do we get there? It's complicated, but to start, let's try talking about uncertainty more and see what happens.
-Kevin
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