Afghanistan Update

You may have heard that a South Korean Christian hostage was murdered in Afghanistan this week. Here's some background information from the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin of the World Evangelical Alliance:

One day Jesus was teaching and healing, and as he looked out
over the crowds he felt great compassion for the harassed,
helpless and directionless masses. So he instructed his
disciples to ask the Lord to send out more workers/ servants
(see Matthew 9:35-38).

Up to 17,000 Korean Christians serve the Lord abroad in this way,
most in war-torn, volatile, hostile and 'restricted access'
nations. There are around 100 South Korean Christians from a
dozen humanitarian organisations and churches presently engaged
in voluntary work in war-torn Afghanistan. Since 2002, some 400-
500 South Koreans have visited Afghanistan every year in response
to the Lord's sending. They do voluntary work in health,
education, agriculture, information technology and other fields
for the benefit of the people.

In early August 2006, Korean Christian professionals with the
Institute of Asian Culture and Development (IACD iacd.or.kr>, a Seoul-based Christian humanitarian-aid group that
has run medical clinics in Afghanistan since January 2002) were
suddenly deported. The IACD had organised a three-day 'Peace
Festival' to celebrate five years of Korean aid work in
Afghanistan. The festival was to include a medical conference,
a round-table on reconstruction and two soccer games at Kabul's
Olympic Stadium between Afghanistan's national team and a
Korean team. The group's director, Kang Sung Han, said the aim
of the festival was to give ordinary Koreans and Afghanis the
opportunity to interact and have fun. But when Muslim clerics
protested, the festival was cancelled and the Koreans were
deported, citing security concerns. According to Radio Free
Europe/ Radio Liberty, while the clerics complained that the
Koreans were actively proselytising, a spokesman for the chief
of the Afghan National Police said there was absolutely no
evidence to support that, adding that if there had been any
evidence then the police would have 'put them in jail according
to the law'. In order to maintain their hold over the people,
the clerics are depriving the people of a future.

On Thursday 19 July 2007, Taliban militants in Ghazni Province
kidnapped 23 South Korean Christians who were in Afghanistan
doing medical and humanitarian volunteer work. The Koreans,
most of whom are nurses, are members of the Presbyterian
'Saemmul Church' in Bundang near Seoul. They were en route to
visit a kindergarten in Kandahar which serves some 100
destitute children and war orphans when they were ambushed and
kidnapped. The Taliban is threatening to kill the hostages
unless South Korea withdraws its forces (which are non-combatant,
engaged only in reconstruction) and the Afghan government
releases the 23 Taliban prisoners held in Ghazni Province. This
is the largest contingent the Taliban has ever captured.
Because the group is so large the Taliban might drag the
negotiations along, releasing one hostage (bargaining chip) at
a time. They might also feel that because there are so many,
they can afford to kill a few to increase the pressure on the
two governments. On 24 July, Afghani villagers in Ghazni
demonstrated peacefully in the streets for the release of the
Korean hostages. Once again, Islamic fundamentalists are
robbing the people and exerting control through repression and
terror.

South Korea has now banned its citizens from travelling to
Afghanistan, one of the neediest places on earth.

-World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty
Prayer List

The Weighty Problem of Depression

While an apple a day may (or may not) keep the doctor away, a growing body of research indicates that exercise may keep the psychologist away. Alessandra Pilu of the University of Cagliari in Italy and other investigators reported their conclusions in the online journal of Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health.

"The study found that depressed women who started a supervised exercise regimen had significant improvements in their symptoms over the next 8 months. Those who didn't exercise showed only marginal improvements.

"Before the study, all of the women had tried taking antidepressant medication for at least two months but had failed to improve.

"A number of studies have found that physically active people are less likely than couch potatoes to suffer depression. Some clinical trials have shown regular exercise can help treat the disorder, and perhaps be as effective as antidepressant drugs in some cases.

"The new findings suggest that exercise can even help people whose symptoms have been resistant to medication, according to the study authors."

Since an estimated two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, high rates of mental illness shouldn't surprise us. Mental illness is not just mental. We are integrated, living souls, and approaches must be holistic, treating mind, body, and spirit.

(And of course some people are overweight because of factors beyond their control, such as their genetics. Even exercise doesn't make them slim. But for many folks, the combination of too many calories in and not enough calories burned produces a weight problem.)

Perhaps being overweight is a largely unexplored factor in the epidemic of depression afflicting children and teens in the United States. Observers say that about 5 percent of adolescents suffer from clinical depression, and suicide is said to be the third-leading cause of death among teenagers.

