I'm forty-five pages into my new, as yet untitled, Tim Rathbone mystery.  In the story, Pastor Tim takes a glass of Scotch and gets a disapproving look for a member of his congregation, Sister Blankenship.  Here's how he explains his views on drinking:
"Many fundamentalist and all Pentecostal denominations forbid drinking alcohol and cite various scriptures to back that up.  They claim that when Jesus turned water into wine, what he made was unfermented grape juice, which, they say, is what people mostly drank in biblical times.  That’s nonsense.  When the ruler of the feast at Canaan tasted the wind, he said, “This is good stuff.” He did not say, “Welch’s the children will be so pleased.”  Later on, the Pharisees called Jesus a drunk because he drank with the common people.  Having that drink with Sean helped me feel Christ-like.  Thinking of those Pharisees, I smiled back at Blankenship and took another swig."

I realize this may offend some abstemious Christians.  Get over yourselves.

The following review is also published at goodreads.com.

AMERICAN GOSPEL: GOD, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, AND THE MAKING OF A NATION
Jon Meachan

In my years as a minister, I came to believe that The United States of America was founded as a Christian nation and, somehow, fell away from the true faith. As most Fundamentalists, I believed that America is the New Israel, chosen by God to be a haven of holiness and a light to the world, the Shining City on a Hill. It took me years to break out of that mindset. In "American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation," Jon Meacham puts order to what I had put together on my own. America was, in fact, founded as a nation where all religions could exist in peace. Americans would be free to worship--or not worship--as they chose, not as dictated by the government. Freedom of religion had long been a sticking point in America. Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson were expelled from Massachusetts because the Puritans had established a colony that granted freedom for their own religion, not anyone else's. Later, Virginia law decreed that parents could have their children taken away if they did not baptize their children in the Anglican religion. These an d other stories showed the Founders that, "civil societies dominated by compulsory religious rigidity were unhappy and intolerant, while religious liberty seemed to produce more prosperous, stable, and popular cultures. The Founders' own views on religion would not track well with the prevailing conservative view of today's American Church. In the treat with Tripoli, President John Adams wrote that America was not founded on the Christian religion. Franklin and Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus and, "the Holy Trinity was seen as an invention of a corrupt church more interested in temporal power than in true religion." In the recent Presidential election, religion again became an national issue, from Romney's Mormonism to the religious objections to contraception. Once again, the myth that America was founded as a Christian nation was proffered as truth by the revisionist history of religious ultra-conservatives. "American Gospel" combats this ignorance with clear, well-researched history. Anyone who is repulsed by what is going on in the American church needs to read this book.

There's a new wrinkle in the controversy surrounding the Fed mandate that for-profit corporations cover contraception in their health insurance for employees.  A Christianity Today article posted Feb. 1 discusses the question of the personhood of corporations.

A number of for-profit corporations are suing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), claiming that the government's mandate that employees' medical insurance cover conception violates the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  The article quotes the law: "Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability..."

The argument goes like this: The government has no right to mandate that a corporation provide contraception when the owners of the corporation have a religious objection to the practice.  The question, then, becomes, is a corporation a person?  Mitt Romney thinks so.  And the Citizens United  decision gives credence to the personhood of corporations.

This brings the conversation into some very murky places.  For example, let's say a for-profit corporation is owned by Catholics who adhere to their church's proscription against contraception. Under RFRA, they would not be required to provide contraception in their employees' health insurance.  But it could go beyond that.  By the same logic, a for-profit corporation owned by a member of Jehovah's Witnesses could refuse insurance for blood transfusions.  And a Christian Scientist could refuse to provide any health insurance and promise to pray for ill employees and then give them something to read.

And I wonder about the health care employees in Utica, NY where all three hospitals in the city are Catholic-run.  The hospitals are not-for-profit, and, therefore, exempt form the HHS mandate.  Will there be no contraception for these workers?  I emailed that question to one of the hospitals--St. Luke's-Faxton--but they never answered me.

The complications keep coming.  Corporations are set up to put a barrier between the owner's assets and any possible liability.  But if the owners link themselves too closely to the corporation by their religious observance, then they might lose that protection from liability.

I don't have an answer.  The federal court rulings have been contradictory, and eventually, the Nine Wise Ones will have to rule.  But it shows that, in the mind of employers, the needs of employees are secondary to the rules of religion, especially when it will allow them to save money by eliminating contraception coverage from health insurance.

Christian Leaders Show They're Clueless About Newtown Shootings

In recent months we have heard many cruel and insensitive statements from individuals who put themselves in prominent positions, like the senate candidate who talked about the ability of a woman's body to reject pregnancy in the event of "legitimate" rape.  As we now struggle to make sense of the killings in Newtown, Connecticut, I somehow thought we had heard enough stupid statements from otherwise smart people.  Then I came across an article on rawstory.com.  

