Thy Kingdom Come. . . An Evangelical's Lament-by Randall Balmer

Randall Balmer is an Evangelical Christian, an editor at Christianity Today, and a college Professor of American Religious History. He makes a lot of great points, and I really agree with most of what he said, so I shall share it with all of you!

In the first chapter he talks about the Moral Majority and other Religious Right groups, namely how and why they started.  Many Christians believe that these groups began in the fight against Abortion, and Balmer argues, with factual evidence, that this is simply untrue. In actuality these groups began when the IRS started taking away the tax-exempt status of schools and University that blatantly failed to follow stipulations set forth in the Civil Rights act of 1964. Basically, the government said to these schools, "you will not get support from the government if you are going to have rules that violate people's Civil Rights". Bob Jones University forbade interracial dating, and did not allow African Americans to attend until 1971.

The 1972 court case, Green V. Connally stated that institutions (schools, etc) that were discriminatory were not charitable, and therefore could not receive tax-ememption. This ruling did NOT say these places could not discriminate, they said these places could not discriminate and get help/support/financing from the Government and do it.

Balmer goes on to suggest that he believes that Abortion is used as a political tool, and that banning it will not lessen the number of abortions performed.  He wonders why people who claimed to be against Abortion and used their belief to assist in winning elections, but then never even attempted to outlaw when actually in office.  He also wonders how, if a law was passed making abortion outlawed, how would it be enforced.  He argues that the only way to stop abortions is to change people's minds about it, to have better, more comprehensive sex education, and also, since most abortions happen among America's poorest, fix the economy so it more fairly supports those most in need.

Another big argument Balmer made is why Evangelicals get their panties in a twist over the issue of mandatory school prayer. He, as an evangelical Christian, cannot see how his fellows would even want school/government mandated prayers in school, when children already have the right to pray freely in school. He quotes Jesus words regarding praying in public and denouncing those who prayed loudly so they could be heard.  

His main thesis is that Evangelicals should question the heck out of their tight relationship with the Republican party and Religious Right. He thinks Evangelicals should take back their faith and religion and to follow Christ in a pure, unadulterated way. He said Christians should be focused on serving the poor and down-trodden, not trying to get America to be a Christian Nation at the exclusion of other ideas.

Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lapp'e

Book Notes:

• For every 7 pounds of grain and soybeans fed to livestock, we average a return of only one pound of meat.
• we eat way more protein than our body needs: (translation: WASTE!)
• Soybeans and corn (stuff raised for livestock) causes more erosion than most other crops (i.e., our natural resources necessary for production of food are being wasted)
• Combining plant foods can create a protein equal to that of animal protein!!
• A lot of our government aid to third world countries doesn't actually go towards helping the poor.

Something important to think about, that Frances talks about. Democracy doesn't necessarily always go perfectly hand in hand with capitalism, and socialism doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with totalitarianism. (speaking of isms there are way too many). If we put things into boxes without understanding the elements (good and bad) that comprise it, we are cheating ourselves out of discovering better ways to live. She says that looking at how power is distributed is more important than the type of government they fall under.

"we product so much food that 20 percent is wasted"--page 100