Confessions of a Quirky Christian Artist

I heard a really good definition for obscenity a while ago in an interview on the Mars Hill Audio journal. Unfortunately I was listening to the entire archive going back over 10 years, so I can't find the exact tape the interview was on or the exact quote, or even who said it. (How's that for scholarly research?) But it went something like this: Obscenity is the display of any physical human function divorced from its spiritual side. In other words, when you focus on something like sex, chewing food, bleeding, excreting, etc. without any regard for the soul that is inhabiting the body that is carrying out the activity, it will always appear obscene. This is perennial because humans intuitively know that there is more to life then the physical processes that are playing out before us. And to exclude that hidden dimension is to reduce humanity to meat, to ignore God, and to devalue all moral or ethical considerations. If you know anything about modern art you may have no

Hello. I am Josh Foreman, Justin Foreman’s dad. You sent out a letter informing me that my 5 th grader will be instructed on HIV/AIDS and human sexuality. The letter noted that, “We want our students to realize that we consider you to be the most important source of information for these topics…” As my son’s father I would like to be the ONLY source of information about sexuality for him. Can we please set up a time to meet so I can jump through the bureaucratic hoops in order to be a parent to my child regarding one of the most sensitive issues in a person’s life? I find it appalling that any government institution finds it appropriate to be the mechanism by which a child should learn about sexuality. So I would appreciate it if I was informed before any other similar information is presented to my son. I understand the public school system’s desire to fill a responsibility that has been abdicated by some parents. However I am not one of those parents. As you know

Someone posted this article on a forum. It amused me so I responded as follows, quoting the author, Chris Hedges. The engine that drives the radical Christian Right in the United States , the most dangerous mass movement in American history, is not religiosity, but despair. Ok. How has he ascertained this? It is a movement built on the growing personal and economic despair of tens of millions of Americans, who watched helplessly as their communities were plunged into poverty by… So a bad economy = religious revival? Like the ones we saw in Russia , Cuba , China ? Hmmm… Maybe he needs to rethink his equation. This despair crosses economic boundaries, of course, enveloping many in the middle class who live trapped in huge, soulless exurbs where, lacking any form of community rituals or centers, they also feel deeply isolated, vulnerable and lonely. So even those who don't financially struggle are driven t