Ted Carnahan

Found a really interesting blog, Show-Me the Argument, a blog from philosophy students at Mizzou.

We were talking in ACTS tonight about funny cartoons, and one of my favorites is Reverend Fun. There are archives going back to 1997, and through their voting system, they have a list of the highest-rated cartoons. If you get a few minutes, check it out.

Dinesh D’Souza has an article in the Christian Science Monitor (which, to quote some of my opponents in debate rounds in high school, are biased neither towards Christians, Scientists, or Monitors) entitled Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history. Too many people blame religion for the problems of the world, when in reality the secular impulse and the rejection of God from politics and social life has, in the past few decades, caused more bloodshed than religion has in the past 2000 years. From the article:

Whatever the motives for atheist bloodthirstiness, the indisputable fact is that all the religions of the world put together have in 2,000 years not managed to kill as many people as have been killed in the name of atheism in the past few decades.

It’s time to abandon the mindlessly repeated mantra that religious belief has been the greatest source of human conflict and violence. Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.

People who separate their moral views from their political action are surely separating the source of all human rights from the forum in which human rights are deliberated and protected. The secular world is screaming that religion is responsible for the world’s problems, particularly the worst and most intractable problems, and by failing to assert our viewpoints in the public square, the church is agreeing enthusiastically. While it is still the church’s responsibility to renounce the violence that has been (and in a few places continues to be) done in Jesus’ name, I’m really sick of all of the self-flaggellation. The truth preached by the Church is Christ crucified - and that is the hope of the world. It’s time we start remembering that.

In the aftermath of the Republican meltdown this week, I was even more sure that I’m a political mutt, but I think that I’ve found a category that suits me better: Christian Democracy. The wikipedia article outlines the “typical” Chrisian Democrat viewpoints:

* In common with liberalism, an emphasis on human rights and individual initiative.
* In contrast to liberalism, a rejection of secularism, and an emphasis on the fact that the individual is part of a community and has duties towards it.
* In common with conservatism, conservative moral values (i.e. on issues such as marriage, divorce, abortion etc.), a view of the evolutionary development of society, an emphasis on law and order, and a rejection of communism.
* In contrast to conservatism, open to change (e.g. in the structure of society) and not necessarily supportive of the social status quo.
* In common with socialism, a strong emphasis on social solidarity (i.e. the welfare state, prioritising alleviation of poverty, high taxes on the wealthy, etc.) and a willingness to restrain market forces.
* In contrast to socialism, supports capitalism and a market economy, does not advocate class struggle, and unlike revolutionary socialism, rejects violence as a means to achieve social change.

That would be me, with the exception that I have less in common with socialism, I oppose the “welfare state” because non-profit and faith-based organizations do a way better job of taking care of needy people with the money they are given, and I tend to think that restraining market forces is a last resort.

Well, it’s 1:30am, and I’m going to bed. Talent just conceded to McCaskill in the MO Senate race, but there seems to be good news in the Amendment 2 cloning bill - the measure is passing by fewer than 4k votes. There’s still a chance that that could swing in our favor, and absentee ballots in MO are likely to strongly oppose it, so it could end up failing. Let’s hope so. At a minimum, recounts are in order in all of the close races in Missouri, considering that ACORN (a liberal group) had four employees indicted for filing hundreds and hundreds of suspect voter registrations.

Well, I went to vote in Boone County, Missouri this morning at the Hawthorne Suites in Columbia, MO, and had some trouble. I called Boone County yesterday and changed my address, and I was told that Jennifer and I’s names would be in the “black book” instead of the “blue book”. All of that went okay until I went to turn in my ballot. One of the election judges came over and insisted that I was casting a provisional ballot, and another actually took hold of my ballot and tried to take it away from me. When I didn’t let it slip out of my fingers, she let go. When Jennifer pointed out that she had cast her vote normally just a minute earlier, they finally let me feed the ballot into the scanner. If you are voting in Boone County, Missouri today and you changed your address as recently as yesterday, your ballot is NOT provisional.

They had one electronic voting machine at my polling place. It warmed my heart to hear no fewer than 10 people in a row turn down the “opportunity” to vote with an electronic voting machine. I guess they wanted their votes to actually be counted in this election or something. Some people are funny about that, I guess…

Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny. That’s a hard one..mmmm…. chocolate.