Oak Ridge Today

Guest column: Imperial religion has no place in the Kingdom of God

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Preparing for the greatest day of the year, Easter, was a bit harder this year than last. On Thursday, the night we remember how Jesus was betrayed and handed over to both the religious and political empires of his day, I happened to read of the new bill that seeks to designate the Bible as the state book of Tennessee.

There are a ton of ways to scream “no” to this legislation, starting with the both the Tennessee Constitution and the United States Constitution. There is also the objection that the bill places the transcendental and eternal qualities of the Bible on the same footing as the lily (our state flower) or the raccoon (our state animal). Of course, then there’s just downright common sense: The laws I use to influence my neighbor’s religion (or lack of) can easily be the same laws by which my neighbor one day attempts to subjugate me.

Those are fine ways to oppose this bill, but they are of lesser concern to me as a Christian pastor of 25 years. I am most deeply concerned at the way in which an action like this stands in stark opposition to the actions and words of the Bible itself, most especially as revealed in the person of Jesus. [Read more…]

Guest column: ‘More than true’…Christmas matters

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I had a talk not too long ago with a very intelligent person about Christian Christmas stories. He asked, “Surely you don’t actually believe that the Christmas story you preach really happened?” It was a question that I settled long ago, although it reminded me that many people still struggle with their faith around the holidays.

Even though there are probably some good reasons to ponder the “reality” of the Nativity story over the holidays, I honestly don’t even think about it anymore. I once read a quote that went something like, “The question is not always whether it is real, but whether it matters…the things that matter most become reality.”

Atheist Sam Harris has written about “tiny lies” and the cost they have on our culture. He even discusses Santa Claus, taking on a popular non-religious Christmas tradition as a form of deception. I see Harris, much like my friend, in a very “stuck” place. When we bring the wrong question to the table, we often feel the need to “force feed” answers. No one likes being force-fed.

When it comes to Santa, the question for families is not so much whether or not he and his reindeer troop are real; rather the question is whether or not he matters. Because if he matters, every family finds a way to make him real during the season. [Read more…]

Guest column: Technology in the classroom

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In 2012, the scientific community was shocked to see six Italian scientists arrested and placed on trial for the manslaughter of 309 people. How did they manage to kill 309 people? Easy: They failed to predict an earthquake.

As insane as it sounds, two years later these scientists are still stuck in an appeal process, and they are still facing a potential six years in prison. Now long off everyone’s radar, the questions this prosecution poses to Western civilization have faded from our memory.

At stake and at issue are the underlying ideologies of what our machines and the data they generate actually mean to us as human beings. Unfortunately, these ideologies remain in the background of our educational and technological decision-making. The lives and the minds of our students are rapidly becoming intertwined with their technologies and the haste we feel in harnessing this cultural phenomenon is driven by a competitive economic desire to “stay ahead” of the technological curve.

With the exception of perhaps a few hold-over “Luddites,” no one I know is against the use of technology in the classroom. On the flip side, however, I must say that in all my conversations about classroom technology, I have never—not even once—heard a citizen or educator discuss what the use of that technology actually means to a human being. [Read more…]

Guest column: Self-perpetuating politics

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By David Allred, June 4, 2014

I got a phone call tonight that bothered me. The content of the message wasn’t so much an annoyance as the delivery system. You see, our schools sold us a bill of goods some time back about automated phone dialing. They said it would assist us in the event of emergencies, public service announcements, and other items of communication that might be pivotal to parent/school relations.

They were right. It’s a great system, probably worth the tax dollars, but I am no expert on its worth by any stretch of the imagination. Still, when that same taxpayer system of communication is used to solicit more taxpayer funds, I confess to being put on edge.

You see, I was one of hundreds, probably thousands of households, asked to fork over a little bit more money for a little more technology: tablets for all our students.

It’s a grand idea, I suppose. I mean, it is probably money that could be spent on an extra teacher or two or 12 or 20, but let’s face it—the tablet prepares our students for the modern world and there’s hardly anything more true of the modern world than replacing people with machines. [Read more…]

Guest column: Remembering Walt Whitman

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This Saturday, May 31, marks the 195th birthday of America’s greatest poet and perhaps even its greatest citizen to have ever lived: Walt Whitman. “Leaves of Grass,” as one contemporary reviewer put it at the time, was “an explosion in a sewer.” The reactions to Whitman’s work, at least in most circles, were largely unpleasant. One reviewer even suggested that Walt Whitman commit suicide.

