This article in Slate.com was helpful to me. Here's an excerpt: Modern evangelicalism emerged from an early-20th-century conflict between Protestant liberals and fundamentalists. The fundamentalists felt that the liberals had strayed too far from the teachings of the Bible and urged a return to the most orthodox teachings. The evangelicals…
I think so. The rampant commercialization of the U.S. becomes powerfully evident whenever I return from an extended trip to a country where people don’t wallow in materialism (on this exact point, see this post by Mindy Carney). Americans are professional buyers and horders of things they don’t need. I believe that the trojan horse of ubiquitious advertising is largely to blame. Before I go further, here are a couple of quotes to ponder.
Don’t tell my mother I work in an advertising agency – she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse. ~Jacques Seguela
He who buys what he does not need steals from himself. ~Author Unknown
Many people would argue that we can freely ignore advertisements. Therefore, it’s OK to make the all-American deal: allow as many ads as necessary to pay for news and entertainment.
I disagree. Yes, we can ignore particular commercials or even dozens of commercials. But the average person is exposed to two million television commercials by age 65. In The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (2005), Barry Schwartz writes that “The average American sees three thousands ads a day.” As advertising professor James Twitchell puts it, “Ads are what we know about the world around us.” Just listen to Americans! They have become the commercials they have been exposed to. They just can’t stop craving the things they see advertised. They recite skits they hear on commercials just like people often used to sing the melodies they heard on …
In the Bible, Genesis chapters 7-10 describe a great flood that destroyed all human life on earth, except for Noah and his family. Bible scholars claim this event occurred about 4500 years ago. This raises two questions I have been unable to answer: 1) If all human life on earth…
It should now be clear to everyone (though, sadly, it is not) that the threat of terrorism has been drummed up for political gain by neoconservatives. In the past, politicians often offered us hope. In recent years, they have found it more useful to claim that they are protecting us from nightmares. Thus, they often claim that they are rescuing us from horrible dangers we cannot see, by conducting their wars on "terror" and immorality. In reality, they have been offering us dark illusions and fantasies. Until two days ago, those politicians with the darkest imaginations had become the most powerful. For those of you wondering how this insanity came to be, consider viewing the BBC’s superb documentary: “The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows In The Cave.” Here is a taste of this gripping three-part documentary (If these links don't work, try Here's a new set of links that work on Google for the three parts of the documentary. Part I Part II Part III ):
There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and who will use the techniques of mass terror - the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.
Andrew Sullivan brought my attention to this startling 11/8/06 admission by Rush Limbaugh: There have been a bunch of things going on in Congress, some of this legislation coming out of there that I have just cringed at, and it has been difficult coming in here, trying to make the…