Religous triangulation

Many have commented on Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s "brilliance" as a pure politician. His morning interview with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough highlighted his lightening wit and ability to triangulate the secular and sacred as well.

The interview started with a shot from above the White House looking down. The bumper music was Jimmy Hendrix' "All along the watchtower."

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC Host:

“Governor, let me start by asking you, now that you are ahead, are you going to lose your sense of humor? Can you still talk to us about Hendrix and cougar hunting and Willie Geist?”

Mike Huckabee, (R) Presidential Candidate:

“Well, I certainly would hope so, Joe. In fact, when I heard the bumper music coming in, "All Along the Watchtower," it occurred to me there is a shot of White House, Hendrix music playing, that's the Huckabee White House. Hendrix music blasting throughout the White House as the president stands all along the watchtower.”

My mouth dropped. In one sentence Huckabee captured the secular and the sacred – all on the fly.

Populist indeed.

Saying that Jimmy Hendrix would be played in a Huckabee White House shattered any myth of a religious fundamentalist preaching against the secular evils of rock-and-roll.

“Hey Doris, 'ja hear that? This Huckabee is just like us. Rock on!”

Yet with the same sentence he captured religious imagery that connected not just with Christians but Jews, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses as well.

Brilliant.

(I wonder if our biblically ignorant press realized they had been triangulated and the victims of a secret religious code language known only to white, suburban evnagelicals?)

Here are some examples.

Morman
From “The Doctrine and Covenants of the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Section 101”
Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, December 16, 1833.

54 "And behold, the watchman upon the tower would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off; and then ye could have made ready and kept the enemy from breaking down the hedge thereof, and saved my vineyard from the hands of the destroyer."

For the Jew and Christian:
Ezekiel 33:7-15

"O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me... if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but His blood will I require at thine hand…if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul..."

And who calls themselves the Watchtower Society? Jehovah’s Witnesses.

CDC notes that teen pregnancies and out of wedlock birth rates are up in US and Minnesota

The CDC reported today that in Minnesota, the percent of teen births increased from 6.8% in 2005 to 7.0% in 2006 and the out of wedlock birth rate increased from 29.8% in 2005 to 31.7% in 2006. Nationally, the teen pregnancy rate increased from 10.2% to 10.4% and out of wedlock birth rates increased from 36.9% to 38.5% during the same time periods.

I believe the rise in teen pregnancy and out of wedlock birth rates is attributable to the ‘anything goes approach’ to sex we see the teen culture. And now it’s being pushed in schools through unhealthy comprehensive sex education programs which only makes matters worse.

The rise in out of wedlock birth rates is a very troubling development. It’s at all time highs and puts at risk the well-being of all concerned, especially children. Kids raised without the benefit of two parents are 5 to 6 times more likely to be raised in poverty, get in trouble with the law, have problems in school and personal problems.

As I said in a news release, "The sexual revolution of the sixties and its progeny today, as seen in these CDC figures, has been a disaster. It’s left in its wake a trail of broken hearts, disease, sickness, and even death. Our kids and society deserve better."

Excerpts from Mitt Romney's speech on religion

"We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America — the religion of secularism. They are wrong."

"The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation 'Under God' and in God, we do indeed trust."

"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the founders — in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our Constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"

"My faith is grounded on these truths. You can witness them in Ann and my marriage and in our family. We are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the selfsame as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation. And these convictions will indeed inform my presidency."

"The diversity of our cultural expression, and the vibrancy of our religious dialogue, has kept America in the forefront of civilized nations even as others regard religious freedom as something to be destroyed."

"In such a world, we can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends and allies in the cause of liberty, joined against the evils and dangers of the day. And you can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: we do not insist on a single strain of religion — rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith."

Ideas have consequences

By John Helmberger

Two stories in the span of one week regarding the tragedy of teen suicide beg for a response. On November 27th, the Mpls Star Tribune reported on Beltrami County’s number 1 ranking in Minnesota for suicides among youth and young adults (Suicides Haunt Beltrami).

Then on December 4th, the Pioneer press ran a story on the plague of teen suicides afflicting Jamestown, ND (Tackling taboos in a town beset by suicide).

Both stories underscored uncertainty about the causes of this anguishing problem. "There is no black box to search for with suicides," said a researcher with the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md. "We are still learning, still looking. The problem is that many times, unlike a disaster, we are unable to pinpoint exactly where to look because these stories themselves are so individualized."

The Star Tribune reported that suspected causes include poverty, isolation, chemical abuse and family fragmentation, all of which should be investigated.

But here’s a suggestion for the government and health officials who are trying to get to the bottom of the problem: look in the schools. Try examining the link between what we teach kids in Science about where they came from, and the value they place on their own lives.

With our schools and the media relentlessly indoctrinating kids with the idea that they are no more than an evolutionary accident of nature, should we be surprised when they conclude that their lives have no real meaning and aren’t worth living? Should it come as a shock that kids value themselves and their lives so little that they decide to end it all at alarming rates, sometimes over seemingly trivial problems? Maybe they’re just doing what grows logically out of what we’ve taught them to think.

Ideas have consequences.

It’s time for Darwinian naturalism to start taking responsibility for the hopelessness it feeds in young people.

Pawlenty's appointment of "strict constructionist" to Minnesota Supreme Court upsetts Star Tribune columnist

Liberal Star Tribune Nick Coleman, who seemingly dislikes anything conservative, is not surprisingly upset with Governor Pawlenty's appointment of Chris Dietzen to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Dietzen has served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for the last several years and was appointed to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by Justice Sam Hanson who has gone back to private law practice. That means Pawlenty has appointed three of the seven justices to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Coleman was particularly upset by Pawlenty description of Dietzen as a person who "has proven himself to be a strict constructionist who will follow the rule of law with impartiality," Pawlenty went on to say, "In a time when legislating from the bench has unfortunately become commonplace, Judge Dietzen has continually used judicial restraint and common sense."

Where has the Minnesota Supreme Court been egregiously activist and legislating from the bench? The biggest example is the Court's 1990s decision Doe v. Gomez which found a constitutional right to abortion funding in the Minnesota Constitution. The result? Minnesota taxpayers paying for thousands of abortions each year.

As with most presidents and governors, their most long lasting legacy is often who they appoint to their respective supreme courts.