“Leaves of Grass” was so offensive that it cost Walt several jobs, and by the end of his life, the poet died nearly in poverty, relying on the kindness of Britain’s literary elite just to survive and be buried.

I had the chance to visit the Walt Whitman home on a mini-Sabbatical in 2012. The caretaker there in Camden pulled a letter out and read it aloud to me. It was written by a middle-aged woman from England on September 11, 2001. As she watched the twin towers fall, she was uncertain how to express her grief and outrage—or even where to direct those thoughts. She chose Walt Whitman and eloquently expressed her love of America’s democratic spirit, stating there was no other place for her to lodge her thoughts than with Walt Whitman. The letter was powerful and brought tears to my eyes. [Read more…]

Guest column—Happy 75th anniversary, Batman: I owe you

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Legends of the Knight

A movie poster for “Legends of the Knight,” which will be screened at the Historic Grove Theater on April 27 to benefit ADFAC.

On March 30, Batman turned 75. That same day, our church celebrated a 24th birthday and a 10-year anniversary of having moved into the Grove Theater. The irony of it hit me like a ton of bricks because many of the seeds that led me to become a minister were, strangely enough, planted throughout the pages of my childhood comic books.

Batman has had his share of ups and downs over the years. From the most campy television programming imaginable in the 60s, to witnessing Robin bludgeoned to death by the Joker in the 80s, to actually dying and being resurrected a few short years ago…I’ve managed to stay with the Dark Knight through his many twists and turns. At age 45, perhaps I should have outgrown it all, but I haven’t.

The truth is I owe my childhood heroes a pretty huge debt. They instilled in me at a very early age the belief that truth and justice were not just abstract forces in the world, but that they could be shared and experienced with enough effort and courage. At a time when it felt like the world was growing more cynical and afraid, I came to believe that honest people could really make a difference—that good really could win out in the end. The stories of my childhood were saturated with hope.

Moving through ministry for about two decades now, I almost always find that I arrive back where I started. I find that, fundamentally, hope is a life-blood running through the veins of healthy people. I find that fear, doubt, and cynicism are toxins that course through the bodies of the most unhealthy. I also discover that I am not immune to any of it. I experience these poisons too, times when I wonder if I shouldn’t just hang my hat and choose another profession in despair over our human condition. [Read more…]

Faith column: Shouldn’t we be doing something?

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It’s the holidays—a time of year when churches are often on the move and active in a community. Anytime a church is in motion and doing something in the community, that action reveals something of the character and nature of the church and her mission. But what if a church decides to lay low? What if little to no movement is taking place at all? Is this a “bad” thing for a church? Shouldn’t we all be doing something???

We live in a culture defined by motion and noise. The bigger the motion and the louder the noise, the more people stop to take notice—just check out your favorite Black Friday YouTube video for examples of motion and noise over the holiday. We’re all human and sometimes we can start chasing noise for all the wrong reasons. That’s why I believe it’s critical for churches to first ask if the lack of motion is really such a bad thing.

What does it say about a church that decides to loaf over the holiday? The word “loaf” has received a bad rap in our society. A loafer is seen as a lazy person in a culture that is obsessed with work and productivity. If the loafer isn’t doing anything to contribute to his or her own financial well-being, then the assumption is that something must be wrong with them (which may or may not be true). As working and being a productive member of society, you could make an argument that maybe Jesus’ was a loafer. Yikes! [Read more…]

Faith column: Imagine greater

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I have a heart for skeptics. I understand what that feels like. When I used to read the story of doubting Thomas, I could relate. Jesus tells him in John 20:29: “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who have yet to see and still believe.” My response to that was usually—”Well, how convenient Jesus!”

It wasn’t always this way for me. There was a time that I didn’t have any doubts at all. To be quite honest, that made me a downright scary person. I know it isn’t this way for everyone because I’ve met a great many people with a deep, deep faith who aren’t scary people. They love and serve, and their lives are completely admirable. Still, I have spent just enough of my life with a doubting Thomas inside to know skepticism and even to appreciate it.

