Century marks

Christian Century, August 23, 2003

FLOSSING AND CHURCHGOING: When writer Anne Lamott defended her practice of making her 14-year-old, son go to church even though he hates it, she was bombarded by critics who accused her of child abuse and brainwashing. Lamott's response: We live in bewildering times and a little spiritual guidance never hurt anyone. Besides, teenagers left on their own would opt out of many important things that they don't enjoy, like homework or flossing their teeth. "It's good to do uncomfortable things. It's weight training for life." Lamott knows God also loves teenagers who don't go to church, but such teens are deprived of seeing people who love God back. "Learning to love back is the hardest part of being alive." She also makes her son go to the church's youth group. Youth "want guides," she says, adults who "know how to act like an adult but with a kid's heart. They want people who will sit with them and talk about the big questions" (salon.com, July 4).

THE MUSLIM CHRIST: Syrian writer Mazhar Mallouhi grew up with the typical Muslim attitude toward Christians: to him, Christians represented a Western religion and political force that continues its "crusades" against Muslims, blindly supporting the state of Israel despite its injustices against the Palestinians. Christians, thought Mallouhi, speak of Christ as the Prince of Peace, yet they resort to war. But then Mallouhi embarked on a spiritual quest that led to an interest in Mahatma Gandhi, and through the Hindu Gandhi, who was deeply influenced by Christ, Mallouhi discovered the teachings of Christ and a person who backed up his teachings with his life. Eventually, Mallouhi had a religious conversion that earned him the wrath of his family and forced him into exile, tie thinks of himself as "a Muslim who follows Jesus." And he believes that if Muslims are ever to see the true nature of Christ, they will have to see his likeness in his followers (International Bulletin of Missionary Research, April).

COST OF WAR: The war in Iraq was supposed to pay for itself through oil revenues. It hasn't turned out that way. According to costofwar.com, the war so far has cost over $72 billion. Each week the occupation of Iraq costs the U.S. $1 billion. Moreover, the cost of the war makes up 15.5 percent of the nation's projected $455 billion deficit for next year, the largest in history. By one estimate, the oil that Iraq might eventually be able to produce would generate only about $55 billion per year, not enough to pay for the military occupation, much less the reconstruction costs (and this begs the question of whom the oil revenue belongs to). Meanwhile, the U.S. has 150,000 troops occupying Iraq, not nearly enough to maintain social order, fight a guerrilla war, seal the country's borders with Syria and Iran and protect the oil facilities and pipelines (UPI, July 31).

NOT BASED ON FAITH ALONE: Bob Wineburg of the University of North Carolina (Greensboro) asks what is so new about the Bush administration's "faith-based initiative" to fund churches and other religious organizations to provide social services. After all, the year before this initiative was introduced, the government gave over $4 billion to Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Salvation Army. In fact, the government has been outsourcing human Services since the Revolutionary War when it paid a Quaker hospital to provide care for wounded soldiers. Wineburg detects three political reasons behind dais new initiative: it is in tended to direct money to more conservative, evangelical churches; it is part of a strategy to eliminate the welfare state and move social services toward the voluntary sector alone; and it is designed to garner more black votes by channeling money to Small black churches (Sightings, July 31).

BUILD IT--but will they come to Waco? Baylor University has been in the news this summer because of the murder of one of its basketball players, allegedly by one of his friends and teammates. But another controversy is swirling at Baylor in reaction to President Robert Sloan's Vision 2012 plan to turn the university into a first-rate Christian institution--a Protestant Notre Dame or even Harvard. Sloan is looking for topflight faculty who will incorporate Christian values into their teaching, plus better students and facilities. But some faculty and alumni think Baylor is doing quite fine as it is. In response to reactions from some faculty and alumni, the university held a forum in July, and the turnout forced it to hold the event in the basketball arena. Says one Baylor alumna: "Baylor needs to be the best that Baylor can be. It doesn't need to be a Notre Dame or a Harvard." She is concerned flint the drive toward excellence will put tuition out of reach for middle-class Baptists from Texas, Baylor's traditional constituency. Some opponents of the plan are concerned that the drive toward faculty excellence will shift the focus from teaching and students toward research and publications. Some longer-term faculty also express concern about the mingling of the academic and the spiritual. "What role does Christianity play in teaching calculus?" one professor asked. President Sloan and Vision 2012 have the full support of the Board of Regents (Austin American-Statesman, August 3).