tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post114189096197975019..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Blues and hopeJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1142516285227234982006-03-16T05:38:00.000-08:002006-03-16T05:38:00.000-08:00The information on the site strikes me as begging ...The information on the site strikes me as begging for a better title: "Liberal Quaker Initiative to End Torture." And why not? Evangelical Christians and our celebrity leaders have been quick to thump drums for Terry Schiavo, conventional marriages, unborn children, and whatever other priorities Karl Rove sets for us, but are strangely silent as the demons of deception kill and torture.<BR/><BR/>I wish the June conference success. Hopefully a nicely catered conference on the beautiful campus of Guilford College can do some community-building as well as intention-setting to kindle a true movement. Whether the conference will be capable of telling the truth about evil and its spiritual manifestations in us as well as the "powers that be" is another question. But a conference doesn't have to have every duck lined up in a row to be useful. Evangelicals mostly need to find that first duck.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1142481740805662872006-03-15T20:02:00.000-08:002006-03-15T20:02:00.000-08:00Hi-Do you know about The Quaker Iniative to End To...Hi-<BR/><BR/>Do you know about The Quaker Iniative to End Torture, which is having its inaugural conference in June of this year? For more information, please go to:<BR/>http://www.quit-torture-now.org/<BR/><BR/>I am grateful for all those ready to undertake this work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1142350742989652282006-03-14T07:39:00.000-08:002006-03-14T07:39:00.000-08:00My question: Can we Friends model a tender, positi...My question: Can we Friends model a tender, positive, nonabusive conversation that includes these elements? (Namely, the law of rights AND the law of virtues? The joy and fun AND the hazards? Respect for "local truth" AND respect for biblical and corporate disciplines?)Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-1142015484447390272006-03-10T10:31:00.000-08:002006-03-10T10:31:00.000-08:00Hi Johan,Thanks for keeping Friends updated on cur...Hi Johan,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for keeping Friends updated on current legal and political issues. The troubling truth is: that the Attorney General of the United States would openly proclaim that torture is an acceptable means of extracting confession was simply inconceivable even 15 years ago. It simply is inconceivable that men like Dick Thornburgh would argue for the legality of torture...<BR/><BR/>Regarding abortion, etc. I think many evangelical Christians are caught in between the utilitarian argument that "anti-abortion laws actually cause more harm" and deontological arguments that "abortion is per se wrong." (Many evangelical ethicists like Glen Stassen are caught in it) Your seamless-garment understanding seem to be a breakthrough from this impasse, since your understanding has distinguished perfectly the law of rights and the law of virtue, and the requisite different mechanisms in enforcing them. Now if by not enforcing a penal law against abortion we make room for better a better moral climate in which women and men came to the genuine moral understanding that abortion is wrong and should never have been done, perhaps we really should keep abortion legal... <BR/><BR/>In the Light of Christ,<BR/>JamesJames Changhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03272900145898787842noreply@blogger.com