I had an experience this summer, however, that touched me to the core. I saw God in such a way that I won’t ever need to see anything more. It sealed the deal. You may never understand how difficult it is for a naturally skeptical person to make a statement like that. [Read more…]

Guest column: Let’s face it, school safety is an emotional topic

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When it comes to keeping our children out of harm’s way, we parents get testy. I never realized how testy I could get until the day I drove my oldest home from the hospital. Not only did I check every buckle in his car seat fifteen times over, I don’t think I took my car over 25 miles per hour the whole way home. I threw a few sour looks toward drivers who passed me at a higher rate of speed.

It was illogical. It was emotional. But it was instinctual. I couldn’t stop what simply holding my baby boy was doing to me on the inside. I suspect I am not alone among first-time fathers and mothers. The feelings we have may wane over time or become more rational as we age, but they never fully go away.

Keeping composure in emotionally tense situations requires a degree of grace, and I find it doubly ironic that, as a former school-safety-coordinator-turned-minister,  grace would be the state of being I believe our community should adopt in this controversy. [Read more…]

Faith column: Letting pain be pain (Part Two)

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Last month, I wrote about the problem Western civilization seems to have with pain as evidenced by the plethora of outlets we’ve created to avoid it. Central to part one is understanding the paradox of pain: that while pain certainly is no one’s friend, the laws at work on our planet are such that pain is everyone’s friend: Life depends on pain and without it, we wouldn’t be here.

It would be hard to maintain our humanity if we didn’t ask spiritual questions about pain. The Bible is loaded with “heroes” who did this very thing, including Christ himself, who from the cross issued the famous phrase found in Psalms 22: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Questioning in this way is not only natural, but also appears in both the Jewish and Christian texts as an affirmation of our human need to wrestle with the “why” of pain.

I have only one real issue with the questioning of God and pain in our modern world. It comes when a person has rejected the faith life because of the problem of pain and yet, simultaneously, accepts the story of evolution as a beautiful thing, despite the clearly painful history it details. I don’t believe these two world views are mutually exclusive and personally hold to both as examples of beauty rising out of pain. [Read more…]

Faith column: Letting pain be pain (Part One)

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I read a story once about a girl who was born without the ability to feel pain. Normal things like cuts and scrapes would go totally unnoticed. She lacked the ability to tell the difference between cold and hot, or to retract her hand after touching something she shouldn’t have. Apparently, this is an extremely rare condition in humans.

This girl was apparently so immune to pain that her mother and father accidentally burned her in the bathtub when she was a baby and that’s how they discovered she had this condition. The hot water never caused her any discomfort; it never triggered any kind of response. Prior to being diagnosed, her parents had no idea they were hurting her.

As the girl grew older, she had to be constantly looked over. Some days she would show up from playing outside with her friends, bleeding all over her clothes but totally unaware that she had been injured. She spent weeks covered in terrible bruises that she never knew she’d received. [Read more…]

Faith column: Roger Ebert’s final critique

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The history books will record Roger Ebert as a great film critic. He was that and, I am certain, much more to those who loved and knew him best. His loss has been felt by many around the globe because of the millions he touched. Ebert took us to the movies for years; he guided our ticket purchases, awakened in us a poetic appreciation for films we might not otherwise have seen; and best of all, he called the public away from the mindless, lowest common denominator of entertainment. His ability to critique film and his way with words had the effect of “raising all our boats” in the areas of culture, intellect, emotion, and even an awareness of the sacred.

Ebert’s ability to awaken us is what makes his death feel so tragic; but it is also what makes his now popularized letter, “I Do Not Fear Death,” equally as tragic. Ebert’s final critique came to us not in the form of a film review, but in a staunch and unwavering gaze cast toward seeming permanence of death. It has taken the Internet somewhat by storm and praised by many.

I confess, I found little praiseworthy in it. In fact, it primarily aroused in me a deep sense of pity to see a man with such brilliance and appreciation for beauty in life take those gifts and place them in a room with such a low ontological ceiling. [Read more…]