Combine those figures with statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the number of overweight children has tripled in just 30 years, with 12.5 million teens considered overweight, and you'll see how significant the problem is. No wonder the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a $324 million ad campaign aimed at stopping obesity.

So if you're feeling down, depressed, or blue, turn off the TV, computer, or video game, get off the couch, and take a hike. Exercise will not solve all your problems, of course (and you may need to check with your doctor first). But for a healthier and happier you, it may be a great place place to start.

Hat tip: Christine Guthrie

The NBA's Extra Step

So an NBA ref is suspected of ties to organized crime? That's nothing. I want to know who authorized giving the stars an extra step when going to the basket.

Jesus Action Figures and Other Abominations

Wal-Mart is about to start selling toys based on the Bible, according to a story in USAToday. The giant retailer will sell "a set of 3-inch figures based on Daniel in the lion's den for about $7. A 12-inch talking Jesus doll is about $15. And 14-inch Samson or Goliath action figures are about $20."

Why do corporations such as film studios, publishers, and big-box stores target Christians? Because that's where the money is--or at least a lot of it. USAToday notes,

"It's the first time the world's largest retailer has carried a full line of religious toys. 'We're seeing interest from parents in faith-enriching toys,' says Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

"Religious products have become a multibillion-dollar business, and the toy move comes as it targets a younger audience. Fox recently created FoxFaith, a 20th Century Fox unit to distribute family movies with Christian themes. In January, Universal Pictures will release The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything — A VeggieTales Movie, based on the spiritual characters by Big Idea."
...
"About one-sixth of Wal-Mart's 3,300 stores will carry the One2believe line, which will get 2 feet of toy aisle shelf space, says O'Brien.

"One way Wal-Mart decided where to carry them, she says: Stores that sell a lot of Bibles will carry the new line.

"'We view this as an opportunity to reach that audience,'" she says."
...
"Since 9/11, there's been a surge in faith-based products, says Bob Starnes, vice president of licensing at Big Idea, the firm behind VeggieTales. That's because most Americans have a 'faith perspective,' he says.

"Laurie Schacht, president of The Toy Book, a toy industry publication, says some parents also are dissatisfied with toys from conventional toymakers: 'There are a lot of wild things out there. Parents want to give kids wholesomeness.'"

Call me an old curmudgeon, but I'm tired of being pandered to as just another market segment. Yes, I appreciate the fact that some of this culture's movers and shakers have finally noticed us Christians, and I'm all for "wholesomeness" (as long as we remember that this was not Jesus' first concern). But let's not forget that our Christian faith is a whole lot more than a mushy "faith perspective."

And have you ever seen what kids do with their action figures? I'm not sure I want to see Samson beating up Jesus.

New Atheism, Old Prejudice

A critique of Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and the rest of the new atherists makes the key point that these authors, in attempting to tear down all religious belief as toxic, have failed to distinguish the good from the bad. And they haven't even come up with any new and particularly compelling arguments. For a movement that provides itself on its supposed intellectual superiority, that's quite an indictment.

According to reviewer Peter Berkowitz in yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

"In making his case that reason must regard faith as an enemy to be wiped out, Mr. Hitchens declares Socrates's teaching that knowledge consists in knowing one's ignorance to be 'the definition of an educated person.' And yet Mr. Hitchens shows no awareness that his atheism, far from resulting from skeptical inquiry, is the rigidly dogmatic premise from which his inquiries proceed, and that it colors all his observations and determines his conclusions.

"Mr. Hitchens is by far the most erudite and entertaining of the new new atheists. But his errors and his excesses are shared by the whole lot. And these errors and excesses have pernicious political consequences, amplifying invidious distinctions among fellow citizens and obscuring crucial differences among believers world wide.

"Playing into the anger and enmities that debase our politics today, the new new atheism blurs the deep commitment to the freedom and equality of individuals that binds atheists and believers in America. At the same time, by treating all religion as one great evil pathology, today's bestselling atheists suppress crucial distinctions between the forms of faith embraced by the vast majority of American citizens and the militant Islam that at this very moment is pledged to America's destruction."

Memo to the angry atheists (and I know many atheists are calm and reasonable): Not all religion is alike.

Faith Perfected

Recent martyrdoms sadden us but cannot make us despair.
A Christianity Today editorial

The Reformation Isn't Over

The other day Pope Benedict XVI reiterated official church teaching that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church, that the Orthodox Church is defective, and that Protestant churches are not true churches. The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued two documents holding that that "ecclesial communities originating from the Reformation [i.e. Protestant congregations] are … not churches in the proper sense of the word." Some Protestants have taken offense. Not me.

