Denzel Has Offended...

Denzel Washington.  Family man.  Actor.  Sex symbol.  Target for atheist rage.

Indeed.  Denzel, the man everyone loves to love, has found himself in a bit of hot water with atheists recently.  While publicizing his new movie, "Safe House," which opened last weekend with impressive box office receipts, he likened atheism to being a sociopath...or at least that's what atheists are saying he did.

In the interview in question, Denzel says in response to a question about how he prepared for the role and character he played in the movie says, “There’s a book I read called, ‘The Sociopath Next Door,’ and… a, it really became sort of the Bible for me in developing this character. I think he is a sociopath. I think he doesn’t have a conscience. I think he is an atheist and a murderer and a liar.”

For atheists, this is indicia that Denzel hates them and thinks of them as sociopaths.  The atheist community has gone to great links to liken Denzel to Mel Gibson for this comment.

But, down here in reality, Denzel's remarks, when listened to in context (and not in an effort to find a way to be offended about everything), was simply a list of all of the things his character was.  Black, sociopath who also happened to be an atheist.

Try again, atheists.  This one's not going to work. 

Is This Really How We Do It?

Okay.  I don't have much to say about this commercial, it really does speak for itself.  There's no thoughtful theological point I'm trying to make, no social commentary, I'm not even trying to make a funny here.  I'm laughing at this commercial to keep from crying.

It's Black History Month people.  I'm not so sure that this is where Dr. Carter G. Woodson wanted things to end up, but I'm afraid this is where he predicted they would be--dancing, rapping or singing.

But, at least he's working in this commercial, right?

Happy Black History Month. 

Former Slave Owner to Former Slave: Let's Stay Together...

President Obama made waves recently when, at a fundraiser, sang a few lines of soulful crooner Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." His rendition--a telling reminder to the unusual coalition of supporters he galvanized to win the presidency in 2008--was spontaneous and actually pretty good. The president can sing.


But, it appears that the president isn't the only one in history who has made poetic overtures to congeal an interesting union.
This week, letters from an August, 1865, exchange between a former slave owner and a former slave were discovered. The letters show how a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Tennessee, tried to persuade his former slave, Jourdon, to come back to work on the plantation by promising to treat the former slave "better than anybody else can."

The former slave wrote in response the former slave owner:

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

The former slave goes on to say at the end of his letter:

We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

So, if you're keeping score, the former slave master denies his former slave wages, kills a Yankee soldier, shoots at the slave, not once but twice, and then writes to the former slave to ask the former slave to come back. "Let's stay together," so to speak.
And the former slave responds in a measured and calm manner, saying in essence, that the Creator will right all of the wrongs you have done to me and my family.

This is some real Christianity in action in the Romans 12:9 (Paul quoting Deuteronomy 32:35, "To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.") sense.

Being spiritual and being a Christian does not prevent us from taking action or calling out wrong doing or social ills, rather it is incumbent upon the faithful to make the case against wrong doing, and allow the Creator to be the punitive heavy.

That is precisely what the former slave did in this instance.

Mitt the Tither...

That, incredibly dull thud we heard nationally a few days ago, was the release of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's 2010 and 2011 tax returns.  The louder thud we heard, was, at least by many accounts, was his opportunity to become the GOP presidential nominee.


Mitt's returns indicate that he made over $42 million mostly from returns and dividends from investments he made several years ago (he hasn't released tax returns for those years.  I wonder why?  Really, I do), and paid just under 15 percent of his income in taxes.


While I pay a far higher tax rate than Mitt, I really can't knock his hustle.  There is something uniquely American about finding a legal way to pay less taxes, as he has found a legal way to give less of his money to the federal government, good for him.


Less American however, is the fact that Mitt is a steadfast tither to the Mormon church, giving over $4 million to it.  In the Mormon faith, tithing distinguishes the more faithful believer from the believer.  It is an integral part of their theology and their history.  In fact, Mormons are called on to fast one Sunday a month and donate the cost of what they would have spent on the meal they did not eat to a relief fund.


This is pretty radical stuff.  While over 80 percent of Christians donate money to a church, only about eight percent of Christians tithe and about 20 percent give money to charitable causes other than the church. 


Now, I am not convinced that tithing is for everyone, but this kind of set up--the one Mitt and the Mormon church has, could really help churches of other Christian faiths (Yes, Mitt, Mormons are Christians) do more benevolent work and community building.

For Tebow Believers, This is Just the Beginning...

Well, we all witnessed it.  On Saturday, The New England Patriots humbled Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional playoff game, by a score of 45-10. 

There was little if any upside for Tebow, as he spent most of the game on the ground or on the sidelines watching Tom Brady throw a record six touchdowns to his receivers.

Some of us watched the game as fans of football.  Others of us watched the game to see Tim Tebow loose.  And still others watched because sports commentators told us this was going to be the best game of all time.

