Morning Report: More Rick Warren, Russian Predictions and Abstinence

Melissa Etheridge and her spouse are defending Rick Warren, the latest twist in the story that refuses to go away. Melissa recommends that gays and lesbians volunteer to help Saddleback with its HIV/AIDS ministries rather than march on the church in protest. The part of the story, however, that really gets my attention is when Rick Warren says that one of his life goals is to restore civility to civilization, then in the same breath blames bloggers for contributing to the polarization of the country. You hear that Gavin? It's your fault.

• A Russian academic is predicting that the United States will disintegrate in 2010, breaking into six pieces. Control of Alaska, he says, will revert to Russia. Congratulations to states in the deep South... you get to be a part of the Texas Republic, which will likely be under the control of Mexico. Most of the East Coast may join the EU. (Will I have to exchange my pesos for euros when I visit relatives in North Carolina?) All this is supposed to happen in a year. Whatever. The only thing slower than UMC bureacracy is the government, and I'm not even sure we could fall apart as fast as this guy is predicting.
• John Meunier discusses teen sex (see my post yesterday) and writes that a pledge and a ring are no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I agree completely. My article yesterday probably made a few of you uncomfortable, because I seemed to "give up" the fight to keep teens from having premarital sex. Not at all! But every teen isn't in the same place spiritually. Church kids sometimes haven't even developed a real living faith yet. And self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, which means it must grow and doesn't just show up overnight. When I suggest that kids keep contraception handy, I intend for it to be a last resort, not the first option!
• Gilbert Caldwell wrote an open letter to Rick Warren, which was posted on the Reconciling Ministries Network blog, but it has disappeared. I was going to link it under the Methodist Blogs section, not because I agreed with it (I didn't) but because I thought it presented some important points and I wanted to discuss them further. If it resurfaces somewhere, I'll link to it later.
• Because of Greg Boyd, I now want to read Plutarch. Any other theodicy/warfare geeks out there?
• Mark D. Roberts, one of my favorite Presbyterians, talks about blog comments. Mark writes, "I don’t know if you’ve spent much time reading comments on blogs. If not, I wouldn’t recommend it. For the most part, blog comments are not especially insightful. Often they are inane. Often they are rude and offensive." He's right. Thankfully the right to free speech doesn't give people the right to be heard.

Time for more coffee. Make it a good day.

Comments

[Andy]

I think we call all agree that most of what ills our society can be blamed on Gavin.

[Gavin Richardson]

i am sorry to rick for bringing on all this trouble. i can't help it. my thanks to melissa, a close friend (ie. i saw her once at a concert and was pretty close to the stage), for covering my butt.