Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham

Flash back to the 60s. An agnostic talks to an evangelical. My how times have changed. Nowadays we have Bill O'Reilly.

Dobson goes after Cizik

If you have never heard of Rev. Richard Cizik, Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), you should look him up. At a time when many Evangelicals leaders were marching in lock step with the Republican party on issues of global warming and the Iraq war, it was refreshing to hear him speak for the rest of us. Cizik argues that stewardship of the earth is an important mandate for Christians. Some great Cizik interviews are at NPR's speaking of faith and fresh air programs.

Now James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and others are tired of hearing such a prominent figure in the NAE speak out against global warming. Christianity Today reports: they want him gone. They don't want him being the voice for Evangelicals. I guess they are worried the world will start to think Evangelicals are tree huggers. Here is a comment from a reader of the CT article:

It is a little hypocritical for Dobson and others to raise the alarm that Cizik's views might be construed as the views of all evangelicals. How often have Dobson and Falwell positioned themselves as the spokepersons for evangelical Christians? ... As an evangelical Christian opposed to Bush and concerned about global warming, I'm glad to *finally* hear the voice of someone with whom I can identify!

Well said!

All those gay Nigerians

The BBC is reporting that the Nigerian house of representatives is trying to outlaw gay relationships. I guess they have solved all Nigeria's other major problems like violence in oil producing regions, or kidnappings, or poverty. And I guess this law is necessary since there is such an epidemic of homosexuality. (Really, if you are Nigerian, how many openly gay people have you ever met in Nigeria?)

I wonder if this is driven by politics -- after all, this kind of action will be popular. It would be unfortunate to see the same kind of divisive politics that was used to buy votes here in the US, being applied in Nigeria. Except this will not be divisive, since there are probably not many people who are going to oppose the bill. It will just be a tool for defeating the more free-thinking and/or intellectual politicians. (How do you explain your opposition to this bill to your constituents?)

Interestingly, this story is being picked up by American Christians (particularly Episcopals) in the light of the imminent breakup of the Anglican communion and the signifant role the Nigerian church is playing. And at least one American blogger is giving play-by-play commentary on the developing story.

Finally, it will be interesting to see which Nigerian politicians oppose this. The BBC article points out:

The deputy chairman of the house committee on human rights Abdul Oroh says it was hypocritical of proponents of the bill to use morality and religion as basis for their arguments.

"We should not be hypocritical here. I think we should deal with this subject dispassionately. While we are trying to protect morals and values, we must also remember to protect people's rights even if they are a minority," Mr Oreh said at the public hearing.