I would have been far more worked up if Benedict had said (to borrow a phrase from Khan in Star Trek II) that we are all just "one big, happy fleet." You were expecting him to endorse Willow Creek? He is the pope, after all.

In this age of mushy moral equivalence, I think drawing some bright lines is helpful (even if I disagree with where the pope drew them). While Catholics and Protestants agree on many key areas of doctrine (such as the deity of Christ), we differ on other vital matters of faith (such as the canon, papal succession and authority, etc.). While some evangelicals convert to Catholicism and others can ask whether the Reformation is finally over, I find the pontiff's forthrightness refreshing. Especially in light of such recent silliness as an Episcopal priest embracing Islam while declining to give up her leadership position in the church--as if Jesus and Allah are one and the same! No, real and crucial differences between the RCC and other branches of the Christian tree remain.

By all means, let's keep talking, remembering that there can be no real dialogue without difference. And let's keep working together to better society and build (as John Paul II said) a culture of life. We Protestants and Catholics may differ on religious doctrine, but in our best moments we are united in our desire to glorify God by serving our fellow human beings.

So to the pope who isn't afraid to ruffle some feathers, I respectfully say, "Thank you, sir. May we have another?"

Stumbling After Jesus

The Christian life was never meant to be a cakewalk.

News Briefs

Weblog: Priest Must Decide Between Episcopal Priesthood and Islam, plus other online stories from around the world.
Compiled by Ted Olsen

A War about Nothing

Remember the episode on Seinfeld when Jerry and George were trying to come up with a TV series for NBC? George decided it had to be "a show about nothing." Nothing could happen on this show, except mundane things like getting up and going to work: "That's a show," George said. When an NBC exec asked why anyone would watch the show, George announced triumphantly, "Because it's on TV!" (The exec shot back, curtly, "Not yet.")

I'm reminded of this bit of silliness after hearing that Great Britain's new PM, Gordon Brown, has instructed his underlings not to combine the words "Muslim" and "terrorist." Nor are they to use the code phrase "war on terror" (which itself is a euphemism for "war on extremist Muslim terrorism").

Meanwhile, Muslim groups across the Pond are praising the new government for its "balanced, conciliatory" approach to the car bombing in Glasgow and the two attempted car bombings in London. The say Brown's "tone" is much better than Tony Blair's.

But wait just a minute. If this struggle to preserve Western civilization has nothing to do with Islam, then why should the Muslim community particularly care? And who are the Brits fighting? Have the terrorists suddenly lost their Muslim identities? (This reminds me of the AIDS crisis in America, when activists said "everyone" was at risk and the disease had nothing to do with homosexual conduct, when of course it was and remains the primary means of transmitting HIV here.)

Why should Brown and Co. seek the favor of Muslim leaders if Islam has nothing to do with this non-war? Who are they fighting? Perhaps the British government has discovered that it is actually Christian and Jewish extremists, not Muslims, who are setting off the car bombs?

I think the Brits have decided it's a war about nothing. Unfortunately, I don't think the Muslim terrorists are laughing.

Atheist Summer

With books by Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens still selling like hotcakes, the summer of atheism continues. And not just on The New York Times bestseller list.

While tens of thousands of kids head out to Christian camps, Camp Quest is offering an alternative for those who take their summer recreation without God. About 150 young people attend Camp Quest programs in Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, California, and Ontario, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

The founder, Edwin Kagin, is legal director for the group American Atheists. He said the atheist camp was founded after the Boy Scouts barred atheists and gays from leadership roles during the 1990s. "We wanted a camp not to preach there is no God," said Kagin, "but as a place where children could learn it's OK not to believe in God."

The Tribune interviewed several young campers in Ohio about their beliefs, or lack thereof. I don't think evangelistically minded Christians have a lot to worry about in overcoming their intellectual objections to the faith. Here is a sampling:

"[Sophia] Riehemann notes that a secular perspective takes away childhood joys other kids have, such as Christmas. But that doesn't bother her. 'They have Santa Claus,' she said, 'and we have Isaac Newton.'"

Actually, Sophia, I hate to break this to you, but you have Santa Claus (though not St. Nicholas), and we have Isaac Newton.

Then there is Allison Page, who is described as a 9-year-old only child. Reflecting on the biblical story of Cain and Abel, Allison opines, "It just doesn't make sense. A brother wouldn't kill his brother."

Ah, the innocence of children. Just wait until you have siblings, Allison.