In the days leading up to this game many writers predicted that the Broncos would win the game with Tebow's efforts (and his God's help).  See here and here for example.  There was even a Tebow-inspired John 3:16 commercial aired during the game.

And there has been enormous attention on Tebow this season, this month, this week, because he is as one sports reporter put it, "the greatest story angle of the season."  He is a "gosh golly" young man, who loves the Lord openly and is humble.  We like him, the sports reporters love him and other athletes like him. 

And his sports reporters have not so subtly claimed that God loves Tebow too.  In fact, you know what they say.  That God loves Tebow so much that God helps Tebow win.  

It's a good angle to sell papers and get internet hits, but dangerous for the Christian world.  If we accept that God loves Tebow so much, God helps Tebow win games, it sends a curious messages for the dozens of devout Christian athletes Tebow plays against.  It sends the same curious message to thousands of Christians in tight spots or with ailments who see no light at the end of the tunnel. 

What I mean is if we accept that God has shown favor to Tebow for being a Christian, then what about the Christians he plays against who loose?  What about the devout Christians who loose their bouts with cancer?  Do they loose because they are not as Christian as Tebow or pray openly as he does or wear scripture verses under their eyes? 

This humbling loss should put things into perspective for sports writers looking for the "best angle" to write about.  It should illustrate that God allows the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the faithful as well as the unbeliever.

But, I predict that come next season, when the reporters are looking for an angle, this will all surface again as if we didn't bear witness to the game on Saturday.

Mitt and the Haters...

In the hip hip community and culture, success is measured in many ways. Naturally, unit sales, constituency of loyal fans, and the accumulation of material things all are benchmarks for an artists' success.
But, more than anything these days in some pockets of the hip hop community, an artist's success is measured by the amount of ill will he generates from his peers or the listening public.
Haters, are the personification of that ill will. If an artist has fifteen haters, he is trying diligently to garner twenty. If he has twenty, it is far greater to have thirty and so on.
On the presidential campaign trail, Mitt Romney made the political culture a little bit more like the hip hop culture.
As the front-runner in the Republican race, he has been skewered by his opponents in the Republican primary field for his financial deals when he was in the private sector as a venture capitalist. His opponents have called him heartless, shady, greedy and out of touch with most Americans.
His response? Well, his response to his opponents and critics has been nothing if not measured and consistent. He has said that people who are critical of the financial deals he made and the wealth he amassed while in the private sector, are simply envious of him and all wealthy people.

Yes, in other words, he is counting and shaking his haters at the same time. Getting the dirt off his shoulder, if you will.
This is all fine for the wealthy fundraisers and lower middle class folks who vote against their own self interests that he's trying to impress, but it does little for the rest of us.
You see the rest of us are not haters of Mitt. We are not his haters and are not envious of his wealth because we know that Christ has valued, and continues to value the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised. He came to save the masses, not the wealthy.
But, keep shaking the haters, Mitt. If the GOP gets any more like some pockets of the hip hop community, I'll be expecting Mitt to pull up to a stump speech on spinners.

Mid-Week Meditation: Where's the Prayer in...

The United States is certainly a proud country with a proud people and a proud history. We invented baseball and the Ford truck. We were the first to put a human on the moon. We have barbecue and apple pie. We have the Brooklyn accent, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Bronx cheer. We have Dr. King, Dr. Oz, Dr. Pepper and Dr. Dre. We have Coney Island and the Isle of Manhattan. We have Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and the Bill of Rights. We have, well, you get the point. The United States has quite a bit of which to be proud.


But, this country also has many embarrassing, shameful moments historically speaking. And, I don't mean shameful like "Jersey Shore" or Pauly Shore shameful. I mean shameful. This country, for the better part of 200 years allowed humans with melanin in their skin to be sold into slavery, lynched, beaten, raped and abused. It facilitated a segregation of those people for decades, and has sometimes turned its back on the needs of its most vulnerable citizens.

And today, we acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Opened at the direction of president George W. Bush, it was to house the meanest, most vile and abusive terror suspects in the world. Many of the 800 individuals detained there in the decade Guantanamo Bay was open for business, were held indefinitely without a single hearing or court appearance. While the detention center has been "closed," nearly 200 people still remain there.

Guantanamo Bay is infamous because leaders of our country stood by, silently, while U.S. military and officials beat, tortured and humiliated the people detained at the center.

I certainly remember president Bush saying repeatedly that he was a Christian and that he did not make any decisions without prayer to the Creator and reflection. I want to know on the tenth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay detention center, was this one of those decisions soaked in prayer?

Now, this isn't my Kayne moment--I'm not accusing president Bush of not caring about any one class of people. I am merely asking did he pray about the decision to open this center, and if he did, how did that shape his decision to open what will be a shameful moment in our country's history.