The article states that Focus on the Family and Family Research Council founder, James Dobson, has come to the conclusion that God allowed the tragedy in Newton, Connecticut to happen because America has turned its back on God by allowing same sex marriage and abortion.

The article quotes Dobson as saying, “I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us.”

And Dobson is not alone in this insensitive, non-Biblical attitude.  The article also cites a statement by Bryan Fisher of the American Family Association that “God did not protect the children of Newton because prayer was not sponsored in public schools.”  And Mike Huckabee of Fox News blamed the Newton shootings on God’s being removed from American culture.

In his biography of Thomas Jefferson, Jon Meacham quotes Jefferson as saying, “The greatest enemies of the doctrines of Jesus are those who claim to be the depositors of them.”  And these men are the enemies of God.  By their cold, uncaring, legalism, they cause unbelievers to blaspheme.  They presume to speak for God and, in so doing, make all Christians look like fools.  If this is God’s way of working His plan for America, He is truly short on ideas.  By their words, they raise the shooter, himself tortured by mental illness, to the status of Scourge of God.

Galatians 5: 22-23 tells us, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  I see no love in preaching God’s harsh judgment through the murder of children.  They bring no joy, peace, or goodness.  They show no kindness, gentleness, or self-control.  They can not forbear from cutting into the heart of an already hurting nation.  They do show faithfulness to their own harsh legalism and their faith in an avenging, angry God.  I guess Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross really didn't mean anything.  God still wants blood.

I don’t mean to make light of a serious and hurtful situation, but for a humorous take on this, you might wan to go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixkck8QnjY.  I found this some years ago, and it seems apropos.  And Dobson, Huckabee, Fischer, and the idiot pastor who talked about American schools teaching “junk about evolution” and “how to be a homo” deserve the ridicule.

The article I refer to in this blog is from: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/17/conservative-icon-james-dobson-links-newtown-shooting-to-same-sex-marriage/

I'm really excited about the new cover for Power in the Blood.  I finally had to break down and pay someone to have it made, but it's great to work with someone who knows how to do things.

This cover will grace the new Smashwords edition of the novel.  Within the next few weeks, all distribution of my work will be through Smashwords.  This will give me the availability to distribute in every major ebook format.  I'm looking forward to many more readers in 2013.

I wish every one of my friends a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Only Believe

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (He. 11:1)

For we walk by faith, not by sight.  (2Co. 5:7)

An idea that has given me pause of late is the idea that science can prove the truth of the Bible.  I am not a scientist, so I can’t say for sure.  A Google search of “creation science” led me to numerous organizations that believe in the idea that the biblical account of the creation of the universe is accurate and that evolution is a false science designed to lead us all to hell.  I also found numerous websites stating the exact opposite.  I will let wiser heads than my own battle this out. 

I just have one thing to say.  Scientific proof of the truth of the Bible would spell disaster for Christians.  Salvation comes by faith in something we can’t prove but hope for.  If the proof is ever provided, faith has no part in the Christian belief system.  The scripture would have to be changed to, “For we walk by sight, not by faith.”

When faith is taken out of the equation, then there can be no salvation.  Put another way, God rewards people who believe in Him without evidence.  If the evidence is provided, then there would be no reward.

Abraham believed that God told him to sacrifice Isaac.  He had no proof that he was hearing from God, but he went ahead with it, anyway.  At the last second, God called it off and rewarded Abraham for his faith.  If Abraham had some evidence that God was really telling him to do the sacrifice—an angelic visit, an email—then faith would have had nothing to do with it, and Abraham would not have received the great reward that God gave him.

Salvation happens when people make the choice to believe what they can not prove.  Why, then do Bible-believing people insist on contradicting the biblical definition of faith?  I think it’s because they’re neurotic.

Fundamentalist Christians believe that there is only one way, one truth, one life; and any variation from that leads to perdition.  There is no salvation outside of the narrow boundaries set by the local pastor’s interpretation of the Bible.  So every other religion is a cult, every denomination is apostate, every other congregation is heretical.  And every other individual Christian is scrutinized for the tell-tale signs of sin, whatever they may be.

This is the narrow Fundamentalist world.  And these are the people who think they have the sole authority to govern America.  I’ll talk about this in my next post.

One more thing.  I suppose some people will come here expecting something different from what they find.  Sorry.  This is not going to be an anti-religion, anti-God rant, but the fact is that religious leaders have the power to do real damage to people and need to be held accountable.