Faith

Via Dvorak Uncensored: An article by Kurt Bayer on Scotsman.com titled "Minister's microphone causes a wee splash at church" describes an embarrassing moment for Rev John Hawdon:

A MINISTER had his congregation squirming with embarrassment when he used the toilet during a service and forgot to switch off his clip-on radio microphone. The Rev John Hawdon was standing in for Elizabeth Kay at Longforgan Parish Church in Perthshire. But when nature called during a break in proceedings, he forgot to switch off his microphone, which broadcast his every splash and sigh to the congregation. Speaking at his home in Dundee last night, Mr Hawdon said: "I actually had a walk during the service, as I often do. But the congregation must have heard everything. I wasn't aware that I still had my microphone on." A parishioner said: "It was mortifying. Every sound boomed and echoed around the church. We all sat there looking at each other, totally embarrassed. One or two folk managed a wee giggle."

From an article by Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the LA Times:

Patrick Henry College, the small evangelical Christian school founded six years ago to train students for careers in public life, gained national prominence for placing many students in White House internships and other government positions. Now five of the school's 16 faculty members have left, saying the school's approach is too doctrinaire to prepare students for the realities of American politics. One faculty member was fired and four others resigned in protest, saying the administration prohibited free-ranging discussions at what has been called the "Evangelical Ivy League"... The specific issues that led to the firing and resignations are abstruse, but they revolve around the question of how the ideas and writings of nonevangelical thinkers such as Catholics or the ancient Greeks should be treated in the classroom... Clashes over principals are not uncommon among faculty at Catholic or evangelical schools, said professor John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. What is unusual, he said, is that the Patrick Henry professors spoke out. "At Patrick Henry, they have a political mission as well as a religious one: They want to train students to bring their religious view into public policy," Green said. Which makes the need for academic freedom all the more vital, he said.

I guess issues like this must be an endless headache for the administrators at institutions with religious affiliation. How to balance the atmosphere of openness, inquiry, learning, debate, and discussion that should be characteristic of an institution of higher learning with the perceived need for uniformity of belief that religious institutions tend to demand. The same thing happens at secular universities, but it's a balance of debate with political correctness. It seems like a university is the sort of place that should err on the side of tolerating debate.

An interesting article of that same title by Stacy Weiner in the Washington Post describes how some non-religious parents desire their children to have the psychological and spiritual comforts that religion provides:

...many nonreligious parents -- whether they've eschewed belief or practice or both -- find themselves seeking the psychological, spiritual and moral blessings they hope a religious background can bestow on their offspring... In 2002, for example, the percentage of fathers who attended church at least once a month was nearly twice that of men who had no children, according to data from a major demographic study. At least some parents likely were motivated by a kid-centric quest. Such parents may seek the sense of community or emotional security they hope religion will provide their kids; they may want a sense of purpose or tradition; and they may be looking for ethical or spiritual influences to mold their children's lives. For some, a religious education simply means giving their kids a better shot at understanding a cultural force that they consider both powerful and pervasive.

There's a recent interesting blog post by Greg Stevenson about moral stories and the entertainment company Walden Media. Here's a quote:

In our constant attempt to wring all complexity or ambiguity out of stories, we have traditionally defined moral stories solely with reference to the amount of sex, violence, and profanity present. This despite the fact that the Bible contains sex, violence, and even vulgarities, thus demonstrating that such things can be present in the telling of "moral" stories. We have largely ignored the most central element of a "moral" story, which is the overall perspective or moral vision that the story communicates. Failing to recognize this has led to many Christians embracing shows as wholesome (due to the lack of sex, violence, and profanity) that are in fact communicating immoral messages. On the flip side, it also leads to rejecting shows with a sound moral vision because of certain undesirable content elements (Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to mind, as I argue in my book).

From an article by Denise Ono on MSNBC.com:

Christian-themed games aren't new, of course. But as the video game industry gathers this week for its annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, developers of Christian video games are aiming at wider audiences, hoping to copy the mainstream success of movies such as the "The Chronicles of Narnia" and books like the "Left Behind" series. Christian game makers also see themselves as offering a much-needed alternative in an industry often criticized for games that feature graphic violent and sexual content... Virtue Games produces "Isles of Derek," an adventure game about a community that is trying to break free of a tyrannical society that forces them to worship "false gods," and the upcoming "Mayabin," in which players are presented different world views and spiritual philosophies. "Our games aren't out there to evangelize, but to present a Christian world," Tewell said... [Left Behind Games CEO Troy] ...Lyndon said that last year's public outcry [over the content of video games] was overblown. "A child can get on the Internet and within five minutes, get porn that is far more graphic than any video game. This is a far worse problem (than video games). I think our lawmakers need to get their priorities straight."

I think that last point is an excellent one. Parents these days pretty much have to assume that their children have easy access to porn via their friends' internet connections if not their own. What's a parent to do? At a minimum, make sure our heads aren't buried in the sand...and have those uncomfortable conversations early and often, I would guess.